Star Trek: The Motion Picture

posted by Tygrrius @ 7:17 AM

Assignment: Trek
A Film Frontier special presentation

For our first Assignment: Trek journey, we set our Omni to December 7, 1979. This web site has gone back into time. . . .

REVIEW: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Other than a short-lived cartoon series, Star Trek fans endured a ten-year drought between the airing of the final episode, "Turnabout Intruder," on June 3, 1969, and the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to theaters.

When a deadly probe of unknown origins threatens Earth, James Kirk (William Shatner) returns to command the newly refurbished Enterprise. While the movie indeed reunites the entire original cast, it unfortunately presents Star Trek as a lifeless shell of the original.

All of the adventure, excitement, and fun are gone. Instead, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a sterile bore that feels more like a poor copy of 2001: A Space Odyssey than Star Trek.

The film's one bright spot is the refit design of the Enterprise. She is beautiful and glorious. As much as I love her, though, an over four-minute, dialogue-less tour of the Enterprise's exterior set against composer Jerry Goldsmith's sleepy score is too much even for me. Apparently intended as a set piece, the scene drags on mercilessly, much like the rest of this movie.

Though Vulcans are known for concealing their emotions, it is the humans of this film that seem to lack any feeling. Except for brief sparks, none of the characters ever seem alive. The crew spends most of their time gaping in near zombie-like fashion at the main viewer on the bridge.

Meanwhile, the audience is subjected to never-ending visual effects as the Enterprise slowly makes its way through the interior of the massive probe. The characters become incidental to the effects and whatever plot there is seems only an after thought.

While things finally begin to pick up a bit in the final act, where there are actually slight glimmers of the real Star Trek, it is not enough to save this disaster of a movie served up by producer Gene Roddenberry and director Robert Wise. This is bad Star Trek and horrible science fiction.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture ultimately fails on almost every level. Lacking the emotional heart of the television series, the movie is simply not entertaining. However, besides the debut of the refit Enterprise, the movie has one other redemption: the promise of more adventures to come.

Story: 1 (out of 10)
Performances: 2
Visual Style: 1
Effects: 7
Music: 2
Overall: 2

"The Cloud Minders" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 7:37 PM

Star Trek (Remastered): "The Cloud Minders"
Remastered Episode #76 (7/12/2008)
Original Episode #74 (2/28/1969)

Though it didn't quite make my must-see list of Star Trek episodes, "The Cloud Minders" is one of the gems of the third season. Unfortunately, I don't have time to fully review this episode tonight. As I used to do when Star Trek: Remastered first hit the air back in 2006, I'm going to focus this short review only on the effects upgrades rather than the episode itself.

With a plot focused around a city in the clouds, "The Cloud Minders" is an episode I've looked forward to seeing since the original announcement of the Remastered series. The original 1969 version of the Stratos cloud city was actually fairly effective for the time. Stratos offers the chance for CBS Digital to showcase their fine work in a way that most other planet episodes do not.

For whatever reason, however, CBS Digital dropped the ball on this episode. Seen from a distance, as when Kirk and Spock are on the planet below, Stratos in the 2008 remastered version looks only slightly more convincing than the vintage version.

While close-up shots of the city details themselves look great, there were wasted opportunities here to really open the shots up, include some movement, and make Stratos seem like more than just a pretty matte painting. In the end, the whole affair comes off looking like another rush job.

I already found the 1969 effects satisfying, so I can't imagine ever watching the Star Trek: Remastered version of "The Cloud Minders" again.

Dramatic Content: 7 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 5

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

"Assignment: Earth" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:47 PM

Star Trek (Remastered): "Assignment: Earth"
Remastered Episode #67 (5/3/2008)
Original Episode #55 (3/29/1968)

The Enterprise is dispatched back in time to determine how Earth survived "desperate problems" in the year 1968. Considering all of the trouble they almost caused last season when accidentally going back in time to 1969, Starfleet should really think twice before ordering such a mission.

The Enterprise then intercepts the transporter beam of Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), a man who claims to be a twentieth century human sent by aliens on a secret mission to save humanity from itself. Huh? While a confused Kirk tries to validate his story, he throws Seven in the brig though it doesn't hold him long.

The plot, such as it is, serves mostly to introduce creator Gene Roddenberry's proposed and subsequently rejected Star Trek spinoff series, Assignment: Earth. As episodes go, this one is overly long (actually helped, for a change, by the syndication edits) and really not all that interesting. With a flat performance by Robert Lansing, who seems as bored as the viewers, the episode is somewhat saved by an enthusiastic performance by Teri Garr as Seven's quirky secretary, Roberta Lincoln.

The proposed Assignment: Earth series seems like it would have been a sort of Wild Wild West set in the 20th century using Star Trek style technology, with Lansing as a James Bond type character. On paper, not a bad concept. On screen in this episode, it just never takes off.

Though this episode preceded many of them, the real 1968 indeed turned out to be a year with desperate problems. "Assignment: Earth" is notable for containing another chilling prediction. Spock notes that an important assassination will take place on the day they arrive. The episode originally aired on March 29 - six days before the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, and just over two months before the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5.

There seemed to be signal problems in our local broadcast of the episode, resulting in audio problems. The video upgrades did not look as crisp as normal, including a lot of flashing brightness issues. However, I'm going to chalk that up to the local problems, as all previous Star Trek: Remastered episodes have looked much better.

The biggest disappointment on the Star Trek: Remastered version of "Assignment: Earth" is the lack of creativity on the newly replaced visual effects. Most notably, stock NASA footage of the Saturn V rocket, filling in as the launcher of a US nuclear warhead platform, unfortunately remains. I suppose one could question why bother to replace actual footage with computer generated effects, but if that is the case, you could extend that reasoning to all of the Star Trek effects.

If the point is not to improve the episodes, then why bother? I can still watch the original episodes with the original effects. The similarly-themed "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" proves that CBS Digital could have done better than this in the creativity department. The effects upgrades they bothered to make look great, though; these are the basic Enterprise in Earth orbit shots. They should have those down by now, anyway. I'm still docking three points for lack of creativity this time out.

Dramatic Content: 7 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 6
Overall Experience: 7

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

"The Enterprise Incident" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:11 AM

Star Trek (Remastered): "The Enterprise Incident"
Remastered Episode #64 (4/5/2008)
Original Episode #59 (9/27/1968)

Forget the Klingons, the Romulans have long been my favorite villains of the classic Star Trek universe, though they only appeared in three episodes. All three of the Romulan episodes are among Trek's best: "Balance of Terror" from the first season, "The Deadly Years" from the second, and, completing the informal trilogy, "The Enterprise Incident" from the third season.

"The Enterprise Incident," which made its Star Trek: Remastered debut over the weekend, starts with a foreboding medical log by Dr. McCoy. Captain Kirk seems to be buckling under the pressure of command, like so many others before him. An angry Kirk orders the Enterprise into the Romulan neutral zone and Romulans soon surround the vessel. To the astonishment of the crew, the Romulans are now using Klingon battle cruisers.

When Kirk berates Spock for not detecting Romulans in the area, the first officer notes that the Romulans have a new cloaking device capable of fooling their sensors. Though not specified in the episode, this is evidently an upgraded, more powerful version of the Romulan cloaking device previously featured on the show.

