A "Star Trek" wake

New Trek: A love letter (with some spoilers)

2009-05-09T23:23:00.003-05:00

I couldn't get this up on this blog right as I saw the film, but Blogger had somehow reset my language to Hindi....

I have only one nit to pick, so I’ll do that first….for 99% of the film none of the older musical scores were referenced or used in their entirety.

Reasons I love this:

The writing got almost everyone nailed (McCoy occasionally skated perilously close to parody, and even that was lovable…. and when he wasn’t doing that he was amazing.)

Favorite McCoy line: "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!"

I completely bought into: Chris Pine’s Kirk, (Kirk in particular was marvelous…stripped away of the parody that he got made into, he resonated with such original series episodes as “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and “Balance of Terror.”), Bruce Greenwood’s Pike, Sulu and Uhura.

Favorite Kirk setup and line (I'm regretfully paraphrasing)

Security Dweeb confronts Kirk wanting to beat him up: "Look, cupcake, there are four guys here..."

Kirk: "Bring a fifth guy and it'll be a fair fight."

Zachary Quinto’s Spock took a bit longer, because from the trailers he was clearly “outside” the level of emotional control we’d seen from Nimoy’s Spock in the original, except under alien influence or, well once every seven years.

But the movie has a reason for a less controlled Spock, and a compelling one, which I bought wholeheartedly.

Favorite Spock setup and line:

(The Vulcan Science Academy has obviously been studying "How to make a mind blowingly stupid remark in polite company," in the Human Emotions Dictionary)

They praise young Spock for his outstanding work that merited him a place at Vulcan Science Academy, but wonder what possessed him to apply for Starfleet as well...)

Admissions Chairperson: "But you've done so *well* despite your disadvantage!"

Spock: "To what disadvantage are you referring?"

Admissions Chairperson: "Your human mother!"

Spock then politely with perfect diction and a quiet tone of voice, tells them that he has made a decision to enroll in Starfleet. The room erupts. No one has ever turned down a post to the Vulcan Science Academy!!!

"What emotion are you trying to convey?" Accusing Spock of the ultimate Vulcan faux pas.

"The only emotion I wish to convey is gratitude."

That's Vulcan for "Kiss my ***!"

There was plenty of homage to the original, and many Trekker’s might say too much.

(It was fine for me. I’ll take beloved lines and attitudes and riffs whenever they come.)

Unlike “The Motionless Picture,” (the first ever Trek Film) you didn’t waste 15 minutes of film staring up at the FX of the movie sized Enterprise…

But she was a brilliant piece of starship, as I’ve noted prior (and that was the first time I teared up a bit.)

One liners referenced both the original series, and, indirectly the animated series of the seventies, with an elementary school age Spock being tormented by his classmates. as well as the last primetime spinoff “Enterprise.” The villain felt like “Nemesis,” the last film before this, in the design and colors of his ship.

Nimoy as elder Spock…a graceful turn firmly in continuity with the nuanced character he’s given us before… as per usual for him. (Yeah I cried.)

There have been some changes though, that I can’t recount without spoiling things.

Non-fans and fans alike: Tempus Fugit. Quick. Go see this film.

The word is given. Warp speed.

A newer trailer than I'd seen before.

2009-03-02T14:01:00.001-05:00

Unable to upload, but here's the link .

Trek Reviewing: Why It's Fraught With Peril

2009-03-02T13:02:00.010-05:00

I'm glad I've studied history...because as one looks at primary source material, instructions are given to understand the time and place that the source material comes from.

Also if one is a student of history, de facto, if you want to study it, you have some respect for some of it. (Granted, anyone who 'respects' the Inquisition or the Holocaust needs serious medical help, but that's neither here nor there.)

Trek itself is now something of an historical artifact...going on 45 years old.

And, as such, you have to respect the time, place and budgets (and good writing or lack thereof) connected with TOS, TAS, the spinoffs and the films...

Mark Altman, founder of Geek Monthly reviewed the trailers and twenty minutes of film footage....

He is mainly positive about the new film, that makes me happy.

I agree with his stance on the Romulans, because after all in the Pre-TOS time period Spock states

"No Human, Romulan or ally has ever seen the other."

(Granted, a couple of renegade Vulcans and Aenar have, but it's likely Vulcan and Andoria never made those instances public. And starships getting assembled in Iowa? Give me a break.)

I disagree with his concerns about Zachary Quinto's Spock. If that kid can make Sylar on "Heroes a complex anti-hero to root for (as I did last week...first time I *ever* wanted to see the carving out of brains.)

he'll do fine with Spock.

And, if Altman could have just stopped the column after reviewing the new film, it would be a great review....

But he somehow had the need to rag on the older films.

"all the original Trek movies looked cheap and, well, cheap.'

Oh please. Compare those movies to the original pilot with it's worse-than-the rest of TOS chauvinism, and *paper* output of the ships computer, non digital analog timers...and they look magical. There was a fifteen year gap in SFX technology then. (not to mention some [slight] evolution in attitudes towards women.)

He felt that

"...by trying to get Scotty, Uhura and Sulu into the action as well as Chekov, they’re doing the big three a disservice. Chekov’s played for comic relief, much as he was in Star Trek IV, and, at the end of the day, who really needs him."

They're part of the fabric, they need to be there. Period. This is what I mean about respect for history.

And, being a Spock fan, I just cannot abide what he said about Mr. Nimoy's cameo.

"...the new kids on the block wouldn’t have to listen to long, ponderous scenes like Leonard Nimoy as Spock explaining technobabble to Scotty that he’s from the future and Captain Kirk needs to get Spock emotional to take command. That’s Next Generation, guys, and as much as I loved seeing Nimoy on screen as Spock again, I couldn’t but help feeling it was like dropping Jar-Jar into a scene in The Empire Strikes Back."

Mr. Altman, the clock is ticking for the remaining TOS actors. Abrams has said that he didn't want to do the film unless he had Nimoy on board.

There will be a time when we can't have the TOS Spock in a film, just as we cannot have TOS McCoy or TOS Scotty now.

I'm glad he's there, long-winded and technical or not.

"Star Trek" --- TOS love letters

2008-03-29T19:40:00.004-05:00

First, for the uninitiated TOS= an abbreviation for "The Original Series"

Moving on:

To everyone who has ever loved Farscape, Babylon 5, Firefly, Stargate, (Original and Atlantean varieties,) the newer, grittier Battlestar Galactica

To the writers and directors of same.

And of course to the direct descendants of "Star Trek" the fans, writers, actors, directors of the several spinoffs....

I ask that you remember, from time to time that you wouldn't have any of the above if it weren't for Star Trek.

That's right: The outdated velour clad crew of the NCC 1701 ("No bloody "A" "B" "C" or "D").

The odd mixture of fantasy, space race militarism and hippy feel good requests to pull together and do someting right. (that often lead to horrid tv as much as it did to great stuff)
Freedom at the point of a phaser...but at least a nod and a wink towards self determination.

Without that beginning, the rest of what's been decent about genre film and TV over the last 40 years wouldn't be here.

When I hear fans of other speculative fiction written work or film or television deride it...I used to get mad, but now I just get sad.

Because all of these folks who've decided it's just too passe for them--and worse yet their children...won't decide to look at the great stuff.

How many real scientists started out as Trek fans anyway?

So, in the run up to the movie (and in part because I cannot abide that it is now "news" that Tom Cruise loves Trek... naturally because JJ Abrams is involved...)

A series of thank-you's for the work of some of the actors and writers:

The first: Leonard Nimoy.

There's been a lot written about Nimoy the actor and Spock the character. Whatever I don't rehash here, go read Nimoy's book "I Am Spock," the best part of which is it's gentle tone. He *refuses* to go nuclear on his co-workers. He came to a point where he had accepted the typecasting that hindered him as an actor.

I'm really going to focus in on his effect on this specific fan, and the effect of his signature role on this specific fan.

I was seven when I saw my first episode, one of the third season clunkers on it's original airdate.

But when I first *really paid attention* I was thirteen.

A thirteen year old girl with cerebral palsy in a chaotic household where the center of the chaos was a parent.

Here was a character who was always fighting against giving in to emotion, particularly negative emotions, even physical discomfort.

Here was a character whose entire motivation said, "Being smart is Cool." Being smart was my one E ticket ride, and Spock was the brass ring of the Best Career that could happen to a smart person, in my adolescent brain at the time.

Later as an adult, when I had to self-teach myself to "Yes, *have the meltdown* but for God's sake, do it later....," part of my template was some of the fictional character's attitude.

I cannot tell you the number of times I said to myself, in my head during a particularly painful task or surgery or movement "There is no pain," and that gave me just a bit of extra juice...to get through it.

Analysing a situation was ok. Thinking ahead was ok. The character of Spock even managed to indicate that for some race, sometime in the future...the flashes of deja-vu or intuition that I often experienced, might become a validated, cultural educatonal and nearly scientific norm: In other words, people would have the ablity of full blown telephathy....and could be taught to refine it and direct it. That was an exciting idea for a kid.

I was so interested in the character, that I began to follow the work of the actor that played Spock outside of Trek. I saw a wonderful humorous performance of Sherlock Holmes in 1975 in my hometown.

Well I grew up. And because of one of my impairments, my emotional control is *working well* because I'm following doctor's care, and for no other reason.

Things happened to me as an adult that "blew out" all my self talk to get through tough emotional states or extreme pain. It no longer worked.

But I still love the character, as well the actor's public face, the relentlessly positive, wry or humorous things I've heard Mr. Nimoy say in interviews over and over again.

Mr. Nimoy, I don't know you, and unlike those who confuse fiction and reality, I realize I only know your work.

But I thank you for that work now , because it was encouraging, fun, smart, and a real help during tough times.

When I see the movie, when the new one comes out, I'm going to act like an idiot in the theater, and stand up and give you some applause that you won't see.

Thanks. Just thanks.

On Mentoring

2007-09-20T18:46:00.000-05:00

I have several unfortunate hobbies, two of them involving truly bad television shows, and one involving a good and interesting one that is nonetheless derided by many serious people. (The other two, I’m mainly in the closet about, because any genuine *good* in them is *completely eclipsed* by hack writing and/or rotten special effects)

They are unfortunate because many “serious minded people” think that other “serious minded people” ought to move on to something more serious, and in addition, that if one begins something serious, like say, working for a living, or a marriage, or a professional ‘career’… it’s time to put unfortunate hobbies aside.

“When I was a child I spoke as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things…”

People who wouldn’t be caught dead paraphrasing St Paul’s advice on wives and marriage..well, they’ll line right up behind his admonition to grow the heck up already.

I also had the unfortunate tendency to introduce the younger members of my family to the least offensive of my unfortunate hobbies, and *they* also have taken it and ran with it well into their thirties…

When my mother discovered that I had indoctrinated one of my cousins in my (least) unfortunate hobby, she said: “It’s so “nice” that **** has someone to share her insanity with.”

Well, some good has already come of that unfortunate hobby, and more still may arrive soon…

And since I’m no longer a screaming adolecsent I generally wait to share these things via email, like the adult I have been forced into becoming….

But last night was too important to wait for the email…Damn the time difference…I called back east and got the cousin on the phone.

There were important developments about the unfortunate hobby…. and some other new film gossip and casting that simply had to be shared via the phone.

I got his wife (a lovely person, resigned to the unfortunate hobby), and then I got my cousin on the phone.

Talking to these cousins…It is quite simply the unalloyed perfect, uncluttered with ambivalence, joy of my life to listen to their successes and trials and share mine with them.

“Are you sitting down? No, wait, you need to be sitting down and drinking a beer at the same time.”

“What? Why? What happened?” Is it about the movie?” Because they’ve cast–”

“No. No wait… it’s about *me* and writing, and [the unfortunate hobby] *at the same time!*”

“Omigawd *what?* *What?* That’s *amazing!* ” and laughing and virtual backpounding are heard across the phone lines… and the real reason I hate being poor is that I cannot simply get on a plane any time I want and go where they are and listen to them and hug them… and then we get down to the business of discussing his latest play, and is that Indiana Jones movie *ever* going to see the light of day …

I’m at the “It’s a joy, just to be nominated” phase, and may not actually be the one that gets to write the piece. But possibly.

Off to work.

(Crossposted to my serious blog)

In the spirit of

2007-07-28T09:47:00.000-05:00

This post, here comes another guess at what some of the crew are thinking...

All Characters are owned by Paramount and "Star Trek"
No Copyright infringement intended or implied.

"I don't know why we had to pick Ten-Forward for the celebration...The holodeck could have taken us anywhere..." said the man with the artificial eyes, in between libations.

