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Well, the poor Bajorans would never stand a chance against those arses!
Thinking about it though, who would you rather have sitting on your face, Gul Ducat or Kim Kardashian? :laughing: This of course opens up the possibility of a new reality show, where various Guls compete to try to win a date with Kira: "Keeping up with the Cardassians" could be a real hit! :) |
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Title: Fascination Series: DS9 Season: Three Writer(s): Ira Steven Behr/ James Crocker and Philip Lazebnik Main character(s): Lwaxxana Troi Plot: Oh god! There is none. Deanna’s mother is in heat due to something called Zanthi fever and her telepathic powers allow her to unconsciously transfer her feelings to anyone within range so that everyone starts hitting on everyone else. That’s it. Honestly. Jesus Christ in a platinum-lined bucket covered in velvet! This has to rank as one of the worst episodes, not only of Deep Space 9, but of Star Trek in general. It’s just garbage; no, that’s being unfair to garbage. How this got to the editing room is beyond me. There’s not even a subplot. Everyone just starts falling in love with anyone they see, leading to some --- ho ho ho --- hilarious situations when old friends profess love for each other and boyfriends desert girl --- look, I can’t go on. It’s fucking awful. How this took three writers is a mystery: a dead rock could have come up with a better storyline. It’s worse than Benny Hill meets Star Trek. Just dire. And to top it all off, Lwaxanna gets to lord it over everyone for the entire fucking episode! God I hate that woman! Never EVER EVER watch! You have been warned! Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/wesrating5.png (and that’s only because I can’t give it a higher rating!) Title: Masks Series: TNG Season: Seven Writer(s): Joe Menosky Main character(s): Data Plot: The Enterprise comes across a comet in which is an ancient temple (no, really!) and thereafter for some reason Data takes on multiple personalities while the ship begins to be transformed into a jungle??? It's ludicrous. How in the name of the good god Fuck Almighty can anything --- never mind a bloody temple! --- exist at the heart of a comet? But even putting that to one side, why suddenly do all these so-called gods start invading Data's program and trying to play out their lives through him? It makes no sense. It's also a completely stupid and cack-handed resolution at the end. Being a season seven episode it doesn't get a pass; at this point, though they may have been running out of ideas, there is no excuse for this claptrap. The only possible good thing about this is that it gives Brent Spiner a chance to shine, portraying all the different characters and he does this very well. But even his phenomenal acting can't save this from the lowest (or highest, if you prefer, higher being worse) Wesley rating. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/wesrating5.png Title: Angel One Series: TNG Season: One Writer(s): Patrick Barry Main character(s): Riker, Data, Crusher Plot: Attempting perhaps to reverse twenty-odd years of Gene Roddenberry's thinly-veiled misogynism in the original series, the writers come up with the idea of a planet ruled by women, making the men subservient. All well and good, until the story is skewed by putting the women in the wrong; they intend to execute the men who have dared to disobey them, and in the end the men are set free and the woman in charge sort of huffily tosses her head and sulks off to the hairdresser. Jesus! :rolleyes: Perhaps one of the most embarrassing aspects of this episode was seeing Riker being made serve Beata, the woman in charge, and kind of like it. Deanna had a good laugh at him, but hers is the only laugh in the episode. It's heavy-handed, badly written, and if, as Wiki says, it's supposed to reflect Apartheid, well all I can say is it failed miserably. Even the prospect of the Enterprise crew catching a nasty virus and a visit to the Neutral Zone can't lift this turd out of the toilet. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/wesrating5.png Title: The 37s Series: VOY Season: Two Writer(s): Jeri Taylor, Brannon Braga Main character(s): Janeway, Chakotay Plot: Amelia Earhart did not disappear on her solo flight in 1937: she was abducted by aliens! Honestly, how could two of the principal writers for Voyager ever write this nonsense? When everyone was returned at the end of Close Encounters we kind of accepted it; maybe aliens had abducted Glenn Miller, Buddy Holly, a whole squadron of F4U Corsairs from the US Navy. But this? Janeway and her crew pick up an SOS and find Earhart and her navigator alive and well on the planet, demanding to speak to J. Edgar Hoover! Listen buddy, so would I. Maybe he could have made sense of this. Ridiculously, Janeway is torn at the end at the decision as to whether she “condemns all her crew to a seventy-year journey home” and allows them the choice to remain on the planet (which none of them do): hasn't she already made this decision for them by blowing up the Caretaker's array in episode one? Why is she agonising about it now? Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/wesrating5.png Title: Who mourns for Adonais? Series: TOS Season: Two Writer(s): Gilbert Ralston, Gene L. Coon Main character(s): Kirk, Spock Plot: The Enterprise crew meet the god Apollo. Speaking of things lost, or thought lost, who should the Enterprise bump into one fine day than jolly old Apollo himself, son of Zeus? He of course wants the crew to stay and worship him, and falls in love with a young crew woman, but Kirk has other ideas and as usual spoils the party. Hey, if his female crewmembers are gonna worship anyone, it had better be him! 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Picard lets it slip about the illegal rave being held after hours on the Enterprise... http://geekintoshape.com/wp-content/...9230832602.jpg |
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The one thing Trek always did really well was an analogy with Earth history and that is littered all across Trek in general, especially TOS. Klingons- Soviets, Romulans-Romans and Cardassians-Nazis and sure I'd agree that the Cardassians are the most evil, but I think all three races are pretty unique in the own way, even though I think the Klingons are probably the least interesting of the three. Glad to see you included "Devil in the Dark" such a great episode. |
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Getting back to our countdown of my ten favourite Trek themes, in at number http://www.easyvectors.com/assets/im...9-clip-art.jpg we have one of the most maligned and least liked of the Star Trek movies, although I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than bloody Insurrection, that's for sure! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...sis_poster.jpg As for the theme, I like the sort of hint of darkness, the militaristic line that runs through it. It's not so upbeat and chest-beating as most of the themes, and it's brooding and just a little sinister in a way that prepares you for a movie that is certainly atypical of the franchise; indeed, there hadn't been as dark a movie since First Contact. Given that this then was the last of the original "proper" Star Trek movies I think it got something of a bum rap, but whether you agree or not, the theme certainly stands out. |
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ay_Season7.jpg Captain Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew The first and to date I believe only female starship captain, Janeway was in pursuit of a ship full of Maquis rebels when she ordered her then-experimental USS Voyager into the area known as The Badlands, and they were all transported seventy thousand light years by the creature known as The Caretaker, thus beginning the fourth series in the franchise. Janeway is the archetypal strong female character: she does not like being addressed as ma’am but frowns on the traditional navy affectation of calling all crew by “mister”, and so she will not accept being called “Sir” either. She says “Captain” is fine. She is certainly not a weak woman, but in ways her single-mindedness and refusal to bend often lead her into difficult and dangerous situations, like when she makes an alliance with the Federation’s traditional enemy the Borg, or when she makes the decision to strand Voyager and its crew in the Delta Quadrant. Not a woman used to having her orders questioned, she demands unswerving obedience and expects everyone to fall in line. She has a husband back in the Alpha Quadrant, of whom we only hear once, in the pilot episode, and while away her main confidantes are Tuvok and Chakotay. When Voyager rescues the Borg drone Seven of Nine, she becomes a sort of surrogate daughter for Janeway, who tries to show her how to remember to be human again. Janeway constantly battles with the ship’s doctor, who, though a hologram, is as opinionated as any crew member --- perhaps moreso ---- and is one of the few who will openly challenge her orders, perhaps because as CMO he is the only one who has the authority to relieve her of command, should the occasion arise. Janeway’s morals are very fluid. On one level she is the quintessential Starfleet officer, sticking rigidly to its codes of conduct and hiding behind the Prime Directive, while on other occasions, when it suits her, she will flout these very rules and make often bad and ill-informed decisions. When Neelix and Tuvok become merged as one (god help the poor Vulcan!) she makes the decision to separate them, acknowledging uncomfortably the resultant new lifeform’s accusation that she is “murdering one person to save two”, perhaps another example of Spock’s “the needs of the few” logic. When everyone is against her making a deal with the Borg she goes ahead and does so, and then sulks when the alliance falls apart and she is seen to have been duped. She constantly shoots down suggestions from officers she should trust, and despite a pretty shining career refuses to promote Harry Kim in seven years. |
From the very moment Star Trek: The Next Generation hit our screens the new captain was compared to the old. I did it myself ---- “Kirk would never have done that” etc., and it was probably obvious to Patrick Stewart that he would have to live up to, and if possible equal or exceed the memory of the first captain of the starship Enterprise. But as time went on and the series found its feet, becoming in some ways more popular than the original, and certainly lasting longer, Captain Jean-Luc Picard has for some fans become the captain of choice, eclipsing his predecesor. For others, of course, only one man is fit to be in command of Starfleet's flagship.
So, the question has boiled and raged across decades, as people on internet forums, fansites, in fan fiction and at conventions, even at workplaces debate the dilemma that has haunted man ever since we first heard those immortal words --- “Broadcast this on all channels and in all languages: we surrender.” Words we had never expected to hear Kirk say, but which were uttered on his very first day out by the new captain, and which instantly, in my eyes anyway and surely in that of other diehard Trekkers, reduced the man and set him forever in the shadow of the greater captain. But as I mentioned, we came to find that Picard was a different kind of captain. Where Kirk would break the Prime Directive three times before breakfast, Picard would protect it with his life and those of his crew. Kirk flouted regulations with a cheeky grin, while his successor was grim and stuffy in his slavish devotion to the rules. Kirk wooed women from one end of the cosmos to the other, Picard rarely if ever even had a fling. And yet, it is Picard who has survived and taken the name of Star Trek to the minds and hearts of a younger generation, as his older counterpart endeavoured to solidify and maintain his legacy via the big screen, later followed by the man who was walking in his footsteps. Kirk is gone now (though rumours abound that he may guest in the third of the rebooted movies next year) and so is Picard, as both shows have ended and the movies starring both have changed hands, as a younger, more hip and happening (!) crew take the new Enterprise where no-one has gone before. So as the lights dim and the dust settles, we ask the burning question of our time: who is the better captain? http://www.trollheart.com/pickirk.png Obviously, there's no way to answer that definitively, since it's as much a matter of taste and perspective as it is of facts and figures. But science has helped me work out which was the better of the two movies about Christ's life, which album of Black Sabbath's was better and recently, which veriosn of “A Christmas carol” deserved the title of Best Ever Scrooge. So, as I'm sure at least Picard would approve, and Urban shakes his head in despair, we're heading into Trollheart's Laboratory once again, to check out each captain in various categories, compare them and see who comes out on top. And where else would be begin than with the early years of both at Starfleet Academy? Academic Career Kirk: Commended for his “creative” solution to the no-win Kobyashi Maru test, seems to have taken to the Academy like a proto-duck to quantum water. Picard: Failed his first attempt, and had to be coached by Boothby the gardener, though he did go on to win the Academy Marathon, the first ever freshman to do so. Nonetheless, in terms of their academic career I would have to award this to Kirk. 1-0 to him. Command: How did each attain their first captaincy? Kirk: Although he distinguished himself while still a lieutenant serving aboard the USS Farragut, it seems Kirk earned the command of the Enterprise in the usual way, without any real heroics or incident while Picard: Took control of the USS Stargazer when its captain was killed, which gives him the edge. Rather than be given command, he took it (albeit temporarily and in the utmost necessity) and was thereafter given command of the Enterprise. So we have to give this round to Picard. Score is now 1-1. What about service time? Well, Let’s see. Kirk: Served as captain of the Enterprise for three years (the mission is described as a five-year one, and may have been, but we can only count the timeline we witnessed), from 1966-69, after which the crew appeared in six movies from 1979 to 1991, so that makes 3+11=14 years. Picard: Captained NCC-1701D through seven seasons from 1987-94, and then four films from 1994-2002. That’s a total of 7+7=14 years. Hey! Exactly the same! Now, let’s take into account Kirk’s guesting in “Generations” (1994). Does that change things? Well not really as Kirk was retired --- indeed, presumed dead in his timeline --- at teh time, and brought forward to Picard’s time, so the timelines are getting a little messy here. It’s the same as if he does reprise his role in the new Star Trek reboot movie: I just think it confuses things too much. So this is a draw then, and the scores remain at 1-1. Ships destroyed? Each captain has wrecked his own ship, so where does that leave us? Let’s look into this in a bit more detail. What? Yes, we must. Kirk: Destroyed the original Enterprise in order to stop her from falling into Klingon hands and also to take out almost all of his enemies at the time. Plus the ship was in a bad way and would not have lasted any protracted battle. The Klingon ship was damaged too, but not as badly as Enterprise, so it seems to have been the correct decision. Picard: Allowed a woman to drive in Generations and paid the price! ;) Seriously, the stardrive section was destroyed by a warp core breach initiated by the Duras Sisters and the saucer section was hit by the shockwave and crashed. So ended NCC-1701D. Technically, though, it could be argued that he destroyed NCC-1701C too, when he ordered it back through the rift in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. Yeah, but then what about the million other versions of the ship that appeared through the rent in space/time? No, I don’t think we can count that, plus Picard was not in charge of that ship, so it was really up to her own captain as to whether he wished to go back and set history straight. So we have two ships, each destroyed, one by the captain’s hand as a final “fuck you” to the Klingons, and one destroyed by a combination of the Klingons and Deanna’s woeful driving. Think on balance, Kirk gets this one. NCC-1701 was destroyed intentionally, and with a clear purpose and a sense of sacrifice, while NCC-1701D was really just taken down in battle. Have to give this one to Kirk. 2-1 to Kirk then. How about personality? Kirk: Had an easygoing, friendly way of commanding; friends with his crew, approachable, would go drinkign with them as we saw in “Wolf in the fold”, where other such “nights out with the boys” were alluded to. Smiled a lot. Took discipline seriously but often did so with a heavy heart. Although everyone respected Kirk, he seems like the kind of guy you’d enjoy sharing a beer with, and wouldn’t be so stuck up that he would only mix with his officers. Picard: Very aloof and generally unsmiling, rigid and uptight. Never joined in on the poker sessions on the ship, not until the finale, and indeed the final scene of that. Can’t recall him ever going for a drink (other than once, in “Allegiances”, but that time it wasn’t him but an alien taking his form). Did attend recitals and concerts on the ship but more as a matter of protocol and duty than actual enjoyment. Those who are close to him know and trust him, but I get the feeling that most of the rest of the crew hardly know him at all, and I doubt he makes it his business to even know their names. Then again, he does allow “Captain Picard Day” although he doesn’t get on with children, but that’s again more a matter of doing something because he has to than that he wants to. If you’re looking for a captain who’s just one of the guys but still has the air of command about him and knows how to lead, and inspire loyalty, I think that has to be Kirk. So that’s 3-1 to Kirk. Stickler for the rules? Kirk has been known to break the rules on plenty of occasions, when the situaton warranted it, and though Picard has taken part in covert operations (as has Kirk) he generally tends to stick fairly rigidly to the regulations, quoting article this and directive that, so it would certainly seem that Kirk is the one more ready to bend or even break the rules if needed. But before we award this round to him, let’s consider if this is a good thing. If you’re prepared to break the rules once, you’re certainly going to do it twice, and where then do you draw the line? Do regulations after a while just become something you need to find a way around, at which point they cease being regulations at all? And as for Picard, if you refuse to break the rules on any grounds --- even personal --- does that make you a better or worse captain? I’d have to say that I would prefer a captain who would be willing to think on his feet and assess the situation as it developed, without having to be bound by the strictures of the regulations all the time. So again I feel Kirk wins this round. 