Letters From Pegasus

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S1 (Letters From Pegasus)

Sheppard and Teyla go out to recon the approach of The Wraith Hive ships, while back at base, everyone records a personal message to send back to Earth. It's not a synopsis that bowls you over with its audacity, and the dreaded 'Excerpts by…' credits coming up at the beginning don't do anything to suggest this is going to be one of the best of the season. But it raises enough questions and rounds out the season in such a way that if the series had only survived for the one, it would have been satisfyingly conclusive. We look back at the adventures and experiences of everyone aboard, with recurring characters and minor ones, too, including grumbly Kavanagh, Zelenka, Bates and Beckett. It's a familiar device for a series set far from home: 'Stargate Universe' went on to do the same thing, I think, and certainly 'Voyager,' lost in the Delta Quadrant, was only too pleased to be able to send letters back to Earth. But it's a good device, it pries open the usually stoic members and shows people in a different light. There's a bit of humour, a bit of portent, and some emotive moments when Weir takes the opportunity to provide closure to the families of those who've died. But the best moment of this rich seam are the final goodbyes at the end, edited together so we go from one to the other in a powerful sequence that, if I didn't know the series was going to last another four seasons, would certainly give me pause for thought - it still does, since I don't know who will live and who might die in the coming attack.

McKay, in true form, holds court for the space of an entire hour's tape, while Kavanagh points out all Weir's leadership mistakes for O'Neill's benefit (and he does have a point with some of her decisions…). Zelenka talks in his native tongue and Sanders says goodbye to his younger brother without saying goodbye. It's such an effective way to show how the series has come along, and as it turned out, despite it being an obvious money-saver, the clips used were brief and exciting, far from the clips shows of old that played whole scenes and expected us to be satisfied! Poor old Joseph May gets the boot for certain - if you weren't sure that his character, Markham, was the one to die defending the city in previous episode 'The Brotherhood,' then it's spelled out irrevocably here, as Weir starts off her obituaries with his and we see a clip of the guy in action. A shame, because had he lived he might have become one of the recurring characters like the others, and even have been one to record a message. Even Sheppard, once returned from his mission, is afforded the chance to eulogise Colonel Sumner, who may have been killed in the pilot, but has never been forgotten.

It's the character that is the key to making this a good episode, and while Atlantis is the place for heartfelt messages home, there's just as much going on between Teyla and Sheppard on their mission when they take a Jumper to investigate the coming Wraith. The planet they visit is home to an old friend of Teyla's and his family whom she, understandably wants to take with them, while Sheppard is equally understandably reticent to do anything outside of the mission objectives, especially when he's been ordered not to take on Wraith forces. This causes some consternation between the pair. He tries to explain military ways and it's about survival and they don't always have the time or luxury to do what they would wish - why save a family when so much devastation is going on all around? It's a harsh, militaristic way of thinking, and in keeping with the series, yet Teyla is also right and the fact that they have time to save a few people, including her friend Orin, means that at least some small good came of it. To those people that survived it's made a vast difference that can't be discounted, yet is still hard to bear when so many have been harvested. To make matters worse there's some Wraith weapon no one's ever seen before sending a shaft of light down onto the village. The idea of The Wraith dialling a 'gate to prevent escape for a planet they're attacking makes good sense and provides a dramatic reason for Sheppard to wait instead of flying right in and scooting off home, and I like the fact that the episode isn't as pacy as usual - we have time to sit around hearing the devastation of a Wraith attack.

It's a cathartic episode that provides rays of hope, whether that's the snatching of a few lives from the clutches of The Wraith, a little degree of understanding between Teyla and Sheppard, or the others in the city coming to terms with this being perhaps the last time they'll be able to send a message home. While at the beginning I felt it was a waste of resources to try and send reports and messages through the 'gate which could overload the naquadah generator and would give Atlantis no advantage to its defences, as a potential final act it showed their courage and dedication to duty that they would take the time and effort to inform their superiors and families of what's happened. Even if they were to be wiped out, the things they've seen, discovered and experienced on Atlantis and the surrounding worlds could be of use and mark a legacy, no matter how small, that says they didn't do all this for nothing, and those that haven't survived did not die for no reason, and for that it's a beautiful ending. I could have wished Amanda Tapping's Carter and Gary Jones' Walter had more to do than a brief flash in the last seconds, but I like that Carter has now joined Daniel and Jack in appearing on the series. Only Teal'c to make it the full set now…

***

Strange Justice

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Strange Justice) (2)

We've seen a few crooked cops through the series, such as Dobey's friend 'Iron' Mike Ferguson (of 'Iron Mike'), or Lieutenant Fargo and his secret committee (of, unsurprisingly, 'The Committee'), so it's no shock to meet another one. Lieutenant Dan Slate is another good cop that Dobey's known for almost twenty years, but he's got a strong motive for his sudden career change to vigilante: his daughter was raped by a lowdown crook and it knocks him off the rails. The thing with most of these bent coppers is that they usually feel they're carrying out true justice - plenty of times we've seen S&H come up against the bureaucracy and the tight limits of the law, complaining about what they can't do to deal with those whose rights are held above their victims, or so it seems. In this very episode they're talking to a guy from the Department of Justice and he complains about budget cuts, time constraints (in the same way as the lady from the department dealing with child abuse in 'The Crying Child' last season), and all the troubles running such organisations entails, while S&H are at the coalface of the streets and know the effects of crime firsthand, and it's nothing to do with rulebooks and statutes. At the same time, without these strictly enforced guides to how suspects can be treated, there's always the danger of false accusation, wrongful suspicion and human error, so it's as much about protecting society from overzealous guardians as it is about the perpetrators of crime.

At the same time there's probably some degree of yearning within most people that things could be as simple as they were in less developed times, when society was a case of each family defending their own rights. Trouble is, that kind of summary justice was only of use to the strong, and society had to create and uphold its laws to prevent anarchy as everyone did what best suited them, and naturally it's tough for anyone to hold back from taking any advantage for themselves. And that's why S&H continue to strive in their day to day job of the unending battle to keep the streets safe and clean from the scum of the Earth that have polluted it, even while it probably does the authorities good for S&H to butt up against the attitudes of those that don't witness the effect of crime as a norm of daily life, as they do. You can understand the police's frustration, too, yet no one condones Slate's surprise shooting of Lenny Biggs, the man who attacked and raped his daughter in her own room of the sorority house she was sharing with her friends. The episode has some very emotive moments, whether it's the guilt of her friend, Lori, a fellow student who was the last to see her as they parted to go to their rooms, overwrought with her feelings of uselessness in the face of such a vile act. And Slate himself, a pugnacious, red-faced bundle of rage, impotent in his position of Father after the attack, unable to protect his child, desperately trying to comfort her in hospital, treating her like a little girl again, but knowing there's nothing he can do to make it better.

Until he decides there is: take justice into his own hands. Be the judge, jury and executioner, and he's wily enough to be able to pull if off, ultimately succeeding in his goal of seeing Biggs die for his crime through the machinations he set in play, using all his knowledge of police procedure. S&H are never fooled, but before he goes AWOL they try to talk it out with him, at first warning him not to get in the way of their investigation in as sensitive a way as possible, which still causes a flareup of anger, a powder keg who vents he doesn't have anything to lose, but it results in them hanging with Slate at Starsky's place, letting him work through his unsettled state of mind, which works until he snaps to the uselessness of sitting around. It seemed they'd defused him, but in the end he storms off after babbling about his daughter's rights, the rights of society against the criminals. It's a good point, but he should have left it to his colleagues, especially knowing them as he does - he'd know Dobey would put his best men on the case to secure Biggs' conviction, and that S&H would do everything they can, and a bit more. But it's not enough, because he has his own guilt for letting his daughter down, and if he's been a police officer for so long, yet his own child is a victim of crime, it's no surprise that he would lose faith in official channels and take drastic and deadly action.

Like S&H, Slate has his own network of snitches that keep him apprised of what, who and where on the streets, so he trawls the backstreets until he finds one, Marsellus Cobb, going through a pantomime arrest so he can take him away from his friends and enlist his assistance in his plan. He even throws the drugs Cobb was in possession of to the guy's friends! It was an effective ruse, and Cobb, ex-military, is able to get hold of a gun for him to carry out his plan: to get Biggs into a situation where he's shot by the cops, achieving his aim without actually pulling the trigger himself. It's a strong moment when Dobey, who gets to be part of the action for a change, has to make the call on whether Biggs is holding Slate captive, or vice versa, especially when there are personal feelings involved. S&H smell a rat, but Officer Chuck Dobson takes out Biggs when it appears Slate's life is in danger, though S&H discover the small pistol he was using to keep up the charade, and Biggs was too much of a coward to speak up or do anything other than follow the vehement, stormy-faced Lieutenant's instructions. If he'd had any backbone he might have saved his own skin, but in typical bullying form, Biggs was controlled by his own emotions, whether that was for Leslie, or fear for himself. It could be said he got his just deserts, but it was for a court to decide his punishment and enact it.

Other ideas are thrown in, such as Internal Affairs being involved since Slate shot Biggs at HQ, and for once the guy we meet, Myerson, is fairly equitable, rather than having obvious distaste for the methods of, and dislike for the persons of, S&H. He cites an image-conscious DA, the press' reaction to Slate's shooting, and such, which shows that he isn't simply coming down hard on an officer of twenty years for no reason. He's doing his job, and he takes it seriously, but the few times we've met members of IA they're the bad guys, intent only on taking S&H down a peg or two, or getting rid of them entirely. It makes sense, since the series is from the perspective of S&H, so anyone that comes up against them must be viewed as the enemy, I suppose, but it was refreshing to have a more balanced viewpoint this time. The other friend of Leslie's, Cassie, whom S&H talk to, has a theory on why these things happen, saying modern society packages sex and violence like breakfast cereal, and she's got a point (though you could say this TV series is part of that, though on a lesser scale than films, and certainly far softer than modern fare!), but there are no easy answers. When S&H are at the Justice Department Hutch talks of 2,600 rape cases in the town last year (wonder why he didn't say city?), and how few of them progressed anywhere - there's trouble in the departmental system, so it's a bit of an indictment on the whole structure, though I'm sure it's improved to the present day.

