DVD, Stargate SG-1 S5 (The Warrior)
Not the story I was expecting about a new menace from a new kind of superior warrior - that must come later. Instead this is a dramatic tale of false hope and blind faith, with only the seemingly petty little voice of pragmatism that is O'Neill to shout into the wind of change some of the Jaffa have embraced. Their leader, K'tano, is a charismatic preacher who made me think of Martin Luther King and his famous dream speech, even if the performance was a little over the top. At least they had the numbers of extras to make it work - a smaller number and it would have looked silly. But his rapid rise and fall means a lot happens in just one episode. We go from learning that the Jaffa have a unifying leader who promises action and has big plans, to discovering what kind of leader he is, to O'Neill deciding he's not the sort of guy Earth wants to be supporting, a division between him and Teal'c, the revelation that Yu survived death at the hands of Osiris (those pesky sarcophagi!), to the unmasking of a villain in their midst, and finally a battle to the death followed by a pitiful fleeing of the great Jaffa rebellion. As well as the return of Obi Ndefo as Rak'nor, from last season. How much can you pack into one episode?
If you think about it, it's mostly contained on the planet the Jaffa have chosen to use as a base for anyone that wants to join, the landscape making the episode seem bigger than it really is with the brief excursions away from this stage incidental to the main part of the episode. And it's certainly a stage for some deep feelings to rise. Bra'tac should have known better, but, like Teal'c, his overriding desire for the dream of his people's freedom coming to fruition is enough to blind him to K'tano's irresponsible leadership. As early as we hear about the fact that any Jaffa can join without question, to the moment that is undeniably grand, when K'tano walks down in the middle of a firefight between his men and Nierte's and demands the leader choose between killing him and supporting freedom for all their kind, we can see this is an unbalanced individual. But how much are his own flaws, and how much is down to the different ways the Jaffa react to death, sacrifice and fighting to strict codes, is not clear at first.
This is the biggest cause of the simmering tensions in the episode. What O'Neill sees, because he's highly trained and has met plenty of men of command in his time, is not what Teal'c chooses to see. He thinks his eyes have been opened, everything is going the way he's always wished, and K'tano is the man who can put him back in touch with his roots, his people and their ways. You'd think he wouldn't be so quick to put O'Neill's doubts down to inability to comprehend the Jaffa way, but should know his experience is giving him direction. Sam and Daniel aren't a lot of help in this regard, though they can demonstrate human weapons are more functional than the Jaffa's staffs (a useful comparison, otherwise we might begin to ask why they use 'inferior Earth weapons' rather than alien tech), or interpret what's being said, they mainly stand in the background, watching. The conflict in this one is between O'Neill and Teal'c, who fails to see the cultish nature of his leader.
It's interesting that the story was from Christopher Judge as it puts Teal'c in an unenviable position: that of being wrong. But at least the character finds redemption before the close of the episode. For once he doesn't survive because of his own abilities but because Lord Yu sends him back with a message. I'm not sure why Yu needed to do that since the place was going to come under attack anyway, but it gets Teal'c back to the land of the living, and a staff-off with K'tano in which he proves his warrior's mettle. The action scenes were well done and there were a lot of martial arts, both visually and philosophically. I expect they had a troupe of karate experts in as extras. I'd have liked to see old Bra'tac show the youngsters a thing or two instead of just telling them where they were going wrong, but the fight between Teal'c and K'tano worked, even if it's the same old thing of using the broken weapon when you're down to come under the defence of the final rush of the enemy.
I'd say the episode wasn't exactly original, and it felt quite familiar, especially when the bad guy whispers who he really is before attempting to finish off Teal'c. Totally unnecessary, but these baddies can never deny themselves a chance to gloat - when does it not prove their undoing? I also felt it would have been difficult for K'tano to hide his true Goa'uld identity of Imhotep for long. For that matter, why didn't Carter detect it? Wood for the trees? While the episode was enjoyable, it was all rather predictable at first, and while I enjoyed the training scenes, the weapons, etc, the episode only began to mean something once the personalities began to flare up. It's worrying that someone like Teal'c could fall under the spell so easily, but really it shows how much freedom for his people means to him. The number of times we've had the fight over alien ways compared to Earth ways, you'd think he'd be more willing to listen to Jack.
I'm surprised that Imhotep was such an inept Goa'uld if he had the eloquence to move warriors like that. But once again it comes down to the question of how much it was the Jaffa reacting to hope. I was expecting this to be either a two-parter or something that would run for a while, and though I'm sure it does continue (the Jaffa rebellion has long been in the wings), it was a good twist at the end, and an affecting way to leave the episode, Teal'c distraught, people running in terror, escaping by the smallest margin. Perhaps there were religious elements shown in a negative light (O'Neill, the 'good guy' is asked whether he believes in the afterlife and reward for those that die, though he doesn't get a chance to answer), but it becomes a skewed, cult-like take on such things, eclipsing any stereotypes of true faith. I have to say that, after early reservations I quite enjoyed it, was even drawn into it thanks to the battle between the ways, much more so than the physical battles.
***
Monday, 14 May 2012
Liaisons
DVD, TNG S7 (Liaisons)
I'm not entirely sure how to take this episode. Is it a comment on some of the other episodes of the series, the ones that feature bland aliens with bland uniforms and bland personalities? Or is it serious about its pretensions to examine human (or technically, Federation), culture to the extreme? On one side of the equation is a rather dull episode with Picard trapped in Khan's crashed hulk on Ceti Alpha V with only a mystery woman for company. If you've seen episodes like 'Waltz' of 'DS9' or even 'Resolutions' of 'Voyager,' this comes across as a rather weak, ponderous plot, its only interest coming from the fact that the woman is a little odd. Will she suddenly go wild and attack the Captain or is she genuinely a dopey female that can't even phaser a piece of equipment out without destroying it? That's the extent of the 'fun' to be had with that story, and while it has the necessary atmosphere, it pales when compared to the trials Worf has to go through (or the strangeness Troi experiences) with the other ambassadors.
Trek has a tradition of painting officials as either eccentric loons or arrogant thorns-in-the-side, right back to 'TOS,' and there have been plenty of examples of such persons visiting in every series - I think of Dr. Bashir way back in Season 1, having to deal with a gaggle of irritating ambassadors, or that one where Neelix gets some important guy drunk. Not an original idea, but usually a fun one. Initially the appearance of the aliens (dull and grey), was a warning sign that this was going to be a dull and grey episode, but we learn by the end that they're dull and grey for a reason - they don't understand simple things like love (isn't it always the way?). While Troi is an expert on chocolatey forms of pleasure, and Worf takes great delight in violently sparring with his charge, Picard probably wasn't too happy when he realised who (or what) had been forcing its kisses on him! Ever the diplomat he's the one that comes out most accepting of the Iyaarans extreme method of learning (they could have just asked), but the others find common ground nicely.
So this isn't a terrible episode, but Picard's side lets it down. I'd have happily sat through eleven hours of Worf fighting his ambassador instead (the brief fight during the Poker game was quite enjoyable, seeing how much steam Worf had to let out), but as a whole the episode is a little bit dull, even if the greyness was a shroud to hide the twist in. I'm not sure if I guessed what was going on the first time round, and it would certainly be more gripping without foreknowledge, but when people go out of a room and someone else comes in you can't help but be a little bit suspicious. The minor quibbles I had in the story such as the ship not looking like it had crashed on the planet, and Picard moving Voval then telling him not to move, were solved by the end - the ship didn't have a proper crash and Voval was fine anyway so it didn't matter that Picard might have damaged his nerves by moving his head!
Seeing Picard doing that wireless transfer of power from his tricorder to the power cel made me realise we have this capability now, which is amazing really. And Eric Pierpoint has been in several episodes of Trek, right up to 'Enterprise.' Another item of note was the dress uniform and the banter between Worf and Riker that kicked the episode off. If the rest of the story had been as witty and knowing as that it would have been a superior episode, but it was fun to see some crew in the 'special occasion' uniform variation, and I don't remember ever seeing Worf don it previously, including his special sash. I'm not sure Worf's reaction to the ambassador was good news from the standpoint of his future career post-DS9, but maybe Klingon ambassadors are encouraged to be aggressive. Then again, that could be the reason his career was apparently so short-lived: there's not even a mention of it in 'Nemesis'! And just to make it clear the freighter was Terellian, not Talarian, Tellurian, Tamarian, Takarian, Talavian, Talaxian, or even Tarellian…
**
I'm not entirely sure how to take this episode. Is it a comment on some of the other episodes of the series, the ones that feature bland aliens with bland uniforms and bland personalities? Or is it serious about its pretensions to examine human (or technically, Federation), culture to the extreme? On one side of the equation is a rather dull episode with Picard trapped in Khan's crashed hulk on Ceti Alpha V with only a mystery woman for company. If you've seen episodes like 'Waltz' of 'DS9' or even 'Resolutions' of 'Voyager,' this comes across as a rather weak, ponderous plot, its only interest coming from the fact that the woman is a little odd. Will she suddenly go wild and attack the Captain or is she genuinely a dopey female that can't even phaser a piece of equipment out without destroying it? That's the extent of the 'fun' to be had with that story, and while it has the necessary atmosphere, it pales when compared to the trials Worf has to go through (or the strangeness Troi experiences) with the other ambassadors.
Trek has a tradition of painting officials as either eccentric loons or arrogant thorns-in-the-side, right back to 'TOS,' and there have been plenty of examples of such persons visiting in every series - I think of Dr. Bashir way back in Season 1, having to deal with a gaggle of irritating ambassadors, or that one where Neelix gets some important guy drunk. Not an original idea, but usually a fun one. Initially the appearance of the aliens (dull and grey), was a warning sign that this was going to be a dull and grey episode, but we learn by the end that they're dull and grey for a reason - they don't understand simple things like love (isn't it always the way?). While Troi is an expert on chocolatey forms of pleasure, and Worf takes great delight in violently sparring with his charge, Picard probably wasn't too happy when he realised who (or what) had been forcing its kisses on him! Ever the diplomat he's the one that comes out most accepting of the Iyaarans extreme method of learning (they could have just asked), but the others find common ground nicely.
So this isn't a terrible episode, but Picard's side lets it down. I'd have happily sat through eleven hours of Worf fighting his ambassador instead (the brief fight during the Poker game was quite enjoyable, seeing how much steam Worf had to let out), but as a whole the episode is a little bit dull, even if the greyness was a shroud to hide the twist in. I'm not sure if I guessed what was going on the first time round, and it would certainly be more gripping without foreknowledge, but when people go out of a room and someone else comes in you can't help but be a little bit suspicious. The minor quibbles I had in the story such as the ship not looking like it had crashed on the planet, and Picard moving Voval then telling him not to move, were solved by the end - the ship didn't have a proper crash and Voval was fine anyway so it didn't matter that Picard might have damaged his nerves by moving his head!
Seeing Picard doing that wireless transfer of power from his tricorder to the power cel made me realise we have this capability now, which is amazing really. And Eric Pierpoint has been in several episodes of Trek, right up to 'Enterprise.' Another item of note was the dress uniform and the banter between Worf and Riker that kicked the episode off. If the rest of the story had been as witty and knowing as that it would have been a superior episode, but it was fun to see some crew in the 'special occasion' uniform variation, and I don't remember ever seeing Worf don it previously, including his special sash. I'm not sure Worf's reaction to the ambassador was good news from the standpoint of his future career post-DS9, but maybe Klingon ambassadors are encouraged to be aggressive. Then again, that could be the reason his career was apparently so short-lived: there's not even a mention of it in 'Nemesis'! And just to make it clear the freighter was Terellian, not Talarian, Tellurian, Tamarian, Takarian, Talavian, Talaxian, or even Tarellian…
**
False Profits
DVD, Voyager S3 (False Profits)
Sequels that come so far after the original are a great thing in the Trek universe, helping to bind the series' together and show that all are connected by the name 'Star Trek.' Leaving aside the new film series, deliberately set apart from what came before, the previous torchbearers tried to keep the internal consistency going, even with the last 24th Century-set series, 'Voyager.' And so we come to the first, and one of the very few, Ferengi episodes. Never as good as the best 'DS9' entries in the sub-genre, this nevertheless stands up with the reasonably good ones, perhaps because it's such a rarity to see the Voyager crew dealing with familiar troublemakers of the Alpha Quadrant. We'd already had a Romulan ('Eye of The Needle'), a Klingon (Torres in 'Faces'), and a Vulcan (Tuvok's wife T'Pel in 'Persistence of Vision'), but notwithstanding Quark's appearance in the pilot episode, 'Caretaker,' this was the first Ferengi episode.
Not only did it feature the semi-lovable trolls, but it was a direct sequel to the 'TNG' story 'The Price,' itself not a particularly notable entry into canon, except for the fact that it was the first to name the Delta Quadrant, and anyone who keeps up with the unfolding history and lore of Trek would naturally associate anything to do with the Delta Quadrant (despite the immense size of a quarter of the galaxy!), as potential material for 'Voyager' to deal with. And in this case they didn't shy away from giving us what we wanted. The two Ferengi from the 'TNG' episode have set themselves up as gods on a primitive planet (not quite 'TOS' primitive, but they are pre-warp by a long way), and it's all about how Janeway deals with them.
I was actually surprised how badly the Captain comes off against the Ferengi in this encounter. She doesn't have the excuse that these are unknown quantities from the Delta Quadrant, and even Ensign Kim was 'warned about the Ferengi at the Academy,' so the way she gives ground so easily is quite a surprise. She's usually the one to stand firm and not be talked out of/into anything, but her initial intentions to chuck the offending aliens in the brig is turned around by Arridor's speech. Or maybe I'm doing her an injustice and it's really about her care for the people of Takar and how she realises they couldn't cope with the wrench of their 'gods' being plucked away from them. But it doesn't come across that way - she just scowls at the camera, seemingly beaten, and lets the Ferengi pop back down to their world. It doesn't give the people much credit, but then this is a stereotypical view of 'stupid' religious people that accept anything that comes their way, in the common, and flawed Trek tradition.