4-1 to Kirk. Romance? Kirk’s ladyfriends are spread (sorry) far and wide across the galaxy, some from his past, some picked up on missions, some used to get an advantage over an enemy. Kirk is not at all averse to using a woman to get what he wants, and has the charm and good looks to make that happen. He’s also very persuasive, and women of course are drawn to power. Picard? He’s had the odd romantic fling but never anything serious, unless you count his feelings for Beverly Crusher, but then he never acted on those. Or did he? In the final episode of TNG we see a future wherein he has married her. But is this an actual future or a possible one? I think we can take it that it is the actual one, so there’s some romance there. Kirk never gets married, not even in the movies, though he does have a son, as we see in “The Wrath of Khan”. Kirk is the adventurer, the action man, the romantic and the smoothy when he needs to be, whereas Picard is more intellectual, preferring women who he can relate to on his own level, thoguh Vash is certainly a woman Kirk might have been expected to pursue. In many ways, she’s the perfect mate for Picard, but she doesn’t want to settle down and can’t stand the discipline of the ship so their relationship, were there to be one, is doomed from the start. When he is in fact matched with his perfect mate, in the episode of the same name, Picard’s honour and sense of duty and responsibility, to say nothing of his moral code, will not allow him to be with the woman he is clearly meant to be with, as she is promised to another. And yet, both men put their career above thier love lives. Kirk left Carol Marcus because he wanted to be in command of the Enterprise, while Picard seems married to his ship. In terms of being a “galactic lothario” though, we think more in the direction of Kirk than Picard, so once again he gets the round. 5-1 to Kirk. Picard had better up his game, and soon! Adventurer Probably due to the nature of the show and his being the star of it, I don’t think there’s one episode of TOS that doesn’t have Kirk in it, and whenever there’s a planet to be explored he’ll be leading the landing party. By contrast, Picard is often content or impressed upon to be left behind, Riker tellign him they can’t risk putting the captain in danger. Pah! Kirk laughs at danger, and drops ice cubes down the vest of fear! Nobody’s saying Picard is not brave, or willing to beam down or over when the occasion warrants it, but Kirk never stays back at the barn, no matter what. Kirk again. 6-1 to Kirk. Turncoat? Has either captain ever fought against, or been forced to fight against, his own people? Picard is the obvious example here, when he is assimilated by the Borg and turned into Locutus of Borg, forced to direct the battle of Wolf 359, a massive defeat for Starfleet. He also takes up arms against Starfleet in Insurrection, the ninth Trek movie, for a cause he believes in. Kirk takes the Enterprise, against Starfleet orders, in The search for Spock, in order to try to help his best friend find peace, and for his actions is busted down from admiral to captain. But I think Picard aces this one; so for once the round is his. 6-2 to Kirk. Back from the dead? Kirk died, Picard did not, but being assimilated by the Borg is a kind of living death. The memories, the free will, the emotions all slowly die to be replaced by automatic mechanical and computer responses as the individual becomes part of the hive mind. Picard is to date the only human, bar Seven of Nine, to reverse that process and become “human again”. Kirk got lost in “The Tholain Web” and also in “The immunity syndrome”, but I don’t think that even comes close to coming back from the Borg, as it were. So again Picard gets this round. 6-3 to Kirk, as Picard begins to fight back. Crew under his commmand This is a simple, if unfair one. NCC-1701 carried about 400-odd crew, NCC-1701D over a thousand. More people equals more responsiblity so Picard get this round too. 6-4 to Kirk. They thought it was all over… Decorations No, not those things you just got through taking off your Christmas tree two months ago! I’m talking about medals here, citations, commendations. Which of our captains has won the most honours during his career? Kirk: Starfleet Silver Palm, Starfleet Medal of Honour, Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry, Starfleet Award for Valour, Prentares Ribbon of Commendation, Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission, Karagite Order of Heroism, Grankite Order of Tactics. That makes seven. Picard: I've looked, and I'm sure he has been decorated, but you know, I can't find a record of a single one. So we have to award this to the ribbons-and-discs heavy Kirk. 7-4 to Kirk Loss of command? Did either captain ever lose, have taken or wrested away, their captaincy? Kirk was replaced by the M5 computer in “The Ultimate Computer”, but that was only temporary and did not reflect on his ability to command, so let’s forget that one. He was again relieved in “The deadly years”, when the ageing virus made him too old to be fit for command. Janis Lester took control of the ship while in his body, and the aliens from Andromeda in “By any other name” took the ship over totally. Again, the ship was taken over by the space hippies in “The way to Eden”, but perhaps the worst blow was the decommissioning of the Enterprise in The search for Spock. Picard’s authority was challenged and rescinded in “Allegiances”, but again that was not him. He certainly lost command of the Enterprise when he was assimilated, and when he was on covert operations on Cardassia in “Chain of command”. But overall I think it was Kirk who was more often relieved of command in one way or the other, so Picard takes this round too. 7-5 to Kirk. Yeah, but do you have your own office? Well, Kirk and Picard spend most of their time on the bridge, naturally, but when he wants to relax Kirk goes to his quarters, which are seldom seen and really nothing more or less any different than other crewmembers. Few people visit him here, unlike Picard, who has the Ready Room just off the bridge, where he can conduct business that is not for general bridge consumption, chew officers out, give secret orders or whatever he wants to do in private. He also has his own quarters, so Picard wins this one by a country mile. 7-6 to Kirk Wounded in battle? Though Kirk took many a knock, and did eventually die helping Picard in Generations, he never to my knowledge received any life-threatening wound. He seemed to almost lead a charmed life. Picard, on the other hand, was mortally wounded in a fight with Nausicans the night before he shipped out on the Stargazer, and had to have an artifcial heart implanted, something which later led to his almost dying. Have to give the bragging rights to Picard here, which levels the score at 7-7 The next category could be crucial! Willingness to put his people in harm’s way One of the many traits required of a commander is that he should not shirk from the hard decisions. If someone is to go into battle and it’s pretty clear they will not come back, the captain should be able to order them to do so, or take a request from them to do so without comment. Kirk, to my knowledge, never lost any of his people (other than redhirts!) whereas Picard approved (through Worf) the assigning of a yougn Bajoran ensign to a covert operation from which she did not return. He’s the harder captain here, and he pulls into the lead as the score tilts in his favour 8-7 to Picard Personal tragedy It happens to everyone at some point in their life. You lose someone dear, a marriage breaks up, there’s a rift in the family. Kirk loses his brother Sam in “Operation: annihilate!” and later his son in The search for Spock. Picard loses his best friend, Jack Crusher, but it’s hardly on a par with losing your child, so you’d have to say Kirk aces this round, and brings the scores back level. 8-8 Diplomatic skill Any captain has to have a mix of soldier and bureaucrat in his makeup, so who is the better politician? Kirk always goes mostly headfirst into any situation, all guns metaphorically (sometimes) blazing; gunboat diplomacy at its best. Picard is more the thinker, prepared to talk things through and try to find a solution through dialogue. He’s definitely the better diplomat, better suited for negotiations and mediation, whereas Kirk’s backside gets itchy if it’s stuck in a conference chair for too long. Both can play teh statesman when required, but Picard is definitely better at it. He wins this round easily. 9-8 to Picard Battles lost Just as important as battles won are those where, with the odds stacked against him, a canny captain can see the value in retreat or regrouping. Certainly the biggest and most public defeat Starfleet ever suffered was at Wolf 359, but Picard was not working for them at the time. In fact, technically he won that engagement for the Borg, though of course he would rather not claim that particular own goal. He did surrender on the Enterprise’s maiden voyage though, and when they originally encountered the Borg in “Hide and Q” he had to go running to Q to save them, so that’s certainly a battle lost. Kirk lost the battle against Khan and the Reliant initially, but he gave his opponent a bloody nose before he had to retreat, and in the rematch although Enterprise was badly damaged he came out victorious. Not so when he went up against Kruge: he was defeated then, though turned it into a kind of pyrrhic victory by using his dying ship as a weapon against the victorious Klingons. I think in this case Picard seems to have lost more battles so Kirk takes this round, and again it’s all square. 9-9 |
Character growth
Obviously, a great leader does not stay the same as the day he took command; people grow and develop, and it is in the evolution of the character that the persona of what could grow to be a truly great captain is demonstrated. Everyone from Janeway to Sisko have gone through experiences that have changed them, not always for the better but always adding to the sum of their knowledge and to their lives, and which inform the development of their character. Picard of course went through one of the most life-changing --- literally --- experiences one can go through when he was assimilated and used as a general against his own race by the Borg, but then Kirk lost his son to the Klingons. Both of these are of course likely to either strengthen or destroy resolve, and as you might expect, in each case the captain used his tragedy to make him a better person. Kirk was demoted at the end of The voyage home, something that never happened to Picard, though the latter was tortured by his enemy while Kirk never was, not really. Though he was imprisoned by them, in a penal colony in The Undiscovered Country. Plenty of character building there. I think in fairness this has to be called a draw, which leaves us with the scores still tied at 9-9. Hand-to--hand Anyone can use a phaser, but sometimes the true measure of a man, and this goes doubly for a captain, is when he can defend himself without weapons. Kirk has certainly had his share of fisticuffs fights (The Gorn in “Arena” springs to mind) but I can’t recall Picard every going mano a mano with anyone. I could be wrong here, but I just don’t remember him punching out anyone or fighting without his weapon. If he didn’t, then Kirk has to take this round as the man’s man, and so we have a slight lead for him as the scores now stand at 10-9 to Kirk Alien Nemesis Every captain, like every superhero, needs an arch-enemy to keep him on his toes and at the top of his game. Kirk doesn’t have one (who said Harry Mudd??) but Picard does: his name is Q. Picard wins this easily, which gets us back to a draw situation. 10-10 Let’s stop here for a moment and look at how this battle has developed. For the first six or so categories Kirk was well on top, kicking the competition into the unrealistic sand and pulling way ahead. It seemed he would never be caught and victory was a foregone conclusion, open and shut case, Picard knocked out by the seventh round. But then suddenly the French captain started to drag himself up off the ground and began to fight back, till they were evenly matched. Then he even started to pull away a little before Kirk came back off the ropes, and since then the two have been pretty evenly matched. It's gonna take something special to separate these two titans of Trek! How about Friends in High Places? It always helps to have contacts back at Starfleet, for those moments when you need a word in the right ear. For the greater part of their career both are captains, so we’ll focus on that. While in command of the original Enterprise, Kirk knew of course other captains, but seemed to mostly kow-tow to admirals and other higher-ups. Picard seems to move in different circles; while he of course respects and obeys the chain of command, he is often more on first-name terms with some of the “brass” in Starfleet. This could be seen as a result of his having had a different education perhaps than Kirk, of moving in different, maybe higher social circles or simply through taking the time to make contacts (Picard is, for instance, a lot more likely to have gone to the opera or theatre and there met an admiral or two, the “meeting on the golf course” idea, than we would expect Kirk to). It could also be that Picard is seen as more the diplomat whereas Kirk, as we have already established, prefers to be the soldier, and diplomats, even part-time ones tend to mix in better company and get the opportunities to rub shoulders with their superiors. So in terms of people in authority he can call on, or favours he can call in, Picard would appear to win this one. 11-10 to Picard Education and upbringing While there’s nothing that says you have to be a bookworm or a university graduate to captain a starship, the gulf between the two men in terms of how well they were educated seems to be quite large. Picard, as you would expect from his character, reads heavily, is into poetry, philosophy, history, art and music, whereas Kirk has never given any evidence of pursuing any of these subjects. He’s a rough-and-ready, kick-in-the-balls guy whereas Picard is a more talk to them and try to find common ground person. Left alone with a well-read ambassador, for instance, Picard could most likely hold forth on many weighty topics and hold his own, whereas Kirk would probably be glancing around looking for star babes he could seduce. Well, maybe not that bad, but you can’t really see him discussing the virtues of Plato vs Marx, or the works of Caravaggio as an example of man’s quest to become immortal by transcending his human limitations, now can you? Debatewise, bookswise and in general level of education, Picard has to win this one. 12-10 to Picard Children No, neither has any children, but how do they relate to the little bast -- ah, cherubs? Well Picard makes it clear from the very beginning that he does not do well with kids, evidenced fairly quickly in his reaction to Wesley Crusher, and his subsequent dealings with the little folk. He does however redeem himself slightly during the episode “Disaster”, where he manages to keep all the children trapped in the turbolift with him calm, and saves them all. Mind you, he goes about this by essentially applying adult attitudes to them, so is it that big an achievement? Still, eh tries so he have to give him that. Kirk, on the other hand, seems quite comfortable with children, as we see in "Miri", "And the children shall lead" and other episodes. This may be because his brother has children, so he is obviously Uncle Jim, or perhaps more pointedly because he does not have to deal with them on the ship. In fairness, neither does Picard: the odd time he might come across one playing in the corridors but it’s not like they’ve a nursery on the bridge or anything. No, I think all in all this one has to go to Kirk, definitely the less scary and more approachable and human of the two father figures we know as captains of two very different Enterprises. 12-11 to Kirk Physical shape? Of course a captain needs to be in good, if not totally tip-top shape and whereas we’ve seen Kirk’s manly chest more than a few times as he attends a physical in sickbay and pumps those weird pedals on the wall (what the hell are they for anyway?), not to mention that we’ve never heard of him suffering from any longterm illness or ailment, we're back to that artificial heart that was installed to save Picard's life after he was stabbed by an alien. That in itself, while making something of a badass of the good captain, does detract from his physical fitness score and leads almost to his death when it malfunctions in “Tapestry”, and therefore has to count against him. So Kirk wins this round to, levelling the score again. 12-12 And I’ve run out of categories and criteria under which to compare the two. Although initially Kirk ran away with the contest, Picard rallied and they were soon neck and neck. Despite the odd time when one or the other got the upper hand, I find at the end I really can’t separate them, and so the final verdict: is Kirk or Picard the better captain? I don’t know. They’re evenly matched and I’d have to call this the first draw in any of my showdowns. http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/u...Picard_599.jpg |
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Not to mention that your assertion that Picard doesn't inspire loyalty is clearly erroneous. Consider First Contact, when Warf -- a ****ing Klingon -- allowed Picard to disrespect him in a moment of stress. "Were you any other man I would kill you where you stand!" Any captain who can inspire that kind of loyalty in a Klingon is worthy of respect of the highest order. Quote:
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And so, I believe I have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trollheart is goofy and full of crap. |
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Kirk V Picard - Picard wins hands down :D |
Batty, you're fucking hilarious, but I don't have the time right now to go through all your points as you raised them. If I can later, I will. Obviously, if you look at the various "reasons why Picard is better than Kirk" or vice versa, there are some totally stupid reasons, such as "looks good in spandex". I tried to check all the criteria with which I could compare the two and that's what I came up with. As ever, if you think you could do a better job, go do it. It's only my opinion and I certainly don't think it's the deciding or definitive one, but at least give me some fucking credit for all the work I put in on this section instead of just tearing it apart (what happened to our Voyager journal anyway?). Some of your points may be valid, some of mine are, but it's done now and I'm not about to change it so if you disagree fine, but don't be telling me I'm full of shit just because you don't agree with the way I approached this. It's not too late to submit your own comparison if you want; I did ask for participation and so far totally fuck all.
