Star Trek - "Once You Have Eliminated the Impossible..."

At last. Today's film is Star Trek. It was released in 2009, is still in theaters (I checked!), and thus this review will contain neither plot summary nor spoilers. This review was also written directly after seeing the film, so it was fresh in my mind. It was directed by J.J. Abrams, and starred Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Karl Urban (McCoy), Anton Yelchin (Chekov), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), John Cho (Sulu), and Simon Pegg (Scotty). It also starred Eric Bana as Nero, and Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike. A guest cameo (and a rather lengthy one) is Leonard Nimoy, although I won't tell you who he plays, as that falls under the category of "spoiler."

Star Trek fans: be not afraid. In no way does this film malign or disrupt the rest of the Star Trek universe. They come up with a quite creative (but very Star-Trek-y) way to deal with that, and I approved highly.

There are references. The famous lines are said - for example, "Live long and prosper" and "I'm givin' 'er all she's got, Captain!" - but there is not a hit of cheesiness about it. Each of the old lines are inserted with a touch of class. They are there because they work in the moment, not because they want (solely, at least) to get a fan reaction - and most of those lines are given new meaning in their new context.

The computer graphics are extraordinary. I have seen good CG before, but I tend to find space battles slightly dull - not my favorite part of any sci-fi (as you could see in my review of Nemesis). This was filmed (animated?) in such a way that I pretty much always knew what was going on, but it was also quite chaotic - much more realistic of a space battle in my opinion. I have a feeling that this is the kind of battle-work that all of the Next Generation movies tried to do, and, yet, fell short. Also - and I'm not a ship girl - the shots of the Enterprise herself were quite lovely. I, in fact, leaned over to my friend, Jessica, in the theater and whispered, "Glorious!" at one particular shot of the Enterprise.

The actors did an excellent job of portraying their characters. They did extremely well at not only calling back to the classic actors (they clearly did due diligence and watch the original series and the movies) and made the characters their own. A special mention goes to Quinto, who slid gently into the role of Spock with no bumps or bruises - it felt like he put on an old glove. The true star of the show (although certainly not the main character) was Urban as Bones. He got the inflections, the lines, the cranky affection for his friends, and even the slight quirk of the mouth that Kelley always had. Amazing. Cho, who played Sulu, also stood out - but not in a good way. Sulu did not have but one moment. Cho neither made you believe he was a younger George Takei nor that he was a younger Sulu. I look forward to seeing the character and actor progress if they make other movies - and I hope they do.

If this is the direction that Star Trek will take in the future, I am pleased and proud. I can only hope that they can - and will! - keep up this level of excellence. I am mildly uncomfortable saying this, but I believe this to be the best Star Trek film yet. It's masterfully crafted, cultivates more emotions than just nostalgia (I laughed out loud several times, was actually afraid for the characters, and nearly cried two or three times), is a great action flick, and good fun. I actually had to remind myself to breathe after the first scene - utterly amazing - of the movie. Indeed, The Wrath of Khan has the action and passion, The Voyage Home has the joy, and Star Trek has it all. Go see it.

Star Trek: Nemesis - "Do You Think This is a Wise Course of Action, Sir?"

The final film before the newest is Star Trek: Nemesis. It stars the same cast and crew with the addition of Tom Hardy, and is directed by Stuart Baird (who only directed two other films besides Nemesis, and is primarily a film editor by trade).

Nemesis begins with the Earth wedding of Troi and Riker. En route to the ceremony on Betazed, the Enterprise picks up signals of a positronic nature on a desert planet, and goes to investigate. Once there, they discover pieces of a prototype android, clearly made by Dr. Noonien Soong, and aptly named B-4 (Brent Spiner). They assemble B-4, a child-like version of Data, and, though his programming would allow him to evolve like Data, a complete memory transfer from Data sparks seemingly no effect.

Back en route to Betazed, Picard receives a transmission from Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) at Starfleet Headquarters ordering them to Romulus, where there has been a coup d'etat. A new person from Remus (Romulus' sister-world) has take power - Praetor Shinzon (Hardy).

The Enterprise goes to Romulus, and the crew discovers that Shinzon is not only human, but actually a clone of Picard. Shinzon was the product of an abandoned project to replace Picard. Shinzon tells Picard that he is only interested in peace, but Picard and his crew soon discover that Shinzon is harboring a planet-killing weapon. With this weapon, he plans to destroy Earth and cripple the Federation. To accomplish this, Shinzon had previously found and reprogrammed B-4, who transmits the information on ship placement within the Federation to Shinzon's ship.

After this discovery, the Enterprise takes off to find the bulk of the fleet, placed close to the neutral zone. Shinzon's ship fires and disables the Enterprise in the midst of a nebula, which hinders communication with Starfleet. A battle ensues, in which two Romulan war birds assist the Enterprise, but ultimately get disabled. Also, Troi uses her telepathic abillities to locate Shinzon's cloaked ship, and fires a blow that cripples his ship, and destroys the cloak.

Frustrated, Shinzon loses his temper, and decides to unleash the planet-killing weapon, which takes 10 minutes to deploy, on the Enterprise. Picard beams over in an apparent suicide mission to stop the weapon. He grapples with Shinzon, eventually killing him, partially by accident. While he stares at Shinzon in shock, Data beams over, quickly uses a prototype self-transporter on Picard (who beams back to the Enterprise), and destroys the weapon, the ship, and himself in one blow.

The Enterprise crew is stunned at the death of Data, and raise a glass to him in Picard's quarters. Back at spacedock where the Enterprise is being repaired, Picard bids goodbye to Riker, who is headed to his own command on the Titan. Picard also has a long conversation with B-4 about Data, which B-4 seems to not understand. As Picard walks away sadly, B-4 starts absentmindedly singing "Blue Skies," the song that Data had sung for the wedding. Picard smiles at this hopeful sign, and the movie ends.

There are several action scenes in this movie that Baird talks excitedly about in the behind-the-scenes and I find quite dull. One such example is the Argo, an off-roading vehicle and a complete copy of the Warthog from the video game Halo. Picard goes all gung-ho driving it, while they pick up pieces of B-4, and then driving it as they are chased by Tuskan raiders and Jawas that come out of nowhere. Wrong movie, you say? If they weren't Tuskan raiders and Jawas, they were awful copies.

I also had mixed feelings about seeing Admiral Janeway giving orders to Captain Picard. While she definitely deserved a promotion after all that Voyager went through, it's quite odd to see her an admiral while Picard is only a captain. I guess he took Kirk's advice from Generations, and never let go of that captain's chair.

I also felt very uncomfortable with the rape scene. There is a scene where Shinzon invades Troi's mind with the help of his Reman Viceroy while she and Riker are making love, and makes her see him in Riker's place. It's extremely disturbing, and, while this kind of thing does happen in Star Trek, it's rare, and I happily skipped past it during this viewing. It does allow Troi a good moment later in the film, however, when she invades the Viceroy's mind in order to get a fix on their cloaked ship's location. As she enters his mind, she says, "Remember me?" in an extraordinarily deadly tone - quite unique for her character, and appropriate for the scene.

Nemesis frustrates me. It is an excellent cast, the last in a series, and almost the same production team as the others. What this movie is missing is what is intricate to Star Trek in general, and Next Generation especially: human interaction. So much of this movie is merely pointless action scene after pointless action scene. The behind-the-scenes interviews confused me a great deal, since all of the cast and crew (with the notable exception of Baird, the director) talking about how this movie is about family - staying family while still moving on. Then I saw the deleted scenes. They were beautifully acted, completely heartfelt scenes between people about their relationships and themselves - much more in line with TNG and the interviews. I could not be more upset that those were the scenes that were cut. Those were the scenes that were missing, and I'm convinced that that was what made this movie a box office and critical failure.

One example of such scenes that made me actually cry was Worf and Geordi cleaning out Data's quarters after his death. There are objects that they see that are vital to Data's development - his violin, his book of Sherlock Holmes, his paintings. And Spot. Spot meows and leaps into Worf's arms. Almost unable to hold back tears, Worf looks at Geordi and says, "I am not a cat person." Geordi smiles back, places a hand warmly on Worf's shoulder and says, "You are now..."

If you have the opportunity, and want to watch this movie, watch the deleted scenes as well. Those at least will make you feel like you are coming home, not being hung out to dry.

Star Trek: Insurrection - "Taking the Captain's Yacht Out for a Spin?"

