Anaraphala’s Movie Mayhem: Star Wars: The Last Jedi*
(* Uh huh )
.
Hey guys, Anaraphla here with The Last Jedi, well it’s the last one until Lucasfilm/Disney determines if they can get us to pay to see another movie. You kind of get the idea that this is going to be like the Final Fantasy series, that hasn’t been final yet.
Ok. Apparently the Disorder has inexplicably survived the previous movie. I mean, Capt. Phasma ran out of chrome polish and the whole place blew up because putting a sun inside a planet just wasn’t smart to begin with. Messing with a sun didn’t work very well in Star Trek: Generations, did it?
So the bad guys show up. Poe Damron has this crazy plan to blow up this big enemy ship. Poe tries to have a conversation with General Hux as a distraction. Hux has eloquence of Donald Trump or Kim Jong Un, while Poe obviously wants someone intelligent to talk to.
A bomber tries to drop its bombs on the enemy ship. Of course stuff goes wrong and although the enemy destroyer is blown up, the bomber along with the pilot is destroyed as well. Poe is later demoted for wasting the pyrotechnics budget of the movie. The remaining Resistance ships escape into hyperspace.
On the Back Order ship, Snoke decides to mop the floor with General Hux. Well, the floor was dirty. Dr. Evil then tells Scott that he is not evil enough to be his son, and tells him his Vader helmet isn’t licenced, and is stupid. Kylo has another tantrum, but only destroys the helmet. You will remember after his last tantrum the only reason Disney didn’t send Kylo a bill for the damages was that the place was to be blown up anyway.
Now we are on the planet where the last movie ends. Luke totally ruins the dramatic mood by tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder. Luke has a tantrum over his part in this movie and locks himself in his room. However, Chewie is good at opening doors.
I have to mention here (in case you forgot) this is a Disney movie. There are these cutesy wide-eyed ferret things called Porg (not Borg, thank goodness). Shameless merchandising? Of course. What I haven’t figured out is how Disney allowed these not-so-cute animals with several exposed mamaries that dispense some kind of green milk. Come on, pressurized nipples?
Well it seems the Out of Order can track the Resistance through hyperspace. (This was actually foreshadowed in Star Trek by the phrase “Resistance is Futile”)
However, the bad dudes don’t get so close they could end the movie. Why not? Reasons. Kylo in a TIE fighter targets the ship his mother Leia is on, but decides not to fire. Some else does however and Leia is blown into space.
It is here composer John Williams switches to his Superman theme, and Leia yells "I'm Mary Poppins Y'all and Yondus her way to safety. Yes, I know Leia can use the Force. She picked a great time to go from force neophyte to Yoda level mastery, but why hasn’t she used her powers before? If you think I was going to let this slide, you don’t know me very well.
Back on the planet Ahchoo (Its Ahch-To, but you know) Rey starts to feel a connection to Kylo. She even gets to see him with without his shirt. I don't know. Maybe Kylo would have a chance with Rey if he wasn't a Sith. R2D2 uses some recycled footage from A New Hope to convince Luke to help
.
On the ship Admiral Holdover (Laura Dern) takes over while Leia takes a nap. Dern looks like she had a really bad hair color experience, but I have seen worse. Finn decided this would be a good time to test an escape pod. A woman named Rose decided to test her taser and bring Finn back to the movie. (If I have to do this movie, you have to do it) Together they come up with a convoluted plan to get on the Previous Order ship and turn off the tracking device.
After lamenting his acting career, Luke starts to train Rey. He has her close her eyes and asks her if she can feel the force, She says she does. Luke is tickling her with a branch. Luke then tells Rey that this is the only planet where this would not be considered sexual harassment by the authorities. Later Rey drops down into this room she feels the Dark Side. She wants to know who she is, but instead of answer she finds herself in a place that looks like the faction test from Divergent.