"It was neccesary to include everyone...who has sailed an Enterprise..." said the machine serenely, now having well come to terms with his own odd method of rebirth.

The Vulcan and his Captain, at another table, spoke quietly...

"Was it worth it? All the dangers we faced to reopen this connection? to have an impact on their past and future again...? for at least a small bit of time...? Look who we *lost* to get here!" The captain was uncharacteristically morose for a moment, thinking of Scotty lost in the first trial when an entire station working on restoring the connection had blown up, due to the incompetence of one of his underlings that he just had to go in and rework...

"And", softly by the Vulcan, "The good Doctor..."

They both fell silent again for a moment, remembering their good friend, so upset and volatile at the loss of the connection two years back, that he had again dissapeared and not communicated with them for many months. There had been a justifiably prideful communique some small while ago regarding the cures he had been able to create for nearly a third of the population of an entire planet decimated by an immuno-deficiency virus. Then, the grim one that followed a week later confirming his death, executed by a local warlord for treating "the enemy."

The Vulcan continued..."Both of them would have appreciated another attempt to communicate, connect with the past and future. Both would see this as a worthy thing. If they were at this table now, they would be pleased," he said with the certainty that is peculiarly Vulcan.

"You're right, of course, as always," the Captain admitted. "Risk has always been out there."

Suddenly, the Captain's mood shifted, to an irritated stuffy persona he did quite well, that hid a geniuine bit of curiousity..."Don't see why we're going to have to rehash all that business that went on when we were..."

"...Beginning our careers, and exceedingly inexperienced..." the Vulcan said, in that diplomatic mode he had learned at his father's knee...

"Young and and stupid is more likely..."

"Can the two of you please be still? The Frenchman asked in a jovial manner, passing by the table..."There's a bit of time to wait before it begins...and everyone wants to come at this fresh....don't spoil it."

Just under his breath, the Captain groaned...
And the Vulcan raised an eyebrow...

Resurrection Day

2007-07-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

"That green-blooded son-of-a-bitch! It's his revenge for all those arguments he lost..."

---The late DeForrest Kelley, as Dr. Leonard McCoy in "Star Trek III The Search for Spock"

Well, since this place was originally set up to be a "Star Trek" wake...since Trek has been turning endings into beginnings for more than forty years....it follows that a "Star Trek" wake has a bit of a different ending/beginning than your typical wake. I hereby eat my words.

...I knew about the JJ Abrams film due in 2008....but the details of this resurrection are falling into place .

Nimoy is set to reprise Elder Spock for us (wonderful, wonderful yay, yay, happydance yay...I'm actually a bit misty about it, now that I've recovered from fainting dead away at the news, laugh)....and EEEEEE! One of my 'Heroes' favorites will be there too.

And perhaps Denny Crane will make an appearance as well...

A Flashback of sorts.

2007-07-22T12:23:00.000-05:00

Once, I was the wife of a comic fan. I knew nothing about comics except that I scorned them mightily, they not being (my words at the time) 'real books.' We would go to the famed Twilight Book and Game store, a five hour drive away....and he'd head for the comic racks I'd go for the speculative fiction, and our meeting in the middle meant that there *might* be a high end Green Arrow graphic novel that I'd consent to read, and that he would grudgingly purchase for me...

The late husband started out working for Tony Isabella in the late seventies in his comic store...and writing his own mimeographed stuff...blessedly, the late spouse decided remaining on the 'fan' side of the equation was best, and so would haunt local dealers and conventions mostly buying, but sometimes selling, a collection that once filled an entire room of his family home.

In the comic world at the time, my perception was that there were the two camps DC and Marvel (rather like Mac and PC, back in the day) and that 'niver the twain shall meet..'

I confessed shortly after marrying him that I 'had' in fact loved the Spiderman comics (and the rarer Sub-Mariner) when I was a little girl (The 1967 Superman and Spiderman TV cartoons had fostered a hunt for the comics...) This was slightly troubling to him as he was a DC guy all the way....but it wasn't a marriage ender...

Like almost every other comic fan I ever encountered 'brash' and 'opinionated' leading to 'brusque and alienating,' were definitely parts of his emotional soup. But real life changes and growing up had turned these things in another difficult direction....

But before his focus left the world of comics, he did say the single funniest thing I ever heard him say about comics... and it is only funny to comic fans and only pleasing to the ear for that part of comic fandom that agreed with him.

I know I'm going to attract some trolls here. Bear in mind please as you chomp up my comment list....that I'm merely the reporter of what was said...It's in the next paragraph or so that I get nasty.

He said, after reading John Byrnes revamp of Superman in the eighties---which he liked!---

"That John Byrne...Ego, the Living Planet!"

I'm (sacrilige!) a Peter David fan mesel'

Mostly because Peter is on my list of The Only Trek Fiction Writers Worth Ponying up Some of My Paycheck For.

Peter David

Diane Duane

Diane Carey

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

Marshak and Culbreath, a real oldie

After my husband's death, I did, in my last attempt *ever* in this lifetime to date anyone... date another comic book fan....a person who was as fiercely in the Marvel Camp as the husband had been in the DC Camp. I was impressed and pleased that one of the minor perks of this connection allowed me to admit to my love of Spidey.

Maybe, I thought, this is some kind of Cosmic Do-Over and this guy won't die soon, and I can perhaps have all of the pieces of a long term relationship that I was denied due to a nasty connection between a childhood ilness and the business practices of BighPharma....It'll work. It'll be okay...I'll just....

But No.

It ended badly. (Very Very Badly)

And thus, my connection to the divisive, talented, bitterly feuding, charming in it's own earnest twisted sort of way, self important world of comics ended...

But, when I need a laugh and need to remember the late husband in a good way, I just rewind the tape in my head and remember..."Ego, the living Planet!'

Bwahahahahahahaahhaahahhaahha.....

Tangled Webs, Straight Lines

2007-05-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: I am *not* an official Marvel comic book nerd. I know very little of any Marvel character history outside of the films and cartoons. I have no investment in some argument about what is, or should be canon in the Spidey flicks.

*Spoilers Below* so if you haven't seen Spiderman 3 yet, *don't keep reading* if you want to be kept ignorant of plot twists etc.

It is my considered opinion that multiple villain stories are *great* for comics....the day that a reader woolgathered and said to themselves, "How great would it be if Character A and Character B interacted from different universes, different moral sides, even different comicbook makers...Also the multi-hero Justice League thing has some of the same juice...

But.... I've noticed...

For *films* featuring comic book villains and heroes...Meh, not so much.

I wanted this Spiderman flick to be all about the tensions between Harry, Peter, and Mary Jane. The two guys wrestling with their dark sides, or dark parents, and Mary Jane realizing that if she married Peter, it wasn't going to be all goofy love all the time.

I *wanted* Harry to get his licks in with his fights with Peter, because from his perspective he was avenging his father's death, just as Peter went after
Sandman...

But both Sandman, and the wanna-be photographer, distract the viewer and pull attention and time away from the main story.

And the Sandman and the photographer also get shorted because there's not enough movie for them...Sandman in particular isn't a one-note dry cleaned version of Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four...He's complicated and driven, from the first moments you see him with his daughter, and I wanted to learn the backstory....

Loved the black hero costume, and the total asshat behavior of "Darth Spidey." (right down to the symbiont "acting like" some meteor that fell in "The Seventies," and Peter Parker's patently ridiculous Travolta strut with the 70's funky backround music in the black tailored suit.)

Did anyone else catch the joke of the photographers red hair....reminscent of Toby Maquires red hair in Seabuscuit? They *had* to differentiate them, in part, because IMO the actor who played the photographer looks a lot *like* Toby McGuire in real life from his stint on "That 70's Show..."

Two hours of great cgi, regular stunts and special effects...*should have been spent* on Spiderman,Goblin redux (and satisfyingly 'redeemed...) and the girl having trouble choosing between them.

One last cavil.

Parker bounced back from killing two people just a bit too quickly...one used to be his best friend...

My opinion, of course.

"In The Beginning...."

2007-03-03T13:37:00.000-05:00

A guest post from my cousin The Journalist:

"OK, by now we've all heard about Matt Damon, Adrian Brody and Gary Sinise possiby being

cast as the big 3 in "Star Trek XI." It sounds like it might be pretty cool, but I'll believe it when I

see Matt Damon on Jay Leno talking about how he's playing Jim Kirk. Frankly this sounds like

something a bunch of Trek geeks - like us, let's face it - would come up with while we're sitting

around thinking, hmmm...who would WE cast as Kirk, Spock & McCoy?That being said, if it

actually happens....This talk among fans about possible damage to continuity and canon has got

to stop. We've got to let it go. Yes, like many fans, I would love to see the movie include

characters like Gary Mitchell, Carol Marcus, Finnegan & Ruth, Sam & Aurelyn Kirk, etc. But

these are pipe dreams on our part. There's no way these people who are new to the franchise

like J.J. Abrams are going to care about continuity and canon. Even longtime Trek heads who

ran "Star Trek Enterprise" made blatant cointiuity errors. For crying out loud, "Voyager" would
flat out contradict things that were going on in "Deep Space Nine" WHEN THE TWO SHOWS

WERE ON THE AIR AT THE SAME TIME! We just need to accept that this new movie will be a
new take on the franchise, and hope it's a good story, and not worry about whether it "fits in"

with what we know from past incarnations of Trek. It will make it much more enjoyable, and

that's the point, right?

Just my two cents..."

RunAmok Time

2007-02-21T00:26:00.000-05:00

And, they did it *again!*

The enhanced Trek "Amok Time" did give a wonderful matte type shot of Kirk, Spock and McCoy going to the place of marriage across a rock bridge reminiscent of the Mount Seleya shot from Star Trek III. They showed this matte twice...

But they couldn't resist.

Not only did they cut one of Celia Lovsky's great lines as T'Pau, they actually *cut it in half!"

The Original Original Series has her saying to Spock...

"It is said. Thy Vulcan blood is thin. Art thee Vulcan? Or Art thee Human...?" with as close to contempt as I ever heard any Vulcan admit to.

The Futureized Original Series has her say...

"It is said"/and then immediately cut to another shot or line of dialogue with the rest of the line never recovered...

Am I splitting hairs? Yes, absolutely I am.

But if the point of this was to introduce TOS to a new generation of fans, they need to be aware they are not getting the whole picture...and to carve up one of the best shows of the series? Nuts.

Personally, I'll be happy if they replace "The Apple," "And the Children Shall Lead" "Spectre of the Gun" and "The Way to Eden" with a buncha cool special effects and eviscerated dialogue...and if they can surgically remove most of the women's lines from "Spock's Brain"

"I put upon my head the Teacher..." Gaah. I'll thank the adapters of this new version of TOS

But *not* the best of it. Not "Amok Time."

What's next? Journey to Babel deprived of "Tellarites do not argue for reasons. They simply argue."

City On the Edge of Forever without: "...Do as your heart tells you to do...and millions will die who did not die before."

"Balance of Terror" without: "You and I are of a kind...in a different reality, I could have called you friend..."

"Errand of Mercy" altered minus Kor's lament, "It would have been glorious."

...

Count me now in the "These Suck" Column

2007-02-11T18:45:00.000-05:00

Regarding the "Futureized" Trek.

Because...

Well, first let's back up....

Anyone who is a TOS fan, pay attention.

Saw "The Doomsday Machine" last evening.

And, they put in an amazing first shot of the decimated Constellation, roiling in space with asterroid chunks flying in erratic trajectories all round... as well as cool semi maneuvering scenes by Decker's shuttle.

Not to mention that the Planet Killer is now about forty times scarier, which is fantastic...

So, if I *like* that stuff, what's my beef?

While they left in....

Decker, full of crazed snark, to Spock: "I don't recognize your authority to relieve me..."

They took *out*...

Decker, cagey : "You're bluffing."

Spock at his most certain and assured: "Vulcans..never..bluff."

And they also cut about five seconds out of the nerve jangling countdown at the end.

*Who* said that TOS would bring in a new generation of fans if they glitzed it up, but cut dialogue and altered thematic impact as shamelessly as any syndicator in the 1970's who "stripped" it ever did.

I love the new FX, but the episodes are diminished without every beloved line.

A "Fantasy" sort of Christmas

2006-12-25T00:15:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, circumstances mean you spend "time off" with fictional characters, rather than people.

So a shout out to a long list of very fictional persons.

First, the seasonally appropriate:

Whoville

Christmastown...

And that good man Charlie Brown...

Or the rest:

Anyone in Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone."

The crews of all the "Enterprise's"

As well as the Millenium Falcon

Monty Python's bunch.

Jim West and Artemis Gordon (and Miguelito Loveless)

Everyone from Collinwood.