tl;dr: fuck off back to your metal Batty and stop whining like a bitch. ;) |
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http://www.trollheart.com/ussnerdt2a.png There's an old adage, “adapt and survive” which kind of echoes the mantra of the Borg, “Resistance is futile.” Though the first movie had made its budget three times over in box office takings, I don't believe this qualifies it as a success, and certainly the panning and derision it received from critics and fans alike made it obvious that major changes needed to happen if there was to be a second movie. So the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry himself, was dispensed with, and mindful of the comparatively low returns of the previous movie, execs declared that things must be run on a much tighter budget, leaving composers like Miklós Rózsa and Jerry Goldsmith out of the price range of the second movie. This led to the first ever job for a young James Horner, who would of course go on to not only compose what remains the best and most identifiable of the Trek movie soundtracks, but would become a successful and sought-after composer himself. This time, they would get it right. The camaraderie between the three main leads, which had been badly missing from TMP, the space battles, the references back to the original series, the ship itself, the uniforms, and, most importantly, the storyline. The second of the franchise still stands for me, and for many others, as the archetypal Star Trek movie and the benchmark by which all future versions would be judged. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...th_of_Khan.png Title: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Released: 1982 Writer(s): Jack B. Sowards/ Nicholas Meyer (uncredited) Director: Nicholas Meyer Starring: All the usual Star Trek crew plus: Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonien Singh, Bibi Besch as Dr. Carol Marcus , Merrit Butrick as David Marcus, Kirstie Alley as Lt. Saavik, Paul Winfield as Captain Terrell Runtime: 132 minutes Budget: USD 11.2 million Boxoffice: USD 97 million Critical acclaim: Extremely high Fan acclaim: Extremely high Legacy: Saved the franchise and set the tone for all future Star Trek movies. Also featured the death of one of the series' best-loved and most famous characters. Enterprise: NCC-1701 We open on the unfamiliar sight of the Enterprise under a new captain, a Vulcan called Saavik. She is projecting a course to avoid the Neutral Zone when they pick up a distress call from a civilian ship called Kobyashi Maru, which has been damaged and which is now drifitng inside the Neutral Zone. Having no other choice, Saavik sets course for the border but as they reach the co-ordinates where the stricken freighter is meant to be they find nothing. Then Klingon attack cruisers show up and start firing. The situation looks hopeless, and it is. The Enterprise is soon overwhelmed, all crew killed but all is not as it seems. This is merely a simulation, and Kirk arrives to grade the new captain. In point of fact, it is Spock who is in command of the Enterprise, Kirk having been relegated to flying a desk again as an admiral, and he is not happy about it. Today is his birthday, and he is feeling old. Chekov, meanwhile, is first officer on the USS Reliant, a science vessel which is searching for a lifeless planet to serve as the testbed for something he calls “the Genesis Experiment”. The ship is in orbit around Ceti Alpha VI, and they pick up a faint signal which looks like it could be some kind of lifeform, however basic. They check in with the scientific mission they are assigned to and are told by Dr. Carol Marcus that they have to be sure there are no lifeforms on the planet before they recommend it to Starfleet as a suitable subject. Chekov and his captain duly beam down. The planet is a desert world, lashed by high winds and sandstorms, and seems totally incapable of supporting life. But the signal persists. Against all odds, they find a rough cabin in the middle of the wilderness, and going inside it appears to be someone’s home, although it is at the moment deserted. As they look it over, Chekov sees debris from a ship called the S.S. Botany Bay, and suddenly a terrible realisation dawns on him, and he urges his captain in something of a panic to leave, to get back to the ship before … but it is too late. Someone has come out of the desert and is standing outside, a large figure, with others around it. To Chekov’s growing horrified realisation he sees it is indeed Khan Noonien Singh, the genetically enhanced leader of the remnants of the survivors of the Eugenics Wars, which took place in the late twentieth century on Earth, and whom Captain Kirk rescued from suspended animation in the original episode “Space seed”. For anyone who hasn’t seen the episode, a quick recap: well, that’s kind of it really. Khan and his people, supermen from Earth’s twentieth century who would have made Hitler’s ubermensch look like fairies, exiled from Earth in suspended animation are rescued as they drift in space. Having been revived, Khan and his people try to take over the Enterprise and kill Kirk, but are defeated and sent into another exile, on a planet which is hostile but capable of supporting life. When Khan tells Chekov and Captain Terrell that the one of the other planets in the system exploded six months later and knocked Ceti Alpha V --- where they are now, thinking it is Ceti Alpha VI --- out of orbit and changing its geosphere, he realises that this is a chance meeting. The Reliant was not looking for him. So why did they come here? To find out, he inserts little creatures into their heads via their ears. These alien insects make the recipient susceptible to suggestion, in effect make them do or say anything they are told to. Oblivious to all of this, Kirk inspects the Enterprise and takes her out on a training mission, while on Space Station Regula One, Dr. Marcus gets an odd call from the Reliant, to say that the planet has checked out and they are en route. Marcus is surprised, as they were not due to return for months yet. Chekov tells her that they are to transfer all material pertaining to the Genesis Project to that ship, and further, that the order comes from Kirk. David, her son, worries that they are now defenceless if they refuse to give up the material. Chekov of course is under Khan’s control, he and his people having taken control of the starship. When Marcus tries to contact Kirk to confirm the order, Khan ensures that her transmission is blocked, and he can’t understand what she’s talking about. He has never heard of Genesis. Not a fan of Phil Collins then! On Spock’s recommendation Kirk takes command of the Enterprise as they head to Regula One to investigate, and on the way they query the computer to find out what Genesis is. It turns out to be a sort of terraforming tool, which can turn a dead world into a thriving, living ecosphere in a fraction of the time it would normally take. As Marcus says in the presentation they watch, Genesis is literally life from lifelessness. McCoy wonders and worries about the possibility of the device being perverted into a weapon, and Kirk knows they must hurry to the space station. En route though they encounter the Reliant, unaware that it is under Khan’s control. As they have no reason to suspect anything they are taken by surprise. The Enterprise, without shields, is taken totally by surprise as battle is joined. Badly damaged, crippled even, it lists in space as Kirk is amazed to see the face of his old adversary on the screen, commanding the Reliant. Thinking quickly, he surrenders but tells Khan he needs time to transfer the information about Project Genesis that the madman has demanded, time he uses to have their computer decode the shield frequency of the opposing ship and order it to lower its shields, whereupon Enterprise fights back, badly damaging the enemy. Unable to pursue it as it breaks off and limps away, Kirk must wait until impulse power has been re-established and they can continue to Regula One. Where they find most of the scientists butchered, and Chekov and Terrell hiding in a cabinet. Chekov tells him about Khan, but that the scientists died without revealing the whereabouts of Genesis. Kirk figures out that that Marcus and her people beamed to the surface of the planetoid the station orbits; or rather, into its interior as it is lifeless. They follow them down and Kirk is reunited with his old girlfriend and his son, only to find that Chekov and Terrell are still under the control of Khan, waiting for the moment when the location of the device is revealed. When it is, Khan beams it up, but when he orders them to kill Kirk they resist, Terrell turning the phaser on himself while the creature in Chekov is forced out of his brain by the conflicting emotions and killed. Kirk and his people now are trapped though in the interior of the planetoid as Khan flies off, victorious. Kirk renews his acquaintance with Carol Marcus, and they talk about why David, her son, his son, does not want to have anything to do with him. Marcus shows him what they have done with the Genesis Experiment, the cave entirely transformed into a living planet. Kirk reveals how he beat the Kobyashi Maru situation, by cheating. He reprogrammed the simulation so he could win. Saavik is not impressed. Kirk contacts the Enterprise and says “It’s been two hours. Are you ready?” Spock confirms they are --- hours mean days: see the quotes section for further --- and they are all beamed aboard the ship and head for their confrontation with Khan. Still outgunned and at less than full power, Kirk leads him into the nearby Mutara Nebula, where the interference from gas and magnetic disruption will even the odds a little. Khan takes the bait, following the Enterprise in. The battle is a little unorthodox, as neither ship has shields nor phaser lock, but Kirk eventually scores hits on the Reliant, crippling the enemy ship. Faced with defeat, unable to manouevre and with his people dying around him, Khan clings to revenge to the last. Determining to take Kirk with him, he uses his final breath to commit the Genesis Device to operation, ensuring that all life in this sector will be destroyed. The Enterprise, still under impulse power, has no chance of escape. As they limp away, knowing they will never make it before the explosion, Spock leaves his post and goes to Engineering. Incapacitating Mr. Scott, he walks into the antimatter chamber and manually changes the dilithium crystals, regaining warp speed and the Enterprise is saved, just as the Reliant explodes. Spock, however, has paid the ultimate price for the safety of his ship and crew, and in an emotional death scene tells Kirk not to grieve; he has done the logical thing, putting the needs of the many nefore the needs of the few. Kirk is heartbroken, and as they launch his coffin into space, it is caught in the gravity of the newly-forming planet, and lands on its surface. David Marcus comes to see that his father is not the devil-may-care adventurer that he has imagined him as, and reconciles with him. QUOTES McCoy: “Admiral, wouldn’t it be easier just to put an experienced crew on board the Enterprise? Kirk: “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor.” Kirk: “What do you think, Bones?” McCoy: “Get your command back, Jim. Get it back before you turn into part of this collection: before you really do grow old.” Saavik: “He’s (Kirk) so … human.” Spock: “Nobody’s perfect, Saavik.” Spock: “Lieutenant, have you ever piloted a ship out of spcedock before?” Saavik: “Never, sir.” Spock: “Take her out, Mister Saavik.” Saavik: “May I speak, Sir?” Kirk: “Self expression doesn’t seem to be one of your problems! You’re bothered by your performance on the Kobyashi Maru test.” Saavik: “I failed to resolve the problem.” Kirk: “There is no resolution: it’s a test of character.” Saavik: “May I ask how you dealt with the test?” Kirk: “You may ask. That’s a little joke.” Saavik: “Humour: it is a difficult concept.” Kirk: “We learn by doing.” Spock: “The ship is yours.” Kirk: “No that won’t be necessary. Just get me to Regula One.” Spock: “As a teacher on a training mission I am content to lead.Iif we are to go into battle, it is clear that you should be in command.” Kirk: “It may be nothing. Garbled transmission. You take the ship.” Spock: “Jim, you proceed from a false premise. I am a Vulcan; I have no ego to bruise.” Kirk: “You’re about to remind me that logic alone dictates your actions?” Spock: “I would not remind you of that which you know so well. If I may make so bold, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny. Anything else is a waste of material.” Kirk: “I wouldn’t presume to debate you.” Spock: “That would be wise. In any case, were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few.” Kirk: “Or the one. “ Spock: “You are my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been, and always shall be, yours.” (An incredibly important speech. It points the way towards Spock’s later sacrifice and death, but also lays down a precept that will be followed, and quoted, in other movies of this franchise. But more than that, in a few short words at the end, the bond between Kirk and Spock, this human and Vulcan who shared three seasons of adventures in the late sixties, is forever reaffirmed, cemented and enshrined. In one sentence, the second movie does what the first completely failed to do: makes us see the characters, once again, as real people whom we care about, and reminds us that they care about each other too.) Helmsman (Khan’s son?): “We’re all wth you sir, but consider this. We are free. We have a ship, and a means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have proved your superior intellect and defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again.” Khan: “He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him! I’ll chase him around the moons of Nemdia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition’s flames before I give him up!” (So that’s a no, then?) McCoy: “Dear God! To think we’re intelligent enough to --- what would happen if this device were used where there was already life?” Spock: “It would destroy it, Doctor, in favour of the new matrix.” McCoy: “Its new matrix? Do you have any idea what you’re saying?” Spock: “I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than create.” McCoy: “Not any more! Now we can do both! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now watch out! Here comes Genesis! We’ll do it for you in six minutes!” Spock: “Really, Doctor, you must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing. Logic suggests…” McCoy: “Logic! My God, the man’s talking about logic! We’re talking about universal Armageddon!” (No, we're not! Have a lie down, Doctor!) Khan: “Ah, Kirk, my old friend. Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us that revenge is a dish best served cold? It is very cold in space!” Kirk: “What is the meaning of this attack?” Khan: “Surely I have made my meaning plain, Admiral? I have deprived your ship of power and when I swing about I intend to deprive you of your life.” Scotty (with dead trainee in his arms): “He stayed at his post when the trainees ran!” (Which teaches us a valuable lesson: it may be brave to stand and fight but you can continue living if you take to your heels!) Spock: “Jim, be careful.” McCoy: “We will!” Kirk: “Captain Spock, damage report.” Spock: “If we go by the book, Admiral, like Lieutenant Saavik, hours would seem like days.” Kirk: “I read you Captain. Let’s have it.” Spock: “The situation is grave, Admiral. We won’t have main power for six days. Auxilary power has temporarily failed. Restoration may be possible in two days. By the book, Admiral.” Kirk: “Meaning you can’t even beam us back?” Spock: “Not at present, Admiral.” Kirk: “Captain Spock, if you don’t hear from us in one hour, your orders are to restore what power you can, take the Enterprise to the nearest starbase. Notify Starfleet once you are out of jamming range.” (Very clever. Spock is using coded phrases to explain to Kirk that when he says days he means hours. Surprisingly, given the incongruity of the phrase “hours would seem like days” from a Vulcan, who would not be expected to use such flowery metaphors, Khan, despite his vaunted intellect, does not cotton on as he listens to the transmission.) Khan: “I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her: on a lifeless moon, buried alive!” Kirk: “Khhhaaannnnn!” (Classic quote!) Kirk: “There’s a man out there who I haven’t seen for fifteen years who wants to kill me. You show me a son who’d be happy to help him. My life that could have been. How do I feel? I feel old.” Carol Marcus: “Let me show you something that will make you feel young again, as when the world was new.” Kirk: “We tried it once your way, Khan: are you game for a rematch? Khan: I’m laughing at the superior intellect!” Khan: “To the last will I grapple with thee. No, Kirk, you can’t get away. From Hell’s heart I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee!” (Khan is obviously a fan of Moby Dick!) Spock: “Ship … out of danger?” Kirk: “Yes.” Spock: “Don’t grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh…” Kirk: “The needs of the few.” Spock: “Or the one. I never took the Kobyashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution?” Kirk: “Spock…” Spock: “I have been, and always shall be your friend. Live long and prosper.” Spock’s eulogy, delivered by Kirk “We are assembled here to pay final respects to our honoured dead. And yet, it should be noted that in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place in the shadow of new life. The sunrise of a new world, a world that our beloved comrade gave his life to protect. He did not deem this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings. Of my friend all I can say is of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most … human.” (I love the way Kirk’s voice breaks near the end; although he probably knew that Nimoy would be back, in a very real way Shatner was saying goodbye to his best friend, with whom he had shared the small screen for three years and the big for three. It must have been hard. And he reacts as you would expect the captain to react in the face of such horrible personal loss. It’s possibly the first time we’ve seen Kirk as less than indestructible, and uttery human, lost and alone in his private grief. When I wrote this originally, we had not yet had the dire news of Leonard Nimoy's death, and now, as I publish it, this scene takes on an added poignancy.) Kirk: “All is well, and yet, I can’t help thinking about the friend I leave behind. There are always possibilities, Spock said, and if Genesis is indeed life from death, I must return to this place again.” (And there’s the out, but it’s handled very well and you can’t really hold it against the writers.) |
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Houston, we have a problem!
