StarTrek | the m0vie blog

Star Trek – This Side of Paradise (Review)

Posted on May 26, 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.

Star Trek always had a curious relationship with the hippie movement in the late sixties. On a surface level, you’d assume that the series would have a great deal of empathy for the idealistic and pacifist movement. After all, the show embraced counter-culture in a fairly significant way, offering none-too-subtle criticisms of American foreign policy in episodes like A Taste of Armageddon, and harbouring some very serious concerns about authority in adventures like Dagger of the Mind. What was The Naked Time but an embrace of fin de siècle anxiety mere months before “the summer of love”? After all, the nineteenth century European fin de siècle period had produced Der Wandervogel, considered one of the predecessors to the hippie movement.

And yet the show never seemed entirely comfortable with the youth movement. This would be much more obvious third season’s dire The Way to Eden, but the show’s sense of unease is quite palpable here, as Kirk finds himself trying to deal with a crew that have sampled some mind-altering vegetation and are now embracing free love.

Flower power…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: A Taste of Armageddon, C. Wright Mills, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby, James Tiptree, kirk, Naked Time, Return of the Archons, spock, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: the next generation, StarTrek, Sulu, This Side of Paradise, This Side of Paradise (Star Trek: The Original Series), United States, Way to Eden, world war ii | 2 Comments »

Star Trek – Space Seed (Review)

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Darren

Following the commercial success (and lack of critical success) of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Paramount made a conscious decision to side-line Gene Roddenberry. Given that his plans for the sequel involved Spock travelling through time to assassinate Kennedy, we can likely all agree that was probably a good thing. Harve Bennett was tasked with producing the sequel, and took to the task of researching what would become the second Star Trek film. Demonstrating considerable respect for the source material, Bennett locked himself away and screened all three seasons of the show, looking for inspiration.

Apparently he only needed to reach the tail end of the first season, because he had found the basis of his film by the closing credits of Space Seed.

You Khan do it…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Benedict Cumberbatch, Earth, james t. kirk, khan, kirk, Lieutenant, Mister Spock, racism, science fiction, Sexuality in Star Trek, Space Seed, spock, star trek, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, StarTrek, Uhura, William Shatner, Zachary Quinto | 13 Comments »

Star Trek – A Taste of Armageddon (Review)

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Darren

It’s amazing to think that A Taste of Armageddon and The Return of the Archons were produced on consecutive weeks by the same television show. Both are politically-charged pieces of pop culture, heavily influenced by the realities of the Cold War, but they adopt two completely different philosophies towards the conflict. The Return of the Archons is a story about the need for freedom and individuality, and how the struggle for those inalienable rights is a battle that must be fought. While it’s debatable whether Landru is a representation of the forces of communism, the episode is unquestionably about the triumph of Western liberal values.

In contrast, A Taste of Armageddon can’t help but feel a little cynical about the whole damn thing.

A shooting war…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, David Opatoshu, Errand of Mercy, Federation, Geoffrey Cowan, George Takei, kirk, paramount pictures, Return of the Archons, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, StarTrek, Taste of Armageddon, Uhura, vietnam, Vietnam War, World of Star Trek, Zachary Quinto, zoe saldana | 13 Comments »

Star Trek – The Return of the Archons (Review)

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Darren

It is really hard to believe that this is the first time we’ve really had one of these plots, with the Enterprise visiting an alien civilisation, meddling thoroughly and freeing the population from oppression. Of course, that’s probably because the universe seemed so vast an empty in the first few episodes. The only planets seemed to be either lifeless rocks or human colonies. From this point on, the galaxy is going to seem a whole lot busier.

Return of the Archons is a little bit like an expansion of the archetypal Star Trek plot established in What Are Little Girls Made Of? The Enterprise visits an alien world following up on the disappearance of Federation personnel. When they arrive, they discover sinister plans afoot involving evil artificial intelligences that plan on stomping out free will. Kirk promptly uses his humanity to talk the machines into destroying himself.

However, Return of the Archons deals with a whole civilisation trapped in the midst of this sinister robotic plot. Kirk and his crew aren’t strolling through an alien graveyard. This is a living, breathing society. And this is the first time that Kirk would save an entire civilisation.