On the original version of this episode, three Klingon-style battle cruisers surrounded the Enterprise. In the first and second seasons, the original Trek team did not have the budget to create a Klingon spacecraft. They finally created the battle cruiser model for the third season. The first episode produced to make use of the Klingon battle cruiser was "Elaan of Troyius," in which the Federation has yet another planetary claim dispute with the Klingons. Ironically, "The Enterprise Incident" aired prior to "Elaan of Troyius," so 1968 audiences first saw the Romulans using the vessel rather than the Klingons.

While updating the special effects of the entire Star Trek series, the Star Trek: Remastered team has liberally sprinkled the Klingon battle cruiser into earlier Klingon episodes where its use makes sense. The battle cruiser is a fantastic design by Matt Jefferies, who designed the original USS Enterprise as well. The battle cruiser also appeared in three Star Trek movies and several TNG-era episodes, without significant design changes.

Here, the Remastered team's computer generated renderings of the battle cruisers look mostly realistic. As a nice finishing touch, they added a Romulan paint scheme to the vessels, distinguishing them from the Klingon versions. Since the original creators had to reuse the model and footage, this sort of episode-specific detail could not have been performed on the original model.

Another change is that only two battle cruisers appear in the Remastered version of "The Enterprise Incident." The team has replaced the third with a Romulan bird-of-prey, as seen on the previous episodes. This is another nice finishing touch and continuity nod, well worth the small canon ripple. Check out pictures of the new scene here.

The Romulans order the Enterprise to stand down and demand that Kirk and Spock beam aboard the flagship. They do so and meet the Romulan commander (Joanne Linville), a woman who seems to share an instant attraction with Spock. The increasingly erratic Kirk blames the encroachment of the Enterprise on equipment failure, while Spock tells the Romulan commander that Kirk and Kirk alone is responsible.

Picture and sound upgrades are superb. With vibrant colors throughout, the episode looks even better than it did on the 2004 DVD set. As noted, the new special effects are quite effective in most scenes. I would have preferred a bit more creativity when the Enterprise extracts itself from the Romulan vessels near the conclusion, though, rather than the simple maneuver shown.

"The Enterprise Incident" is one of Star Trek's very best and is always a must-see, in its original version or its newly remastered form.

Dramatic Content: 10 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 9
Overall Experience: 10

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

"That Which Survives" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 8:34 PM

Star Trek (Remastered): "That Which Survives"
Remastered Episode #61 (3/15/2008)
Original Episode #69 (1/24/1969)

While Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, and D'Amato are in the process of de-materializing to beam down to a deserted planet, a woman suddenly appears in the transporter room, tells them that they "must not go," and then kills the ensign manning the controls by simply touching him.

After they appear on the planet, the landing party immediately encounters a violent storm. CBS Digital's newly-created scenes of the Enterprise encountering that same disturbance in space are, unfortunately, laughable.

Standard shots of the ship in orbit and moving through space look great, as I've come to expect from the Star Trek: Remastered effort. The newly created planet also looks fantastic.

As it has since the beginning, though, Remastered still seems to suffer from a time and/or budget crunch that makes some of the new effects look shoddy while others look brilliant. I consider myself a huge fan of this project, but this is a very disappointing aspect.

The landing party soon discovers that the Enterprise is no longer in the area. Sulu even suggests that it may have blown up, prompting a quick reprimand from Kirk that he is not interested in Sulu's guesses. In fact, Kirk chides Sulu a couple of times in this episode - almost making me want to give it another point just to see the overrated helmsman finally get his due.

Meanwhile, Spock and the others aboard the Enterprise are trying to figure out what happened to the planet, which seems to have disappeared, before they discover that the starship has actually been transported across the galaxy.

Like Kirk, Spock is also more irritable than normal in this episode - resulting in another nice exchange where he points out the uselessness of Scotty's comment that transporting the Enterprise such a great distance in so short a time is "impossible." Since it happened, it is obviously possible.

On the planet, what appears to be the same woman appears and, not finding any red-shirted crewmembers, kills the blue-shirted Lieutenant D'Amato - to the delight of the audience, since it spares us having to hear more of his bland delivery.

The "folding" effect used to materialize the woman appears to be essentially the same as the one on the original version of this episode, as I recall anyway. I'm glad they left this alone, as it was a unique feature of this episode.

Sulu's inferiority complex must grow, as Kirk keeps up his beating. Maybe Sulu made a huge mistake between episodes and is still facing Kirk's wrath. When Sulu notes that D'Amato's death is a "terrible way to die," Kirk sharply replies, "There are no good ways, Sulu."

Later, after they bury D'Amato in a "tomb of rocks" (not unlike the fate that will befall Kirk in Star Trek Generations), Sulu notes, "It looks so lonely there."

"It would be worse if he had company," McCoy tells him.

As Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu try to resolve the mystery on the planet, Spock and Scotty have their own problems on the Enterprise. An identical woman is also appearing there and killing off crewmembers, and the Enterprise just doesn't "feel" right to Scotty.

There's some chilling music in this episode, some of the best of the series. As a mystery episode, "That Which Survives" has a lot of potential and delivers on some, if not all, of it.

By the time of "That Which Survives" in 1969, Star Trek was in the home stretch. Only ten episodes of the three-season series came after this one in production. Conventional Trekkie wisdom has it that Star Trek "jumped the shark" several episodes earlier with the infamous "Spock's Brain."

As I've said before here, I just don't buy that. Yes, "Spock's Brain" is a bad episode but it hardly destroys the entire third season for me. The third season features a new lighting approach to many scenes aboard the Enterprise, toning things down from the colorful and bright previous seasons. There are also noticeable improvements to the special effects in the original versions of these episodes, particularly early on in the season. Perhaps we see a small glimpse of what might have been, production-wise, had the series endured for the fourth and fifth seasons it deserved.

Sure, compared to previous years, there are fewer top-notch episodes in the third season. However, there are plenty of average-yet-solid, "meat and potatoes" episodes. "That Which Survives" is one such episode. While it may not be as memorable as "The Tholian Web" or "The Enterprise Incident," it still offers up what the original Star Trek nearly always delivers: a solid hour of entertainment and adventure.

Sports teams cannot survive on their star players alone. They must have solid players all around to support those stars, and they must have depth in key positions should a player go down. In a season with few "star" episodes, "That Which Survives" represents the depth of the series. Star Trek is great not only for its stand-out episodes, but also for its average episodes like this one.

Dramatic Content: 5 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 7
Overall Experience: 5

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

"By Any Other Name" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 7:42 AM

Star Trek (Remastered): "By Any Other Name"
Remastered Episode #60 (3/8/2008)
Original Episode #50 (2/23/1968)

"By Any Other Name" is the episode that started it all. For me, anyway. In the late 1970s, when I was two or three years old, I watched Star Trek in reruns all the time with my older brother. Though I'm sure there were others before it, this is the first specific episode that I can remember watching.

Of course, the Star Trek: Remastered version of "By Any Other Name" isn't exactly the same as the one I watched as a kid. CBS Digital has revamped all of the visual effects with CGI, added a new matte painting of an alien landscape, and thoroughly improved the overall picture quality. A member of the Star Trek: Remastered team sent me a couple of screenshots on Thursday. Since I didn't have a preview article in the works but was planning to review the episode, I decided to save them for today. Click on each picture to see larger versions.