Or Narnia

Or Middle-Earth

Or 34th Street...

Or Sherwood Forest

Or The Emerald City

Places to go when circumstances circumscribe seasonal celebraton in the real world...

40th Anniversary The First 20 years

2006-09-08T00:13:00.000-05:00

Myself and my cousin The Journalist, well, we just love this stuff: So, without further ado we present, a tribute in two acts, on the occasion of Trek's 40th.

Star Trek: In September 1966, something happened. The first, the original, *without which there would have been no others* “Star Trek” premiered on NBC TV. A series that did not insult viewers’ intelligence, but acknowledged it and pushed the folks on the couch to puzzle, think, and understand as they watched. I’m not comfortable with the disrespect given this lovely prize by fans who only celebrate the spinoffs.

It’s important to remember Star Trek fans got a jump on something BIG.
The future.

The show itself took an incredible leap forward by representing humanity. I don’t permit the “it’s so dated” type of remarks. If you weren’t there, perhaps there is no effective way to explain to you how much of a risk Roddenberry took by just having different races and sexes and nationalities up there on the bridge.
In a time before personal computers, we knew about shipboard systems that held vast amounts of information. And its crew had personal models that they carried around with them.

In a time before cell phones, we knew about just such things. They were handheld “walkie-talkies” with astonishing range.

Diagnostic medical beds, aerosol medication delivery, wireless headsets. But *none* of this tech junk even begins to tell us what, or who, were the most important parts of the story.

The *characters.*

Star Trek is our mythos. The place where larger than life heroes showed us an idea that is currently on very dangerous ground. The idea that humanity *does* get to a point of not just *peaceful* coexistence, but an *interesting peace* peace without many borders, or much boredom…an enthusiastic merry band of warrior/diplomats that keep their society in line while being mindful of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, and the Prime Directive. (Yes, Kirk used it like a rubber band. But without the *concept* the whole Federation would have been one large “brush war.”) Now, for those who expect a bit of Shatner bashing…go somewhere else for that. Pull out your DVD of first season Trek and watch Kirk. Before there was any parody of anything at all. Watch “Balance of Terror,” where we get both Kirk the master, restrained, *careful,* intense, *underplayed* strategist, and a sweet bit of the endlessly compassionate McCoy. Or the second pilot, where Kirk is all about stopping a nutcase, not out in front hamming. “Court Martial,” where there are pretty evenhanded doses of Kirk the tomcat, and Kirk the unjustly accused truthful defendant.

And before someone points me to the truly underappreciated “A Piece of the Action,” [“Captain you make an excellent starship commander, but as a taxi driver you leave much to be desired.”] or “I Mudd” or “The Trouble with Tribbles.” [“Why Mr. Baris they like *you!* But there’s no accounting for taste.”] This was *comedy.* If I remember correctly everyone got to ham it up a bit in those episodes.

Kirk’s my favorite “tin plated overbearing dictator with delusions of godhood…” So there.

Spock, the cool analytical risk taker in “Gallileo 7,” the anguished son in “Naked Time,” or restrained, but no less anguished officer in “Journey to Babel.”

The writers and Nimoy managed to create such a believable “other,” that an eyebrow made sense, that the subtlest change in stance, movement, tone, cadence or nuance was full of meaning whether the story was drama or comedy. They made us love Vulcans so much we asked for more! We got Sarek, T’Pring,T’Pau T’lar Stonn (poor fool!) Spock’s sniping at McCoy became a further window into his grudging respect and admiration for the doctor and his unwavering loyalty to his commander….so human, really.

McCoy. He was, I think, the first character who saw all the way in to the entire Spock. Kirk, did also, but I think McCoy “got it” first. Understood him. And did him and his cultural sensitivities the favor of bringing it out through the acceptable back door of an argument. Spock wouldn’t be so beloved if McCoy hadn’t been a window into his nature. It’s difficult to write about the character now, because the man who gave him life has left the planet. But DeForest Kelley and the writers infused this doctor with such caring, expertise and concern…that by the time McCoy did meet with a ladylove [“For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky”] I was cheering that for once the nice guy did not finish last, whatever the merits of the episode.

For De, and James Doohan both…who didn’t make it to this anniversary… The word has been given, and I’ve no doubt they’re at warp speed.

Scotty who was the *only* one who *truly* loved that ship. Without his miracles, Kirk might have expired mid series…the beam of smile and certainty that was Sulu at the helm, who we loved best when he was out of character and sometimes even out of uniform. Uhura, a smart tough lady the guardian of the ships “communication tether” back to settled space a songbird, and a sexy Mata Hari full of bravado when trying to escape Mirror space…writing at the time gave the character little room for growth, but thankfully much written Trek tells us she is an academic, a student of language and communication…so much more than “hailing frequencies open, sir.” Chekov, the studious, earnest Russian product of a more open society that we had *no idea* was coming in 1967. Not to mention the best screamer in the bunch.

Even the some of the villains get amazingly respectful treatment. Mark Lenard’s resigned, bitter complex Romulan Commander, the merrily authoritarian Kor, of John Colicos…they ring just as ‘true’ and multifaceted as the “good guys.” I credit Colicos’ performance alone with giving the writers of the spinoffs the idea that there had to be more to this race than its aggressions.

Okay, I’ll admit to the third season….but in my recent review of the episodes I remembered that, the *second* season had its fair share of turkeys too… (The *Apple?*) But, bear with me. The turkeys *hurt* so much because we *know* the fineness of these stories, these performances, this vision of the future….

If you’re going to try to explain to a non-fan what’s great about the original Star Trek, you already know that using “Spock’s Brain,” “Spectre of the Gun,” “The Way to Eden” “Plato’s Stepchildren” or “Turnabout Intruder,” probably won’t make them ask for more, but, could, in fact, send them shrieking out into the night begging for some “Fabulous Thunderbirds” DVD’s. And, the cool episodes of Trek would not have “The Enterprise Incident” or “The Empath” in their midst if we hadn’t had a Season Three.

But the fact of the matter is that when Roddenberry left the show, even after the fans wrote in and saved it (Wrote in? Another unheard of thing.), the show’s days were numbered. And, then, when it was cancelled….*another crazy thing happened.*

The show, the idea, ended, was in danger of fading away….and the fans said: NO! This is too good, too interesting, too hopeful, too *important* of a possibility to give up. And they wrote, and wrote and wrote. (the writing has never stopped and continues to this day. I’m personally incredibly fond of the written Trek of Marshak and Culbreath, Diane Duane, A.C. Crispin, Margaret Wander Bonnano, and Peter David. Go get it. It’s consistently as good and sometimes even better than the show. I know, I know, I hear the squawks of “Treason!” for miles. Too Bad.) Blish recaptured the original stories. Fans wrote stories just to write them, and they gathered three years later to celebrate what they loved. Paramount was astounded… but somebody was smart enough to greenlight more adventures for Kirk and Co. via animation. (On DVD soon!) The actual animation is poor, but the writing of a few was incredible, and the voices of almost all the original actors were used…the animated shows are best “seen” with the eyes closed, I’ve found.

So the writing and congregating, and art and ideas went on and on. Amazingly we got our wish…and then the man who’d created this vision and helped it along for so long…stumbled. When we saw Kirk, a strangely cold, not just cool, Spock, and a bearded snarky McCoy…we were exhilarated as only one who has pined for a long anticipated reunion can get. But the first film is an oddly static story, color washed out of the writing and the uniforms, a still, overblown piece where adoring shots of the Enterprise newly lovely couldn’t make up for the missing heart in the writing about the people who fly in her. It made money, not because of what it was, but because of what we hoped for.

I forget the behind the scenes machinations that allowed for a second Trek film, but I thank the studio gods (whomever they may be) that a second film was shot. “Wrath of Khan,” is a true extension of the best series episodes, a bigger story, a more powerful score, a riveting return of a powerful villan and Kirk, McCoy and more than ever Spock…doing what they did best, and doing it well. Camaraderie, investigation, strategy, humor (“a difficult concept.”), Kirk finally being held to some sort of account for at least one of his affairs, (heh) and, heroic self sacrifice….I’m a softie….. even now when I *know* the ultimate answer is reunion…

When Spock stands to attention in front of his Captain and straightens his tunic, the horrific damage from radiation clear on his face and hands…. “I…never took…the Kobiashi Maru test…’til now….what do you think… of my solution?”

I can’t help but cry.

But of course there’s that odd little ‘gift’ he left McCoy…and there we go into the third film…with Nimoy directing the “Search for Spock,” and the band of brothers and sisters shows just what they will do: [“Oh I’ll have Mister Adventure eating out of my hand, sir…” “I’m glad you’re on *our* side!” “How many fingers am I holding up?” “That green blooded son-of-a-bitch! It’s his revenge for all those arguments he lost.” And my *favorite!* “Don’t call me Tiny!”]

What they will risk, or give up to save a comrade. Because, after all…Risk was their business. That was the twentieth anniversary…and the world is much changed….

I have to journey into the personal for just a moment. For those who know me offline and have known me, they know that I never would have met my other half without the Star Trek we both loved…it’s what brought us together…he had a great wish to stand on the NCC 1701’s (“No bloody A, B, C, or D!”) bridge…to sit in a particular Captain’s chair…but was too ill by the time we made it to the Smithsonian to be comfortable with anyone taking his picture. But he saw the exhibit of the sets and the costumes of the original series in 1992, and drank it all in with a purposeful intensity committing it to loving detailed memory, so that in his last eight months he could mentally take it out and polish it and remember…because he knew he had a long journey yet to go… He didn’t make it to this anniversary…but "There are always possibilities"...

The last part of this will be the one ‘speech’ from TOS Trek that still makes me want to freakin’ *stand and salute* when I hear it, and I’m a cynic. To me it’s not overblown, hokey, or false. It rings true. I’ve bracketed in one small alteration for sense. ---Imfunnytoo.

"The illogic of waste, Mr. Spock...the waste of lives, potential, resources, time.
I submit to you that your Empire is illogical because it cannot endure.
I submit that *you* are illogical to be a willing part of it.
If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial,doesn't logic demand that you be a part of it?" "One man cannot summon the future."
"But one man can change the present.
Be the captain of this Enterprise, Mr. Spock!
Find a logical reason for saving the Halkans [doing right?] ,and make it stick.
Push till it gives!
What will it be?
Past or future?
Tyranny or freedom?
It's up to you.”
”It is time.”
”In every revolution, there's one man with a vision...."

"Captain Kirk, I shall consider it." *

*From “Mirror Mirror” by Jerome Bixby. All Star Trek material copyright Paramount Pictures, no copyright infringement intended or implied.

40th Anniversary The Last 20 years

2006-09-08T00:02:00.000-05:00

Yes, the failure/resurgence of the original Trek series was an amazing success story, one that has never been equaled.
Yes, the first United States space shuttle was named after the ship on the show.
Yes, the 70s and early 80s were a memorable time for fans of the series.

But nothing - Nothing - prepared the world for The Voyage Home.

It's not the best Trek movie. You will find very few hardcore fans who think it's even the second best. But as far as the rest of the world was concerned, Star Trek IV was the true Trek crossover.

Everyone saw this movie. Everyone. Didn't matter if you were a Trek fan or not. Everything Paramount always says when there's a new Trek movie coming out, that PR bullsh!t about how "This movie will appeal to you even if you don't know the difference between a Borg and a tribble?!" Well, this is the only one of the 10 Trek movies that lived up to that.

And Star Trek IV remains, 20 years later, an absolute joy to watch. It's a great story, it celebrates what's great about each of the main seven original Trek characters, and the laughs are uncountable. In the vein of classic shows like "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "A Piece of the Action," the humor is never forced, it seems natural and grows out of the story and characters. It returned Spock to us - though the previous film had been the physical search for the character, "Voyage Home" was the character's search to rediscover himself, and it was both hysterical and moving. And the movie contains perhaps the best Chekov story ever - and maybe his best of many screams.
The syndication renaissance in the 70s had turned Kirk, Spock & co. into pop culture icons. The early movies turned them into commodities. But Voyage Home was what turned them into STARS.