The people are shown to be pretty naive and simple folk, then turn into rabid extremists by the end, when they torch their 'Sages' to fulfil the prophetic song. There are no balanced characters to counteract this view of believers, but at least the people are shown to be quite hapless when it comes to the Ferengi culture which they've been forced to embrace. The sandal-maker is the most visible failure in this regard since although the Ferengi have been on the planet for seven years or so, he still doesn't realise he should be exploiting his family for profit. I suspect the Ferengi spent most of their time raking in the local currency rather than being true to their own culture and trying to spread money-making, injustice and the Ferengi way, across the planet. Arridor isn't even a very good Ferengi, having his own Rule of Acquisition which states he can make up any rule he wants. The Grand Nagus would have cut him down to size, had he visited.
My favourite moment is when the well-known icon of the Nagus' staff thumps into view. You could be forgiven for expecting Zek himself to step through the vault door, but instead it's Dr. Farek - sorry, Neelix dressed up as 'The Grand Proxy.' Ethan Phillips famously played the aforementioned Ferengi in a 'TNG' episode, and he probably was given the same headpiece to wear as the makeup people (and every other department), were notable for keeping hold of everything they could in case it was needed again. I just hope that was a stunt version of Zek's cane or the 'DS9' art staff would have some patching up to do! You wouldn't have expected 'Voyager' to contribute to Ferengi lore, and though I don't believe the Grand Proxy was ever heard of again, it's still fun that the Delta Quadrant series added to the Alpha Quadrant mythology when it could.
I was a bit disappointed in Neelix for giving in so easily to Arridor and Kol, though his energetic rolling around to escape the Arthurian swords used in the attack on him was a credit with all that bulky clothing on. I feel that Neelix would be more quick-witted than that, and be able to talk himself out of anything. Then again, these Ferengi seemed to have developed skills beyond what you'd expect, having tasted planet-wide adoration and godhood they probably weren't the usual cowardly variety we see. This explains weak hew-mon, Ensign Murphy's inability to keep them under control. Can we really believe a Starfleet security officer (especially when there seemed to be two of them taking the Ferengi to the brig) would be beaten by a couple of weedy Ferengi? Maybe he underestimated them, or maybe he was a former no-good Maquis member, or maybe it was a bit of both, but he couldn't have gone to the Mess Hall afterwards without getting some flack, I'm sure.
Maybe underestimation was the key. If Janeway had taken it all seriously from the start and put full effort into apprehending these villains she might have dealt with them quicker. Not that the story's badly thought out. Yes, there are some major coincidences regarding the Song of the Sages (which I was expecting to be revealed as a construct of the Ferengi) - it just happens to be about two powerful beings that fall from the sky, and then it just happens to end with a get-out clause of another Sage who comes to take them back which falls happily into line with the crew's original plan to have Neelix decoy the Ferengi off the planet, meaning triumph is created from disaster.
The signs this was to be a story about Ferengi were all there early on if you were paying attention, though I can never be sure if I'd have made the connection or not because I probably saw this before 'The Price' and may even have read about it in the magazine before it came to the UK. But the title (usually associated with Ferengi: 'Profit and Loss,' 'Prophet Motive,' 'Profit and Lace'), the wearing of ears (I so wanted them to all put on Ferengi ears over their own!), and such hints as the salesman, in one of the few scenes of clear Ferengi-isation of the society, admiring Chakotay and Paris' shoes (like Quark in 'In The Cards': "sold… to the man in the good shoes"), or the poet reciting the song for money, were all indications. I thought they missed a trick with the shoes. They should have done it like 'Mission: Impossible 4' when Ethan Hunt walks along without any shoes on, as the humour would have been more pronounced than Paris just saying he had cold feet. A funny moment I liked was Kafar's lack of surprise at the Sages' disappearance right before his eyes. Instead of shock he pops over to the settee to have a lie down! Maybe the Ferengi had occasionally used their transporter to show their power, but for me it was just such a rare opportunity for the lackey to experience some of the luxury he always saw around him.
Rob LaBelle (whom I later knew as the Dr. from Season 2 of 'Smallville') had some fun with his character, especially the relish he puts into banging the gong to summon the villagers for the burning of the Sages. I couldn't decide if he was bitter at them or just glad for the chance at getting rid of them (he certainly enjoyed a superior coming to tell them what to do and immediately rushes to serve him), but he's not shown taking advantage of the people's wealth as might be expected. Once the Sages have gone we see him giving out money to the people. I wonder if he became the new leader and what happened to the government or leading body before the Ferengi landed on the planet? One of the problems with budgeting an episode like this is that it can be difficult to get a crowd together, and this episode suffered a little when we see the same people hanging around the temple by the fires at night. I can understand that maybe they couldn't afford to heat their homes and came for the warmth, but where was the sandal-maker's family if that was the case?
There were a couple of early nitpicks that came to mind in the story: the crew get all excited that there's the signature of a replicator just like the ones in the Alpha Quadrant, but although we know most races don't have replicator technology in the area (as mentioned in the Kazon episodes), they do have beam technology and you'd expect one to come with the other (though 'TOS' didn't have them so maybe it's a big advancement from the transporter). That was just a minor quibble, but I was wondering why they should expect it to be from the Alpha Quadrant when it should be possible for the same signature to have been used elsewhere in the galaxy. I also thought the merchant noted that Chakotay and Paris were new on Takar, but checking back I realised it was new 'in' Takar. The first way wouldn't make sense since they wouldn't have expected a visit from aliens, but the second's odd too - their capital city is called the same as their planet? Do they call their system the Takar system and is it the Takar galaxy, as well? Could be to them…
I'd wager Arridor and Kol weren't very high on anyone's wish list of returning characters (if anyone even remembered them), but the delight is in plugging neatly into the former story and creating a fun episode for this series. They do stray a little too far into the 'TNG' portrayal of the race, but that may be because we don't have the wider Ferengi family to play with that 'DS9' had the luxury of. This is the second episode in a row where Tuvok cites the Prime Directive, but this time he can't help but agree with Janeway's interpretation, dancing logically around the issues as she does. It seems for the Ferengi, Starfleet will do almost anything to foil their greedy exploitations. Which makes me wonder how the series might have played out had the two Ferengi become recurring characters on the ship like the Borg children. At first they'd have been held captive, but later might have been made useful, and could have been an interesting addition to the crew.
The reset button is well pushed though, and destroys all hope of hanging around for seven years until the Barzan Wormhole returns. While it would have meant 'Voyager' lasted for ten seasons, they'd have been pretty boring. Thanks to the actions of the Ferengi both ends are flipping about like a snake with wind. It might have been fun for the pair to appear in 'DS9' having exited in the Gamma Quadrant, but that might have been pushing the character's fame too far. The story could have been an accessible way to bring Voyager home. Grab the Ferengi, chuck them in the brig and zip through the wormhole. But that side of the story, the possibility of a return, was cut right down. It makes sense after so many false hopes that they wouldn't have concentrated too much belief or hope in the wormhole, but it's almost nonexistent in the episode. At least it ends nicely with (I think), Kafar looking up and saying 'the holy sages are going home.' Neatly done, though there's also slight disappointment that the Doctor's storyline of memory loss wasn't continued from the previous episode.
A couple of faces I felt I recognised, and I'm not surprised as both the sandal-maker and the bard had played several other roles between them in other Trek's!
***
Sequels that come so far after the original are a great thing in the Trek universe, helping to bind the series' together and show that all are connected by the name 'Star Trek.' Leaving aside the new film series, deliberately set apart from what came before, the previous torchbearers tried to keep the internal consistency going, even with the last 24th Century-set series, 'Voyager.' And so we come to the first, and one of the very few, Ferengi episodes. Never as good as the best 'DS9' entries in the sub-genre, this nevertheless stands up with the reasonably good ones, perhaps because it's such a rarity to see the Voyager crew dealing with familiar troublemakers of the Alpha Quadrant. We'd already had a Romulan ('Eye of The Needle'), a Klingon (Torres in 'Faces'), and a Vulcan (Tuvok's wife T'Pel in 'Persistence of Vision'), but notwithstanding Quark's appearance in the pilot episode, 'Caretaker,' this was the first Ferengi episode.
Not only did it feature the semi-lovable trolls, but it was a direct sequel to the 'TNG' story 'The Price,' itself not a particularly notable entry into canon, except for the fact that it was the first to name the Delta Quadrant, and anyone who keeps up with the unfolding history and lore of Trek would naturally associate anything to do with the Delta Quadrant (despite the immense size of a quarter of the galaxy!), as potential material for 'Voyager' to deal with. And in this case they didn't shy away from giving us what we wanted. The two Ferengi from the 'TNG' episode have set themselves up as gods on a primitive planet (not quite 'TOS' primitive, but they are pre-warp by a long way), and it's all about how Janeway deals with them.
I was actually surprised how badly the Captain comes off against the Ferengi in this encounter. She doesn't have the excuse that these are unknown quantities from the Delta Quadrant, and even Ensign Kim was 'warned about the Ferengi at the Academy,' so the way she gives ground so easily is quite a surprise. She's usually the one to stand firm and not be talked out of/into anything, but her initial intentions to chuck the offending aliens in the brig is turned around by Arridor's speech. Or maybe I'm doing her an injustice and it's really about her care for the people of Takar and how she realises they couldn't cope with the wrench of their 'gods' being plucked away from them. But it doesn't come across that way - she just scowls at the camera, seemingly beaten, and lets the Ferengi pop back down to their world. It doesn't give the people much credit, but then this is a stereotypical view of 'stupid' religious people that accept anything that comes their way, in the common, and flawed Trek tradition.
The people are shown to be pretty naive and simple folk, then turn into rabid extremists by the end, when they torch their 'Sages' to fulfil the prophetic song. There are no balanced characters to counteract this view of believers, but at least the people are shown to be quite hapless when it comes to the Ferengi culture which they've been forced to embrace. The sandal-maker is the most visible failure in this regard since although the Ferengi have been on the planet for seven years or so, he still doesn't realise he should be exploiting his family for profit. I suspect the Ferengi spent most of their time raking in the local currency rather than being true to their own culture and trying to spread money-making, injustice and the Ferengi way, across the planet. Arridor isn't even a very good Ferengi, having his own Rule of Acquisition which states he can make up any rule he wants. The Grand Nagus would have cut him down to size, had he visited.
My favourite moment is when the well-known icon of the Nagus' staff thumps into view. You could be forgiven for expecting Zek himself to step through the vault door, but instead it's Dr. Farek - sorry, Neelix dressed up as 'The Grand Proxy.' Ethan Phillips famously played the aforementioned Ferengi in a 'TNG' episode, and he probably was given the same headpiece to wear as the makeup people (and every other department), were notable for keeping hold of everything they could in case it was needed again. I just hope that was a stunt version of Zek's cane or the 'DS9' art staff would have some patching up to do! You wouldn't have expected 'Voyager' to contribute to Ferengi lore, and though I don't believe the Grand Proxy was ever heard of again, it's still fun that the Delta Quadrant series added to the Alpha Quadrant mythology when it could.
I was a bit disappointed in Neelix for giving in so easily to Arridor and Kol, though his energetic rolling around to escape the Arthurian swords used in the attack on him was a credit with all that bulky clothing on. I feel that Neelix would be more quick-witted than that, and be able to talk himself out of anything. Then again, these Ferengi seemed to have developed skills beyond what you'd expect, having tasted planet-wide adoration and godhood they probably weren't the usual cowardly variety we see. This explains weak hew-mon, Ensign Murphy's inability to keep them under control. Can we really believe a Starfleet security officer (especially when there seemed to be two of them taking the Ferengi to the brig) would be beaten by a couple of weedy Ferengi? Maybe he underestimated them, or maybe he was a former no-good Maquis member, or maybe it was a bit of both, but he couldn't have gone to the Mess Hall afterwards without getting some flack, I'm sure.
Maybe underestimation was the key. If Janeway had taken it all seriously from the start and put full effort into apprehending these villains she might have dealt with them quicker. Not that the story's badly thought out. Yes, there are some major coincidences regarding the Song of the Sages (which I was expecting to be revealed as a construct of the Ferengi) - it just happens to be about two powerful beings that fall from the sky, and then it just happens to end with a get-out clause of another Sage who comes to take them back which falls happily into line with the crew's original plan to have Neelix decoy the Ferengi off the planet, meaning triumph is created from disaster.
The signs this was to be a story about Ferengi were all there early on if you were paying attention, though I can never be sure if I'd have made the connection or not because I probably saw this before 'The Price' and may even have read about it in the magazine before it came to the UK. But the title (usually associated with Ferengi: 'Profit and Loss,' 'Prophet Motive,' 'Profit and Lace'), the wearing of ears (I so wanted them to all put on Ferengi ears over their own!), and such hints as the salesman, in one of the few scenes of clear Ferengi-isation of the society, admiring Chakotay and Paris' shoes (like Quark in 'In The Cards': "sold… to the man in the good shoes"), or the poet reciting the song for money, were all indications. I thought they missed a trick with the shoes. They should have done it like 'Mission: Impossible 4' when Ethan Hunt walks along without any shoes on, as the humour would have been more pronounced than Paris just saying he had cold feet. A funny moment I liked was Kafar's lack of surprise at the Sages' disappearance right before his eyes. Instead of shock he pops over to the settee to have a lie down! Maybe the Ferengi had occasionally used their transporter to show their power, but for me it was just such a rare opportunity for the lackey to experience some of the luxury he always saw around him.
Rob LaBelle (whom I later knew as the Dr. from Season 2 of 'Smallville') had some fun with his character, especially the relish he puts into banging the gong to summon the villagers for the burning of the Sages. I couldn't decide if he was bitter at them or just glad for the chance at getting rid of them (he certainly enjoyed a superior coming to tell them what to do and immediately rushes to serve him), but he's not shown taking advantage of the people's wealth as might be expected. Once the Sages have gone we see him giving out money to the people. I wonder if he became the new leader and what happened to the government or leading body before the Ferengi landed on the planet? One of the problems with budgeting an episode like this is that it can be difficult to get a crowd together, and this episode suffered a little when we see the same people hanging around the temple by the fires at night. I can understand that maybe they couldn't afford to heat their homes and came for the warmth, but where was the sandal-maker's family if that was the case?