The Enterprise responds to a distress signal that turns out to be bait. The technologically advanced Kelvans of the Andromeda galaxy want to use the ship to get back to their own galaxy to report that ours is ready to be conquered. Andromeda will be rendered uninhabitable over the next couple of thousand years and the Kelvan scout ship was damaged beyond repair breaking the barrier that surrounds the galaxy (the one the Enterprise managed to traverse in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"). Though the journey to Andromeda would take the Enterprise over a thousand years in normal circumstances, the Kelvans plan to modify her to allow her to arrive in only three hundred.

To assist them in the use of the Enterprise, the Kelvans - who normally are large beings with a hundred independent tentacles - have assumed human form. In fact, they appear to be "perfect human lifeforms" that exhibit textbook responses. Dating all the way back to "The Cage," this is always an indication of trouble to follow.

The new matte painting (above), which is beautiful yet not too distracting from the overall 1968 feel of the scene, appears only for a few seconds early on. It features a large moon reflected in a beautiful lake. It would have been a nice enhancement to show the Enterprise pass this moon from space while leaving orbit of the planet. CGI renderings of the Enterprise are extremely realistic throughout this episode, though, so I can easily forgive them. Perhaps the moon was on the other side of the planet from where they broke orbit.

Unless you're a Vulcan, hijacking the Enterprise is normally a difficult undertaking. It helps when, like the Kelvans, you have power belts that can temporarily paralyze humans or turn them into small, tetrahedral blocks. Yeoman Leslie Thompson (Julie Cobb) is one of the first turned into a block. A human can be restored from this state as long as the block remains intact. Fortunately, the Kelvans spare us any further bad acting from Cobb by crushing her block into dust. The transformation and crushing of the block is actually the reason I so vividly recall this episode from back then, as it truly scared the two-year old version of me.

Since it didn't happen often due to the episodic nature of the series, I always love when one Star Trek episode specifically references another. When the Kelvans tell Kirk about the barrier surrounding the galaxy, he remarks dryly, "Yes, I know. We've been there." The Kelvans apparently reinforce the Enterprise in some way, though, as the destructive and ESP enhancement properties of the barrier do not come into play this time. Kirk later references an escape ploy used by Spock on Eminiar VII in "A Taste of Armageddon" and Spock tries it again.

As the Enterprise embarks on the three hundred year journey, the Kelvans reduce all of the crew to blocks except Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott, all considered essential personnel. The supposedly mentally superior Kelvans make the mistake of hijacking Kirk's ship but still allowing him free roam of it.

All-in-all, "By Any Other Name" is one of those average but enjoyable episodes of Star Trek. The remastered version looks incredible and is definitely worth checking out.

Dramatic Content: 5 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 9
Overall Experience: 5

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

Images are copyright, © 1968, 2008 by CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures. Star Trek is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved.

Star Trek: Academy—Collision Course

posted by Tygrrius @ 10:59 AM

Star Trek: Academy—Collision Course novel
Pocket Books, hardcover edition, 2007
Authors: William Shatner with Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

It has been said that all publicity is good publicity. When William Shatner and Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens released Collision Course at the end of last year, I had not read a Star Trek novel in years. While various Trek novels provided me with countless hours of enjoyment dating all the way back to 1986, I simply lost interest in them at some point. Though the fine work of this particular team is always on my radar, I also did not have any plans to read this installment in the adventures of James Kirk.

Then I read a crushingly negative review of Collision Course on another site, and I knew I had to buy this one. I had to find out for myself if three of my favorite authors had really so mishandled Star Trek's most important characters.

Collision Course is the first book of a new novel series from Shatner and the Reeves-Stevens, Star Trek: Academy. This marks their tenth collaboration. Academy will follow young Jim Kirk's adventures at Starfleet Academy. Collision Course starts things off well with the first meeting of Kirk and Spock.

"Star Trek is about moving forward," some whine as a protest against prequels like this one, or J.J. Abrams' forthcoming Star Trek XI. We already know everything about Kirk so it will be boring, right? Wrong.

As viewers of Star Trek, we actually know far less about Kirk and Spock than we think we do. Most of their history prior to the adventures seen on the television series has been revealed in one or two lines in a scattering of episodes. Though references like The Star Trek Encyclopedia do a great job of tying all of those loose threads together with strings of conjecture, a lot of the details are still missing.

For instance, what really happened on Tarsus IV when Kirk came face-to-face with Kodos the Executioner? What drove Spock to choose Starfleet over his father's more logical plan that he attend the Vulcan Science Academy? Collision Course offers some insight into these and other mysteries of our heroes' early years.

One criticism that can sometimes be leveled at Star Trek and other series fiction is that there is little room for character growth. Authors are often forced to leave main characters in essentially the same emotional state that they start. One of the reasons that the novels of Shatner and the Reeves-Stevens are usually among Star Trek's best is that they avoid this trap.

In Collision Course, we see the growth of Kirk, Spock, and even the Starfleet organization. Kirk and Spock may seem at first to be strangely different from the characters we know and love. If Kirk and Spock were exactly the same in early adulthood as they were on the original series, then what would be the point? While there is an interesting if occasionally predictable plot, Collision Course is primarily a journey of character. In that journey, Collision Course achieves tremendous success.

The authors know these characters well, too. During the Vulcan form of an argument with his son, Sarek states, "Spock, you are an alien on an alien world. What can you do?"

You can almost hear Leonard Nimoy (and, perhaps, someday Zachary Quinto) delivering Spock's reply, "You are mistaken, Father. On Earth, you are an alien. But like my mother, I am not."

Collision Course is definitely a worthy installment in the adventures of Kirk and Spock. For the first time in a long time, I am looking forward to reading a Trek novel - Star Trek: Academy—Trial Run, which will continue these adventures.

Overall Experience: 8 (out of 10)

Star Trek II: 16-inch USS Enterprise (Art Asylum)

posted by Tygrrius @ 8:24 PM

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
USS Enterprise NCC-1701, refit version
16 inch electronic starship (Art Asylum)


No sooner had I recommended Art Asylum's new Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan version of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) as a great Christmas gift for Trekkies than one arrived on my doorstep courtesy of JS. In case you've been wondering where he's been lately, real life has zapped up most of his free time. I certainly know the feeling. In his absence, you'll be stuck with reading reviews mostly from me.

So, direct from my Christmas gift guide, I now hold the Enterprise in my hands. The funniest part is, I doubt JS even read my post before making his selection. I'm pretty sure he chose this on his own, out of pure coincidence. In fact, if anything, the post probably would've scared him off into thinking I already had one on the way (which I didn't).

Two classic designs

In 1964, a man named Matt Jeffries designed a starship for the pilot episode of a new TV series called Star Trek. The show, created by Gene Roddenberry, was to feature Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. The starship? Her name was the Enterprise.

Matt Jeffries' visionary design was simple yet realistic. Slightly upgraded by the time the series aired two years later (starring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk), the Enterprise almost seemed alive--as integral a character as any other.

Star Trek lasted three seasons before cancellation in 1969, but Matt Jeffries' Enterprise endured. Contemplate all of the dreams inspired by his design. Every Star Trek fan has imagined living aboard her. And every Star Trek starship design since then has owed a debt of allegiance to the Jeffries original.

