The Passing of Leonard Nimoy

Though not surprised (he had been experiencing serious health issues for some time), I was still saddened to hear of the passing of Leonard Nimoy today, at the age of 83.  Watching Star Trek is among my earliest and fondest of memories.  The morality of the show was key to my development as a human, and Nimoy will always be a part of that.  He will be missed.  

-Matt

Dork Art: Cinerama Star Trek

This week Star Trek celebrated its 48th birthday.  I've seen a lot of the usual LOVE thrown around online (why not, it's the most influential show ever, right?), but nothing as nifty as what Nick Acosta has accomplished here.  The concept artist snatched several HD screencaps from Trekcore, and morphed the original 4x3 TV ratio into Cinerama - the epic frontier the show so rightfully deserves.  In the modern era of widescreen television sets it can sometimes be distracting to watch the old box frame.  One of the worst DVD atrocities I've encountered was the Anchor Bay Evil Dead box frame stretching done a few years back - don't muck about with ratios cuz you just can't unboil the spaghetti!  However, seeing these gorgeous Cinerama stills, I can't help but dream of a universe where William Shatner got a little extra room to Kirk Fu.  These are beautiful, and true Trekkie wonders.  I love the internet.  Thank you, Nick Acosta.

--Brad

Dork Art: Mondo Returns To Stark Trek

Wow.  I thought Mondo was done with the Star Trek license (their last collaboration was way back in August of 2012 with Todd Slater's The Corbomite Maneuver), but come tomorrow afternoon at some random time they'll be releasing not one, but TWO prints for rabid Trekkies everywhere.  My favorite is the above Matt Taylor print showcasing probably the most iconic Star Trek episode, "Arena."  It doesn't get much more entertaining than William Shatner vs The Gorn Captain, aka the second coolest rubber suited lizard man (even Trek must bow before Godzilla).  The Arena poster measures 20 x 36, is limited to 175 copies, and runs $45.  Good luck scoring one tomorrow; I fear I may have to buckle down and tackle the secondary market for this one.  The other print is from Kevin Dart and involves possibly one of my least favorite episodes, "What Are Little Girls Made Of." No matter how many stone dildos that ep features, I cannot get excited about Nurse Chapel's condescending tone.  The print measures 18 x 24, is limited to 175 copies (varient is 85 copies), and runs $40 (variant is $60).  Hopefully, this is just Mondo gearing up for a second wave of Trek goodies.  I'm still waiting on posters for The Search for Spock & The Final Frontier - come on, you know you want a Tyler Stout "Row Row Row Your Boat."

--Brad

Dork Art: Geek-Art's Final Frontier

Gonna be in Paris from June 3-30th?  Well, stop on by Geek-Art's Final Frontier art show for a stunning tribute to Television's most enduring franchise.  Looks like we've got a couple of beauties from Paul Shipper and Matt Ferguson, as well as Nicolas Beaujouan, Sam Ho, and Patrick Connan.  No matter what my feelings are towards Star Trek Into Darkness, it's always good to see so much love for Star Trek in the community.  And I really do dig the hell outta Josh LN's Into Darkness skeleton quote print.  If I had only enjoyed the film a little bit more I would totally want that up on my apartment wall.

--Brad

Book Review: Fringe: The Zodiac Paradox

    I’m a surprise fan of Fringe.  I heard about it, but thought it sounded like a crappy X-Files riff; another of so many shoddy TV shows that recycle ideas with a couple of semi-novel ‘twists,’ last a season (or in truly dire situations, more than one season), and fade into justified obscurity (see every show featuring a vampire in the lead, with the possible exception of Dark Shadows).  And this time, one of those goofy dudes from Dawson’s Creek was on the team and Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  Still, I am not made of stone (though I do have a piece of coal where my heart should be), and eventually I listened to one of the many voices singing its praise and gave it a try.  Glad I did.  It is like X-Files.  Except that instead of one in five episodes being pretty good (with the rest being forgettable or bloody awful), Fringe was fairly consistently good and thematically focused.  And what’s more, the Dawson kid was good (?!).  But the best character, the most fun to watch, the one I found myself paying attention to, empathizing with, and wanting to know more about, was the resident mad scientist, the drugged up nutter Walter Bishop.