There were a couple of early nitpicks that came to mind in the story: the crew get all excited that there's the signature of a replicator just like the ones in the Alpha Quadrant, but although we know most races don't have replicator technology in the area (as mentioned in the Kazon episodes), they do have beam technology and you'd expect one to come with the other (though 'TOS' didn't have them so maybe it's a big advancement from the transporter). That was just a minor quibble, but I was wondering why they should expect it to be from the Alpha Quadrant when it should be possible for the same signature to have been used elsewhere in the galaxy. I also thought the merchant noted that Chakotay and Paris were new on Takar, but checking back I realised it was new 'in' Takar. The first way wouldn't make sense since they wouldn't have expected a visit from aliens, but the second's odd too - their capital city is called the same as their planet? Do they call their system the Takar system and is it the Takar galaxy, as well? Could be to them…
I'd wager Arridor and Kol weren't very high on anyone's wish list of returning characters (if anyone even remembered them), but the delight is in plugging neatly into the former story and creating a fun episode for this series. They do stray a little too far into the 'TNG' portrayal of the race, but that may be because we don't have the wider Ferengi family to play with that 'DS9' had the luxury of. This is the second episode in a row where Tuvok cites the Prime Directive, but this time he can't help but agree with Janeway's interpretation, dancing logically around the issues as she does. It seems for the Ferengi, Starfleet will do almost anything to foil their greedy exploitations. Which makes me wonder how the series might have played out had the two Ferengi become recurring characters on the ship like the Borg children. At first they'd have been held captive, but later might have been made useful, and could have been an interesting addition to the crew.
The reset button is well pushed though, and destroys all hope of hanging around for seven years until the Barzan Wormhole returns. While it would have meant 'Voyager' lasted for ten seasons, they'd have been pretty boring. Thanks to the actions of the Ferengi both ends are flipping about like a snake with wind. It might have been fun for the pair to appear in 'DS9' having exited in the Gamma Quadrant, but that might have been pushing the character's fame too far. The story could have been an accessible way to bring Voyager home. Grab the Ferengi, chuck them in the brig and zip through the wormhole. But that side of the story, the possibility of a return, was cut right down. It makes sense after so many false hopes that they wouldn't have concentrated too much belief or hope in the wormhole, but it's almost nonexistent in the episode. At least it ends nicely with (I think), Kafar looking up and saying 'the holy sages are going home.' Neatly done, though there's also slight disappointment that the Doctor's storyline of memory loss wasn't continued from the previous episode.
A couple of faces I felt I recognised, and I'm not surprised as both the sandal-maker and the bard had played several other roles between them in other Trek's!
***
Descent, Part II
DVD, TNG S7 (Descent, Part II)
Season 7 begins as it means to go on: a lot of stuff about family, and a nagging feeling that the series is somehow below par. It's a bit early to be judging an entire season based on one episode, especially as the track record for second-parters is uneven, but I don't know whether it was because they knew they were back for the last time (before heading into film land), or whether the creative juices had begun to run dry after six long years. This episode feels basic, and I'm not just thinking of it from a 21st Century viewer's perspective, I never warmed to it. I've stated the problems I had with the use of the Borg in the previous episode's review, and while I wasn't so bothered on these viewings, this episode really could have been about any non-biological race, and has very little need for the Borg. "But if it wasn't the Borg we wouldn't have had Hugh come back," I hear you cry. I would suggest the episode could have easily done without Hugh too for all the importance he had for the story. There isn't even a scene with him and Geordi, it's like they didn't even realise the points they needed to hit to make this episode work.
I'm not suggesting this is a terrible episode, but it really is just basic. The surroundings of the Borg compound look as good as they do in Part I, but the story is so contained, it's restrictive. The only space stuff is the B-story of Crusher in command, and while I have nothing against the Doctor doing bridge duty it doesn't make a lot of sense to me: I buy that she was left in charge when all the other officers went on the planetary search, and that makes the nervous junior officer more believable too - all the best people were off hunting for the Captain. But once the majority of the crew beamed up all we get is James Horan's Vulcan-like tactical officer as relief for the bridge. You'd think with the Captain missing and Riker planet-side there'd be a priority for an experienced bridge crew to handle the shipboard side of things. It makes it seem like the Enterprise can't function without a few key personnel and that only green junior officers are available. Who usually does the night shift or takes over when the Captain and senior staff are dealing with other things?
The story isn't well thought out. Big things like having Hugh back are summarily popped in along the way, but mostly it's people in rooms, talking. And not saying things we haven't heard before. I always loved Lore, but this is not the swan song I would have wanted for the character. It's so… anticlimactic. There's not a lot of explanation about why he wants to destroy the Federation, or even evidence as to how he could affect such a large and august conglomeration of races. I think they should have gone more into detail about his hatred of biological beings as that at least gives him a motive. His amplifying of negative emotions so Data felt angry all the time didn't make sense when you consider the feelings were like a drug to Data. So feeling bad made him feel good? There wasn't even much of an ethical dilemma about him joining his brother and so when he just suddenly returns to being the old Data again at the end, there's no feeling of something being paid off.
There's nothing like the excellently done ending to 'First Contact' where we learn Data was playing along the whole time and ultimately was only tempted for less than a second. He's just altered by the emotions and then de-altered when needed to be restored for the sake of the story. There's even the evil genius escape moment for Lore: like in all kinds of films and stories, the villain has an escape plan only to be foiled at the very end. It's basic. Picard doesn't shine as he's mostly locked in a cell, resorting to the old 'pretend to be dead' routine to lure a drone in. These Borg are pretty easy to disable - you only need pull out one tube and they keel over. It can be argued that Picard had inside knowledge of what would be the most effective means of attack, but that isn't even referenced in dialogue.
Even the two fighters of the crew, Riker and Worf, pass up the opportunity to test their strength against the Borg, even though there's only three of them. Come to think of it, the scene with Hugh and his Borg pals was a bit confusing - are these Borg renegades from Lore? Are they meeting secretly and plotting against him? If they're accepted as part of the group why don't the other Borg detect their plans, unless of course they weren't connected, but… aha! Lore can tell if anyone isn't connected. So… what was the deal with those Borg? Another matter is the absence of the Borg Queen. She hadn't been invented yet, but a lot of what's said about how Hugh's return to the collective caused this rift doesn't make sense. It seems more likely that this small branch of the Borg were the only ones affected, but it's all rather hazy.
There was potential for a different kind of B-story when Crusher is dealing with junior officers who don't get along that well, but the two characters she almost exclusively talks to, although they are a bit out of line (well, Taitt is, since she borders on insubordination to the tactical guy, and he just shrugs it off), they never get too un-Starfleet so there's not much conviction in the moment they share the success of beating the Borg ship. That makes me wonder if Lore even knew the ship had been blown up since it never gets mentioned down on the planet. Didn't the Borg need that ship? Did they have others? And if they did, why didn't they take them up to do battle with the Enterprise? It feels like so much of the story wasn't thought through. Other cliches or story problems included the fact that Geordi just happened to have been working on a metaphasic shields program that hadn't been tested or anything, but fortunately works long enough for the ship to hide in the sun's corona. That's another thing; running and hiding in a sun has been overdone (crisp!), on Trek, and this one didn't even have the advantage of looking good. Major effects overhaul's sure to come on those scenes in the new version, I'm sure!
Apart from people being stuck in a room by the villain and trying to talk the sympathetic one out of the dastardly plans, another trope is having Geordi tied to a chair/bed/whatever, and tortured, often for no reason except he does being tortured well. It didn't really get to the torture stage, but he's always the go-to man for being taken and experimented on! Amid all the mediocre plot developments there were at least some fun little moments, some unintentional (I couldn't help wondering what would happen if Spot just reached out and ate the emotion chip there at the end!), to future references, such as Geordi talking about a time Data went swimming, sank like a stone and had to walk along the bottom to find a way out - a similar scene would occur in 'Star Trek: Insurrection'! Lastly, I'm surprised Beverly was happy turning her back on James Horan. Last time the actor was on the series (last season's 'Suspicions') he played an alien that tried to kill her. But I do like Horan's face and voice - I only wish we'd found out the identity of his character in 'Enterprise.' In all, an inauspicious beginning to one of the lesser seasons of the series.
**
Season 7 begins as it means to go on: a lot of stuff about family, and a nagging feeling that the series is somehow below par. It's a bit early to be judging an entire season based on one episode, especially as the track record for second-parters is uneven, but I don't know whether it was because they knew they were back for the last time (before heading into film land), or whether the creative juices had begun to run dry after six long years. This episode feels basic, and I'm not just thinking of it from a 21st Century viewer's perspective, I never warmed to it. I've stated the problems I had with the use of the Borg in the previous episode's review, and while I wasn't so bothered on these viewings, this episode really could have been about any non-biological race, and has very little need for the Borg. "But if it wasn't the Borg we wouldn't have had Hugh come back," I hear you cry. I would suggest the episode could have easily done without Hugh too for all the importance he had for the story. There isn't even a scene with him and Geordi, it's like they didn't even realise the points they needed to hit to make this episode work.
I'm not suggesting this is a terrible episode, but it really is just basic. The surroundings of the Borg compound look as good as they do in Part I, but the story is so contained, it's restrictive. The only space stuff is the B-story of Crusher in command, and while I have nothing against the Doctor doing bridge duty it doesn't make a lot of sense to me: I buy that she was left in charge when all the other officers went on the planetary search, and that makes the nervous junior officer more believable too - all the best people were off hunting for the Captain. But once the majority of the crew beamed up all we get is James Horan's Vulcan-like tactical officer as relief for the bridge. You'd think with the Captain missing and Riker planet-side there'd be a priority for an experienced bridge crew to handle the shipboard side of things. It makes it seem like the Enterprise can't function without a few key personnel and that only green junior officers are available. Who usually does the night shift or takes over when the Captain and senior staff are dealing with other things?
The story isn't well thought out. Big things like having Hugh back are summarily popped in along the way, but mostly it's people in rooms, talking. And not saying things we haven't heard before. I always loved Lore, but this is not the swan song I would have wanted for the character. It's so… anticlimactic. There's not a lot of explanation about why he wants to destroy the Federation, or even evidence as to how he could affect such a large and august conglomeration of races. I think they should have gone more into detail about his hatred of biological beings as that at least gives him a motive. His amplifying of negative emotions so Data felt angry all the time didn't make sense when you consider the feelings were like a drug to Data. So feeling bad made him feel good? There wasn't even much of an ethical dilemma about him joining his brother and so when he just suddenly returns to being the old Data again at the end, there's no feeling of something being paid off.
There's nothing like the excellently done ending to 'First Contact' where we learn Data was playing along the whole time and ultimately was only tempted for less than a second. He's just altered by the emotions and then de-altered when needed to be restored for the sake of the story. There's even the evil genius escape moment for Lore: like in all kinds of films and stories, the villain has an escape plan only to be foiled at the very end. It's basic. Picard doesn't shine as he's mostly locked in a cell, resorting to the old 'pretend to be dead' routine to lure a drone in. These Borg are pretty easy to disable - you only need pull out one tube and they keel over. It can be argued that Picard had inside knowledge of what would be the most effective means of attack, but that isn't even referenced in dialogue.
Even the two fighters of the crew, Riker and Worf, pass up the opportunity to test their strength against the Borg, even though there's only three of them. Come to think of it, the scene with Hugh and his Borg pals was a bit confusing - are these Borg renegades from Lore? Are they meeting secretly and plotting against him? If they're accepted as part of the group why don't the other Borg detect their plans, unless of course they weren't connected, but… aha! Lore can tell if anyone isn't connected. So… what was the deal with those Borg? Another matter is the absence of the Borg Queen. She hadn't been invented yet, but a lot of what's said about how Hugh's return to the collective caused this rift doesn't make sense. It seems more likely that this small branch of the Borg were the only ones affected, but it's all rather hazy.
There was potential for a different kind of B-story when Crusher is dealing with junior officers who don't get along that well, but the two characters she almost exclusively talks to, although they are a bit out of line (well, Taitt is, since she borders on insubordination to the tactical guy, and he just shrugs it off), they never get too un-Starfleet so there's not much conviction in the moment they share the success of beating the Borg ship. That makes me wonder if Lore even knew the ship had been blown up since it never gets mentioned down on the planet. Didn't the Borg need that ship? Did they have others? And if they did, why didn't they take them up to do battle with the Enterprise? It feels like so much of the story wasn't thought through. Other cliches or story problems included the fact that Geordi just happened to have been working on a metaphasic shields program that hadn't been tested or anything, but fortunately works long enough for the ship to hide in the sun's corona. That's another thing; running and hiding in a sun has been overdone (crisp!), on Trek, and this one didn't even have the advantage of looking good. Major effects overhaul's sure to come on those scenes in the new version, I'm sure!
Apart from people being stuck in a room by the villain and trying to talk the sympathetic one out of the dastardly plans, another trope is having Geordi tied to a chair/bed/whatever, and tortured, often for no reason except he does being tortured well. It didn't really get to the torture stage, but he's always the go-to man for being taken and experimented on! Amid all the mediocre plot developments there were at least some fun little moments, some unintentional (I couldn't help wondering what would happen if Spot just reached out and ate the emotion chip there at the end!), to future references, such as Geordi talking about a time Data went swimming, sank like a stone and had to walk along the bottom to find a way out - a similar scene would occur in 'Star Trek: Insurrection'! Lastly, I'm surprised Beverly was happy turning her back on James Horan. Last time the actor was on the series (last season's 'Suspicions') he played an alien that tried to kill her. But I do like Horan's face and voice - I only wish we'd found out the identity of his character in 'Enterprise.' In all, an inauspicious beginning to one of the lesser seasons of the series.
**
The Swarm
DVD, Voyager S3 (The Swarm)
The title sets up expectations of a Borg-like alien menace. But unlike the unstoppable cybernetic villains, who had a name and a reputation, these beetle-like creatures only had a reputation and were eminently stoppable. I'm not saying they were definitely trying to draw a link to one of Trek's greatest races, but the threat of the episode did seem more in that vein than any other, unless you count the mysterious Breen, since they both talk in a machine-like buzz. But even the Breen had several seasons for their mystery to grow until we finally saw them (or did we?), whereas the Swarm Aliens only had Neelix' worried hearsay to bolster their badness rating. I like that Neelix is still providing the crew with local knowledge (if vague rumours can be that helpful!), especially in the light of what was to happen with his character and role aboard Voyager this season.