None more so, however, than the "refit" version of the USS Enterprise that made her debut in 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. As a film, the Roddenberry production was disappointing at best. However, its one saving grace, the one contribution for which it will always be remembered, was the debut of the refit Enterprise.

Andrew Probert had the daunting task of updating the Jeffries starship for the big screen. How do you touch, much less improve upon, such a classic design?

Some fans will always see the original Enterprise from the television series as their favorite, and I respect that. For me, though, my heart is always with Probert's refit version seen in the first six movies.

Not only is Probert's design so compelling as to make me forgive Star Trek: The Motion Picture for its many shortcomings, but it also makes me forgive Probert himself for later creating Star Trek's worst starship design, the horrible Enterprise-D as seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Of glue fumes and misaligned warp nacelles

When I was a kid in the 1980's, they didn't make Star Trek toys like the one I have before me now. Star Wars toys were everywhere, but Star Trek toys were few and far between. I remember Kirk, Spock, and McCoy action figures for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock languishing in the mall toy store for what must've been years. I regret that even I never bought them.

There was a rinky-dink metal toy of the Enterprise-A released for 1989's Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. It looked about as convincing as that film's special effects. I don't regret passing that one up.

Back then, the only real way to hold the Enterprise in your hands was to build one yourself. Though Star Trek had nearly no presence at the toy store, it certainly held its own at the hobby store. There were plenty of ERTL/AMT Star Trek model kits to choose from back then.

The first model I ever assembled was a Star Wars Y-wing fighter. It was a snap-together kit. I'm not sure where I picked this up from, but even back then I thought of snap-together kits as "cheating." Cheating or not, it was relatively easy to assemble. I didn't exactly pay a lot of attention to detail. I was probably 8 or 9, if I had to guess. I had one paint color to go with it, yellow, so I used it for highlights.

Thus began one of my more frustrating hobbies, model-building. Or model-assembling, as the case may be. I soon started on "real" models (i.e., ones that required glue). One Christmas, I asked for and received model kits for two US space shuttles in different scales and Return of the Jedi's Imperial Shuttle.

I had access to more paint colors by then, so I was ready! And soon the frustration began. I started with my smaller space shuttle kit, as the Imperial Shuttle and the larger space shuttle were quite daunting in size.

I carefully painted what pieces I could prior to assembly and put most of it together with relative ease. I then masked off the windows and engines and gave it a good coat of white spray paint. Things were going well until it came time to paint the black, heat-shield area of the shuttle's nose cone. There were no guidelines or marks on the model. I had wrongly hoped that they would be decals.

I never did figure it out. The model sat around on my makeshift table for awhile with the windows and engines taped up. I had a thought of buying a "paint marker" to draw the tiles in but that never came about either. It eventually wound up incomplete in the attic.

So did the Imperial Shuttle, which I made even less progress on. One of the first tasks on that one was to paint the little pilots. Despite the size of the model, the pilots were still very small. Someone suggested I use a toothpick as a brush. That didn't work. For some reason, it didn't occur to me to just leave them out of the model. Instead, I never made it past that step.

As for the larger space shuttle model, it also didn't have markings for the heat shields on the nose so that one never made it very far out of the box. I gave up on models after that.

A few years later, I met JS in high school. Trekkies that we are, we became fast friends. The first time I visited his house, I remember being amazed. For one thing, he pretty much lived at Starfleet Spacedock. He had at least a dozen models of the refit starship Enterprise. All of them were slightly different in techniques applied and you could see how he had improved his skills with each successive model - a lesson that I should have picked up. Starships weren't the only models he assembled, either. He also had jet fighters and even another USS Enterprise - the real-life Navy carrier.

This inspired me to try models again. I had some success putting together the television version of the Enterprise, so I was soon ready to tackle the movie version. I remember when telling JS my plans, he almost seemed like he wanted to warn me off. He also mumbled something about the warp nacelles.

After painstakingly researching the colors of the ship by pausing Star Trek II on VHS, I finally began to assemble the Star Trek VI Enterprise ("with working lights and sound!"). This would've been about 1992. It was great fun. Though it didn't compare to the work of JS, it was the best job I ever did on a model by far. I didn't have much left to do. Among the tasks left was attaching the warp nacelles.

Did I say fun? Fun died a quick death as I started working with the warp engines. Every time I applied them to the rest of the ship, they would either be out of alignment, loose, or both.

Every time.

I asked JS for advice. He laughed and said something that sounded strangely like, "I told you so."

Eventually, after many frustrating hours, I managed to get them on relatively straight. Well, to be honest, they were still crooked. However, they were both crooked at the same angle so I figured that had to count for something. Besides, my Enterprise didn't really have to go to warp speed and risk instant destruction. She would be safe in normal space, on my shelf.

As for the working lights and sound, the lights were too large to look authentic, and the sounds were sampled from the television series for some reason. Still, I was pretty happy with my Enterprise-A. You'd think I would've then moved on to the other Star Trek models I had accumulated the previous Christmas: a Star Trek VI Klingon battle cruiser, a TV series bridge, and a three-ship set of Klingon, Romulan, and Enterprise vessels in a small scale. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I assembled one race car on a whim and never got around to the other model kits.

More incomplete models

Three or four years ago, it was the Enterprise-A once again that inspired me to start buying models again. I bought the Polar Lights Enterprise-A, a snap-together TV series Enterprise for practice, and all sorts of supplies.

Old habits die hard. When I faced trouble trying to paint the snap-together Enterprise (no matter what I did, it just gunked on), I gave up. Since then, my hobby table has been taken over by my record player and records. Maybe in 2008, I'll try again. That Polar Lights kit still beckons to me, though painting the "Aztec" pattern is another daunting challenge since the hull of that ship is completely smooth in the kit.

Around this time, I also bought the Enterprise-A toy from Art Asylum (yeah, I'm getting to the review of the Star Trek II Enterprise, give me some more time). I pre-ordered it from an online dealer and waited with much anticipation for it to arrive.

Finally, the big day came. The Enterprise-A was here!

I tore open the box and found . . . two classic series hand phasers.

No Enterprise-A.

This online dealer of science fiction and fantasy items, who I am tempted to name but will not, had horrible customer service when I gave them the opportunity to correct their error. So horrible was my experience, in fact, that I decided it was easier to keep the phasers and just order the Enterprise-A from Toys R Us, which worked out much better.

I must admit, my initial reaction to the Enterprise-A toy, after all of that, was disappointment. Something about it just didn't look right. It didn't really have the high level of painted detail that had been apparent in preview photos.

Still, it looked tons better than my old model (which had since self-destructed), though perhaps not those of JS. I put it up on the shelf and there it sat. Mostly forgotten.

This brings me, finally, to my review of the latest starship offering from Art Asylum. In the movies, the Enterprise and the Enterprise-A essentially looked the same on the outside. With only minor modifications, the same filming models were used for both. The toys, however, look quite different from one another.

The review

Art Asylum's Star Trek II USS Enterprise is a distinct improvement over their Enterprise-A. Though the underlying molding appears to be the same, the painted details are much closer to pictures I've seen of the filming model. Don't expect perfection, as this is a toy and not a replica. I'm certainly not going to build one that looks any better, even though I still want to take a crack at that Polar Lights kit some day.

