Blockade

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Blockade)

At least they've got a 'full tank of gas,' as Rush puts it at the end. But at what cost? I'm amazed nobody died, it was a pretty dire situation and I really thought Dr. Parke was a goner. Poor Parke, but blindness, temporary or otherwise is a small price to pay for being alive. It just goes to show you should never go back for anything in an emergency. And that fire in the hydroponics bay was devastating. Why couldn't they have each taken a plant with them to the planet, that way they'd at least have varieties of all of them to propagate from? Parke was trying to do what was right, but she should have known not to push it to the last minute, cut her losses and get out. She didn't know Destiny was going to lock down the deck, trapping her inside, but still... It was quite spectacular seeing her in this trough of water that's being boiled by the extreme heat - I would have thought that level of heat would have simply vaporised it in no time, but it was a great effect either way. The episode was full of that sense of scale and danger, getting back to showing the series at its best right before it was cut off in its prime. That's one reason I thought people, specifically Parke, might be killed off, but I'm glad they didn't do that. I'm never a fan of executing established characters to underline how dangerous a situation is, better writing is all that's needed (unless the actor's leaving or it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for great drama).

Parke's little drama in hydroponics was but one in a slate of them - Eli and Rush take Destiny through its top-up in something that's more deadly than a star because the drones have set up shop at every star they come upon and the only escape is to do something outrageous or they'll be out of power for good. I'm not sure it made all that much sense, sometimes Eli's the man to put in the calculations, sometimes Rush is, they say how difficult doing this is going to be, yet Parke can survive it in a suit, so they flip-flopped a little bit between hyperbole and tension, but otherwise I felt it was a nicely written and put together piece. On this alien world where the rest of the crew are placed for their safety (I would have thought Young would have commandeered the third suit so as to be there in case Rush made any bad decisions, since Eli isn't the one to stand up to him), and take it as an opportunity to search for supplies - it's one of many human ex-colonies they assume are out there since their descendants from that recent planet they visited had spread out over the two millennia: a good way to populate planets in future since they'd had trouble with worthwhile planet-based stories with the overriding impression there's almost nothing and no one in these galaxies they're traversing. While they could have easily come to the end of space likely to be inhabited by their descendants in time, that would at least have given them the chance to add new characters and have traditional 'Stargate' adventures on Earth-like locales such as this one, and it was a good idea.

Because it was quite disappointing they got rid of these people from the last couple of episodes. I understand why they did it, they probably didn't want to be saddled with a set of new characters as they came to the end of the season, if they had continued the series, but it would have been nice to have some of their descendants stick around. But the series seemed to like making things simpler - look at the Lucian Alliance people, they eventually got rid of them all except Varo (who apparently begins to set in motion his alternate version's life with Lieutenant James by assisting her in destroying a drone on the planet - not sure where he got the bazooka, did they find that on the planet?). Again, I can see why they'd pare the crew down so as not to have to keep track of so many people in moments like this where everyone 'gates off the ship, but I would prefer to have those threads to deal with later. It was nice to see all the people that make up Destiny, or get a sense of the whole crowd of them, with people like the guy who always panics, or non-speaking extras that we occasionally see. It's not like they never show a crowd, but for some reason it stood out to me in this one and of course provides great visual contrast to the idea that Eli, Rush and Parke are alone on this vast ship.

Scale was something very effectively portrayed, be it in Destiny, in the abandoned city which Young sees spread out from his vantage point, and in the huge mega-drone ship that swoops down on them as they evacuate the planet. The sense of a lost city, probably a lost world, too, was well conveyed, even if it was just the same street they've used before (I assume), that whole sequence was strong in tension - they can't communicate because there has to be radio silence or the patrolling drone will pick it up, but eventually it fires on Scott's position in a shop and of course Greer on the other side of the road strides out, taking that as his cue to blast it. I like that they mention their limited bullets, and that Brody can make them, as that kind of drain on their supplies is important to keep in mind. I'm not sure about Scott and Greer (and then Young also), firing at the drone, it didn't seem to be having much effect and yet the drone itself couldn't hit them for toffee, when all it needed to do was blast the whole area! But still, it was a tense moment and a victory for our heroes. Can the finale live up to such a well balanced episode? Even little scenes on the ship before all the excitement, demonstrated a great understanding of the characters and their crew dynamics now (Young, upon giving up his Captain's Chair to Camille, says he's not Captain Kirk, a nice little Trek reference!). That hasn't always been the case, but this has been a good patch of the series and one that will make its cruel decapitation even sadder... next week.

***

Impossible Mission 2025 - The Special Edition

 Amiga 1200, Impossible Mission 2025 - The Special Edition (1994) game

Upon checking what contemporary Amiga magazines had rated this game I was shocked to discover how highly it had scored! My own experience with it back in the Nineties as a young gamer was failing miserably to get anywhere and not having the inspiration to keep trying - in fairness, I don't remember playing the original upon which it was based (and came as part of the package), very much either, so I don't think my lack of interest came from comparison with that. I just always remembered finding it a boring game that wasn't as accessible as most of the platform games I played then. Having enjoyed the original this year I fully intended to have a crack at this one, even with memories of my former disengagement with it, so I wasn't surprised to find a host of problems with the remake after the tight, bright, clean design and colour of that enjoyable original. First impression is how ugly it looks, dull browns and greys, a far cry from the majority of the platform genre, but I don't think it was limited to the era in which this was made that the mistaken belief that dark, gloomy visuals made a game more edgy and grown-up (see any Mario game for refutation details), was common, while in actual fact it just made them miserable and ugly.

It's not merely the look that put me off, however, it's the overhauling of the entire style on which it was based: no longer are you confined to one room at a time, you're thrown into a large environment full of instant death drops, the playing view (one of its biggest issues), is zoomed in too much, unlike the original where each room was all there neatly laid out on the screen, a puzzle to be solved. Now the environment was too open, and because your view was so close in you can't see around your character enough, making the job a lot harder: you can't see much above you without jumping, and you can't see below at all, with no way to move the camera in that direction without taking a leap of faith and jumping or dropping off a platform, a heinous crime in a platformer! But most annoying is that Atombender's robots (it's still the same guy all these years later, so either this isn't set in the same 'world' as the original where you caught him at the end, or he's escaped prison - they didn't care as much about in-game timelines and having ongoing continuity back then!), suddenly appear at the edge of the screen, and you have little time to react. Even worse, and this is where the unfair gameplay comes in, Maintenance Droids can appear from nowhere, you can go to the edge of a platform, move back so the edge is off screen, and they'll come charging along out of nowhere, plus they can change speed and direction, so you may not be safe even if you've dispatched all robots in the vicinity!