At first S&H are supportive of Slate, though not his actions, and Dobey, of course, doesn't want to see his friend throw away twenty years of solid duty on the force to end up in County Jail, but matters are out of their hands through Slate's daring, but highly motivated decision to pursue Biggs personally. And he gets his reward, at the cost of career and freedom, but in the heat of the moment he says it was worth it. Once he'd calmed down and cooled off I wonder if he'd still think that, considering he's deprived Leslie of her Father, especially as we know the Mother is gone, though I wasn't clear if she died or left them. He was too concerned with his own feelings to think about what he might be doing to his daughter by the course of action he chose, a selfish motive to redeem his guilt in his own eyes, even if he told himself he was doing it for Leslie - it was vengeance, pure and simple, he even used the word himself when talking to Biggs.

For an episode that deals with such disturbing subject matter it's not so strange that the usual conventions don't play much of a part: there aren't really any references (unless you count Cassie describing Lori as being in the 'suburban Tupperware mould'), and few of the familiar tropes we expect to see, such as eccentrics or jokes. The one we do get is a proper running joke that begins at the start with meter maid O'Reilly giving an indignant Hutch a parking ticket, continues later in the episode when she gives him another one, and provides a relieving end, too: apparently Hutch's stringent and almost abusive reaction to her doing her job has led to an unofficial complaint that Internal Affairs will be looking into! For once I was glad of a light scene to close the episode after all the heaviness it had entailed, and I like it when they do chart the progress of a running joke across the whole thing. In the first part the Captain is smug, reminding Hutch that his badge doesn't get him special privileges, but the smile's wiped off his face when he finds out O'Reilly's done the same to him! When they go to the Justice Department (which, by the way, the sign 'Angeles County Court' can be glimpsed in a close shot as the camera pans down from the scales of justice bas-relief, but is absent in the establishing long shot), I wondered why they'd taken Hutch's car, since they'd just been at Starsky's with the Torino clearly parked outside. Then when the second ticket incident occurred it made perfect sense!

There are some nice callbacks, such as Starsky's classic u-turn in the middle of a busy road of traffic and pedestrians, with the Torino's massive turning circle, and when he screeches to a halt, bumping the curb, with Hutch's door falling back open after he'd shut it when leaping out - the usual lack of respect for the series' central vehicle! The same can't be said of Dobey who gets to be out on the road, and just happens to be driving when S&H call in Slate's and Biggs' location, and he's there for the hostage situation, facing one of his toughest field decisions that we've seen. I think he may have hesitated, which led to Chuck shooting Biggs, so it's not necessarily a good scene for him, especially as it takes S&H's noses to smoke Slate's fraud out, and it might have been better if we'd seen the Captain's old instincts direct his men. But perhaps sitting behind a desk for so long has dulled the blade, and anyway, the series isn't called 'Captain Dobey With Starsky and Hutch.' Huggy also plays his part, they find him out having dinner with his 'business manager' (what happened to Rita, sorry, Anita the waitress?), and it's he who puts them onto Cobb. But he isn't in it much for an episode that is so much about the streets. It's also the archetypal 'negative attitude' episode, showing the worst elements of the city: rubbish, degradation, horrible crime, and even the spotless facade of the Justice buildings can't improve the tone, and in fact just makes justice feel more removed from the reality of the city.

I wonder who reported the prowler, since it wasn't the girls of the sorority house. That part of the episode, regardless of the horror of Biggs witnessing the friends mucking about in their young lives, was a bit of a bore, one reason I'm not fond of the episode. Slate was a good character and the actor did a great job selling such strong emotions, especially when he's daring someone to tell him what's happened to his daughter, even though he probably knows. His performance raises the episode, which isn't the most deep story, and you do feel sympathy for him, despite the wrong he's doing. Leslie might have had more to do or say, but after the attack, becomes a voiceless victim with only her friends to express any thoughts or ideas that she might share. But it was nice to see Memorial Hospital again, where she stays in the psychiatric ward.

The policewoman that comes down the stairs as Hutch is shouting after O'Reilly puts a hand to her ear and screws up her face as if he's too loud - I like it when extras enter into the spirit of a scene! I think she was the same person as the policewoman that sits with Leslie and whom Dobey refers to as Officer Milton, though she's not credited since she doesn't have any lines - Huggy's 'business manager' is similarly silent and uncredited. This week's returning faces are Lindsay Bloom as O'Reilly, previously Jane in Season 2's 'The Vampire.' And both Cassie (Susan Heldfond), and Cobb (Carl Anderson), had been students in Season 3's 'Class in Crime,' a coincidence that made me wonder if it had been the same Director (Reza Badiyi), but that one had been directed by Paul Michael Glaser. Lastly, is Leslie Slate played by the same actress who went on to be Quark's Cardassian love, Natima Lang in 'DS9'? Both are Mary Crosby, but the former is credited as Mary Francis Crosby.

**

The Brotherhood

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S1 (The Brotherhood)

All that effort for nothing! McKay, always a sucker for a pretty face, is hoodwinked by, or lulled into a false sense of friendship with, Allina of planet Dagan where a ZPM was hidden by a brotherhood of monks long ago. So they go off and do some genuine archeology: digging and whatnot, so much so, poor Rodney's tired by the end of it all, then discover an underground chamber. So far, so good, and very 'Stargate,' but then they add in Kolya of the Genii, returning to grab what they're looking for, this potentially full ZPM which he still thinks can be used with Genii technology. And not a moment too soon for the city of Atlantis, since the B-plot is of a Wraith dart that flies in and scans the place before self-destructing and transmitting its intelligence to its big brother ships, so the attack is only two weeks away! And in the scouting sweep we sadly lost a Jumper and two men, one of which, distressingly for 'BUGS' fans, was Markham, Joseph May's character (unless there's more than one soldier with that surname - we don't actually see him). Shame, as I hoped he'd continue to be a recurring character, in the same way as Dr. Zelenka and Bates have become regular faces. But the important thing is that what everyone feared and expected to happen now has an immediacy to it, so they really need that ZPM, any ZPM, and fast!

It was all McKay's fault really, and I'll digress here to say I think he might have become the standout character of the series - he's certainly not bland as some of them are, and has proved invaluable on numerous occasions. And once again here, he plays hero quite well, solves the monk's puzzle, and even has time to be surprised and impressed by Sheppard letting slip that he passed a Mensa test. In fact, it was Sheppard who solved the final piece of the puzzle, but then he was highly motivated at the time with the threat to his life from Kolya and his men, as well as the 'Indiana Jones' anti-tampering device in the chamber which killed the first, brash Genii that rashly attempted to activate it before McKay had explained the risks. I thought it would turn out to be something that only someone with Ancient genes would be able to bypass, but it was actually a number puzzle as Sheppard correctly surmised. By the way, how did Ford wake up so quick from the Genii dart? I also felt it wasn't the best course of action to kill one of Kolya's men when he was so much at a disadvantage, lying on the floor, surrounded. But in his defence he did a good job with the element of surprise, and would have bought his team a few seconds, and at least they didn't sneak up on them because of the kerfuffle. I also felt he and the others, Teyla in particular, worked well in the fight scene, showing some good moves in the balance of power to win the day over Kolya's gang.

The episode itself is strangely uneventful in some ways, it's mostly people working on puzzles, trying to crack the Potentia code (the name the monks gave to the ZPM). But back to Rodney and it being his fault: he let slip to Allina his people's true origins, egged on by the others that she was interested in him, and so letting his guard down. Or did he do that before they egged him on? Either way he told her that they came from Earth and have only lived on Atlantis a matter of months, and I thought as he said it that it wasn't the best time to be so transparent - she'd already stood up to her fellow Sudarian who warned that these outsiders would take the Potentia away, and made it clear that it belongs to Atlantis. But knowing they were squatters, regardless of any other connection, that's when she turned and confided in her assistant. I thought it was a bad move, but the episode went on for a long time after that and I forgot the scene, but Allina was just playing along after that and never intended to let them have it. Kolya was a mere inconvenience, and as pleasant as it was to beat him again, he was more of a device to provide some danger to what was essentially a simple search. Not that simple, but it wasn't like they were escaping traps in the deeps, or exploring down into the forbidden depths.

The episode wasn't bad, I felt quite sad for the last of the monks at the beginning, seeing them sucked up by Wraith ships, and then a good time-lapse CG shot of the passage of time before we pull back to find the Atlantis team working on the riddle in the present day. I also liked the monks singing in the soundtrack, and Robert Davi was an effective enemy, if much reduced in power compared to his aborted attempt to take over Atlantis for the Genii. Sadly, Colm Meaney isn't seen, but his character, Cowen, is mentioned. Beckett gets to do something beyond complaining and doctoring, his rare Ancient gene necessary to get an extra Jumper in the air to combat the Wraith scout, going up with Bates, who isn't the most reassuring presence! I also liked Sheppard shown to have actual intelligence, unlike O'Neill who was always happy to leave the brain work to his team, and McKay continues to be a sympathetic character. With all the positives I still come away from it with the impression of it being a wild goose chase: Kolya's defeated and warned off, the ZPM is found, only for Allina to tell them it will be hidden on another world so no one will find it. If the next few episodes are going to follow this trend we'll be visiting each of the addresses alternate Elizabeth Weir gave them in 'Before I Sleep,' probably finding one at the last moment. If the series is predictable…

**

Jason Bourne

DVD, Jason Bourne (2016) film

Ironically, the only Bourne film I ever saw at the cinema was the underwhelming disappointment, 'The Bourne Legacy,' which was the studio's attempt to turn the successful trilogy of Matt Damon-starring films into a cinematic universe without Matt Damon. Bourne without Bourne was a case of removing the 'u' and the 'n,' and was the reason I never went to see this fifth instalment on the big screen, knowing I could eventually pick it up cheaply on DVD. This time they were bringing back Damon to his rightful place at the centre of the series, but I had concerns as soon as I heard the name was avoiding the Robert Ludlum novel titles convention and making it as basic as could be: 'Jason Bourne.' I can see why they did it, since 'Legacy' had sullied the franchise and they wanted to distance it from that, the simplest way being to focus down to the most basic, but I hoped the film wouldn't follow such an unimaginative trend through its story, character and subtle emotions and morals. Because Bourne has always been a moral character, somehow struggling through all the pain and anguish of the life his memory loss protected him from, and that's why he's so likeable, because he has these vulnerabilities, but manages to do The Right Thing. He wasn't just another action hero, he was damaged, and susceptible, and so we cheer him on even more that he can persevere.