The starship comes well secured in its packaging. This has the benefit of keeping it safe and sound during shipping, though it is frustrating when you are trying to unwrap all of the wires as quickly as possible to get your starship out. Scissors work well.

That's right, all you collectors out there, I took my Enterprise out of the packaging. I don't live in a museum. It's not like I'm going to try to sell this later, anyway. Besides, by opening the package of my Enterprise, I've just made yours more valuable.

The Enterprise comes in three pieces. The two warp engines snap easily onto the struts. No worries about alignment or loose fitting parts.

The surface details are mostly impressive. As with the Enterpise-A, you can see some of the joints. Keeping in mind what it is, though, this doesn't really bother me. The improved paint job makes up for it. Though I've generally been against the painting of "gridlines" on the primary hull of the models, the ones here do seem to give the toy more texture compared to the Enterprise-A version.

I've included several quick pictures here that I took of the Enterprise. For comparison, I also threw the Enterprise-A in one of them.

The Enterprise comes with two options to cover the bottom of the engineering hull. It comes out of the box with the fully-sealed version already attached. You can unscrew this and replace it with the alternate piece, which allows the base to attach. The battery compartment is also located here, as is the switch to take the ship out of demo mode. If you don't do this, the only sound effect you'll hear is "KHAN! KHAN!"

To activate the sound and lighting effects, press the bridge dome. There are eighteen sound variations in all:

· Kirk: "I don't like to lose."
· Red alert klaxon
· Khan: "Let them eat static."
· Impulse engines
· Khan: "Fire!"
· Hand phaser blast
· Khan: "Time's up, Admiral."
· Kirk: "Mister Sulu, lock phasers on target and await my command."
· Starship phaser blasts
· Khan: "Time is a luxury you don't have."
· Explosion
· Kirk: "Kirk to Spock."
· Transporter beam
· Kirk: "I don't believe in the no-win scenario."
· Kirk: "KHAN! KHAN!"
· Kirk: "Fire!" (Phaser blasts)
· Khan: "From Hell's heart I stab at thee."
· Warp pass-by

Pressing and holding the bridge for five seconds will cycle through all of the above sounds. The navigational deflector, impulse engines, and warp engines light up each time in synch with the sound effect. This makes for a rather odd experience as they flash on and off. In one of the few areas where detail was missed, the lights make parts of the ship nearly transparent.

The sound effects quickly get old and, unfortunately, it does not have a mode that simply runs the lights continuously. The sound effects and light show are probably what makes this most feel like a toy. It's easy enough to leave the batteries out, though.

One issue I had with the Enterprise-A was attempting to attach it to the base, which used a ball-and-socket joint. Sad to say, this Enterprise includes the exact same base. Almost as frustrating as aligning those warp nacelles so many years ago, I've just never figured out the "right" way to attach it. This time, I tried attaching the base's ball into the socket of the engineering section prior to attaching it to the rest of the ship. This worked somewhat better, but the thing still doesn't seem but so secure on it. It's a shame that Art Asylum hasn't determined a better solution for such a nice starship.

Still, this Enterprise is impressive work and a vast improvement over 2003's Enterprise-A. JS, you shocked me with this one. Thank you!

Overall: 9 (out of 10)

Star Trek: The Menagerie

posted by Tygrrius @ 5:23 AM

Star Trek: The Menagerie
Remastered Theatrical Presentation (11/13/2007)
Remastered Episodes #12 (11/25/2006) & #13 (12/2/2006)
Original Episode #16 (11/17/1966 & 11/24/1966)

I don't have a particularly large television, but even when I go to other people's homes who have gigantic TVs they never quite have that movie theater feel. Nothing compares to seeing Star Trek, Star Wars, or Superman on the big screen of a movie theater.

So, when I heard that CBS was going to release Star Trek: The Menagerie to movie theaters in a limited engagement, I was all over it. Not only was it a chance to see the remastered visual effects in the best quality possible, but it was also an opportunity to see William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley together on the silver screen again.

The presentation began with a short intro by Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr. He tells a fun story about his father setting up a projector for him when he was a kid and showing old reels of Star Trek episodes, including "The Cage" - the Star Trek pilot episode that makes up the flashback sequences of Star Trek: The Menagerie. He also tells the "too cerebral" story about NBC's rejection of "The Cage" and the unprecedented ordering of a second pilot that later sold the series.

After that, there was a feature about the making of Star Trek: Remastered, including a look at the HD DVD combo set being released next week. Since I follow the syndicated series rather closely, most of this was stuff I'd already seen. The best part for me here, though, was hearing the collective gasps of other audience members as the new effects were showcased. Incidentally, be sure to stick around after the credits because there is also a sneak preview of the second season set, coming in 2008. This resulted in even more startled but positive reactions as many audience members saw "The Doomsday Machine" and other episode enhancements for the first time.

No mention was made of the syndicated airings of the series, though I did plug it a bit to nearby fans. Star Trek: Remastered, unfortunately, continues to be almost a secret series in this area (and likely many others) due to its odd airtimes. You'll never find an episode starting earlier than 1 AM or later than 4:30 AM here. It's a real shame, considering the quality of work they are putting out. Hopefully the HD DVD combo set release will reach more fans.

Finally, the main event began. In what turned out to be a fortunate accident, I missed watching "The Menagerie" two-parter when it first aired on Star Trek: Remastered last year. So, for this portion, even I was in for some great surprises as I looked at these enhancements for the first time.

Besides the giant screen and great sound system, the other nice thing about the movie presentation (which will also be true of the HD DVD combo set) is that the episode is uncut. In the syndicated airings, about ten minutes of footage is excised to make room for the longer commercial breaks of today compared to 40 years ago.

The Enterprise is diverted to a starbase when it receives an urgent call from her former captain, Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter in the flashback sequences, Sean Kenney in the current sequences). Upon arrival, Kirk discovers that Pike could not have sent the message for an accident has left him immobilized 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, a forbidden planet, and leaves behind a rather angry Kirk.

There are many recurring Star Trek themes and concepts in Star Trek: The Menagerie, 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.

The special effects upgrades are superb, some of the best work of the CBS Digital team behind Star Trek: Remastered. One of the best improvements to the series has been a more consistent look for the Enterprise. Pike's Enterprise looks noticeably different from Kirk's Enterprise (as it should, since there have been two major refits since then), but this distinction was usually lost in the classic airings of Star Trek because effects footage often had to be reused. Sometimes, the same Enterprise had two or three different looks in a single episode.

If you're a Star Trek fan, no matter how casual, and missed yesterday's screening, you need to run to your nearest theater showing Star Trek: The Menagerie for two more screenings on Thursday. You don't want to miss this.

Story: 10 (out of 10)
Performances: 10
Visual Style: 9
Effects Upgrades: 10
Music: 9
Overall: 10

For a listing of theaters and to buy tickets, go to fathomevents.com.

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

"The Deadly Years" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 9:52 AM

Star Trek (Remastered): "The Deadly Years"
Remastered Episode #48 (11/10/2007)
Original Episode #40 (12/8/1967)

"The Deadly Years" is one of Star Trek's best episodes, so I've been looking forward to seeing the remastered version of this one for some time. After visiting planet Gamma Hydra IV, near the Romulan neutral zone, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, and Galway experience rapid aging. The only member of the landing party not affected is Chekov.