It's not like you have beautifully implemented controls, either, as your man (or woman, or robot - three characters to choose from, but I'm not sure why, there's no incentive to replay levels with a different character and no alternate ending!), jogs along and leaps in such an arc that you can easily misjudge it and find yourself colliding with a robot, sending you off to the last computer screen you entered (if you fall off the bottom of the level it puts you back at the beginning). This was another area which annoyed: instead of the multitude of easily reachable computer terminals in each room of the first game, there are a smattering of consoles across each large level, with specific functions - here's where the criticism of unnecessary complication comes in: as in the original you search objects which then reveal something. It used to be one of three things, either a puzzle piece, Snooze code to send robots to sleep, or a Lift Reset to put all the lifts in a room back to their original positions. Now there are far more things to collect - it could be a gun which fires one shot to destroy a robot, or a temporary invulnerability. It could be a lift reset or a magnet to draw one lift towards you. There are a number of these Power-Ups, though the most important item, the one you're searching for, is one of nine pieces of circuit board which, when combined in a particular terminal, will enable you to get the code to allow you to take the lift up to the next level (or Subsection, each Level being divided into three of these).

It's not even as simple as that sounds, for when you have all the circuit boards you have to arrange them in a tile puzzle to find the correct picture, which can take some time since the picture of the circuit board is not easy to distinguish its correct layout as if they're deliberately making it frustrating! Saying that, I actually found that part to be the most enjoyable early on, but even that enjoyment can be cut short if you find the tile solution 'Auto Solve' Power-Up which does the hard work for you, so even the best thing I found in the game could be nullified. That's before you even earn circuit clues or a Power-Up of your choice by playing one of two games Atombender's left around in terminals on each level: a basic shoot'em-up, unvarying in its waves other than a few slightly different patterns, and a simple memory test similar to the original's game rooms, but less nicely laid out, where you input the correct sequence of shapes in the musical order they appeared. These give you a choice of either a Power-Up (though you're limited in what you can choose, and if you want the better ones you have to play through a number of times), or the circuit clue which I believe starts off one piece of the circuit board in its correct placing in the tile puzzle. And just like the original game you don't have lives or health, you're afforded a certain amount of time and have to complete a level within it, losing a few minutes every time you die, either by contact with a robot or falling off the screen - as before you can fall any distance to land without penalty.

I wasn't thrilled with all these new rules and additions, the look, or the sound (the music wasn't bad, other than the third or fourth level which really grated, but the sound effects weren't as perfectly judged as before, though they were fine), or anything else about it, but I persevered, and if there is one saving grace about it, it's the password save at the end of each Subsection, ensuring a certain level of accessibility. If I'd have had to complete those early levels every time to get to a later one the experience would soon have palled, but at least with passwords there's a sense of achievement and progression that helped me to keep going. The second level in The Office was an improvement in most ways - it looked better than the Carpark and I was getting into the rhythm of the gameplay so that by the time I was on the third level, Industrial Zone, I was actively looking forward to having another go at it - I'd build up a map of a level in my head and think about where I might have missed something or how to get to another area and so the puzzle aspect became more enjoyable. It remained annoying it wasn't possible to control everything from the Joystick alone as you could in the original, forced to cycle through the Power-Ups (with a limitation of carrying only three at a time!), then hitting space to activate them (although you could do it by pressing down and hitting fire, but if mistimed you'd end up doing an inadvertent jump which could cause great irritation).

I came to understand the idea of the Power-Ups, when to use them, which ones were most valuable and what it was best to carry depending on what part of the level you were on - there might be automatic gun turrets which need to be shot or destroyed by grenade to get past, there could be a lift to an upper part of the level that required a magnet to bring it down to you, but best of all is locating the Holy Grail: in this case a Jet-Pac that allowed you to fly anywhere in a level with the side benefit of unlimited laser ammo. At first this seemed merely a boon to allow you to get through a level quicker, and much like the Auto Solve something that took away the point of playing the game, but as things progressed I learned it was essential to reach certain parts of levels and would be increasingly difficult to find so that when you did you felt a level of elation from the empowerment. Even then things weren't solved as you were given limited fuel, and once it's gone, it's gone. A heretofore unrealised tactical element came into the game where you in fact needed specific items at certain points to progress, and then you had to keep track of the location of Inventory terminals (or Locator terminals which would show you where the other computers were), in case you need an essential Power-Up, so I no longer resented all these different terminals and Power-Ups, they became integral to the experience.

My rating, which I was seriously considering awarding one star early on, had gone up to two and I was even considering three stars, except what I assumed would be the final Level, Computer Centre (because how many other departments could there be - I was forgetting it's not a logical place, so Construction is right at the top where I was expecting maybe one level of a penthouse!), was typical of final levels in games in that it was less fun to play, and more of a headache, but I was surprised that I was actively enjoying the game which had initially seemed like a slog compared with the streamlined neatness of the original. Taken as something different, ignoring what it was based on, brought it out as a very different experience with only rudimentary similarities. Even the physical side of it, having to anticipate Maintenance Droids appearing from the edge of the screen, or the different types of robot you encounter, became a test of skill rather than an annoyance at lack of vision (and you could use the flaw in your favour - if you wanted rid of those Droids you could usually run away so they were off-screen and that could make them disappear). It remained a touch unfair when you had to drop down to a lower platform you couldn't see, but even dying became a part of the tactics - a way to get back to the start of the level, or to jump back to the last terminal (sometimes I might not enter a new terminal to ensure I'd be put back higher in a level upon death, all part of the tactics). Unconventional, and a generally frowned upon way of doing things, circumventing the usual rules of avoiding death at all costs, but this isn't a typical platform game and I came to see that.

