The Essential Star Trek (Part 1)

posted by Tygrrius @ 12:01 AM

It's been over forty years now since Star Trek first hit the airwaves. With heightened awareness due to Star Trek: Remastered and director JJ Abrams' plans to feature classic crewmembers in Star Trek XI, the original series is enjoying a popularity level unseen for twenty years.

In 2004, Paramount re-released the original episodes on DVD with a set for each of the three seasons. Unfortunately, the season sets present the episodes in broadcast order rather than production order. Post-production work took longer for some episodes and, as a result, many were originally aired out of sequence.

Unlike many modern TV shows, the original Star Trek's episodes were almost always self-contained and could essentially be watched in any order. Most of the time, episodes did not specifically refer to earlier shows.

In the first season in particular, however, there were some initial changes to characters, uniforms, and sets that are confusing if watched in broadcast order.

As a new generation discovers Trek's first generation, it can be difficult for newcomers to navigate through the original series' 79 episodes. I've created this essential Star Trek guide for new or casual fans looking to start with only the best and/or most important episodes. This is Part 1 of an occasional series, which will continue every few months.

Episodes are listed in production order, which I recommend for best understanding the evolution of the series and characters. Disc references are to the 2004 season sets. For those that rent the season sets one disc at a time, such as through NetFlix or Blockbuster Total Access, I at least recommend watching the four episodes on any given disc in production order. Season 1 episodes, including uncut versions of those that have been enhanced for Star Trek: Remastered, are also available for download on iTunes.

#1 The Cage (Restored Version)
Season 3, Disc 7 (bonus feature)
Jeffrey Hunter stars as Captain Christopher Pike, commander of the starship Enterprise, in Star Trek's pilot episode. The Enterprise encounters a distress signal from a long-lost vessel and diverts to planet Talos IV. Pike is captured and quickly learns that he has been lured into a trap.

Albeit in a rough, early form, "The Cage" is undeniably Star Trek. It includes a circular bridge, transporters, communicators, and other familiar gadgetry. Leonard Nimoy even appears as science officer Spock, though the character does not yet restrain his emotions.

"The Cage" also features many recurring Star Trek concepts, among them:

Strong female characters: The Enterprise's first officer, Number One, is a woman (Majel Barrett), which is quite revolutionary for 1964. The original TV series itself never pushes the feminist envelope quite this far again, but the movies and sequel series eventually carry on the trend.

Sexist portrayal of women: Pike's fellow prisoner, Vina (Susan Oliver), is forced to appear as a green-skinned Orion slave girl in an attempt to seduce the captain into submission. Despite its breaking of new ground in some areas, classic Star Trek is still often a reflection of its times in regards to women. Perhaps "The Cage" best exemplifies this inherent conflict in Trek ideals in that it contains both progressive and traditional female characters: Women as equals versus women as eye-candy.

Doctors as bartenders: Dr. Phillip "Bones" Boyce (John Hoyt) offers alcohol and counsel to Pike, much like Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy does for Kirk. On TNG, the counselor role is formalized into a separate position apart from the doctor though that seems to disappear on DS9 and VOY.

Beauty as an illusion: The end of this episode is quite similar to "Mudd's Women," among others.

Super-intelligent races compelled to study humans: What makes us so interesting, anyway?

Though the performances of Hunter, Oliver, and Nimoy are strong, NBC famously rejects the pilot for being "too cerebral." In addition to wanting more action, their main request for the unprecedented second pilot is to lose the guy with the pointed ears.

#2 Where No Man Has Gone Before
Season 1, Disc 1
Now under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), the Enterprise journeys beyond the galactic barrier, which causes first officer Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman) to exhibit godlike abilities and soon become threats to the crew.

Ironically, the only returning crewmember from "The Cage" is, you guessed it, the pointed-eared Mr. Spock. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" displays the beginnings of the friendship between Kirk and Spock. So convincing are Shatner and Nimoy that it is hard to believe this is their first time on screen together.

In addition to Kirk, this episode also features the first appearances of minor regulars Scott (James Doohan) and Sulu (George Takei). With an action-oriented storyline and a new captain, Star Trek's second pilot sells the series--despite the return of Spock.

#3 The Corbomite Maneuver
Season 1, Disc 3
The Enterprise is fired upon and trapped by an enormous, spherical starship from an unknown culture. As his vessel faces destruction, Kirk must find a way to cheat death.

"The Corbomite Maneuver" is the first regular episode of Star Trek, and includes the first appearances of McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). This is also the first time we see Kirk in a starship tactical combat situation, not to mention the debut of the famous Star Trek miniskirts for the female crew (who wore trousers in the two pilot episodes).