McCoy runs multiple tests on Chekov (Walter Koenig) to determine why he's immune to the condition. Unfortunately, a lot of the ensuing fun moments from Koenig are lost in the syndication cuts to allow more time for the expanded commercial breaks of 2007.

As the aging Kirk, William Shatner proves once again that he is a top-notch actor. His portrayal is quite convincing, which makes the episode all the more realistic. Fantastic makeup effects by Fred B. Phillips also convey the illusion of age.

McCoy takes on a thicker-and-thicker Southern accent as he ages, in a wonderful performance by DeForest Kelley. "I'm not a magician, Spock. Just an old country doctor."

"Yes, as I had always suspected," retorts Spock.

The rapid aging effect will kill them all within a week unless McCoy finds an antidote. Meanwhile, Commodore Stocker is aboard, anxious to be ferried to Starbase 10. When Stocker assumes command of the Enterprise due to the senility of the senior staff, Kirk calls him a "chair-bound paper-pusher."

To top it all off, there's a showdown with the Romulans. "The Deadly Years" even includes references to previous episodes ("Balance of Terror" and "The Corbomite Maneuver"), a rare touch for the original series.

The updated effects by CBS Digital are mostly high-quality. We finally get to see multiple Romulan warbirds taking on the Enterprise, as indicated in the dialogue but never shown until now. The image quality, even on non-effects sequences, has never looked better.

All in all, an episode I'll remember in my old age . . . which won't be for some while I hope.

Dramatic Content: 10 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 8
Overall Experience: 10

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

Oct 3rd Comic Round Up

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:00 PM

Star Trek Year Four - 3

I really should just give up. Never thought of myself as a masochist, but expecting this comic to improve when the problems are so fundamental now seems a bit like going back to the fridge 5 minutes later and hoping there's something new in there. Damn... I do that too.

Here, I'll just explain what happens in this issue and I think everyone will probably get the core problem with Tischman's plotting.

We have a fairly standard "crew is taken over" story. I've got no problem with reusing a basic sci-fi standby plot. In fact, taking the familiar and building something interesting on it gives the author a challenge. Tischman again fails to rise to this challenge. He does provide a "twist", so to speak, but we'll get to that.

The Enterprise investigates the loss of communications with a colony on the outer reaches of space. Everyone is dead when they arrive, giving McCoy an excuse for a classic proclamation on the loss of vitality itself. The deaths appear to be caused by some kind of viral infection. They discover the colonists demise occurred shortly after they unearthed an alien escape pod. Deftly assuming these events could be connected, Spock investigates the data tapes from the colony.

Soon after the crew starts to act strange. Soon people are disobeying Kirk's orders and sending the ship off to some unknown destination. Kirk, rightly, doesn't appreciate this fact, but is soon accused of being infected himself. McCoy helpfully straps Kirk down to 'cure' him, but not before he pleads with Nurse Chapel for escape. Then, the chase is on. The thrills! The drama! Can Kirk save his ship and crew from whatever dastardly fate this infection has for them!?

No, apparently not.

Tischman chooses as his "twist" that everyone gets infected and the ship happily zooms off to its hijacked destination. In the final page epilogue, Kirk logs that the infection was actually an alien consciousness that just wanted to go home. Once the ship arrived to the alien homeworld and they beamed down, it left them. And that's the end, folks. Again, the crew of the Enterprise is literally just along for the ride, helpless to do anything to effect the outcome of a Tischman plot.

I thought the fact that Kirk and McCoy were sitting by helpless in a cell while the resolution of the first issue took place off page was bad enough. Now we simply have a story where Kirk fails to save his ship. Sure, its "okay" because the alien just wanted to go home. Those first colonists were just an unfortunate bit of collateral damage, presumably. Somehow, I think Picard might have rolled over for this, but not Kirk. Sorry, just not Kirk.

Action Comics 856

Me love Bizaro. Me want more Bizaro comics. Read lots Bizaro speak make head feel good. Care deeply for everything that happen this arc. Hate see new non-Bizaro stories start 2 months from now.

[There, I wrote a Bizaro speak review of a Bizaro story. Truly inspired, totally original decision on my part, I know. Especially since I don't have to write anything else, as Bizaro's are creatures of few words, unlike me, who's now rambling just a bit, admittedly.]

"The 'Galileo' Seven" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 7:24 AM

Star Trek (Remastered): "The Galileo Seven"
Remastered Episode #41 (9/15/2007)
Original Episode #14 (1/15/1967)

A new season of Star Trek: Remastered is upon us. By default, this is the last season--at least for updates to the original series. Unless, of course, they decide to CGI all of the visuals on the animated series. Once they had their approach down, they could even create new episodes to fill out the season. I'm sure there are some leftover scripts or concepts around somewhere.

Back to reality, though. "The Galileo Seven" kicks off the 2007-2008 season, a perfect choice for the lead-in. One of the best Star Trek episodes, it also offers a potential extravaganza of visual effects. With last season's 40 episodes under their belts, is CBS Digital ready to take it to a new level?

Things start promisingly enough, as we get a fantastic view of the Enterprise approaching Murasaki 312, a quasar-like formation. (Check out our preview article about this episode for a still of this and other key effects sequences.) The Enterprise is en route to Makus III with urgent medical supplies but since he has a couple of extra days, Captain Kirk decides to send a shuttle out to investigate the quasar.

Kirk claims he must do this, due to "standing orders to investigate all quasars and quasar-like phenomenon." I don't buy it, though. I think he just wants to get under the skin of Galactic High Commissioner Ferris, on board to deliver the medical supplies. Ferris is one of those annoying Federation bureaucrats that the Enterprise carts around from time-to-time. You know, the ones who are always trying to order Kirk around aboard his own ship. The plague of government bureaucracy is alive and well in the 23rd Century, it seems.

Though he stays aboard the Enterprise (someone has to organize the subsequent rescue attempts, after all), Kirk loads the shuttlecraft up with just about his entire senior staff. Also joining Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are Yeoman Mears and Lieutenants Boma, Gaetano, and Latimer.

The shuttlecraft launch is outstanding, and we even get a nice view of another shuttle, Columbus, sitting on the flight deck as the Galileo departs. We've seen other shuttle launches on Star Trek: Remastered before, but I still can't get over how real the effect looks. To see the Enterprise and other classic vehicles from original Star Trek fully realized for the first time has been nothing short of amazing, a lifelong Trekkie's dream-come-true. CBS Digital is doing all of this with budget limitations that are rivaled only by time constraints.

As you might expect, things go horribly wrong and the shuttle crashes after losing contact with the Enterprise. Not only has the Murasaki effect crashed the shuttle, it has also severely limited the Enterprise's sensor capabilities (not unlike the Mutara Nebula, actually). They are essentially left to search for the shuttle within four solar systems by sight. Ferris, who opposed the scientific mission in the first place, is none too pleased when Kirk informs him that finding a needle in a haystack would be "child's play" compared to finding the lost shuttlecraft.

All of this before the opening credits!

While Kirk has to deal with the nagging Ferris, Spock has his own set of naggers to deal with during his first command. Dr. McCoy gangs up with Lieutenant Boma to pester Spock at every turn. Though I'm a McCoy fan, the writers take him a bit too far in this episode. It seems out of character for him to allow Boma to insult Spock so often and even to jump in with a few thorns of his own. Sure, Spock and McCoy have an ongoing "feud" about passion versus reason but it is usually good-natured.