Atombender's warped abilities clearly didn't extend to the quality of his shoot'em-up 'SPPAM' ('Synchro Punk Patrol: Alien Menace'), which had terrible slowdown when too many aliens appeared on screen at the same time, and this may have been a flaw in-game (actual game, not game within game!), but I took it as deliberate, a commentary on his personal failures in life and work. The fact I was adding lore to the game world in my own mind shows I had become invested in it, shockingly! I came to really enjoy 'SPPAM' and it became a useful tool in getting Jet-Pacs in later levels where either they weren't available or were tricky to find - it required a chunk of playing through the mini-game maybe six or seven times, but it was worth it for the time saved by access to the Jet-Pac. It became trickier each Level you played it on, but within that it was at the same difficulty so you could just keep replaying it, unlocking the less essential Power-Ups until you could get the Jet-Pac, and after that you could keep winning them. One of the last levels I needed three or four to have enough fuel to explore the upper regions. The Auto Solve wasn't necessary as I became used to the slightly abstract designs and it wouldn't take long to solve the tile puzzle, although there were still times when I got as far as the lift to the next level and then time ran out! The other game, the Holo-Sequencer, was much tougher (and in later levels with faster and longer sequences to keep track of), so I tended to stick to 'SPPAM.'

Some of those later levels were pretty demanding, though I always felt there was plenty of time in which to complete them (you're shown your game total at the start of each Subsection and my total at the beginning of Level 5, Subsection 3, the final 'proper' level, was 14 hours, 27 minutes, so I estimate the grand total at about 16 hours, not counting the many retries), it's really only the amount of time you die that causes time problems. That last level was a real challenge, mainly of patience as this part of the Construction Area is split into two halves, reached by only one central lift between them which takes an age to travel up to the top and back down to the bottom again, playing with your sense of urgency about the need to finish the level quickly, and if you fall or die you have to wait for it to come - most frustrating! An added wrinkle is no items to use, even though you have the option to play the two game terminals, as other than them and the code computer there aren't any others, meaning you can't select Power-Ups from an Inventory terminal or search out the level using the Locator terminal (a good way to explore the layout without actually travelling around). And the frequency of attack from the crosshair of doom is increased, so thoroughly nasty and a bit of a joke... But nonetheless a relief upon completion!

I haven't even mentioned the crosshair of doom: this was a small cross that appears on the screen and flies around until it either tracks you, going red and moving in for the kill, or travels across the screen getting lower and lower until you have to jump over it to avoid getting zapped. It's a thoroughly unwelcome visitor, especially if you're doing well in other aspects, a wildcard that suddenly appears at random to throw your plans into disarray. As if in revenge at this despicable and ignominious Sword of Damocles, you get to have your own crosshairs in the final final level, which is a brief and odd duel between you and Elvin dressed in a Mech suit where he flies around the screen and you have to keep shooting him (in first person). After that it's roll credits with a brief animation of the top of his skyscraper blowing up, but it was disappointing not to have any character-specific image, even if wasn't animated, as it doesn't give you that small incentive to replay (and annoying I didn't have time to take note of the total game time). Even so I was surprised that I ended up enjoying the overall experience, yet another classic Amiga game that I didn't get very far with in the old days that has now been conquered. It could certainly be a candidate for Surprise of The Year, a category I always award in my Retrogaming Review of The Year, simply because I don't remember a game where all the criticisms I had were turned around and which I came to accept, even relish some of them. (But I still prefer the original). Maybe I should have waited until next year to play it...

***

Epilogue

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Epilogue)

I can't imagine a much more fitting ending for the series than what they did in the last scene of this one: the final living member of the original Destiny crew, Camille Wray, gives a speech opening a new school and we fly up over it to see the whole town, which then changes over time as ages pass until finally they even have their own space ship. It isn't the real Destiny crew's destiny, but it's a beautiful possible conclusion to their lives and legacy. Maybe it wouldn't have worked as series finale, maybe they did still need to tie up a few things in the 'real' characters' lives - for all I know they weren't even sure whether they'd be coming back for Season 3 or not at this point and felt they had to work up to a cliffhanger. All I know is that there wasn't really anything pressing back on the 'real' Destiny that we needed to return for two more episodes to see. Not that I'm complaining, I'm glad there are more episodes with stories to tell, but I doubt they can retain the same level of poignancy as this episode showed when it touched on the lives of our characters and what might have been. There's something so sad, bittersweet about the sweep of a life. So short and yet so full to the person living it, the memories made, the people known, and I felt this story encapsulated that well.

It's not all about the alternate timeline, it also throws in some hard new truths for some of the crew, about who they may end up associating with, about death in the near future - the two most affected being Volker and TJ, the first because he's set to die from possible kidney failure not long into the future, and TJ develops ALS and dies a few years later. It would be hard to process that in a normal environment, but as some alternate timeline that could possibly be averted it makes it even more of a confusing challenge. I would never have heard of the disease when I first saw this episode a few years ago, but Kenneth Mitchell, the actor who played several roles on 'DSC' died from it only recently, which puts the magnitude of it in perspective. In the 'Universe' world of sci-fi there are always possibilities, though even there it looks bleak - the database of the people of Novus included cures for that and many other diseases, but they had to get out before they could retrieve this irreplaceable data, preserving only a mere third, which didn't include the cure. There's still the Ancients' own database aboard Destiny, maybe they could run into the generational ships making their way to this planet, but it's almost impossible. These developments made the seriousness of the story so much more personal.

Much is packed in, they're dealing with three different groups, namely our characters, the alternate timeline versions, and the people who remain from their descendants (though that latter group don't have much involvement in the episode, August Schellenberg again not used nearly enough, sadly). The story alternates between these disparate times - at first I found the reliance on the kino footage to be a slight irritation with the tinny sound and visual glitches here and there (I thought perhaps it was meant to be a bit fuzzy to help disguise the old-age makeup, which wasn't bad but never looks quite real, but Camille's at the end was very realistic, as was her performance), but eventually they show actual flashbacks (which in a weird way are also flash-forwards since our people have yet to experience those years of their lives), with vast contrast between the bare, cold interiors of the underground database archives, and the vivid colour and homemade livings happening on the planet of the past. It made the alternate more real in some ways than the present, which is as much to do with my perspective of the series gearing up to end, and why I felt it made such a fitting final scene for the series, as it is about how it was shot.