It's not just that he can do cool stuff that we admire, taking out bad guys, anticipating and adapting at lightning speed, pulling all kinds of tricks out of his experience and instinct, but that he has a moral compass, doesn't kill if there's no need to as he struggles to survive another day and find some kind of peace. The content of the story of this film was always going to be a difficulty, because the original three films covered every major aspect of his old life as an assassin, the memories resurfacing, and the root of it all, so where else was there to go? 'The Bourne Ultimatum' ended so wonderfully that as much as I wanted to see more of the characters, I felt like it was the perfect conclusion and that it might be best if they left it there with the character's subsequent life unknown, another reason I had the impression this latest release was to be a money-grab, without the dramatic necessity or drive to be able to reach the satisfaction and quality of storytelling of the third film. Why bring back Bourne if you aren't going to discover something new about him, and the reviews suggested that this was exactly the case, a stripped down, action-focused motivation that wouldn't do justice to the trilogy.

Unfortunately it genuinely was more retread-stone than Treadstone, a rehashing of past glories in an effort to remind us why we liked Bourne and his actions in the world he inhabits. But you could probably almost make the film with clips from past entries in the series it was so over-familiar: like the filmmakers, the American government hadn't learned from the past and now are planning another black ops programme in the Treadstone and Blackbriar mould, this one called Iron Hand (although it looked like there were several others on the list, too), and Nicky Parsons has become a hacktivist, joining an organisation that wants to expose such government naughtiness, and she hopes to enlist Bourne to once again make it clear that such things are not to be accepted. In the intervening years since we saw him he's gone a bit Sylvester Stallone in 'Rambo III,' fighting for a living to block the memories and past with pain, but as Dr. Hirsch predicted in one of the Treadstone files, he'll eventually reach a tipping point where life is meaningless without the agency to work for. Yeah, right.

Heather Lee, a computer whizz at the CIA thinks she can get Bourne to come in, but it proves useless, the final flourish, or the closest thing they could get to it, is Bourne one-upping her genuine wish for him to rejoin the agency by replaying a conversation she'd just had with the boss, Director Russell. It might have left the story in a more interesting place if she hadn't said Bourne might need to be put down, and he had agreed to come and work for them, setting up the sequels for years to come. But let's knock that idea down right now: the truth is they should have stayed at three films and left it at that because this is nowhere close to being a satisfying story that would make it worthwhile bringing back Jason, and undoing some of the greatness of that great 'Ultimatum' ending by doing further damage. In the same way that 'Legacy,' quite apart from failing to provide a compelling continuation, put a favourite character, Pam Landy, out of the picture (I can't remember whether she was killed or just ended up in prison, as I haven't revisited the film since it came out in 2012), they do the same to the only other person of note, wiping out Nicky to provide some drama. This series is hardly the place for good deaths, the hero cradling the victim's head in his arms before her eyes flutter away, so I felt it was fitting for her to die in such a manner, but sadly, she'd fallen victim to the worst death of being reduced to a plot device, the motivation to get an uninterested Bourne back in the game. I liked that her dying breath was to warn him not to come closer, a reminder of her selfless nature (she also appears to have become something of an agent herself, proactive and able to take care of herself in a physical confrontation).

So Bourne has a reason to 'suit up' again, back in black to beat the bads, with Director Dewey, whom we'd never heard of before, his target. So you get the scene where the wrinkled old visage is waiting in a room, sitting at a desk with gun at the ready, waiting for the approach of his nemesis. You get a resurfacing memory, where they do a creditable job of making Damon look much younger, the day his Father was killed. You get characters gazing moodily into mirrors; bike chase; car chase; car rammed by another vehicle side-on… All the usual bits and pieces are there, and at first I did find myself drawn in with the usual musical pulse beating time to the clicking keyboards and flicking camera, but somewhere, perhaps about an hour in, I realised I was becoming somewhat removed from the film, even a little bored. Granted, things didn't exactly pan out to the predictions my brain was jumping to - I thought Nicky would be kidnapped and held by the CIA and there'd be a daring rescue, all part of a plot to lure Jason in. I also thought Lee, the young hotshot that gets in on the mission, had a personal grudge. Maybe she'd be the daughter of one of the people Bourne had killed, or someone she knew was collateral in all the chases and scrapes he got into, but in fact they were merely replacing Pam Landy for a younger woman, someone that was working for the good, not necessarily the same goal of those in charge. Although disappointed not to succeed totally by getting Bourne back in, it was definitely in her best interests, as anyone that has dealings with him either dies or ends up in prison!

I ask myself what was missing to make this on a par with the other films, instead of a second so-so entry, which I, and I hate to say this, would put in the same category as 'Legacy.' It was nice to have Damon back, and good to see he got into shape for it, while in other recent films he'd let himself go a bit. But he's fighting fit and only a touch of grey in the hair tells you that nine years had passed since 'Ultimatum.' Ironically, he's probably close to the age of the original character in Ludlum's books, who was an older man with a family, if I recall correctly. It's a shame they didn't take something of that and have him actually settled somewhere with wife and children, just to give him more to lose instead of a guy who could die and it wouldn't make that much difference to anyone. Of course, as usual, he comes close, with the best stunt being a fall from a five-storey building, catching a wire, wrapping it around himself, and thumping into a metal shutter. That's one of the things missing, or at least far less pronounced than it used to be: realism. The Bourne films could be said to have changed the action genre. You only have to look at how both the other big spy series' reacted to the first two Bourne films, with 'M:I3' and especially the Bond reboot, 'Casino Royale,' adopting the frenetic, into-the-fray handheld action camera style and physical toll on the heroes, in an attempt to be part of the zeitgeist. But is that still the zeitgeist, or has it become the norm, the standard fare?

I think perhaps this film, while looking good, plenty of nice aerial shots of places and buildings, as you'd expect, and especially the chaos of a full-on, protestors versus riot police, smoke and fireworks in the dark, had the impression of being somehow dated. The music sounded as if it had been culled directly from the other films, no apparent attempt to create a new theme or develop the existing ones, even the end credits were just a rehash of 'Ultimatum's development of the shooting lines. I admit, it's hard to criticise a film for being like its forbears, because how can you make something new and different, yet that appeals to the fanbase, or the audience that have followed what came before? I don't know how they managed it, but 'Ultimatum' did just that, bigger, better, but also with a finality to it. While I was initially invested in a story about Richard Webb, Bourne's Father, having created Treadstone, and been killed for some reason, it never went anywhere. The film was a good few minutes longer than the others, but they didn't spare any time to show any depth to Bourne as they did so ably in the original trilogy. He scowled a lot and marched about in his usual way, but, aha! It was the lack of invention that was missing. The fire extinguisher to the lock, the hook on the boat, the protest march to cover a meet, the slipping of secret phone into unsuspecting pocket. He just didn't seem to use his environment as intelligently as before. In fact, some of those things were in this, but they'd been done before, and better. They needed to keep coming up with clever, intuitive courses of action, and while there was the occasional whiff of that, like setting off the fire alarms to disguise a meet, it was a variation and uncommon.

Does this mean they'd exhausted the toolbox of ideas for Bourne? Or was it just that they were under time pressures and hadn't been able to come up with new tricks and devices. They even resort to high-tech gadgetry that looked a little 'Mission: Impossible' in its improbability: that Bourne could record a conversation from several metres away from inside a car. You can pick apart any film, and it's not my intention to do that, but I have to admit to an ultimately unsatisfied nagging that this was a wasted opportunity. I'm sure everyone involved put in their best efforts, you can even see Greengrass had pulled back a little on the intense shake of the camera - the meeting in a restaurant of Dewey and Deep Dream internet company founder Aaron Kalloor was almost stable while they were talking! And I liked that they revisited some of the places Bourne had been before, especially London (although I'd never been to Paddington Plaza, unlike Waterloo Station in 'Ultimatum'). They even tried to give him a different opponent with the unnamed 'Asset,' who was far from being an asset to his profession, killing his own agents to make Bourne seem worse, and having a personal vendetta. But it became a little too much when, as well as being the guy Bourne was responsible for getting caught and tortured in the past, he also turned out to be the guy, years before that, who'd killed Bourne's Dad. These assets are fine for a while, but how long can you care about a nasty agent with no name: we know he's bad by the fact that he watches football on TV while he's got a hostage in his bath!

Back to the realism, though. Both Bourne and Mr. Asset were not young men, but they experience a ridiculous crash, Asset's stolen SWAT van taking Bourne's borrowed car into a building's facade and both emerge unscathed. A few minutes later they're running around and having a prolonged fight in a dark tunnel. Perhaps it's nitpicking to comment on it, especially after so many fights we've seen in the series, but none of the confrontations in this film were a patch on the attack on the country house in the first film, or the battle with Desh in an apartment that was so cool in 'Ultimatum.' Granted, it is more realistic that Bourne takes out most people he comes up against in seconds, but when even the fight sequences aren't impressing, you know something's wrong. The criticism I've heard that Bourne hardly says anything is valid, but wouldn't have mattered if the story had been up to snuff. So Jason's Dad was killed because he realised his son had been selected and he didn't like the way the programme was going? Why had we never heard of Dewey before? [Other incredulous questions I can't think of right now]?

They were so desperate to wipe the stain of 'Legacy' from the legacy our minds were left with, that they failed to make a worthy successor. It clearly wasn't enough to bring back Damon and Greengrass, something more was required. The best thing would have been to let sleeping dogs lie, or at least take the opportunity to pull another rabbit out of the hat, if they could. But lightning rarely strikes twice, and it did not in this case, making me glad I never made the effort to see it at the cinema. Oddly, all the previous films except 'Legacy' I first saw on DVD, so I couldn't even make that excuse for this one, that it didn't have the cinematic grandeur needed for a first viewing experience. It could be just me, and my advancing age that has made so many franchise films seem a little tiresome and repetitive: 'Star Trek,' 'Star Wars,' 'Mission: Impossible,' Batman and any other superhero films… They've all disappointed to the same degree. Maybe I have loyalty to the earlier products and still watch them, which means I don't have room for more of the same, but it could be that these films are becoming too samey, safe and, ultimately generic. That's why 'Interstellar' impressed me so much, being different to what I'd seen. Trouble is, a fickle audience being asked to pay ten quid for the privilege of seeing the latest flick is going to choose a safe bet, so filmmakers do what's expected. No longer on the cutting edge, the Bourne films have stayed in the past, and it's sad to see.