The next-to-last in our lineup of pre-existing Star Trek films is up now:  Star Trek: Insurrection.  This movie was released in 1998, and was directed by Jonathan Frakes (after, of course, he directed ST: First Contact).  It stars the same Next Generation crew, with the notable additions of F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, and Anthony Zerbe.

The Enterprise crew discovers that the Federation is working in tandem with a race called the Son'a - a pleasure-loving race obsessed with youth - to attempt to harvest metaphasic radiation particles from the rings around a planet in the Briar Patch, a section of space difficult to navigate and impossible to communicate through.  These particles have youth-giving properties.  They basically stop the aging process, and revert those who are older to become young again, both emotionally and physically.  This, of course, would be an amazing resource for the Federation, as well as for the selfish Son'a, since the Federation could use it to cure diseases and afflictions, such as blindness.

The problem?  The planet is already inhabited by a technologically advanced, but simplistic people called the Ba'ku.  They prefer to live without the benefits and hazards of technology, and to live in the moment.  Although only a population of 600 or so, Picard and his crew still believe that it is wrong to take their resource away from them.  Not only were the Federation and the Son'a going to steal the particles, they were also going to relocate the Ba'ku onto a holographic ship.  The ship would have the same visual environmental setup as the planet.  In effect, it would seem to the Ba'ku that they had never been moved, except when they would start aging again.  This is something that the Enterprise crew can't abide, even though they have experienced some of the benefits - Riker and Troi have stuck up their long-languishing romance, Worf is suffering symptoms of jak'talah (Klingon puberty), and, most heartbreakingly, Geordi is no longer blind.  Despite that, Geordi and Riker take the Enterprise back to the edge of the Briar Patch, in an attempt to persuade the Federation Council that this is wrong.  Picard, Crusher, Worf, Troi, and Data beam down to the surface to help the Ba'ku keep from being transported onto the holoship, and off of their planet.

Picard, having struck up a friendship and budding romance with one of the heads of the Ba'ku, Anij (Murphy), easily persuades the Ba'ku to trust them.  Encouraging them to take only essential belongings, they hurry the Ba'ku into the mountains, towards caves where they can find shelter.  Meanwhile, the leader of the Son'a, Ru'afo (Abraham), working with Admiral Dougherty (Zerbe), send ships to intercept (and if necessary, destroy) the Enterprise, and also sends scout ships down to the surface equipped with drones carrying isolinear tags.  Those tags, if shot into the Ba'ku, would allow them to be transported individually onto the Son'a ship.  Picard and the others get most of the Ba'ku to safety, but Picard and Anij, along with perhaps fifty or a hundred others get transported to the Son'a ship.

On the Son'a ship, Ru'afo and Dougherty go to talk to Picard and the Ba'ku.  We discover that the Son'a are actually the same race as the Ba'ku - they had been young people who left the planet, embracing technology, but growing old.  They came to resent the Ba'ku for "hoarding" the fountain of youth, even though the Ba'ku never asked the Son'a to leave in the first place.  Dougherty, upon realizing that, and seeing Picard's utter devotion to the Ba'ku, realizes that the Federation has chosen the wrong path.  He confronts Ru'afo away from the prisoners, and Ru'afo kills him in an entirely gruesome manner.  Ru'afo then orders his people to deploy the collector for the particles.  This would destroy life in the sector, but Ru'afo no longer cares about relocating the Ba'ku, as that had been a Federation condition from the beginning.

Picard is then separated from the Ba'ku, so that he can be murdered to stop him from revealing to the Federation what was happening.  Ru'afo's second-in-command, Gallatin (played by Greg Henry), escorts Picard to a section of the ship that would not be protected from the metaphasic radiation.  En route, Picard persuades Gallatin that the Son'a should not be killing their own families and friends, and that Gallatin must oppose Ru'afo.  Gallatin reluctantly agrees, and helps Picard communicate with his people on the surface.  They transport the Son'a to the holoship, now made to look like the Son'a command ship - thus making it so that the Son'a are unable to control the collector.  Ru'afo quickly determines the situation, and transports himself off of the holoship and onto the collector, in an attempt to restart it manually. 

Picard also beams over to the collector, to stop him, and destroys the collector from the inside.  Picard believes that he is to die, since the Son'a beamed back to their real command ship, and had taken Gallatin and Worf hostage.  However, the Enterprise, back safely from a successful conversation with the Federation Council, swoops across the exploding collector, and beams Picard out  to safety.  Ru'afo, of course, is killed, exploding along with the collector.  Before rescuing Picard, the Enterprise also attacks the Son'a command ship, dealing it a lethal blow.  Worf and the Son'a are also beamed back to the Enterprise.

The away team still on the surface escorts the Ba'ku back to their village, and re-unites Gallatin with his mother, starting the healing process between the Ba'ku and Son'a.  Picard and Anij promise to see each other again.  Yet again, the Enterprise flies off for more missions and adventures.

This movie is definitely more light-hearted than the other two Next Generation films, but still adds in the moral element inherent in Star Trek, and also has a few fairly creepy bits.  I think it's awfully well put-together, but I believe that First Contact was superior.  With that, here are a few notes.

I think the costume work for this film is very good.  I love the new dress uniforms - ivory with blue accents, as opposed to the longer skirt-shirts from the series.  They look much more professional, much more uniform, and less cringe-inducing.  I also like the civilian clothes that the Enterprise crew wears when they are going onto the surface.  They are casual, but still ver chic, and each fits their character very well.

I have also come to appreciate the music more in the last few films, after watching a behind-the-scenes featurette on Jerry Goldsmith, a legendary composer who did the Star Trek films as well as films too numerous to count.  The opening music which plans over the pastoral scenes of the Ba'ku life is gentle and serene.  It's soothing, and fits the visuals perfectly.  Also, I love how, when they re-introduce Worf, a slow, quiet Klingon theme plays.  Fantastic.  Although not by Jerry Goldsmith, I also enjoy the scene with the music from H.M.S. Pinafore, which Picard and Worf sing to try to reach a malfunctioning Data.  The three of them have excellent voices, and it's fun to hear Gilbert and Sullivan in a context where you usually wouldn't.

When Geordi recovers his eyesight, it is one of the saddest and sweetest things.  He stands on a hill with strikingly brown eyes, filled with tears that don't fall.  He watches the sun rise and comments to Picard who comes upon him, "You know I've never seen a sunrise?"  It speaks to his character how, even given that gift, he does not want to take the Ba'ku away from their home.

Stepping away from gushing for a moment, I wanted to highlight things that I do not approve of.  When Worf suffers from symptoms of puberty, he is made the butt of jokes, and generally looks ridiculous.  Since Worf is generally a serious character, and one of my favorites, I dislike this comic use of him.  The character of Worf is complex and interesting enough that he doesn't need to be relegated to the role of comic relief.  In addition, I dislike the "perfect moment" segments, where the Ba'ku have so learned to appreciate time that they are able to slow down time, and make a moment into a universe.  It was campy and weird.  I like my Star Trek to make some sort of pseudo-scientific sense, and this just seems quite odd to me.  Finally, I am kind of embarrassed that Riker pulled out a joystick - a joystick - to pilot the Enterprise manually.  Talk about unrealistic!  Seems very ego-centric as well.

All in all, good movie.  You really do feel the camaraderie between the cast members, and the guest stars are excellent and match the regulars pace for pace.  The music is amazing, and the story is cool.  It's just not quite as good as First Contact.  What do you think?

Star Trek: First Contact - "They've Adapted!"

Today's film is Star Trek: First Contact. It was released in 1996, and was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who had previously directed several episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and Voyager, but never before this a feature film. The movie stars the same crew as before, with the excellent additions of Alice Krige, James Cromwell, and Alfre Woodard.

The movie begins when Picard receives word of the Borg in the Terran system - home to Earth and Starfleet Headquarters - and also the newly-made Enterprise E is to stay in the Neutral Zone during the battle. When Picard protests, the admiral issuing orders informs him that while they have the utmost confidence in the Enterprise and her crew, they didn't think it wise to bring Picard - who had previously been assimilated as a human/Borg hybrid "ambassador" and escaped - into a situation where he would encounter the Borg again. Shortly after the battle begins, Picard disobeys orders. In the nick of time, the Enterprise saves the heavily damaged fleet, including the Defiant, a rather familiar ship commanded by Worf. The Enterprise takes on the crew of the Defiant and takes command of the fleet. Picard orders all ships to fire at what appears to be a non-essential part of the Borg cube, but succeeds in destroying the cube.

A life-pod escapes from the cube, and opens up a temporal rift. The Enterprise gets caught in the temporal wake, and sees the world change around them; they see Earth entirely assimilated and the Borg living on it. Determined to stop this potential future, the Enterprise follows the Borg sphere in.