Finn, Rose and BB8 arrive at this place that looks like some of the Las Vegas scenes from CSI. They are looking for a code breaker. They are thrown in jail for littering but escapes with the help of a dude who says he can breaks codes. (Am I the only one who wonders why this dude is in jail if he could escape)
Dern starts to move everyone into shuttles for evacuation. Poe thinks this is a stupid idea and tries to take command. Leia is back and stops Poe. He then finds out everyone is heading to a secret base.
Poe: Nevermind
Leia: Stupid, we had a plan.
Poe: I didn’t know.
Holdover: Thats what you get for missing staff meetings.
Poe: I wasn’t invited.
Holdover: Precisely.
Back on Achoo, Rey leaves on the Falcon. (Warning: librarians may be upset by this next scene) Luke is upset with his acting career and decides to burn the tree containing the Jedi books. Yoda appears and tells Luke the books are out of date and everything Rey needs can be found on the Internet, Yoda then destroys the tree with a lightening bolt.
Rey finally faces Kylo (with his shirt on) and appears before Snoke. We are sort of doing the similar scene from Return of the Jedi. Snoke tells Rey she is a filthy Mudblood and Kylo kills Snoke.. They both kill the guards. Wearing red is no safer on Star Wars than Star Trek.
Finn and Rose are predictably betrayed by the theif. Next time you need a hacker, be sure they are white hat. With the main ship evacuated, Dern, redoing one of the last scenes from Prometheus, engages main drive and flies through the Lost Order ship. Rey escapes and BB8 earns -10 Cinemasins for extreme badassery
.
On the planet, the Resistance prepares for an assault by the remaining bad guys. Finn and Rose try to take out this cannon by flying into it. Rose stops Finn from sacrificing his life. She says we should fight to save the ones we love. Sorry about the rest of you losers. Really though its just a “will she survive?” setup.
So Luke faces Kylo using a Force hologram. He dies, thankful there will be no more movies for him. Rey saves everyone with the Falcon and on the Las Vagas planet a young boy talks about the kool ring he got from the Cracker Jacks box.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Anaraphala's Movie Mayhem Thor Ragnarok
Anaraphla’s Movie Mayhem: Thor Ragnarok.
Ok kiddies I have to make a little disclaimer here. Ragnarok isn’t a Jim Henson production. Thats Fraggle Rock, something totally different, although you might actually use the same theme music by changing the words. Lets see, “Give your life away, living for another day, let destruction play, down at Ragnarok” Ok its better with the music.
When the movie starts, Thor is talking about where he is going, and what he is doing in this handbasket. Its true. Thor is fighting this fire monster who wants to start Ragnarok. (No, Ragnarok is not the opening act for Led Zeppelin) Thor defeats the monster and takes its horn back to Asgard, where the only thing that can bring back the monster just happens to be. Clearly this should be a violation of the Asgard hazmat safety code, but it isn’t.
Meanwhile Odin, Thor’s dad is watching a play dedicated to Loki, Thor’s brother. Thor may be powerful, but he has a somewhat poor taste in women and he is the only sentient being in the universe who didn’t realize from the end of the previous movie that Loki is not dead and has disguised himself as Odin.
Thor and Loki have to go look for Odin. Along the way they receive a Strange message. Of course, this movie needed a Benedict Cumberbatch cameo. Strange told the pair that Odin was in Norway and opened a portal for them, allowing Thor and Loki to bypass the *%#@# TSA checkpoint.
Odin wanted to do a Luke Skywalker pose, so we find him standing next to a cliff. Was he just standing there, waiting for Thor and Loki to show up like Luke was obviously just waiting for Rae? Odin tells them a bunch of stuff they will need to remember to move the plot along later. Then Odin lays one Hella surprise on them. You have a sister. She is hella wicked, hella powerful,and not bad looking actually, but the antlers would be too much for most people. (This probably wasn’t as much of a shock as Mr. Spock had when he found out he had an evil sister named Michael)
Hella breaks Thor’s hammer. You just cannot get one at Home Depot you know.(You can imagine what would happen if they had a hammer like this on Home Improvement) Hella goes back to Asgard and uses her powers to take over everything. Heimdal tries to save the innocent civilians.