    Take my favorite character from an excellent show and put him into the hands of one of my favorite active writers, Christa Faust?  Sounds like a good recipe.  And so it is.  A prequel story about Walter, William Bell, and Nina Sharp and a protracted battle with the Zodiac killer.  Sign me up.  But media tie-in novels are a tricky thing.  I’m a long time Star Trek fan, and have read my fair share of Trek novels…a few of them were even good.  I’ve read some Farscape books, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and others.  More often than not, they’re not very good.  By which I mean they’re garbage.  The key problem is writing characters that sound and feel like the ones you’re used to from the show/film.  Why was The Wounded Sky a good Trek novel?  Because Kirk spoke and acted like Kirk, and McCoy spoke and acted like McCoy.  Once a writer does that, I’m much more willing to sit through whatever story they might wish to tell, but if a writer can not do that…I’m out.  All that is a long way of leading into  the strength of this book.  When Faust puts words into Walter’s mouth, I hear and see John Noble.  When she puts words into Belly’s mouth, I hear and see Leonard Nimoy.  After that, it’s all gravy.

    The story deals with early stage explorations into the mind altering drugs and reality breaking research that is the backstory of Fringe.  Bishop, Bell, and Sharp come together in the early 70s and lay conceptual groundwork for their lives, building the foundation of all that will lead to the events of the TV series.  And this is the stuff I loved about the show.  I’m really fascinated by all that post 60s, post hippie Utopian insanity.  Like the Dharma Initiative on Lost or The Arboria Institute from Beyond the Black Rainbow.  Or experimental hospitals in movies like Rabid and The Brood.  People with nothing but the best of intentions, trying to craft a new, better world, but with dire and sometimes apocalyptic consequences.  Some combination of drugs, the Cold War, profound social change, and wild tech growth created a weird time where almost anything seemed possible.  A time when two science nerds tripping balls in a park might just open a rift to another world, or find a way to boost human evolution.  I’ll admit, the Zodiac killer didn’t particularly interest me.  This is largely due to my ambivalence toward serial killer history and fiction.  It’s well handled, and I think the scenes written from his point of view are appropriately creepy and disquieting.  But due to my own interests and prejudices, I kept wanting the scenes to end so I could get back to Walter, Nina, and Belly, or the student researchers, or even the psychedelic rock band trying to change the world with their music, man.  I can’t imagine there are a lot of people like myself, who would love to read a novel about the founding of Massive Dynamics, and their early research work, without need of a monster or villain.  I should probably just pop on a few more prog-rock albums, watch Videodrome, and be content.

    If you’re a Fringe fan, absolutely check this book out.  It’s nice supplementary material that builds the world a bit more and gives details on the early lives of some major players.  If you’re a Christa Faust fan, you should enjoy her typical cracking action, natural dialog, and uncomfortable violence.  It is a tie-in to a PG-13 type show, so the violence is more restrained than in Choke Hold or Money Shot.  But it doesn’t feel false or too sanitized.  If you’re like me, and a fan of both, this is a no-brainer.  Read it.

-Matt

Movie Review: Star Trek

    I don’t remember when I first heard about this project.  But I know it was during one of the very deep low points in Trek fandom.  Enterprise had been canceled (the first Trek show to meet that fate since the original).  Nemesis had been a bomb (the first film to not make its money back in theaters) at the box office and with this viewer.  Voyager still haunted the psyche with its deep shadow of raw suck.  And science fiction in general (not to mention the viewing public) seemed to have moved on.  Then the guy behind Lost says he wants to do Star Trek?  Is he high?  Nobody is gonna want to see that.  Those few people who still lay claim to the name Trekkie aren’t going to climb out of their Mountain Dew and pizza stained computer chair, away from their internet chat board where they’ve just proved to some 8 year old kid that they know more about what a Klingon likes to do on vacation, to pay 10 bucks for a ticket and see a Trek film made by some mainstream guy who has several successes to his name.  Especially not one about Kirk.  How could they be so stupid as to not do a (insert ridiculously obscure character only a dozen people remember and could never sustain a solo project) movie?!  Fools!