They find themselves in the 21st century, one day before the first warp-capable ship (the Phoenix) was to fly. The Borg try to annihilate that ship and her captain, but the Enterprise destroys the sphere before they are able to do so. In an effort to ensure the safety of the Phoenix and her captain, an away team beams down. After they locate the Phoenix, and begin minor repairs, Troi finds Zephram Cochran (Cromwell) - the man who is to make the first warp flight - drunk in a bar. She and Riker tell him the truth: they are from the future, and he has to make the flight to usher in a new era for humanity (since this flight would attract the attention of the Vulcans, and be the catalyst for the Federation). He agrees to make the flight, but is creeped out by the hero he is to become.

Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, they discover that the Borg had gotten onto their ship before they blew up the sphere. The Borg commandeer Engineering, lock out the controls from the bridge, and start assimilation of both ship and crew. Picard forms several teams to investigate the situation with the Borg and confront them, as necessary. While patrolling, Data gets captured by the Borg, and Picard gets separated from his team.

Picard, while attempting to outrun the Borg and get back to the bridge, runs into a 21st century woman, Lily (Woodard), who had been brought on board for medical treatment. Picard explains the situation to her and, after some initial conflict and disbelief, the two work their way back to the bridge.

Data, meanwhile, is reactivated strapped firmly to a table. He meets the Borg Queen (Krige), an entity that is the one mind of the Borg, like the queen in a hive of bees. "I am the Borg," she introduces herself. She reactivates Data's emotion chip, and attempts to seduce him by hooking up human skin to his mechanical frame and allowing him to feel the sensations that follow.

After a few more battles with the Borg, the remaining bridge crew advises Picard to set the ship to self-destruct. He vehemently disagrees and orders them to go on fighting. In fact, he loses his temper enough to call Worf a coward. Lily follows Picard into his ready room. The two joust verbally. Finally, Picard realizes that it is a misbegotten sense of revenge that is driving him to keep fighting to the point of suicide rather than destroying the ship, and the Borg with it (giving the Borg the Enterprise as well, as he saw it). Because of Lily, he sets the self-destruct, and evacuates the ship.

Picard stays on board in an effort to save Data. He enters Engineering and encounters the Borg Queen. He offers to willingly take his place by her side as Locutus - sacrificing himself - if she lets Data go. She seemingly accepts his offer, has drones hold him in place, and then calls to Data. Data responds that he does not wish to leave. Data then unlocks the ship's computer for the Queen, and fires torpedoes at the just-emerged Phoenix.

And misses.

Data then breaks open a coolant tank, which releases toxic gas that destroys organic material. Picard deftly maneuvers out of the reach of the gas with quick climbing, while the Queen and her drones die in gruesome agony. Picard stops the self-destruct sequence, and the Phoenix successfully goes to warp. The Vulcans see the warp signature and come down to Earth. The rest, as they say, is history (future?), and the Enterprise goes home.

This was critically considered the best of the Next Generation movies. I haven't re-watched them all yet, but it is certainly excellent. It is definitely more action-oriented than Generations, and also manages to carry with it the character development from TNG.

One of the coolest carry-overs from the series is, of course, the Borg. The Borg are simply terrifying. It's both freaky and cool that you can walk among the Borg until they consider you a threat, for example. Before then, you are no more than a bird on a branch to them, and they don't even look at you. The incorporation of Lily into this environment was especially effective. She reacts by screaming, clutching at Picard's arm, and visibly shaking until they get to relative safety. Lily brings the viewer straight into what it must be like to be in a Borg environment. The TNG crew are so used to it, the viewer can become nonchalant about the Borg. Not so when Lily is reacting the way we would to the same situation.

The interaction between Data and the Borg Queen, however, really bothers me. The character of the Queen is well-played, and quite an interesting concept, but I don't see Data being seduced the way he was, or at least the way he seemed to be. Of course, he only considered the Queen's offer to stay and rule with her for .68 seconds, but, as he said, that is an eternity for an android. I guess that Data is more human-like than even I want him to be.

I believe we see Picard at his best and worst in this movie. He is brave and self-sacrificing, but also petty and vengeful. He calls Worf a coward merely to rile him up - which it does. Worf retorts,"If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand." When he argues with Lily about the ship, I actually get frightened of his ferocity and single-mindedness. But then he goes back to the Picard we know and love, quoting Moby Dick, and finding that he is no different than Captain Ahab in that moment. Absolutely superb acting, although I have always been quite partial to Patrick Stewart.

A side-note issue is when Picard is explaining the 24th century to Lily, he says that, "Money doesn't exist in the 24th century." This is clearly not the case, as in other TNG movies and clearly in Deep Space Nine, gold-pressed latinum is the currency of the day. What that should have said in my opinion, was that money is not at play within the Federation. Then again, I suppose it is easier to explain the first way.

Deanna is incredible when she's drunk, and I believe it is her best acting yet. She also seemed like she was having fun, which was a first.

This film is certainly worth a watching. It has two simultaneous "A" plots, action, terror, and even a few laughs. Totally worthy of being a descendant of the TNG series.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Star Trek: Generations - I Just LOVE Scanning for Life Forms!

My next film is Star Trek: Generations.  This is the movie that hands over the mantle of Star Trek from the original cast to the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, who had completed seven seasons on television before making this film.  This movie was released in 1994, and was directed by David Carson, who, other than this film, has only directed in television, including a few Star Trek: TNG and DS9 episodes.  Generations features the talents of William Shatner as Kirk, James Doohan as Scotty, and Walter Koenig as Chekov.  It stars the ensemble cast from Star Trek: TNG - Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker),  Brent Spiner (Data), LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi).  This film also includes Whoopi Goldberg in her reoccurring role as Guinan, and introduces Malcolm McDowell into the Star Trek universe.

Generations begins with the christening of the Enterprise B.  On board in a merely honorary capacity are Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov.  On it's first run around the galaxy, the ship, swarming with reporters and new officers, gets a distress call and is the only one in range.  Since the ship is missing a great deal of staff, systems, and supplies, Captain Harriman (played by Alan Ruck) relinquishes command to the more experienced Kirk.  Kirk immediately sets a plan in action to rescue the distressed ships from the energy ribbon tearing them apart.  Unfortunately, they are only able to transport 47 of the over 300 people on board the ships.  

In order to attempt to break the Enterprise itself free from the energy ribbon, Kirk goes down to a lower level of the ship to re-program the deflector dish.  Although the successful reprogramming allows the Enterprise to escape, a stray tendril from the ribbon strikes the ship, causing a hull breach in the section where Kirk is.  By the time Scotty, Harriman, and Chekov get down there, Kirk is simply gone.  Only a star field beyond ragged edges of metal remains.

Seventy-eight years later, the Enterprise D receives a distress call from a Federation space station being attacked by Romulans.  By the time they arrive, the Romulans have left, leaving what amounts to a completely dead crew with the notable exception of Dr. Soran (McDowell).  After a short time on the Enterprise, Soran beams back to the station and shoots a photon torpedo into the sun, making it explode.  With the help of a nearby Klingon ship, Soran beams off of the station before the shock wave destroys the station.  The Enterprise barely escapes in time.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew discovers that the Romulans were trying to regain their stolen trilithium - a highly explosive experimental energy source.  The trilithium had been stolen not by the Federation, but by Dr. Soran as payment to the Duras sisters - Klingons who helped him to get from the station to his final destination.  They also discover that Dr. Soran had been one of the people rescued from the energy ribbon 78 years before, and that Guinan had been too.  Picard and Guinan have a discussion, and she explains that the ribbon is not just a random phenomenon in space, but rather a different plane of existence.  On that plane - the Nexus - each individual lives any and all of their dreams, since time has no meaning.  "It's like being inside joy," she describes.  Guinan also goes on to inform him that Soran is probably obsessed with getting back to it.

Picard and Data take this information and determine that Soran destroyed the sun near the station in order to change the gravitational pulls in the sector, and move the ribbon.  They also determine that if he were to destroy the sun in the Veridian system, he would move the ribbon to intersect with Veridian 3, so that he could get back into it.  Unfortunately, that would kill several million pre-industrial people on Veridian 4.  Determined to stop such a tragedy, the Enterprise travels to that system.