Amid all these weighty issues and revelations there's time for the occasional spot of humour in the 'Stargate' tradition (mostly at Brody's expense, it must be said!), but also good heroic moments, too - the biggest when the last remaining crew have to get out of the archive as earthquakes rock it, the only escape route being a rickety ladder straight up the wall. TJ's rung breaks and she plummets to her death, only saved by the quick and brawny arm of Varo, still sweet on her in spite of the knowledge she and Young ended up being a family (he ended up marrying James!). He's able to swing her across to relative safety, but in doing so his own rung breaks and he falls to what I assumed was his doom. But Young doesn't like to leave a man behind, perhaps why they keep showing his guilt at killing Riley in the opening recap, and goes back for the former Lucian Alliance man who is still alive though heavily injured. A good hero moment in an episode that was generally much more about the broad strokes of life in the community they made without technology. I found that to be fascinating and I almost wonder if that wouldn't have been just as good a watch as going back into space and all the technology we expect. Depressingly, it's all irrelevant as we come to the end, but it made for one last hurrah for the series if they don't manage that level of quality in the two episodes that remain.

When I first watched this I found it to be a bit too much of a time-waster, inconsequential to much of the ongoing story, but I see it now as a tantalising and more suitable final moment for the series than it was afforded in reality. It was amusing when they cut between all these babies being born amid the screams of childbirth, yet Parke naming her first child after Dale Volker was touching, plus there's a certain level of creepiness and yet fascination in learning what became of them all had they followed that path of enforced self-sufficiency, making a new home on a planet far from their roots, but it isn't what is in their futures, whether the series had continued for many years or not. Even though there is no future, or perhaps because of it, what happens to the alternate characters has more meaning. I found even the simple idea of August's character remembering running through the halls of this archive as a child to hold a certain poignancy to it, returning to a life that is entirely gone. It's shot beautifully, the sets look good, it's refreshing to spend almost the entire episode off Destiny, and it gives us a glimpse into how character dynamics could change, and for all that I felt it was one of the better episodes.

***

Muse (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Muse) (2)

The reviewer pauses and looks away from his screen, pensively, his thoughts gathering like clouds before the dawning rays of the sun. How can he relay his thoughts, yet he must not remain silent, the truth must be written...

Stage plays in Trek have come to be perhaps my favourite sub-genre, so when a literal play as a platform upon which various themes take root and blossom comes along it must not be taken as a surprise that I consider this to be one of the best episodes of the season, if not the best. It's an absolute delight from opening act to closing curtain, thanks largely to the central guest role of good-natured Kelis, paired with the much missed B'Elanna Torres. Was 'Barge of The Dead' her last substantial role in an episode, way back at the beginning of the season? I feel like I've been starved of her character so this was a joy on more than one level as it's unquestionably a B'Elanna story, in more ways than one! A Trek character crash-landed on a planet, trying not to draw attention, fighting for survival... it's another Trek sub-genre, so we have a fusion of two great story styles, building on some of the most memorable, like 'The Galileo Seven' from 'TOS' or 'The Ascent' from 'DS9.' This is sparse and simple, no high budgets required, which is why they must have been able to build a reasonably sized theatre set and have a crowd of extras for the audience to make it more real than can always be achieved.

Yet it doesn't suffer from the lack of special effects, and that's one of the points Joe Menosky makes in his beautifully crafted script: you can't take it any other way than that he's talking about the state of the industry when he has Kelis say audiences want excitement, the driving force of entertainment, and 'all that kissing' (as B'Elanna describes it in suitably macho Klingon outlook!), while the idea of the 'truth' of the story (which does admittedly sound a bit hippyish, but I took it to mean having something to connect to, or learn from), when thoughtfulness and revelations can be just as potent, if not more so. The test of time has proved such sentiments correct as nothing has changed, we still get served up fireworks as the main course in most things, and especially in Trek's modern attitude to drama - it's fallen into the same traps I feel the 'Voyager' era and its contemporaries often managed to avoid. This is the perfect episode to hold up as great drama that relies on the interpersonal, with a Trekkian message of peace and goodwill to all men. Perhaps that last bit was a little too simplistic, but we're dealing with a Medieval culture here, or even earlier - they've managed to move away from Pagan sacrifice, but are still quick to take offence and go to war, and if a play can change the mind of the man in charge, so much the better. Blessed are the peacemakers...

In the previous episode we had aliens impersonating our characters and so we have again, only this time it's legitimate use, you could say! I didn't notice at first, but the half-face masks of this alien theatrical production are actually in the image of the characters they're playing, you can recognise Janeway's distinctive hair, or Seven's short cut and that just added an extra level of enjoyment. The very concept is a joyful one: imagine the Voyager crew's situation if it was interpreted through an ancient people's eyes. High concept if ever I heard one and great fun to see played out, even without the commentary on the state of the industry or an observation of the power of entertainment to affect people's thinking (both for good, as in this case, but often for bad as we see so much nowadays, culture has shifted so much). It couldn't have been improved if it had been a Seven story, or one for the Doctor, or Janeway. B'Elanna was the perfect choice for this scenario: the short-tempered half-Klingon versus the good-natured (through necessity), of this alien playwright whose existence is always on the edge of destruction from the decisions or punishments of those in power to affect his life. I loved how we see he and B'Elanna meet for the first time - he seems quite nice until he goes towards her with a knife and we see he's already cut her arm a few times before. But it isn't what it seems, he thinks he's doing her good out of lack of medical knowledge where bleeding is seen as helpful!

Their interactions were delightful, everything interpreted into a level of understanding that this 'primitive' can understand, and yet he's also shrewd enough to deal with her and get what he needs, showing no fear of her powers which are beyond him. In her turn, B'Elanna comes to understand the value of this man and his work to influence for good, and though she strays dangerously close into Prime Directive territory I never felt she was unreasonable, it was always in the context of what Kelis' people believed of 'Eternals.' Of course we could argue whether it was appropriate for her to even be impersonating a god-like being, reinforcing whatever beliefs they had, but I was too busy enjoying the interactions to worry about that. While I'm on the subject of problems, I only noticed a couple of others, namely that Kelis was able to operate the Delta Flyer's console to get at the logs, when even the concept of touch screens would be far from his wildest imaginings, and at the end when he sends a written note: I thought the Universal Translator could only adapt speech into the user's tongue, not change how they see writing... Otherwise I simply loved it and it has extra poignancy and pleasure for its guest cast who take so much of the load: Joseph Will is superb, such a nice character, yet still commanding the respect of his troupe. I love that he and Kellie Waymire both had recurring roles on 'Enterprise,' both even appearing in an episode together, though Waymire sadly died shortly after.