This dude named Skurge joins Hella and pulls out these guns he bought in Texas. No doubt they were for hunting and self-defense. You never know when you are going to need military grade weapons to defend your home from a squirrel attack. No waiting or background check. Just show your NRA card.
Thor and Loki take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and wind up on a trashy planet full of overused script memes. They meet this hot woman who is an Asguardian who now works for the Grandmaster (played by Jeff Goldblum) when she isn’t drinking. I would really hate to wind up paying her bar tab.
Thor is forced to fight the Hulk. Thor almost wins but Goldblum paralyzes Thor with scenes from his old movies. Eventually, Thor, Loki, Hulk, and the woman head back to Asguard. They have to go through something called the Devil’s Anus. It is not as bad as it sounds. I can think of worse places to go through. I can’t mention them however.
The big fight begins and Odin tells Thor he doesn’t need the hammer. Thor lets out a big blast of lightening at Hella. It doesn’t work. The memory of Odin, obviously embarrassed that Thor couldn’t do the job tells him they don’t need Asgard. Odin’s memory is obviously 0 for 2 in the advice department, Fortunately, Thor remembers the plot element sitting in the dungeon and revives the monster
Everyone watches from the space ship while Asgard and hopefully Hella is being destroyed. The movie ends with an alien channeling Chris Elliot from Groundhog Day.
“Uh it could be ok. We could rebuild it”
CRASH BOOM
“No, probably not now”
Ok kiddies I have to make a little disclaimer here. Ragnarok isn’t a Jim Henson production. Thats Fraggle Rock, something totally different, although you might actually use the same theme music by changing the words. Lets see, “Give your life away, living for another day, let destruction play, down at Ragnarok” Ok its better with the music.
When the movie starts, Thor is talking about where he is going, and what he is doing in this handbasket. Its true. Thor is fighting this fire monster who wants to start Ragnarok. (No, Ragnarok is not the opening act for Led Zeppelin) Thor defeats the monster and takes its horn back to Asgard, where the only thing that can bring back the monster just happens to be. Clearly this should be a violation of the Asgard hazmat safety code, but it isn’t.
Meanwhile Odin, Thor’s dad is watching a play dedicated to Loki, Thor’s brother. Thor may be powerful, but he has a somewhat poor taste in women and he is the only sentient being in the universe who didn’t realize from the end of the previous movie that Loki is not dead and has disguised himself as Odin.
Thor and Loki have to go look for Odin. Along the way they receive a Strange message. Of course, this movie needed a Benedict Cumberbatch cameo. Strange told the pair that Odin was in Norway and opened a portal for them, allowing Thor and Loki to bypass the *%#@# TSA checkpoint.
Odin wanted to do a Luke Skywalker pose, so we find him standing next to a cliff. Was he just standing there, waiting for Thor and Loki to show up like Luke was obviously just waiting for Rae? Odin tells them a bunch of stuff they will need to remember to move the plot along later. Then Odin lays one Hella surprise on them. You have a sister. She is hella wicked, hella powerful,and not bad looking actually, but the antlers would be too much for most people. (This probably wasn’t as much of a shock as Mr. Spock had when he found out he had an evil sister named Michael)
Hella breaks Thor’s hammer. You just cannot get one at Home Depot you know.(You can imagine what would happen if they had a hammer like this on Home Improvement) Hella goes back to Asgard and uses her powers to take over everything. Heimdal tries to save the innocent civilians.
This dude named Skurge joins Hella and pulls out these guns he bought in Texas. No doubt they were for hunting and self-defense. You never know when you are going to need military grade weapons to defend your home from a squirrel attack. No waiting or background check. Just show your NRA card.
Thor and Loki take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and wind up on a trashy planet full of overused script memes. They meet this hot woman who is an Asguardian who now works for the Grandmaster (played by Jeff Goldblum) when she isn’t drinking. I would really hate to wind up paying her bar tab.