Picard beams down to Veridian 3 to try to persuade Soran not to destroy the sun.  In the meantime, the Enterprise gets into a fire-fight with the Klingon ship, in which the Enterprise is heavily damaged before destroying the Klingon ship.  They are forced by a warp core breach to separate the sections of the ship, and the saucer crash-lands on Veridian 3.  Picard is unsuccessful with his persuasion, and he and Soran end up in the Nexus while all that surrounds them is destroyed by the exploding sun.

In the Nexus, after encountering his heart's desire, Picard realizes that he must do something to change what has happened.  An echo of Guinan tells him that time has no meaning here, so he can go anywhere and any time he pleases.  He decides that he cannot do it alone, and goes to find Kirk, who is in the Nexus, and not dead after all.  After Kirk comes to the same conclusion as Picard - that this is not real and that there is still some good to do in the universe - he agrees to go back with him.  They leave the Nexus together, and fight Soran for control of the missile he wants to fire into the sun.  They lock the missile in place, killing Soran and stopping his nefarious plan, but killing Kirk as well.  Picard buries Kirk, and then meets up with the rest of the crew as they are evacuated from the wreckage of the Enterprise.  He muses with Riker that he doubts that this will be the last ship to bear the name Enterprise.

The plot of this film is very rich.  It took me a while to write the summary, as I realized I had to leave out several B-plots that were not part of the main story: (1) the interactions with the Duras sisters - well known to many of us from their existence in the television series, (2) Data installing his emotion chip and what follows, and (3) Picard losing his only remaining family - his brother and young nephew - in a fire at their winery.  Each subtext is so rich that it could be an episode in and of itself.  I think that this is an advantage that this film has over its predecessors.  A great deal of the scenes with the most joy and the most sorrow come from these subplots.  I will forever love Data's reaction to a disgusting new drink he is served by Guinan.  Delighted by the fact that it produces an emotional response - hate - when he drinks it, when Guinan asks, "More?", Data replies with great relish, "Please!"  The scene where Picard talks to Troi about the death of his family rips at my heart.  I can never stand to see him hurting in any way.

This leads me to my next point.  This crew and their sorrows and joys affect me so much more.  I discovered the original crew as an adult.  This crew was like family from my childhood, since I started watching TNG at a very young age.  I can't honestly say whether this batch of actors is more skilled, or if I'm just horribly biased.

I have always found it amusing that Alan Ruck plays Captain Harriman.  For those of you who don't recognize his name, he played Cameron in Ferris Beuller's Day Off - another staple of my adolescence.  I like to pretend that Cameron, after getting the worst of everything in high school, grew up and became a starship captain.  I know, it doesn't even make sense in the timeline, but I like the idea of him getting his own.

On a sour note, they used way too much slow-motion in this film.  They seemed to feel the need to slo-mo almost every action moment.  Maybe it was a hallmark of the time the movie was made.  I'm not sure.  I haven't focused much interest on films made in the 90s.  

Finally, a great joy for me in this film was Spot, Data's cat.  When Data finds Spot trapped in a barrel in the wreckage of the Enterprise at the end, it is very moving.  Troi says, appropriately, "Another family reunited."

I think this film may be tempered with nostalgia for me, but it's a very good movie, and a fun ride.

Logic is the Beginning of Wisdom - Star Trek VI

I've seen the new Star Trek film.  A review will be up after we finish the rest of the Star Trek movies.  The short version?  Go see it.  I loved it.

So let's get going on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.  It was released in 1991, and I actually saw it in theaters when it was released and had seen no other Star Trek movie besides Star Trek IV.  I was quite confused.  For the last time as a complete ensemble, it starred the same cast, with Kim Cattrall and the masterful addition of Christopher Plummer.

The story opens with an explosion, as most interesting action movies do.  A very important Klingon moon with their most important energy production facility is destroyed due to factors unknown, and the previously reclusive and violent people reach out to the Federation for assistance.  The Enterprise crew - three months from retirement - is given the simple-on-the-surface task of escorting the Klingon chancellor (played by David Warner) and his party to the peace conference.  Kirk expresses great dismay, anger, and prejudice at this - he has still not forgiven them for the death of his son (in Star Trek III).  He has no choice in the matter, however, and so carries on with the mission.  On this, their potentially last mission, Spock brings his protege - Lt. Valeris (Cattral).

During the trip, after a spectacularly failed diplomatic dinner between the Klingon and Federation officers, strange things happen.  Without the knowledge of the crew, the Enterprise shoots two photon torpedoes at the Klingon Bird of Prey, crippling it, and disabling the artificial gravity on board.  Then, two people in Federation space suits with magnetic boots beam over to the Klingon ship, and massacre much of the helpless crew, including the visionary chancellor.

Wracked with guilt for hating the Klingons so and with fear about what this would do to the peace talks, Kirk and McCoy beam over after gravity is restored to see if they can give medical assistance.  The chancellor dies, despite McCoy's efforts, because of a lack of knowledge of Klingon anatomy.  The chancellor's right-hand man, General Chang (Plummer) arrests Kirk and McCoy for the murder of the chancellor and the others, given that the Enterprise disabled the Klingon ship.  They are taken away to stand trial in a Klingon court.

Meanwhile, Spock, as acting captain, order an investigation.  Star Fleet command orders them back home, but they have "malfunctions" that stop them from following that particular order.  After an exhausting search, Chekov and Valeris turn up the environmental suits that went to the Klingon ship, but are unable to determine who wore them.  Scotty personally counts all of the torpedoes in the bay, and discovers that all of them are present, despite that the computer log has been altered to show that two are missing.  Spock deduces that the saboteur is on board, but that there might have been a cloaked ship beneath them that could shoot while cloaked - a previously unheard of concept.  Spock observes, "When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

After a clearly fixed trial, Kirk and Spock are declared guilty and sentenced to prison for life on the very harsh prison and mining colony on Rura Penthe.  There, they meet a shapeshifter (Iman) who helps them get to the surface of the planet and outside the magnetic filed that prevents transport only to turn them in to the Klingon guards.  She would get a full pardon for helping to kill them.  Once Kirk realizes this, he gets into a scuffle with her, and she morphs to look like him, to confuse McCoy and keep him from interfering.  When the guards arrive, they, too, get confused and shoot the shapeshifter, vaporizing her instead of Kirk.  Immediately before they shoot Kirk and McCoy, Spock locks onto the signal he had placed on Kirk and transports them back to the ship.

After determining which crew members own the two space suits that had gone onto the Klingon ships, Chekov finds those crewmen dead.  Spock puts out the information that the crewmen are, indeed, alive and recovering in sickbay, hoping to lure the true saboteur.  Sure enough, the culprit springs their trap: Valeris enters sickbay with a phaser only to discover Kirk and Spock waiting for her.  After a brutal interrogation/mind-meld, Spock determines that she had worked with General Chang and various members of Star Fleet to destroy both the chancellor and the infant peace between the two governing bodies.  He also learned that the torpedoes had indeed come from a cloaked Bird of Prey beneath them, as he had surmised.

After getting the coordinates of the peace conference from Captain Sulu of the Excelsior, the two ships rush to the scene, have a fire fight with the prototype Bird of Prey, and stop an assassin from killing the Federation president.  The Klingons and Federation vow anew to work for peace.  Basing in the success of one final glorious mission, the Enterprise crew takes a turn around the galaxy.  Indeed, our heroes fly off into the sunset.

This plot is very involving, probably because of its strong ties to real life.  Although I was quite unaware at the time of the political climate, I have since discovered (because of the behind the scenes) that this was a direct commentary on what was going on between Russia and the US at the time - the end of the Cold War, and rebuilding of Russia.  

The racism (species-ism?) in the movie also gives it a very "real" feeling.  Gene Roddenberry - who this film was dedicated to, it was released shortly after he died - had a real problem with the script.  He took issue with that Kirk and other members of the Federation would be saying such racist things against the Klingons.  He had hoped we would have been past all that by now.  I think, however, that he had forgotten some of his own work in terms of racism in the original series (the white/black and black/white race or the Vulcans and Romulans and the crewman's bigotry towards Spock upon seeing the Romulans, for example).  It is my sad thought that racism will never be destroyed on an individual level.  Instead, I see us taking away the power of prejudice - not allowing it to help us make decisions or run governments.  Prejudice, I hope, will become an individual failing, and not that by which we exist as a society.  I think this film speaks highly to that - that peace triumphs over prejudice.  Even Brock Peters, a fantastic African-American actor who played Admiral Cartwright - a man who could not stand the alliance with the Klingons - had difficulty speaking the lines that he did.  It seemed so vile to him, such a parallel to the racism that he had personally encountered in his life, that he had to do the speech in several takes - never all in one go.  But he thought that that perspective was important to have in the film.  And I do, too.