**

Moonshine

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Moonshine) (2)

A good-humoured ring-ding jaunt with the good ol' boys, Johnny Stovall and CW Jackson, or should I say Starsky and Hutchinson, as they take on lowdown country dudes when a good, honest bootleggin' business gets a bad name from one of the guys cutting good, honest liquor with wood alcohol and causing some deaths. It's certainly the most fun episode so far this season, but doesn't go into the realms of parody that infamous examples, such as 'Dandruff,' would do sometimes - although they're playing Southern boys from Alabama as a disguise to get in on the racket and find the culprits, S&H don't take their alter egos to heart, and in fact seem quite shy and embarrassed in comparison to their usual antics, though Hutch ends up having to perform some picking on the gee-tar when they head to the Backwood Inn to follow a lead - what did he expect, taking a guitar into amateur night? Although it's got a good share of action and chuckles, it's pretty straightforward as they go, meaning not a lot to write about, but one thing that did interest me was where S&H actually were in relation to their usual beat. Previous viewings gave me the impression they were in the back of beyond, but they can't be too far away from the city since there's never any question of jurisdiction, they're in range of the local dispatcher (who actually gets them into trouble at one point - must be the biggest role she's had! I'd love to know who did the familiar voice…), who's able to patch Dobey in, Starsky plans to attend a dance competition that evening, and Hutch reports they're in the North-West quadrant of the county, so they couldn't be too far away.

Timing is something that might confuse the issue a little, since I'm sure more than one day passes (we see them at the Inn of an evening), but I can't remember at what point Starsky was saying he had the talent show tonight with the never-seen Roxy. It's another running joke that does actually run through the course of the episode, with first appearance when Starsky's practicing his moves with the car door as partner, trying to hide 'An Anglo's Guide To Latin Disco' from Hutch, unsuccessfully. Later, his smart pumps are found by Hutch when he has to drive after Starsky's managed to get drunk on liquor at Smokey Mountain Inn during the initial stage of the investigation, having previously been antsy about taking any of the stuff into his system since the hick bootleggers had died from similar fare! If there was an episode I imagine inspired a lot of the tone of the 2004 film, then this must be near the top of the list. They don't wear fake moustaches and ride hulking motorbikes (Hutch has a natural one, and he does borrow a dirt bike from a kid to follow Willy), but they encounter yokels and rub them up the wrong way while stopping off at a roadside inn.

Willy and Melvin, brothers working for the Ivers', Dolly and Sam (was he her Dad?), are the real bad guys, and of the two of them, Willy's the one calling the shots, followed meekly and stupidly by his younger brother who probably isn't that bad, but has been led astray. Willy's not exactly an Einstein criminal mastermind, but he's also shrewd, quickly realising S&H are cops by the CB radio he fiddles about with, discovering a police signal - that's where the dispatcher tries to contact Zebra Three and when she comes into contact with Willy the game's up. Maybe they should have thought of having her in on the setup, but then they never expected Willy was going to take off in their truck (borrowed from the trusting Detective Munson who you could tell regretted his decision the instant they sped jerkily off from the station in his pride and joy!), to avoid revealing the location of the secret still. I would have thought he'd have heard Starsky dashing after him and leaping into the back of the truck, but he didn't. The scene with Hutch burning down the empty tracks on a Kawasaki dirt bike was a favourable reminder of previous episodes such as 'The Psychic' where Hutch had to run around getting to phones by a certain time while Starsky covered him by bike. I thought there was another one with Hutch speeding through the countryside to find his partner, unless I'm thinking of this one? 'Bloodbath' is similar where he's driving round the countryside searching for Starsky, but he had the Torino at his disposal then.

The stereotypes might be a bit strong, but the series has always enjoyed playing such things up. They seem to have had better roles for the female members of the cast so far this season (such as Emily in 'Blindfold,' and the killer in 'Photo Finish'), with Dolly continuing the trend as a tough, non-nonsense lady with good morals. It's funny to hear Sam talk about their business as having been around when Washington was just swampland, or whatever he says, and that's the reason he wouldn't pay taxes on the alcohol! But times change, and society with it, just as his goal was to produce good quality stuff, he wasn't such a good judge of character, assuming he hired Willy, who finds it sickly funny that they're going to make money on 'gut-rot,' rather than feeling appalled by his crimes or sorry for the victims. He doesn't care about anyone, even treating his brother as just a lackey, but he gets his comeuppance as you'd expect. Ironically, Hutch rides into the still machinery, missing the villains, and sits down on Starsky's foot by mistake. Unlike the usual tag scene, I can't complain it doesn't have anything to do with the episode as we hear what happened to those involved, such as Dolly and Sam being let off by the Judge and returning to Kentucky, while Hutch brings the joke full circle and admits he's taking Starsky's place in the dance contest, the freeze frame a particularly good one of Starsky raising his crutch to beat down his partner!

Being an episode out in the country you'd think it would be full of eccentric characters, but though there's a long cast list (perhaps one of the longest ever?), I would only put Earl, the big bloke they meet outside Smokey Mountain Inn, and who went from angry guy to hospitable through Starsky's brazen charm, as the sole example, slapping them around in his friendly manner. The barman, Rudy, was quite restrained and subtle, while the bootleggers, Virgil and Frank, were drunk at the time as they carried out their sugar heist. Willy and the gang were all pretty ordinary in their own way, and Ben Meadows, owner of the Backwood Inn, was a regular guy. Doesn't mean the episode wasn't a lively one, it's full of jolly fine fun, such as David Soul getting to show off his musical talents again, with the initially sceptical band gradually joining in until there's a proper knees-up going on. He doesn't fare so well with the Torino, which I think is why they end up going to Munson for suitable replacement wheels, but it's telling that when Hutch is at the wheel he's not able to pull off a proper skid-turn to chase Dolly's yellow truck. Some of the jokes you might expect don't occur, such as them introducing themselves the other way round as they used to, after being mistaken, or Hutch having to dump Starsky's bagged meal because of a call out, but perhaps they had different writers or they didn't want to rely too much on old jokes?

Interestingly for me, it was written by Fred Freiberger who was in charge of the third and final season of 'Star Trek' in the 1960s, and another Trek connection is that it was directed by Reza Badiyi who directed some 'DS9' episodes. There's no sign of Huggy, but I suppose his street smarts would be wasted on the countryside, but at least Dobey gets out of the office - he has to foot the bill for a shipment of sugar S&H are supposed to acquire in order to trade with Willy. He advises his men to dress a little more down-home for their unusual assignment, so it's in with the cowboy hats once more, which they always love to do - there's even shots in the credits montage of previous such getups. There aren't many references, the most clear being Starsky's of Eliot Ness, the famous prohibition enforcer. Colonel Parker is mentioned, but I couldn't remember if that was the guy who managed Elvis, or not. Hutch says Roxy has an Ava Garner mouth. And Starsky pulls the old trick of distracting his buddy so he can be alone with Dolly, when he suggests they go to the bar, then stays behind at the table. Was the underpass they drive under during the chase at the beginning the same as in 'Partners,' near their crash? There weren't a lot of standout lines, but I liked the one about Starsky thinking about his Mama in 'Bama.

With such a host of characters it's unsurprising that some of them were played by actors that had been in the series previously: Zachary Lewis who played dopey younger brother Melvin, had been Mousy Loomis in Season 2's 'Nightmare' (another dopey sidekick to the main villain), and was Henderson in Season 3's 'Partners' (another dopey sidekick, I think!). Big guy, Earl, played by Lee McLaughlin had been Frisco Fats in Season 1 ('Captain Dobey, You're Dead!'), and Al in 3's 'The Heroes.' Rudy the barman had been a trucker in 'The Set-Up' of Season 2, while William Cort (Hank Munson), was Officer Knight in that season's 'The Committee,' credited as Bill Cort. So it was quite a reunion of old faces.

***

Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis

DOSBox, Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis (1992) game

Playing through the original 'Dune' for the first time only increased my appetite for revisiting one of my favourite games, the sequel, 'Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis.' I could have gone for the much-loved Amiga version, having got the old computer up and running again after a year out, but I chose to play on DOSBox for the convenience and novelty of playing it on my Mac. In deference to the first time I ever played it in the late nineties, I chose House Ordos to make my conquest with. I completed the game on the Amiga with all three Houses, which shows how much I enjoyed the game, but I must say it did seem on this occasion to be a much shorter game: only nine missions test you to the end, and a couple of the early ones are typically undemanding, but I was soon thoroughly engaged with what was the original real-time strategy title.

It looked as good as I remembered it, but it was a quite different experience when following directly on from the first 'Dune' - the end of that game suggested a close tie in story and style, but actually the two games are pretty far apart. The fact that you have the choice of three House, Atreides, Harkonnen or Ordos, perhaps limited the story potential, because at the end of the first 'Dune' Paul Atreides has become Emperor, and it's clearly not him in the throne this time around, it's more like a parallel or alternate story, with improved gameplay mechanics. There are a lot of things the RTS genre would come to take for granted, but which isn't in evidence here, and noticeably so: usually things like the fact you can't group units and must laboriously click on each one and assign it a task individually, so that RSI is a real danger in the heat of battle! But I still remember the thrill of hearing digitised speech and all those "Acknowledged!" and "Yes, sir," communications from your troops. It's also memorable for giving you the choice of which playing style you want, with Atreides being the aboveboard good guys, Harkonnen the avowed villains, and Ordos the treacherous middle ground (rather like the Romulans, which also fits the green House colour - that would make Atreides the Federation and the Harkonnen the Klingons…).

The music on this version wasn't as atmospheric as the Amiga's that I remember, but then that machine was famed for its superior audio quality. The attraction of Arrakis' yellow sands, orange Melange, the spice of life, literally, counterpointed by the bright unit colours of blue, red or green were always a visual delight and still have a pixellated beauty to them even now. The game was a challenge, but not insurmountable, even though it was always wise to keep track of how much spice was on the map, since once it was gone, the attempt was pretty much over: without spice to convert into credits there'd be no more repairs to your slowly degrading buildings in the harsh desert world, no more armies to build and destroy the opposition, and no more point to be there, and a couple of missions were right down to the wire, with attempts to destroy the last one or two enemy buildings reliant on the scarce remaining credits and existing resources. In regard to RTS, the game isn't a patch on 'Age of Empires,' yet it's still an astonishingly playable and complete gaming experience, highly worthy of the attention of any student of games history, and even anyone that fancies a fun title.