So it was no surprise that shortly after that movie hit, Paramount announced big plans for Trek. Really big. Not just another movie - that was inevitable. Another TV show. The biggest gamble in Trek history That's what The Next Generation was. A new Trek show, with no characters from the first series? With Klingons as good guys? With a bald British guy playing a French captain? Roddenberry was taking a big chance here---messing with the very core of what he'd created, and he was risking alienating his legions of fans. Would anyone accept this new show? There was no way to know. Of course, we all know the answer to that question now, and it seems obvious in hindsight. TNG was the best thing on TV, and when looked at now, a dozen years after it went off the air, it's lost none of its power. Why the stupendous success of TNG? Why did it surpass Paramount's wildest expectations? First of all, it was constructed in the same spirit that the first series had been: it was powerful allegorical drama disguised as sci-fi. But even with the purest of intentions, the best that could remotely have been hoped for was to come close to equaling the original show in popularity, right? The best they could do was not lose the current fans, right? Not so, it turned out; TNG did the impossible: it became its own animal. It carved out its own niche. It had its own fans. It brought new devotees to Trek. Think about it: Would it ever have occurred to you in a million years, when you were watching that TNG pilot in 1987, that in the not-too-distant future, there would be serious debates about whether Patrick Stewart, who at that time seemed crusty and unheroic, was actually a BETTER captain than Jim Kirk?! Which leads us to 1989----what I call the turning point in Trek history. The year that the new generation truly took the Trek mantle from our original characters. That year, the original series stumbled for the first time in many many years, by depositing the disappointing "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (an overblown and conceptually flawed film that sobered us all up to the fact that Trek was indeed fallible) in theaters. That was the same year that TNG's third season began. And despite the success of the first two seasons, 1989-90 was the true breakthrough year in terms of defining the show; it was TNG's "Goldfinger," and it cemented the style, quality and insane popularity of Jean-Luc Picard and his crew which remains to this day. So TNG was no longer in Kirk & Company's shadow. It was now, in fact, the flagship of the franchise. That year saw such modern Trek classics as "Yesterday's Enterprise," "The Offspring," and of course, "The Best of Both Worlds" cliffhanger. Its cast became beloved. Its writers took what were novelty ideas deposited into the show in season 1 and took them to their highest potential: You give us an unemotional android? We'll turn him into one of the most intriguing characters in history, who makes us laugh and cry at the same time. You give us a Klingon on the bridge who starts off with lots of makeup and barely any personality? We'll give you a full-blown Shakespearean storyline exploring Worf's family and his entire heritage. By the time the fourth season began, Picard may have been De-Borgified, but the entire Trek fan base had been assimilated. TNG was a juggernaut that could not be stopped.There was sadness on the horizon, though---Gene Roddenberry's health was failing. He died in the midst of what was perhaps Trek's biggest year to that date---its 25th anniversary. TNG was stronger than ever, with Leonard Nimoy making a seminal appearance as Spock. The final original series film- "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" - would amend for the debacle of the previous movie and end the Kirk-era stories on a high note. And plans were gestating for a second spin-off series (more on that in a moment). Roddenberry's passing signaled the official beginning of the Rick Berman years of Trek. One of Gene's top guys since the start of TNG, he would lead the franchise for 14 more years, up until the end of "Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2005. And he would not let Trek rest on its laurels. Within three years of Roddenberry's death, he had spearheaded two new Trek shows, and relaunched the movie franchise with the TNG crew as its stars. And while his accomplishments and his contributions to Star Trek have been debated over the years, there's no denying that he was the guiding force behind everything that was good about the franchise since Roddenberry's death. Unfortunately for his legacy, he's equally to blame for the shitty stuff.

The Berman era The great "Deep Space Nine" (1993-99) is the misunderstood stepchild of Roddenberry's original vision - and the boldest, most audacious, rich series the franchise ever gave us. It was a look at Star Trek's universe from a different, more complex angle; instead of the flagship of the mighty Federation on a ship of Starfleet's finest, the DS9 gang was a diverse mix of archetypes, most of whom saw Starfleet from an outside perspective. Over the course of seven years, DS9 shook up the Trek universe, and through its willingness to break the rules that had been established for it, showed us how it was even more cool than we thought it was. The show managed to weave together a knock-down drag-out two-year war, an oppressed spiritual race, political intrigue, and a singing, self-aware hologram in a Vegas gin joint. Pretty amazing. And it's too bad the show never received the true crossover acceptance that TNG did, but the true fans know how damn good it is.Meanwhile, the first TNG film, "Generations," usually is ranked as one of the lesser movie series entries by the fans, and despite its box office success, it was not seen as viable evidence that Picard and his gang were movie stars. The presence of original series elements in that flick - most notably a high-energy scene-stealing supporting performance from the future Denny Crane - fueled the perception that the TNG crew might not be true successors to the celluloid Trek throne.But all that changed with the 1996 release of "First Contact," which, in Trek's 30th anniversary year, managed to become the second most financially lucrative Trek film ever, despite what some saw as an oversaturation of the franchise at the time, with two series on the tube every week. Undeniably the best TNG movie, "First Contact" put to rest any debate over who was truly the king of modern-day Trek: it was Jean-Luc Picard. He had been a superstar on the TV show, without a doubt, but after a more subtle, quiet performance in "Generations," the second TNG movie let Stewart truly let loose, and show us a Picard we'd never seen before, both heroic and angry. (Ten years after the release of that movie, his legendary status in the sci-fi genre has only strengthened with his subsequent role in the blockbuster X-Men series.) No longer was there any question that TNG could hold its own on the big screen.

On the small screen, however, things were a bit shakier. While "First Contact" was burning up the box office, the UPN network's pride and joy, "Star Trek: Voyager" seemed to be experiencing a measurable ratings drop with every episode. "Voyager" was born around the same time the Internet was exponentially spreading its wings, and while Trek and the Net are often thought of as symbiotic, "Voyager" took hits like no other Trek series ever had as a result of online fans complaints. And a lot of the buzz was bad. To be fair, many of the complaints were justified. The show had a great setup and very little follow through. While DS9 benefited from its unique take on the Trek universe, Voyager was hindered by its conceptual similarity to TNG. For a show which was set 70,000 years from the Federation, the stories and aliens we met seemed pretty familiar. Precisely the wrong approach was taken---the more the show stumbled the more Berman tried to make it like TNG. What he should have done was push the envelope and give the show its own voice. Never happened. Despite creative bursts here and there - and a brief resurgence in attention to the show with the addition of Borg-in-a-catsuit Jeri Ryan in Season 4, the show was creatively stunted for most of its run. Voyager lasted for seven years, but it had worn out its welcome long before then.

I won't say much about "Star Trek: Enterprise" because unfortunately its story pretty much mirrors Voyager's. Bold beginning, interesting concept---it was even the first Trek series to cast a semi-well-known "star" as its captain- Scott Bakula, who had headlined the popular "Quantum Leap." But for the most part, it didn't deliver. It was seen as the same old stuff, and Trek fans were getting bored. The strongest evidence that Paramount had lost confidence in the show was when the moniker "Star Trek" was added in the third season (for the first two years the title was simply the more ballsy "Enterprise," which seemed to indicate a later-abandoned break with the formula). The seven-year Trek series life established by TNG was over; Enterprise had to fight for even a fourth---and final---year. (Ironically, the last season of Enterprise was its best. It started to truly tie in Captain Archer's stories with the "future" series' chronicles. If the fourth season had been the first, the show might actually have lasted longer.)The Berman era was clearly in a rut. The two most recent Trek feature films, "Insurrection" and "Nemesis," each dropped off measurably at the box office from the previous installment.

For the first time in 18 years, there is no Trek show on the tube.But that's probably a good thing. Trek is too perennial and too much a part of popular culture to be gone forever, but it needs a rest. On this, the 40th year of what Roddenberry wrought, we need time to step back and enjoy what we we've been given. We need to watch our DVDs of the original, TNG, DS9, and the good Trek movies, and revel in how good they are, and just be happy that we will always have them. The future So it's with decidedly mixed feelings and hesitant anticipation that I greet the recent announcement of an 11th Trek movie planned for 2008---this one spearheaded by "Lost" and "Alias" guru J.J. Abrams with nary a Berman or Brannon Braga in sight. New blood? Yes, it's a good idea. And if Abrams can guide the tired "Mission Impossible" film series, featuring a star whose popularity is on the outs, to $140 million, maybe he can reboot Star Trek, which (sorry MI fans) is clearly a much better series, both on TV and celluloid. But has Trek had enough time off? My instinct says not even close. How much time does it need? Think about the title of the second show. Maybe Trek needs to wait for the next generation---pun absolutely intended---until its next rebirth, when the world can see it with fresh eyes and welcome it with open arms, with all the baggage of Trek-spinoff-overload long since shed.

That being said, I'm a Trekaholic, and I'll be there opening night for whatever the hell the next installment ends up being. I just hope it proves itself worthy of its 40-year legacy. ---The Journalist.

Good,bad, or who cares

2006-09-01T16:21:00.000-05:00

Star Trek (as in TOS) is returning to syndication...with a difference.

Per TV guide Insider, (go there for a shot of the "new " look for the NCC 1701) The special effects available now have replaced original shots of planets and ships, and updated static alien landscapes with moving clouds and/or water and repaired some glitches.
Per the Insider article, there's also an episode where we never saw a phaser beam come out of a phaser Scotty fired, and that has been corrected. Also someone has said they will be syndicated out of their original performance order.

So are we:

1. Pleased, can't wait to see the new look.

2. Cynical: This was just a Lucas-esque ploy to make us re-buy the DVD's.

3. Sacrilege! This is an artifact of television history/brilliance that should *never* have been "updated" to please the mob hunger for current-style special effects. Are the Klignon's going to suddenly grow ridges on their heads? Romulans too? [Don't you dare spoil my Mark-Lenard-as-Romulan for me like that. Or the female commander either! They're *fine,* just the way they are. ]

4. Think the special effects update is quite cool, and in a way will show the episodes further idealized...as they "could have been," but in no way do you mess with the episode order like that! (That would mean a winner like "City" could be immediately followed up with "Spock's Brain!" Do we really need our Trek scrambled like a bad omelette?)

5. Couldn't care less.

Color me #4. The link above also has a great picture.

Shows how out of touch I am

2006-08-27T22:26:00.000-05:00

Until tonights Emmy Broadcast I didn't know Michael Piller had passed away...

"Something in the Water"

2006-08-20T14:58:00.000-05:00

And this isn't even one quarter about Star Trek.

I submit that “Star Trek” was the largest part of a “culture of the strange” that had taken over America’s television sets, or was about to. The Different was In, and television producers thought they had “The Next Big Thing, if it was even a little off center.

If I were still a student doing a Phd of Popular Culture I would put the mid Sixties as a time when it would be profoundly clear that not only was the television audience chemically altered...the producers had obviously indulged in *something* mood altering before making buying decisions.

First, there was the harbinger that this Wasn't Going To Be Your Father's Television Decade:...The Twilight Zone that debuted in 1959 driven by that chain smoking production line storyteller Rod Serling. He was a most bipolar sort of scribe.. either Really Awful or Amazing and guesting...Billy Mumy...Burgess Mereidith...William Shatner...

Then, The Outer Limits...John DF Black...and Harlan Ellison's "Demon with A Glass Hand."

"Do not adjust your set. We control the Horizontal. We control the Vertical. "

All that was missing was the BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA at the end. And the stepchildren of these shows...all already well documented by Stephen King in his book."Danse Macabre."

Then there was that little show on CBS Heh. Written by Shimon Wincellburg or S-Bar David.

The show that caused CBS to turn down Trek because: We already have a space show...
I won't name it, but the JiffyPop Space suits, the precursor to Wesley the Wonderkund,the way-cool Robot and Smith the champion Malingering Spy....Blech...and...I hate to admit it...but.

(a really nifty muscial score by that guy...John Williams)

and no I am not even going to speak it’s *name here on this blog* That would be sacreligious.

Then there was that other show...a 1965 import that I *hate* and only saw for the first time last month....dull enough to make my teeth fall out.

Running hurriedly away from that,
Ahem… speaking of nifty musical scores...

The web niche for "Dark Shadows" can be found here: It's my third pop culture obsession, and it is celebrathing its 40th this year as well: Paradoxically I love "Trek" for when it hit its highest notes. I love DS because it is so unashamedly cobbled together, cheap, weird and low-budget. Except. The score by Bob Corbert *kicks **s.* It scared the **** out of me when I was a kid, and I still love it today.

But it doesn't fake out the viewer. It never tries to sell itself as something it isn't. Unlike a couple of big screen horror failures I could name. ("The Bride," *cough* *cough* Kenneth Brannagh's "Frankenstein" *choke* *cough*)

Dan Curtis stole horror classics and shoved them into a "five cliff hanger a week" soap weeper format with no apologies. It had strong women -- I defy anyone not to believe in Grayson Hall's Julia as the Compleat Cold Scientist, or that Lara Parker's Angelique (The actress has aged um, almost supernaturally well...age had barely touched her in an award show filmed in 1996) is the Mother of All Witches that will Truly Make You Regret Being Born if you **** with her. (while laughing hysterically as gravestones fall down, flies fly into the mouths of vampires [Hey, *that's* not in the script!] and bats fly on very visible wires.) Curtis seriously stumbled only with a story arc I'll call "The Thing In The Box..." No actual monster and it brainwashed everyone at Collinwood. HP Lovecraft meets the Stepford Wives...big misfire there.