Notably, Gene Roddenberry saw a screening of Star Trek VI three days before he died and enjoyed it.

An interesting note - the penal colony feels very much like Star Wars.  It could be the more creative alien makeup, the dirt, or the fact that the Universal Translator is broken.

The mind meld between Spock and Valeris feels like a massive invasion - something wildly out of character for Spock.  It is so uncomfortable, it almost feels like watching a rape of the mind.  I am clearly not alone on this, as everyone in the crew, even Spock, seemed very disturbed by what was happening on that bridge.

Overall, this is an excellent ending for the original series.  It ends up very warm and hopeful.  In the behind-the-scenes, all of the crew were interviewed and said that the series had "ended" so many times that they didn't actually believe it.  As Nimoy said, "And I'll say goodbye again, and then we'll see if the phone rings," and then laughed in his big, booming laugh.  And, indeed, the phone did ring for him one more time in Star Trek - almost 20 years later.  I am pleased to say goodbye again to Star Trek's original cast in Star Trek VI - a totally worth-while movie.

What Does God Need With a Starship?

Our next film is Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Released in 1989, this was the feature film directorial debut of William Shatner. He also helped to write the story. The film stars the same cast as the previous movies, with the addition of Laurence Luckinbill. 

The crew of the Enterprise begins this film on shore leave - a well-deserved rest after saving the Earth! While on leave, all are recalled to the Enterprise, which is having technical problems, to go and investigate a hostage situation on Nimbus III. Nimbus III had been a diplomatic attempt to bring together Romulans, Klingons, and the Federation into one central colony. The colonists who had moved there were not, shall we say, the cream of the crop, and the planet and it's capital - Paradise City - had quickly fallen into disrepair and corruption. The hostage situation arose when a gifted rogue Vulcan, Sybok (Luckinbill), took the three representatives (one from Romulus, one from Klingon, and one from the Federation) hostage in an effort to get attention for himself and his vision.

When the Enterprise arrives on scene, Kirk quickly makes a plan to surreptitiously rescue the representatives while Chekov - who styles himself Captain for this plot - seems to acquiesce to Sybok's demands. Kirk's plan seems to go well until he encounters the three representatives, who promptly hand him and his team over to Sybok. Sybok then tells them of his vision - he knows where God is. He believes that he knows where to find the central location of mythologies from around the cosmos - Sha Ka Ree (Vulcan), Eden, Qui'tu (Klingon), Vorta Vor (Romulan), etc. With this vision, and a talent for exposing people to their innermost pain and sadness and helping them to accept it and move on, Sybok had turned the whole of Paradise City to his way of thinking.

With his superior numbers over Kirk's away team, Sybok quickly takes over their runabout, and then hijacks the ship after tossing Kirk, Spock, and McCoy into the brig. There, Spock reveals that Sybok is his older half-brother - another son of Sarek. Meanwhile, on the bridge, Sybok converts all of the remaining crew members (with the exception of Scotty, who was working on the transporters and managed to get away after seeing the away team escorted from the runabout) to believe in him and his vision. They set course for Sha Ka Ree - in the center of the galaxy, a completely unreachable place because of a celestial body surrounding it called the Great Barrier.

En route to Sha Ka Ree, Scotty helps Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to escape from the brig. When they are finally caught by Sybok, he attempts to have Kirk, Spock, and McCoy share their pain with him as well. McCoy succumbs quickly, but not so much that he forgets his friends. Spock views his pain, and then tells Sybok he had dealt with it long before. Kirk refuses to go through with it at all, saying "I need my pain!" The three men stick together, deciding to be wary of Sybok's message and approach the Great Barrier carefully.

They successfully navigate through the Great Barrier and find a planet inside, mystical, blue, and shrouded in electrical clouds. The three men, along with Sybok, beam down to the planet's surface, as Kirk wanted to do the away mission by the book. After a long trek across mountains, the four men find a flat piece of land, where spires of rock shoot up from the ground, surrounding them. A floating blue entity greets them, showing them faces of several different gods from around the cosmos, finally settling on a generic human, Christian traditional God face, complete with white beard.

The men are in awe, until the "God" starts asking them to take him to their starship. Kirk questions his motives, and the "God" attacks him, striking him to the ground with blue lighting. Spock repeats Kirk's question - "What does God need with a starship?" and also gets struck down. McCoy expresses indignant doubt, and finally Sybok sees the truth of the matter - this "God" has been imprisoned here for millennia, and only wanted them to get out of his prison. Sybok approaches the entity, and asks him to share his pain, then enters into a suicidal wrestling match, so that the other three can get away, along with the Enterprise. The Enterprise escapes after destroying the entity.

While this movie has the worst reputation (debatably - some say Star Trek: Nemesis was the worst), I think it is largely undeserved.  Yes, it's true that this film glorifies Kirk a little bit more than usual, and Spock is generally more annoying than usual, but I don't think that Shatner directing this film makes it an automatic fail of a movie.  It may be that I came into the film not remembering the plot and thinking that it would be awful, and then was pleasantly surprised that it was not as bad as I expected.  A low expectations makes for better viewing sort of situation.  But I truly think this film has its merits.

The dialogue, for example, is quite crisp.  I love the camping trip scenes at the beginning and end, and the interactions between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in them.  Particularly, I like McCoy's side comments ("God, I liked him better before he died!").  I also like the brief exchange between Spock and the Klingon representative.  The representative says, "I'm a foolish old man," - suggesting that he is incapable of having a commanding presence - and Spock replies, "Damn you, sir, you will try."  I think that is the most polite insult ever.

The best part of this movie for me, though, was the scenes dealing with the "God."  I found it fascinating that the four men were so captivated by the entity, and found myself wondering how I would have reacted in the same situation.  I found myself writing down in my notes, "If they don't look for a scientific explanation soon, I will be irritated."  This is Star Trek.  I expect them to look for the scientific first and then concede the possibility of the supernatural in a vague sort of way, if at all, as is their usual modus operandi.  I therefore could not have been more pleased with the dialogue that followed the title question.  The "God" asks, "You doubt me?" and Kirk replies innocently, "I seek proof!"  After the "God" attacks Spock and Kirk, McCoy bursts out with, "I doubt any god who inflicts pain for his own pleasure!"  It's just fascinating.  It made me question what I would believe in that situation, which I believe was the intent of the scene in the first place.

So, while the plot does wander a bit in the beginning, and this is the weird one with Uhura dancing naked, it's really not so bad of a film.  Give it another watch and let me know what you think.  Or just let me know what you think if you have a better memory than I.

Admiral, There Be WHALES Here!

The next Star Trek film is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. (I still have until - ACK! May is this week!!! Okay, people, time for me to crack down.) It was released in 1986, directed by Leonard Nimoy. This film starred the same cast as before, with the addition of Catherine Hicks (best known nowadays for her role as Annie in "Seventh Heaven"). It also featured Mark Lenard, reprising his role as Sarek, Spock's father, and Jane Wyatt, reprising her role as Amanda, Spock's mother.

The film takes place shortly after Star Trek III. Kirk and his crew, in the meantime, had re-fitted the Klingon ship they had hijacked in the last film, so that it would be simple for them to fly. They pack up to go back to Earth, where they are to face judgement for their crimes - stealing and destroying the Enterprise, going to a quarantined planet, and disobeying direct orders, to name a few. Spock wishes to go with them, to lend support to the crew that saved him. He is still not fully himself, and tends to take things too literally and too logically.

Meanwhile, Starfleet ships and starbases across the galaxy are suffering power drains due to a mysterious probe that is sending out signals that no one understands. When it gets to Earth, it stops, pulling up water from the ocean until the Earth is smothered in clouds and rain. As the Bird of Prey comes close to Earth, it gets a warning from the President of the Federation, saying that all ships should stay away from Earth, since the probe disturbs power to such a degree that vital systems (such as life support) are completely shut down. Spock and Uhura analyze the sound that the probe is making, and discover that it would be the same as humpback whale song, if heard underwater. When they research this phenomenon further, they realize that the humpback whales had gone extinct centuries before, hunted down to the last by humans.

In a desperate act, Kirk decides to go back in time - just a simple slingshot around the sun - to retrieve the whales, and fix the problem. Knowing that they could clearly die, given an imprecise calculation, the crew agrees to go through with the time travel. They end up in 1986, and land in a park in San Francisco, cloaking the ship as soon as they arrive in that time period. They also realize that they need nuclear power to get the ship back up to working condition. Splitting off into teams, Kirk and Spock go to find some whales, Chekov and Uhura go to find some nuclear power, and Scotty, Sulu, and McCoy look for materials to build a tank to hold the whales.

