Detour on the way to the city on the edge of forever

The A.V. Club has an appreciation/analyses of the writer Harlan Ellison, with accompanying photograph featured above. Of course Ellison is partly known for writing the very best script/screenplay for a Star Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever." Three questions come to mind when I see that pic:

1. Is Shatner gettin' him some?
2. Where are Spock and Kirk's insignia??
3. Were Nimoy and Shatner actually that much bigger than Ellison? They look huge.

Nimoy lets Spock go

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared together this past weekend at Dragon*Con, and Nimoy let it be known he was done playing Spock. Other than that, it's sort of neat to see the two men together again. In this clip, Shatner discusses how he has yet to see the new film, despite it apparently being shown on the flight he took to get to Dracon*Con:

"Bob Peak: Father of the Modern Hollywood Poster"

Bob Peak in 1985
A really cool art gallery, Gallery Nucleus, will feature the works of Bob Peak all month long. Bob Peak was an American commercial illustrator best known for innovative design in the development of the modern movie poster. His artwork has been used on the cover of Time magazine, TV Guide, and Sports Illustrated. He also illustrated advertisements and U.S. postage stamps. His style is instantly recognizable. If you are like me, Peak's images were constantly somewhere in the periphery of your childhood view. As I was growing up during the '70s and '80s, Peak's art was to the visual what composer John Williams's music was to the aural. Just a sample:

Apocalypse Now

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
(Peak did all the original cast movie posters)

Excalibur

Superman: The Movie

Rollerball

I wish I lived near Alhambra, California! I guess I will just have to settle for Space Center Houston's "The Cinema of George Lucas" artifacts exhibit.

(Pictures source)

Trek humor

Cracked has a humorous take on "The Coolest House in the Neighborhood, Perhaps, the Galaxy." Majel Barrett would need to provide the computer voice to truly make it the coolest house for me!

Khaan! The Greatest Syllable Ever Told (hilarious and bizarre)

Every Adult Swim Star Trek Sketch

Trek lives!

Because a couple of people may be slightly curious as to my feelings about the new Star Trek movie, I'll do a short post about it, rather than a long, point-by-point review. Basically, I was not disappointed. It was way better than The Phantom Menace (thank God!). Wouldn't Gene Roddenberry be thrilled? The film was rather stirring, at parts, and I only got truly choked up, once, right at the very, very end....I, as any Trek purist worth his or her weight in dilithium crystals should, have major issues with some of the tinkering around the with the mythology, but, oh well. Damn the torpedoes, and full speed ahead!

Trek's appeal

While not obsessing over Diedrich Rulfs this past week, I have been rewatching (for possibly the tenth time, at least) the original (my beloved!) epidsodes of Star Trek in the order they were originally aired. Just finished "Mudd's Women" tonight, and I couldn't help but notice a very 20th century stain on the floor of the Enterprise bridge this time, but that's beside the point. The next next generation (or is it next next next generation?) of Star Trek, of course, premieres next Friday. Cracked did a funny post about it a while back called "Star Trek Prequel Spoilers: 8 Piping Hot, Barely Legal Pics." Here's just a taste:

"When we look at the two right beside each other, the relief is a little starker. Although the two have similar features, Shatner looks like a goddamned animal. Even understanding the difference between photographs and the real world, I look at that and am at least a little concerned Kirk will leap out of the screen and have sex with me. If he had made eye contact with the camera when this was taken we would all be pregnant by now."

That hilariously sums up my trepidation about this "re-imagining," but I'm still hopeful though!

Some thoughts on the new Star Trek

First, some proof of my bona fides in this particular area:




Aight?

The new Star Trek has premiered, and the reviews seem to be very good (Thanks, Alex - whoever you were!). I'm trying not to read any of them beyond the first few sentences to avoid having the whole thing spoiled. Of course, over at Ain't It Cool News the reviews are predictably glowing, but I'll never be able to trust Harry Knowles and Co.'s opinion(s) ever again due to its initial, ridiculously stratospheric praise of each and every terrible Star Wars prequel. And they are just as likely to gush over something like Fast & Furious, so their judgment is highly questionable and completely unreliable.

I am still sort of excited, and definitely curious, about this movie. But as the various trailers have been slowly released over the last few months, I've increasingly cooled on it. Maybe it was when they stopped using the original theme in them. Maybe it's the fact that every time I see the guy who plays Sulu, I can only think of those idiotic Harold and Kumar movies. In fact, that particular bit of casting may have "ruined" the whole thing for me. Whatever. It's become clearer and clearer to me this Star Trek may not be intended for the die hard, old school, TOS, Trekkies such as myself. No, I think it may be for the same audience responsible for making the Fast & Furious premiere last weekend a record debut. And that's okay. The makers of this film should be trying to appeal to the widest audience possible. I suppose the bottom is line is no matter what "new Trek" is like, it'll never be able to replace the original and what it meant to me, or make me twelve-years-old again. I learned that with those retched Star Wars prequels. And besides, who wants to be twelve-years-old again?? Not me, nosirreebob.