    Recasting iconic characters.  That’s tough.  Look at how people reacted to Daniel Craig playing James Bond, and based only on his hair color.  And that’s a character from a book who had already been played by at least 7 actors (5 in the official series).  Right off the bat, everyone is complaining about the casting of ‘children’ to play Kirk and crew.  Of course, the fact that Chris Pine was only a couple years younger than Shatner (and playing 5 or so years younger) when the original show started, or that John Cho was much older than the original Sulu, or that only two of the cast hadn’t yet reached their 30s didn’t sway anyone.  Pine didn’t look like Shatner looked in Wrath of Khan, therefore was far too young!  Internet chat rooms were full of naysayers saying nay.  As with my Star Wars love (and most other love), my Trek love was always strong, but filled with glaring gaps I simply chose not to acknowledge.  Voyager?  Didn’t happen.  Hugh and the neutering of the Borg?  Didn’t happen.  Season three of Enterprise?  Didn’t happen.  (Episodes 2 & 3 of Star Wars?  F no.  Never heard of them.).  But this movie happened.  I have no problem with original timeline Spock traveling back in time and sparking this alternate history.  It’s hardly the first to appear in Trek.

    Like the best Trek films, this movie has a great deal of enjoyable character interaction.  Sure, it’s a bit weird, because they set Kirk and Spock up as rivals.  But otherwise, certain rhythms fall into place.  And each cast member gets his or her time to shine.  Each one has a job and gets to do it.  The use of Christopher Pike as a mentor for Kirk is interesting (his own life-path altered in this reality).  And the destruction of an entire world lets you know that they mean business and that this really is a different timeline.  Anything can happen and the future is up for grabs.  I like that.

    Now, the film is not perfect.  Hardly.  It features some of those irritating things Trek is known for.  Constant preaching about the rules followed immediately by characters throwing them out.  Also, I’m fairly sure that military command isn’t just handed off to whomsoever one wills, nor do people who stow away get promoted to second in command because they‘re hanging around.  I was waiting for the bridge to be left in the hands of the delivery guy who happened to be standing in the corner (‘Hey, UPS guy!  You have the bridge!’).  And the overall conflict of this movie, like nearly every Trek film, is basically a retelling of Wrath of Khan.  Sigh.  Strange new worlds?  New civilizations?  Nope.  We’ve got revenge obsessed thugs to punch into submission.  Boldly going where Trek has gone again and again for the last 30 years (thanks Ben).

Khaaaaaan!  I mean, Nerooooooo!

    But while not perfect, it is a perfectly entertaining movie.  It follows my golden rule for Trek movies.  “First make a good movie; second make a good Trek movie.”  It remains largely true to Star Trek’s overall context while understanding that it is not 1967, 1987, or 1997 anymore (ever notice how Enterprise feels like it was made by the same people in the same way as Next Gen, how there was no maturation of style or technique in 20 years of televised Trek?  I did.).  Now, you might think I just mean that it’s effects were upgraded or that they cut more often.  I don’t.  Though those things are true.  But it has a tightness and purpose that has been missing for a long time.  Not to mention that all important sense of fun.  My hope when I walked out of the theater was that from this seed of a new beginning, we could see some really interesting chances taken, new paths for classic characters forged.  Alas, that is not what happened.  But taking the 2009 film by itself, the potential it represents for Trek’s reinvention is enormous, breaking the stagnant cage it had been locked in for so long.  Here’s hoping Into Darkness proves to be a stumble (V, Generations, Nemesis) the series can easily get past with a quality follow-up.  And I agree with co-Dork Brad that to see what I really want in Star Trek probably requires a television series.  I just hope that a new Trek show would learn the lessons of the last decade.  Short, intense, well produced seasons, without filler (see: Rome, Mad Men, The Shield, etc. for examples).  But in the meantime, this film helped put Trek back in the cultural consciousness like it hadn’t been since the height of Next Gen’s popularity in the early 90s.  So, I tip my hat.

-Matt

A Fistful of Star Trek! (Brad's Picks)

After four years of waiting, JJ Abrams' Star Trek follow-up Into Darkness has finally hit our shores and despite some polarizing rage (from me & proper Trekkies everywhere *smiling smugly in the glow of my laptop*) I'm quite happy to have the USS Enterprise back on the big screen.  Whatever disappointments I might have with this latest entry, I genuinely hope it strikes gold so that we can join their 5 Year Mission in another few years.  And with Abrams jumping ship to Star Wars (and hopefully taking the rest of his Bad Robot dolts with him) maybe someone like Matt Reeves or Drew Goddard can rediscover the hope & humanism of the Star Trek universe.

