vulcan | 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 »

Star Trek – Dagger of the Mind (Review)

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Darren

I knew we were due a nice Shakespearean title soon. And The Conscience of a King is just around the corner, to boot. Seriously though, I have to admit a massive fondness for these wonderfully lofty and high-minded episode titles. It’s something that links the original Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine quite firmly, and was sadly never enthusiastically taken up by any of the other spin-offs. It’s a shame, because – regardless of the quality of the episodes in question – there’s something undeniably endearing about forty-five minutes of television given a pretentious name like For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, The City on the Edge of Forever or Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night.

A scream…

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Barack Obama, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bones (TV series), City on the Edge of Forever, Dagger of the Mind, J. J. Abrams, james t. kirk, kirk, Leonard McCoy, Leonard Nimoy, Let He Who Is Without Sin..., Penal colony, Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods, spock, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: deep space nine, StarTrek, Tantalus, vulcan, Vulcans | 5 Comments »

Star Trek – My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane (Review)

Posted on May 9, 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.

1984 was a hell of a year of Star Trek tie-in novels. John M. Ford’s The Final Reflection was published in May 1984. It was followed by a tie-in adaptation of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but the very next original novel would by My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane. Both novels feel like kindred spirits, really pushing the boundaries of what you could do with Star Trek tie-in novels.

In particular, both works devoted considerable time to developing some of the iconic and memorable aliens of Star Trek. Ford’s The Final Reflection extrapolated an entire Klingon culture, while Duane’s My Enemy, My Ally dared to imagine a complex Romulan Empire, so distinct and well-defined that it isn’t even known as Romulan (apparently the term outsiders use for the species), but Rihannsu.

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Diane Duane, Final Reflection, gene roddenberry, John M. Ford, Klingon, Rihannsu, Romulan, spock, star trek, Star Trek Next Generation, star trek: the next generation, StarTrek, vulcan | 16 Comments »

Star Trek – Crew by John Byrne (Review)

Posted on May 3, 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.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry was the first lady of the Star Trek franchise, in more ways than one. She was married to Gene Roddenberry and remained a part of the franchise after his death. She guest starred on the shows occasionally, continued to lend her voice to the computers and offered the occasional interview to the press. Although her actual influence on the television shows was relatively minimal (and she was occasionally prone to protesting various plot developments including the Dominion War on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), she did remain involved in Star Trek until she passed away in 2008.

However, she was also involved from the start. She had the recurring role of Christine Chapel throughout the original television show, and appeared in the unaired pilot, The Cage, as Christopher Pike’s first officer. Identified only as “Number One”, this almost made her the literal “first lady” of Star Trek. I’m surprised that Number One hasn’t been used more often as a character, with her appearances in tie-ins generally restricted to her time on board Pike’s Enterprise.

John Byrne’s miniseries might have the title Crew, and feature supporting roles for Christopher Pike and Mister Spock, but it is very much the story of Number One. Published a year after her death, and dedicated to her memory, Crew feels like a fitting farewell to the actress responsible for one of the franchise’s earliest and most intriguing supporting characters.

Fate protects fools, little children… and ships named Enterprise.

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Filed under: Comics, The Original Series | Tagged: Benedict Cumberbatch, chris pine, Christine Chapel, Christopher Pike, Earth, gene roddenberry, J. J. Abrams, John Byrne, John Harrison, Klingon, Majel Barrett, Neutral Zone, spock, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Next Generation, star trek: the next generation, Starfleet, StarTrek, USS Enterprise, vulcan, Zachary Quinto | Leave a comment »

Star Trek – Vulcan’s Glory by D.C. Fontana (Review)

Posted on May 1, 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.

I’ve never really felt too strongly one way or another about continuity. I never got too upset about Klingon forehead ridges, or the fact that Khan somehow remembered Chekov from an episode that took place before he joined the Enterprise. I’ve always found the use of the term “canon” to describe the shared continuity as more than a little indulgent or absurd. I consider some of the better tie-in novels I have read to be a worthy part of the Star Trek universe, regardless of the fact that they may not fit, or they may contradict what was depicted on-screen. I’ve never been too tightly tied to the notion that something is “important” or “in continuity” among this 700-episode franchise.

Still, I can’t help but feel like there’s something almost legitimate about Vulcan’s Glory. It is a novel from writer D.C. Fontana, who served as script editor and writer on the classic Star Trek show, and is regarded as one of the guiding lights of the franchise. She went on to write for both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Given her importance to the show over its extended history, anything Fontana writes about it is worthy of note. Indeed, Vulcan’s Glory was originally published in 1989 and was reissued in 2006 for the franchise’s fortieth anniversary.

Even to somebody reluctant to consign “importance” or “worthy” to a tie-in based on outside factors, the story of Spock’s first mission on board the Enterprise, written by one of the strongest writers of the original Star Trek and a guiding influence on the franchise, still jumps out as a pretty important book.

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Christopher Pike, gene roddenberry, gorn, International Astronomical Union, james t. kirk, kirk, Sarek, Scotty, spock, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: the next generation, star trek: the original series, Starfleet, StarTrek, USS Enterprise, vulcan, William Shatner | 2 Comments »

Ed Brubaker’s Run on Uncanny X-Men – The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Darren

I’m currently wading my way through Marvel’s somewhat complicated continuity, with a major focus on The Avengers, what with the film due out in 2012 and all that. Anyway, this isn’t really a “big” crossover in its own right, but it factors into a big event I’ll be looking at later on today. Consider this an appendix.

Ed Brubaker’s run on Uncanny X-Men isn’t as widely praised as his work on Daredevil or Captain America – in fact, while Marvel couldn’t wait to churn out omnibus releases of his work on those two titles, his Uncanny X-Men run, like Matt Fraction’s run which followed, has been haphazardly collected. Part of me suspects that this might be down to factors outside Brubaker’s control – Joss Whedon was monopolising the most popular X-Men for Astonishing X-Men when Brubaker kicked off his run – but part of it comes down to the simple fact that Brubaker simply isn’t a great writer of team books. That said, writing a year-long space epic featuring none of the more iconic characters as his introductory arc probably didn’t help much.

Brotherly love…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: chris claremont, comic book review, Comics, ed brubaker, emperor vulcan, gabriel summers, marvel, review, shi'ar, the rise and fall of the shi'ar empire, the shi'ar, uncanny x-men, vulcan, war of kings, x-men | 6 Comments »

Is Spock Superman?

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Darren

While watching Star Trek with my family over the weekend, I noticed something. Something small, probably insignificant. But you know how things are. They grab you and they stick in the back of you mind like a piece of thread, slowly unravelling over time until all of a sudden you have some sort of epiphany. My epiphany is this: what if Spock – as imagined by JJ Abrams – is Superman? Yes, the four-colour comic book character. Or – at the very least – a stand-in for him? It might not be as crazy as you think…

Okay, it’s probably as crazy as you think. But hopefully not crazier.