A big one. When Chekov and Terrell meet Khan on Ceti Alpha V he recognises the ex-officer of the Enterprise, but the only time Khan came into contact with that ship was in the episode “Space seed”, and at that point Chekov was not a part of the crew, nor the cast. He could not recognise him, as he would never have met him before. This will be explored in much more depth as I use it as the central theme for another of the “Plot holes you could drive a Mack truck through” later in the year. When Kirk asks Khan if he will keep his word, if they surrender the information on Genesis, Khan says he has given no word to keep. But he most assuredly has. Kirk has offered to have himself beamed over if Khan will spare his crew and Khan has agreed to do this, provided Kirk also sends over the information on Project Genesis. A rare (for this movie) piece of bad or lazy writing, forgetfulness or just another aspect of Khan’s slowly unhinging mind? Another problem I have is that when Terrell and Chekov are turning on Kirk down on Regula (or I should say, in Regula!) Khan orders them to kill Kirk. Now, for a man so arrogant and single-minded, with an ego almost the match of Kirk’s, surely Khan would have wanted to kill him himself, not have an underling do it? What? Give up his revenge, after all this time? Lose the chance to squeeze the life out of his hated enemy with his own bare hands? Why not just have Terrell beam Kirk to the Reliant, where he could deal with him? Khan is not the sort of man who has others do his dirty work. Well, he is, but when it comes to Kirk there’s a very personal score to be settled, and you’d think he’d want to settle it, well, personally. Kirk’s hubris Once again, Kirk thinks he knows it all. As Picard would years later make the same almost-fatal mistake when approaching the first ever Borg cube and keeping his shield down, Kirk ignores Saavik’s recommendation that he should follow protocol, which requires that on approaching a ship with which communication has not been established, shields should be raised. This overconfidence and brash bravado almost costs him his ship. Had he followed her suggestion the ship would not have been as badly damaged as it is now, and the fight would have been less one-sided. Parallels The most obvious of course is Moby Dick: Khan sees himself as Ahab, forever trying to bring down his enemy the great whale, but of course this is not accurate. Khan has not seen Kirk for fifteen years, has not been in a position to check on him, so that when he hears he has been made an admiral he is incensed. How dare Kirk, as he sees it, live the high life while he is left to scratch out a meagre living on this deserted desolate planet? But when he gets the chance to take him on, Khan is happy to expire while clutching his enemy to his bosom, so to speak. It doesn’t quite work out that way, of course. The second parallel is the original episode, “Space seed”, in which a revived Khan tries to take over the Enterprise and kill Kirk, but is defeated and exiled. Khan has never forgotten or forgiven Kirk for this ignomnity. Not only the exile, not the hard existence he and his people have been forced to eke out for a decade and a half, but for the shame of losing to the man he sees as being far inferior to him. Khan has been brought up with the idea that he is the better man -- and he is, or was, in his century. But his ideas are a little outmoded now, and whereas he could only have ever dreamed of conquering Earth back in his time, now there’s the whole galaxy to bring under his heel. Of course, he’s never going to manage it. The odds are stacked firmly against him. Even should he destroy Enterprise and make it away with the Genesis Device, Starfleet will hunt him and he can’t hide forever. Perhaps he would make alliances with the likes of the Klingons or the Romulans, the traditional enemies of the Federation, but even those races must see in the end they are dealing with a madman, and that is never a good bargain. His intellect and his lust for power could have taken him far in this new century, but despite his intelligence and his ability to learn so quickly, he is a man out of time, and this would eventually be his undoing. But he certainly goes out with a bang. Music Unlike the previous movie, which tended to use the same basic theme throughout --- which became, as I mentioned, the theme for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation some years later --- James Horner’s first major score gives a feeling of cohesion to the music, as it changes as the scenes change and the situations develop. There’s an aura of seafaring adventure to the rolling, lilting theme he composed that would be retained, in one form or another, for the next number of movies. He also includes at the very start, and end, the original Star Trek theme, which ties everything together nicely. The themes for Spock and Khan are well observed, and the usage of “Amazing Grace” flowing into the Trek theme at the end is inspired. All over, were I to rate the themes this would get a solid 9 compared to TMP’s maybe 3. A huge improvement. Themes and motifs There are many, to be sure, among them the fear of advancing age, the realisation that you’re no longer young and cannot behave as you did back then. Kirk encapsulates this in the snapped comment “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young!” There is also a sense of loss --- Khan has lost his wife, Kirk has lost the son he could have been around to see grow up, perhaps the chance at a proper relationship with Carol Marcos. For much of the movie, Chekov and Terrell lose their free will, slaves to the creatures Khan has put in their heads. Great loss, too, in the death of one of Kirk’s oldest friends, and even though it was well foreshadowed before the movie was even completed, and we know that there is an out at the end, with the third movie being titled The Search for Spock, it’s still a wrench to see a character we have followed through our early years on the television and come to identify as one of the great trademarks of this series, die at the end. The fact that he gives his life to save the ship both vindicates and confounds his logic, and we see that despite even himself, Spock is perhaps, as Kirk notes at the eulogy, more human than anyone he has ever met. Star Trek became noted, even jeered, for killing off characters only to bring them back again in a variety of increasingly implausible ways, but here was the first time a major character had died, and it hit us all hard. Distrust is also there. David Marcus distrusts Starfleet. He is a scientist, as is his mother, and they have managed to create what they see as a great force for good and have been constrained to turn to the military for funding, and he believes their discovery can and will be subverted into a weapon. When he hears the purported order from Kirk to transfer all materials relating to the project to the approaching USS Reliant, he believes his mistrust was well placed. But for me the main and overarching theme is one of revenge, not surprisingly. Khan believes that after fifteen years and against all odds, fate has delivered into his hands the means and opportunity to strike back at his old foe. Revenge for the death of his wife, and revenge for the defeat he was dealt by Kirk all those years ago. Kirk, too, is seeking revenge. This is, after all, the man who tried to kill him after the Enterprise rescued he and his people from floating in deep space in suspended animation. For that act of kindness --- had Kirk known what he later did, perhaps he would have left the Botany Bay drifting, or even destroyed it --- Khan tried to take over his ship. There is certainly a score to be settled. Memorable scenes and effects Of course, the most memorable scene will always be Spock’s death, which is in three acts really. The first begins when he hears Kirk say they need warp power or they’re all dead, and leaves his post. This continues into his sealing himself into the warp core chamber and replacing the crystals, thus giving his life for the ship and crew. Act II then is his reunion with Kirk as he lies dying, the ship saved but Spock beyond any help. It’s touching, emotional but not overblown, and Shatner acts one of the scenes of his life. Nimoy is gracious and reserved as ever, even making sure to stand when his captain arrives, and going so far as to pull at the hem of his tunic to straighten it, something that would become a habit of Jean-Luc Picard later. The exchange between them, bringing full circle the “needs of the many” argument, is perfectly observed, and the attempts to touch each other’s palms through the glass almost heartbreaking. Important, too, is the scene where, just before going into the chamber and having used the Vulcan nerve pinch on McCoy, Spock places his palm to the doctor’s face and says “Remember”. That will come into play in the third movie. Act III of course is the burial-in-space scene, where Kirk does his best to hold his emotions in check as captain of the ship, and no doubt as a parting gesture of respect to his Vulcan friend, as he delivers the beautifully-written eulogy. But other than the death of Spock, which comes after all right at the end, there are other memorable scenes here. The “WTF??!” moment, as it were, when Chekov sees the words “Botany Bay” in the hut, and realises who lives here. The battle in the Mutara Nebula, as each ship dances around the other, deprived of all sensors and shields, almost like modern troopers reduced to using bayonets and their own wits instead of HUD and heat-seeking missiles. The sequence showing how the Genesis Device works. Indeed, the opening scene, with the simulation, is very effective. Then there’s the malfunctioning transporter, a nice cameo for Grace Lee Whitney as Commander Janice Rand, the scene where Kirk is reunited with the son he left behind, and the horror-filmesque search through the silent Regula One space station before the crew find what remains of the scientists who have been butchered by Khan’s people. Does this film deserve its reputation? Of course it does. It’s easily seen as the best in the movie franchise --- at least, the original ten movies --- and deserves that accolade entirely. It’s a quantum leap from the first movie, with far better characterisation, a better plotline, space battles, an implacable foe, turning points for Kirk and of course the harrowing death of Spock. As a movie, this is pretty good. As a Star Trek movie, it stands head and shoulders above all the others. The music is far better, more fitting, the cast play their parts perfectly, Montalban is stunning as the maniacal Khan, and it acknowledges the series without making it absolutely necessary that you have seen that episode in order to be able to enjoy and understand the movie. This was, literally, the movie that saved the franchise. After the disaster Star Trek: The Motion Picture became, there was no room for error here. A movie seldom gets a second chance, but this being Star Trek the producers were allowed to try again, with a smaller budget (which yielded far greater box office returns in the end) and a new premise, and they, as the Americans say, knocked it out of the park. Had this second movie failed, it’s unlikely there would have been a third, and from this on in, all future Star Trek movies would be measured against The wrath of Khan, and take their cue from it, keeping the easy humour, the sly wink to the audience in movies like The voyage home and The final frontier, and of course, The search for Spock. Sometimes, it went a little too far into the tongue-in-cheek idea, but thankfully there was never another rigid, stuffy, boring and slow movie as the first one. Lessons had been learned, and would be implemented as the franchise set course at full warp speed into another eight movies before being rebooted. I could write pages more, but in the end the best I can do is award this movie the highest score I can: http://www.trollheart.com/tmr5.png |
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I know you're up to your neck with Star Trek month, and other assorted stuff, but would reviewing House Of Cards be a possible option. I'm talking about the U.S. version on Netflix. Considering you make some long and detailed reviews for mostly every episode, you would have a field day with House Of Cards, and I'd be interested to hear your views.
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Wait, you've reviewed Life on Mars?!
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Although I won't be covering it here, the Animated Series had some very strange episodes. Anyone watching it notice that there was some crazy alien at the helm? Anyway, this one I found the weirdest of all, and it kind of ties in with my "Of Gods and Men" journal. On a planet somewhere in the galaxy Kirk and Co come across the god Quetzlcoatl, deity of the Mayans. Seriously.