Thor is forced to fight the Hulk. Thor almost wins but Goldblum paralyzes Thor with scenes from his old movies. Eventually, Thor, Loki, Hulk, and the woman head back to Asguard. They have to go through something called the Devil’s Anus. It is not as bad as it sounds. I can think of worse places to go through. I can’t mention them however.
The big fight begins and Odin tells Thor he doesn’t need the hammer. Thor lets out a big blast of lightening at Hella. It doesn’t work. The memory of Odin, obviously embarrassed that Thor couldn’t do the job tells him they don’t need Asgard. Odin’s memory is obviously 0 for 2 in the advice department, Fortunately, Thor remembers the plot element sitting in the dungeon and revives the monster
Everyone watches from the space ship while Asgard and hopefully Hella is being destroyed. The movie ends with an alien channeling Chris Elliot from Groundhog Day.
“Uh it could be ok. We could rebuild it”
CRASH BOOM
“No, probably not now”
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Why "The Orville" is more Star Trek than Star Trek
Opening question, what scifi show had Robert Picardo and was directed by Brannon Braga? If you say ST Voyager, - 5 points for you. The correct answer: The Orville :ep. Firestorm.
Ok The Orville is a somewhat cheesy comedy by Seth McFarland of Family Guy fame. However the show has hit the ground running with the kind of social commentary that Trek is famous for, and unlike the new "Star Trek Degeneracy", isn't about how evil you can make the "protagonists". This probably has something to do with the contributions by Brannan Braga, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, and Robert Picardo, not to mention Penny Johnson as Dr. Finn. Considering the former Trek actors almost unanimous dislike of Discovery and CBS, I am happy they have come out to help The Orville become a success. Even the Kril, the adversaries of the Planetary Union resemble Deep Space Nine's Jem Hadar.
I admit it. Practically no one on this show shows any indication they have received any sort of training. Capt, Ed Mercer (Seth McFarland) is always snipping at his first officer, who happens to be his ex-wife. Bortus, from a planet without female, has to endure the protests of his mate, who complains spends too much time doing his job. The is also this green blob, voiced by Norm McDonald, who is always trying to attract Dr. Finn.
My favorite character is Security Chief: Lt. Alara Katan (Halston Sage). She is from a planet with extremely high gravity, which gives her tremendous strength. Trouble is, this is why she was fast-tracked into her position. She is very insecure. In the second episode Alara is placed in command of the Orville when Ed and Kelly go on what they think is a simple trip to rescue some refugees. Alara is terrified, and when Ed and Kelly are captured and wind up in an interplanetary zoo, Alara must either obey orders to return to earth or disobey and find a way to save the captain. Bortus is unavailable as he is tending his egg.
For a comedy, the Orville does an incredibly excellent record of examining social issues, just like that other show. There was an episode about transgender issues, religious fanaticism and terrorism (from a comedy show? Yes they actually pull it off), and an episode taken from taken from Netflix's "Black Mirror. There is also an episode where the show does a "holideck" episode the way Trek should have done them. Much better than Voyager's "Extreme Risk".
"Would you open this pickle jar for me"
Ok The Orville is a somewhat cheesy comedy by Seth McFarland of Family Guy fame. However the show has hit the ground running with the kind of social commentary that Trek is famous for, and unlike the new "Star Trek Degeneracy", isn't about how evil you can make the "protagonists". This probably has something to do with the contributions by Brannan Braga, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, and Robert Picardo, not to mention Penny Johnson as Dr. Finn. Considering the former Trek actors almost unanimous dislike of Discovery and CBS, I am happy they have come out to help The Orville become a success. Even the Kril, the adversaries of the Planetary Union resemble Deep Space Nine's Jem Hadar.