Kirk and Spock end up going to The Cetacean Institute - a fictional aquarium - where they meet Dr. Gillian Taylor (Hicks), and George and Gracie, the humpback whales she works with. After determining that the whales are going to be re-introduced into the wild, since Gracie is pregnant, and they can't guarantee the survival of the baby, Kirk and Spock decide that these are the perfect whales to take into the future. Dr. Taylor objects at first, but when they are moved to the ocean before she has the chance to say goodbye, she changes her mind and helps them retrieve the whales in the nick of time before they are killed by some whale hunters.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew has managed to complete their missions, with some various silly hijinks and some fixable danger to Chekov. The crew flies forward in time with the whales and Dr. Taylor in tow (since she refuses to leave her whales). The whales and probe communicate, and, after a brief conversation, the probe takes off to places unknown and leaves the Earth at peace again.

Kirk and his crew are tried for their crimes. Since Kirk was leading the others, they are dismissed of their charges. Kirk is downgraded to the rank of Captain, and "punished" by having to command a starship - the new U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-A.

I should mention that this film was dedicated to the spaceship Challenger crew, in honor and memory of the tragic accident that occurred in 1983. Props to them for that.

The interesting thing about this movie is that it is the most fun. Even Nimoy, in the behind-the-scenes said that. It's probably the least violent (minus the whale-hunters), the most genuinely funny, and the one with a truly happy ending. The Main Title song for this film highlights all of that perfectly. It's very triumphant - almost Christmas-y. I actually downloaded it onto my iPod, I love it so much.

The only violent bit, as previously mentioned, was a video shown at the Cetacean Institute about whale hunting. It still makes me sick, even with all of the desensitizing I've had over the years from watching various movies. I couldn't watch it as a child, and I still find it very hard to watch.

A note on the bus punk: I LOVED that miniature song - "I Hate You" - as a kid because it had such a fun beat. When I started singing it around the house (because I didn't know what "screw you" meant), my brother had to gently correct me and tell me that Mom and Dad shouldn't hear me singing that, so stop. I still think that's funny and carry a fondness for the character and the song to this day.

I wonder, was the Temporal Directive in play here? Does it apply if they need to change the past to save the world? Would there be any other reason to go back in time besides something utterly dire like saving the world? McCoy and Scotty did have a bit of a stab at this concept when Scotty gave the molecular composition for transparent aluminum to a plastic-maker. McCoy pulled Scotty aside and expressed concern. Scotty said, "How do we know he didn't invent the thing?!" At first, I thought that was a sloppy way of dealing with it, and then I saw it as more of a way for the writers to say, yes, we understand this is not the way they should be dealing with time travel, but it's a fun movie, so forget it. Still, the geek in me is irritated.

I have to say while Wrath of Khan has replaced The Voyage Home as the absolute best Star Trek movie (at least in this viewing), I still hold a very fond place in my heart for the latter. I believe this is the most accessible film for both fans and non-fans. Everyone knows what you're talking about when you mention the "one with the whales."

That Green-Blooded Son of a Bitch!

The next film in our Star Trek lineup is Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The film was released in 1984 (I had been born!), starred the same main crew as before, and added Christopher Lloyd (best known to me for Back to the Future) and Robin Curtis. It also brings back Merritt Butrick as David, Kirk's newly discovered grown-up son. The movie was directed by Leonard Nimoy - his first time directing a feature film.

The thought that best expresses this plot is Scotty's line from this movie: "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." Sorry, folks, this is a long one.

This film starts just a wee bit after the first one leaves off. Exhausted, grieving, the crew of the Enterprise arrive at Earth, preparing for the Enterprise to get a refit. They discover that the Enterprise is to be decommissioned, and that Genesis (far from making them heroes) is now under quarantine and a forbidden subject. Other governments, such as the Klingon Empire, have expressed outrage that the Federation would have such powerful and destructive technology, and that they would keep it to themselves. (Cold War, anybody?)

Spock's father, Ambassador Sarek, comes to see Kirk just after his arrival on Earth. Sarek is convinced that Spock transferred his soul, his katra - everything that was not of his body - to Kirk, as per Vulcan tradition. Finding nothing in Kirk's mind, Sarek despairs, until Kirk puts two and two together. Kirk figures out that McCoy's odd behavior was not from stress or exhaustion, but rather because two very opposite souls were competing in his one body. Sarek tells Kirk that they must bring the body of Spock and McCoy to Vulcan to possibly give Spock new life. Though forbidden to do so, the crew of the Enterprise (minus Uhura, who promises to meet them later on Vulcan), hijack their own ship and high-tail it to Genesis.

In the meantime, a Federation science ship, with Lt. Saavik (this time, played by Curtis) and David on board has ventured to Genesis to find out more about it. they detect animal life forms, and Saavik and David beam down to the surface to investigate. They discover that the microbes that had been on Spock's coffin had evolved somewhat and multiplied immensely in size. When they look in the coffin itself, it is empty. Detecting another life form, they find a young Vulcan boy, who they assume to be a sort of reincarnation of Spock. The boy has no speech capabilities, however - he seems but a shell of a person.

While the science ship waits to hear from Star Fleet what they should do about the child, a Klingon Bird of Prey suddenly de-cloacks. When the Federation ship refuses to give over the information on Genesis, the Klingon ship accidentally destroys them. This rogue Klingon commander, Kruge (Lloyd), has decided to gain the Genesis information for himself, thus wielding the ultimate power, and bringing glory to the Empire in the process. Kruge detects life forms on the surface, and sends an away team down to see if he can still retrieve the Genesis information.

Meanwhile, the planet has been roughly aging - far beyond its normal speed - and Spock with it. With no trouble at all, the Klingons capture Spock, Saavik, and David, and begin to interrogate them as the Enterprise enters the system. After a brief but devastating fire-fight, Kirk staunchly refuses to give them Genesis. Kruge orders his men to kill one of the hostages. When the Klingons go to kill Saavik, David lunges at the one with the knife and scuffles with him briefly before being killed.

Disabled in ship and sorely grieved, Kirk agrees to surrender the Enterprise to Kruge and his men. Kruge sends over nearly all of his men, while Kirk sets the self-destruct, and beams the Federation officers to the planet's surface. The Enterprise is then destroyed - looking like a flaming comet over a dying planet - and most of Kruge's crew with it.

Kirk and crew reunite with Saavik and Spock, and free them from the Klingons. Kirk taunts Kruge via one of the dead Klingon's communicators, and Kruge, in a rage, beams down to the surface. In exchange for the Genesis information, Kruge beams up the Federation officers to his ship, except for Spock and Kirk. When Kirk reveals that he had lied to get his crew off of the planet, he and Kruge wrestle on the planet until Kirk is able to throw Kruge off a cliff. He and Spock then beam aboard the Klingon vessel, overcome the one Klingon left, and fly to Vulcan.

There, at great risk to themselves, McCoy and Spock undergo the fal-tor-pan - a transfer of Spock's katra from McCoy's body to his. The transfer is successful and neither are permanently harmed, but it is clear that it will be a long process before Spock is himself again.

*Whew!* Now that that's done with, some notes...

Though a dubious honor at best, this is the best of the "odd" Star Trek films. The even-numbered films tend to be significantly better movies than the odd-numbered ones. I think the main issue with this film is that they tried to cram so much information into 105 minutes. Some of the scenes got truncated that would be more interesting to expand - the scene on Vulcan, for instance. Other scenes are completely unnecessary, or go on for too long - the microbes, anyone? The fight between Kruge and a microbe?? Interesting puppetry, totally pointless scene.

The filmmakers also re-showed the Genesis effect animation from Star Trek II. Animated by Industrial Light and Magic, this was the first entirely computer-generated sequence in a film, which is pretty darn cool, considering that computer-generated effects are rampant in today's movies.

It's hard for me to take Christopher Lloyd seriously as a Klingon, given his roles in the Back to the Future series. However, I looked it up, and Star Trek III was released a year before Back to the Future, so the original viewers would probably not have had that issue.

Seeing the Enterprise destroyed must have been devastating for the fans. I remember when I saw the Enterprise D destroyed in Generations. I don't think I've ever forgiven them for that. I wonder if it was the trade-off they decided on when they decided to bring back Spock.