Oddly, though part two is available part one is not, and even odder, it seems to have been uploaded by one of the original writers, so you would think he would have wanted the whole episode available. Anyhoo, here is what I could find of it. Worth watching. |
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http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/sto....302930ce2c69f5 Borg Class: Mechanoid, gatherers of data Home planet: None, but they reside in Borgspace at Unimatrix Zero Values: The acquisition of information and data, biological, technological. Important Borg: Seven of Nine, Borg Queen, Hugh, Locutus of Borg Feature in: TNG, VOY Obviously taken from the word “cyborg”, the Borg are a hive mind entity, which is to say they are all interconnected to the one master brain, and none of them operate independent of that. Borg have no free will, no emotions, no personality. They are recruited from the ranks of other races by being “assimilated”, which involves their being injected by Borg drones with a compound that turns their skin pale, and introduces what are known as Borg nanoprobes into the system, creating a conduit which hooks the new Borg up to the collective. Limbs are enhanced with interface devices, usually on the arms and face, which allow the new Borg to receive commands and retrieve data, and keep in contact with, and be controlled by, at all times, the hive mind. The Borg (they are always treated as being a singular entity, even if there are many of them attacking or present) value the accumulation of data more than anything; in fact, it is the only thing they value. They are not conquerors, except in the sense that to assimilate and take over a planet affords them the opportunity to make more drones and thus increase their power. They add whatever distinctive differences an alien race has to their own, absorbing the knowledge of their technology, and so always continually evolving. They have no interest in war or territorial disputes, except when attacked, and believe in no gods. When a Borg is killed or incapacitated, it is removed from the hive mind like a broken connection, and vanishes. Like a part that is no longer needed or has become unusable, drones are discarded without a thought. They originated in the Delta Quadrant of the galaxy, and were first encountered by NCC-1701D, soon afterwards finding Earth and a whole new target. They easily crushed the greatest fleet ever assembled by humanity, and with the help of Captain Picard as Locutus of Borg, wrote the name of Wolf 359 forever in blood into the history books. It was later discovered that the Borg all serve one Queen, and that they travel through hyperspace in a method different to that used by most races, something called transwarp conduits which emerge in Borgspace. Their ships are flying cubes and are extremely tough, repairing themselves if not completely destroyed. They do not know the meaning of the word surrender, and will pursue an enemy to its absolute limit, never giving up. They learn and adapt quickly, so new weapons used against them are only effective for a very short period. They have powerful weapons themselves, capable of destroying huge swathes of a planet’s surface. They are not part of any alliance and will attack both sides in a battle, as long as it is to their advantage. They do not understand concepts such as honour, courage or fear, all of which they believe to be irrelevant. They are pure, unthinking machines, directed by their Queen towards one unalterable goal: improvement and perfection of their race. |
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...c/HarryKim.jpg Name: Harry Kim Race: Human Born: Earth Assignment: Ensign aboard USS Voyager (his first posting) Marital status: Single Family: John and Mary (seriously?) (Parents) Important episodes: Caretaker, Non sequitur, Eye of the needle, Prime factors, Heroes and demons, Emanations, Deadlock, The Chute, Alter ego, Favourite son, Demon, The Disease, Fair Haven, Timeless, Nightingale, Prophecy, Endgame. The eternal n00b, the constant rookie, Harry Kim began his active Starfleet career serving aboard Voyager but he had expected the tour of duty to be short, and is flabberghasted when he realises that he, along with the rest of the crew, are now stuck seventy thousand light years from home and that, in all probability, he will never get back to his old life again. He provides one half of a “buddy” relationship with the more outgoing and experienced Tom Paris, who essentially takes him under his wing and tries to teach him about life, though Paris himself is less interested really in his duties aboard ship than in what women he can score, an attitude which provides a perfect foil for Kim, the ensign always ready to please, always wanting to prove himself, always trying to do the right thing. Throughout the series Kim remains as an ensign, while others, including Paris, are promoted. He does not however voice any protest about this, but one must assume he wonders why the captain does not see fit to reward his service, as he proves himself a capable officer time and again. He seems to be the one who’s always getting captured or abducted by aliens --- it happens several times in the series, in fact, it happened in the pilot episode --- and seldom has any love interest in his life. Like Riker, he plays an instrument, clarinet, though we don’t see him play it too often thank god. Paris’s loose cannon attitude often annoys him, and he tries to reverse the roles, attempting to teach Tom responsibility and duty. Kim is killed in season two’s “Deadlock”, but a typical Voyager write-around has him replaced by an alternate version who then joins the crew and is accepted as “their” Kim. Should have left him dead. I must admit, I cheered when he was sucked out to space, but my cheers did not last long unfortunately. When Seven of Nine joins the crew he is initially suspicious of her --- not surprisingly: who would trust a Borg? --- but comes to be one of her friends and helps her with her attempts to understand humanity and regain her own, sometimes vicariously. He will however always be hated and despised by me, for creating, with Paris the “quaint” Irish village used in both the episode that bears its name, "Fair Haven” (expect to see that in the “When it rains” section!) and its sequel “Spirit folk”. It is he though who discovers a micro-wormhole that could allow the Voyager crew to get back to their own quadrant, and creates the transwarp drive which allows them to attempt the journey in “Timeless”, resulting in the death of all but he and Chakotay, who make it home. Years later he manages to reset the timeline and those events never come to pass. In an alternative future (yeah, another one: what of it?) he is finally promoted to captain and has his own ship, however that timeline is also erased and so really he remains an ensign right to the end of the series. |
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http://startrek.com/legacy_media/ima...01/320x240.jpg This is Captain James T. Kirk. I can’t take your call right now. Please listen carefully to the following options and select the one that best describes your call: If you are stuck in a stagnant society and wish to be liberated by the Federation, press one! If you are a space babe wishing to learn about kissing, press two! If you are a space babe wishing to learn about kissing, press three! If you are a space babe wishing to learn about kissing, press four! If you need a robot, machine or computer talked to death, press five! If you require a crash course on how to get around the Prime Directive, press six! If you are The Gorn looking for a rematch, press seven! If you would like a long-winded diatribe on why man cannot be kept captive but must struggle for every inch, press eight! If you are a space babe wishing to learn about kissing, press nine! If you need help dealing with an evil/alternate/ version of yourself, press ten! |
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Title: The Enterprise incident Series: TOS Season: Three Writer(s): DC Fontana Main character(s): Spock, Kirk Plot: In an attempt to steal the new cloaking device and adapt it for Federation use, Kirk and Spock allow themselves to be captured by a Romulan commander. Spock, to whom she is attracted, appears to betray his captain and is allowed stay onboard as her consort, while Kirk is believed to be killed by his first officer. This was one of those episodes where they hit all the right notes: although Shatner tries to steal the show it's very much a Spock episode, one of few, and indeed one of the only ones where we get any insight into his carefully-concealed emotions. The idea of Spock having a love affair --- in fact, of faking one to gain the advantage Kirk needs and give him time to steal the device --- is so alien to the series that it really hits home. We also get to see Spock “kill” Kirk, learn that the Vulcan does in fact have a first name, and experience a sexy Romulan commander who is ultimately betrayed by Spock. This is also one of the first times that the goody-goody Federation openly (well, covertly, but you know what I mean: it's authorised) engage in espionage against a race with whom they are not currently at war, and the episode has everything: sex, betrayal, death, cloak and dagger and Kirk in pointy ears! Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/picrating5.png Title: In the pale moonlight Series: DS9 Season: Six Writer(s): Peter Allan Fields and Michael Taylor Main character(s): Sisko, Garak Plot: The Federation is losing the war against the Dominion and reluctantly turns to their old enemies the Romulans to help them by joining the war. Fabricating evidence that the Changelings are planning to conquer Romulus, Garak gives Sisko a data rod which is in turn handed to a prominent Romulan senator. He however recognises it as fake, but on the way back to Romulus his ship is destroyed, thanks to a bomb put there by Garak. Soon afterwards, the Romulans join the war. If DS9 ever reached a peak in mature writing, this was it. Sisko, ever the man to play by the rules and quote Starfleet regulations, is forced by circumstances into betraying everything he holds dear, into conspiring with the Cardassian Garak, whom he has never trusted but knows can get the job done. When it all goes pear-shaped and Sisko fears that their duplicity will in fact force the Romulans into an alliance with the Dominion, he discovers that the “ace in the hole” Garak has been holding is to ensure the senator's ship explodes. Once the data rod is recovered from the wreckage, its authenticity will not be questioned in the light of the “accident”, clearly an assassination, and the objective will have been achieved. A clearer case of one man facing Spock's remorseless logic of the “needs of the many” could not be made. A stupendous, brave, dark and utterly entrancing episode, one of the very finest in all the franchise. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/picrating5.png Title: Phage Series: VOY Season: One Writer(s): Timothy de Haas, Brannon Braga, Skye Dent Main character(s): Neelix Plot: When Neelix's lungs are somehow stolen (hooray!) Voyager pursues the thieves, only to uncover a massive organ harvesting operation and a race of people suffering from a generational plague which consumes their flesh. Not in fairness a brilliant episode, although the sheer joy of seeing Neelix lying close to death, unable to breathe and then later being told by the Doctor that he will have to remain motionless for the rest of his life (YES!) is worthy of its inclusion by itself. But what is striking about this episode is the double standard portrayed within the writing. Initially we see a race of aliens who are callously harvesting organs from any lifeform who has what they need, then later we learn they are doing this because of a disease which afflicts them and necessitates constant replacement of their organs. Janeway makes an interesting decision at the end, allowing the alien who has taken Neelix's lungs to retain them, unwilling to kill him for one of her crewmembers. Later on, when she toughened up, she would not be expected to do this. But then again, it was only Neelix, after all! Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/picrating3.png Title: Sins of the father Series: TNG Season: Three Writer(s): Ronald D. Moore, Drew Deighan, W. Reed Moran Main character(s): Worf, Picard Plot: Worf's father has been named by the Empire as a traitor, and the son of Mogh must travel to the homeworld to answer this charge. What he uncovers turns out to be a nest of vipers, a web of betrayal and a code of silence that will lead to death being pronounced upon his own head. A great Worf episode, which tells us much more about Klingon culture and introduces us to a Klingon who will become, for a time, Worf's nemesis, as later will his sisters. It is in fact the father of Duras who is proven finally to be the traitor but in a totally shock ending Worf must shoulder the blame and be shunned by all Klingons. The unexpected conclusion comes as something of a hammerblow: just as you think, this is Trek: all charges dropped and home in time for Earl Grey --- hot! --- well no. The twist is painful and hard to take, and will have severe repercussions for Worf and his family for another season, and as mentioned the Duras sisters will become a thorn in the Federation's side with the death of their brother. There's also some action-man stuff for Picard, and we learn that Worf has a brother. Great stuff and the final scene, as Picard and Worf stride from the chamber of the High Council, with every Klingon back --- even his own brother's --- turned away from him, is both chilling and stunning. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/picrating5.png Title: Mirror, mirror Series: TOS Season: Two Writer(s): Jerome Bixby Main character(s): Spock, Kirk Plot: A transporter accident opens a rift in space/time and Kirk and his intrepid landing party find themselves on the ISS Enterprise, in a harsh, brutal alternate universe where force is the watchword and there is no such thing as compromise or compassion. Here, Kirk meets this universe's counterpart of Spock and tries to show him how he can change this world for the better. I just love this episode! What a clever idea. Building on the already-explored theme of an “evil Kirk” in the laughable “The enemy within”, this time we see a whole universe of evil Trek counterparts, with Sulu a sadist who enjoys enforcing discipline on the ship and vies for Kirk's job, McCoy finding a sickbay he describes as more like a torture chamber, and Spock with a beard! The idea that we're all one step away from chaos and brutality is well portrayed here, as everyone in the “Mirror universe” does what they have to to survive, while back on the “real” Enterprise “bad” Kirk and his crew are dumbfounded by the changes they see: “Where's my personal guard?” roars “bad” Kirk. The Mirror universe, and the events that unfold in this episode, would be revisited in later episodes of Deep Space 9. Rating: http://www.trollheart.com/picrating5.png |
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http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/...path-prefix=en Name: Cardassia Prime Alignment: non-Federation, hostile Home to: Cardassian race Capital City: Cardassia City Orbital star: Cardassia, Class K Once a lush, verdant and arable planet, Cardassia suffered a natural catastrophe which devastated its surface and turned forests and hills into desert. The planet has little in the way of minerals and so a great famine descended, worsened by the military seizing power and ploughing all the planet’s finances into their war with the Federation. Cardassians are notoriously devious and mistrustful, and an air of paranoia cloaks everything they do. This can be seen (or could be, prior to the almost destruction of the planet and the elimination of its populace at the end of the Dominion War) in the huge viewscreens that frown down from many buildings, as the feared Obsidian Order makes no secret about its ubiquitous surveillance of its people. Orwellian is the word that springs to mind, and the people live in fear and dread of the knock on the door in the dead of night. Despite the unremitting grey sameness of much of the architecture and the barren expanse that proliferates outside the walls of the cities, there is much beauty to be found on Cardassia, such as the Mekor Wilderness, where the rocks form into sublime shapes and there are subterranean caverns. The State Intelligence uses this area as a place to train its recruits, and maintains an institute there. Unwary travellers though may fall prey to the Honge, a huge flying pterodactyl-like creature, or even the Mekarian sawtooth, a carnivorous plant native to the region. There is also one rainforest remaining on the planet, and its location in Morfan Province makes it a popular destination for Cardassian holidaymakers. |
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../JadziaDax.jpg Commander Jadzia Dax, played by Terry Farrell Dax is a trill, a symbiotic life form that can live a very long time --- hundreds, maybe thousands of years --- and is transplanted from host body to host body as each wears out or dies. Jadzia is the latest host, and in keeping with trill tradition she takes the alien’s surname, becoming Jadzia Dax, most often referred to as Dax. She serves aboard the space station Deep Space 9 under Commander (later Captain) Ben Sisko, whom she knows from her days of being implanted in the host body of the previous donor, a warrior named Curzon. Because of his long relationship with Curzon, and out of respect to the trill, Sisko often refers to Jadzia as “old man”, which is a little confusing. Initially, Jadzia is pestered by Doctor Julian Bashir, who falls in love with her, but eventually she falls for Worf, the Klingon security chief of DS9, and marries him. Again, somewhat like Uhura and unlike most of the TNG females, Dax is treated almost like a man (given that she has the trill inside her and that all previous hosts were male, this is not that surprising) and acts quite the tomboy. She rarely seems to indulge in feminine trappings or be interested in feminine things, other than her romantic interests. She plays games of skill and chance at Quark’s with the abandon and acceptance of any other man, and she can fight and protect herself as well as any of them. She frequently leads missions, holding the rank originally of Lieutenant and then later Lieutenant Commander, and having her special relationship with Sisko gives her access to the station’s commander she might otherwise not have. Dax is killed in the finale of the sixth season by Gul Dukat, but though Jadzia dies the symbiont is saved and later transplanted into another host body, who carries it through the final season to the conclusion of the show. After her heroics and sacrifice, Worf believes his late wife has earned her place in Sto’vo’kor, the Klingon heaven, somewhat equivalent to Valhalla, even though she herself is not of Klingon blood. |