The introduction of improving military units and facilities is very well-judged, doesn't overwhelm the player and instead fills them with curiosity over what each new advance will bring, tactically. There's also the fact that each House has different strengths and weaknesses to add, yes, spice, to the pot. But it's very much a race against time to develop and upgrade in each mission, get defensive structures up so you can gather resources in order to build an army of sufficient strength to strike the enemy from the face of the map. And it is so much of an improvement over the clunky system used in the first game. Even though it doesn't have quite the visual impressiveness of 'Dune' (the 3D flying sections, for example), it focuses down onto the key gameplay and improves the experience no end. Would I rate the game now as one of the best I've ever played if I had no prior attachment to it? No, I'd probably think well of it, and certainly as a significant upgrade to the first instalment it wins hands down, but with the nostalgia attached it remains a very special game in the same conversation as 'The Settlers' and 'UFO: Enemy Unknown,' not to mention the first two 'Age of Empires' titles, and one that was a real pleasure to revisit, though not one that I was so enamoured with that I wanted to jump straight back in and play through as the other Houses.

*****

Before I Sleep

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S1 (Before I Sleep)

At the sight of 'Excerpts written by…' I tend to feel disappointed, as, knowing the 'Stargate' franchise, it usually means a clips episode. I didn't think 'Atlantis' would go that route, especially not in its first season, but maybe they spent so much on the sets and CGI work that late in the season they needed to save money? Well, that may be true, since this is a bottle episode, occurring pretty much all in the city, but fortunately the excerpts were few and only fuel for a cool retcon: ten thousand years the city awaited their expedition, and more to the point, the person who put the dust sheets on the consoles and put the city into sleep mode, like an oversized computer, was none other than Weir herself, thanks to some zany time travel foolery! Not to mention the addition to the continuing arc with this Weir bringing 'gate addresses of five planets containing functioning ZPMs. The episode begins suitably and encouragingly mysterious with the discovery of an old, old woman in a stasis tube, and it ends affectingly with Weir contemplating existence while letting the ashes of her elder self float away above the city. A hauntingly sad fate awaited this other self, left alone on the city after The Ancients had abandoned it, with a ten thousand year wait for revival to come. It was just that the bulk of the story had none of the wonder and fascination that such a science fiction idea held in potential, The Ancients a rather boring group. We've waited so long to see this backbone of the series' and when we do get a good amount of time with them (having only had slivers here and there before), it's all very underwhelming.

I have to stake my views out on time travel, too. They use the currently fashionable theory of quantum mechanics that suggests that every decision ever made splits off into another universe, so there are practically infinite alternate versions of our reality. But it makes no sense (admittedly, not being a professor or having any intellectual standing, I'm sure my views have very little value, but I know what makes good drama and what makes reality purposeless and unimportant). Why would anyone's decision have an impact on the layout of the universe, it's simultaneously arrogant and demeaning, in equal measure? Arrogant because it means that every action and thought could affect such a vast thing as all existence, and demeaning because it means our reality wasn't planned or has any other meaning to it beyond being the one that we happen to inhabit, with no more validity than any other possible variation. But enough with my complaints about the current time travel trend - I've always preferred the majority of 'Star Trek' time travel variations (and 'Back To The Future,' which gets referenced here), in which there's a set timeline that we are a part of, and any tinkering in the past will alter our future, while also, the altering can be undone, rather than people splitting off into other universes. But they did do a fine job of getting an alternate Weir into a story, using time travel, and having it mean something, her whole life effectively dedicated to keeping the city ready for the eventual visit of her people.

The old age makeup was very good, and I certainly didn't peg that it was Dr. Weir at all, though I felt her voice should have been deepened to match the rest of her ageing. The return to scenes set during the 'first' visit to Atlantis, with Sumner and the others from 'Rising,' the pilot episode, became interesting when it branches off and happens differently than we remember, the city becoming flooded and many dying (Rodney and Sheppard argue over who had the best death!), and the time ship is clearly part of the double-pumping of this and 'SG-1,' since that series ended its season using the very same kind of ship, presumably designed by this same Ancient, Janus, since he says he hopes his research will survive to create another one, after the Ancients' Council decides to destroy the machine to prevent any more meddling. Interesting choice of name considering the franchise's connection to so many deities of the ancient world - he is a bit two-faced, too, since he hides Weir so she can be put into stasis instead of returning with the Ancients to Earth (I couldn't help find it funny the way she hides behind a pillar in the command centre, watching The Ancients leave through the 'gate, peeping round the corner!).

I also can't help but feel Weir is a bit too pushy when it comes to decision-making, and just makes a decision because she knows she has to, rather than thinking it through or paying much attention to the advice of others. This episode she's too quick to awaken the old woman they find in stasis, even when Dr. Beckett warns the shock of coming to could kill her. She's willing to take the risk. And then again when she wants answers, she doesn't seem to care about medical ethics, but wants Beckett to give the poor old dear a stimulant so she won't keep dropping off so irritatingly before important details can be got out of her. She feels the oldie will be able to take it, and so they do. Okay, so she was right, and it was necessary, but it's just the way Weir comes to these conclusions so seemingly unfeelingly. A leader has to bear these things in mind, too. I kept thinking of Captain Janeway of 'Voyager' who also sometimes made questionable decisions, and I wonder what it is about female commanders that makes them so stubborn. Maybe the male ones do such things, too, but somehow it's more noticeable in these.

In terms of the acting of two characters, I felt Torri Higginson did a good job, so much so that it took me a while to be sure it was her (she even gets an extra title in the end credits), and there's plenty of dramatic effects work, like the command centre filling with water after the shield fails. But there's something about the city Atlantis that I'm not sure about. They've made some big sets and varied locations, but whenever they go anywhere, it always feels small and cramped, with tiny doorways relative to the size and grandeur of the place. It just feels like the style they chose was too confining, perhaps coming from budgetary constraints, but unlike, say, 'DS9' where I always felt the station was bigger than it seemed, this seems smaller. And I'll go back to The Ancients again: they were very bland, apart from slightly rebellious, but quiet, Janus. Like the Tok'Ra they wore unflattering beige robes and spoke in careful, measured tones just as we've seen from so many races in 'SG-1.' I don't know, I'd just have thought they could make these Stargate builders more interesting, engaging and energetic! So I'd have to give them points for a promising idea (wish they'd mentioned the 'SG-1' team's time travel, but maybe that was kept secret, I can't remember), but it's another one that falls short, and even with ten thousand years behind it, the city still fails to be an invitation to mysterious exploration. And did Sheppard really need to come and interrupt Weir's musings after she'd just seen her older self die? That would have been a more contemplative choice to end on, without the jerk back to reality.

**

Photo Finish

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Photo Finish)

After a couple of episodes mostly going solo, the dynamic duo are back to their regular team-up, with all the banter and oneupmanship that implies, although unfortunately it's a fairly run of the mill episode which stints on the usual action, and is actually a bit messy with them shooting here and there, gatecrashing a party of high society swells because their friend, Marcie, is on official photography business - but would you want S&H around when you're trying to present a professional front? It's the old fish out of water gags that always work so well for them, though this time Hutch isn't quite as much in the role of explaining aspects of the good life to his partner as he did so memorably in 'Bust Amboy,' for example. So the humour isn't quite as free-flowing as it can be, but on the other side, it's great to see them snap into action, all social faux pas and awkwardness vanishes in the instant artist Troy Braddock is shot by an unknown assailant in the midst of the party guests. S&H immediately lock down the area and there's no more laughing at Starsky's tattered tuxedo, he has zero concern about appearance once a murder has been committed.

The real star of the episode is the mysterious hit-woman who goes by the aliases Greta Wren and Dora Pruitt, neither of which, I assume, is her real name, adding even more mystery to this mistress of disguise that gives even Hutch, after his performances under makeup in 'The Game,' a run for his money. It's a great performance, from ditzy Dora, the waitress serving at the party, to the sinister mask lady that tails Marcie on suspicion of her photograph revealing the killer, to the breezy Greta of Women's Fashion Magazine. She's a dangerous foe, and we've not seen many of the female variety on the series. She certainly fools S&H with both her personas, and the only time we see her real one is when she's on the phone to her employer, Basil Monk. She was such an intriguing character and although I thought there was something odd about the waitress at the beginning I forgot that she was the murderer. The name Pruitt rang a bell and I was wondering if she was a relation of the series' nemesis (of 'Pariah' and 'Starsky's Lady' fame), until I recalled he was Prudholm, not Pruitt. That would have been a great connection if they'd seen fit to take it up and one of her aliases had been Prudholm, or perhaps her real name, but they didn't go in for a lot of connective tissue in the Seventies.

The one thing that would have made the episode feel more complete and fulfilling is the action quotient, which is surprisingly small. When Marcie is so close to being run down by the disturbing mask lady I thought one of them, Starsky or Hutch, would jump in the Torino and speed off in pursuit, but they both stay with Marcie, whose own ambitions have caused her trauma: if she'd given up the film when Starsky asked, there would have been no negative for the killer to pursue and she wouldn't have been on the radar, but the promise of a leg up in her career, not to mention the potential wealth generated by such a shock image, is too great a temptation for her (I was wondering why she was so pleased after developing it, since it doesn't appear to show the killer, then I remembered it's about making money and a name for herself that matters to her, not finding the killer as we and S&H want). 'Greta' visits her with the intention of pulling a gun, possibly to kill, perhaps to extort, but either way her life was in danger and if friend and boss, Paula, hadn't showed up just at that moment things could have gone very badly indeed.

Marcie isn't portrayed as a 'bad guy,' just ambitious and career-conscious, making the excuse of how difficult it is for a woman to make it in her career. As you'd expect for the series, it doesn't delve into any issues like that, but S&H stand by her and don't scold or remonstrate with her for the lack of cooperation. It's nice to meet another friend of theirs, even though they seem to know half the city! It's interesting that we have a photography focused episode immediately after one where Starsky showed off his hobby - perhaps that's how he met Marcie? I'd have liked them to talk cameras and things to show he's still into it, and maybe she could show him up, more humour could have been derived from an amateur next to a professional, with the irony being that his profession saved her when her photography almost drew death towards her.

Though there isn't much action for them to get their teeth into (as soon as I saw that banister outside Marcie's I thought it would be ideal to leap over, and then they did!), and Huggy and Dobey are mostly sidelined (Hug's scene at the very end is almost like the writers were guilty they hadn't given him any business, so they bring him in just to give the double-daters a bottle of champagne), the direction was notably dramatic, whether it was the scene at Police HQ where S&H and Dobey are discussing things, Hutch and the Captain pacing back and forth behind the seated Starsky, they add… pace, by having the camera follow one, then the other, crossing over behind the seated man, then dropping to him - it's almost the modern style we often see now, except without the annoying handheld camera shake that can blight shots. There's also the creepy scene at Monk's mansion where the hit-woman has been tricked into thinking Basil has bought the negative to use as leverage against her. You see this figure dressed in black springing across the patio outside, the hideously blank mask and headscarf even more chilling with the contrast that draws the eye there. There's some real tension, like something out of a Hitchcock, when Basil stands in the hallway, gazing dumbstruck at the door as we hear the sounds of a lock being picked, a pool of light highlighting the handle, and then enters the mask, directly and purposefully towards camera, and what we assume is Basil's point of view. Except he's gone.