Below you'll find a few of my favorite moments from the 47 year old saga, as well as the key concepts (or ideals) that make Star Trek my true love.

5.  The Death of George Kirk & The Birth of His Son:  Ok, so I know I was just crapping all over JJ Abrams & Bad Robot a few moments ago, but that's just my agonizing Into Darkness disappointment talking.  Their 2009 relaunch is actually kind of a miracle.  A film that cleverly acknowledges & even continues the stories of the cast you love, but also creates a timeline for new adventures occur.  It's a whiz-bang actioner, busting at the seams from its massive budget, and Trekkies had never seen a film this grand or slick before.  JJ obviously knows where to put his digital camera & the Starship battles between the Narada, the Kelvin, and the Enterprise are absolutely breathtaking.  But it's not the spectacle that ranked this film in the #1 spot of my Top Ten Films of 2009.  Nope, Star Trek won my heart with its spot-on emotional beats, the first of which occurs in the opening fifteen minutes.  The time traveling Narada comes upon the USS Kelvin and unleashes an array of advanced weaponry that completely devastates the tiny vessel.  With the captain dead, George Kirk must take the chair and provide a distraction while his crew flees in a stream of shuttles.  Aboard one of those shuttles, his wife goes into labor & just before he meets his doom they agree upon their child's name - Jim for her father, Tiberius for his.  As of this week, I've seen the film a dozen times and with each viewing I tear up during the chaos - heartstrings pulled & knotted.  Robbing James T. Kirk of his father transforms him from a bold, big ego adventurer and into a brash, cock-of-the-walk brat.  And it's an internal struggle still being waged in the new film, however, his new father figure Christopher Pike doesn't get much of a chance to guide him to glory...

4.  The Dominion War:  Introduced as an anti-Federation in the second season of Deep Space Nine, Starfleet's war with The Dominion paves the way for Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica reboot.  With The Next Generation off the air & the USS Voyager galavanting the Delta Quadrant, the DS9 show runners found their hands in the cookie jar - Klingons, Romulans, Breen - it was all theirs to play with and Deep Space Nine took full advantage, plunging the universe into a galactic conflict like nothing Star Trek had dealt with before.  These were not simple one and done episodes, for the first time Star Trek was given season long arcs, and a new level of storytelling was grated to The Final Frontier.  This is also where the concept of the devious Section 31 first appeared, so those loving the militarized Starfleet of Into Darkness can take glee in William Sadler's scenery chewing villainy.

3.  The Psychedelic Western:  When William Shatner took the ship from Jeffery Hunter, Star Trek pretty much became Cowboys In Space; a 5 Year Mission expanding the idea of westward expansion into the cosmos but never forgetting the broad moralizing. I first found Trek through the cinematic excursions, but The Original Series is the true core of the franchise - a trippy, hippy-dippy adventure show where Kirk, Spock, & McCoy stumble from one random scenario to another.  There are dozens of gems to be found, the cliched choices being "City on the Edge of Forever," "Space Seed," "The Corbomite Maneuver," "Arena," "Mirror, Mirror," etc, etc.  But as I revisit the show, I find myself drawn more and more to the crazy and the awkward.  Episodes like "A Private Little War" in which Kirk succumbs to a wicked weed after grappling with the ape beast Mugatu.  Or how about "Shore Leave" in which Kirk & McCoy defend themselves from imaginary White Rabbits & the pugilist Finnegan.  In its three years on the air, Star Trek was throwing whatever they could on screen, some stuff stuck and became fanboy canon, while other bits are easily forgotten.  But dagnabbit, I'm still waiting for my "Way to Eden" Adam action figure, and I say the goofy is just as charming as the revered.