Here, McCoy just seems mean. Perhaps he has a hard time dealing with stress when Kirk isn't around, as the only other episode I can think of where he seems so out of kilter is "The Tholian Web"--where Kirk is presumed dead and Spock is in command.

The rest of the episode overcomes the problems with McCoy, though. As we see Spock in command for the first time, the Vulcan learns a number of lessons about logic. As he would later tell Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, "Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end." Full of tension, drama, and action, "The Galileo Seven" represents Star Trek at its best.

Speaking of one of his command decisions, Spock notes, "I may have been mistaken."

McCoy retorts, "At least I lived long enough to hear that." That's the McCoy we know and love, so the writers weren't completely off target.

As for Boma, he places extremely unrealistic demands on the Vulcan. Though he is supposed to show the human consequences of Spock's logical decisions, his constant nipping at Spock gets annoying. When the planet's ape-like natives kill two members of the shuttle crew, Boma insists that they take the time to bury them despite the enormous ongoing danger posed by the natives (the damaged shuttle needs to be freed of excess weight if she is ever to lift off).

While I understand the need to give the dead a proper burial, it's just not the right time for it. You don't jump out of the trench in the middle of a battle to bury the poor guy killed next to you. Otherwise, you'd better dig two holes.

Aboard the Enterprise, Ferris repeatedly stalks on and off the bridge, reminding Kirk constantly of exactly how much longer he has to conduct the search before he assumes command of the ship to deliver the medical supplies. Kirk shows great restraint by not knocking the guy on his bureaucratic ass.

The ape-like creatures have not been updated. They still throw small spears that suddenly turn larger (a creative but failed attempt on the original episode to give a sense of enormous scale to the creatures) and they still look way smaller than 10 to 15 feet tall as they approach one of the crewmembers for a kill.

CBS Digital usually does not tackle these sorts of changes to the on-set costumes and effects, though they did make the Gorn blink last season on "Arena." The end results would likely not justify the time. I think it's fine as it is, as I don't want every single piece of the classic show to be updated anyway. Yes, the creature looks fake, but it's a charming reminder of the simpler television times of the 1960s.

The newly created visuals are breathtaking throughout. We even get to see the Columbus ferrying back and forth from the Enterprise as she searches for the Galileo. One of these includes a movie-quality shot of the Enterprise from below. Fortunately, the Columbus is not similarly affected and crashed or Kirk would have even more officers to find.

If you have an HD DVD player, it's episodes like this one that will make the remastered Star Trek season 1 set worth the seemingly high cost in November. Since "The Galileo Seven" was part of the original series' first season, it is included on the set. (The remastered episodes air out of sequence in syndication.)

"The Galileo Seven" represents the finest work of both the 1966 and 2007 creative teams. This is a must-see.

Dramatic Content: 10 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 10
Overall Experience: 10

The Film Frontier's Related Articles

Sept 5th Comic RoundUp

posted by JediSheltie @ 6:56 PM

Star Trek Year Four 2

Can't say what I'm missing with this series. I want to like it, but the plotting is simply beating me back yet again. Even though my personal "favorite Trek period is the original cast films", I started out with TOS in syndication and will always have a soft spot for it. These comics are simply not finding that soft spot.

Issue 2 brings us "The one with the Prime Directive," as a Friends episode may have put it. The Enterprise stops by Aarak 3 to pick up some shiny new dilithium on the way to Starbase 14. This is certainly a nod to TOS, as from what I recall, damn near everything that ever happened to the Enterprise happened when they were on the way to a starbase.

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy soon find themselves the attempted collateral damage in what appears to be an assassination attempt of the local head honcho. The Federation officers prevent the attempt and McCoy gets to rattle off an only mildly amusing "I'm a doctor, not a..." line. What follows is supposed to be a tale of political intrigue and philosophical rumination on the nature of the Prime Directive.

What it ends up being is a confused mess that makes a play for being a "relevant episode" somewhere in the middle. That Kirk and Company don't entirely sit out the climax of the story is one of the few improvements over the first issue. I was going to complain about how the Prime Directive was handled as well, but research has shown it eventually grew beyond dealing with "primitive, un-contacted" species to deal with interfering with any planets internal affairs.

Pacing is certainly the same problem here. Not to say much of this could have been salvaged with some additional pages, but it may have helped. I might counsel Tischman to start thinking about writing some "2 part episodes" instead of trying to cram everything into a single issue. He has yet to prove up to the task. Art is the same, which I found acceptable in the first issue and can faithfully report that it was equally acceptable here.

Supergirl 21

Okay, I can say Bedard is doing much better, that's for sure. At no point did I feel anyone trying to reach out and touch the teenage girl within. Fortunately I had her surgically removed years ago. Rather expensive operation, actually...

Coming off events in Amazons Attack, Kara is suffering from a bit of anxiety. (Didn't bother reviewing much of AA, did I? Take that for what it's worth..). She seeks solace at the Kent farm, which is point 1 in Bedard's favor. The Kents are the understanding parents you wish you had. They mention that their other adopted kid isn't perfect and he's screwed up from time to time as well. Kara is slightly reassured, but she knows she's going to have to face up to him sooner or later. Kinda-sorta-almost killing the President of the United States is one of those "let's talk" moments, after all.

Her reckoning is delayed by a crossover event, though. If you haven't been reading Countdown, then perhaps you're not altogether familiar with Karate Kid and "Una," otherwise known as Triplicate Girl when there's more than one of her. Don't fret, as long as you can glean they've been wrongfully pegged as meta-human terrorists playing hobos on a train, you'll be okay. Much like the Enterprise and any particular part of the universe, Kara is the nearest member of the Teen Titans able to respond after this "threat" has been called in.

I had been wondering if Karate Kid had any enhanced strength or something for a while now, and Bedard answered that question in an entertaining fashion. The Kid discovered that attempting to apply even the best karate in the universe against an earth-bound Kryptonian doesn't work so well. Though that fight doesn't last long, the instigator of the terrorist complaint soon appears to provide a slightly higher challenge.

Equus, a 2 bit C-lister who made his debut being beaten up by Kara's cousin, decides to take matters into his own be-clawed hands after Kara and the assembled law enforcement officers fail to off his targets for him. Bedard is the guy who finally gets to wrap some of Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes into the main comic, and so far it's handled well. Kara suddenly notices her two terrorists look very familiar, in a strange way, which allows Equuis to get the drop on her.

Guedes art is awesome as always. I'm disappointed he's only around for 2 more issues, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Overall I'm feeling better about this comic. Definitely looking forward to see how Bedard handles this first arc, which promises to let Kara "find her place" in the current DCU.

Star Trek: Year Four #1 comic book

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:34 PM

August 8th Comic RoundUp

Star Trek: Year Four 01

Thought I'd take a little longer to look at this one. Considering the year of hype ahead about the upcoming movie, etc., it seems IDW Publishing knew a good deal when they saw it and snapped up the rights to Trek Comics. The first effort was a TNG based short series that I didn't read, mostly because it was TNG. The few things I heard about it weren't all that great.