It had unapoligetically promiscuous characters (and yet found itself in a quandry when one of its' main female players violated the "virginity clause" in her contract.)

It flips it's way merrily between eras and universes. ("The Parallel Time" story arc)

Another standout for it's musical score is the 1967 series of "Spider-Man" cartoons. (No valid linkage, but they are available at Amazon.)

Spidey’s an obvious cynic…in the first episodes he swerves dangerously close to delinquent and is never a winner, no matter how ably he dispatches a villain…all set to a nutty, jazzy, score that could only be about a hero in the Naked City. How can a colorful cartoon be a homage to comics and film noir at the same time??? This Spiderman did it well…and the kids got the usual jolt out of any costumed figure corralling the bad guys while the adolescents and some adults got a charge out of the sharper than a nail dialogue and the up to the minute music.

Spidey was also better than the TV ‘Batman’ of the time, because while the villains on that show were quite Clued in: Best example: Julie Newmar’s Emma Peel on catnip…or the completely crazed Frank Gorshin, the "heroes" were fence posts in costume.

We were supposed to buy that the leaden Bat and his perpetually shocked sidekick could *handle* these people?

I think NOT.

When one looks at TOS, I think it's important to know that it was simply the biggest best known, and best written of the wierd crop of stuff that hit the airwaves from 1959-1967

And for those of you upset that I haven't delved into Bond-mania and it's offspring (the coolest of which are the original "Johnny Quest" cartoons) its because *that* came from the politics of the day, not directly from the Weird side of the tracks.

And not *one* of the show's listed above would get past today's censors.

that makes me sad.

Prelude

2006-08-20T12:51:00.001-05:00

Before we touch on the 40 years,
Before we do honor to what we’ve loved…I have to go back a bit further.

To 1964.

Forty *two* years ago. When I was two going on three and couldn't have told a phaser from a popsicle and four years away from peering up at "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," from beneath my mother's ironing board. [Yes, the hamhanded anti-bigotry piece of wet towel was my very first exposure to Star Trek. And Frank Gorshin Wasn't even FUNNY, ***it!]

Roddenberry taking a meeting and promising those with the cash “of *course* you’ll get something familiar. Recognizable even. A space “Western.” High Noon with ray guns.

And then he went home and wrote, and…as happens often…when you are finished writing, it doesn’t come out as anything like what you started off to write.

Looking back and watching “The Cage,” well, of *course* it was Trek!
That amazing matte shot of Pike’s memory of Rigel 7, one of the best TOS ever created.
“A man’ll tell his bartender things he’ll never tell his doctor.”
“Rig to transmit ships power.”
“Is this a deception? Do you actually intend to destroy yourselves?”
“If we go buzzing about down there…”

And equally…what the hell is this? Certainly not the “Star Trek” we know.

“I’m *tired* of being responsible for 203 lives; who goes on the away team and who doesn’t; and who lives and who dies….to the point of considering resigning.” What a whiner!

If Kirk didn’t resign after losing Edith Keeler, then well *Mister Pike*
Suck it up and deal.

“…”I’m just not used to having a woman on the bridge.” (green and sensual in my fantasies hell yes! But NEVER on the bridge!)

[followed by an annoyed, pained look of Number One, his female First Officer, played by a gorgeous Majel Barret!]

An unfettered sweet Spock smile, pure Joy in the Unknown as he takes in some new flora.

But I’m just playin.’

I don’t really dismiss “The Cage.” As a matter of fact, it used one particular shot, that I believe had it been kept in, would have made the rest of TOS a bit more reverent and beautiful….Roddenberry did in 1964 what Robert Wise would overdo and fumble *badly* in Star Trek: The Motion(less) Picture.

There’s a “beauty pass” up over the ship’s bow in the opening credits, after the hinky music has subsided to a few constant belltones…you are given a sweep over the saucer section’s expanse, a sense of how big, and awesome the Enterprise is….and then the camera swings to the small bubble of the bridge atop the ship, and slowly hones in on the minuscule beings that move her…and we slip past the shields and through the hull….to a view of a starker bridge…but just as active…the hub of activity that we know well, just minus most of her happy coloring (in more than one way, since the crew is pretty Caucasian except for Spock)….and the story begins.

I love Pike. All the bravado…and all the pain, right out front, dragged there kicking and screaming by the Talosian’s powers of illusion. He’s terrified when he awakens that this will end up Just Like Rigel, and more of those he’s responsible for will lose their lives.

His soul is begging for that “rest at home,” while his mind realizes he’s got to work his way out of this box soon.

A snark about the “Orion Slave Girl” sequence: Vina has the tumbling dark curls, but she’s a deep forest/hunter green, the rich color of her skin being one more ‘attribute’ meant to titillate the senses, no doubt…She’s hot!

But then we get to “Enterprise” forty years later, and the Orion chicks have the lithe movement and the tumbling dark hair…but they’re painted with pea soup…that dark chartreuse that says nothing but “YUCK!” to me.

“There’s a way out of any cage and I’ll find it.” It’s Pike’s resolve speaking, but the line is pure James Tiberius Kirk.

TOS is branded as too sexist all the time, but I find the forced “catfight” between Vina, Colt and Number One stayed remarkably civilized, even with the Talosians vocalizing the hidden thoughts of Colt and Number One. For discussion of this pilot, and the TOS that comes after, people aren’t allowing it to spring up out of the ground as the product of its era.

Any First Contact team would know that the way to best understand a new planet’s culture is to record and report with as little bias as possible, and yet fans of the series (particularly those that never took to the original show, it seems) will not allow the pieces of this puzzle, conceived and built in different decades by differing creative teams, the influences it cannot avoid.)

And, the end of the Cage is now profoundly uncomfortable, if you really watch it.

Pike, Colt, Number One with the agreement of Vina, decide they will not live as amusing pets/ terraforming drones for the much more powerful Talosians and rig one of the away team’s phasers to explode. They’ll use the IED rather than submit.

“Your race has a unique hatred of captivity, even when it’s pleasant and benevolent… This makes you too violent and dangerous a species for our needs.”

…but that’s what Trek, real Trek is supposed to do….make you *think!*

And of course the suits said to Roddenberry….This isn’t our space opera! Come on now….Action/adventure!

And “Where No Man…” was the answer to that.

In early September we’ll talk about TOS….But since the Cage is unique….we give it it’s due separately.

I've never been happier to be wrong...:)

2006-07-29T13:28:00.000-05:00

Go here, to see a hint at the franchise's future.

EEEEEEEE! Happydance!

Trek's 40th

2006-07-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

Time to open the windows, beat the rugs and dust off the furniture. Yes, this place has been silent since January.

Other blogs and places on the Internet certainly have plans to celebrate Trek's 40th anniversary. (With Paramount remaining notably mute thus far).

There will be two tributes posted here on September 8th 2006, the 40th anniversary of the first U.S. airing of Star Trek, one for the first twenty years, and one for the most recent twenty. (the beginning of TNG and the "Voyage Home" film being the arbitrary cutoff point decided by this blogs owner. )

If there are any other bloggers/websites planning something special online, drop me a line and I'll link to it nearer to the date of the actual anniversary.

A "Crack'd" Idea

2006-01-02T13:52:00.000-05:00

A rumor from last month, found here, talks about the next film being set in the Mirror-Universe of Star Trek, with Picard, Archer, and (that two time Emmy winner #$%^&* WTF!) Kirk.

No Sisko? The writers cannot be bothered to yank him out of the wormhole to deal with a universe and it's inhabitants that he has dealt with *more often* than *any* of the other captains. Picard went once in the books, and was truly able to handle himself, (although I'd rather see Mirror Troi than Mirror Picard [delighted shudder]) Kirk was there for perhaps twelve hours and was lucky to escape before Marlena phasered him or Spock or Sulu gave him some time in the Booth. And the only way Shatner's casting would be remotely palatable for me is if he played Kirk's evil counterpart. Then, just as his Emmy turn as Denny Crane has been, he can be as nutty as he likes.

And, much as I love "In a Mirror Darkly" Archer *has never been there!" We only saw the counterparts!!!

I love Scott Bakula. I do. But they'd better swap Archer for Sisko, or that movie is going to bring what's left of the franchise seven years of bad luck.

I'm scared.

2005-12-28T22:54:00.000-05:00

I've just seen the "Extra Features" part of the Enterprise DVD box set and I just want to put something out there. For those who are TOS fans, and who have seen the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the celebrated Second Pilot

I have a few words.

Remember Gary Lockwood, the actor who played Gary Mitchell? The guy who smiled and snarked a lot at Kirk when he found he could Move Sprayed Styrofoam Coffee Cups At Will? The one who, while smiling and snarking had to stagger around the bloody set half blind because the darn silver contacts wouldn't let him *look at anything ?* [Even Sally Kellerman?] Well he has a good twin.

Manny Coto.

The guy looks like Gary Mitchell's older brother after a particularly good week at the health club, spa and vacation at the beach.

It's obvious that he had a great deal of fun on the last year of Enterprise, the year that fans of the show say *they got it right* about. He was nothing but positive. All smiles all the time. About the Augments arc with Brent Spiner, about the three episode arc on Vulcan, and he was even charitable about the beginning and end of the season, that came from the Berman/Braga braintrust. I liked his interview and the segment, but then he would smile and lean back in his chair and look down, and I would get this involuntary shiver and think, "When are his eyes going to flash silver?"

Other features included a *tiny* list of outtakes...the most memorable of which involve Scott Bakula, Jeffrey Coombs and some antennae.

There was some great material involving the Mirror Episodes showcasing mainly costume changes. "We put the "Ho" back in Hoshi," and how the writer of the episode planted a rationalization in part I so that we could see the Mirror- Enterprise crewpeople in TOS clothing in part II

The rest of the extras were just not worth it for me, since all they did was make me sad all over again about Enterprise's cancellation (last day of shooting, with a lengthy naming list of many many people who worked behind the scenes or as charactor actors and smaller roles, the wrap party etc.)

But, for the Mirror Episode stuff and Manny Coto's praise of the best of the fourth season, it is worth a view.

Cackling over a particular piece

2005-12-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

of my Christmas loot. :) Thank goodness it's ok to react like a child one day of the year:

"Enterprise: Season Four" was under my tree.

I'll review the "special features" etc section when I have a chance to actually sit down and watch it

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Christmas Trek

2005-12-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

To be sung at great volume and questionable pitch to the tune of 'The Twelve days of Christmas,"

On the first day of Christmas, My Captain gave to me:

A Tribble and some Saurian brandy...

On the second day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

A two day pass to Raisa, a Tribble,

and some Saurian Brandy

On the third day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa and a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my Captain gave to me: Four days with Q, three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa and a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy.

On the fifth day of Christmas My Captain gave to me:

Five Zindi Weapons....Four days with Q, Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy...

On the sixth Day of Christmas, my Captain gave to me:

Six space cadets,

Five Zindi Weapons...Four days with Q, Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, A tribble and some Saurian Brandy

On the seventh day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

Seven Klingon's Kursing,six space cadets,

Five Zindi Weapons...
Four days with Q, Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, a tribble and some Saurian Brandy.

On the Eighth day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

Eight whales singing, Seven Klingons Kursing, Six Space Cadets,

Five Zindi Weapons, Four days with Q Three of Garak's secrets a two day pass to Raisa and a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy.

On the ninth day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

Nine cups of ale (Romulan style, *whew!*), Eight Whales singing, Seven Klingons Kursing, Six space Cadets,

Five Zindi Weapons,

Four days with Q Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy

On the Tenth Day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

Ten emotion chips,Nine cups of ale, Eight Whales singing, Seven Klingons Kursing , Six space Cadets,

Five Zindi weapons,

Four days with Q, Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, and a tribble and some Saurian Brandy

On the eleventh day of Christmas my Captain gave to me:

Eleven Borg drones, Ten emotion chips, Nine cups of Ale, Eight Whales Singing, Seven Klingons Kursing, six space Cadets,

Five Zindi Weapons...

Four days with Q, Three of Garak's secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, and a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, My Captain gave to me:

Twelve Reman bodyguards, Eleven Borg drones, Ten emotion chips, Nine Cups of Ale, Eight Whales singing Seven Klingons Kursing, Six Space Cadets,

Five Zindi Weapons...

Four days with Q, Three of Garak's Secrets, a two day pass to Raisa, and a Tribble and some Saurian Brandy

Merry Christmas....