I also quite liked the use of his toys to startle the hit-woman into firing off all her rounds. She wasn't the coolest of her profession at that point, but then she had come in the heat of anger, thinking her employer was double-crossing her, despite the fact that she would have deserved it as she was trying to extort more money from him! She calls herself the White Witch when Basil asks who she is, though whether she's just trying to scare him with a creepy name or that's the genuine alias she goes by, we don't find out - I wonder how he first got in touch with her as she must have a contact name of some kind, and how did he find her, the telephone directory? Earlier we saw Basil sitting next to an eternally weird monkey clapping cymbals and grinning just like the mechanical toy, and here it gets its comeuppance for being so sinister, as do several other toys (I used to have a battery-powered police car like that when I was a child - it was so cool, driving around automatically, blaring sirens and flashing lights!). Though the music wasn't very noteworthy, unlike 'Blindfold' before it, I did notice they were using percussion to accentuate the horror as they've done so often before in strictly horror episodes.

I wouldn't have called this a horror, but they could have played that side of it up to strengthen the tension and give the episode an edge that, for example, 'The Avenger' would have later in the season, and that others have managed to varying degrees. But it's a pretty sunny, 'positive' episode. Sunny doesn't have to mean that, it can be oppressive and draining, but when they do horror it's usually of the dark corners variety, so successfully achieved in the door-unlocking scene here. There's also a lot of humour in the episode, with a few wacky and crazy characters: I would have put Dora in that category when she first appears as the waitress who Starsky inadvertently tips because he doesn't realise the drinks are free (they seem to have a thing about women storing things in their bras in this episode - Dora shoves the tip in there and Marcie hides her films there, as well as the precious negative, later!), just because she's got a sort of vivacity to her that is also open and simpleminded, the two in conflict, even in that brief interaction with S&H. But she doesn't qualify ultimately because her real persona is a touch world-weary and businesslike - perhaps she's reflecting on her life as she sits massaging her forehead, or maybe it's the tensions of staying in character so much, or even concern over the negative that may point the finger at her. I like the little subtle details like that - another one was at the Formal Wear clothing store when Hutch takes off his jacket to try on a tuxedo for hire when he hears Paula's going to be at the party and invites himself along. The shop assistant pointedly notices the gun, but Hutch just reassures him with a friendly shrug.

If Dora doesn't meet the requirements for wackiness inclusion, then Basil certainly does, with his high-pitched voice and large glasses, his odd views and pattern of speech, not to mention his many toys scattered around, and the eccentric behaviours (such as his butler pouring fish food into his upturned hat for him to go and cast into the pond). He also had some good lines, such as calling himself a 'devout coward,' and the assertion that he and his wife would remain married for life, to which Hutch rejoins "Yours or hers?" There's also the old landlady that takes no chances with S&H's claim to be cops ('and I'm Tatum O'Neill,' she retorts) - holding them up with the barrel of a hefty rifle when they visit the hit-woman's newly deserted apartment, before revealing that she can't get the ammo for it anyway! Plus she calls Vogue, Vog-oo. There's also the secretary at News World Magazine, who wears ear defenders because of the building works on the floor above, so she and S&H have to constantly shout at each other to be heard! Then she goes round watering the plants while they wait, one of which she says is called Boris… Basil's unfaithful wife Nicole didn't meet the criteria, she was merely slimy, and Marcie and Paula were, of course, perfectly normal. Greta would have fitted into the group if she'd been a real person instead of an act, and it was certainly impressive how different the body language and speech was from Dora. I'd have loved to have seen her pull off other disguises since the two were so effective.

If the episode failed to fall into the horror sub-genre of the series, and wasn't a comedy, it would definitely fit into the positive view of the city for all the time they spend in lavish mansions and grounds, the slick apartment of Marcie with all its strong imagery of black and white photographs dominating the walls, her personal darkroom, and the contemporary, spare, but functional aesthetics of News World's offices. The only straying from this is the hit-woman's apartment, a grimy, dismal little place (but not as bad as Ray Pardee's from 'The Game,' it does at least have all the furniture and necessaries a hit-woman could want). And also because the tone is kept fairly light most of the time, apart from Starsky's horror at seeing Marcie knocked against her car so violently (though I couldn't quite make out whether she was bumped by the hit-woman's speeding motor, or if it was a result of her own desperate leap that caused her damage). Dobey even tells S&H to tread carefully among the great and the good upper class people, those with money apparently also having influence, though again, it's not an aspect of the story that's in any way explored, S&H never coming up against haughty, entitled rich because Basil and his wife are both quite unconventional, and he probably thinks he can cover his involvement in the murder more effectively if he cooperates in his own, unique way with the police.

For once we have a genuinely running, running gag, which begins in the first scene (Formal Wear has a red carpet which is usually the shorthand for a bad guy's fancy digs, but Basil didn't have one of that colour!), with Starsky renting the tuxedo, continues to the party where he's the joke of the gathering for foolishly forgetting to take off the rental tag, dangling obviously on his back, followed by Hutch making it worse by ripping the back in half when pulling the tag away, and later, at HQ, just as he's vehemently accepting his own responsibility for it he spills his chilli dog on it. It even gets referenced further into the episode where he notes that at thirty bucks a day he's got to find some way to take it back, shortly before shutting the sleeve in the Torino's door! At least Hutch didn't try to pull it out, ripping it even more… Finally, in the end scene he mentions the tux again, saying they wouldn't take it back for money, so it had a good journey all the way through.

For references we get Marcie describing her shot of Braddock going down as the Ruby-Oswald photo of the Seventies (presumably there was a photo of Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald); it looks like she has a large portrait of Robert Redford among the images on her wall; I didn't get who Tatum O'Neill was, but that's another name we get; and the shot in the credits of Starsky bringing the red light in which I'd assumed was from an earlier season was obviously from 'Blindfold' since you can see Hutch wearing the moustache. I liked hearing that Police HQ is in 'Precinct 9,' as Starsky tells the landlady to contact Dobey there to claim for her damaged door. I don't think the bamboo chair at Marcie's was the same as Starsky's, it just shows these things were popular then. Burke, the cop who guards Marcie's door, and is called by that name, was actually the name of the actor (he's credited as 'Patrolman'), and had been credited before (Season 3's 'The Action'), and I'm pretty sure is the goldfish-eyed background extra in a few episodes.

They misspelt News World Managing Editor's John Reinhardt as Reinhart in the credits (you can see the correct spelling prominently on his door, or alternatively, they misspelt it on the door and the correct spelling is in the credits, but either way they didn't catch the mistake), and the husband and wife duo of Basil (Graham Jarvis), and Nicole (Shera Danese), had both played roles previously: the former, back in Season 1's 'Pariah,' and the latter in Season 2's 'Starsky And Hutch Are Guilty.' While Fran Ryan who played the landlady was back for a third stint, having been in Season 1's 'Jo-Jo' and 3's 'Murder Ward,' and a fun character she was. Sally Kirkland as the hit-woman gets the honour of being the only actor to be credited with two roles in the same episode, as Greta Wren/Dora Pruitt. There appeared to be a slight visual error when Greta first visits Marcie and is pulling a gun out of her waistband - she shoves it back in and as she leaves you can't see any sign of it when in the closeup it was quite obvious. There's also the usual TV magic when it comes to blowing up a photo: it's in perfect detail, so good that they can spot the gleam of a silencer barrel on the waitress' tray!

I quite liked the nice little social scene at the end with S&H, Marcie and Paula out at The Pits for a little celebration as it was a nice way for the episode to bow out. It would have been a much better episode if Huggy had been worked in (difficult when it was mostly dealing with the ivory towers of rich people and newspapers rather than the streets), Dobey had put more pressure on through not wanting to upset the posh folk, and a greater use of the hit-woman in a sinister and malevolent way, not to mention the necessary increase in action, but it remains a fun time to spend with the lads, quirky villains and a Director that tried a few ideas, it's just a shame that it didn't quite get to the level it had the potential for, and that we never saw the hit-woman again, as she might have made an interesting recurring foil - I can imagine both S&H stating with absolute confidence they'd never fall for her disguises again, then, predictably, being conned.

**

Sanctuary

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S1 (Sanctuary)

Waiting for the twist… Waiting for the twist… and… thereitcomes! For all the potential of examining an alien culture, or the pitfalls of comparing religions/philosophies/beliefs, it all comes down to old-fashioned romance for the hero, as Sheppard falls for the High Priestess Chaya of Proculis, a planet that has the unique ability to destroy any Wraith ships (or 'darts' as they call the little fighter vessels here), and keep the simple folk planet-side safe and unconcerned. We've seen the simple, agrarian lifestyle before, and the flowing monk robes, weird body tattoos, and plentiful, natural food amid a basic village. So I was wondering if there was going to be some twist, or more to the point what it was going to be: that these are frauds, actually more advanced than they seem, or their weapon is essential to the planet, or that they don't like interfering busybodies from other galaxies poking their noses in… It was really none of the above, simply because the simple people were as simple as they simply appeared. Simple. The Proculans, or Proculisans (Proculanians?), were pretty irrelevant to the story, but as a side note I thought it was pretty rude and condescending of the Atlantis lot to come in and try a guilt trip on them that they should be sharing their planet with as many as they could fit on it in order to protect more from the Wraith. Or that Weir can give them technology to change, develop, enhance and advance their lifestyle when it's perfectly serviceable and they live just as they want with no war, hatred or negative connotations of any kind, their needs adequately serviced, thank you very much.

Isn't it about time these people drafted some kind of directive which governs how they deal with pre-spaceflight colonies, since though human, they are practically a separate species through their long history and ways deviating so much and so uniquely. But no, they keep charging in and messing around with things they don't know! And we're supposed to root for these guys? I know, I know, The Wraith are a fearsome foe, but even there it's hard to forget how much humanity came into this Galaxy and messed things up by waking this foe in the first place. Waking them earlier, they'd still have come to eventually, but it's unfortunate that they seem to be making the same old human mistakes and causing grief or interference for so many innocent peoples and never seem to learn. Granted, Sheppard's not a grizzled veteran like O'Neill, and Rodney's hardly Sam Carter, but after watching so much Trek it's hard to look on these issues with an open mind, or to see it from the American-centric worldview of interference for their interests that this branch of the Stargate Programme displays. I'm sure their intentions are laudable, they want to protect themselves and as many others as possible from the scourge they unleashed on Pegasus, and what other way can they achieve this goal except by stumbling about and making mistakes?