Which brings us to author David Tischman's latest effort: Year Four. Set during the fourth year of the Starship Enterprise's original 5 year mission, the goal of the comic appears to be capturing the feel of a TOS episode in a single comic form. Does it succeed at that goal? Well, let's take a look at the stats right out of the gate:

• - Enterprise discovers uncharted world.
• - World's small number of occupants lead by charismatic, exiled scientist.
• - Exiled scientist plays by his own rules, consequences be damned.
• - Exiled scientist has hottie blonde assistant.
• - The landing party consists of 2 guys in blue shirts, 1 guy in a gold shirt, and one guy who made a very unfortunate fashion choice that morning.
• - He's dead, Jim.
• - Enterprise driven off, stranding parts of landing party.
• - Bonus Trek Comic Cliché: references to cannon established after TOS.

Now, I'm the last guy who will complain about unoriginal plots. Talk to our founder about the various existential crises he's had over them. Still, this "episode" comic covers a lot of very familiar Trek themes in a way that does little to lend any kind of unique voice. Trek had a lot of common themes in it, and there's nothing wrong with revisiting them. This comic does that, but mostly in a way that seems like different "iconic" episode elements were merely being strung together without any greater purpose.

Eventually I was waiting for the evil computer to be revealed.

The plot of the comic has the Enterprise discovering a series of worlds locked in a kind of double helix pattern mostly devoid of life. Kirk and Co. beam down to investigate and discover an exiled scientific genius who's taken up residence in this empty world system to eradicate all disease. Other dangers lurk on the world, of course, leading to the original "Oh my god, you killed Kenny!" moment of scripted television. Offing the red shirt was a story beat I had no problem with, actually, as that's the kind of iconic moment that transcends most story elements.

Kirk and McCoy investigate, only to discover the brilliant scientist exile is up to no good, of course. What's strange about the entire story is that, ultimately, Kirk and company do little to bring about the story's resolution. Ultimately it turns out their simple arrival was the first domino that caused the rest to fall on their own. Other plot holes abound, such as the nature of the scientists Island-of-Dr.-Moreau-like assistants, and how they could drive off the Enterprise with torpedoes. Everything ultimately seemed rushed, as if some more exposition might have made things a bit clearer, but the "1 episode comic" theme forced too much story compression.

Characterizations were reasonable. If I had to quibble, I might say Kirk started hitting on the blonde assistant a wee bit too quickly after his latest red-shirted fatality. Then again, I guess it's reasonable to assume, four years in, he's pretty much used to it by now.

Art was passable. In fact, it seemed to suggest a bit of The Animated Series, with clean lines and broad flat colors. The Enterprise was rendered with reasonable accuracy. Though I'm hardly the stickler for this as I am for renderings of the "A", this was certainly a step above any of the starship abominations common to the mid-80's Trek comics.

If the idea of this comic is to present some "unseen episodes" of the original Star Trek, then author David Tischman will have to do a little better than cut-in-paste plot elements from old episodes. Granted, that presents a bit more a writing challenge, but with any luck, he can come up with more Balance of Terrors and less Spock's Brains. I'm going to grab a few more issues. Perhaps I'll float the guy a pass and say the cobbled together iconic plot elements were meant to be appealing to old Trek farts like me. Give me that "old home" feeling and keep me hooked. Well, hopefully Tischman will spread his wings a bit in upcoming "episodes."

"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" (Star Trek: Remastered edition)

posted by Tygrrius @ 11:39 AM

Star Trek (Remastered): "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"
Remastered Episode #29 (5/5/2007)
Original Episode #21 (1/26/1967)

After last week's light-on-effects installment of Star Trek: Remastered, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" provides the CBS Digital team the opportunity to show off a bit.

Though I unfortunately didn't receive them in time for a preview article, I've intermixed pictures from CBS for this weekend's episode with my review. Click on each picture to view larger versions.

After encountering a black star that hurls her across time and space, the Enterprise falls into a low Earth orbit, nearly out of control. The year: 1969. Just a week before the launch of Apollo 11.

The initial shot of the Enterprise in 1969 is somewhat disappointing. The tiny ship wobbles unrealistically, a little too reminiscent of the 1967 effect for my tastes.

After a return from the opening credits commercial break, though, CBS Digital more than makes up for the weak start with an awe-inspiring view of the Enterprise as she flies over the US midwest (below).

I'm sure that RiffTrax's Mike Nelson would call this "fanboy porn," but if so I'm definitely a fanboy when it comes to TOS. I replayed this sequence several times before proceeding with the episode.

For me, this marks the true achievement of Star Trek: Remastered's potential, a chance to see the original Enterprise as we always imagined her. The new series has been a classic Trek fan's dream come true.

Spotting the Enterprise on radar, the US Air Force sends up a jet fighter to intercept. As the crew regains control of the starship, Spock notes that the fighter's nuclear weapons could prove a danger if the pilot were to open fire.

The Enterprise snags the fighter in a tractor beam, but the aircraft begins to break apart. With no other choice, they beam pilot John Christopher (Roger Perry) aboard.



Throughout the episode are fantastic shots of the Enterprise orbiting Earth (including the one above). Though the pilot has been beamed aboard a ship from 300 years in the future, Kirk naturally decides to give Christopher a tour of the vessel, with no restrictions on what he learns.

As they enter the bridge, Christopher is relieved to find that Kirk is from Earth of the future, rather than an alien. "I never have believed in little green men," says Christopher, who then looks up to see Mr. Spock for the first time.

"Nor have I," replies the Vulcan.

There's a bit of fun in this episode, as the ship's computer has recently been reprogrammed on the female-dominated Cygnet XIV to respond as a flirty woman rather than in the normal monotone, much to Spock and Kirk's dismay.

Kirk and Spock soon must deliver bad news to Christopher: he cannot return to Earth of 1969, for he has seen and heard too much about the future and could pose a danger to the timeline. There are other problems, though, for no one is sure how to return the Enterprise to the 23rd century.

Though it is a solid episode, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is not stellar. Parts of it drag on, including a subplot to retrieve footage of the Enterprise taken by Christopher's aircraft while in flight. A subplot rendered meaningless by the episode's conclusion, I might add.



The updated effects are mixed, alternating between unbelievably great and disappointingly mediocre. I'm not sure why there is such a marked difference, except perhaps for the issue that plagues all projects: lack of time. I will say that the good stuff here is terrific enough to make up for the mediocre. I'm left with a feeling of awe, which is how Star Trek is supposed to be.

One aspect of Star Trek: Remastered that I've failed to highlight in previous reviews is the overall enhancement to the picture throughout each episode, not just the effects. Even compared to the 2004 DVDs, these newly broadcast versions have much more vibrant colors and a crisper look.

In many ways, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is the perfect episode for the Star Trek: Remastered concept. The original version suffered due to the limitations of the 1967 effects (one shot of the Enterprise leaving Earth had portions of the warp nacelles disappearing, for instance). Now, today is yesterday and it is as if Remastered line producer Michael Okuda and crew were able to slingshot around the sun and give the 1967 team a bit of 2007 technology.

Dramatic Content: 7 (out of 10)
Effects Upgrades: 8
Overall Experience: 8

* * *

Episodes and air dates for Star Trek remastered

US stations carrying Star Trek remastered

For more information

Images are copyright, © 2007 by CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved. Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.

The Film Frontier's Related Articles