#5 The Enemy Within
Season 1, Disc 2
A transporter accident results in two Kirks, representing the "good" and "bad" sides of his personality. As the bad Kirk wreaks havoc, the good, but incomplete, Kirk soon learns that one cannot live without the other.

Written by Richard Matheson, this episode fully introduces the Kirk-Spock-McCoy dramatic triangle that will become such an important part of Star Trek. Shatner delivers a standout performance in the dual role. This also marks the first use of "He's dead, Jim," and the Vulcan nerve pinch.

#7 The Naked Time
Season 1, Disc 1
A virus causes Enterprise crewmembers to lose their inhibitions and slowly go insane. McCoy races to find a cure before the ship is lost.

Often cited as a perfect introduction to the Enterprise crew, "The Naked Time" also features the first use of time travel on Star Trek. An inferior remake of this tale appeared as an early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Naked Now."

#9 Balance Of Terror
Season 1, Disc 4
With a new device that can cloak their ships, the Romulans begin attacking Federation outposts and the Enterprise must face down an unseen enemy.

With the first appearance of the Romulans on Star Trek, Kirk is in starship tactical combat mode again but on a much bigger scale. Mark Lenard stars as the Romulan Commander, who makes a perfect foe for Kirk.

#12 Miri
Season 1, Disc 2
The Enterprise encounters an Earth-like planet inhabited entirely by children, who are actually thousands of years old. The landing party, including Kirk and McCoy, are infected by the same disease that killed all of the adults and must remain on the planet unless they can find a cure.

#14 The Galileo Seven
Season 1, Disc 4
The Enterprise shuttlecraft Galileo, on a scientific mission led by Spock, crash lands on a planet. Spock soon finds that his Vulcan logic may not be enough to keep the crew alive.

#15 Court-Martial
Season 1, Disc 5
When Kirk makes a command decision that kills a former friend to save the Enterprise, Starfleet accuses him of incompetence. Kirk goes on trial to defend his command and his career.

One of Star Trek's great "mystery" episodes also may have been the source of Kirk's love-hate relationship with computers.

#16 The Menagerie (Parts I & II)
Season 1, Disc 3
The Enterprise is diverted to a starbase when it receives an urgent call from her former captain, Christopher Pike. Upon arrival, Kirk discovers that Pike could not have sent the message for an accident has left him completely paralyzed and unable to speak. As Kirk investigates on the starbase, Spock kidnaps Pike, assumes command of the Enterprise without authority, orders the starship to head for Talos IV, and leaves behind a rather angry Kirk.

This budget-saving two-parter creatively incorporates use of footage from "The Cage," the unaired pilot. There are more recurring themes and concepts here, including emphasis on loyalty, duty, and friendship. Even Spock demonstrates that he believes the needs of the few or the one can sometimes outweigh the needs of the many.

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Next time, on another thrilling installment of Proverbial Galaxies, I'll be locked down in the basement with a bad case of movie madness. Be back here in two weeks to help me escape or to guard the door.

Star Wars: The Fandom Menace

posted by Tygrrius @ 12:48 AM

We are rapidly approaching the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars to movie theaters in 1977. It is an important milestone, for movies, pop culture, and, let's face it, many of our own lives.

When Revenge of the Sith was released a couple years ago, completing the saga, there was a lot of talk about a possible re-release of Star Wars to theaters in 2007 in a special 3D format. The other five films were to follow at the rate of one a year.

I must be honest, the whole 3D thing didn't really thrill me, but if that was the ticket to seeing Star Wars in the movie theater again, then I was all for it.

The attention of George Lucas soon shifted to the new Indiana Jones movie, though, and a full-length Clone Wars animated series. The Star Wars 3D release has been pushed to the backburner and likely won't happen for several years, if at all.

The loss here is not so much being able to see Star Wars in 3D, but being able to see Star Wars in its 30th anniversary year where it was meant to be seen: in a movie theater. And not just one showing in one city, but in wide release across the world.

Back in 1997, for the 20th anniversary year, all three films were re-released in "Special Edition" format and brought in shocking amounts of money at the box office. I won't debate the merits of the Special Edition changes here, but I honestly don't think making them or not making them would have affected the trilogy's re-release revenue.

People love these movies, and would pay to go see them again and again whether or not they were changed. Though I might grumble a bit, I would be thrilled to be able to see even the 1997 version of Star Wars, the 2004 version of Star Wars, a 3D version of Star Wars, or any other version of Star Wars that Lucas would care to put together for a major re-release in May.