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While it's certainly up there in the top three of the Trek movies, and I do like the theme, I just kind of find this one a little less Trekky (is that a word? It is now!) than other movies that came before it. And after it. I mean, I dig what the guy is trying to do, with the fanfare at the start then diverting off into a totally different sort of theme, but it just does not say Star Trek to me. Mind you, some of the others don't either, but this just sounds like it could be the theme for Titanic or something. Also, it's nowhere near as ominous and dark as the soundtrack to a movie like this should be. This was one of the first --- the first, really --- dark and bleak Star Trek movies, and though it had its funny and lighter moments, generally it dealt with one man's obsession and his attempts to come to terms with that before it tore him apart. This music .... does not communicate that inner struggle to me. Which is why it's only at number http://www.marathonauto.com/userfile...umber-8-md.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._08-poster.png This needed a big, booming, droning, snarling anthem, something you could get your teeth into; something that, frankly, scared the shit out of you. Maybe not quite a horror theme as such, but something dark, heavy, oppressive. This is way too light and does not convey anything about how the movie actually pans out. Jerry Goldsmith, a veteran of Trek themes, apparently used a “pastoral, friendly theme to represent the hope of humanity's first contact”. Bollocks. I wanted big, crunching, scary, growling Borg music. Up yours Jerry! Fail. |
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#2: Revenge is a dish best served ... hot? “Reunion”, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season four, episode seven. This is K'Eylar. http://www.trollheart.com/duras1.png She is Worf's mate, and has brought onboard the Enterprise the son he did not know he had, though during the course of the episode she turns down his offer of marriage, much to his consternation and dismay. Meanwhile, K'mpec, High Chancellor of the Empire, is dying and two council members are vying for his seat. As K'mpec, impressed with his performance as Worf's second in “Sins of the father”, has chosen Picard as the arbiter of succession, the Klingons rendezvous with the Enterprise, that the choice may be made. http://www.trollheart.com/duras2.png That choice is between Gowron and Duras. Worf knows Duras of course, as it is his father who sold out his own people at Khitomer to the Romulans, and he who framed Worf for the traitorous act, condemning him to Discommendation, meaning that Worf is looked on as a pariah in Klingon society. Nobody will even speak to him or look at him. Worf has much to hate Duras for. http://www.trollheart.com/duras3.png During the rite of arbitration a bomb goes off, and is determined to be of Romulan origin. It is also found to have been on one of Duras's men. Researching into this, and by extension the circumstances under which Worf was tried as a traitor, K'Eylar uncovers the truth but then runs afoul of Duras. http://www.trollheart.com/duras4.png Not about to allow his shame to be made public, much less his chances of becoming chancellor ruined, Duras kills K'Eylar. http://www.trollheart.com/duras5.png When Worf finds her dying, and she tells him who killed her, he confronts his enemy on board his ship, demanding the Klingon "Rite of Vengeance". http://www.trollheart.com/duras6.png Duras snarls that a traitor such as Worf has no right of vengeance, but Worf then says four words that change everything in Klingon law: “K'Eylar was my mate.” You can immediately see the words “Oh fuck!” in the expression that suddenly flits across the traitor's face. http://www.trollheart.com/duras7.png He knows he is for it now. With no other choice, he engages Worf in combat but like most cowards he is a bad fighter, and at the end, tries to use what G'Kar called “enlightened self-interest” to save his life, telling Worf that if he kills him, there will be no way to prove that Worf is after all not a traitor. His efforts fail though: Worf is in a cold blood rage and kills Duras. http://www.trollheart.com/duras8.png Understanding why he did what he did, but unable to condone it as acceptable behaviour for a Starfleet officer, Picard reprimands Worf and tells him if he cannot obey Starfleet rules he should resign. Worf chooses to remain aboard the Enterprise, but with a black mark against him. http://www.trollheart.com/duras9.png This episode is quite pivotal in many ways. It wraps up the events of “Sins of the father” by allowing Worf to take revenge on the man who blackened his name, but it does not clear him, as he remarks to Picard: “Many of the council members shared in that lie. They will not be so willing to come forward now.” By killing Duras, even if it is as a by-product of his revenge and not intended to benefit the other party in the contest, Worf has made a lifelong friend and ally of Gorwon, who now assumes the seat unchallenged. Worf has proven that, like most of us I think, when it comes to love all bets are off and rules be damned. This will not be the last time he puts his heart and his honour above his duty to Starfleet. The other major thing to come out of this episode of course is that Worf is suddenly, and unexpectedly a father. He is not prepared for this, and it will create many bumps in the road ahead for him, but lead to a liaison with Deanna Troi and a better understanding of what it is to be a parent, and how hard it must have been for his own foster parents, bringing him up. With Duras dead, you would think that would be the end of it. You would be wrong... |
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1.1 "Emissary" Beginning as it does with the battle at Wolf 359, if you have not already seen TNG's “The best of both worlds” before embarking on your adventure into this series, it is highly recommended, otherwise the opening scene will confound you. Assuming you're conversant with those episodes though (if not, read no further: you have been warned), we see the battle being directed against the Federation by Locutus of Borg, none other than Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his Borg persona. Starfleet is losing the battle, and will suffer heavy losses before retreating against the marauding invaders, making this a watershed moment in Trek history. Never before has such a massive fleet been assembled, the very cream of Starfleet, to be brushed aside like insects as the Borg carve their way through the galaxy towards Earth. The USS Saratoga is just one of the ships trying to stem the advance of the Borg, but they are as ineffectual as any of the others, and the ship takes a direct hit. Benjamin Sisko, serving aboard the ship, sees his wife, Jennifer, dead, pinned beneath a metal stanchion as the ship goes up in flames and he is forced to leave her there, taking his young son Jake as they escape, moments before the ship tears itself apart. Three years later, he is given command of the Federation space station, Deep Space Nine, which is in orbit around a planet called Bajor. This planet has just emerged from a long war of attrition with the Cardassian Empire, and they have requested a Federation presence in the sector, to discourage their old enemy from returning. The station the Federation are to take control of is an old Cardassian outpost known as Terak Nor, but Starfleet have renamed it. Joining Sisko there is his new chief of operations, Miles O'Brien, whom we met in TNG previously. As it is the Enterprise that brings him and the station's doctor, Julian Bashir, to the station, it's not that surprising that we see a guest cameo for Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Sisko however is in no mood to be friendly: this is not a posting he requested and truth to tell, he is thinking of resigning his commission. He has a young son to bring up now, on his own, and a space station does not seem the best of places for him to grow up. He meets his new attache, Major Kira Nerys, who is less than overjoyed to see him. She is a Bajoran, fought against the Cardassians and is not happy to see the Federation, as she sees it, taking the place of the old oppressor. He also meets his chief of security, an alien called Odo, who can shift his shape into any form he wishes, and treats Sisko (and everyone really, bar Kira) with a sort of gruff tolerance. He was also chief of security when the Cardassians occupied this station, a fact that will not sit well with many now that the enemy has been overthrown. After the nephew of Quark, the Ferengi who was running the local casino and bar but is now preparing to leave in the aftermath of the destruction wrought by the defeated, departing Cardassians, is caught stealing, Sisko offers him a choice. He will release the boy if Quark stays and reopens the casino. He wants someone to make a stand, put down roots and rebuild. Quark, with a tacit assurance of little or no interference from Starfleet in his gaming tables, grudgingly agrees. Odo begins to have a new respect for Sisko. Kira explains that she believes the provisional government set up to rule in the wake of the fall of the Cardassian occupation will itself fail, as factions develop and old scores are reignited. She says the only one who can reunite the planet is the spiritual leader, Kai Opaca, but she has secluded herself away. Just then, the vedek Sisko spoke to soon after his arrival advises him “it is time” and he goes to meet Opaca, who has sent for him. She shows him what she calls “a Tear of the Prophets”, a celestial orb of which she says there are nine, which appeared “mysteriously in the sky over the last ten thousand years.” She opens the casing and a blinding light suffuses him, and he is shown a most amazing vision. He sees his future wife, Jennifer, now dead three years, as she was when he first met her. The vision does not last long, and when it is over Opaca tells him he has been chosen by the Prophets, her people's gods, to find the Celestial Temple before the Cardassians can. He has no idea what this temple is, but she tells him she cannot reunite her people until the Prophets have been warned. His pah --- the lifeforce or spiritual energy the Bajorans believe is in all beings --- is strong, and has helped her come to this conclusion. A little nonplussed, Sisko is nevertheless delighted later that night to see the promenade come alive as Quark keeps his end of the bargain and reopens the bar. The next day he greets his medical officer and his new science officer, the latter of whom is an old friend of his. Dax is a Trill, a symbiotic lifeform introduced in TNG which bonds to a host body and can live many hundreds of years. The relationship is totally benign, and neither is in control of the other, but when Sisko knew Dax he was in an old man named Curzon. Now he is in a young, pretty female called Jadzia, and Sisko is amused, still calling him “old man” despite the obvious curves. The MO, Julian Bashir, is smitten with Jadzia, even though he knows about the Trill inside her, and is like a blushing schoolboy around her, which again affords Sisko and Dax much amusement. Sisko is less amused however when the former Cardassian Prefect of Bajor, and the man in whose office he is now sitting, drops by. Gul Dukat makes it plain that he is not happy to have been ousted, and tries to wring information from the commander about the orb he has seen, but Sisko feigns ignorance. A veiled threat that the station is “far from the protection of the Federation, with poor defences” does nothing to settle Sisko's mood of foreboding, and the two men take an instant dislike to each other, an air of mutual distrust and suspicion descending almost immediately. Dax has been researching possible locations for this so-called “Celestial Temple”, and they now have an area they need to check out, a locus for all the sightings and navigational errors that lead them to believe this may be the place they're looking for. With Odo managing to disable the Cardassian ship berthed at the station they are free to launch unchallenged, and head off in one of the small “Runabout”-class shuttles to explore. What they find, against all logic, is the first stable wormhole known to exist, and more, within that wormhole, a planet! Or an asteroid. Both see something different when, again against all logic, they find they land on ... something. Sisko sees a desolate, windswept, storm-lashed planetoid, while Dax see a vision of a beautiful garden; trees, flowers, rolling hills, blues sky and sun. Then they both see it: an orb, floating in the air. It shoots energy beams at them, and Dax is transported back to the station. When she relates what has happened, Major Kira realises the enormous strategic importance of the wormhole and comes to perhaps an odd decision: Deep Space Nine must be moved, somehow, to the mouth of the new wormhole, so that the Bajorans (and the Federation) can lay claim to it before the Cardassians do. Sisko however remains behind and seems to have another vision, in which he contacts the aliens inside the wormhole, and finds that they have no conception whatever of time. For them, there is no “now”, “later”, “soon”, no “past” and no “future”: everything happens to them at the same moment. They test him, calling him adversarial, violent (sound familiar?) but he wins them over and they agree to anoint him as their emissary. They also bring him face-to-face with his own guilt and pain, and allow him to say goodbye properly to Jennifer. Meanwhile, Gul Dukat has not been idle in wake of the appearance of the wormhole and sets course for it, despite the warnings of Kira and Odo. Just as his ship enters it it collapses, and soon three Cardassian warships arrive in search of Dukat. Dismissing this story of a wormhole they can neither see nor detect, they surround the station, believing that the Bajorans have somehow destroyed their ship. They demand the total surrender of the space station, but Kira and O'Brien manage to make it look as if they are well armed and would not be an easy target. Nevertheless, mindful of the approach of the Enterprise, less than a day away, Jasad orders the attack. As the station begins to sustain heavy damage, and after holding out as long as she can Kira prepares to surrender, the wormhole suddenly reappears. Jasad is dumbfounded, the moreso as the Rio Grande comes through, towing Dukhat's stricken ship! The attack is of course broken off and Sisko returns to Deep Space Nine. With the wormhole now a major attraction, both for commerce, tourists and scientific research, to say nothing of the strategic importance it has suddenly acquired in a military sense, Bajor is on the map in a way it never was before. The wormhole aliens, or Prophets as the Bajorans refer to them, have agreed to allow safe access for all through the wormhole, affording a quick and easy passage to the Gamma Quadrant, seventy thousand light-years away. His initial doubts about the post now vanished, and knowing he is where he is supposed to be, Sisko asks Picard to rescind his request for replacement, and takes his place at the helm of what will be one of the most exciting and challenging posts in Starfleet. QUOTES Bajoran Vedek: “Welcome, Commander. Enter please; the Prophets await you.” (How prophetic and accurate that statement will turn out to be!) Sisko: “Is something wrong, Major?” Kira: “You don't want to ask me that.” Sisko: “Why not?” Kira: “Because I have the bad habit of telling the truth, even when it's what people don't want to hear.” Sisko: “Maybe I want to hear.” (This sentence distils the future relationship between the Bajoran attache and the commander: he will always want her to speak her mind, even if (as frequently happens) she disagrees with him, and he will never shrink from the hard questions) Sisko: “I was just talking to our good friend Quark: he was laying odds the government will fall.” Kira: “Quark knows a good bet when he hears it. This provisional government will be gone in a week, and so will you.” Sisko: “What happens to Bajor then?” Kira: “Civil war.” Kai Opaca: “Ironic. One who does not wish to be among us is to become the Emissary.” Opaca: “You will find the Celestial Temple, Commander. Not for Bajor, or for the Federation, but for your own pah. It is quite simply, Commander, the journey you have always been destined to take.” Bashir: “This will be perfect! Real frontier medicine!” Kira: “Frontier medicine?” Bashir: “Major, I had my choice of any job in the fleet. I didn't want some cushy job or a research grant. I wanted this! The farthest reaches of the galaxy, one of the most remote outposts available. This is where the adventure is! This is where heroes are made, right here, in the wilderness.” Kira: “This wilderness is my home. The Cardassians left a lot of injured people behind, Doctor! You can make yourself useful by bringing your Federation medicine to the natives. You'll find them a friendly, simple folk!” Kira: “Red alert! Shields up!” O'Brien: “What shields?” Kira: “You don't think, Gul Jusad, that Starfleet took command of this station without giving it the ability to defend itself, do you?” Jasad: “Defend itself? You could not defend yourselves against one Cardassian warship, let alone three!” Kira: “You're probably right, Jasad. And if I were a Starfleet officer I'd agree with you that this is a hopeless cause. But I'm just a Bajoran, who's been fighting hopeless causes all her life against Cardassians. So if you want a war, Jasad, I'll give you one!” Houston, we have a problem! I find it odd, unlikely in the extreme that the Cardassians are allowed back on the station off which they were ejected but two weeks ago. Admittedly, there is a reason for their visit and it is no coincidence that they wait until the Enterprise has left before approaching, but the ease with which Sisko allows them to “enjoy the facilities” is unsettling. It's like the SS coming back into Auschwitz after it's been liberated, or Al Quadea perhaps walking up to Ground Zero. Is there no tension here, no hostility? It's a Bajoran station after all; surely the locals are upset about this? But nobody seems to say anything, even raise an eyebrow. They're just accepted back. Granted, they're big heavy military types and nobody would want to mess with them, but you would think Sisko might have raised some objections, yet he doesn't. Odd, I feel. Also, how is it that this wormhole has existed for approximately ten thousand years and yet Sisko and Dax are the first ones to ever locate it? Surely that's too massive a coincidence to ignore? Ten millennia: think about that. All right, man has only had space travel at this point for maybe two hundred years or less, but what about all the alien races passing through this sector? Did the Cardassians, in surely many supply runs to or even attacks on Bajor, never stumble across this? Is that in any way believable, that it's just been here, all this time, waiting for Sisko to discover it? |