She's really good as this jealous girlfriend - I thought from the moody lighting and the way it was shot (much the same way as Kelis coming towards Torres with a knife), that she was going to attack her, it seemed that sinister, but she wasn't evil or violent. To round out the cast we also have a veteran of Trek in John Schuck as one of the Chorus, who would also go on to appear in 'Enterprise' (and is best known for being the Klingon Ambassador in two Trek films), and a major 'Stargate' recurring star in Tony Amendola (Bra'tac). Neither of them gets much to do, but you feel more weight to what amounts to practically background roles, and it's nice to see them both in Trek, Amendola in his only entry. Kathleen Garrett was also previously in Trek as a Vulcan Captain in 'DS9' ('Vortex'), playing Tanis here, the woman portraying Janeway in the plays (with a suitably deep voice). I can imagine her being a good Vulcan, the one she played in Season 1 of 'DS9' a rare example of the race on that series, and which I always think should have been kept in mind for how Vulcans are best portrayed, even though it was only a small role. Vulcans are so rarely played right, especially in recent years, Tuvok being the last great one. He gets a moment to show the qualities of his species in this episode when we're reminded of the endurance and resilience they have, going without sleep for ten days in unceasing search for the two missing crewmen, supported by the sympathetic Neelix with strong tea on standby. Another tiny appearance for Neelix, but reminding me of his ever-present generosity of spirit and role as supporter of others so much.

Harry Kim, too, is given his dues - he may not appear a great deal in the episode (another pairing, like Tuvok and Neelix, or Tom and Neelix last episode, that goes back to the early days), but he was able to make the right decisions to follow B'Elanna in the Escape Pod (seen only last episode!), which saved his life. It's brushed over without comment but he is The Survival King, using all his Starfleet training to walk a vast distance over many days, and though it was only mentioned in dialogue since this wasn't Harry's episode, I was impressed with his success and very happy for how far he's come as a person. It isn't all praise and awards, we also get a little indignity for Tuvok which used to be a running theme in the old Treks simply because Vulcans were so different to others they were often ostracised due to rubbing people up the wrong way from their inherent superiority and lack of affectation being threatening to some. So I don't mind the occasional puncturing, and in this case we see Tom at Helm suddenly hearing a noise, he looks round and it's Tuvok in command, snoring on the Bridge! It jumped out at me that that's exactly what happened with Worf in the final episode of 'Picard' Season 3. In that case I found it a little off-putting that this proud, superior warrior should be ridiculed in that way, but at the same time it was true to his character in 'TNG' and the films, it's just that 'DS9' had shown him more respect. He and Tuvok are of a kind (how I wish they'd met!), so it makes sense, even if I generally prefer Trek not to poke fun at its characters, but to give them dignity.

B'Elanna had great dignity in this episode, she's reduced to minimum technology, her position visualised by being stripped to her undershirt, but if there's anyone you'd want on a crashed ship, it's a Starfleet Engineer! They missed a trick - they could have had her say she's an Engineer, not a poet, but the episode is very much about not falling into lazy ways or dramatic tricks so it wouldn't have been in synch with the episode's message. It's a brave writer who comments on writing and making entertainment, in his episode or film, you're immediately laying yourself open to easy criticism for anything you fail on, but Menosky did a superb job, rose to the task with aplomb (no wonder he didn't fit in on 'DSC'!). Having characters say such things as 'poets' have become lazy, relying on manipulation to move an audience, well, you better get it right, and he did! I love many of the little nuances of the story, like the way the characters are spoken of, or acted on the planet (such as Janeway and Chakotay kissing, much to B'Elanna's bemusement - that has to be poking fun at vocal viewers hoping it would happen for real!), and then cutting to the actual people to provide natural contrast. Like all the best Trek, it's this warmth you feel in the writing, a positive, inspiring joy to proceedings that isn't cynical, depressing or miserable, no matter how bleak the outlook, something that has been greatly lost. Then there's the fun adaptation of the concepts so an alien from another stage of technological development can comprehend, B'Elanna fitting things in to his story to allow herself a way out, and yet she's not creative in that way, she's a tech person, creative in problem solving, not forming narratives.

Surely a reference to 'Arena,' the famous scene where Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn, his deadly enemy, and throws the makeshift knife away, when here, it's the fictional Janeway tossing her spear aside when Borg Queen Seven (something so ridiculous, they actually did that on 'Picard' at one point - and so meaningless it was undone in no time!), is at her mercy. And you can tell Kelis is a born writer, he has his pitch which he's ready to sell to Torres: help him and it will prevent war itself. It also shows the immediacy and adaptability of theatre as opposed to filmed productions which often take a long time to come to fruition - Kelis has but a single week to bring his next play to life. I loved the idea that it had been a temple of 'human' sacrifice that was converted into a theatre which somehow ended such a barbaric practice, in the same way as Voyager journeys on, always to an Earth where 'peace reigns and hatred has no home,' such a poetic and effective way for the episode to make its final bow. When you think about it, this could have been a disaster: a story about aliens doing a play about Voyager? Are you serious? But instead it becomes this lovely creation with serious consequences for both B'Elanna and Kelis' clan, they need each other, despite such vast differences, a message of hope and perseverance. Amazingly, they even managed to score over 'DS9' - an episode on that series called 'The Muse' was one of its weakest, while this 'Muse' is one of the strongest. As Kelis tries to explain Vulcans to one of his actors, 'beneath an unfeeling exterior is a heart that's breaking silently,' one of the keys to great drama. This one is complete amusement, musical beauty, and no museum piece. Muse on that!

****

Common Descent

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Common Descent)

It's Randolph from 'Free Willy'! Having August Schellenberg guest star is about the most exciting thing in this episode, especially as in the years since he's sadly deceased. If you want someone to play a noble elder type then why not get him? Not that he has all that much to do - he's the leader of a group of humans that had led an expedition to this planet Destiny visits, the planet they came from having been settled by the crew of Destiny two thousand years ago (the other Destiny, the one where they assumed everyone died except Telford and Rush). It's that old sci-fi chestnut of a ship going to a planet and finding their own descendants, done best in 'DS9' ('Children of Time'), but also seen in 'Enterprise' ('E2'), and probably at least one 'Stargate' episode along the way. This can't be the first time such a long-running franchise has tackled such a traditional story and I feel like I've written about this before, so maybe it was in 'Atlantis'? I don't know, but if they were trying to make the series more traditional 'Stargate' then the previous episode and this one would both fit the template of the familiar. We even get a forest planet where flying ships blast the fleeing humans below which calls to mind the Darts of The Wraith in 'Atlantis' or going back even further, the Death Gliders of the Goa'uld in 'SG-1.'