Some men just want to watch the world burn…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: action, Alaska, Archon, Book of Enoch, Chemtrail conspiracy theory, David Icke, Earth, games, gene roddenberry, james t. kirk, Kenai Alaska, kirk, Landru, Naked Time, Religion and Spirituality, Return of the Archons, sky, spock, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: enterprise, star trek: the next generation, StarTrek, The Return of the Archons, Tic-tac-toe, Uhura, Way to Eden, Zachary Quinto | 6 Comments »

Star Trek – Tomorrow is Yesterday (Review)

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Darren

It’s interesting how easily you can trace a line back from the original Star Trek films to the television show which inspired them. Each of the first four films has a very clear predecessor, an episode broadcast during the show’s run which seems to serve as something of a thematic forerunner. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is so similar to The Changeling that Star Trek: The Original Series 365 dubs it “Where Nomad Has Gone Before.” The Wrath of Khan is obviously rooted in Space Seed. Kirk’s decision to hijack the Enterprise and go against regulations to save his first officer in The Search for Spock feels like a full circle from Spock’s efforts to help Pike in The Menagerie.

And Tomorrow is Yesterday feels like a bit of a dry run for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The crew might not have to save any whales, but it’s a comedic time-travel adventure that finds the Enterprise crew visiting the twentieth century and trying to avoid altering the time-line too much. Tomorrow is Yesterday feels a little simplistic when compared to some of the franchise’s later interactions with time-travel, but it is a fun and entertaining little episode. It’s easy to see why The Voyage Home might be tempted to revisit the set-up.

Flying the friendly skies…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Charlie, Charlie X, D. C. Fontana, kirk, Naked Time, spock, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Original Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, star trek: the next generation, Starbase, Starfleet, StarTrek, Where No Man Has Gone Before, William Shatner | Leave a comment »

Star Trek – The Alternative Factor (Review)

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Darren

Well, here we are. The Alternative Factor. We’ve had weak episodes before. I’ll concede that shows like Court Martial and The Menagerie, Part II wouldn’t rank among my favourites of the season. However, there was always just enough there to make them interesting, if not compelling. There were good ideas, clumsily executed. There was something value to be found in watching these episodes. The Alternative Factor lacks those sorts of redemptive values, and it’s the first time on this re-watch I have actually wondered where my fifty minutes went, and lamented the fact that watching The Alternative Factor inched me ever-closer to death.

The Alternative Factor is – I’d argue – the weakest episode of a remarkably strong first season of Star Trek. While some would consider it one of the worst episodes the show ever produced, I’m reluctant to commit to that sort of certainty. After all, we still have the third season to come, and I’m hesitant to rank The Alternative Factor as that much worse than The Turnabout Intruder or The Way to Eden or And the Children Shall Lead or Spock’s Brain. Yep, there’s a lot to look forward to if I ever get around to finishing the third season of the show.

Still, the fact that The Alternative Factor might possibly not be the worst thing to happen to Star Trek in its nearly fifty years of existence is damning with faint praise. But I’m sure the episode will take whatever it can get.

It hurts!

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Alternative Factor, battlestar galactica, Benedict Cumberbatch, chris pine, Commodore, games, gene roddenberry, Hulu, J. J. Abrams, james t. kirk, John Drew Barrymore, kirk, Ricardo Montalban, Screen Actors Guild, spock, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: the next generation, StarTrek, voyager, William Shatner, Zachary Quinto | 7 Comments »

Star Trek – Arena (Review)

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Darren

Arena is a fascinating piece of Star Trek, because it’s such an iconic and important piece of franchise history, despite the fact that it’s far from the best that the show has to offer. Indeed, the basic premise of the show is rather generic science-fiction B-movie stuff. Kirk is forced to compete against a lizard-like alien by some god-like beings to ensure the survival of his crew. The script, by producer Gene L. Coon, is credited to a story written by Fredric Brown. Despite its similarities to Brown’s short story of the same name, Arena also shares quite a few plot points with a 1964 episode of The Outer Limits, Fun & Games. None of this is to suggest that Coon was consciously channelling these sources when he wrote the teleplay, just to illustrate how generic the basic plot is.

However, despite (or perhaps because of) this rather straightforward and familiar set-up, Arena is a truly memorable episode of Star Trek. Like quite a few other episodes of the original Star Trek, the episode produced images and concepts that have resonated well outside Star Trek fandom, to the point where elements like the Gorn or Kirk’s highly dubious improvised weapon will be recognisable to people who have never actually seen the episode. However, the episode is also vitally important to the Star Trek franchise itself, as it offers a more thorough expansion and exploration of the back story that has been inconsistently hinted at throughout this first season. Arena is really the first episode to feature a fully-formed framework for the internal logic of the Star Trek universe, one that has informed half-a-century of the franchise.