The thing is, that part of the story isn't really important as it tries to become a tragic love story, Sheppard and Chaya separated by their kind and her sentence of eternal exile to this planet for interfering in mortal matters in the first place: she's an Ancient who's ascended, but pops up among the people to keep it secure. At least that solves a few of the questionable decisions made in the early part of the episode as I was wondering why these abbots were comfortable with allowing their seemingly young High Priestess from venturing off to another world with strangers she's just met, and in particular a young man whose paying her special attention! But it's okay because she's not young and she has the power. I wondered if it was going to become an Evil Chaya episode where she makes Sheppard take over the city, considering how violently he snaps at McKay who's only trying to plant seeds of doubt in the Major's mind. After all, Dr. Beckett's proved she has unnaturally perfect health, and there's something about her… Not that McKay excels himself in the episode, refusing to even pretend to respect the Proculis' beliefs in his inimitably sarcastic and irreverent way. But if the episode threatened to become controversial and perhaps turn into ways to steal a ZPM, or forcibly share technology, or not take no for an answer, or even the religious slant that they muddle in there about the state of Earth, it doesn't, and stays very safe. And a bit boring (although it was funny McKay's reference to Sheppard doing a Captain Kirk routine of romancing the alien woman that wouldn't be out of place in 1967!).

No, while the fascination of meeting an Ancient (even though we already did that in 'SG-1,' at least I think that was before this, but in the same year, not counting Daniel when he was ascended in previous seasons), gives the episode a jolt of something, and Chaya has a draw and mystery to her character as you wonder what she plans or what secret she holds, it's ultimately rather pointless because she's not going to reveal anything Ancient-ey or provide our heroes with help, so it's very much an unremarkable, treading water kind of story, and Sheppard isn't the best character to be taken into the realms of the romantic, even if it was nice to see the Ilia/Decker whirling lights thing from 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' at the end. The episode didn't put the characters in the best light and we could have done with something more tangible to take away from it. We didn't even get much of the beautiful pastoral scenes to please the eye, so it was merely an okay instalment, nothing more, sadly.

**

Blindfold

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Blindfold) (2)

Every season they liked to do at least one story where Starsky and/or Hutch fell for the woman of the week, only to discover she harbours a dark secret and/or she dies tragically. This time the twist is that Starsky charms her from a sense of intense guilt after accidentally shooting her while trying to apprehend a couple of felons running from a safe robbery. There are things about it that push even this series' brushes into fantasy. A guy running around being a vampire may seem hard to believe in the hard police world that S&H inhabit, but what about an innocent civilian that runs out directly into the line of fire between a criminal and the cop chasing him? And then she goes blind from a mere graze along one side of her face! Perhaps truth is stranger than fiction, and there may be real accounts of innocents in a state of terror who ran into a firefight instead of keeping their heads down. And maybe temporary blindness caused by the shock and trauma of being shot is possible. The first point is easy to explain when we later discover that far from being an innocent pedestrian on her way back from art class, Emily Harrison was actually the lookout for the robbery, the main suspect being her 'old man' in the coupling sense, so it's more than plausible that she would rush out and try to hinder the law enforcement by blocking Starsky's fire for the sake of boyfriend Don. He had no compunction towards care, knowing she would be in the vicinity, and was more than happy to take a wild shot at the pursuing Starsky, even though the game was up, and demonstrates similar 'care' throughout the episode.

Emily's in the clear, she did behave rationally, if you can call trying to protect an overbearing, selfish boyfriend with, potentially, her life, rational, but she was also in fear of him. The blindness was an interesting direction to go, and it would have had greater impact if she had remained permanently blinded, forced to adapt to this new life, and that it was more a story about her learning to accept that life. Regardless of the miraculous recovery at the end, we really see some heartfelt charity from Starsky. He's absolutely horrified about what happened, but he doesn't run away from it, he wants to be there for the victim, even when those around her are hard on him - you'd think the old doctor that is looking after Emily would have seen it all, but he really lays into Starsky and is very frosty and unfeeling in his interactions. Of course he doesn't know S&H as we do, and perhaps he's seen his share of bad or incompetent cops that haven't shown the devastated conscience that Starsky exhibits, but you'd think he'd be more professional and understanding, especially as Starsky was doing his best. The same goes for Sharon, Emily's neighbour and friend, who is very prickly to this guy she doesn't know, except for him being the one to take her friend's sight, with only a fifty percent chance of recovery.

One of the nice things about the episode is how Sharon goes from this angry, emotional response (as Hutch points out), to wonder and confusion when she finds Starsky with Emily, but doesn't blow his cover, not knowing quite what's going on or what's best for Emily, to becoming his advocate and wanting her to call 'Dave' when Don's threatening to whisk her off to Hawaii to get married so she can't testify against him. It's a very positive arc, and pleasing when Starsky is justified. But to begin with he's despondent, taking some time out to reevaluate his position in the force, even though it wasn't so much his fault as Emily's, and there was little else he could do when the felon took a shot at him. But he's an artistic soul, and when he throws down his gun in disgust as the object of all the misery, he takes up another, his camera, and loses himself in photography. It's another big coincidence that he just so happens to visit the very park where Emily's sitting on a bench feeling sorry for herself, but I can forgive it because it's such a charming scene where he basically refuses to be turned away from what he's decided to do. He turns on all the charm and is able to inveigle his way into the frightened girl's life to become her companion just at the time she needed it. Without realising, he also protects her from Don, who keeps away from her, not out of guilt at her plight, but because he's laying low and word's out on the street that a cop's babysitting her.

The music should have especial mention, for its heartbreaking, childlike theme that beautifully evokes the mood, both of Starsky, who has a chance at redemption, and Emily, who is embarking on a new life without sight. Meanwhile, Hutch has to do the adult stuff, rattling Kenny's cage, Don's younger brother. Police harassment seems to be fully endorsed in that day and age, since Hutch openly tells Dobey he's off to lean on the guy, and clearly he does bully and shake him up. Not that the guy didn't deserve it, and the same for fence Pinky, whom Hutch puts the squeeze on, but it's very of its time! Pinky wasn't all that bright - to trap him into giving away Don's whereabouts, since he's fencing the stolen goods for him, Hutch enlists Huggy's aid, but surely Pinky, and just about everyone else, would know that Hug is S&H's go-to guy, yet he happily turns up at The Pits for the promise of $5K in return for the jewellery! From the telephone exchange between Hug and Hutch we learn that Police HQ is about twenty minutes away from The Pits, since that's how long Hutch says it will take him to get there, although it could be a busy time of day, so perhaps that isn't the absolute quickest time. It's nice, though, as it gives a sense of scale to the city and locations therein. I wonder if Hutch crept in and hid behind the bar when Huggy was stalling Pinky at the pool table, because otherwise why stall him? I liked the way they did it, though, with Hutch's arm shooting up unexpectedly from under the bar before Pinky could take a shot at Hug and his almost empty cash till!

The episode works so well because of the innate bigheartedness that Starsky demonstrates, and we see he's pretty much willing to give up his life to pay for what he accidentally did to Emily. There are moments of great drama, although I do sometimes feel that they could have been ramped up: when Emily finds out from Don that Starsky's a cop, for example - I like that it comes out so matter of fact from him, like he expects a witness to be protected by the police and for her to hold their interest, in a sort of cold, calculating way that he has about people. Though Widdicombe is jovial on the outside, it's more of a casual confidence in himself and you sense he could do almost anything, an unpredictable, but completely callous man. Oddly, he expresses some moral view when originally in for questioning he says he taught his brother to tell the truth, but it smacks of irony and he knows he's above the law, he's never in any fear, always in control. But you don't get an idea of affection for his impressionable younger brother, just that he's a tool for him to use. He bullies Pinky, has an edge to his voice, despite an outward geniality and politeness to Sharon when he wants to talk with Emily alone, and is an all-round good bad guy. We see his unpredictability in the crazy shot he takes when Starsky has a gun trained on his back, he's basically caught, the game is up, but a desperate man full of confidence, he whirls round and takes the chance, firing off a round, which is what causes Starsky to fire as Emily runs into shot.

At least Starsky has the opportunity to let out all his anger on Don when they fight in the underground car park at the Auto Motel where Don's hiding out. S&H do love to slam hoodlums to the bonnet of cars and pinwheel them around to a suitable position! The duo are split for much of the story, though Hutch does make an effort to engage Starsky in the case, even though he already knows what tack his partner's taking, devoting himself to this bystander he feels responsible for. "In the line of duty, officer, that does not mean you have to devote your whole life to her," as Hutch puts it. But Starsky is a responsible sort, and even tells Hutch he tried being blind for one hour and couldn't hack it. It's a typical hotheaded thing for him to do, experiment and find he falls short, then base his whole reasoning on that. Another moment where more drama might have been eked out was when Hutch has to break the news to him that far from being the good art student on her way home from class, Emily was the lookout and is tied up with Don. It had the smack of 'Gillian' about it when Starsky had to reveal similar bad news to Hutch, although at least he didn't hit his partner. At least, for once, the end scene does have resonance for the rest of the episode, even though it is a light moment between S&H where Hutch believes he could have done fine with being blind, and Starsky moves his familiar Indian bamboo chair so Hutch thinks the front door is the bathroom and lets him leave, crashing into something outside!

The story is pretty slight: Starsky romances Emily out of guilt and a desire to care for her, while Hutch sorts out the villains. Huggy gets involved and they both trap the Widdicombe brothers at the end, with a little help from Emily, whose sight returns at an opportune moment to see Don's gun. But it's a sweet little story, and a reminder why I like to be in this world with these characters, which is why I marked it up this time. Not to say there were no issues: as well as the potential for increased drama, there are a couple of obvious stunt guy moments in bad wigs. When Hutch does the famous, traditional takedown (jumping onto a car, then leaping off it in the chase to come down hard on the fleeing Kenny's back), you can see it's not him, and the same in the car park where he bumps the (once again), fleeing Kenny - the stunt guy's wig looks really silly! It's good to see Starsky's place for the first time this season, and both of their cars being used (there's even a shot looking through the side window when Starsky pulls the flashing red light in that looks like a shot seen in previous opening credits sequences), but there's little in the way of references or quirky characters, Pinky being the closest thing to one, and he's not really that quirky.