In that respect it's not as interesting as some of the recent episodes, since the series hasn't relied on the kind of imagery and storytelling that goes beyond familiar into derivative of itself in previous 'Stargate.' 'Universe' and its choices haven't always worked - obviously not with audiences if they weren't getting a big enough one to be renewed for Season 3, but I've broadly liked the series and would have loved to see where they took it. The old-style 'Stargate' episodes could be a bit simplistic action-adventure, and even as far back as 'SG-1' I always preferred the high concept sci-fi tales more than soldiers shooting armoured baddies. Something that didn't come through here was the age-old conflict between the scientists and the military, as you'd think if there were factions that's what the descendants would have broken into, but it was more along the lines of those that believed Rush would bring Destiny back to save them, and those that didn't. But the whole scenario is a bit hard to accept in a functioning way: the humans all talk as if they stepped off Destiny yesterday when in reality language would grow and change to reflect their own unique situation over hundreds of years. But the conventions of TV storytelling mean we need to get to the core of the story as quickly as possible.

Even though it's a two-part story (at least), ending with them finding the 'home' planet the expedition started off from years ago, and finding it's now uninhabitable after major volcanic activity, no signs of life, the episode rattled through quite a lot that could have been more interesting to explore. For example, we know Scott, Greer, Camille, Eli and the others left behind after a drone ship blasts a hole in the planet's Stargate (wouldn't that cause a major chain reaction that would blow up the 'gate and cause a massive and devastating explosion?), won't be stuck on a planet for the rest of their lives, we've seen too many instances where people were stuck with no chance of ever catching up to Destiny again and yet a way was found. So it's not that there was any great tension in that regard, only that it might have been better to have that hanging for a little while, especially if the story is continuing next episode. Instead we have an admittedly triumphant moment of a shuttle arriving to pick up the last survivors with that great music, then it's fast forward to having Destiny packed out with all the colonists, then they're at the home planet... It was all rather rushed. I liked the simple method of communicating that Eli uses: a 'gate signal which he can only turn on and off to send Morse Code, ingenious.

I don't buy that they'd leave the colonists behind in the first place, or the colonists would simply accept it without any animosity in return. I understand they have limited resources, air, food, etc, but why can't they simply pop along to other planets more regularly to keep replenishing? In this case the drones have caught up with them again, and it's theorised it was by tracking 'gate activations, but surely if they're travelling that fast, as long as they plot a haphazard course these pursuers would take much longer to catch up, wouldn't they? The point was moot when the colonists have to be evacuated at top speed, but what will become of them on Destiny? As it stood, the episode wasn't a bad one, but there weren't enough character moments (like we see Young and TJ become parents again when archive kino footage shows his affection for her as she gives birth), it was mostly plot, things happening, and all fairly conventional things for a series like this. I wouldn't say it felt like another wasted episode when we're so close to the end, it doesn't matter either way, but I'd have liked them to go out on more of a high, seeing as how they've managed a few runs of strong episodes. This held the interest, was a case of hitting the old 'Stargate' beats, and I'm interested to see how they solve the joint problem of too many people and the drones coming after them, but it also doesn't make me think there was great potential going further. Even so: it's Randolph!

**

Live Fast and Prosper (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Live Fast and Prosper) (2)

From the title you know this is going to be self-referential, fun and entertaining, twisting Trek's most famous phrase into a criminalised state which perfectly reflects the trio of imposters who trade on Voyager's reputation or background in order to dupe others out of various commodities. But for all the fun I somehow didn't find this to be the classic I used to consider it. It may be that there was less to get the mind's teeth into, less to examine and discuss from a reviewer's perspective and that can sometimes lessen the impact of a previously loved story, or even improve the engagement with one not much appreciated before. It still has its moments, and I very much warm to the idea of an episode about Neelix and Tom Paris grappling with losing their touch as the resident street-smart men of the world that was once their schtick, perhaps realising their time on the good guy team has dulled their edge, maybe even an examination of the downside of a moral, unselfish mode of life having the effect of failing to maintain a healthy distrust of strangers, or the possibility of becoming soft in the technologically advanced environs of a state-of-the-art Starfleet ship... But this isn't really that. Anything to give the fun more depth would have been appreciated. But in this case there wasn't much more to it than knockabout, which is what Trek can do just fine and I have absolutely no problem with - that was one of the parts of Trek style that's been largely lost in the modern era where rather than do whatever story you think best week to week, you're more often forced down a specific path due to serialisation.

Even more when each series has to have a specific tone when it could be different every week. That's how it used to be, so it's not hardship to go from a character building exploration of the lower decks personnel one week, to a hunt for criminals posing as our heroes the next. Talking of lower decks, perhaps that's one thing that affected my enjoyment of this episode as well: 'Lower Decks' the series, has even wackier, sillier premises than this or any Ferengi episode one cares to conjure up, not that I'd say the series shows this up or anything along those lines - no, I like 'Voyager' many times more than I could ever feel towards 'LD,' but it's extended the boundaries of what can be done in a Trek series, to the general Trek universe's detriment, I fear. And I say this as someone who has largely come to accept that series, and would have to say it's the best of a bad bunch in terms of what's been made over the last almost-decade. I'm not even suggesting 'LD' makes episodes like this less special, I'm not sure what I'm saying, maybe I've seen too many Trek comedies in recent years and the balance is out of whack for taking things seriously (though I never felt that way with all those terrific 'DS9' comedy episodes). The misdemeanours are taken seriously here, though, it's just something didn't impress me as much this time, that's all I can articulate in that direction.

I will give credit for Seven of Nine largely being absent as I can see how easily she could have been inserted instead of any other character. It's true it builds on the trend I keep mentioning of featuring the Doctor and Janeway more heavily than most, although the Doc isn't in it that much, and Neelix gets as close to his due as I can remember him getting this season. He's not exactly the main focus, but he'd be in the top two. My favourite moment for him is when he visits Dala in the Brig. I picked up fairly quickly that this must be part of Janeway's plan, mainly because you never see Neelix wearing a Phaser, it wasn't very sensitive of him to go into the cell with one so prominently displayed to such an ardent opportunist as their prisoner has shown herself to be, and to cap it all he gets closer and closer to her in his speech about how he used to be like her and how Captain Janeway and life aboard Voyager changed him and gave him a new outlook. I believe what he says, which is why it was a clever scene - clearly they're preaching the typical Starfleet humanist stuff to the extent I was almost starting to doubt my initial impressions and wondering if this was a trap for Dala to mount an escape or the scene really was about espousing Trekky values that are going to somehow appeal to her, as unlikely as that would seem. It goes so far that I was expecting her to grab the Phaser when he's sitting next to her and she doesn't make the move until they're messing about with the tea, so I'd give that scene in particular top marks for misdirection and deftness. Even if my suspicions were proved correct by the end of it.