Ten things I hate about you
Unlike the original series and even its successor, DS9 is not people with characters who like each other. Quite the opposite in fact, and there are rivalries, jealousies and agendas going on all the time. This is not surprising, given the shaky nature of most of the relationships. The Federation is seen as an intruder, perhaps an unwelcome guest, and many of the people there would rather be somewhere else. In this section I'll be looking at the more negative aspects of the relationships between characters, how they fit in to the overall storylines, how they change (if at all) over time and how enemies become allies and sometimes allies can become enemies. It's one of the great strengths of the series that nothing is black and white, and that the good guys are sometimes hard to distinguish from the bad. It's much more realistic in a characterisation kind of way, where people have flaws and failings, and nobody is lily white. Sisko and Picard This is the first real conflict we come across, and though it doesn't last --- by the end of the episode it's resolved --- it's important as it speaks to the reasons Sisko thinks he might not even any longer wish to be part of Starfleet. Nobody could blame him for hating Picard on sight: the last time he saw the man was as Locutus, directing the Borg offensive against Starfleet at Wolf 359, and being directly responsible for the death of his wife. Logic says he should realise this is a different man now, and that Picard had no choice in the transformation: he did not ask to be assimilated nor willingly serve the Borg, but a man who is hurting inside from pain he believes will never lessen is not a man to listen to logic. Sisko also possibly blames Starfleet itself for Jennifer's death, and thinks he should have died with her, but left with their son to bring up on his own he does not consider the space station the best environment in which to accomplish that. By the end of the episode he has been shown by the Prophets that it is his own guilt and sense of loss that is keeping him where he is, and once he breaks that tie, says goodbye to his wife, he is able to move on, even able to shake Picard's hand. The past is the past, and let it stay there. Sisko and Kira A much more tempestuous relationship, which will not be as easily or quickly resolved. This too is understandable. Kira Nerys comes from a background of fighting an implacable oppressor for the freedom of her home planet, and now, with that finally accomplished, she groans as the newly elected provisional government bows and scrapes to the Federation and invites them to run Terak Nor. To her mind, the Bajorans have beaten one master only to fasten the chains again and hand them to a new one. She believes too that the government will soon fall, and then Starfleet will pull out as her planet descends into bloody civil war. She is, therefore, most impressed when the spiritual leader of her people sends for Sisko and tasks him with finding the “Celestial Temple”, and even more so when he does find it, precipitating a shift of historical proportions as suddenly Bajor finds itself the gateway to a whole new quadrant of the galaxy, assuring it of revenue, fame and indeed protection. The Federation will now jealously guard Bajor, which has just become the shining jewel in their strategic and propaganda crown. And she sees too how Sisko deals with Quark, the Ferengi who wishes to leave but who is convinced to stay. She also finds new admiration and respect for Starfleet through O'Brien, whose technical wizardry helps her save the station. Perhaps having the Federation here is not such a bad idea after all. Sisko and Dukat By far the greatest rivalry though will be between the erstwhile oppressor of Bajor and the new commander of Deep Space Nine. Dukat makes it quite plain that he is not happy to have been forced off Terak Nor and makes veiled threats that Sisko, while not in the least cowed by them, knows are not quite so empty. They are a long way from home, with no starship to protect them, and Cardassia is much closer than any Federation world. This of course changes once the wormhole is discovered; now, Starfleet and other vessels will be regularly visiting the once-poor planet and its orbiting space station, and it will become a hive of activity, leaving Dukat little opportunity to carry out any reprisals he had intended. But it is more than just Federation versus Cardassia here. Dukat has taken an instant dislike to Sisko, and vice versa. The two will cross swords regularly over the course of the next seven seasons, and will remain bitter enemies right to the end. Faith Deep Space Nine succeeded in bringing one thing to the Star Trek universe that its two predecessors had rarely if ever touched, and certainly never focussed upon: religion. There is a strong theme of spirituality and religion running through this series, and it informs much of the overall plot. Many viewers found this a little boring, a little preachy, and in some cases a little unnecessary, and I would not disagree with that. Had the wormhole aliens just been treated as such there might not have needed to be such focus on gods and religion, but the writers decided that was the way they were going to go, and it was a brave decision, if not always a good one. But it certainly made DS9 stand out from its fellows, and perhaps drew in some more casual viewers who had not really seen the concept of religion explored so thoroughly and so openly in a TV drama series, especially a science-fiction one. Bajor exists on its religion. Its leaders are called vedeks and its spiritual leader in chief is the Kai. In some ways, it could be said to be a theocracy, and likened to perhaps Iran or other countries where there is no separation of church and state, but without the hardline repression practiced by at least Iran on its people. The Bajoran religious rule of law is more harmonious, more relaxed, less concerned with a vengeful god breathing fire and brimstone than in trying to get everyone to live in peace. Almost Utopian, it would seem. And pretty much defenceless in that regard, leaving them open to attack, subjugation and conquest and occupation by a militaristic race like the Cardassians. Religion is what sustained the Bajorans throughout the occupation, and now that they are free they hope it will bless their new lives. But as in any government, theocratic or not, factions rise and squabble, disputes break out, family feuds resurface, and all the petty little jealousies and grievances that were put on hold while the planet fought as one against their oppressors now come bubbling back to the surface, rising inexorably like a genii who has been let out of the bottle. Bajor is in danger of fragmenting and tearing itself apart, and only Kai Opaka can bring them together. But to do that, she needs to seek the guidance of the Prophets, the mythical beings her people worship and whom Sisko finds living in the wormhole. With this sign in the heavens (could there be a more direct indication of the favour of the Prophets towards their people?) tensions will ease, for a time, on the planet and Opaka will be able to calm her people and bring about a cessation to any talk of civil war. But there are doubts about the chosen emissary of the Prophets. An unbeliever? An infidel? An outworlder? Such questions will continue to plague Ben Sisko as he tries to juggle his position of commander of a Starfleet base with that of messiah and messenger to a people who, a few short weeks ago, he didn't even know existed. Lies, damn lies and politics The other main theme explored in this series is politics, and of course as ever this is inextricably linked with religion, especially when dealing with a theocracy. It's politically expedient that the Federation and Starfleet take control of the wormhole, as it will become perhaps the single most important fixture in the quadrant, affording as it does the only way to travel to the Gamma Quadrant, and indeed welcoming strange alien races from 70,000 light years away to their part of space. As a military outpost it could not be more significant, which perhaps makes it odd that Starfleet does not berth a number of starships there from the outset, though perhaps they want to avoid showing too heavy a hand. After all, nobody is at war with anyone ... yet. They probably prefer to offer the hand of friendship before revealing that the other hand may hold a sword. But throughout the series, politics will play a huge part in the sprawling story to unfold once the second season comes to a close, and Sisko will find himself enmeshed in affairs he could not have dreamed of as he and his son headed disconsolately towards their new home at the beginning of the episode. He will find himself making decisions that will keep him awake at night, and struggling in the end not only for survival of the Federation, his species and Bajor, but for his very soul itself. |
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http://www.trollheart.com/ussnerdreportT3.png With the success and open-endedness of The Wrath of Khan, the Star Trek movie franchise had basically a three-part story on its hands, the second of which would feature, despite his reluctance to continue or reprise the role, the return of Spock and his “resurrection” after his harrowing and emotional death at the end of the previous movie. Initially intended to have been a permanent death, the fan outcry at the killing off of their hero was such that both writers and actor bowed to pressure, the latter only agreeing to play the part if he were allowed direct the movie. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._for_Spock.png Title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Released: 1984 Writer(s): Harve Bennett Director: Leonard Nimoy Starring: All the usual Star Trek crew plus: Mark Lenard as Sarek, Merritt Butrick as David Marcus, Christopher Lloyd as Kruge, Robin Curtis as Saavik and James B. Sikking as Captain Styles Runtime: 105 minutes Budget: USD 16 million Boxoffice: USD 87 million Critical acclaim: Extremely high Fan acclaim: Extremely high Legacy: Brought Spock back from the dead, final voyage for NCC-1701 Enterprise: NCC-1701 We pick up exactly where the second movie left off, as Enterprise limps back home after having defeated Khan, and with Spock dead. Lieutenant Saavik and David Marcus have stayed behind on the newly-formed Genesis planet to survey it. Meanwhile, a shifty character has sold the Genesis data to a Klingon woman, who now transmits it to her lover, Kruge. He then destroys the ship she is in, along with the traitor, and heads for the Neutral Zone. Enterprise arrives home, and as they dock Chekov alerts Kirk to the fact that the door to Spock’s quarters has been forced, after the captain had ordered it sealed, and that a life energy reading is being detected there! Rushing down, Kirk finds McCoy sitting there, seemingly in a trance. He emulates Spock’s voice and asks Kirk to take him home. When Kirk says they are home it becomes clear he means Vulcan, not Earth, and that somehow the dead Spock is talking through Doctor McCoy, who then collapses. Kirk and the others are dismayed to find that the Enterprise is to be decommissioned, Starfleet believing it is too old and has had its day. They are also told that the Genesis Planet is off-limits, as ordered by the Federation High Council. Scotty is seconded to the Excelsior as head of engineering, and goes with bad grace. Kruge meanwhile sets course for the Genesis Planet, intent on discovering the secret of this new, as he sees it, Federation weapon. Saavik and David, onboard the USS Grissom which is surveying the planet, locate the torpedo tube which was used to eject Spock’s body into space, but are intrigued to see that there is a lifeform registering in the area. They decide to beam down to investigate. Sarek, Spock’s father and Vulcan ambassador, visits Kirk and berates him for having left his son behind. Spock trusted him, he tells the captain, to bring his body back to Vulcan, where his katra, his spirit, his soul, could be regenerated. Sarek finds it unbelievable that Spock did not make this request to Kirk, his closest friend and the one who saw him last. After mind-melding with him though, Sarek sees that this is not the case. Kirk points out that they could not touch, that glass separated them, so Spock could not have mind-melded with him. Sarek sighs, saying that in that case, all is lost. Spock’s katra is gone, and his second chance at life has vanished. But Kirk is not prepared to give up so easily. If it was that important, he says, Spock would have found a way. Reviewing the tapes of the incidents leading up to Spock’s death, he and Sarek see Spock place his palm on McCoy’s face and say “Remember”, and they known now that the Vulcan must have mind-melded with the doctor. Sarek says that in order to separate the two, Spock’s katra from McCoy’s brain, he must bring Spock’s body with McCoy to Vulcan. This will not be easy, as they have just been advised a) their ship is to fly no more missions and b) the Genesis planet is off-limits, but Kirk determines to ensure he performs this one last service for his friend. On the planet’s surface Saavik and David find the source of their lifeform readings: microbes which were o n the surface of the torpedo tube when it was launched have grown and mutated under the Genesis effect. But they also find the empty burial robe of Spock: his body is nowhere to be seen. The planet appears to be going through some sort of tectonic activity, as tremors shake it. Then a voice pierces the air, a roar of something in pain. Meanwhile, Kirk springs McCoy, whose odd behaviour and an attempt to charter a ship to the Genesis planet has constrained Federation Security to place him in holding. He and the crew then “appropriate” the Enterprise and take it to the Genesis planet. The Excelsior, sent to pursue it, suffers something of a mental breakdown thanks to Scotty’s tinkering while stationed there and is left behind. On the planet Saavik and David find a Vulcan child, whom they believe to be Spock, regenerated by the Genesis effect. She recommends they beam back up, but before that can happen Kruge’s ship appears and destroys the Grissom. He is annoyed however, as he had intended to take prisoners. When lifesigns are detected on the planet below, he sends a landing party and takes the three prisoner. David reveals that he used proto-matter, a substance that is prohibited or at least that all ethical scientists have denounced as “dangerously unpredictable” in the Genesis Device, and he believes this is why the planet is now tearing itself apart. Genesis, it would seem, is something of a failure. The Spock child, too, is ageing rapidly, turning from a small boy to a teenager in the space of a few hours. His instability seems to be mirrored in that of the planet, as if the two have some kind of psychic connection. Saavik worries that he will soon face Pon Farr, and is not prepared for the Vulcan blood ritual. Kirk is concerned that there has been no reply to his hail from the Grissom, and wonders if the captain will join him or try to turn him in, as the admiral and all his crew are now fugitives from Starfleet. He is unaware that the science vessel is not answering because it has been destroyed. As Spock begins to go through Pon Farr the planet seems to rage with him, and when the Enterprise encounters Kruge’s Bird of Prey they are able to partially disable it, but as Scotty did not anticipate a combat situation their few shots have knocked out the power for the shields. As the two ships hang in space, each badly damaged but trying to bluff it out and force the surrender of the other, Kruge plays his trump card, and tells Kirk he has prisoners on the planet. If the admiral does not surrender, he will kill them, and to show he is not bluffing he tells his soldiers to pick one of the three to kill now. The Klingon goes to kill Saavik, but David attacks him and ends up becoming the victim. Kirk is crushed to hear that his son is dead. To save the rest of the prisoners though he agrees to surrender his ship, but starts the self-destruct sequence before his crew is beamed to the Klingons hip and he himself beams down to the Genesis Planet. When Kruge’s people beam over the Enterprise explodes, taking them with it. Reunited with Saavik and the young-but-ageing Spock, Kirk contacts Kruge, taunting him that he has the secret he has been looking for, and Kruge beams down. As the planet tears itself apart they fight, until eventually Kirk is victorious and they trick the crew of Kruge’s ship into beaming them aboard, whereupon they take over the ship. Setting course for Vulcan, they deliver Spock to the priests there, also meeting Uhura and Sarek. The procedure for merging his katra with his body is a dangerous one, and by no means certain to succeed. But of course it does, and Spock is reborn. The human adventure, as it says at the end, continues. QUOTES Kirk (to log): “The Enterprise feels like a house with all the children gone; no, more empty even than that.The death of Spock is like an open wound, and it seems that I have left the noblest part