Plus, you know, Kirk wrestles a lizard man.

Don’t pretend you aren’t loving every minute of this, Shatner!

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Arena, Federation, Fredric Brown, Game, Gene L. Coon, gene roddenberry, gorn, J. J. Abrams, james t. kirk, kirk, Metron, NASA, Scanners, Space Seed, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Next Generation, Star Trek Original Series, star trek: enterprise, star trek: the next generation, star trek: the original series, StarTrek, Where No Man Has Gone Before, William Shatner | 8 Comments »

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Requiem by Michael Jan Friedman & Kevin Ryan (Review)

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Darren

We’ll be supplementing our coverage of the episodes with some additional materials – mainly novels and comics and films. This is one such entry.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Star Trek is a franchise spanning almost half-a-century with six leading actors and five different television shows. Due to its nature, one of the more enjoyably fanboy-ish pastimes is attempting to reimagine various confrontations and encounters, swapping out the characters involved. How would Kirk have responded to the Borg? Would Sisko have been ideally suited to dealing with the Xindi threat? What if Janeway faced the Doomsday Machine? Different characters have different defining moments, and those moments often play to their particular strengths. It might be fun to watch Khan spar with Picard, but it probably wouldn’t work as well as it did with Kirk. Q and Kirk would probably have difficulty striking it off.

Still, Kirk’s confrontation with the Gorn in Arena stands as one of the most iconic moments in the whole of the franchise, to the point where the weird toga-wearing god-like being at the end barely gets a look-in. Indeed, based on Sisko’s fanboy gushing in Trials and Tribble-ations, it seems to be one of Kirk’s defining moments within the shared Star Trek universe. So it might be fun to take Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and put him through that same sort of confrontation.

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Filed under: The Next Generation | Tagged: Arena, City on the Edge of Forever, Devil in the Dark, gorn, james t. kirk, jean-luc picard, kirk, Michael Jan Friedman, picard, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: the next generation, Starfleet Academy, StarTrek, William Shatner | Leave a comment »

Star Trek – The Squire of Gothos (Review)

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Darren

It’s easy to see why The Squire of Gothos has become such a Star Trek touchstone. The show is iconic, but there are particular images and ideas that resonate beyond the core fanbase. Captain Pike’s wheelchair from The Menagerie is one such example, as is the fight with the Gorn from Arena. It’s amazing that Star Trek could produce so many memorable and distinctive images so quickly. Trelane might not have the same name recognition, or even the same pop culture cache, but The Squire of Gothos makes quite an impression.

Indeed, the image of a god-like being acting like a spoilt child, dressed in all manner of period military clothing is a great visual, and it’s little wonder that Roddenberry would return to that idea when he was writing Encounter at Farpoint, the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Similarly, The Squire of Gothos is one of the major influences on Futurama‘s superb parody/homage, Where No Fan Has Gone Before, right down to the wonderful “twist” ending that has been spoiled by almost half-a-century of pop culture osmosis.

Still, even apart from its massive influence on pop culture, The Squire of Gothos is still a fantastic piece of television, and an example of Star Trek at its very best.

It’s hip to be squire…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Charlie X, games, god, J. J. Abrams, kirk, Leonard McCoy, List of Star Trek characters (T–Z), Man Trap, science fiction, spock, Spoiled child, Squire of Gothos, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Original Series, star trek: the next generation, StarTrek, Trelane, Where No Fan Has Gone Before, Where No Man Has Gone Before | 4 Comments »

Star Trek – Shore Leave (Review)

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Darren

When I talk about the surreal sixties energy that really holds quite a bit of Star Trek together, it’s quite possible that it sounds like a back-handed compliment, a cheap and easy gig at a cult television show. However, I mean that sincerely. When I argue that the illogical and somewhat scattershot dynamism of the last act of Court Martial can barely hold the patchwork script together, it’s quite possible that I sound like I’m being sarcastic. However, my affection for the mad-cap mayhem particular to the first iteration of Star Trek is entirely genuine. Although it makes no sense, the climax to Court Martial isn’t the problem. Everything leading up to it is.

I think Shore Leave is pretty much the perfect iteration of this concept. It is, from start to finish, absolutely insane nonsense that threatens to fall apart if one concentrates too hard on any particular detail. However, it’s executed with enough energy and drive that it becomes a compelling and surreal piece of television, and one of the best illustrations of the kind of weirdness that the classic Star Trek could pull off almost effortlessly.