The most obscure action figure ever released by Playmates in their celebrated 90s line, must be the Swarm Alien. They appeared in only two scenes of this one episode and were never encountered again! It could be because the design was so strong (or maybe at first they were intended for a comeback?), although I felt they needed to be hidden in shadow, not fully revealed in the well-lit environs of starships. Saying that, the Borg got the same treatment, but while 'Q Who?' was an instant and undeniable classic, this is a bit messy. Not major league messy, but the two plots didn't compliment each other at all. Usually I'm all for the A and B plot threads Trek episodes generally have, but both of the concepts in this were strong enough to have taken the full running time alone, and because they fight for space, both come off second best.
Back to the aliens: good idea, great design, unique ships, mysterious, but lacking a sense of menace because we were supposed to be creeping through their backyard without them noticing, and haring across a (relatively) narrow gap in their space. That sounds exciting (ugh, I'm thinking of 'New Scotty' now!), but while it's not a dull episode, neither does it live up to the premise. I loved the moment the aliens start beaming onto Voyager's bridge and individual crew members take them out in rugby tackles, blows and phaser blasts, but just think what the episode could have been like if it had taken 'Star Trek: First Contact' as its template (a little hard, I know, since the film hadn't yet been released at that time) - the Swarm Aliens beam in and take key areas of the ship, there are patrols led by Tuvok or Chakotay, gingerly moving down darkened corridors knowing that at a moment's notice aliens could materialise and attack. A battle for Engineering. The aliens are fought off and Voyager limps over the border in time to escape.
One scene that did help to instigate the feeling of impending doom was when they rescue the sole survivor of a damaged vessel in all his white-skinned alien-looking glory. He reminded me of a similar one in the second season of 'DS9' - the episode 'Rivals' where Martus Mazur is shown a gambling device by a dying alien in his security cell with the same kind of face and straggly hair (though not white), and I wouldn't be surprised if some elements of makeup were the same as they were often cannibalising and reusing what they could (e.g: the Doc's opera program looked very similar to Sandrine's, or Janeway's Gothic holonovel). The scene ties into the Doctor's unfolding memory loss, but it made me realise how interesting that story would have been if a whole episode had been allowed to concentrate on it. At first it's comic the way he states the obvious that the man is very ill, but then when the alien's died and he hasn't realised and Kes gives him a harmless tool to play with we see her distress at his condition.
The episode could have been a commentary on memory loss, age, mental illness, and we certainly get some of that thanks to Kes' nurturing of the Doctor, having to respond to him considering her a stranger at one moment, a friend who won't tell him what's going on the next, but it doesn't go into it enough. This is actually as much a Kes episode as it is the Doctor's. She goes through a lot with him, and we see how far she's come when she manages to keep sickbay going during the Doc's inability to do his job. Even so, it made me wonder how the ship could cope if the Doctor wasn't there. We know Kes has been an able pupil, and Tom's usually there as a backup medic, but it's never really been explained how many of the crew have medical knowledge. You'd think training up as many people as possible would be a priority if their survival depended on it.
One thing that happens in the episode is a rarity, amusing, but also a fascinating other side to the Doctor - I'm not talking about seeing him with hair and massive sideburns (though that would also qualify), but the first time we get to meet an approximation of the Doctor's creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. It's a deft touch to introduce him by having him lean out from behind a console and snap at B'Elanna, instantly imprinting his character on us. He's messier and sharper, ruder and more brusque than our Doctor, but he also has that noble streak that we've seen develop in the EMH since he was accepted as more than a computer program: he gives up his matrix without ever questioning it, and although he's ranted about how programs don't have emotions, etc, you still get a sense that he might have been able to exceed his programming just as the Doc did. Which makes me wish they hadn't sacrificed him. Why not keep him as a useful utility? The Doc could have found a kindred matrix in him, perhaps met up regularly in the Holodeck to talk about their Father and their origins.
Hearing the Doctor realise he had some kind of memory of the Jupiter Station recreation was like someone having a memory of being in the womb. Previously he'd always had his activation on Voyager as his earliest memory, but it makes sense that their could be some residual familiarity from the days he was created and tested, and that any 'memories' of that time would have been wiped, but seeing the place again reactivates them. It was also fascinating to hear Zimmerman talk about being a diagnostic tool for all the holograms meaning there were more out there. Prior to this it was easy to think of Voyager, alone in the Delta Quadrant, as being the only ship to have this unique feature, but, as would be shown in 'First Contact,' the enhancements of Voyager were put into other new ships of the time, too.
There are parallels with Data, his creator Dr. Soong, and maybe even Lore, although the Doc's creator never saw him as special as evidenced by the offhand manner the diagnostic reacts to him. Although the template was the same, the two stories went off in quite different directions. These thoughtful, introspective dealings with the Doctor don't sit well within an action story. It artificially adds the tension that the Doc needs help and there's no time for the crew to deal with that, but at least it decides Kes in taking matters into her own hands to help him - even this far into the series it doesn't immediately occur to Janeway that they must safeguard the Doctor's personality as much as any 'solid' person, needing Kes to pipe up for him. This was another turning point in the Doc's development as the crew were forced to realise what it would be like if he lost the connections and learning that he's achieved. The opera singing was similarly a moment the Doctor broke from his bounds and was the kind of thing we'd become used to in later seasons, but would be difficult to conceive of in the first two (and is also wonderful when you know it was the actual actor singing!).
I can see that with Season 3 they were trying to be more action-packed and this is probably the reason the 'main' story of getting across Swarm space had to be there, but in many ways the Doctor's experiences are more compelling. Not to say there aren't good scenes - it's fun to see Tom and B'Elanna together for a change, even if Paris gets more damaged than her in the attack (for the second time in two episodes he's unconscious and ill!), but you can put that down to tough Klingon genes, I suppose, although it was really only so the Doc would have a patient to mess up on. Something that's probably not even at the forefront of our minds as we watch this, is Robert Picardo appearing twice in the same scene. By now they'd got it down to an art and it looks even more natural than, say, the two Janeway's of 'Deadlock' in Season 2.
There are several other episodes that are referenced or come to mind in this one, most obviously 'Elogium' as not only does the Doc mention rubbing Kes' feet, which was from that, but the swarm of ships were reminiscent of the space slugs that attached to Voyager's hull. The first ever scene where we see the Doc was also mentioned, and another episode that came to my mind was 'Projections': seeing Zimmerman in sickbay I realised that that location could be the scene of realities within realities because it has holoprojectors, but I don't remember them ever doing anything with that capability in sickbay, which was why it was so strange to see another hologram in there.
The ending was a great way to go out, giving us hope that the Doctor as we know him is not gone forever as Kes and Torres at first fear. It reminded me of B4 in 'Star Trek Nemesis', who starts humming a song Data sang, and both have a nice way to go out on, but the downside was that I don't think they ever addressed it again so we're left to assume the Doc returned to normal over the next few days. The same was done to Uhura in 'TOS' episode 'The Changeling' - she loses her memory and has to relearn everything, but we never see or hear about the experience: a sad fact of episodic TV is that in general they don't tie into other episodes much or deal with the consequences (one of the great things about 'DS9'). With two stories pretty much fighting against each other in tone and content, the episode remains merely a good one, and though notable for Zimmerman, and featuring Kes' caring nature at the forefront, it felt like it needed to be setting things up and so feels unfinished when viewed with hindsight: the Swarm Aliens were not to be the series' recurring replacement of the Kazon. But in spirit they were, making way for a creepily similar, and better known race…
***
The title sets up expectations of a Borg-like alien menace. But unlike the unstoppable cybernetic villains, who had a name and a reputation, these beetle-like creatures only had a reputation and were eminently stoppable. I'm not saying they were definitely trying to draw a link to one of Trek's greatest races, but the threat of the episode did seem more in that vein than any other, unless you count the mysterious Breen, since they both talk in a machine-like buzz. But even the Breen had several seasons for their mystery to grow until we finally saw them (or did we?), whereas the Swarm Aliens only had Neelix' worried hearsay to bolster their badness rating. I like that Neelix is still providing the crew with local knowledge (if vague rumours can be that helpful!), especially in the light of what was to happen with his character and role aboard Voyager this season.
The most obscure action figure ever released by Playmates in their celebrated 90s line, must be the Swarm Alien. They appeared in only two scenes of this one episode and were never encountered again! It could be because the design was so strong (or maybe at first they were intended for a comeback?), although I felt they needed to be hidden in shadow, not fully revealed in the well-lit environs of starships. Saying that, the Borg got the same treatment, but while 'Q Who?' was an instant and undeniable classic, this is a bit messy. Not major league messy, but the two plots didn't compliment each other at all. Usually I'm all for the A and B plot threads Trek episodes generally have, but both of the concepts in this were strong enough to have taken the full running time alone, and because they fight for space, both come off second best.
Back to the aliens: good idea, great design, unique ships, mysterious, but lacking a sense of menace because we were supposed to be creeping through their backyard without them noticing, and haring across a (relatively) narrow gap in their space. That sounds exciting (ugh, I'm thinking of 'New Scotty' now!), but while it's not a dull episode, neither does it live up to the premise. I loved the moment the aliens start beaming onto Voyager's bridge and individual crew members take them out in rugby tackles, blows and phaser blasts, but just think what the episode could have been like if it had taken 'Star Trek: First Contact' as its template (a little hard, I know, since the film hadn't yet been released at that time) - the Swarm Aliens beam in and take key areas of the ship, there are patrols led by Tuvok or Chakotay, gingerly moving down darkened corridors knowing that at a moment's notice aliens could materialise and attack. A battle for Engineering. The aliens are fought off and Voyager limps over the border in time to escape.
One scene that did help to instigate the feeling of impending doom was when they rescue the sole survivor of a damaged vessel in all his white-skinned alien-looking glory. He reminded me of a similar one in the second season of 'DS9' - the episode 'Rivals' where Martus Mazur is shown a gambling device by a dying alien in his security cell with the same kind of face and straggly hair (though not white), and I wouldn't be surprised if some elements of makeup were the same as they were often cannibalising and reusing what they could (e.g: the Doc's opera program looked very similar to Sandrine's, or Janeway's Gothic holonovel). The scene ties into the Doctor's unfolding memory loss, but it made me realise how interesting that story would have been if a whole episode had been allowed to concentrate on it. At first it's comic the way he states the obvious that the man is very ill, but then when the alien's died and he hasn't realised and Kes gives him a harmless tool to play with we see her distress at his condition.
The episode could have been a commentary on memory loss, age, mental illness, and we certainly get some of that thanks to Kes' nurturing of the Doctor, having to respond to him considering her a stranger at one moment, a friend who won't tell him what's going on the next, but it doesn't go into it enough. This is actually as much a Kes episode as it is the Doctor's. She goes through a lot with him, and we see how far she's come when she manages to keep sickbay going during the Doc's inability to do his job. Even so, it made me wonder how the ship could cope if the Doctor wasn't there. We know Kes has been an able pupil, and Tom's usually there as a backup medic, but it's never really been explained how many of the crew have medical knowledge. You'd think training up as many people as possible would be a priority if their survival depended on it.
One thing that happens in the episode is a rarity, amusing, but also a fascinating other side to the Doctor - I'm not talking about seeing him with hair and massive sideburns (though that would also qualify), but the first time we get to meet an approximation of the Doctor's creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. It's a deft touch to introduce him by having him lean out from behind a console and snap at B'Elanna, instantly imprinting his character on us. He's messier and sharper, ruder and more brusque than our Doctor, but he also has that noble streak that we've seen develop in the EMH since he was accepted as more than a computer program: he gives up his matrix without ever questioning it, and although he's ranted about how programs don't have emotions, etc, you still get a sense that he might have been able to exceed his programming just as the Doc did. Which makes me wish they hadn't sacrificed him. Why not keep him as a useful utility? The Doc could have found a kindred matrix in him, perhaps met up regularly in the Holodeck to talk about their Father and their origins.
Hearing the Doctor realise he had some kind of memory of the Jupiter Station recreation was like someone having a memory of being in the womb. Previously he'd always had his activation on Voyager as his earliest memory, but it makes sense that their could be some residual familiarity from the days he was created and tested, and that any 'memories' of that time would have been wiped, but seeing the place again reactivates them. It was also fascinating to hear Zimmerman talk about being a diagnostic tool for all the holograms meaning there were more out there. Prior to this it was easy to think of Voyager, alone in the Delta Quadrant, as being the only ship to have this unique feature, but, as would be shown in 'First Contact,' the enhancements of Voyager were put into other new ships of the time, too.
There are parallels with Data, his creator Dr. Soong, and maybe even Lore, although the Doc's creator never saw him as special as evidenced by the offhand manner the diagnostic reacts to him. Although the template was the same, the two stories went off in quite different directions. These thoughtful, introspective dealings with the Doctor don't sit well within an action story. It artificially adds the tension that the Doc needs help and there's no time for the crew to deal with that, but at least it decides Kes in taking matters into her own hands to help him - even this far into the series it doesn't immediately occur to Janeway that they must safeguard the Doctor's personality as much as any 'solid' person, needing Kes to pipe up for him. This was another turning point in the Doc's development as the crew were forced to realise what it would be like if he lost the connections and learning that he's achieved. The opera singing was similarly a moment the Doctor broke from his bounds and was the kind of thing we'd become used to in later seasons, but would be difficult to conceive of in the first two (and is also wonderful when you know it was the actual actor singing!).
I can see that with Season 3 they were trying to be more action-packed and this is probably the reason the 'main' story of getting across Swarm space had to be there, but in many ways the Doctor's experiences are more compelling. Not to say there aren't good scenes - it's fun to see Tom and B'Elanna together for a change, even if Paris gets more damaged than her in the attack (for the second time in two episodes he's unconscious and ill!), but you can put that down to tough Klingon genes, I suppose, although it was really only so the Doc would have a patient to mess up on. Something that's probably not even at the forefront of our minds as we watch this, is Robert Picardo appearing twice in the same scene. By now they'd got it down to an art and it looks even more natural than, say, the two Janeway's of 'Deadlock' in Season 2.