Starsky mentions Helen Keller, famous American writer who was blind and deaf from a young age, mentions Garbo, following it up with an impression (he does like his old films), and makes a joke about wishing his name was something more exotic, like Rudy or Marcello, which is interesting since he took on the name Rudy when undercover in 'Murder Ward,' and Marcello sounds like the kind of name he would use as a hairdresser. I also feel like I've seen them shove a rag or handkerchief into a villain's mouth before, in the way Hutch does to Pinky here. Gary Wood, the villainous Don Widdicombe, had previously been in the series back in Season 2, credited only as 'Man' in 'The Set-Up.' But it was a compact guest cast this time, though it's strange that Joan Pringle (Sharon), and Howard George (Pinky), are both credited as Special Guest Stars, yet have less to do than the other guest cast, who are only common or garden actors apparently (including a young Kim Cattrall as Emily, who would later be in 'Star Trek VI' as the villainous Valeris). The only other things to note would be the opening scene where Don wears goggles to blowtorch the safe in - you could be forgiven for thinking it's Starsky at first as they both have that Afro hair and a similar face. And we see S&H cruising the streets on duty of a Sunday morning, with Starsky giving stats that reason only cops work on Sundays and only two percent of crimes are committed on a Sunday! And I wonder if it was a purposeful choice to shoot S&H slightly out of focus when the doc's telling them that Emily's blind? Probably not, but it had an irony to it.

***

Star Trek: Discovery - Teaser Trailers

Star Trek: Discovery - Teaser Trailers

We finally get a good look at what this new Trek will consist of, visually, at least, and on initial impressions I was none too sure. The biggest issue for me, or one of them, is that they've deliberately chosen to set a series at this specific juncture in the timeline, ten years before 'TOS,' and just a short time after the events of 'The Cage,' our first glimpse of what the technology and style of Starfleet was like. And they've completely ignored it! I understand the desire to make a current TV series in a more contemporary aesthetic compared to the 1960s when the original designs and style was created, but to me, that style doesn't look completely of its time. There are elements such as the flared trousers and the chunkiness of the equipment, but there's so much there that would have translated perfectly well to a modern audience (and people still watch the original anyway!). I loved the jackets they wore in 'The Cage' on Landing Parties, and though the tech could have been slimmed down to an extent (as 'Enterprise' did), the general impression of a heavy cruiser in space with its colours and ranks was pretty specific. I don't mind the uniforms as such, they do have an element of the 'Enterprise' boiler suits about them, and perhaps something of the USS Kelvin (supposedly Prime in origin, even though I thought it was in the 24th Century when I first saw 'Star Trek XI'). I can also buy that the ship we see, USS Shenzhou, isn't the same type of vessel as the Constitution-class we saw in that period and wouldn't look exactly the same. At the same time, the impression is of something far too advanced for the period in which it is supposedly set.

Trek has always been a period drama, it just so happens all its periods are in our future, so if you're going to pick a particular era of established Trek history, especially if you're going to go out of your way to reassure us that this is indeed the original timeline, nothing to do with the Kelvin offshoot universe, there must be a reason for doing that, but that doesn't mean you can just alter the entire design aesthetic of the period. It looks heavy with backlit touch-screens and transparent window consoles that don't appear to be in the spirit of the time it's supposed to represent. And regarding the uniforms, I like that they're darker as this gives more contrast to actors' faces, as evidenced by the best uniforms ever designed in Trek, the 'First Contact' version, also used in 'DS9,' and the metallic rings that appear to designate department make a kind of sense in that we see ranks stripes on 'TOS' sleeves (plus it has been fluid in the past with the 'TOS' films adopting other colours for the famous scarlet uniforms' undershirts), but the problem is that 'The Cage' had very similar uniforms to 'TOS,' only a shade blander in colour, so unless this Shenzhou doesn't represent the status quo of this era's Starfleet, and is actually a unique ship on a special mission, it doesn't make much sense that they'd transition into these, then back again by 'TOS.' It's possible, of course, and perhaps that's what they're banking on.

After viewing the trailers a good few times, and checking through them slowly, I became a little more comfortable with what I was seeing as I began to notice things that made me think they are taking the fine detail of this rich universe seriously: it was lovely to see the Starfleet badge, though three-dimensional, does seem to be the full shape, not with a side chopped out of it as was shown in photos a while back. The familiar emblems of Command, Sciences and Engineering are in place. The Communicator sounds right and what I saw of it, looks about right. It was actually exciting to see the Klingon emblem back in all its red, pointy glory. But then we come to the Klingons themselves. We were warned by the leaking of a behind the scenes image of the radical new look these famous warriors are to have, but I was hoping it was going to turn out they weren't actual Klingons. It seems they were, with all the weirdness of conical, domed heads, and pointed ears the illicit photo showed before. In fairness, they look fine from the front, with ridges, even though the race at this time was supposed to be led by the flat forehead variety due to genetic manipulation in the previous century. My hope is that we'll see all three different types, especially as the mysterious sarcophagus is clearly moulded into the likeness of a traditional Klingon, with flowing locks, curt beard and normal ridges to the forehead. The one that confronts Michael on her space walk appears to be wielding a curved blade that could well be a bat'leth…

The outsider alien position seems to be well in place with Saru, a being whose race were designed to sense the coming of death. My first thought on seeing an image was Odo, but in closeup he's quite detailed and the domed head and swept back ears may have more in common with the Klingons. I do wish we could have had an alien that had already been seen in other Trek, and taken the opportunity to flesh out a race and culture as we've seen on other Treks with Klingons, Vulcans, Ferengi, Bajorans, Cardassians, even Borg - but we were told early on that he'd be a new kind we hadn't seen before. Oh well, maybe the blue guy will turn out to be a Bolian, a race that has been seen a lot, but has had little development. I wasn't so keen on the 'Star Wars'-type Lobot lookalike. But generally the layout of the stations and fact that there's so many people in the corridors (they used to pack them in on these old ships), does have the Trekky feel. I think Captain Georgiou has a lot going for her, and I'm actually more interested to see her than the main character of Burnham since she seems wise and a reassuring presence. Her comments about it being time for Burnham to think about a command of her own seems out of place because she looks too young for her own starship - Kirk was in his early thirties and he was considered young at that time, and if you consider that she'd likely have left the Academy at eighteen, that would make her twenty-five after serving under Georgiou for seven years, unless she was a Cadet under her, so it's possible she could be as young as twenty-three!

You get the impression Burnham is a bit of a maverick, despite apparently having been taught by Sarek as a child, and still retaining contact with him, seemingly in some kind of mentor role. Rather than having Vulcan-like control and restraint she definitely seems to be full of fire, perhaps even a mite unlikeable, such as when she fiercely tells the Captain to 'cut off its head' and wants her to fire first, so she doesn't seem to have much of the Vulcan about her, but some of the best character work on 'DS9' was in setting them up in a way that made them not too likeable at first, but gave them the room to grow into the heroes we knew later: Kira was angry and bitter, but became tempered and was able to channel her violent feelings; Bashir was green and tactless, but became an excellent, compassionate doctor; Sisko was only a Commander, moody and gloomy about his posting, but became a great Captain and leader, resolute in purpose. Here's hoping some of the characters in this series have the same kind of progression, rather than being fully formed as they were in 'Enterprise,' which led to their being stripped away until some of them had almost nothing to do.

I like that they spent the money for some location shooting in Jordan for the desert scenes, especially as Trek already had a connection there, since King Abdullah (then Prince), was in an episode of 'Voyager' and has always been very pro-Trek. Not so keen on the wibbly warp effect, since surely, scientifically speaking, light would be seen in straight lines (a legacy from the Kelvin films, no doubt), and always looked so cool, although I suppose I can live with it. I also didn't like the Abramsverse-style viewscreen, which is also a window and an HUD, all in one, as it doesn't fit the period at all. Nor holographic Sarek. And if they had to bring back an iconic, much-loved character, they could at least have gone to some lengths to have him look and sound similar, instead of generic Vulcan-American! The EVA suit is suitably bulky for a time of inferior tech, compared with the 24th Century version we've seen. And the Shenzhou herself looks like a fine ship. I do wonder why we saw hide nor hair of the actual starship the series is named after, the USS Discovery, or her Captain, Lorca, but I'd be fine waiting till the pilot for that, I don't need to see or know everything before the series starts, and these teaser trailers have done a fine job of getting the general idea across, without giving too much away.

Interestingly, of the two variations, one for CBS All Access, and one for Netflix, it's the US' CBS version that has more of a Trek feel to it, not to mention being longer and showing more detail. In the Netflix version emphasis is placed on the Klingons' orc-like appearance, large weapons and clawed hands (although on close inspection they could be gauntlets rather than natural appendages), as if fearsome Klingons are more important to The Rest of The World. It makes sense that they've skewed slightly more towards traditional Trek for the home audience, but they shouldn't forget that the reason the rest of us like it is because it's Trekky (we don't want them making the same mistake as Paramount did with 'Beyond' and paring back the Trekkiness because it was too Trekky! In a Trek film!). The music is more fitting in the CBS trailer, with almost an 'Interstellar' impression, while the Netflix one is more contemporary with vocals, although it's hardly the 'Beyond' trailer, for which we can be thankful! Even the choice of part of the 'TOS' theme is interestingly chosen differently: in Netflix' you get the bing-bong opening, but CBS' has the more affirming fanfare, which works better, I think.

After giving it some careful going over, I'm slightly more optimistic than I was when I first watched it (there are some buttons - look at the blue man's console, for example), and there are definitely ways to explain most of what we see, I just hope they take the trouble to do so, and don't leave it for a future spinoff in twenty or thirty years time to account for it beyond the obvious fact that technology and prosthetics have increased in complexity thanks to budget and experience. I wouldn't say my anticipation has been altered by this, it's more that when I first saw it I was slightly disappointed, even though I suspected this was the kind of thing they'd do, then over time it's grown on me a little more so I'm still cautiously interested and hopeful. The best news is that the thirteen episode count has been extended to fifteen, making it almost the same length as the first season of 'Voyager,' which did sixteen, and also shows that CBS is confident in the series, meaning its life will be at least reasonable in this age of short seasons, and few.

Anticipation Rating: ***