Speaking of which, this film is full of convenient death and resurrection. Spock probably, despite my great love for him, should have stayed dead. His death and funeral scenes in Wrath of Khan were extremely moving. Would it have been better plot-wise to see how the crew deals with it after Spock dies? It's a question we'll never know, but I would be surprised if it has not been explored in a what-if book scenario. Also, David's death is very useful - we don't know what to do with him, so let's just kill him off.

Final thought: Kirk should not be able to defeat a Klingon commander in hand-to-hand combat.

Best of the odds, still not a favorite. Let me know what you think of the movie in the comments section!

In My Own Little Corner

Taking a departure from Star Trek (I still have until May!), I decided to watch the 1957 live television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring the wonderful Julie Andrews. Apparently, CBS wanted to televise a musical for audiences at home to see. Since Rodgers and Hammerstein were, as Andrews says in her introduction, "synonymous with Broadway," CBS enlisted the illustrious duo to write/compose a new version of Cinderella. At the time, Andrews was the sweetheart of Broadway, as she had been playing Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. She was a shoe-in for the role of Cinderella.

Cinderella's story is simple. A young woman relegated to servitude by her step-family after the death of her father is visited by her fairy godmother. With magic to dress and transport her, Cinderella goes to the royal ball, where the prince falls in love with her, and she with him. Required by the magic to leave by midnight, she disappears into the night, leaving behind a single glass slipper. The prince tries the shoe on every girl in the kingdom until he finds Cinderella. They marry and live happily ever after. As for the step-family, different versions treat them different ways. This particular version is kind to them, allowing the now simpering fools to attend Cinderella at her wedding, and presumably attain tenuous royal favor for their connection to her.

A note first on Julie Andrews. I have loved Julie Andrews for my entire life. While most people know her from her roles in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, or, much more recently The Princess Diaries I and II (which were actually quite sweet - I'll review them one of these days), I also love her for her less innocent and motherly roles, such as in The Americanization of Emily and Victor/Victoria. Although Cinderella is firmly within the first vein of movies I mentioned (minus the motherly), I wanted to establish that I admire Andrews for her breadth of acting, not just for her sweet roles.

I am familiar with this score and version-of-story because of the 1997 Disney production of the same musical starring Brandy in the title role, so I can't help but compare the two. The 1957 version was sweeter and more innocent, but far less polished, and the side characters (even when playing the exact same scenes) were more one-dimensional than the 1997 version. Andrews outsang Brandy (through no fault of Brandy's!) completely, yet both managed to maintain a sparkle of wonder in their eye, and fill their character with character.

Overall, I was pleased with this version, but Andrews is who makes the production. It was not the fancy production I was hoping for, but it was quite impressive, given their circumstances. Worth a view; I'm not sure if it's worth owning.

For Hate's Sake, I Spit My Last Breath at Thee!

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is widely celebrated by Star Trek fans as being the best of the movies with the original cast, if not the best of all of the Star Trek movies.  This movie stars the same original cast as last time, with the addition of the incredible Ricardo Montalbon (may he rest in peace) and Kirstie Alley, along with a few other, more minor characters.  Montalbon, besides playing Khan in the original Star Trek series episode "Space Seed," also is best known for his role as Mr. Roarke in Fantasy Island, and Kirstie Alley has done many other roles, including Rebecca Howe in Cheers, and best known to me in North and South, an extremely long and fun miniseries about the Civil War.  This movie was directed by Nicholas Meyer (who has not directed many movies, but, in fact, directed Star Trek IV - more about that in a couple of blogposts), and was released in 1982.

Given that The Wrath of Khan is considered the best of the Star Trek movies, I would postulate that anyone reading this blogpost would already know the plot if they were at all interested in the Star Trek movies.  If this offends any of my readers, I apologize.  Therefore, in lieu of plot summary, I present this short opera by Robot Chicken to help explain the plot:  Le Wrath di Khan.

My husband showed me that video after watching the film with me.  I enjoyed it a great deal, and I hope you did too!

Now, on to the notes!

While this video is a little trite and awfully funny, The Wrath of Khan is, in fact, quite moving.  It has strong and clear-cut emotions - fear, anger, love.  While watching it, I thought that the writers must have had the original characteristics and quirks of the television show in mind before writing the dialogue.  In fact, Harve Bennet - the executive producer and also a writer - sat down and watched every episode of the original Star Trek before trying to hash out a concept for this movie.  One in particular caught his eye - "Space Seed."

I can understand why.  In preparation for this post (and out of sheer curiosity), I decided to also watch "Space Seed."  (Thank you to CBS and YouTube who paired to present full episodes of the original Star Trek on YouTube for free public viewing, albeit with commercials.)  I have watched perhaps a third of the original series, and this is, by far, the most interesting and best of the episodes I have seen.  I am curious as to whether or not people who have seen them all would agree.  The flavor of The Wrath of Khan is the exact same as "Space Seed."  There is a lot of wry commentary and wit, magnetism and passion, and calm danger.  The only irritation with this episode is a terrible error for the movie: Chekov (the one that Khan recognizes and points out, "I never forget a face") was not in that episode at all.

According to Wikipedia, here's the scoop: "During filming, Kelley noted that Chekov never met Khan in 'Space Seed' (Koenig had not yet joined the cast), and thus Khan's recognizing Chekov on Ceti Alpha did not make sense.  Star Trek books have tried to rationalize this discrepancy; in the film's novelization by Vonda N. McIntyre, Chekov is 'an ensign assigned to the night watch' during 'Space Seed' and met Khan in an off-screen scene.  The non-canonical novel To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh fixes the error by having Chekov escort Khan to the surface of Ceti Alpha after the events of the television episode.  The real cause of the error was a simple oversight by the filmmakers.  Meyer defended the mistake by noting that Arthur Conan Doyle made similar oversights in his Sherlock Holmes stories."

Wait, what??

Okay, first off, it's bad enough that authors decided to go back and explain in the context of the Star Trek universe why the filmmakers made a mistake, but I can understand that.  Us Trekkers/Trekkies want everything to come together in a sort of dogma or canon - it MUST be so.  The fact that the director defended the mistake by saying, well, this famous author totally did it so neener, and shut up, is NOT an excuse!  It's a total cop-out and it's disappointing.

Ah well, back to the praise for the movie instead of the frustration about the movie-makers.

The Wrath of Khan stands in sharp contrast to The Motion Picture.  The uniforms are neat and ...  well, uniform.  Everything - the sets, the costumes, the special effects - are crisp, colorful, and vibrant.  It makes The Motion Picture look completely washed out.  (Although it's awfully funny that the costumes that Chekov and Captain Terell wear for the excursion onto what they believe to be Ceti Alpha 6 have very convenient handles on the front for Khan to lift Chekov up in what is otherwise one of his most threatening scenes.)

Oh, and then there are the eels - the only living indigenous creature still left on Ceti Alpha 5.  Those things - puppets on rods or strings with raspberry jelly coating them - are terrifying.  They have frightened me since the first time I saw them, and I still am horribly stunned when I see them - even after more than 25 years.  The special effects for them are neither flashy, nor especially believable, but the human fear of creepy-crawlies is well used in this scene.

Finally, I must talk about the end.  When I saw Spock die the first time I watched the film, I was shocked.  I had already seen Star Trek IV several times before seeing The Wrath of Khan, and I knew he was alive there!  It was quite confusing, but no less moving.  This is probably the very best acting that William Shatner ever did in this role.  The funeral moves me to tears, and I appreciate greatly the last tribute (although not to be the last of Spock) of Spock reading the prologue at the end:  "Space...the final frontier..."

Wonderful, wonderful.  If you are a Star Trek fan - and even if you're not - this is a must.

We've Got Them Just Where They Want Us

As far back as I can remember, I have loved Star Trek. In combined celebration and trepidation for the new Star Trek movie due out this May (and a fortuitous and joy-bringing birthday present from my husband), I have decided to re-watch and re-evaluate all of the previous Star Trek films. I expect that there may be intermittent reviews of other kinds of films mixed in, but I will see and review all of them, in order, before seeing the new Star Trek film in May.

And, so, without further ado:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

ST:TMP (if you'll allow it) and the following Star Trek films boast ensemble casts, so I hope you will forgive the vast lists of stars that are about to ensue. The film stars the regular crew from the original series: William Shatner (James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), DeForest Kelley (Leonard "Bones" McCoy), George Takei (Hikaru Sulu), James Doohan (Mongomery "Scotty" Scott), Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhura), and Majel Barrett (Christine Chapel). A couple of additional and new crew members join them: Stephen Collins (Willard Decker) and Persis Khambatta (Ilia). The film was directed by Robert Wise (who I was surprised to discover directed West Side Story and The Sound of Music, among others - some credentials!), and was released in 1979.