There are several other episodes that are referenced or come to mind in this one, most obviously 'Elogium' as not only does the Doc mention rubbing Kes' feet, which was from that, but the swarm of ships were reminiscent of the space slugs that attached to Voyager's hull. The first ever scene where we see the Doc was also mentioned, and another episode that came to my mind was 'Projections': seeing Zimmerman in sickbay I realised that that location could be the scene of realities within realities because it has holoprojectors, but I don't remember them ever doing anything with that capability in sickbay, which was why it was so strange to see another hologram in there.
The ending was a great way to go out, giving us hope that the Doctor as we know him is not gone forever as Kes and Torres at first fear. It reminded me of B4 in 'Star Trek Nemesis', who starts humming a song Data sang, and both have a nice way to go out on, but the downside was that I don't think they ever addressed it again so we're left to assume the Doc returned to normal over the next few days. The same was done to Uhura in 'TOS' episode 'The Changeling' - she loses her memory and has to relearn everything, but we never see or hear about the experience: a sad fact of episodic TV is that in general they don't tie into other episodes much or deal with the consequences (one of the great things about 'DS9'). With two stories pretty much fighting against each other in tone and content, the episode remains merely a good one, and though notable for Zimmerman, and featuring Kes' caring nature at the forefront, it felt like it needed to be setting things up and so feels unfinished when viewed with hindsight: the Swarm Aliens were not to be the series' recurring replacement of the Kazon. But in spirit they were, making way for a creepily similar, and better known race…
***
Spiderman
DVD, Spiderman (2002), film
Some films let you down. You love them, you buy them, you keep them. You watch them. And somehow they aren't as good as when you last watched them. But sometimes a film can live up to itself on repeated viewings and this was rammed home when I watched this film recently. I sat down to watch it having seen it a good few times, and I didn't expect to be as engaged, excited and thrilled as I was, and that's a testament to how good this film is. It reconfirmed itself as my favourite superhero film, and most importantly it brought back the feelings I had when I first saw this at the cinema almost exactly ten years ago - it made me want more. Back then this was the film that revitalised the genre, earning a wad of cash and being a bona fide intelligent blockbuster that was more about the characters than the bangs and crashes (though it has plenty of them as well).
Back in the day I was left to speculate on the stories to come; what villains might be used; how Harry would find out Spiderman's true identity; and whether Mary Jane had really guessed the hero's face as hinted at in the final scene. Though it is the final scene I must comment on it right now as being the summing up of what makes this film for me: the story is all about an everyman who suddenly finds himself coping with amazing new abilities, but it's just as much about a superhuman dealing with bereavement, the battles within, and his own desires. It doesn't end as expected with the hero, having done battle and succeeded, claiming his prize of the girl and happily waltzing off into the sunset. Instead he walks towards camera, leaves blowing desolately across his path, away from sunsets, and away from what he wants for his life because he has learned to accept the responsibility and duty his life seems cut out for. Winning out against evil isn't the straightforward satisfaction it can be in more simplistic films - because of who the villain is, Peter is horrified with the turn of events, and though he wasn't responsible for the death of the Green Goblin, he regrets what happened. He is a true hero.
I love the style used, which is to begin and end the film with Peter talking to the audience as if he's telling a story and now he's ready for the rest of his life, whatever that may bring. It leaves the film feeling complete, and yet sets up the sequel(s) to come, and I only wish they had lived up to this one. 'Spiderman 2,' though some see it as the best of the three, suffers from repeating many of the best things about this film, and the villain isn't quite as engaging as Willem Defoe's perfect portrayal of the Green Goblin. It's good, but it most definitely is more of the same. 'Spiderman 3' was the film that sank the franchise and is the reason for the unnecessary reboot happening this year. A fourth film might have returned to the roots of what made the first two films work, but at least number 3 used the same actors, even if it was a plodding, sluggish action film that was all surface and no depth, bogged down in continuity and over-indulgence in baddies, without remembering to add dimensionality to them.
But enough about what went wrong in the future - that wasn't this film's fault. I love that so much is set up to be played out, even down to the mention of Dr. Connors firing him, though I was disappointed we never got to see the man turn into the Lizard in a future film. What this film has in abundance are little references and subtle moments that keep almost every scene enjoyable and vibrant. The setup for the big entrance of the title character is funny - we've seen Peter designing the suit and all he's actually come up with is a red top with a spider stenciled on, balaclava (which somehow brings out the maximum amount of emotion and naivety in Peter's eyes thanks to the great performance of Tobey Maguire), and blue trousers. Then he's too busy arguing about how the announcer got his name wrong to make the most of his big intro. It's one of the scenes that endears Parker to us - he's not an adult like Batman, Superman and others, he's an inexperienced teenager, but through doing right he manages to wend his way to hero status.
There are things I don't like about the film, but they are few: the CGI holds up well, with only small moments such as his run across rooftops that sometimes don't look like human movements. There's also the strange choice to have the board members disintegrate to skeletons which then crumble after Goblin throws a pumpkin grenade. Maybe they were trying to keep the rating down, but still have a shocking moment so we can see the people destroyed, but it looks very cartoonish. This was actually the first ever film to carry a 12A certificate, presumably allowing them to have a more brutal finale. And it did (and still does, to an extent), have a brutal fight at the end. It's mainly sold through sound with the crunches of fist on face, the smash of body into brickwork, and the anguish of being beaten to a pulp. So-called family films like this get away with a lot of that kind of stuff these days, and with the 12A rating it basically turns the film into a PG in terms of who can see it. I don't mind the violence, and actually it's not gory, just brutally harsh, but it's interesting to see the changes over the years as films try to top the experience of the last to make us wince.
Although there is a final battle, fighting is not what the film's all about. The story may not be incredibly original, even with the subtle twists and choices made in the writing, but it is the characterisation that sells everything so well. It's fascinating that the TV series 'Smallville' and this were made about the same time, because there are a lot of similarities between the two (not least that 'Smallville' creators Miles Millar and Al Gough went on to script 'Spiderman 2'), and they both hit the zeitgeist at around the same point in time. They portray families in similar ways, with the hero adopted by an older couple (okay, the Kents aren't the same age, but they do tend to be a bit more old-fashioned because of their rural life), the Father figure passes on wise advice, ultimately dying, while the villain (or villain to be), sees the attention his friend gets and the happy family life and experiences a bit of jealousy because he's overlooked by his businessman Father who has little time for him, raising him alone with no Mother. They're both also set in the contemporary world and are about the young hero coming to terms with powers he's just discovered. If 'Smallville' had been a film, it would have been 'Spiderman'.
The other side of the film I'm not overly keen on is the face-mashing romantic side, although this is kept to a minimum, and though Peter's gushing sentiments aren't kept in check, he says things in such an honest, simple way that you believe in him and that he believes what he's saying, however awkward he feels. He gains new freedom by wearing a mask, and the fluidity of the character is expertly woven into the visuals: when he's saving MJ, he floats along, gently swinging round buildings, but when he's first motivated to try his powers to the max, thanks to rage at the carjacker who shot Uncle Ben, he haphazardly flings himself from place to place, wildly careering through the streets, almost out of control. Motivation plays a strong part in the film, and because Uncle Ben is shown to be such a likeable guy we feel Peter's pain at the loss. Setting up the family of Peter, Ben and Aunt May is very well done, helping the appeal of the story to reach a broader audience than just teenagers and children. With older characters to appeal to different age groups there's a more rounded experience to be had than in many superhero films.
The third film may have stomped al over the scene of Peter's greatest motivation; Ben's death, but you don't even think about that when watching this film. Like Bruce Wayne, Peter has tragedy to strike home and steer him on course, but unlike Wayne, who lives in a brooding city, Peter's environment is shown to be bright and sunny, and he fully enjoys the exhilaration of his abilities, as you would if you suddenly found you could swing from building to building, leap great distances and sense trouble before it happens. I know some complained at the lack of compliance with the comic, and that Peter should have been seen to invent the web fluid and shooter rather than it being a natural extrapolation of his condition, (I have more trouble accepting his being able to manufacture the Spiderman costume), but I didn't mind that at all, and indeed, it gives us one of the funniest (and coolest), scenes in the film, when he leaves the school canteen, the offending tray flapping along behind, leading to a fight with Flash, the school bully. It falls somewhere between the full visuals of 'The Matrix' where we see each punch, and later films such as Bourne, Bond and Batman, which tend to emphasise being in the action rather than seeing it, to present a happy medium.
I remember seeing the moment Peter senses everything happening in the hallway, and the camera spins round and about, past a fly beating it's wings or someone spitting through a straw, and it was very impressive. But it was done in a style that means it's aged well and still looks good today. That goes for most of the effects, whether it's the Goblin speeding around on his glider, or Spiderman's scurrying up walls: they work well enough and more importantly it's the emotion of the moment that comes across so well. There's a grand sense of scale too, with shots such as the Goblin appearing with an ominous trail of black smoke behind him at the World Unity Fair, the public at first applauding, thinking it part of the show. I have to admit the villain fell into the pitfall of most of his brethren in thinking he could turn Spiderman to his side and use him as a partner, but then the Goblin wasn't terribly sane. It's ironic that he actually saves Spiderman's life, after gassing him - if he'd let him fall he'd have had no further problems!
Another unlikely person to save Spiderman/Parker's life is the Editor of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson (who also spouts some of the best lines of the picture: "I trust my barber!"), in a tour-de-force that I can't imagine ever being bettered. Just as Willem Defoe was born to play Norman Osborn, Jameson was played to perfection. If you think a little harder about his motivation for not giving up Peter, pretending he doesn't know where the Spiderman photos came from when Goblin threatens to kill him, you can probably come to the conclusion that he did it out of stubbornness, and greed that he was desperate for more of those pictures (despite feigning disinterest in them), but even so, he displays remarkable quick-thinking and bravery in standing up to such a powerful opposing force. It's one of those subtleties that can give you latitude to think, proving once again why the film works on so many levels.
Pretty much all the minor characters are as well played and worthwhile additions to the story as the main cast. Aunt May was exceptionally well cast, going through a roller-coaster, from grief at her husband's death, to pride in Peter's achievements, gentle chiding at his inability to tell MJ what he really thinks of her, and terror when she's mercilessly kidnapped by Goblin. It all sets up things really well for scenes such as the Thanksgiving dinner ("I picked up a fruitcake"). We care just as much about the villain because of his quandary and his desire for things to go right, until he chooses the dark path. Even the minor character of Dr. Stromm who opposes Osborn's formula because it's the right thing to do, helps the man later, against his better judgement, guilty at helping to destroy Osborn's dreams, then horror-stricken when he thinks Norman's dead. I didn't entirely buy that Quest Aerospace was able to buy out Oscorp because of the death of it's management, but you sense the guy with the teacup (the one who looks a bit like Stan Lee!), had more to do with it than meets the eye.
Harry, too, does some bad things, stealing Peter's girl (kind of), but also sees Peter as his best friend. His character is very enjoyable to watch, especially when he loses his temper after his Father has destroyed the happy dinner, but still defends him in his anger, against MJ's accusation. He shows himself to be the shallow rich boy he doesn't want to be seen as, trying to win favour by offering to buy her things after she's become enamoured with Spiderman. MJ herself works really well, though she's not quite the fiery character of the comics (or cartoon series that I used to watch), she certainly fights back against the thugs who attack her, but shows vulnerability when she doesn't want Peter to see how badly her dream is going. Their friendship grows believably and is a pleasure to watch, as are all the interactions between the various characters. I think there was one moment in the second half when things felt like they needed to get moving, but I soon forgot it as rarely a scene went by when there wasn't a witty line, a deep connection or a little in-joke to enjoy. It really is a pleasure from start to finish.
The look of the film is one thing, and keeps the scale large when it needs to be, or more intimate, such as the tiny house of the Parkers, but sound plays an important role too: the music of Danny Elfman was, for the most part, perfectly suited. The only part that didn't work as well for me was that the opening credit's music was a bit 'generic action hero,' not giving the film a strong enough identity in its theme. This was resolved by the end with a superb, heroic, epic score that brings to life the hero's struggle and decision, which, now that I think about it, makes perfect sense: Peter didn't have the identity at first, until he gains it through the film, so although that may not have been the aim, it suits the film down to the red stocking boots! The 'Hero' song of the closing credits, written for the film, was a good way to go out, summing up the theme of the story.
Other things that worked well were the coming together of the city, the people throwing things at Goblin to try and assist Spidey, though I'd have thought they were just as likely to hit their hero or the cable car of children (and the sequel cleverly played against this same kind of scene). It may have been put in as a response to the terrorist attacks that destroyed the Twin towers a few months before the film came out (I believe there was a whole sequence set around the towers, or at least, with Spiderman climbing up them, which was cut out in respect), but it's a nice moment of solidarity where good people stand up to be counted. I also like that the film neatly trims the time Parker takes to become a well-known hero with the montage that is as fun as it is functional in moving the character forward. The best thing about the film is that it has so many moments of joy, and so it remains enjoyable throughout. The hero and villain are strong, the Goblin's mask is almost irrelevant thanks to Defoe's chilling performance in scenes without it, such as the incredible mirror conversation. That also shows that the masks are really only there to separate the hero and villain from the general public, and of course we are let in on their secret world. It also adds tension as the identities are revealed to each other.
The integrity of the film, the important morals the characters display: to duty, putting others first, deferring your own desires, taking responsibility - these are all powerful themes that are well handled. Everything is knitted together neatly and impressively, and apart from going through and pointing out the many great moments, all I can do is urge you to watch it again and rediscover something special.
****
Some films let you down. You love them, you buy them, you keep them. You watch them. And somehow they aren't as good as when you last watched them. But sometimes a film can live up to itself on repeated viewings and this was rammed home when I watched this film recently. I sat down to watch it having seen it a good few times, and I didn't expect to be as engaged, excited and thrilled as I was, and that's a testament to how good this film is. It reconfirmed itself as my favourite superhero film, and most importantly it brought back the feelings I had when I first saw this at the cinema almost exactly ten years ago - it made me want more. Back then this was the film that revitalised the genre, earning a wad of cash and being a bona fide intelligent blockbuster that was more about the characters than the bangs and crashes (though it has plenty of them as well).