I admit it. Practically no one on this show shows any indication they have received any sort of training. Capt, Ed Mercer (Seth McFarland) is always snipping at his first officer, who happens to be his ex-wife. Bortus, from a planet without female, has to endure the protests of his mate, who complains spends too much time doing his job. The is also this green blob, voiced by Norm McDonald, who is always trying to attract Dr. Finn.
My favorite character is Security Chief: Lt. Alara Katan (Halston Sage). She is from a planet with extremely high gravity, which gives her tremendous strength. Trouble is, this is why she was fast-tracked into her position. She is very insecure. In the second episode Alara is placed in command of the Orville when Ed and Kelly go on what they think is a simple trip to rescue some refugees. Alara is terrified, and when Ed and Kelly are captured and wind up in an interplanetary zoo, Alara must either obey orders to return to earth or disobey and find a way to save the captain. Bortus is unavailable as he is tending his egg.
For a comedy, the Orville does an incredibly excellent record of examining social issues, just like that other show. There was an episode about transgender issues, religious fanaticism and terrorism (from a comedy show? Yes they actually pull it off), and an episode taken from taken from Netflix's "Black Mirror. There is also an episode where the show does a "holideck" episode the way Trek should have done them. Much better than Voyager's "Extreme Risk".
"Would you open this pickle jar for me"
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Spiderman Homecoming
Anaraphla’s Movie Mayhem: Spiderman Homecoming
Oh, my favorite Spiderman movies are the two Sam Rami/ Tobey McGuire movies. (The third one was number 2, if you get my meaning). I am not clear on the whole studio thing and why they did a remake. All I know is they sacrificed another spider and another Uncle Ben
The remake villians were sort of meh compared to the Raimi films. Green Goblin and Doc Ock were great compared to Dr. Lizardo and Syndrome’s cousin Battery Man. On the other hand, Gwen Stacey was a definite improvement over angsty MJ. Obviously, Stacey was killed off because some people thought she would have been better in the spidey costume than new Peter Parker. (Hmm. Does she have an Uncle Ben ?)
Homecoming is sort of weird. First we find out that no spiders or Uncle Bens were harmed in the production of the movie. The “with great power” line was missing too, presumably because it had become a trade marked along with “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”. Also Parker’s big source of angst isnt balancing being spidey with his love life. He wants to be an Avenger. Parker says he should be on the team because he gave Captain America a wedgie. I am glad parker didn’t try that with Hulk.
Before I actually get to the plot of the movie, I have to talk about the school Parker attends. It’s a school that no doubt came from the episode of the old show Sliders, where science students were treated like athletes. There is this event where students have to answer science questions rapid fire in order to win.
Also, it seems that almost everyone is non-white or is involved in an interracial relationship. Sounds like a rather nice place except that the principal is obsessed with Captian America. It seems he plays Captain America videos every chance he gets, I am sure Cap is making a fortune in royalties for his school videos.
The movie starts out with this guy named Adrian Toomes played by Michael Keaton. He wants to make a fortune by cleaning up the mess from the first Avengers and selling the alien technology for a profit. My friend Ron no doubt approves of the attempts of Keaton’s character to make a buck from recycling. The government, as you would expect, hates small businessmen and takes most of Keaton’s stuff.
A crook uses the high-tech stuff to plant a skimmer on an ATM. Spidey is on the job and defeats bad dude and saves a deli owner who thinks Aunt May is hot. Well, she is, probably because there is a shortage of old ladies for the part.
Later Peter is invited to a party. Pete’s friend suggests he change into Spiderman and sort of sling a web around this really cute girl’s heart. Peter chooses to go after a bad guy instead and gets in over his head. To make matters worse, Iron Man shows up and tells Peter to cool it. Worse, Stark is operating the suit on remote while driving his car. As we have seen in another movie, if Stark isn’t more careful, things could become Strange rather quickly.