I've invited a Guest Trek Blogger

2005-12-18T12:52:00.000-05:00

to share their thoughts about the franchise written about two years ago.

Scott Shriner is a Trek Fan Extraordinare and a For Real Journalist. When he was young, I taught him up in the [Star Trek] ways he should go, and now that he has grown up he has not departed from them. :)

The only editing I plead is a few profanity erasures (don't get me wrong I love profanity, I'm just not sure of Blogger's position on that. ), and one small, minimalist,teensy, miniature (I'm SORRY Scott, I had to do it) timing and date change on one of the items in his Deep Space Nine post.

Enjoy.

Guest Trek Blogging #1

2005-12-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

My name is Scott Shriner, and I'm a Trekaholic.

Always have been, always will be. I'll take it wherever I can get it. I'll wear that raggedly old Deep Space Nine sweatshirt that my wife hates forever. I will eventually buy all the Trek shows on DVD despite the fact that the assholes at Paramount have ludicrously overpriced them. Are you a Trekaholic, too? Well, it's a condition that's hard to diagnose. You may love Trek in general, but hate "Voyager." Can you hate "Voyager" and still be a Trekoholic? That's a tough question. Hmm…how can I boil it down?Look, let me give it to you straight, OK? Do you own the two-disc DVD of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan?" Good for you; let's watch it sometime & talk about how it's the best Trek movie all time----you'll get no argument from me. But c'mon, everybody loves that movie. Doesn't mean you're an addict.Do you own the two-disc DVD of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier?" You may be a Trekoholic, like me. You have my condolences.
So I'm a nut for this stuff. I think Trek is great---in all its forms. I watch ALL the shows. No ifs ands or buts….I know who the Medusans are and I know who the Xindi are. If you know who either of them are, you're quite possibly a fan. But if you know who both are, it means you really are on the Enterprise for the long Trek haul.That being said…Trek is not perfect. It's had moments of perfection, but it's not perfect. It has had its ups and downs. Wow, has it ever. And I feel inspired, on this 38th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry's creation, to cast aside all the bullshit expectations I have about how good Trek should be and deliver an affectionate, but honest, "state of the Trek" report. I'm always the one defending Star Trek to those who have arguments against its merits; well, now I want to truly debate those arguments, and perhaps make some of my own. What's the current status of Star Trek, what led it to the state it's in, and what it's future will be…that's what I want to talk about.Have ya got awhile? Good. Let's get Trekkin.

Guest Trek Blogging #2

2005-12-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

The Original Series.

I'm not going to spend much time talking about this show, because I don't feel it's necessary. All arguments against this show are bullshit. They're bogus. You can't make an argument against this show, and no Trek fan should even attempt to.Yes, the original series produced some bad episodes. Some really bad ones. Some horrendously bad ones. It also gave us some of most memorable, amazing stuff ever seen on TV---not only "for its time," the phrase which some people like to quantify their compliments to the original show with---but period. Case closed.Don't give any of that crap about bad special effects. It's not a valid argument. Not even remotely valid. Sure, they were bad special effects. Trek is not about special effects. It's about ideas and it's about people. The special effects are so inconsequential that they are not even worth mentioning. Even though I did. But I had, because some of you people will not shut up about them.Don't talk to me about bad acting. I dare you to watch any original series episode - any episode - and tell me that the Spock character, no matter how brilliantly portrayed by Nimoy, would have worked if it hadn't been for Shatner's performance to counter him. Folks, I love to make fun of Shatner, too….you've probably seen me do it. Hell, the guy makes fun of himself. But without his acting - bad or good, call it whatever you want to - there would have been no Trek. Got it? Good.And finally, do not - I repeat, DO NOT- say one more word to me about "how come the Klingons look so different in the later shows and movies?" I don't care why they looked different. The studio had more money, so they had better makeup….that's why they looked different. There's a thing called suspension of disbelief…get acquainted with it.The original Star Trek series is golden. Golden, I say. Without it, there would have been no others. You can't touch it. Don't even try.And if after all my convincing arguments, you still don't like it….well, all I can say is, you're missing out on something really groovy.

Guest Trek Blogging #3

2005-12-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

The Next Generation.

Other than Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, this show is the most mainstream Trek ever got…and ever will get, in my opinion. And it deserves to be mainstream, cause you know what, it was really good. It was really really good. And man, when it was good, it positively crackled. This show had fantastic characters---Picard, Data, Worf, Ensign Ro, Q. Patrick Stewart played those dramatic scenes like he was in a fucking Shakespeare and Ibsen festival…thank God no one ever apparently told him he was in a friggin spinoff of an obscure, absurb little toy guns in outer space show. That Klingon intrigue! That Borg cliffhanger! That quest to be human! That was fantastic stuff, people and we all love it. The Next Generation is the only Trek show which no one will argue with me about, because everyone loves it. And we should.That being said…The Next Generation's first season was not horrible. But at times it came really damn close. It was not only clearly the worst first season of any Trek show, but also quite possibly one of the worst first seasons of ANY show that had even close of its kind of longevity. Look at the first season. Just look at it. Sure, someone had been smart enough to cast Stewart, but the writers were scared to death of actually giving some bald, middle-aged Englishman heroic, leading man stuff to do. Most of that stuff went to Riker at first; our beloved Jean "the line must be drawn here" Luc was pretty damn boring and passive those first few years. It wasn't until around the third season that they really realized what a gold mine they had with the future X-Men star, and that the meaty cool stuff should be going to the more interesting character, not to mention the better actor. (sorry Jonathan Frakes. You know I love you. You know I love Riker. But like I said, I'm cutting out the bullshit today and let's face facts---Riker is to Picard as Mick Shrimpton is to Nigel Tufnel. Riker could spontaneously combust while playing his goddamn trombone and they could get someone to replace him in a heartbeat. Without Picard, the whole bloody show falls apart.)Like any Trek show, there were some bad episodes. And let me tell you something about Wesley Crusher. Yeah, he's the Jar Jar Binks of Star Trek…it's easy to hate him because he's such an easy target. But I'm not going to defend him. I happen to like him, but I refuse to defend him, because he was a bad concept from the very start. Casting the kind from "Stand By Me." Sure, good idea. But making him a genius? Bad idea. And what the hell was he doing at the helm of the Enterprise? Wil Wheaton did his job, give him a break. But Wesley was a mistake. I am now going to say something which some may regard as sacrilegious. Bear with me, I'm only saying it because I promised to be candid. The Next Generation got better after Roddenberry got his nose out of it.I love what Roddenberry brought us. He established the universe, the characters. But the show got better after he and his hippie dreams of conflict-free banality were out of the way of Trek's day-to-day production. Just like the Trek movies got better when he wasn't running them (Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a good film…yes, it is, watch it again, it's not as bad as you remember. But put it up against Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, Voyage Home…there's no contest. It's standard Trek pedestrianism compared to those later movies, which really pushed the envelope and dared to tell us stuff about the characters that we didn't already know.)But I digress----I'll get to the movies later, I promise. TNG set the standard for modern Trek. Unfortunately, it arguably set it so high and so well, that -with one notable exception-future spinoffs were scared shitless to divert from it.Let's continue…

Guest Trek Blogging #4

2005-12-18T12:39:00.000-05:00

Deep Space Nine.

Promise me something. If you are one of those people who loves Next Generation but (quote) "never got into that Deep Space Nine show" (unquote), promise me that you will get into it. If you have read this far into my rantings and you haven't gotten bored yet and you are (if I may be so presumptuous) having as much fun listening to me talk Trek as I am actually talking it, you need to get into DS9. You just need to. Deep Space Nine was Trek's "great experiment," to coin Kirk's description of the U.S.S. Excelsior. To some of the show's detractors, this experiment failed; like the Excelsior in Star Trek III, DS9 looked flashy at first, but it sputtered and fell apart when it tried to chase the mighty Enterprise. But to a lot of us who actually watched the show from start to finish (and I guarantee you none of its detractors did so) this experiment was a savior; like the Excelsior in Star Trek VI, it kicked ass, defied Starfleet regulations and nearly flew itself apart while soaring to the aid of an old and tired ship, and keeping the Enterprise - and the franchise -alive. What did you think of that metaphor? I thought it worked swimmingly well. OK, the show had a misfire here and there. Nog flying the Defiant made about as much sense as, I don't know ,Wesley flying the Enterprise. OK bad example. But seriously it had some dumb moments. But man were they few & far between. Put simply, DS9 is Trek living up to its full potential. It took the fantastically rich universe Roddenberry & the gang had created, and through its willingness to fuck with the rules that had been established for it, showed us how it was even more cool than we thought it was.Give me a show set on an alien space station, where the characters can't just take off if they aren't getting along with the latest guy whose wife Kirk or Riker banged. Give me a character who hates Picard because he (as Locutus) killed his wife at Wolf 359, someone who doesn't forgive him for that, like we were all so willing to do.Give me an ex-terrorist as a first officer, who thinks the Federation is a bunch of jag-offs.Give me a changeling searching for his identity…and better yet, when he finds that identity, let him be ***** repulsed by it.Give me a Ferengi who is neither an ineffective villain OR comic relief… someone who's a real guy.Give me a kid character who, unlike Wesley, doesn't give a **** about Starfleet. Make him a writer. Now there's someone I can relate to.You can have your boring Cigarette Smoking, Man…give me Garak, a mysterious recurring character who's actually interesting.Give me a green, wet-behind-the-ears young doctor who I think I'm going to hate, and make him into one of the most complex characters on Trek.Give me a husband and wife with a family on a Trek show, and show me how their lives work in the context of what happens on a Trek show.Give me Martok. Give me Rom. Give me Dukat. Give me Winn. Give me Weyoun. Give me Morn.Give me Dax…whatever form she's in.Give me a show that features a knock-down drag-out two-year war, an oppressed spiritual race, political coups out the wazoo, and a *****singing, self-aware hologram in a 1940s [actually Scott it was an early '60's] Vegas gin joint, and weave it all into an amazing tapestry that ends with the lead character being revealed as a **** messiah.Give me DS9, baby. Give me more.

Guest Trek Blogging #5

2005-12-18T12:34:00.000-05:00

Voyager.