Back in the day I was left to speculate on the stories to come; what villains might be used; how Harry would find out Spiderman's true identity; and whether Mary Jane had really guessed the hero's face as hinted at in the final scene. Though it is the final scene I must comment on it right now as being the summing up of what makes this film for me: the story is all about an everyman who suddenly finds himself coping with amazing new abilities, but it's just as much about a superhuman dealing with bereavement, the battles within, and his own desires. It doesn't end as expected with the hero, having done battle and succeeded, claiming his prize of the girl and happily waltzing off into the sunset. Instead he walks towards camera, leaves blowing desolately across his path, away from sunsets, and away from what he wants for his life because he has learned to accept the responsibility and duty his life seems cut out for. Winning out against evil isn't the straightforward satisfaction it can be in more simplistic films - because of who the villain is, Peter is horrified with the turn of events, and though he wasn't responsible for the death of the Green Goblin, he regrets what happened. He is a true hero.
I love the style used, which is to begin and end the film with Peter talking to the audience as if he's telling a story and now he's ready for the rest of his life, whatever that may bring. It leaves the film feeling complete, and yet sets up the sequel(s) to come, and I only wish they had lived up to this one. 'Spiderman 2,' though some see it as the best of the three, suffers from repeating many of the best things about this film, and the villain isn't quite as engaging as Willem Defoe's perfect portrayal of the Green Goblin. It's good, but it most definitely is more of the same. 'Spiderman 3' was the film that sank the franchise and is the reason for the unnecessary reboot happening this year. A fourth film might have returned to the roots of what made the first two films work, but at least number 3 used the same actors, even if it was a plodding, sluggish action film that was all surface and no depth, bogged down in continuity and over-indulgence in baddies, without remembering to add dimensionality to them.
But enough about what went wrong in the future - that wasn't this film's fault. I love that so much is set up to be played out, even down to the mention of Dr. Connors firing him, though I was disappointed we never got to see the man turn into the Lizard in a future film. What this film has in abundance are little references and subtle moments that keep almost every scene enjoyable and vibrant. The setup for the big entrance of the title character is funny - we've seen Peter designing the suit and all he's actually come up with is a red top with a spider stenciled on, balaclava (which somehow brings out the maximum amount of emotion and naivety in Peter's eyes thanks to the great performance of Tobey Maguire), and blue trousers. Then he's too busy arguing about how the announcer got his name wrong to make the most of his big intro. It's one of the scenes that endears Parker to us - he's not an adult like Batman, Superman and others, he's an inexperienced teenager, but through doing right he manages to wend his way to hero status.
There are things I don't like about the film, but they are few: the CGI holds up well, with only small moments such as his run across rooftops that sometimes don't look like human movements. There's also the strange choice to have the board members disintegrate to skeletons which then crumble after Goblin throws a pumpkin grenade. Maybe they were trying to keep the rating down, but still have a shocking moment so we can see the people destroyed, but it looks very cartoonish. This was actually the first ever film to carry a 12A certificate, presumably allowing them to have a more brutal finale. And it did (and still does, to an extent), have a brutal fight at the end. It's mainly sold through sound with the crunches of fist on face, the smash of body into brickwork, and the anguish of being beaten to a pulp. So-called family films like this get away with a lot of that kind of stuff these days, and with the 12A rating it basically turns the film into a PG in terms of who can see it. I don't mind the violence, and actually it's not gory, just brutally harsh, but it's interesting to see the changes over the years as films try to top the experience of the last to make us wince.
Although there is a final battle, fighting is not what the film's all about. The story may not be incredibly original, even with the subtle twists and choices made in the writing, but it is the characterisation that sells everything so well. It's fascinating that the TV series 'Smallville' and this were made about the same time, because there are a lot of similarities between the two (not least that 'Smallville' creators Miles Millar and Al Gough went on to script 'Spiderman 2'), and they both hit the zeitgeist at around the same point in time. They portray families in similar ways, with the hero adopted by an older couple (okay, the Kents aren't the same age, but they do tend to be a bit more old-fashioned because of their rural life), the Father figure passes on wise advice, ultimately dying, while the villain (or villain to be), sees the attention his friend gets and the happy family life and experiences a bit of jealousy because he's overlooked by his businessman Father who has little time for him, raising him alone with no Mother. They're both also set in the contemporary world and are about the young hero coming to terms with powers he's just discovered. If 'Smallville' had been a film, it would have been 'Spiderman'.
The other side of the film I'm not overly keen on is the face-mashing romantic side, although this is kept to a minimum, and though Peter's gushing sentiments aren't kept in check, he says things in such an honest, simple way that you believe in him and that he believes what he's saying, however awkward he feels. He gains new freedom by wearing a mask, and the fluidity of the character is expertly woven into the visuals: when he's saving MJ, he floats along, gently swinging round buildings, but when he's first motivated to try his powers to the max, thanks to rage at the carjacker who shot Uncle Ben, he haphazardly flings himself from place to place, wildly careering through the streets, almost out of control. Motivation plays a strong part in the film, and because Uncle Ben is shown to be such a likeable guy we feel Peter's pain at the loss. Setting up the family of Peter, Ben and Aunt May is very well done, helping the appeal of the story to reach a broader audience than just teenagers and children. With older characters to appeal to different age groups there's a more rounded experience to be had than in many superhero films.
The third film may have stomped al over the scene of Peter's greatest motivation; Ben's death, but you don't even think about that when watching this film. Like Bruce Wayne, Peter has tragedy to strike home and steer him on course, but unlike Wayne, who lives in a brooding city, Peter's environment is shown to be bright and sunny, and he fully enjoys the exhilaration of his abilities, as you would if you suddenly found you could swing from building to building, leap great distances and sense trouble before it happens. I know some complained at the lack of compliance with the comic, and that Peter should have been seen to invent the web fluid and shooter rather than it being a natural extrapolation of his condition, (I have more trouble accepting his being able to manufacture the Spiderman costume), but I didn't mind that at all, and indeed, it gives us one of the funniest (and coolest), scenes in the film, when he leaves the school canteen, the offending tray flapping along behind, leading to a fight with Flash, the school bully. It falls somewhere between the full visuals of 'The Matrix' where we see each punch, and later films such as Bourne, Bond and Batman, which tend to emphasise being in the action rather than seeing it, to present a happy medium.
I remember seeing the moment Peter senses everything happening in the hallway, and the camera spins round and about, past a fly beating it's wings or someone spitting through a straw, and it was very impressive. But it was done in a style that means it's aged well and still looks good today. That goes for most of the effects, whether it's the Goblin speeding around on his glider, or Spiderman's scurrying up walls: they work well enough and more importantly it's the emotion of the moment that comes across so well. There's a grand sense of scale too, with shots such as the Goblin appearing with an ominous trail of black smoke behind him at the World Unity Fair, the public at first applauding, thinking it part of the show. I have to admit the villain fell into the pitfall of most of his brethren in thinking he could turn Spiderman to his side and use him as a partner, but then the Goblin wasn't terribly sane. It's ironic that he actually saves Spiderman's life, after gassing him - if he'd let him fall he'd have had no further problems!
Another unlikely person to save Spiderman/Parker's life is the Editor of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson (who also spouts some of the best lines of the picture: "I trust my barber!"), in a tour-de-force that I can't imagine ever being bettered. Just as Willem Defoe was born to play Norman Osborn, Jameson was played to perfection. If you think a little harder about his motivation for not giving up Peter, pretending he doesn't know where the Spiderman photos came from when Goblin threatens to kill him, you can probably come to the conclusion that he did it out of stubbornness, and greed that he was desperate for more of those pictures (despite feigning disinterest in them), but even so, he displays remarkable quick-thinking and bravery in standing up to such a powerful opposing force. It's one of those subtleties that can give you latitude to think, proving once again why the film works on so many levels.
Pretty much all the minor characters are as well played and worthwhile additions to the story as the main cast. Aunt May was exceptionally well cast, going through a roller-coaster, from grief at her husband's death, to pride in Peter's achievements, gentle chiding at his inability to tell MJ what he really thinks of her, and terror when she's mercilessly kidnapped by Goblin. It all sets up things really well for scenes such as the Thanksgiving dinner ("I picked up a fruitcake"). We care just as much about the villain because of his quandary and his desire for things to go right, until he chooses the dark path. Even the minor character of Dr. Stromm who opposes Osborn's formula because it's the right thing to do, helps the man later, against his better judgement, guilty at helping to destroy Osborn's dreams, then horror-stricken when he thinks Norman's dead. I didn't entirely buy that Quest Aerospace was able to buy out Oscorp because of the death of it's management, but you sense the guy with the teacup (the one who looks a bit like Stan Lee!), had more to do with it than meets the eye.
Harry, too, does some bad things, stealing Peter's girl (kind of), but also sees Peter as his best friend. His character is very enjoyable to watch, especially when he loses his temper after his Father has destroyed the happy dinner, but still defends him in his anger, against MJ's accusation. He shows himself to be the shallow rich boy he doesn't want to be seen as, trying to win favour by offering to buy her things after she's become enamoured with Spiderman. MJ herself works really well, though she's not quite the fiery character of the comics (or cartoon series that I used to watch), she certainly fights back against the thugs who attack her, but shows vulnerability when she doesn't want Peter to see how badly her dream is going. Their friendship grows believably and is a pleasure to watch, as are all the interactions between the various characters. I think there was one moment in the second half when things felt like they needed to get moving, but I soon forgot it as rarely a scene went by when there wasn't a witty line, a deep connection or a little in-joke to enjoy. It really is a pleasure from start to finish.
The look of the film is one thing, and keeps the scale large when it needs to be, or more intimate, such as the tiny house of the Parkers, but sound plays an important role too: the music of Danny Elfman was, for the most part, perfectly suited. The only part that didn't work as well for me was that the opening credit's music was a bit 'generic action hero,' not giving the film a strong enough identity in its theme. This was resolved by the end with a superb, heroic, epic score that brings to life the hero's struggle and decision, which, now that I think about it, makes perfect sense: Peter didn't have the identity at first, until he gains it through the film, so although that may not have been the aim, it suits the film down to the red stocking boots! The 'Hero' song of the closing credits, written for the film, was a good way to go out, summing up the theme of the story.
Other things that worked well were the coming together of the city, the people throwing things at Goblin to try and assist Spidey, though I'd have thought they were just as likely to hit their hero or the cable car of children (and the sequel cleverly played against this same kind of scene). It may have been put in as a response to the terrorist attacks that destroyed the Twin towers a few months before the film came out (I believe there was a whole sequence set around the towers, or at least, with Spiderman climbing up them, which was cut out in respect), but it's a nice moment of solidarity where good people stand up to be counted. I also like that the film neatly trims the time Parker takes to become a well-known hero with the montage that is as fun as it is functional in moving the character forward. The best thing about the film is that it has so many moments of joy, and so it remains enjoyable throughout. The hero and villain are strong, the Goblin's mask is almost irrelevant thanks to Defoe's chilling performance in scenes without it, such as the incredible mirror conversation. That also shows that the masks are really only there to separate the hero and villain from the general public, and of course we are let in on their secret world. It also adds tension as the identities are revealed to each other.
The integrity of the film, the important morals the characters display: to duty, putting others first, deferring your own desires, taking responsibility - these are all powerful themes that are well handled. Everything is knitted together neatly and impressively, and apart from going through and pointing out the many great moments, all I can do is urge you to watch it again and rediscover something special.
****
The Chute
DVD, Voyager S3 (The Chute)
The startling thing about this is the level of violence captured: we actually see a throat cut right in the middle of the frame! The style of the episode is very edgy for the series, even Trek in general, and violence is the focus of the episode, but I'm not sure what the messages are that it imparts, the story being fairly vague in that regard. I'll come back to that, but the more important thing this should be remembered for is that it took Harry Kim and Tom Paris' friendship to a new level. Early on in the series Paris was a sort of mentor to the green Kim, having experienced Starfleet and a good deal of life, a rough one at that. Kim symbolised the ideal life Tom had never had - love from his parents, dedication to a cause and his duty, all the things that had fallen by the wayside for Paris. So although it was mainly Kim learning worldly (or galactic!), ways from his friend, Paris also had Harry as a role model. That comfortable system was thrown into disarray in this episode, even beginning with Paris duffing his friend up in one of those ultimate 'Wha–?' teasers!
You think it's going to be about Paris looking after his younger friend in the midst of animal-like chaos, but it soon becomes about Harry having to protect his protector and coming of age in his Starfleet career. I mentioned before that this seemed to be edgy and violent for no reason except to make it more exciting, but it also pushes Kim to the edge of reason, far from the civil young Ensign we were so used to seeing week to week. Ultimately his ideals are squeezed out into the open. While tempted to end Paris' life and be done with the responsibility, Kim refuses to do the deed and though he's terribly guilty about the crazed beating he gave Tom when in his feverish state he broke the device Kim had been working on to get them up the chute to freedom, Tom chooses only to remember the outcome when Harry challenged anyone to lay a finger on his friend.
The clamp was a good device to get the characters to that state of murderous behaviour that pervaded the prison, and could be seen as a metaphor for the mix of drugs and hopelessness in real prisons, I suppose. I have to admit I didn't feel as engaged with this episode as much as I used to when I just thought it was a cool action story. It comes up trumps by the end and has some really good little parts to it, but much of the bleak prison scenes don't really go anywhere story-wise. There's an interesting debate to have over whether Zio was mad or not, obsessed with his 'manifesto' on how to survive the clamp and about the prison being a big experiment. If he was completely insane you'd think he'd act more like the other desperate inmates who scavenge and fight, eking out a survival in a pit of despair. Yet he seems to be rational and his understandings, though imparted eccentrically (I love the use of the glowing red chute as a halo around his head), have some truth in them.