Peter discovers a bug in his Spiderman suit (sorry). When Peter’s friend removes the device, Peter discovered that the student been in “training wheels mode”. Now Peter has a suit with a built in Siri he calls Karen. She sounds better than Jarvis but she has an interesting tendency of wanting to go into kill mode for no particular reason. When saving his girlfriend at the Washington Monument, Karen tells Peter to kiss her. (I am working on an iPhone app using this technology to help geeks, nerds and other socially awkward teenagers get along with the opposite sex. A GLBT version is also in the works.)
Of course, Keaton has to show up. Spidey confronts him on a ferry and he slices it in half. Spidey manages the save everyone, but Tony Stark shows up as Iron Man and takes away Peter suit. Now Peter has to go to a sci-fi convention and buy an officially licensed Spiderman suit, without Karen of course.
Now Peter gets to go to a party with the really cute girl. Unfortunately Keaton tracked him down and finds out he Spiderman. Keaton says he’ll let Peter go into the party, but if Peter tries to go after him he will kill everyone Peter loves, like Keaton’s daughter who happenes to be the cute girl? Didn’t think through that one very well did you? I don’t know, I’m trying to think which is worse, dating a girl whose father is a homicidal maniac or someone like Gwen whose dad is a ghost that tries to cockblock Peter in every other scene. Ah, the trials and tribulations of young love.
Peter defeats the bad guy. Tony Stark gives offers Peter a new Iron uh Spiderman suit and tells him he can join the Avengers. Peter declines the offer. My guess is that having his love life torpedoed once too often Peter is wondering if Karen would be interested in a meaningful relationship.
Oh, my favorite Spiderman movies are the two Sam Rami/ Tobey McGuire movies. (The third one was number 2, if you get my meaning). I am not clear on the whole studio thing and why they did a remake. All I know is they sacrificed another spider and another Uncle Ben
The remake villians were sort of meh compared to the Raimi films. Green Goblin and Doc Ock were great compared to Dr. Lizardo and Syndrome’s cousin Battery Man. On the other hand, Gwen Stacey was a definite improvement over angsty MJ. Obviously, Stacey was killed off because some people thought she would have been better in the spidey costume than new Peter Parker. (Hmm. Does she have an Uncle Ben ?)
Homecoming is sort of weird. First we find out that no spiders or Uncle Bens were harmed in the production of the movie. The “with great power” line was missing too, presumably because it had become a trade marked along with “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”. Also Parker’s big source of angst isnt balancing being spidey with his love life. He wants to be an Avenger. Parker says he should be on the team because he gave Captain America a wedgie. I am glad parker didn’t try that with Hulk.
Before I actually get to the plot of the movie, I have to talk about the school Parker attends. It’s a school that no doubt came from the episode of the old show Sliders, where science students were treated like athletes. There is this event where students have to answer science questions rapid fire in order to win.
Also, it seems that almost everyone is non-white or is involved in an interracial relationship. Sounds like a rather nice place except that the principal is obsessed with Captian America. It seems he plays Captain America videos every chance he gets, I am sure Cap is making a fortune in royalties for his school videos.
The movie starts out with this guy named Adrian Toomes played by Michael Keaton. He wants to make a fortune by cleaning up the mess from the first Avengers and selling the alien technology for a profit. My friend Ron no doubt approves of the attempts of Keaton’s character to make a buck from recycling. The government, as you would expect, hates small businessmen and takes most of Keaton’s stuff.
A crook uses the high-tech stuff to plant a skimmer on an ATM. Spidey is on the job and defeats bad dude and saves a deli owner who thinks Aunt May is hot. Well, she is, probably because there is a shortage of old ladies for the part.
Later Peter is invited to a party. Pete’s friend suggests he change into Spiderman and sort of sling a web around this really cute girl’s heart. Peter chooses to go after a bad guy instead and gets in over his head. To make matters worse, Iron Man shows up and tells Peter to cool it. Worse, Stark is operating the suit on remote while driving his car. As we have seen in another movie, if Stark isn’t more careful, things could become Strange rather quickly.