2.  The Triumvirate:  Spock, Kirk, & Bones.  As much as I love the rest of the crew and the challenges they face exploring deep space, it's the friendship of these three opposites that cements the action of the franchise.  Spock with his frustrating idealization of logic.  Bones with his grumpy old man pessimism.  Jim Kirk with his Super Ego and unchallenging knowledge of right & wrong.  Perfected over decades by Shatner, Nimoy, & Kelly; the friendship ranges from humorous bouts of bickering to genuine love for one another.  The Wrath of Khan is often (rightfully) cited as the great cinematic adventure, but I often think The Search for Spock gets the shaft as its plot is a personification of their bromance.  In the third big screen outing, Kirk lays everything on the line for his two friends, and it's easy to forgive the wonky Klingon encounter when you're swept into their battle for each other.  Heck, if you love these guys as much as I do you can even trick yourself into enjoying Star Trek V, a film with an absolutely bugnuts-stupid quest for God at the center of the galaxy that is framed with an adorable campfire getaway - three chums enjoying the presence of each other.  As the new actors wearing the iconic skins, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, & Karl Urban are still finding their way.  Quinto & Urban certainly have an excellent handle on the mannerisms, and as the three proved in Star Trek 09, they can absolutely deliver the banter.  Into Darkness has little use for The Triumvirate, reducing Urban to no more than a metaphor generator and injecting Uhura's romantic interest into the trilogy.  All well and good, but I hope the next film allows the three cohorts their respectable chemistry.

1.  "Where No Man Has Gone Before":  Space, the final frontier.  The voyages of the Starship Enterprise.  Boldly going.  In 1966 Gene Rodenberry, taking the popularity of television programs like Wagon Train and mixing it with the excitement surrounding the space race, brought Star Trek to thousands of boob tubes around the world.  It was not initially a smashing success, but it eventually caught the imagination of millions and spawned the very first wave of fanboys (& girls).  What was the initial draw is sill the concept that keeps me coming back for more - the 23rd Century as seen by Roddenberry is a universe of hope & adventure.  Earth has solved its domestic squabbles.  The bridge of the USS Enterprise has Russians at the helm and African Americans on comm.  Not such a big deal these days, but at the height of The Cold War & the Civil Rights movement, seeing Uhura & Chekhov fighting alongside James Tiberius Kirk was a real Utopia.  And the idea that Man (with a capital M) has plenty of galaxy to explore is still really damn exciting if not utterly fantastical thanks to the public's seeming disdain for NASA these days.  Star Trek is not a Versus show.  It's not Star Wars.  It's not Avatar.  It's not even Battlestar Galactica.  It allows for plenty of action, but at the core of the franchise should be exploration.  Man maturing to join & contribute to the rest of the Universe.  And that's what I want from whatever incarnation of Star Trek we get next.

--Brad

Movie Review: Star Trek IV The Voyage Home

    Star Trek IV will always hold a special place in my heart, because it was the first Trek film I saw on the big screen.  I’m not sure why I hadn’t seen the others.  I wasn’t the only one in the house who watched Star Trek, and though we didn’t go to the movies often, we did go.  But whatever the case, this was my first.  It is also one of the only Trek films that doesn’t involve squaring off against a ‘bad guy.’  There is an adventure and a dilemma, but no mustache twirling villain.  Look, I don’t argue that the original show was ‘cerebral.’  It wasn’t even that good science fiction 90% of the time.  It was an action adventure show, not unlike several others of its time.  But though there were a great many fistfights over the three original seasons, not every episode was about duking it out with whatever rogue scientist or demigod Kirk found that week.  Sometimes, it was just about identifying a problem and addressing it.  I really, profoundly wish that element of the original show was a part of the movies more often.

    The message is pretty darned heavy-handed, but as they set out to make a ‘message movie’ and then came up with the message to fit, that’s no surprise.  It reminds me of the satirical take on the 1970s in Escape from the Planet of the Apes.  There’s a lot of fun poked at life in the 80s, especially West Coast life.  And that’s sort of the thing; it’s a fun movie.  It’s not dark or serious.  It’s got a serious message of conservation at its heart, but everything is presented in a lighthearted and enjoyable way.  The film features lots of my favorite stuff from the movie era, great character moments, those little exchanges between the long time crewmembers.  From McCoy’s frustration at 20th century medicine and Scott’s disgust at the primitive computers, to Kirk and Spock trying to ‘fit in.’  It’s full of laughs and goofs, but all well handled.  Everyone seems to be having fun.

    The Voyage Home rounds out the trilogy within the series that began with Wrath of Khan.  If there had never been another Star Trek film, this would have been an excellent finale.  It’s hopeful and uplifting, and ends on a positive note.  And it gave an example of how Trek movies might go, if filmmakers could just break their death-grip on the Wrath of Khan mold.  This was one of the most successful films of the franchise, and I hope that fact sinks in.  We could use another film without a villain.  Seriously.

-Matt