For Kim this is a breakout episode, showing what the man was capable of and pushing him farther than he would ever naturally go. His deep friendship with Paris is like Bashir and O'Brien's on 'DS9' or Reed and Trip's on 'Enterprise,' falling somewhere between the two in development, although it's not entirely fair to judge the 'Enterprise' characters in the same way as they didn't get a full quota of seasons. It was also a strong episode for Janeway, although it's another one of those situations where she's anxious to play ball with the natives initially until their ways don't meet with her approval, but it's hard to feel bad at her handling of events because she couldn't let Tom and Harry rot in prison for a crime they didn't commit. She was willing to do everything legally until she realised there was no option in that regard and no leeway, so loyalty to her crew came first. It's not like she was dealing with a pre-warp civilisation anyway…
Forgiving the loose interpretation of the Prime Directive, Janeway gets to be action woman as well as diplomatically strong, standing up to the people she finds in her way and not backing down. She doesn't take any nonsense from anybody or make any bargains, she just goes for what she has to do to make the rescue and puts all her resources into it. I'm surprised Chakotay 'allowed' her to go on the rescue mission down the chute, but in the mood she was in, 'no' was not a word best used in her presence! I believe this was the first time we saw the updated phaser rifles of 'Voyager,' and it's a suitably impressive moment when Janeway slides down the chute brandishing this massive gun, before stunning several prisoners at once with the wide beam setting, a device infrequently used. Neelix' ship was a big help and really good to see again, I don't think it had been used since the pilot. It comes across as being rather nippy and made me wish Neelix used it more often, or hung out there in his spare time, fixing it up and fiddling about as Tom would later do with the Delta Flyer. It's wonderful to see a time when Neelix was still a very useful member of the crew, and though they still joke about his food, his presence is necessary, whereas in later seasons he becomes a bit of a handyman, used for any old odd job because they couldn't find enough use for him.
The space effects are good, though the ship battles are very brief. The true nature of the chute is excellently revealed (although I did feel it should have lingered for a second or two more before fading out as it was too quick to fully take in the detail). The whole episode is directed in a strong style, with handheld camera work to increase the impression of an unsteady society, but not overused to the brink of shakiness (as in many modern films). I also found it amusing when Tuvok tells Crewman Foster to take the prisoner away and you see she's this tiny woman who manhandles him through the door with great gusto - I like to think Tuvok kept her locked in a storage locker ready for the rough duty and whenever he deemed it necessary he'd let her out! One fact that wasn't in the history books when I last watched this episode a few years ago (probably around 2006!), is that an actor called Robert Pine features in the episode, and that his son, Chris, is now Captain Kirk in the new films! I'd forgotten the fact, though the Pine name stuck out, but it wasn't until I saw the Akritirian Ambassador that I noticed a resemblance and it came back to me.
This was actually the first episode of Season 3 that was shot (like the previous season, four episodes had been held over ready to show for this season), and it has the hallmarks of the new direction the series was heading for - much more dramatic, vibrant adventure stories, more like the pilot had promised, though the series (like early 'DS9'), had fallen into the trap of being too 'TNG'-ish, it was time to redress the balance and go for its own unique style. Although this episode isn't a classic, I still think of it as a strong installment and one that continued to grow the characters. I don't know why the Akritirians had Klingon-like ridges (perhaps it was to make us subconsciously put them on the same level of toughness), or why they were fed huge blocks of fudge, but apart from these minor details, the sets, acting, effects, lighting, direction and characterisation had clearly entered a new era.
***
The startling thing about this is the level of violence captured: we actually see a throat cut right in the middle of the frame! The style of the episode is very edgy for the series, even Trek in general, and violence is the focus of the episode, but I'm not sure what the messages are that it imparts, the story being fairly vague in that regard. I'll come back to that, but the more important thing this should be remembered for is that it took Harry Kim and Tom Paris' friendship to a new level. Early on in the series Paris was a sort of mentor to the green Kim, having experienced Starfleet and a good deal of life, a rough one at that. Kim symbolised the ideal life Tom had never had - love from his parents, dedication to a cause and his duty, all the things that had fallen by the wayside for Paris. So although it was mainly Kim learning worldly (or galactic!), ways from his friend, Paris also had Harry as a role model. That comfortable system was thrown into disarray in this episode, even beginning with Paris duffing his friend up in one of those ultimate 'Wha–?' teasers!
You think it's going to be about Paris looking after his younger friend in the midst of animal-like chaos, but it soon becomes about Harry having to protect his protector and coming of age in his Starfleet career. I mentioned before that this seemed to be edgy and violent for no reason except to make it more exciting, but it also pushes Kim to the edge of reason, far from the civil young Ensign we were so used to seeing week to week. Ultimately his ideals are squeezed out into the open. While tempted to end Paris' life and be done with the responsibility, Kim refuses to do the deed and though he's terribly guilty about the crazed beating he gave Tom when in his feverish state he broke the device Kim had been working on to get them up the chute to freedom, Tom chooses only to remember the outcome when Harry challenged anyone to lay a finger on his friend.
The clamp was a good device to get the characters to that state of murderous behaviour that pervaded the prison, and could be seen as a metaphor for the mix of drugs and hopelessness in real prisons, I suppose. I have to admit I didn't feel as engaged with this episode as much as I used to when I just thought it was a cool action story. It comes up trumps by the end and has some really good little parts to it, but much of the bleak prison scenes don't really go anywhere story-wise. There's an interesting debate to have over whether Zio was mad or not, obsessed with his 'manifesto' on how to survive the clamp and about the prison being a big experiment. If he was completely insane you'd think he'd act more like the other desperate inmates who scavenge and fight, eking out a survival in a pit of despair. Yet he seems to be rational and his understandings, though imparted eccentrically (I love the use of the glowing red chute as a halo around his head), have some truth in them.
For Kim this is a breakout episode, showing what the man was capable of and pushing him farther than he would ever naturally go. His deep friendship with Paris is like Bashir and O'Brien's on 'DS9' or Reed and Trip's on 'Enterprise,' falling somewhere between the two in development, although it's not entirely fair to judge the 'Enterprise' characters in the same way as they didn't get a full quota of seasons. It was also a strong episode for Janeway, although it's another one of those situations where she's anxious to play ball with the natives initially until their ways don't meet with her approval, but it's hard to feel bad at her handling of events because she couldn't let Tom and Harry rot in prison for a crime they didn't commit. She was willing to do everything legally until she realised there was no option in that regard and no leeway, so loyalty to her crew came first. It's not like she was dealing with a pre-warp civilisation anyway…
Forgiving the loose interpretation of the Prime Directive, Janeway gets to be action woman as well as diplomatically strong, standing up to the people she finds in her way and not backing down. She doesn't take any nonsense from anybody or make any bargains, she just goes for what she has to do to make the rescue and puts all her resources into it. I'm surprised Chakotay 'allowed' her to go on the rescue mission down the chute, but in the mood she was in, 'no' was not a word best used in her presence! I believe this was the first time we saw the updated phaser rifles of 'Voyager,' and it's a suitably impressive moment when Janeway slides down the chute brandishing this massive gun, before stunning several prisoners at once with the wide beam setting, a device infrequently used. Neelix' ship was a big help and really good to see again, I don't think it had been used since the pilot. It comes across as being rather nippy and made me wish Neelix used it more often, or hung out there in his spare time, fixing it up and fiddling about as Tom would later do with the Delta Flyer. It's wonderful to see a time when Neelix was still a very useful member of the crew, and though they still joke about his food, his presence is necessary, whereas in later seasons he becomes a bit of a handyman, used for any old odd job because they couldn't find enough use for him.
The space effects are good, though the ship battles are very brief. The true nature of the chute is excellently revealed (although I did feel it should have lingered for a second or two more before fading out as it was too quick to fully take in the detail). The whole episode is directed in a strong style, with handheld camera work to increase the impression of an unsteady society, but not overused to the brink of shakiness (as in many modern films). I also found it amusing when Tuvok tells Crewman Foster to take the prisoner away and you see she's this tiny woman who manhandles him through the door with great gusto - I like to think Tuvok kept her locked in a storage locker ready for the rough duty and whenever he deemed it necessary he'd let her out! One fact that wasn't in the history books when I last watched this episode a few years ago (probably around 2006!), is that an actor called Robert Pine features in the episode, and that his son, Chris, is now Captain Kirk in the new films! I'd forgotten the fact, though the Pine name stuck out, but it wasn't until I saw the Akritirian Ambassador that I noticed a resemblance and it came back to me.
This was actually the first episode of Season 3 that was shot (like the previous season, four episodes had been held over ready to show for this season), and it has the hallmarks of the new direction the series was heading for - much more dramatic, vibrant adventure stories, more like the pilot had promised, though the series (like early 'DS9'), had fallen into the trap of being too 'TNG'-ish, it was time to redress the balance and go for its own unique style. Although this episode isn't a classic, I still think of it as a strong installment and one that continued to grow the characters. I don't know why the Akritirians had Klingon-like ridges (perhaps it was to make us subconsciously put them on the same level of toughness), or why they were fed huge blocks of fudge, but apart from these minor details, the sets, acting, effects, lighting, direction and characterisation had clearly entered a new era.
***
Flashback
DVD, Voyager S3 (Flashback)
Some episodes don't need a review, their reputation does them all the justice they require. Almost any episode in which a character crosses over to another series, and even more so if that person happens to be an actor from 'TOS,' is a Very Special Moment and a historical one at that. Though 'Voyager' was stuck in the Delta Quadrant and seemingly far from the continuity of the other Treks, it was still able to plug into the deep and rich history and in this case it was for the purpose of honouring its ancestor, 'The Original Series' to celebrate the 30th anniversary of that first show's beginning. The attitudes on display in the episode may seem to do 'TOS' an injustice - Janeway appears to be particularly condescending to the people of that time, but though it may seem almost scathing now, that was the prevailing attitude towards the old 60s show in the 90s.
It was never my view that 'TOS' was full of dodgy sets and dodgier acting, and that no right thinking person would watch that old rubbish when shiny new and sophisticated Trek was on the air. But that was because I was brought up on 'TOS' in the early 90s, and while I will concede it wasn't the best Trek series of them all, it still stands as worthwhile entertainment to watch today. I would say the argument swung too far the other way in recent years, suggesting that the spinoffs were slow and ponderous compared with the thunderous action and wild stories of 'TOS'. I would even say it has gone too far towards elevating the original past its superior offshoots, but that's a vast argument in itself. The important thing is to realise the attitude of the time was to think of 'TOS' as quaint at best, so Janeway's comments can be understood better in that light. It's heavily ironic that we're now so far down the road as to be able to look back at 'Voyager' in the same way they were doing with 'TOS' - though not as much time has passed, technology and society has moved on apace.
I found Kim's conversation with Janeway to be enlightening - there were no holodecks and no replicators back then, we get confirmed evidence from this chat. The way they lived was different and it's true what they say about space seeming bigger back then. Voyager's across the other side of the galaxy, but in 'TOS' we didn't really even know the galaxy was split into four gigantic quadrants! Although the episode could be said to suffer a little by not focusing on 'TOS' exclusively, maybe Tuvok's story takes precedence because this is another TV series, and what we do learn about his former career, his attempt at Kolinahr, and his life before his current Starfleet service is, to coin a Vulcan phrase, fascinating. As well as the big details of the episode we also learn little things, such as the fact there are at least two Bolians aboard ship - we'd already seen Chell in Season 1, and now we hear of a female member of the race. There are also at least two other Vulcans as Tuvok says he doesn't wish to meld with the 'other Vulcans on board.' Vorik was to come to prominence this season, and I believe a Vulcan female was shown in Season 7.
I can see that the opening breakfast scene is a bit of filler, but it's still a nice moment as we find out a little about Neelix. It reminded me of the 'Meld' episode when Tuvok creates a holographic Neelix so he can kill him after the Talaxian irritates him to distraction, only this time he wasn't trying to get Tuvok to smile, he was testing out a new beverage on him. There's an easy joke to make here about it being Neelix that caused Tuvok to become ill, and it wasn't the nebula after all, but I won't make it. I liked that this nebula wasn't one of the traditional pinkish-red variety we usually see, but a spidery blue phenomenon instead. If you didn't know the episode you could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be about Neelix flashing back to his time with his family (as sort of happened in Season 4's 'Mortal Coil'), or even Tuvok's boyhood (again, seen in Season 5's 'Gravity'), but the story is cunningly devised so that you can have no clue how we get to that girl falling from the cliff top. It was wise not to go the usual route of time travel, and as it is we still get to see Janeway interacting with people from that time when the meld goes wrong. Who would have ever thought we'd see Janice Rand again, let alone Vulcan neck-pinched for her clothes! I wonder if Janeway did a spot of quick tailoring to make them fit her…
Like Guinan when we see her as a much younger character in 'Time's Arrow' on 'TNG,' Tuvok has a definite youth about the way he speaks and how he reacts to people, far from the wise old logician he is in 'Voyager.' This is very well done, helped by the old film-era uniforms and dialogue, but it's amazing that he can be so different. His being on the Excelsior at such an important historical moment is the linchpin upon which the success of the story resides, and it is a success. You can never see 'Star Trek VI' in the same way now that you know the cup of tea that smashes was brought to Captain Sulu just previously by Ensign Tuvok! In a way he did make an appearance on the Excelsior in real life because the Enterprise-B was Excelsior-class and Tim Russ played a human aboard her in 'Generations'. Full circle!
I haven't even spoken of Captain Sulu. Just on the evidence of this episode I wouldn't say the question of a Sulu TV series would definitely have worked, but I'd have been willing to see it tried. Maybe now that the makers see fit to recast previously set in stone characters with different actors, perhaps such a venture is more likely now than ever before. I love that they went to the trouble of getting as many of the original actors back from the film as possible, and especially that we get to see one last appearance from Michael Ansara, grimacing across a viewscreen as Kang. His role is slight, but it's always great to see him. In Trek nobody truly dies and nobody is gone for good. This gives me mixed feelings because sometimes the finality of death is necessary to make what came before more poignant. The things that can be redone could lose their uniqueness.