Peter discovers a bug in his Spiderman suit (sorry). When Peter’s friend removes the device, Peter discovered that the student been in “training wheels mode”. Now Peter has a suit with a built in Siri he calls Karen. She sounds better than Jarvis but she has an interesting tendency of wanting to go into kill mode for no particular reason. When saving his girlfriend at the Washington Monument, Karen tells Peter to kiss her. (I am working on an iPhone app using this technology to help geeks, nerds and other socially awkward teenagers get along with the opposite sex. A GLBT version is also in the works.)
Of course, Keaton has to show up. Spidey confronts him on a ferry and he slices it in half. Spidey manages the save everyone, but Tony Stark shows up as Iron Man and takes away Peter suit. Now Peter has to go to a sci-fi convention and buy an officially licensed Spiderman suit, without Karen of course.
Now Peter gets to go to a party with the really cute girl. Unfortunately Keaton tracked him down and finds out he Spiderman. Keaton says he’ll let Peter go into the party, but if Peter tries to go after him he will kill everyone Peter loves, like Keaton’s daughter who happenes to be the cute girl? Didn’t think through that one very well did you? I don’t know, I’m trying to think which is worse, dating a girl whose father is a homicidal maniac or someone like Gwen whose dad is a ghost that tries to cockblock Peter in every other scene. Ah, the trials and tribulations of young love.
Peter defeats the bad guy. Tony Stark gives offers Peter a new Iron uh Spiderman suit and tells him he can join the Avengers. Peter declines the offer. My guess is that having his love life torpedoed once too often Peter is wondering if Karen would be interested in a meaningful relationship.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Why Star Trek Discovery is Crap
Star Trek began in the 1960’s as a “Wagon Train to the Stars”. It is of course no secret that in the middle of the Cold War and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, that Star Trek depicted a future of a united Earth and a society where racism, at least in theory, only existed in historical records.
Of course Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was always pushing the envelope with trying to get his progressive beliefs past the network censors. One of the more interesting episodes was Errand of Mercy, where Kirk and Spock fought to save a primitive culture from an invading Klingon force, only to find the “primitives” were actually an advanced non-corporeal life form, that put the smack down on both the Klingons and the Federation.
Star Trek: The Next Generation continued Rodenberry’s Progressive themes with The Host and The Outcast, not exactly the best TNG had to offer, but at least the LGBT community were getting some attention, as much as the network would allow anyway.
Next is my favorite Trek, Deep Space Nine. It would be hard to pick a favorite character. Avery Brooks was awesome as Cmdr. Ben Sisko. Not only was he a good leader, he could sing too. I am sure a real Jadzia Dax would have had plenty to say about being a woman, and a man.
The honor of being the first female starship captain did not go to Kate Mulgrew on ST: Voyager. Madge Sinclair was the captain of the Saratoga on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as well as another captain, and Gerodi La Forge’s mother, on a Next Gen episode.
Discovery pretty much craps on every virtue of Star Trek. I know, moralizing is boring, but people willing to stand the high ground seem to be in short supply these days. Section 31 and the episode of Enterprise where Enterprise attacked a ship to steal its engine core made me cringe. So Jonathan Archer became the Evil Leaper?
Although I have only seen episode 1 (thank you CBS), I do have enough information on 2 and 3 to take a guess on where the series is going. There are no likable characters, except perhaps someone I refer to as Tosk. (If you are a DS9 fan you will know why) There is a complaint that this is sort of a SJW version of the future because of the number of non-white and female actors. I will not offer an opinion on this one way or another, but I will tell you this is not the unification of the races that the original Trek was.
Forget the things which made us enjoy the previous Treks. I heard that episode 3 has something called “Black Alert”. I don’t know what it is, but I am guessing it isn’t a notification for an after Thanksgiving sale.
There are some people who like the darker gritter themes and the idea of a series based on Section 31 and I have no doubt they will enjoy Discovery. However, I am thinking that this is one time the Star Trek label shouldn't be applied. It is clearly not Gene Roddenberry's Trek, or any sort of future I would wish to be a part of.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)