But the "big announcement" of such an event just doesn't seem to be coming. It's looking more and more like the Star Wars 30th anniversary will focus instead on three events:

1.) Celebration IV: Kind of a Trekkie convention for Star Wars fans, taking place in May in Los Angeles. Will probably be a great event but, let's face it, most fans won't be able to make it there.

2.) The Star Wars US postage stamps: We've covered this a bit here on The Film Frontier, but this doesn't seem to have really inspired other fans all that much. A check of the vote tally reveals only about 128,000 votes cast so far. That's actually a surprisingly small number since the online poll has been open for nearly three weeks. There's still over a month to go, though, so perhaps there'll be a strong surge near the end.

3.) The Force Unleashed: A Star Wars "event" spanning various media: a video game, a novel, action figures, etc. This is pretty much a replay of the Shadows of the Empire marketing campaign from back in 1996. There'll probably be a graphic novel thrown in there, too. You know the drill. This one takes place between episodes III and IV. Shadows of the Empire never really did anything for me and I don't consider The Force Unleashed a suitable replacement for seeing Star Wars in theaters again.

The lackluster sales of last year's release of Star Wars: Unaltered on DVD probably did little to help this cause, nor the cause of the long anticipated ultimate edition/complete saga DVD set. I still have a small bit of hope for that one, as Christmas 2007 DVDs have not been fully announced as of yet.

Lucasfilm is making a huge mistake by not pushing out some version of the original Star Wars to movie theaters this year, though. It would've been one of the top grossing movies of the year, I guarantee it.

Incidentally, for you bozos who boycotted the Star Wars: Unaltered DVD releases, you should do yourselves a favor and pick these up now. Thanks to your efforts, the DVDs are still available in many stores and at a reduced price. The picture and sound quality is not as bad as you've been led to believe. If you stayed away because of that, you were duped.

As for me, I'll be watching the unaltered Star Wars on May 25. Unfortunately, it just won't be in a movie theater. You can't win 'em all.

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Superman Returns II: The Wrath Of Zod?

posted by Tygrrius @ 6:16 AM

Last time, on yet another exciting entry of Proverbial Galaxies, I began tossing around thoughts and concepts for The Man of Steel, the 2009 sequel to Superman Returns. All of this is pure fan speculation. And now, the conclusion. . . .

Besides updating the Superman suit a bit, the most controversial aspect of Superman Returns was the introduction of Jason White, the five-year-old son of Lois Lane and Superman. For those just looking for a mindless action flick, he was nothing more than another Jar Jar Binks or young Anakin Skywalker.

For me, Jay-El was far from the ruination of the movie. In some ways, he may have been its most important element. Bryan Singer's instincts were right, for the character adds a whole new dimension to Clark and the overall mythology.

Though Clark may have temporarily lost his romantic connection to Lois, the two are now irrevocably attached through their son. Not only does Jay-El bind Clark to Lois but he also binds him to Earth, even stronger than his ties to Martha Kent or Lois. His human son makes him one of us.

Of course, Jay-El also presents Clark with a new vulnerability - in many ways, even greater than that of Kryptonite. Luthor had obviously surmised Jay-El's heritage by the end of the movie. He evacuated that yacht very quickly after learning of Jay-El's handiwork, after all.

Since only one Superman movie has not involved Luthor (he's kind of like Star Trek's Klingons in that regard), he will likely return for revenge in The Man of Steel. On the surface, the kid seems like a much easier target and Luthor may try to use him to manipulate and control Superman.

Though this is not spelled out anywhere as far as I've seen, there is some evidence in Superman Returns that Kryptonite affects the half-human Jay-El a bit differently than his father. My interpretation is that exposure to the rock actually revved up Jay-El's latent superpowers for a bit, rather than weakening him. This could prove to make things a bit tricky for Lex if he thinks he can contain Jay-El with Kryptonite.

However, the movie in general should downplay Jay-El's powers. As much as I like the concept of the character, it could easily be overdone into "Superman . . . and Son!" We saw a bit of his powers in Superman Returns and I'm sure they'll pop up somewhere in The Man of Steel, though hopefully not as a convenient plot cheat.

But let's not have him flying around, or even leaping through cornfields just yet. There'd be a huge mistake in going overboard to make him a Superboy type character. Keep most of those powers dormant and not accessible at will. And don't grow him up too quickly by rapid-aging him into a teenager, as Hollywood is prone to do. He should be about eight-years-old next time, if I do my math correctly.

Jay-El seems to already have the whole Clark is Superman thing figured out, not to mention some sort of psychic bond with his father. In the subplot, I'd like to see those areas explored a bit more.

Jay-El is a great character that should not be ignored. Nor, however, should he be over-emphasized. The trick will be finding the right middle ground. I have confidence that Singer will pull this off, much like he did in Superman Returns.