This isn't a 'Voyager' episode and it isn't a 'TOS' episode, it is fundamentally a Tuvok episode and so the other cast members aren't given as much to do. But that's fine, and though the episode doesn't sing as the 'DS9' 30th anniversary tribute did, it remains a heartfelt appreciation of the past and an enjoyable mystery/adventure too. The level of attention to detail is the like of which we'll never see again in Trek I fear. I like that mention is made of Kirk and McCoy, that Spock is hinted at, and that Tuvok's situation was the opposite of Spock's: the older Vulcan had pressure from his Father not to go to Starfleet, whereas Tuvok had pressure to join. I wasn't so keen on the caveman child at the end - a good idea to show the history of the virus as it flashed through all the previous hosts, but the last child did look like a neanderthal, but it may have been supposed to be an eskimo. It was difficult to judge whether the sequence was the history of the virus or a series of human races that had hosted it.
****
Some episodes don't need a review, their reputation does them all the justice they require. Almost any episode in which a character crosses over to another series, and even more so if that person happens to be an actor from 'TOS,' is a Very Special Moment and a historical one at that. Though 'Voyager' was stuck in the Delta Quadrant and seemingly far from the continuity of the other Treks, it was still able to plug into the deep and rich history and in this case it was for the purpose of honouring its ancestor, 'The Original Series' to celebrate the 30th anniversary of that first show's beginning. The attitudes on display in the episode may seem to do 'TOS' an injustice - Janeway appears to be particularly condescending to the people of that time, but though it may seem almost scathing now, that was the prevailing attitude towards the old 60s show in the 90s.
It was never my view that 'TOS' was full of dodgy sets and dodgier acting, and that no right thinking person would watch that old rubbish when shiny new and sophisticated Trek was on the air. But that was because I was brought up on 'TOS' in the early 90s, and while I will concede it wasn't the best Trek series of them all, it still stands as worthwhile entertainment to watch today. I would say the argument swung too far the other way in recent years, suggesting that the spinoffs were slow and ponderous compared with the thunderous action and wild stories of 'TOS'. I would even say it has gone too far towards elevating the original past its superior offshoots, but that's a vast argument in itself. The important thing is to realise the attitude of the time was to think of 'TOS' as quaint at best, so Janeway's comments can be understood better in that light. It's heavily ironic that we're now so far down the road as to be able to look back at 'Voyager' in the same way they were doing with 'TOS' - though not as much time has passed, technology and society has moved on apace.
I found Kim's conversation with Janeway to be enlightening - there were no holodecks and no replicators back then, we get confirmed evidence from this chat. The way they lived was different and it's true what they say about space seeming bigger back then. Voyager's across the other side of the galaxy, but in 'TOS' we didn't really even know the galaxy was split into four gigantic quadrants! Although the episode could be said to suffer a little by not focusing on 'TOS' exclusively, maybe Tuvok's story takes precedence because this is another TV series, and what we do learn about his former career, his attempt at Kolinahr, and his life before his current Starfleet service is, to coin a Vulcan phrase, fascinating. As well as the big details of the episode we also learn little things, such as the fact there are at least two Bolians aboard ship - we'd already seen Chell in Season 1, and now we hear of a female member of the race. There are also at least two other Vulcans as Tuvok says he doesn't wish to meld with the 'other Vulcans on board.' Vorik was to come to prominence this season, and I believe a Vulcan female was shown in Season 7.
I can see that the opening breakfast scene is a bit of filler, but it's still a nice moment as we find out a little about Neelix. It reminded me of the 'Meld' episode when Tuvok creates a holographic Neelix so he can kill him after the Talaxian irritates him to distraction, only this time he wasn't trying to get Tuvok to smile, he was testing out a new beverage on him. There's an easy joke to make here about it being Neelix that caused Tuvok to become ill, and it wasn't the nebula after all, but I won't make it. I liked that this nebula wasn't one of the traditional pinkish-red variety we usually see, but a spidery blue phenomenon instead. If you didn't know the episode you could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be about Neelix flashing back to his time with his family (as sort of happened in Season 4's 'Mortal Coil'), or even Tuvok's boyhood (again, seen in Season 5's 'Gravity'), but the story is cunningly devised so that you can have no clue how we get to that girl falling from the cliff top. It was wise not to go the usual route of time travel, and as it is we still get to see Janeway interacting with people from that time when the meld goes wrong. Who would have ever thought we'd see Janice Rand again, let alone Vulcan neck-pinched for her clothes! I wonder if Janeway did a spot of quick tailoring to make them fit her…
Like Guinan when we see her as a much younger character in 'Time's Arrow' on 'TNG,' Tuvok has a definite youth about the way he speaks and how he reacts to people, far from the wise old logician he is in 'Voyager.' This is very well done, helped by the old film-era uniforms and dialogue, but it's amazing that he can be so different. His being on the Excelsior at such an important historical moment is the linchpin upon which the success of the story resides, and it is a success. You can never see 'Star Trek VI' in the same way now that you know the cup of tea that smashes was brought to Captain Sulu just previously by Ensign Tuvok! In a way he did make an appearance on the Excelsior in real life because the Enterprise-B was Excelsior-class and Tim Russ played a human aboard her in 'Generations'. Full circle!
I haven't even spoken of Captain Sulu. Just on the evidence of this episode I wouldn't say the question of a Sulu TV series would definitely have worked, but I'd have been willing to see it tried. Maybe now that the makers see fit to recast previously set in stone characters with different actors, perhaps such a venture is more likely now than ever before. I love that they went to the trouble of getting as many of the original actors back from the film as possible, and especially that we get to see one last appearance from Michael Ansara, grimacing across a viewscreen as Kang. His role is slight, but it's always great to see him. In Trek nobody truly dies and nobody is gone for good. This gives me mixed feelings because sometimes the finality of death is necessary to make what came before more poignant. The things that can be redone could lose their uniqueness.
This isn't a 'Voyager' episode and it isn't a 'TOS' episode, it is fundamentally a Tuvok episode and so the other cast members aren't given as much to do. But that's fine, and though the episode doesn't sing as the 'DS9' 30th anniversary tribute did, it remains a heartfelt appreciation of the past and an enjoyable mystery/adventure too. The level of attention to detail is the like of which we'll never see again in Trek I fear. I like that mention is made of Kirk and McCoy, that Spock is hinted at, and that Tuvok's situation was the opposite of Spock's: the older Vulcan had pressure from his Father not to go to Starfleet, whereas Tuvok had pressure to join. I wasn't so keen on the caveman child at the end - a good idea to show the history of the virus as it flashed through all the previous hosts, but the last child did look like a neanderthal, but it may have been supposed to be an eskimo. It was difficult to judge whether the sequence was the history of the virus or a series of human races that had hosted it.
****
Fail Safe
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S5 (Fail Safe)
I never really liked films about a hunk of space rock on a collision course with Earth, but every space series has to have one, they just always do. The bad thing is that this series never seems to work so well when it's dealing with 'proper' space threats such as getting stranded or doing EVA - those episodes feel a little flat. At one point we see Dr. Jackson having fallen asleep and I empathised with him, he must have been reading the script. To be fair to the episode it does pick up a bit once they get to the asteroid, it's just that the teaser is so unremarkable as to be almost dull and the job of a teaser is to… tease; excite; throw possibilities at you; make you want to hang around - not suggest the episode is going to be very familiar territory and then give you what was expected. I was more surprised that I wasn't surprised, half expecting something special about the asteroid, such as inhabitants that had gone off course, or something. The last remnants of a lost civilisation.
The only last remnants of a lost civilisation are the chosen few from the SGC that get to hightail it out of Earth to 'Alpha Site' where they will rebuild human kind with the best brains and physical specimens - sounds like a James Bond plot. I can see why Hammond wasn't selected for this great honour… Only joking, he chose not to be included and it was necessary to have that scene with Dr. Fraiser asking about his intentions. It's not said aloud, but I got the impression he was like the Captain of a starship, needing to go down with his sinking ship as his fate was tied to it. Stargate Command isn't a ship, but the sentiment was the same and it was nicely played with Major Davis just before he leaves. It was a bit selfish for the US not to tell anyone about the end of the world, even though it could create mass panic it would also give people time to accept their deaths. They could also have evacuated more people (though the excuse is that there's only a limited set of supplies). Humanity may not survive, but Americans will!
I could believe the asteroid wasn't visible at first, but by the time it's passed the fail safe point of the title, the Earth looms large and it couldn't fail to have been noticed. Even more should the gigantic flash, as it goes into hyperspace, have made a visual impact like nothing else, and even if that was explained away because it was on the day side of the planet, it comes out of hyperspace on the night side, which would surely have lit up the entire horizon. And I don't agree with anyone that posits the theory that everyone was asleep! Perhaps we'll hear mention of people knowing about the event in subsequent episodes, you never know, as the episode ended before we could learn of the aftermath of the adventure.
One of the positive sides of the episode is the SG-1 team all getting to go on a mission together in the same room and spending a lot of time with each other, something they haven't done so much this season, or that's what it feels like where they often have split story lines. Not that they were on top form, full of witty banter and sparkling dialogue - they mostly looked a bit tired or worried, which is fair enough when the fate of the world was on their shoulders. The trouble with these real space episodes is that there isn't much tension to be had because we know at any moment another ship can come along and get them out of their predicament. It happened in 'Tangent' last season, and indeed that very episode is referred to (unfortunately another boring one), with the same team that worked on the Death Glider helping kickstart the cargo ship's engines. For one thing it was fortunate that it hadn't been salvaged by the Goa'uld, and for another it's amazing how much more experienced humans have become with the alien technology. But we can gloss over that.
I was expecting the group of engineers or scientists were to play a bigger role from the way Spellman had stuff to do, and a name. I thought he could have become this series' version of Reg Barclay from 'TNG,' but the team is quickly kicked out of the episode once their job is done. Effects-wise the story did create some tension in the approach to the asteroid with a drop through into a deep crater being a high point. But once there they do the same old things you'd expect: meteor showers, loss of internal atmosphere, space walks, and a malfunctioning bomb, even down to the 'tense' defusing sequence! I liked that the origin of the asteroid came to make sense and that it wasn't simply a big rock that happened to be on course for our planet, but was actually a Goa'uld plan to get around the Asgard treaty by making Earth's destruction look like a natural disaster. And I will credit Hammond's scenes with providing some drama in his acceptance of his position, and belief in SG-1. It was a functional episode that featured all the main characters. Its problem was lack of originality and a weak sense of menace, coupled with a slow pace and not much of a script: okay, but we know they can do much better than this.
**
I never really liked films about a hunk of space rock on a collision course with Earth, but every space series has to have one, they just always do. The bad thing is that this series never seems to work so well when it's dealing with 'proper' space threats such as getting stranded or doing EVA - those episodes feel a little flat. At one point we see Dr. Jackson having fallen asleep and I empathised with him, he must have been reading the script. To be fair to the episode it does pick up a bit once they get to the asteroid, it's just that the teaser is so unremarkable as to be almost dull and the job of a teaser is to… tease; excite; throw possibilities at you; make you want to hang around - not suggest the episode is going to be very familiar territory and then give you what was expected. I was more surprised that I wasn't surprised, half expecting something special about the asteroid, such as inhabitants that had gone off course, or something. The last remnants of a lost civilisation.
The only last remnants of a lost civilisation are the chosen few from the SGC that get to hightail it out of Earth to 'Alpha Site' where they will rebuild human kind with the best brains and physical specimens - sounds like a James Bond plot. I can see why Hammond wasn't selected for this great honour… Only joking, he chose not to be included and it was necessary to have that scene with Dr. Fraiser asking about his intentions. It's not said aloud, but I got the impression he was like the Captain of a starship, needing to go down with his sinking ship as his fate was tied to it. Stargate Command isn't a ship, but the sentiment was the same and it was nicely played with Major Davis just before he leaves. It was a bit selfish for the US not to tell anyone about the end of the world, even though it could create mass panic it would also give people time to accept their deaths. They could also have evacuated more people (though the excuse is that there's only a limited set of supplies). Humanity may not survive, but Americans will!
I could believe the asteroid wasn't visible at first, but by the time it's passed the fail safe point of the title, the Earth looms large and it couldn't fail to have been noticed. Even more should the gigantic flash, as it goes into hyperspace, have made a visual impact like nothing else, and even if that was explained away because it was on the day side of the planet, it comes out of hyperspace on the night side, which would surely have lit up the entire horizon. And I don't agree with anyone that posits the theory that everyone was asleep! Perhaps we'll hear mention of people knowing about the event in subsequent episodes, you never know, as the episode ended before we could learn of the aftermath of the adventure.
One of the positive sides of the episode is the SG-1 team all getting to go on a mission together in the same room and spending a lot of time with each other, something they haven't done so much this season, or that's what it feels like where they often have split story lines. Not that they were on top form, full of witty banter and sparkling dialogue - they mostly looked a bit tired or worried, which is fair enough when the fate of the world was on their shoulders. The trouble with these real space episodes is that there isn't much tension to be had because we know at any moment another ship can come along and get them out of their predicament. It happened in 'Tangent' last season, and indeed that very episode is referred to (unfortunately another boring one), with the same team that worked on the Death Glider helping kickstart the cargo ship's engines. For one thing it was fortunate that it hadn't been salvaged by the Goa'uld, and for another it's amazing how much more experienced humans have become with the alien technology. But we can gloss over that.
I was expecting the group of engineers or scientists were to play a bigger role from the way Spellman had stuff to do, and a name. I thought he could have become this series' version of Reg Barclay from 'TNG,' but the team is quickly kicked out of the episode once their job is done. Effects-wise the story did create some tension in the approach to the asteroid with a drop through into a deep crater being a high point. But once there they do the same old things you'd expect: meteor showers, loss of internal atmosphere, space walks, and a malfunctioning bomb, even down to the 'tense' defusing sequence! I liked that the origin of the asteroid came to make sense and that it wasn't simply a big rock that happened to be on course for our planet, but was actually a Goa'uld plan to get around the Asgard treaty by making Earth's destruction look like a natural disaster. And I will credit Hammond's scenes with providing some drama in his acceptance of his position, and belief in SG-1. It was a functional episode that featured all the main characters. Its problem was lack of originality and a weak sense of menace, coupled with a slow pace and not much of a script: okay, but we know they can do much better than this.
**
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