What happened here? I'll tell you what happened. Berman & company lost their balls. So, DS9's ratings were lower than Next Generation's. Oh, woe is me. C'mon, if there's anything they should have learned it's that STAR TREK IS NOT ABOUT RATINGS. They wanted a show to replace Next Generation when it went off the air. That was the wrong mindset from the very start. Nothing will ever replace TNG. You can stick the Borg into as many Voyager or Enterprise episodes as you want, but the Borg are linked to Picard, both figuratively and literally. What the folks at Paramount have never understood is that the Borg are not great villains. Khan is a great villain. Q is a great villain. Dukat is a great villain. Hell, Harry Mudd is a pretty good villain. But the Borg are not great villains, because you have to have a personality to be a great villain. The Borg resonate with us because of what they did to Picard, and we care about Picard. To this day, Paramount is pushing the Borg on us. Voyager had more Borg episodes than Next Gen. Enterprise had them on a show, 200 years before humans were supposed to have met them. And now the Las Vegas ride is featuring them. Paramount execs think that First Contact was a big hit because it was about the Borg. Bullshit. First Contact was not about the Borg. Sure, they were an important part of the story, but it wasn't about them. It was about Picard. It was about Data, it was about the difference between heroes and flesh & blood people. We learned more about our characters through the Borg, but the movie was not about the Borg.Anyway, um…Like I said, I'll get to the movies later. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Voyager. Sorry I lost my train of thought, but can you blame me? On the grand scale of things Trek, Voyager is pretty damn easy -and sometimes preferable - to forget.Say what you may about Voyager, there were some really good things about the show. Kathryn Janeway was a great character, and Kate Mulgrew played her to the hilt. The holographic doctor was a brilliant creation. B'elanna Torres---a conflicted human/Klingon half-breed right up there in the Kira Nerys/Ro Laren tortured Trek chick vein. And Seven of Nine saved the show. More about her in a minute.Voyager had some really good characters, and some really good episodes, some really cool entries in the mystique that is Trek lore. But let's face facts: When looked at as a whole package, Voyager is ultimately a disappointment - a show that failed to live up to the promise of its challenging concept, and that failed to live up to the lofty standard set by its predecessors- namely, the previous Trek shows.It had a spectacular pilot episode. Spectacular, I tell you. What a fantastic idea. It drew upon established Trek lore, giving us a Maquis crew and a Starfleet crew, and forcing them to work together, braving dangers that, since we were thousands of light years from home, we had never seen before. Ooh, it sounded so exciting. Almost makes you weep.With a frustratingly few amount of exceptions, Voyager was essentially a half-baked retread of TNG. And that's a shame. TNG did plenty of TNG. Voyager should have done more Voyager. Voyager should have done what DS9 did, taken its concept and pushed it as far as it would go. Chakotay should have been in conflict with the captain, like, a lot? It's terrible how quickly he relinquished his position to her….there could have been lots of stories there. They were friends too quickly. Come to think of it, everyone was friends too quickly. My favorite example of this is the potentially ambitious and interesting second season story arc in which Tom Paris was butting heads with many of the characters, and seemed on the verge of leaving the ship. Now here was someone interesting. Turns out though, that he was faking it all, in order to expose a double agent. And after they caught this bad guy, who we didn't really know or care that much about, Tom went right back to being the good Starfleet officer. The writers may have patted themselves on the back for fooling the audience into thinking Tom was back to being a screw-up, but did it ever occur to them that the character was more interesting as a screw-up? They effectively castrated this guy in terms of his complexity by telling us all this conflict we thought he'd been going through had been bogus. Voyager also had the annoying habit of giving us episodes which involved time travel or alternate timelines, which while on the surface were sometimes decent stories, would end with the crew setting the regular timeline back on course and thereby forgetting everything that had happened to them in the story. See, guys, a neat subplot about Tuvok and Seven of Nine bonding during a hellish year on the ship has no resonance with us if at the end of the episode the characters erase that year from existence, go on their merry way and don't remember that it happened.And why didn't they get home earlier? OK, the final shot of the show, with the ship being escorted back to earth is effective, but when you think of all the lackluster, run-of-the-mill stories that were told in the last few seasons of Voyager, it just makes you want to puke. If they'd gotten home, say, at the end of the fifth season, or the sixth, or even halfway through the seventh season, we could have seen them trying to readjust to life on earth. Now that would have been uncharted territory as far as Trek stories go. Again, it's another example of Voyager's missed opportunities.One thing though. The addition of Jeri Ryan in the fourth season was a masterstroke. The show was going down, baby, you know it and I know it. And when Seven of Nine stepped out of her alcove and started making life on the ship interesting, suddenly people were watching again. Admit it. She was Spock. She was Data, she was Odo. She was the outsider who commented on the human condition through her inability to understand it. She was a compelling character and she brought some juice back into the show, for awhile at least. And lay off the crap about her outfits, OK? Hey, is it against the law to be a sexy babe? We saw as much Nichelle Nichols thigh and Marina Sirtis cleavage as we saw Jeri Ryan T & A. And she looked hot as hell in that catsuit, so shut up about it, and remember why you saw Batman Returns. Hint: It wasn't to leer at Danny Devito.

Guest Trek blogging #6

2005-12-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

Enterprise.

I think the most telling sign that Paramount has lost confidence in this show is that it is, as of early in the third season, now officially called "Star Trek: Enterprise."The absence of the "Star Trek" moniker filled me with hope. This show ain't gonna be anything you've seen before…that's what that said to me. But as soon as the ratings started to dip, It could've worked. Maybe it still can. It seemed like it was for awhile. Its first season had a lot of buzz. A prequel, set before Kirk's time? Great idea. Scott Bakula as the captain? Sure, why not? At least you know Quantum Leap fans will watch, right? Conflict with the Vulcans? Bring it on. Where are the Romulan wars? And let's talk about T'Pol. Let's just put it right out there for everyone to see, as Jolene Blalock does almost every week on the show. They wanted another Seven of Nine, OK? I'm sure the Paramount honchos said it to Berman in exactly those words. So they gave us another hot chick in a tight outfit, with a severe personality, to feed all the Trek male fans' brains with that insatiable "I want be the guy to shake her out of that cool exterior - and out of those hot, hip-hugging clothes - and bring out the libidinous sex animal lurking underneath" feeling. Hey guys, I'm a guy, too. I felt it. Don't be ashamed. But ask yourself this, should we really accept that kind of empty eye candy at the expense of good characterization? I thought I liked T'Pol at first. But let's be honest, she's pretty one-note. Whenever they want to vamp up the sexual tension on the show, she takes off her top and massages Trip with oil. Now, while this may be a more or less completely successful attempt to play into the Trek male geek fantasy of a Vulcan love slave, does it really advance the story? Has the Trip/T'Pol romance ever seemed like anything other than a contrived attempt to inject some love scenes into the show?

Guest Trek Blogging#7

2005-12-18T12:22:00.000-05:00

The Trek Movies.

Insurrection killed the Trek movie franchise. Bold statement? Not really. Think about it. Now don't get me wrong. Insurrection, while my least favorite of the Next Generation films, is not a bad movie. On the contrary, it's pretty solid stuff. A firm three out of four stars. But it was rushed out too soon after First Contact, to capitalize on that film's enormous success. But hey, you say, First Contact came out two years after Generations, and Insurection came out two years after First Contact, so how can you make that argument? Here's why: First Contact had to come out soon after Generations if the Trek movies were going to survive. Generations was a decent-size hit, but it was slammed by critics and a lot of fans. The emotion chip was gimmicky, the nexus was nonsensical technobabble; Shatner upstaged Stewart. There was serious doubt as to whether the Next Gen crew could hold a film on their own, with no help from the original series. First Contact quickly proved that they could…Star Trek clearly still had a future on the silver screen.What should they have done then? They should have let the movie series rest awhile. Let some anticipation build for the next installment. But those Paramount execs, they can always be counted on to do whatever they think will make them the quickest buck. What did they do? Salivating with the success of the "Borg movie," as I'm sure they inaccurately called it, they threw loads of dough at Stewart and Spiner and they filmed the first story Michael Piller could come up with. And what happened? Insurrection, while entertaining and modestly successful at the box office, failed to generate the excitement a Trek movie should. It was a fine story, but it was pretty forgettable. And c'mon, "Insurrection?" It was a horrible title. Really, in all seriousness, "Insurrection?" What the hell does that mean? It sounds like one of those lackluster one-word technobabble titles from some TNG or Voyager episodes, where you get the idea that they didn't feel like coming up with something good. "The Devil in the Dark," "The Changing Face of Evil," The City on the Edge of Forever," "Far Beyond the Stars," those are Trek titles. Insurrection underperformed, and that was possibly a good thing, cause it made Berman & Co. realize they needed to take more time to think up something better for the next one. And you know what? They did. The ho-hum response to Nemesis confounded me. At the time, I tried to explain it away with bad timing. Well, there was a Lord of the Rings, a Harry Potter and a Bond film out at the same time. Well, you know what? Those excuses didn't work with Star Trek V, and they don't work with Nemesis either. It goes deeper than that. Some people didn't like Nemesis, but I although I think they're wrong, I don't think they're the problem. I think the people who didn't SEE Nemesis are the problem. When a film like Star Trek V underperforms at the box office, it's easy to explain. It was a bad movie. When A a really cool film like Nemesis (and it was really cool) underperforms, it means, interest in the Trek films is waning. Interest in Trek in general is waning. Oh, I hated writing those last words I just wrote. But it's the only explanation. The future of Trek. Enterprise will not last seven years.

Another Emmy

2005-09-19T10:51:00.000-05:00

for Mr. Shatner. I am staying silent about what I think of this. Just thought I should mention it.

Threshold

2005-09-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

A new speculative series is debuting as I type on CBS....There's a smart "little person," on there that tickles my sense that the acting profession needs to include "different" people like myself.

TNG alumni, Brent Spiner is anything but robotic, playing a cynical, crass, bitter physician.

It's "Invasion" without the juvenile sensibility. I think it will be a good show.

Miracle Worker

2005-07-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

James Doohan, the man who played "Scotty" on the original Star Trek Series has passed away. From what I understand complications from pneumonia and the alzheimers that he was struggling with were the cause.

The word is given...warp speed.

A Shatner note:

2005-06-20T21:09:00.000-05:00

regarding his appearance this evening at the AFI tribute for George Lucas.

Shatner will do positively *anything* for face time. Anything.

(and I'm a Kirk person, I really am.)

Off Topic and Puzzling

2005-05-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

I havent got a problem with what George Lucas said at Cannes, I can see that people on the opposite side of the question would take issue

But "Star Wars" the film is now on a list to be *boycotted* by certain Republicans...

These must be the spiritual desendants of the folks that wouldn't broadcast Trek on certain stations during its initial run.....

I am speechless. I can't even rant about this it's so nuts. More after next Monday when I have seen the film.

Spoilers---Let's go Mind the Store

2005-05-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

So....

This takes place during the Enterprise D's missions...

Brent must have recorded "Data's" lines either while doing his own guest stint or as a later unanounced bit.

If the entire episode had been about the NX 01's crew I would have liked it better... I'll take what I can get. Shran and his beautiful little daughter. Tucker and Malcom speculating about possible future Enterprises. Archer being self deprecating and gentle, both about Tucker's death and his own speechmaking ability. T'Pol was written grossly emotional (for a Vulcan) and I agree Jolene Blalok and John Billingsley who went on record as being dissatisfied with the way their characters, indeed the whole NX crew took a backseat to the framing Riker/Troi story.

I was all ready to hate the framing story with the hottest hate I could muster, but Riker's just so damn congenial it's hard to dislike him. After all it's not Frakes and Sirtis' fault they've been asked to upstage Phlox's compassion, T'Pols prickly behavior, or the worst upstage of all, Tucker's death being marginalized by making the whole thing just a holographic simulation...

The only thing that made the framing worth it was the end sequence and even that was two shots shy of perfect...The ships (but where was Voyager?), the spacescape (but where was DS9?) and the complementary voice overs.

Ah, well, engage...

Halfway through

2005-05-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

Loved the rocking, rolling shuttle ride...to the end emphasizing the fact that this is not the cushy 23rd or 24th century..."When *I* walked to school through twelve feet of snow," etc. These ancestors of the Starfleeters we know had to have it rougher or one of the few positives of a prequel just falls flat.

"Her name is Elizabeth."

Perhaps some of Phlox's record keeping gets studied by the Vulcan geneticists when a certain Vulcan diplomat and his human lady wife decide to have a child :)

Tucker's emotions at the end of this episode were/are right on target.

And Archer's final speech at the conference. Lord, no wonder Kirk was such a pompous **** by his time.

One down One to go.

These Were The Voyages

2005-05-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

No copyright infringment is intended or implied all characters are copyrighted by Paramount

"It's happening Captain....the rift showing the past, the future....that we've had access to for decades now. Decay rate constant. Closure imminent."
"Isn't there anything that can be done for them?"
"Your concern is noble and notable Doctor, but they have sealed their fate. Outside this rift their reality lies on a perilous course. It is logical that," he paused and admitted, "many...positive things...would be left behind."
"It's just one of those moments in history," the Captain(s) said,"We've tried every scheme possible, and we are simply unable to stop it."
"Do they forget," asked the Prophets of the Sisko, "Or do they reject?"
"I am uncertain," said Ben.
"Today," rumbled Worf, "Is not a good day to die."
"Like my people though, " noted Myles, "They'll keep on writing."
"And dreaming," murmured Janeway, "Perhaps too much."
"I believe," said the machine, "That there are always alternatives."
"Intriguing," opined the Vulcan.
"We'll go on whether they do or not," said the youngest of the Captains.
"And you wouldn't have it any other way," interrupted the Frenchman sourly.
He had never gotten used to the other's pronouncements. And where in the hell was Q?
Archer was bemused and annoyed by turns "You say that, " he quipped to young Kirk , "when your voyages ended before their time as well? At least yours weren't hijacked by a pair of-"
"Temper, Temper, " said the Denobulan, smiling. He turned to the Southerner and asked, "How do you account for such volatility in a leader?"
"Comes with the territory," the Southerner answered gruffly. "Hush now. It's beginning..."

Friday May 6th "Enterprise"

2005-05-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

I put the title that way because I actually missed the title of last night's episode.

It was so dark and sketchy I won't be writing much about it. Whatever gimmick they come up with next week to produce a little Tuckerette via T'Pol who never got pregnant (cloning, stolen genetic material from both parents without their knowledge) I won't buy it, it's ridiculous period.
Peter Weller is scary because he's understated, not over the top.

and the rhetoric is so heavy handed in its comparisons to many of the debates going on in America today that it overkills its case and interferes with any enjoyment of the "story" such as it is. I do too much of that over at my other blog to have any desire to see it when I switch over to my fun TV

How can it be good writing when you "knew" the reporter chick was a plant! Poor Boomer.

This is the depressed part of the wake.

Also I'm peeved at the programming decision to attach the Berman/Braga finally (as in finally after this they'll shut up!) on top of the second half of this episode. It creates the idea of a false continuity, as if one really has anything to do with the other.