My "City on the Edge of Forever" post.

I grock Spock

I don't know about you, but ever since 9/11, I've increasingly doubted any of the "powers that be" are really, actually doing (or are capable of doing) what it is we've all been led to believe they were doing. I guess if I had been an adult during Watergate, these feelings would have fully matured by now. Whether it's "intelligence" agencies, such as the CIA, or other governmental entities like the FTC, FDA, SEC, or FEMA, it seems like no one either knows how to do (or is willing to do) what they are being paid or appointed to do.

Whatever the case, as I watch our economy (and other things) fall apart, I've often wondered where the "grown-ups" are. Or, even better, in total sympathy with Houston Chronicle writer and frequent Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! panelist Kyrie O'Connor, I have to ask: "Where is Spock?!? Barring the return of a "Messiah" or something, I think asking Spock what to do is about the only thing we haven't yet tried. So somebody get Spock on the communicator, then have Gisele Bündchen drop by to see me. These are simple, reasonable requests.

ST: TNG made watchable and hilarious

Some guy has done these hilarious videos featuring brilliant editing of episodes from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Basically, he edits episodes down to a minute and a half or so. OMG, they're funny...

Whatever happened to John Megna?

Who the heck was John Megna, you ask? Maybe this will help.

Megna portrayed Dill (Charles Baker Harris) in the 1962 film masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. Dill is Jem and Scout Finch's summer neighbor and friend, and he represents the perspective of childhood innocence throughout Harper Lee's novel.

He would reappear on my own personal cultural radar in season one of Star Trek, in the episode "Miri," originally broadcast on October 27, 1966 (two days after I was born). Though credited as "Little Boy," many no doubt think of him best as being the "bonk bonk on the head" kid.

As Solanio in The Merchant of Venice in the mid-70s (pic source) 

Megna (might the name have been an issue?? should he have changed it?) performed some on the stage, and according to his IMDb entry, he appeared in several more minor TV and movie roles throughout the '70s and early '80s. Most significantly (in my humble onion), he portrayed the "Young Hyman Roth" in The Godfather Part II (1974).

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)  

Cannonball Run (1981) 

After "cameo" roles (putting it nicely) in both Smokey and the Bandit II and Cannonball Run, I guess John figured the acting game was up, and he became a high school English teacher, last teaching at James Monroe High School in North Hills, CA. On September 5, 1995, in Los Angeles, California, he died from AIDS-related complications (damn, you hate to see that) at the age of 42 (source).

School finally ended and summer came...and so did Dill.

High def. Trek trailer

I just don't know about this "new" Star Trek coming out in May. I really want to like it. God knows I want to like it. I want to get in to it. But the whole Star Wars prequels experience left me a bit jaded and cynical about this type of thing. Sure, it looks really slick, just like the Star Wars prequels did/do. I'd guess that Industrial Light & Magic did the effects. But it still feels weird with the younger cast and all. I think the Kirk and Spock fight looks stupid, and the "sexualizing" of Uhura is irksome. The whole thing makes me feel strangely unfaithful to the original show(!). In this new trailer, the Eric Bana/Romulan character at the end seems too much like Darth Maul in the Episode I teaser, where he says: "At last we will present ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge," or whatever it is that character said. In fact, the whole preview feels way too Star Wars prequel-ly. You heard me - prequel-ly.


That logo, that insignia
If the makers of this "re-imagining" of Star Trek only knew what happens to me every single time I've watched this preview, and that insignia and logo (the ones I spent hours and hours and hours drawing and redrawing in Big Chief pads, along with communicators, phasers, tricorders, and of course, the Enterprise, when I was roughly ages 3-12 in the early to mid-70s) appear on screen to the accompaniment of three familiar notes from the theme played on shimmering xylophone...if they only knew what happens to me (like Pavlov's dog, without the drool), they'd make damn sure the movie is worth a flip. I think Simon Pegg might actually work as an alternative to James Doohan. Notice I said "alternative." This is coming from a guy (me) who was a member of the Jimmy Doohan Fan Club when I was eleven years old. Doohan could never be replaced, nor could any of the original cast members, as far as I'm concerned. I bet that "Buckle up" line from Kirk comes at the very end of the film (notice how he's finally dressed in the original, faded-orange uniform), so as to guarantee interest in a sequel, I can't help but feel a little excited when he says it.

