Cleopatra | the m0vie blog

Star Trek – The Conscience of the King (Review)

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness this month, we’ll be running through the first season of the classic Star Trek all this month. Check back daily to get ready to boldly go. It’s only logical.

The Conscience of theKing continues the work of Balance of Terror in fleshing out the fictional universe of Star Trek. While the first few episodes of the show gave little thought to this universe’s shared history and our characters’ origins, The Conscience of the King offers us a glimpse into the past of Captain James T. Kirk. Like Dagger of the Mind, another episode borrowing its title from Shakespeare, it builds off the suggestion that humanity is still a long way from perfection, and that the fact we have reached the cold expanse of space does not mean that our troubles can be left entirely behind. In contrast to some of Roddenberry’s later decisions about the Star Trek franchise, it is clear that utopia is a path, and not a clear destination.

His mask is slipping…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Balance of Terror, Cleopatra, Conscience of a King, Conscience of the King, gorn, james t. kirk, Juliet, Julius Caesar, kirk, Kodos, Leonard McCoy, Man Trap, Mister Spock, PlayStation 3, ronald d. moore, spock, star trek, star trek: enterprise, star trek: the next generation, The Conscience of the King, vulcan | 11 Comments »

Film Adaptation of the Play “Kursk” Streaming at the Space From Tomorrow…

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Darren

Every once in a while, somebody passes on a bit of information to the site that I think is worth sharing, just because it’s kinda a little bit cool and a little bit fascinating. In May, the British Arts Council and the BBC launched The Space, an on-line hub for the arts – available to stream on-line for free. It’s an absolutely fantastic way of sharing the arts with people who honestly wouldn’t get a chance to see them otherwise. (Especially at the moment, when the economy is the way that it is.) Starting tomorrow, The Space will be streaming a film adaptation of a play Kursk, based around the infamous Russian submarine disaster.

Image: Kursk Photographer: Keither Pattison

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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: Anthony, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cleopatra, Evening Standard Award, Krymsk, Kursk, London, may, Russia, Russian language, space, Sydney Opera House, United States, Vladimir Putin, William Shakespeare, Young Vic | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Cleopatra

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Darren

The big budget Cleopatra is renowned as something of a massive contradiction. It was panned mercilessly by critics, and yet picked up four Academy Awards (and five more nominations). It was the most financially successful movie of the year, and yet still turned a fairly substantial loss. It’s one of the last great Hollywood epics, and it almost killed Twentieth Century Fox. So there’s something strangely fitting about the final line, in which it was suggested that the movie’s subject was “the last of so many noble rulers.” In many ways, the film was the last of its kind, but perhaps the most lavish. Perhaps history has been kinder to the production than its initial release was, but it’s still a very flawed film.