I wasn't as keen with the way they show Tom and Neelix to be so easily duped, even if it was fun to mentally flashback to the last time I can remember the two of them alone in a cave: 'Parturition.' Those were the days when they both had more of an edge to them and beef between them, and now that I think of it, it would almost have made more sense for this pair to have had as deep a friendship as Tom and Harry, both having a background in crime and worldliness the other characters on the ship didn't share. A lost opportunity? If there had been more of a history between them this would have been a much deeper callback in the same way that 'In The Cards' on 'DS9' flipped the old Jake and Nog dynamic in a far superior comedic episode that built on what had gone before. In comparison, this one comes across as somewhat shallow (though I'd still rather watch it than any given episode of 'LD'!). I can't understand why such a sly old Talaxian as Neelix wouldn't have spotted a kindred spirit in Dala during their interactions, but it does seem that his compassionate side has been emphasised so much to the extent he almost always thinks the best of people - quite a turnaround from the suspicious, troll-like figure we used to know, so over-protective of Kes to the point of jealousy. I'm not complaining, it's nice to see him become a better version of himself over the years, but I also miss the more unpredictable (or should that be eminently predictable!), Neelix of old.

At least it was acknowledged on screen between Tom and Neelix that they felt they'd lost their touch (but it begs the question how they thought they could fool the Doctor with the shell game, which you imagine he'd know about, and they should have remembered he has superior visual acuity, too!), which raised the story a little more than if they'd never addressed our resident conmen being conned. The Doctor's role as part of conning the con artists was good fun and I never suspected he was camouflaged as Dala as she returns to the fake Delta Flyer because I don't remember him ever being shown away from the ship without his Holo-emitter. That was a bit of a con in itself because I don't believe we'd ever seen it hidden under some kind of holographic cloak before, though it makes sense - it doesn't have to be seen so it could easily be in a pocket or even inside his own head since his whole person is a construct, but it's always been a useful visual reminder of his holographic nature. So that felt a bit like a cheat, though changing his appearance to impersonate someone else would be used again (most prominently at the end of the series in 'Renaissance Man' where he doubled several people).

There was an example of why people need to be schooled in Starfleet protocol when Neelix causes all kinds of ship-wide viral problems (I was disappointed I didn't notice mention of the bio-neural gel packs - it's almost like they ignore that aspect of their technology after the first couple of seasons when it could have been a rich vein of story potential), stemming from a heating coil he got from 'Sister' Dala - he installed it before performing a diagnostic on it, something no Starfleet crew would fail to do. Again, while sometimes Starfleet may seem draconian or overly cautious this is exactly why they have to stick to protocol. Funny to see someone in a dressing-gown two episodes in a row - this time it's Janeway herself, and interestingly her sonic shower is shown to be around the mirror rather than a cubicle you walk into. It was nice to be reminded of some of her history when Neelix recounts it to Sister Dala on the Flyer. I don't know if we knew before that her time as Science Officer on the Al-Batani (under Admiral Paris, of course!), was where she was immediately before assuming captaincy of Voyager. Unless she rose to Captain on that vessel after her science career? She's exactly the sort of Captain to be perfect at the Poker face exchange, manipulating Dala with the improvisation of Tuvok at her side that took us back to their friendship and closeness of early days on the ship, something else to like about the episode. Though I'd question Tuvok's statement that he's not good at improvisation - out of anyone I'd say a Vulcan is the master at such a skill since they're in complete control of their emotions and have an aura of truth over all they say!

A great moment was Mobar finally coming face to face with the real Tuvok, a man his public persona is minutely modelled after so that he's practically awed and starstruck despite being in opposition - Gregg Daniel was the real standout who helped to make this episode what it was. Kaitlin Hopkins is the main guest star as the fake Janeway and she was very good, too, but Mobar was absolutely delightful in the way he got totally lost in his character to the extent he starts quoting logic at a Vulcan! I totally loved his performance and can't say enough about how well he aped Tim Russ' mannerisms, speech patterns, and the lines he's given to say, that he really was a perfectly comedic version of the same character! It's amazing that he never appeared in any other role in Trek after such a terrific interpretation, and feel it was Trek's loss. Hopkins had previously appeared in 'DS9' as a female Vorta, Kilana, and that was equally as superb a contribution to Trek's legacy as Daniel's was here. I didn't feel she stood out as much in this one, but that's only because Kilana was so memorable, and I certainly felt her performance was strong, quite similar to the real Janeway (and I agree with the Captain, the hair was great!). The third member of the trio, Zar, had much less to do, though I enjoyed his brief turn as Chakotay with the hastily hand-scrawled (I imagine), tattoo, and black block of hair, though I feel they missed a trick in not making more of each characters' mannerisms (other than Tuvok). And it's great to have Guinan in 'Voyager'! Okay, the actor's name is Francis Guinan, it's not quite the same, but like Hopkins he'd appeared before (in 'Ex Post Facto,' way back in Season 1 of this very series!), and unlike Hopkins would be back (in 'The Communicator' on 'Enterprise').

Another area the episode excelled was in the makeup department. The other returning face from previous Trek was Dennis Cockrum as Orek of the Telsians (he'd been a Corvallen in 'Face of The Enemy' on 'TNG' and would also return in 'Enterprise,' weirdly also in 'The Communicator' - I wonder if it was a mini-reunion!). The miners were quite bumbling and comedic (though I didn't feel Levar Burton chose the best shots all the time - the bit where they both move to copy Mobar's Vulcan salute and their hands collide was quite darkly shot and indistinct, messing up the visual comedy since you can barely notice what was a great idea), very much characters that would have fitted into 'LD' (they love bringing back minor characters - how about it?), but Orek was a more serious role. I loved the prosthetic design with the translucent eyebrow horns. He even gets to do something never done before - sliding his alien PADD along the trench down the middle of the Conference Room table, a real claim to fame! His wasn't the only great look in the episode: aside from the simple vertical incision on the foreheads of the villains that told of their common origin (I presumed Zar was the same, though he had a more pronounced ridge), even if they were reminiscent of Bolian bifurcation of the face, the work that must have gone into Varn's head was impressive, and I especially loved the attention to detail that had his ship ape the oval mottling or cratering of his skin on the hull: you notice on the nacelles they have similar ovals through which the green insides show.