of myself back there, on that newborn planet.” Kirk: “How much refit time before we can take her out again?” Scott: “Eight weeks, Sir. But ye don’t have eight weeks so I’ll do it in two.” Kirk: “Mr. Scott, have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?” Scott: “Certainly, Sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?” Valkris: “Transmission sent. You will find it most useful.” Kruge: “Then you have seen it?” Valrkris: “I have, my lord.” Kruge: “Unfortunate.” Valrkis: “Understood. Success, my lord. And my love.” Kruge: “You will be remembered with honour.” Kirk: “My friends, the great experiment: Excelsior!” Sulu: “She’s supposed to have transwarp drive.” Scott: “Aye. And if my grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon!” Kruge: “Oh yes, new cities, homes in the country, your woman at your side, children playing at your feet. And overhead, fluttering in the breeze, the flag of the Federation! Charming!” Sulu: “The word, Sir?” Kirk: “The word is no. I am therefore going anyway.” McCoy: “How much and how soon?” Alien: “How soon is now. How much is where?” McCoy: “Somewhere in the Mutara sector.” Alien: “Oh! Mutara is restricted! Cost permits many, money more.” McCoy: “There aren’t going to be any damned permits! How can you get a permit to do a damned illegal thing? Look: price you name, money I got.” Alien: “Place you name, money I name or else bargain no.” McCoy: “Alright then dammit! Genesis! The name of the place we’re going to is Genesis!” Alien: “Genesis?” McCoy: “Yes! Genesis! How can you be deaf with ears like that?” Guard: “Make it quick Admiral: they’re moving him to the Federation funny farm soon.” Kirk: “Yes, poor fellow. I hear he’s fruity as a nutcake!” Kirk: “You’re suffering from a Vulcan mind-meld, Doctor.” McCoy: “That green-blooded son of a bitch! It’s his revenge for all those arguments he lost!” Kirk: “Unit two, this is unit one. The Kobyashi Maru has set sail for the promised land.” Kirk: “NOW, Scotty!” Scott: “Sir?” Kirk: “The doors, Mr. Scott!” Scott: “Aye, sir. I’m workin’ on it!” Kirk: “Good work, Mister Scott.” Scott: “The more they improve the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drains!” Kirk: “Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding, and I intend to recommend you all for promotion. In whatever fleet we end up serving…” Saavik: “How many have paid the price for your impatience? How many have died? How much damage have you done? And what is yet to come?” (Tune in next week to find out!) Kirk: “You Klingon bastards! You killed my son!” (This is a watershed moment for Kirk. He has never trusted Klingons but has up to now not really had any reason to hate them. Now, his fury and grief will carry him through three more movies, culminating in his heartfelt wish to see the entire race die. It’s hard to be sympathetic when your own flesh and blood has been murdered by these people). Kruge: “Genesis! I want it!” Kirk: “Beam the Vulcan up and we’ll talk.” Kruge: “Give me what I want, and I’ll consider it.” Kirk: “You fool! Look around you! The planet’s destroying itself! If we don’t help each other we’ll die!” Kruge: “Perfect! Then that is how it shall be!” Kirk: “Help us or die!” Klingon: “I do not deserve to live.” Kirk: “Fine. I’ll kill you later.” Spock: “My father says that you have been my friend, that you came back for me.” Kirk: “You’d have done the same.” Spock: “Why would you do this?” Kirk: “Because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.” Memorable scenes and effects The self-destruct scene of the Enterprise is both effective, moving and slightly humourous as the Klingons report “There is nothing on board but someone speaking”, this being the computer counting down to the self-destruct. But the scenes as the ship tears itself apart and slowly descends into the atmosphere of the equally doomed Genesis planet raise a lump in the throat. After all, we’ve seen this ship ply its way through space for over twenty years now, on and off, and somehow we’ve just never expected to see it destroyed. It’s the end of an era, and further proof that within the film franchise, the series is growing up and facing the hard questions, taking the tough decisions. The scene where Kirk finds David’s body and covers it with his jacket is also very touching. Spock’s rebirth scene on Vulcan is really well done too. The wearing of the white robe to signify, presumably, a new life, the officiating of a high-profile Vulcan high priestess mirrors what happened in “Amok time”, though the ritual was of course different, and the sense of ceremony without real emotion and the overarching logic, which temporarily gives way to the stronger feelings and beliefs of a father for his lost son, is carried out well. Kirk’s hubris To be fair, there’s not that much this time around. After two movies, Kirk has learned his lesson. He’s older, wiser and sadder. It’s like with the death of Spock, much of the fight has been knocked out of him and he is almost like an old man who allows himself to be led without resistance. Which for Kirk means listening to what his crew says and not second-guessing them, and using this procedure most of his decisions seem to be the right ones. The only time he guesses wrong is when he challenges Kruge to beam him up from the planet to get “the secret of Genesis” (which sort of echoes his taunt to Khan in the previous film, when they were marooned on Regula) and the Klingon decides instead to beam down and beat it out of him. Oops! Those clever little touches The captain of the Grissom is called Esteban, his initials being J.T., obviously a nod to Kirk. When McCoy is being arrested by Federation Security, he tries to nerve pinch the guard. Of course, being only human he cannot do this, but obviously Spock’s mind does not realise it is not in its own body. When Kirk hears the news about the death of his son, he staggers backwards and goes to sit down but misses the chair, just as someone who had received a terrible shock would do. I’m not sure if it was planned, but either way it’s very authentic and gives a sense of reality to the scene. It’s good too, how when he fights Kruge, the climactic scene takes place on an outcrop of rock overlooking a burning, molten chasm. Kirk is staggering on the precipice of his own personal hell, dealing with the death of two of the most important people in his life, and he’s about to exact vengeance for the death of at least one of them. Couldn’t be more symbolic. It’s also interesting how Genesis becomes Hell (Genesis to Revelation?) and how Kirk literally saves Spock (and himself) from Hell at the very last moment by beaming off the doomed planet. I like, too, how the place of Spock’s rebirth on Vulcan is another high promontory, a cliff which resembles the one off which Kruge was kicked by Kirk and from which Spock was then rescued. Questions? Where is Carol Marcus? In The Wrath of Khan we are given to understand that the Genesis Project is her baby, with David only helping her. It is, after all, she who makes the proposal to the Federation, and she who must have had the last word as to who they would work with, as her son has reservations about getting in bed with Starfleet. But here it’s David who is in charge, and Carol is not mentioned once, not even by Kirk. Are we supposed to believe she forgot about the whole thing? Is she answering delicate Starfleet questions? Is she under arrest? Is she now working covertly for the Federation on other projects? Nothing is ever said, and it’s something of a large omission I feel, given that so much of the second movie revolved around her. Why does Kruge’s henchman, when told to kill one of the prisoners --- he doesn’t care which --- circle around until he is behind them and then strike? Klingons are supposed to be honourable warriors: is this any way to behave? Attacking someone from behind? And an unarmed victim too? Parallels Without meaning to offend any hardline Christians here, the rebirth of Spock obviously mirrors the resurrection of Jesus, right down to his empty coffin being found on the Genesis planet. The factions warring over the --- eventually proven to be faulty and therefore useless --- Genesis technology harks back to the arms race between the superpowers, and in a small way there’s a nod to the godawful “Spock’s brain”, where the Vulcan’s brain is literally stolen from his head by aliens and Kirk and McCoy have to go in pursuit of it to save their friend. I’m not joking, you know I’m not! Parallels too of course to “Amok time”, where we first see the planet Vulcan and learn of its inhabitants’ spiritual beliefs, which almost seem at odds with logic. And isn’t that….? Although she reprised her role as Janice Rand in the first movie, Grace Lee Whitney is in a very brief scene near the beginning here, in a very bad wig, and not named. She is the woman who watches the Enterprise return, damaged but victorious, to spacedock. Boston Legal’s John Larroquette is Maltz, the Klingon transportation chief on Kruge’s ship. |
Music
Although it’s great music I feel that Horner, returning to score this as a promise he made, sticks pretty closely to the theme he developed for the second movie, and while there are new sequences that accompany, for instance, the breakup of the Genesis planet and the battle above it, and on Vulcan at the end, I find it hard to separate the two whenever I hear them. Not surprisingly, this basic musical motif would become the new theme for most of the movies, especially as soon enough the original soundtrack used on the first movie would become the theme for TNG. It is nice though to hear the old fanfare from the TV series being used right at the end, as Spock recognises Kirk. Nice touch. Themes and motifs Loss and rebirth, faith and friendship certainly have their place in this movie. There’s the continuing gulf left by the loss of Spock, mirrored in Sarek’s eyes when he realises his son could not have mind-melded with his friend before he died. There’s even the loss of Leonard Nimoy from the opening credits for the very first time ever, and the loss of Scotty --- temporarily --- to the Excelsior. Then there’s the initial loss of the Enterprise, as Kirk is informed his ship is to be decommissioned, and later the very real and actual loss of the very ship that has carried Kirk and co through so many adventures. Genesis is a loss, too, as it is clear it is a broken flush. David having taken the shortcuts he berated his father for taking has ensured that this is an unstable process which will never fly. Kirk loses David to the Klingons, setting him up for the loss of any empathy or sympathy he might once have had for the warrior race. In the series, generally, the Klingons were seen as loud and obnoxious, occasionally evil but really more like the Vogons in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They were buffoons, foils for Kirk and the polar opposite of the do-gooding Federation. Here though they become, at least for Kirk, a symbol of savagery and evil, a reckless, wild people who will do anything to take power and hold on to it, and he has good reason now to hate them. I don’t believe they’re even mentioned, much less used, until the final “original” movie, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but it’s clear that Kirk now hates every Klingon and wishes they were dead. Here we come across failure: failure of the Genesis Project, Kirk’s failure to save his son, Spock’s failure to mind-meld with Kirk and Kruge’s failure to discover “the secret of the Genesis Torpedo!” Rebirth is another theme of course, most obviously in the regeneration of the body of Spock, with his immortal katra trapped inside the mind of Doctor McCoy, a clever touch in itself, as if he had any choice in the matter this is the last place Spock would want to reside. Faith and friendship carry the movie far; if it wasn’t for Kirk’s faith in, if not the beliefs of his friend, their right to be exercised and credited, he would not have put himself at risk of losing his position in Starfleet as he steals the Enterprise to enable him to help Spock. The friendship and loyalty of his crew demands they share the risk with him. Does this movie deserve its reputation? I’d say yes it does. It’s something of a get-out clause to bring Spock back, but let’s face it, nobody wanted him to remain dead and Star Trek would excel at doing this sort of thing. In series like Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica, people who died stayed dead: there was no coming back. But Star Trek has always been a series of second chances, and until the advent of Deep Space Nine, no major character who ever died stayed dead, so this fits in with the whole ethos behind the franchise. However, making this part of a trilogy was something of a master stroke, and obviously copied from the likes of Star Wars. This idea of almost making a film-length episode of a TV series would become quite popular in film over the nineties and beyond, and of course left us all salivating for the next part, or conclusion. But up until almost the end, there is still no actual guarantee that Spock will be back, or at least as we know him, so there is some element of doubt there. It’s not as good as The Wrath of Khan of course, but it’s a very worthy followup, and I would award it a good http://www.trollheart.com/tmr4.png |
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Although my least favourite of all the four series in Star Trek, this theme gets a little higher placed in my top ten than perhaps it should, for several reasons. Firstly, it's the first and only Trek theme to have lyrics and for that it has to get some points. Second, it's accompanied by a very clever and well-crafted montage of the history of Man's attempts to fly, and eventually make it into space. Third, it's probably the best thing about the series. Fourth, it's written by hitmaker Diane Warren. And so, standing rather uncertainly and perhaps slightly ironically at number http://cdn-0.freeclipartnow.com/d/40...d-number-7.jpg we have the oft-maligned (and quite rightly too) so-far-final attempt at a continuation of the Trek franchise, one that lasted the least of all the spinoffs and which, though it tried to survive for two seasons without the prefix "Star Trek", eventually had to realise that nobody cared about it without it. Unfortunately, it also turned out that nobody cared about it with it! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rpriselogo.jpg |
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https://blog.neocities.org/ferengi.jpg Ferengi Class: Humanoid, traders Home planet: Ferengenar Values: Profit, financial gain, cunning, trickery, shrewdness. Ferengi of note: Quark, Rom, Nog, The Grand Nagus, Moogie, Brunt Feature in: TNG, DS9 The businessmen of the Trekverse, the Ferengi were originally presented as something of a warrior race but that never took so they quickly became comic relief. Ferengi are smaller than humans, with large, almost elephantine ears, but what they lack in size and strength and courage they make up for in cunning. A Ferengi’s life is centred around wealth: how much can he accumulate, what deals can he make, how can he get one over on his rivals etc, and they live by a creed they call “The Rules of Acquisition”, which contain such gems as “Treat your employees like family: exploit them!” and “Once you have their money you never give it back!” They will easily swindle you if they feel that they can get away with it, but will shy from actual physical confrontation, being quite small and not at all versed in combat, either with or without weapons. Their planet is a drab, dreary place where it seems to be always raining, which is probably why so many Ferengi strike out on their own, heading out to the great wide galaxy to make their fortune. As you may have gleaned from one of the Rules of Acquisition above, family means very little to Ferengi, other than people they can exploit. Even so, there are strong ties between some Ferengi families. Women are not permitted to trade, or even wear clothes, in Ferengi society, leading to a lot of shock, revulsion and prudish disbelief when some of the younger ones got out to see other worlds. Everything in Ferengi society is governed by bargaining, bartering and manipulation, and bribes are as much a part of the fabric of their everyday lives as eating is to ours. Everything has a price, even lives, and while no Ferengi I’ve seen or heard about has ever actively indulged in slave trading, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were those who were prepared to risk it. Anything that can turn a profit is usually acceptable to the Ferengi, and they think money can buy everything. The Ferengi are ruled by the Grand Nagus, an old Ferengi who at this point is going a little senile, and to gain his patronage is absolutely invaluable. No business venture proceeds without his getting a cut of the profits, and while getting on his right side is essential, those who anger him can consider themselves basically bankrupt. A Ferengi without profit is equivalent to a Klingon without honour. Because they are such good dealers Ferengi are also one of the most cunning races in the galaxy, usually able to turn any situation to their profit, either literal or metaphorical; this would probably make them master strategists, but Ferengi have no interest in the military, apart from perhaps selling arms to both sides in a war. As one Ferengi puts it: “Peace is good for business! Unless you happen to be an arms dealer!" |
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Are you sure? I've checked back and I see Klingons, then Vulcans, then Cardassians and Borg. Are you sure you're not confusing it with my piece on the planet Ferenginar?
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Gates McFadden (Crusher) Then http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...er/TNG/bev.jpg Now http://worldofoddballs.com/wp-conten...en-now-jpg.jpg Levar Burton (LaForge) Then http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rdiLaForge.jpg Now http://mediamass.net/jdd/public/docu...ities/4454.jpg Micheal Dorn (Worf, without makeup) Then http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsD/4786.gif Now http://i1.cdnds.net/14/05/618x757/michael-dorn.jpg Wil Wheaton (Wesley) Then http://redeyerogue.com/wp-content/up...08/wesley2.jpg Now http://static.sched.org/a4/1577034/a...x320px.jpg?b73 |
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