EBiN c. 1977
Anyway, that's my two cents. Ain't It Cool News has three high resolution versions of the preview with an added surprise (potential spoiler alert), but for this post, here is the version you've no doubt already seen, so nanoo, nanoo:

The Shat on the new Trek

William Shatner (and daughter) talks about why he won't be appearing with Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, while at the same time promoting one of his books and raising the prospects of a Captain Kirk appearance in future movies (if this new Trek franchise takes off):


Well played, sir.

Orion slave girls

Not broadcast on television in its complete form until 1988, "The Cage" was the first pilot for the original Star Trek series. Susan Oliver starred as Vina, who through alien-induced illusions, appeared in different forms in an attempt to seduce the Enterprise's captain (Christopher Pike, portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter).

Jeffrey Hunter
One of the more...alluring of the guises is that of an Orion slave girl, who are "like animals. Vicious, seductive. They say no Human male can resist them." This site has some interesting general information on the episode and the evolution of the Orion slave girl scene (including rare, on set pics), specifically.


This scene, and one or two other scenes from Star Trek, awakened something in me when I was in the single-digit age category. Or was it during a Batman episode? Either way, here it is, featuring some of the most memorable Star Trek music, as well:


The concept of a seductive, green, alien female must have stuck with Gene Roddenberry and the other Star Trek writers, because a somewhat similar character appeared in a later episode. The character, Marta, may or may not have been an Orion slave girl, but she was green:


Years later, I would be unpleasantly reminded of Vina as Orion slave girl while watching Clash of the Titans.

Star Trek teaser posters

Clockwise, from top left: Nero (Eric Bana), Uhura (Zoë Saldana), Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto

Entertainment Weekly has images of five Star Trek teaser posters that are going to be given away next week at Comic-Con. Other than some grainy photos of Zachary Quinto as Spock, I don't think I've seen any pictures of the actors in costume yet. I can believe that is Spock, but I'll have a hard time accepting that that is Kirk or Uhura. Supposedly, Eric Bana portrays a Romulan, so they will have changed quite a bit by the time Kirk is captain of the Enterprise, a few years down the Star Trek timeline:

ST: TOS era Romulan
Of course a similar, impressive evolutionary leap(?) occured within the Klingon race between ST: TOS and ST: TNG, so there you go. It's only a movie, but I'll remind you of my personal stake in all of this:

EBiN at home in the mid '70s

The many faces of Spock

Young surfer Spock: Nimoy in pilot number one, "The Cage"
In Character is a NPR series exploring famous American fictional characters. This week they focused on Mr. Spock. You can listen here.

Leonard Nimoy is interviewed, and he says:

"When [Gene Roddenberry] hired me to do the role," Nimoy says, "he gave me a very interesting dynamic to work with, in that Spock's mother was human, his father was Vulcan. He was sort of a half-breed."

And as such, he was prone to some internal conflict.

Spock unleashed: pissed off and wielding a lirpa in "Amok Time"

"Amok Time"
"I think that's one of the most interesting things about Spock," says Nimoy. "It's not what you're getting but what you don't get, what peeks out occasionally."

What peeks out — occasionally — are emotions.

One of the series' favorite gambits was to have Spock lose his mind. It was always under the influence of an urge to mate, a flower spore or a germ that eliminates defense mechanisms, as in an episode called "The Naked Time."


"The Naked Time" -- Kirk gets to slap Spock around a little
Swingin' with Spock - under the influence of flower spores in "This Side of Paradise"

"This Side of Paradise" -- even more Spock/Kirk fighting!

more of "This Side in Paradise"
Dude, where's Spock's brain(?) in "Spock's Brain"

"Spock's Brain"
Later, NPR speaks with a person named Henry Jenkins:

"We can imagine seeing hundreds of different actors play Hamlet and ideed the richness of Hamlet is seeing differences and the different interpretations of the that character," says Jenkins. "With the new movie we will for the first time see Spock as a character larger than an actor."

Evil, manipulative, Vandycked and grumpy in "Mirror, Mirror"

"Mirror, Mirror"

Star Trek XI teaser trailer

pic from Ain't It Cool News
The more I read about Star Trek (Star Trek XI), coming out next Christmas, the more I feel like it's going to disappoint (suck). Especially for original original Trek fans, as I most certainly am, I think it's going to be a cringe-inducing travesty, just as the Star Wars prequels were for Star Wars fans. I think the biggest problem with this "new" Star Trek is that, as with the Star Wars prequels, the original cast isn't in it. Leonard Nimoy will appear for an indeterminate amount of time as Spock, so that should dull some of the pain. Yet I can't help but feel a tinge of excitement seeing this excellent, true HD quality teaser trailer in which the construction of the Enterprise is shown (the transporter/alien planet surface sound at the end is a nice touch and made me choke up a little bit):


pic from this site, it shows the men of the Production Model Shop in Burbank, California, with the original model in 1964

at the Smithsonian