Pfft. My fictional friends are leaving my screen and doing in in a dark and listless kinda way.

I know I'm about 27 years late

2005-05-04T17:38:00.000-05:00

to this debate, but I'm going to try to put it in a different framework.

Star Trek and Star Wars aren't or shouldn't be polarized fanbases that chant "Either Mine or Thine" endlessly.

They're actually kind of symbiotic.

1. First connection. Whether Lucas *intended* it or not, in 1977 when the first film aired the most organized, committed group of fans for TV or film fantasy were the Trek fans. They wanted new Trek, and while this wasn't Trek it was surely "new," enough to warrant their interest.

I believe that without Trek, there would have been much less interest in Star Wars, and the series could have died on the vine after the first film.

2. Once Star Wars became the first summer mega-hit, the money to be made from it convinced Paramount that a new Trek film, far from being an albatross around their necks, might bring home some amazing amounts of bacon. Problem was they tried to use the "OOHHHH AHHH" factor in the opening sequence of "Star Wars," to disastrous results. Star Wars is, as a columnist friend of mine wrote, visually stunning. But Star Trek, to succeed, has to be more about characters and their inner conflicts, than about the awesome size of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Lucas himself learned what fleshed out characters and some angst could do for his franchise with 'The Empire Strikes Back.' Star Wars, the original film is sheer fun with template characters, The Boy Hero, The Rascal, and the best Villan to come along in a long time. Star Trek makes you *think.*

Thankfully, Paramount for whatever reasons felt gambling on a second Trek film was worth it. 'Wrath of Khan' did Empire one better. It didn't freeze a beloved character. It killed him. 'Khan' had important links to the franchise's TV past, and made the mover of the story Kirk's big mistake: at the end of 'Space Seed' he left Khan alive.

The committed Star Wars fan and surely some rejuvinated Trekkers combined to make 'Return of the Jedi' a success.

Then for Star Wars fans: The Long Wait, similar to (and longer than!) the filmed Trek drought of the mid Seventies. Detailed novels fleshed out Lucas' vision, but *where* was that new film?

During the 14 year Star Wars wait: Trek flourished with TNG, its *best* incarnation, DS 9, and the less beloved Voyager. Enterprise somehow went backwards, as the Star Wars franchise revved up its latest and last film.

Lucas made great use of the leaps ahead in SFX technology that he himself had started, and the two newest Star Wars films are things of beauty, with a satisfactory tinge of dread. Because they are the story of the triumph of anger over compassion, power over pluralism, and young Vader randomly using his abilities *just because he can.*

I also find it oddly interesting that these two great fantasy franchises will go down together (at least on film) in the same month.

I'll be watching *both* with interest, thank you.

Hilarity

2005-05-03T12:28:00.000-05:00

I was unprepared for the Futurama episode that came across my TV last night...but I had never seen it before. It is perhaps the best send up of Trek that I've seen in awhile.

One of the main characters utters the banned words 'Star Trek' and we're off. The show is against the law in the 31'rst century. We get the grumpy, but heroic heads (minus bodies) of the TOS crew in life preserving jars, mouthing off and taken away on a space adventure (with a gleeful Riker head being moved to the front of the shelf when the TOS heads are removed.)

Trek as religion complete with a Christine Chapel.

Shatner, Nimoy, Takei, Nichols and Koenig giving unashamed send ups of themselves.

Shatner, "...In Star Trek V I got such a good performance out of me, because I respected me so much."

Nimoy: "I'm in a gefelte fish jar."

Takei: "Check out these abs."

Fan to Koenig: "Say Nuclear Wessels" Koenig "No!"

Nichols: (on the most heroic thing she did on the series) " In the third season I kissed Shatner."

I promise I'll record it the next time around and write a better column on it...but I laughed the entire time.

"In A Mirror Darkly," Part II

2005-04-29T21:08:00.000-05:00

Ah, the sound of 23rd century phasers.

And what a lovely painting of the Defiant in the Briefing Room.

"People have some strange ideas about uniforms."

Oh, you have no idea :)

"Shakespeare is equally grim in both universes."
Not quite. :)

I seem to recall that Shakespeare was, well, nastier on the Mirror-side.
Loved the shot comparing the sizes of the two classes of ships.

I thought the CGI work on the Gorn was wonderful....too bad we couldn't have seen the Gorn on our side. :(

Things that irritated me: Why the "my sane alter made me crazy" subplot? Archer doesn’t need the excuse of madness to do what he’s doing here. It’s standard operating procedure in Mirror-space. Or, if you’re going to make him nuts, no need to have anyone whispering in his ear. We get it. We're Trekfans which means, automatically, not stupid.

Ambassador Saval! And, in a way, he dies a hero's death in a small rebellion that never succeeded. Perhaps mirroring Spock's failed attempt a century later...and don't get snarky with me about 'how do I know Spock failed?' I have two words:

The Intendant

I was amused at the Vulcans' recruting techniques towards Phlox...now... that’s nasty. Hitting Phlox right where he...well...loves :)

We also got to hear 23rd century torpedoes.

And a Mirror-Orion chick. Nice touch.

And...that ending....priceless. One wonders what Marlena Moreau did when Mirror Kirk returned from our side...Something similar perhaps? Hmmm.

So...I'm taking bets.

2005-04-29T16:30:00.000-05:00

The second half has not yet shown here...for any that haven't seen it yet, who will bet that Hoshi kills Archer...but that T'Pol gets to *keep* the Defiant, take it home to Vulcan and have the Mirror-Universe's version of the Science Academy pick it apart and learn it's secrets quite quickly...Thus by the time we have Mirror-Spock, he's no slave or second class citizen...

First there's Mirror-Sulu snarking at Spock about how Sulu would be a formidable opponent. Spock answers confidently, "I trust that you are aware of the reverse.
...My operatives would avenge my death...and some of them are Vulcans." His people are equal partners in pillage with the Terrans by that time, or i'll eat my plomeek soup.

"In A Mirror, Darkly" Part I

2005-04-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

"It was much easier for [us] as civilized men to behave like barbarians than it was for [them] as barbarians to behave like civilized men." Spock, " in STAR TREK TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror."

No frame story, no lead-in, no garbage :) Just out and out barbarism and one hell of a good time:)

I *loved.* Zephram Cochrane as 'enforcer.'

Hoshi and Archer. Well....Damn!

TPol. Way more than meets the midriff here. Her casual usurpation of Tucker is more than Mirror Spock did, even in an emergency. He only went in for info. She marched Tucker around like a marionette.

Phlox! "Think you're angry now..."
Dissecting a Poor! Defensless! Lifeform! Bwahahaahahahaa!
"Please kindly DIE."

Boomer in soldier-drag.

What didn't seem to fit:

Archer's mercy to Forrest. Are you up for the captaincy or not? If so...he should have died with the takeover by Archer.

The men's uniforms. No Fun. At. All. At least a silver glitter-sash to go with the blue. Not an earlier version of the "Yesterday's Enterprise" arms' harness.

Enquiring minds wanna know:

Who Are The Reptillians in the Defiant's nacelle? Zindi? Gorn? "Founders?" temporarily shifted into reptiles?

Favorite Next Episode Teaser Line:

"What ARE YOU wearing?"

Great fun, and a good testament that the bean counters at Paramount should *never* have cancelled this show.

More next week for Barbarism Part II

Denny Crane's Coming to Denver

2005-04-22T16:48:00.000-05:00

April 29-May 1...going to have to miss that convention no bucks....Jeffrey Combs will be there too...now *he's* worth seeing :) Shran is the *best* character he's ever done, and it is one of the small joys of Enterprise.

I'll be talking about the Mirror Universe Episode tonight after 10 eastern time...

Latest on the campaign for a 5th Season

2005-04-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

from www.trekfansunited.com

"Our final proposal was knocked down by Paramount. We will not see a season five for Star Trek Enterprise. "

Not like I really thought it would happen but...damn.

"Bound"

2005-04-15T21:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, so far I only have two questions:

1. Couldn't they get green to match the original color of the Orion girl in "The Cage?" This coloring is consistent with split pea soup, the same lovely shade of Orion's used earlier in "Enterprise," but is nowhere near the color of Vina-as-an-Orion in "The Cage."

2. It's a lousy episode...but I wonder how Phlox will react to these wenches....

Ok, something we didn't know....something about the women, their past owner, or his ship is driving the men to be not just affected by the women, but aggressive, and/or ill.

(sigh.) If this is all we're getting, I'll be glad when its over.

Lamest justification for an epi in a long time. If the Orion syndicate wanted Archer, all they needed to do was take him, not dump three babes on board and freak out the crew.

Maybe the mirror episode (that I thought would air tonight) will have a teaser.

(It did! It did Bwhaahahahahaha! Bad uniforms! Agony Booths! Phlox as Mad Scientist...*That* will be more fun : ) )

And, BTW "Trek United" has a Canadian producer in talks with Paramount about a possible fifth season. Nothing about the story makes me think it has a chance, but the execs at least agreed to meet with the producer.

Just a note: I'll be talking about

2005-04-15T00:50:00.000-05:00

tomorows "Enterprise" after it has aired in my timezone, from 7-8 pm Mountain. Spoilers can come here, but if you can afford to wait until after 10:00 Eastern I'd appreciate it.

Evidently we're going to be treated to a shipful of green Orion Women--sigh. "Mudd's Wenches," anybody?

Just think about the basics for a minute

2005-04-14T15:32:00.000-05:00

Let's look at it by decade:

From 1964 (first shooting date for "The Cage" until 1968 or 1969) a series named "Star Trek" was in production. It was created by a buncha flawed interesting people, mainly to sneak in some social comment in the guise of science fiction. People actually wrote letters to try to keep it on the air, something that is commonplace now but was unheard of then. It had hand held communicators, medical diagnostic beds, and lasers...very impossible stuff, no?

Many of the actors on the show were underappreciated but most days, they really worked at it... (and the industry rewarded most of them with typecasting and some level of obscurity.)

In 1972, people actually paid to get together, dress up stupid, and talk about the show. These gatherings have continued, and become very um, corporate.

In 1973 Star Trek: The Animated Series debuted, with the voices of the original cast.

From the original series cancellation, fan fiction, convention gatherings and speculation on a possible film kept the franchise on life support.

In 1979, a lackluster movie did poor box office, but just enough to warrant a second film.

in 1982 the "Wrath of Khan" became the first successful Trek film, even while killing off a main character.

Two more films followed, continuing to draw fans and fan interest.

in 1987 "Star Trek: The Next Generation updated the original concept...it strugged to find it's voice, but became an incredible hit in its own right, perhaps making a permanent place on solid ground with the arrival of cybernetic villains known as "Borg"

Anyone wishing to discuss "Final Frontier" can do so in comments. Not me.

In the early nineties, the original cast got a gripping last film with "Undiscovered Country."

In January 1993, a second spinoff series would take the franchise in new directions. Deep Space Nine became known for maturing the view of the Federation. Problems weren't solved in one hour anymore and the Feds had blood on their hands sometimes, no longer the unquestioned "good guys" of space. This is my favorite of them all.

More films arrived: "Generations," a fair bridge film between the 23rd and 24th centuries "First Contact," a Borg epic, "Insurrection, " which is another "discuss amongst yourselves because I don't care to." and the earnings loser "Nemisis," which I liked a bunch.

In 1995, Voyager spun off with a leaner starship, an unexplored quadrant of space, and Kate Mulgrew as the take no crap Captain Janeway, along with the most bland first officer of the franchise, Chakotay. The Borg babe Seven of Nine attempted to spice up the show and draw veiwers but ....the dowslide began when Voyager hit the Delta Quadrant, in an uncomfortably "Lost in Space," fashion.

Enterprise's last year has been great for me. I call this last year an unqualified sucess...even though I didn't think much of the first three. The prequel has really found its voice...too bad it's too little too late.

From 1964-2005 one self perpetuating idea about our future has held the interest of a lot of people. If the number of people involved has lessened, it doesn't diminish the size of the achievement as a whole. No one in television and films did this before Trek, and it's my bet that it will be a long time before anyone can do it again.

I'd raise a glass if I had one.

Why is this here?

2005-04-14T14:14:00.000-05:00

None of the work on this blog is intended as copyright infringement. All of the series and characters discussed here are the property of Paramount Pictures.

There are only two purposes for this site.

1. To keep my Trek musings off of my regular blog, as a courtesy to those who wouldn't know a Cardassian from a Tholian

2. At least as its primary intent, to provide a place where the end of the franchise can be mourned properly. I assume if more people find out about it there will be some negative fangriping. I'm not looking for that. I'm looking for like minded folk to discuss what we loved about the *entire* franchise.