But what of the movie's villains? I've already mentioned that I'm sure Lex will be in it, but obviously it's also time for Clark to take on a superpowered villain this time out. I'm hardly the first fan to call for this. Bryan Singer has hinted at it. Even Brandon Routh is hoping for it.

But who should this supervillain be? Let's take a look at a rogue's gallery of potential adversaries.

General Zod

It is tempting to bring back a popular villain like Zod, the leader of the Phantom Zone criminals from Superman and Superman II. However, giving in to this temptation would be a huge mistake.

Some criticized Superman Returns for being little more than a remake of 1978's Superman. Structurally, there may be some merit to a comparison of the two movies but overall I disagree. Using the villains of Superman II in the Superman Returns sequel would serve only to add massive amounts of fuel to that fire, though.

As I said last time, The Man of Steel needs to firmly establish its own identity away from the Reeve/Donner/Salkind movies this time out. Resurrecting Zod would destroy any such chance of that.

Instead, bring in a supervillain who has never graced movie screens before. There are many contenders, any number of whom could be effective.

Doomsday

Unfortunately, I have to eliminate Doomsday. To do justice to the original comic book story, Clark would have to die. We just went through all this business in the last movie of getting him back, so let's leave Doomsday out for now. If the Doomsday story is ever presented in a live-action form, it should be a trilogy of movies -- which would be a tough sell. A variation of the Superman vs. Doomsday tale will appear in an animated, direct-to-DVD movie later this year.

Mxy and Bizarro

I'm also going to dismiss Mxyzptlk and Bizarro. While they may work in the comics and animated versions, neither character would play very well to modern movie audiences. The only way these characters could work would be in brief cameos, but certainly not as the key villains.

Darkseid

Thus far, the Superman movies have essentially existed as their own island. One doesn't get the impression that the rest of the DC Universe is out there. While Darkseid is potentially a fantastic choice of supervillain, I'm not sure he would work as well within the otherwise normal context of these films. Perhaps save him as the key adversary of the Justice League movie, as long as Clark gets a key role in the film as well.

Metallo

A supervillain whose time has come for the Superman movies, Metallo would offer room to show off modern effects and present a formidable opponent for Clark. No matter the villain, what The Man of Steel needs is a massive battle to make Superman II look like an opening act. For that, Metallo may be the perfect foe. Just as long as he's not played by Scott Valentine.

Brainiac

Brainiac has taken on many forms over the years, which would allow Singer plenty of creative room - especially given modern effects technologies. This would also allow for at least two super battles, an earlier one in which Superman appears to win before Brainiac reinvents himself to wreak further havoc in an altered and even deadlier form.

Of course, I've only scratched the surface of Superman villainy here. These are the marquee villains, but other worthy candiates could include Mongul, Imperiex, or even Parasite. This time out, given the scope of the Superman movie universe to this point, Brainiac or Metallo are the way to go.

* * *

Have you voted for your favorite Star Wars stamp yet? An e-mail address can vote once every 24 hours, so I imagine a lot of my fellow fans out there have already voted dozens of times each by now.

Me, I simply picked one stamp and voted once on the first day. In a sense, this vote is not that important. All of the stamps will be available for purchase together, no matter which one wins the vote to earn a solo sheet.

The winner will likely boil down to Darth Vader, Yoda, or Boba Fett. After much consideration, I didn't vote for any of those stamp images, though.

For me, the most important aspect of the stamp release is to honor the 1977 film. Yoda and Boba didn't appear in the original movie, of course, and the Vader stamp image appears to be from The Empire Strikes Back.

Wanting to stick with the first Star Wars movie, this cut my choices from 15 to 8 (the Falcon, Luke, Leia and Artoo, Threepio, Obi-Wan, Chewie and Han, the X-Wing, and the Imperial Stormtroopers).

Star Wars contributed immensely to movies, but its most groundbreaking feat was the unbelievable special effects. Wanting to honor the people who worked on those original designs and effects, my choices were quickly narrowed down to the Falcon and the X-Wing.

A tough decision, to be sure. I've grown to love the Falcon almost as much as I love the Enterprise-A. The best Falcon scenes are in The Empire Strikes Back, though. It is the X-Wing that shines in Star Wars, so that's the one that earned my one and only vote. It has no chance of winning, but c'est la vie.

It is still hard to believe that Queen Amidala and Darth Maul will have US postage stamps. Or that a marketing image from a 2005 movie will appear on a stamp just two years later.

What's missing from the big Star Wars anniversary celebration? Find out in two weeks by returning for another high-impact entry of Proverbial Galaxies, brought to you by the number 30.