There are always nitpicks to make and this episode is no exception, but there weren't many that I picked up on. One was that I believed Dala and her cronies would be familiar with the Borg (everyone knows the Borg!), and the Hirogen (even though they must be well out of that territory by now), but Species 8472? For a start that's a designation given by the Borg which Voyager only knew because Seven told them, and for another they didn't make many incursions from Fluidic Space so how would anyone know anything about them? Ah, but I can answer my own query: I'm forgetting the villains stole Voyager's database and that's where they got their information... But how can you explain Voyager having so much opposition from Varn's ship when he seemed so impressed by the weaponry shown in the presentation from Zar, which he didn't embellish? Yet he reduces Voyager's shields in no time. They weren't fighting back, though, intent on catching the imposters rather than dealing with him, but still, you'd think he'd be little more than a nuisance to them. It was intensely ironic that Janeway talks of truth-telling to Dala right after having had Tuvok make up a load of rubbish about how bad Telsian justice is! And Neelix' Grandmother's saying about it being nice to be nice wasn't much of a counter to the deep-rooted cynicism of Dala's quote: "Most people will exploit you if they can, so it's best to exploit them first." I know it was part of the ploy, but the former sounds like the kind of thing Neelix would believe. I just wish the stuff about him changing his life around had been an important part of the episode. Did we hear what was to be the fate of the criminals, did they turn them over to the Telsians? I don't know, but there was nothing wrong in this episode, it was pleasurable, tasteful entertainment.

***

The Hunt

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (The Hunt)

Not quite up to the recent standard, going a little soapy (a little more than usual, I mean). It's good to have some time on a planet, but it does make it more like a conventional, relatively unambitious story, the kind of filler they could do on a semi-regular basis in 'SG-1' and even 'Atlantis.' Nothing wrong with it as such, just that it doesn't have the fascinating sci-fi angle that makes an episode stand out, and I'm not sure about some of the choices. Making Greer into someone that's lost his nerve and now second-guesses himself, while a dramatic development, isn't the kind of thing that appealed, nor is Volker's teddy bear pining over the injured Dr. Parke. The only storyline with real potential was the one where Rush plays a prank on Eli and Brody. It's a little manipulative and creepy that he would go to these lengths, but that's how Rush works, in more ways than one: he insensitively puts Volker off from his dreams, while teaching any dissent a lesson. Eli finds the stasis pod room that will become integral to the end of the season (and series, sob!), and Rush suggests they leave until they can check up on it in the database, no doubt having heard Eli complaining about taking orders from him. He must have already discovered it or know about it from the Bridge interface, but it must have been him that activated the pod when Brody's in it (I ask you, why would you stand inside one!), to put some heat under Eli and prove that once again he's right and they should just follow his lead.

I liked the technology and wished the plot had been extended so Eli roped in various others, not just Chloe, in an effort to free Brody without informing Rush, but it was just some light comic relief to jump to between the other stories. The main one is tracking down the lair of a sabre-toothed bear-wolf creature on this forest planet that has conveniently captured TJ and another guy alive to feed on later. It's a bit ho-hum, and including CGI creatures isn't a great idea at the best of times, even in big budget films it never looks right, and that was the case here with the bear-wolf and the deer, but they were going to do it because they could. They do try to mitigate the effects by showing as much as possible from the perspective of the animal and having it move really fast, but even so you can't disguise unreality. What was most unreal was that it turns out to have cutesy eyes like Gollum when Greer faces it down in its lair and he and TJ theorise it's actually intelligent because it looks at their fire! I understand they were trying to pay off that he was getting over his fear in doing that, but it seemed entirely unreasonable that these creatures were intelligent enough to understand they had to let their prey go - I mean they'd already killed several people (apparently all that were left of the Lucian Alliance prisoners other than Varo!), and violently taken these other two for later, so they were predators, why would they just calmly let the prey walk away! Ludicrous. At least Greer didn't become a vegetarian out of the experience as we see the crew enjoying a long-awaited barbecue at the end!

The way Varo and the others were crashing about in the forest, having a conversation at normal speaking levels, even walking upright with little attempt at concealment or using torches at night, suggests their hunter credentials may not be quite as impressive as they like to make out, so that took a lot of the reality out of the situation: they should have been barely speaking at all, crouching double and creeping along as silently as they could, but then they couldn't so easily have the conversations about Greer being a liability and needing to use his fear, not be fearless. I like Varo, and it's good that because of his actions in this episode he's no longer considered a threat. But wasn't he already pardoned and one of the crew? And when Young gave him a small hand gun when he allows him to take over the mission I couldn't help thinking a bigger weapon would have been a better and fairer option. I was also forced to wonder where they get all their bullets from because they must have a finite source and have used a fair few since they got to Destiny? I suppose we're not supposed to think about things like that in the same way on 'Voyager' they could always get new shuttles, etc. The difference there was they did at least have Replicator technology and could manufacture parts if they found enough energy.

Wasn't so keen on the tension at the end when Young finds Varo and TJ together, we really don't need more of that kind of thing that was going on earlier in the series between him and Telford, but it's not like we need to worry about it as there's only a handful of episodes left. That's my biggest complaint about this episode: it was too much of a time-waster, not really adding much to the series when there's so little time to play with. Why did it have to be TJ with a nondescript guest soldier, why couldn't it have been someone we knew? Though I did like her rousing 'speech' about him having two choices, either he fights and holds his head high when they get back to the ship, or she saves him and he'll feel ashamed of himself. Good one! Otherwise I would much rather be doing stories where they explore the ship and uncover more about it which is what the Eli/Brody part could have been if it didn't degenerate into a comedy tinged with the sinister edge of Rush's manipulation of people to his will. He seems remarkably calm having just lost his great love Amanda Perry - so I suppose she was right and he didn't really care that much after all? And the philosophising about death between Greer and James was interesting and different, but maybe didn't suit their gung-ho characters much.

**