The movie takes place a few years after the end of the series. The crew has separated - Kirk has been promoted to Admiral, and is now Chief of Starfleet Operations, Spock has gone home to Vulcan to pursue spiritual and logical enlightenment, and Bones has retired (and, if the costume/beard are any indication, has become an old hippie). Discontented with his desk job, Kirk reclaims command of the Enterprise from Captain Decker (Collins), much to Decker's chagrin, and effectively brings the rest of the crew out of retirement. Ilia joins the crew, and a spark passes between her and Decker; they have not only met before, but were in love.

The Enterprise is commissioned to investigate a destructive and unresponsive entity that is on a direct course to Earth. When the Enterprise encounters the object, Spock figures out that the object is communicating at a much faster rate than they could pick up regularly, and sends a friendship message at that speed. The entity responds with its own probe, which promptly abducts Ilia, and then returns her bereft of her humanity (for lack of a better term, given that she is an alien), and her personality stored as mere data. Ilia-as-probe searches the ship, seeking to investigate these "inferior carbon-based life forms." The crew discovers from Ilia that the being is called V'ger, and is seeking its Creator. It seeks to destroy the carbon-based life forms on Earth when its Creator doesn't respond, but Kirk convinces V'ger that he knows why the Creator hasn't responded, completely bluffing. V'ger calls off the attack, and has Ilia bring in Kirk, Spock, Decker, and McCoy to see V'ger in person, per Kirk's demand.

Once they are inside the much larger vessel, Kirk et al realize that V'ger is, in fact, Voyager 6 - a fictional satellite based on the Voyager 1 and 2 models that launched in the 1970s to take pictures and gather data. They realize that V'ger is seeking its Creator in order to not only report back, but also to evolve - to join with the Creator. V'ger had encountered a machine planet in its travels that built the exterior structure for it, and encouraged its sentience by giving it more knowledge. Decker more than happily complies with V'ger's request, taking the role of the Creator. Consequently, he finally gets to consummate his affection with Ilia. V'ger evolves into bright lights (and, seemingly, into a higher plane of existence), and Kirk and crew depart to continue their exploration "Out there...thataway."

Given the simplistic plot, this film is far too long. Clocking in at 132 minutes (yes, that's two hours and 12 minutes), this movie is (with respect and credit due to my dad, who explained it perfectly) a one-hour episode stretched out far too long. Given the recent (at the time) release of Star Wars, I can understand that they wanted to flaunt their newly acquired special effects and makeup budgets and capabilities. Thus we have Klingons that never appear again, encountering V'ger at the beginning of the film. ("Hey, Roy, we got some more money in the makeup budget! Let's throw some Klingons in there just for laughs!") In addition, many 10-15 minute long sequences of the ship flying through space could have easily been cut.

But I discovered something when I was watching the behind-the-scenes documentaries. It turns out that Dad's assertion was spot on: the film was not intended to be a film at all. The story was supposed to be the pilot episode for Star Trek: Phase 2 - a television series that never came to pass. Did you get that? This two-hour-and-twelve-minute long movie was supposed to be and was written as a one-hour television show! Ridiculous.

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh. This movie was also a love note to the fans - Star Trek back with new content after going off the air for 10 years. It was going to be a box-office hit no matter the plot - just like the Star Wars prequels were (terrible movies, but people paid through the nose to see them) and like the new Star Trek movie will be. I have my doubts about the quality of the film (albeit unfounded - I've only seen one trailer, and it looked awesome), but I still intend to see it in theaters. There is a loyalty in Star Trek fans that not even a travesty like Star Trek: Enterprise can shatter. This movie must have been highly anticipated and quite beloved.

In fact, even as I watch this with a 30-year shield and 9 other (better, with the possible exception of Star Trek V) Star Trek movies and four more serieses under my belt, I feel a certain tug at my heartstrings. This is Star Trek, after all. It isn't a good plot, the costumes and sets are bland in color and style, and the characters are incredibly hokey, but it still has a few saving graces besides its good name and inexplicable pull.

(1) The music. The main theme of the film, written by Jerry Goldsmith, is perfect. It was re-used and slightly adjusted for Star Trek: The Next Generation, so has nostalgic value for me. It is also a wonderful theme in and of itself - majestic, triumphant, joyful, and just the tiniest bit sad.

(2) Occasional perfect bits of dialogue. There are a few pieces of dialogue that speak completely to the characters. For example, when the non-Ilia probe (a beam of rather menacing-looking light) is searching the bridge, Kirk says, "Don't interfere with it," Checkov replies, "AbsoLUTely I will not interfere with it!!" Another good piece of dialogue is when Decker exclaims with naivety while being drawn inside V'ger, "Forward motion, sir!" Spock dismissively deadpans, "Tractor beam." (Brilliant!) Finally, when Bones and Spock meet again, Spock makes some caustic remark, and Bones says, "Spock, you haven't changed a bit. You're just as warm and sociable as ever."

(3) The fact that they let women be promoted into traditionally male roles. Christine Chapel (Barrett), who was a nurse in the series, has become a doctor in the years since their last mission.

In effect, unless you are a Star Trek fan and are watching it for its history and nostalgia, I would suggest to skipping to one hour and forty-five minutes into the movie. As long as you have a brief summary of what comes before, you're set. The last half-hour of this film is the best and fastest-moving part of it.

Tune in soon for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan!!

I Pronounce You Man and Wife. Proceed With the Execution.

My next film is one that I had seen as a child, and decided to give another change: The African Queen.  This movie was made in 1951, and stars Katharine Hepburn (need I say more?) and Humphrey Bogart (probably best known for his role in Casablanca.  The film was directed by John Huston (who also directed Annie and The Maltese Falcon).

The African Queen takes place in 1914, in German East Africa.  A missionary, Samuel Sayer (Robert Morely), and his sister, Rose (Hepburn), live with and preach to a small village of Africans.  Once World War I begins, German soldiers come to the village, set fire to the huts, and round up the Africans, taking them away to be soldiers.  Samuel and Rose are not hurt at all, and their house is not disturbed, but the church is burned to the ground.  Samuel goes mad because of the chaos, and dies quickly.  Rose is alone in the village.

Charlie Allnut (Bogart), a riverboat captain and supplies dealer, comes by the village to check on them the day Samuel dies.  Finding Rose alone, he takes her with him to his riverboat - the African Queen.  Rose suggests that they go down the river to the lake, in order to get out of the area.   Charlie informs her that the lake is held by a German warship called the Louisa.  Rose figures out a way to torpedo the Louisa, using the African Queen, and convinces Charlie to go with the plan.  They travel down the river, encounter great hardships, and fall in love.  At the end, they are captured by the Germans before they can blow up the Louisa, but ask the ship captain to marry them before they are hung.  He does, and just before they are killed, the formerly submerged African Queen surfaces and blows up the Louisa.  Charlie and Rose dive off the ship, and presumably swim to safety.

There were many things about The African Queen that frustrated me.  The opening credits of this movie are awful - two minutes of floating under branches, looking up at the sky, and hearing monkeys.  It almost made me want to turn off the movie in disgust.  The next three minutes are also purely painful - out of tune, no word singing of a hymn.  In fact, almost the entire movie seems campy, predictable, and unrealistic.

For some reason, I have never been fond of Humphrey Bogart.  I suppose I don't see him as the best of leading men.  He is neither handsome, nor charismatic - he doesn't even have a sexy voice, or even an accent!  In this, I am no more impressed.  Hepburn, however, disappointed me in this movie.  For the first half of the film, her character is bland and stark.  Her attire - though appropriate for the time period they are depicting - is high collared and must have been stifling to her.  Her fire and pizzaz don't really shine through until two different scenes.  One is when she pours all of Charlie's gin overboard after an argument (sort of reminded me of Elizabeth Swann burning all of Jack Sparrow's rum in Pirates of the Caribbean).  The other is the scene after they have successfully traversed the rapids.  She says, "I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!"

I did like a couple of details about the film.  I happened to notice that the missionary church was a Methodist one, which explained in and of itself Rose's obvious distaste for alcohol.  I thought that was quite true to form, and enjoyed that little tidbit.  In addition, I liked the comment after the ship captain married them - see the quote in the title for that.

I do not recommend this film.  It is such an average plot, and the actors do not rise above the story to make it more intriguing.  The film seemed endless and quite dull for the most part.  Pick a different Hepburn movie!  Then again, maybe I should give "Bogey" another chance someday...