I was watching an oldies TV station, MeTV, and Star Trek came on, the original, 1st season, “Operation — Annihilate!”.
I realized that Charlie had never seen an episode, so I called him down to watch.
He went up to get his glasses during an ad break, and he never came back down.
16 year olds are tough to teach anything.
The Columbia Broadcast System:
For “Star Trek” fans it was like finding a lost Shakespeare play — only to have it snatched away by the playwright’s heirs.
Last fall an unused script for the cult 1960s television show turned up after being forgotten for years. Its author, the science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, announced that it would become an episode of a popular Web series, “Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II,” which features amateur actors in the classic roles of Capt. James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and other crew members of the starship Enterprise.
But then another player stepped in: CBS, which said it owned the script and blocked a planned Web production of it. Trekkies were appalled. “These executives should be phasered on heavy stun,” said Harmon Fields of Manhattan, who called himself “a ‘Star Trek’ fan of galactic proportions.”
………
The story begins in 1967, after Mr. Spinrad wrote an acclaimed episode of the original series, “The Doomsday Machine.” “I did ‘The Doomsday Machine’ fast,” Mr. Spinrad, 71, said by phone from his home in Greenwich Village, “and then they said: ‘We’re in a hole. Can you write something in four days?’ ”
The result was “He Walked Among Us,” which the producers envisioned as a dramatic vehicle for the comedian Milton Berle. His character is a well-meaning but messianic sociologist whose conduct threatens to destroy the planet Jugal. The crew of the Enterprise must remove him without disrupting the normal development of the culture.
………
Mr. Spinrad soon donated his sole copy of “He Walked Among Us” and other papers to California State University, Fullerton. With several other drafts of the script, it lay in the archives for decades. Sharon Perry, the university’s archivist and special collections librarian, said she had received only one inquiry about “He Walked Among Us” in her 27 years there.
But in October, at the annual New York City Collectible Paperback and Pulp Fiction Expo, a man seeking Mr. Spinrad’s autograph showed up with a copy of the script, which he said he found at another convention. A few months later Mr. Spinrad began selling the script on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com, and the producers of “Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II” learned of it.
Based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., “Phase II” is one of numerous fan-generated “Star Trek” Internet series, this one named for “Star Trek Phase II,” Mr. Roddenberry’s failed 1977 attempt to revive his creation for television. This Web series is distinguished by its fidelity to the original’s sets, costumes, props, music and other elements, as well as appearances by some original cast members and new stories by writers like Ms. Fontana.
Over the years CBS gained the television, online and merchandising rights to “Star Trek.” But because the “Phase II” cast and crew make no money from their work, the network usually allows them to indulge their hobby.
Around the time Mr. Spinrad offered “He Walked Among Us” online (confusingly he published an unrelated novel with the same title in 2010) he arranged with the “Phase II” senior executive producer, James Cawley, who also portrays Captain Kirk, to film it. The writer said he was “blown away” by the series and planned to direct the episode himself next fall.
But this month, Mr. Cawley said, CBS asked him in an e-mail to cease and desist. CBS also contacted Mr. Spinrad, who withdrew “He Walked Among Us” from the Internet.
The network said it was now “considering opportunities to offer licensed copies of the work.”
F%$# CBS.
Without lube.
The Smithsonian is conducting a full refurbishment of the original 11 foot long Star Ship Enterprise model from the original series.
They are going whole hog on this, using multi-spectral and chemical analysis to determine original colors, as well as observing colors that were preserved in between pieces of the assembly:
The final painting of the Enterprise model will begin in April, using newly discovered reference photos from our appeal to Trek fans in the fall. The team will also build new nacelle domes with LED lights to mimic the spinning effect seen on television. For reference, they will first build a 1:1 mock-up of the original mechanism, which utilized mirrors, motors, nails, and Christmas lights. Conservator Ariel O’Connor explains, “Although the original nacelle dome lights did not survive, we can replicate the original effect in a way that is safe to install on the model. The LED lights can be programmed to match the original VFX footage while eliminating the burnt-out bulbs, extreme heat, and motor problems that troubled the original lights. It is a wonderful solution to re-light the nacelles while ensuring the model’s safety and longevity.”
The Enterprise model has been carefully separated into its individual components—saucer section; secondary hull; port and starboard nacelles and pylons; deflector dish array; hangar bay doors; and the bridge. Each section is being meticulously studied to determine its construction and condition and will be documented with visible, ultraviolet, and infrared photography. We completed X-ray photography, with help from our colleagues at the Smithsonian Zoological Park, in spring 2015.
Needless to say, once they are done, I will seriously get down to the Air and Space museum to get my geek on.
H/t Ars Technica.
George Lucas is not a fan of the latest Star Wars movie. In interviews, he has noted that they ignored his story treatments, and likened their treatment of the franchise to white slavery, though he has disavowed the whole “white slavery” bit.
Well, Disney just put the original theatrical releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi out as a new Blu Ray release:
Every few months, rumors arise that the original Star Wars Original Trilogy – as in the one where Han Solo shoots Greedo, not the other way around – is finally coming to Blu-ray, remastered for your HD television. It’s the sort of thing that Star Wars fans the world over have been clamoring for since George Lucas released the Special Edition on DVD back in 2004. Those fans – and just, well, film purists with a general respect for the history of movies – don’t much care for the updated movies and their CGI Jabba the Hutts and CGI musical numbers and ghost Hayden Christensens. They want to see what these movies looked like when they were originally released, matte lines and all, only with a noticeable upgrade in the audio-visual quality. Not too much to ask for, right?
Unfortunately, Lucas has famously refused to release remastered versions of the unaltered originals. He’s pretty stuck on the idea that the most recent Special Edition – there’ve been three at this point – is the truest version, the most accurate representation of his vision, and that no other iteration need be released to the public ever again. There was some renewed hope that he might loosen his grip on the movies when he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, but some four years on and there’s been no movement on the matter. At least, not officially, not yet.
Star Wars Original Unaltered Trilogy Coming to Blu-Ray
But there is a new glimmer of hope. John Landis – who directed Animal House, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, and more – was recently at Universal Studios in Orlando to talk about the newly installed Halloween Horror Nights American Werewolf in London maze. When asked whether or not he’d ever considered updating American Werewolf with modern effects a la the Star Wars Special Edition (which is an insane thing to ask because those werewolf effects are amazing and horrifying to this day), he said:First of all, [the studio] wouldn’t let me. George owns his movies, so he can do what he wants … My personal opinion is George hurt his movies by doing what he did. However, George said to me, ‘But they’re my movies.’ I thought, ‘That’s fair.’
Did you know Disney, by the way, is putting out the original Star Wars the way it was? So Disney, they’re like, money on the floor.So you’re probably wondering: “Why would John Landis have any inside information on whether or not Disney was releasing the theatrical editions?” That’s a good question. Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he just heard this rumor – like we’ve all heard this rumor, time and again – and passed it on as though it were fact. It’s worth noting, however, that Landis and Lucas are close friends. They came up together in the same group of filmmakers. Lucas offered Landis the directing job for Howard the Duck, which Landis wisely passed on. Landis put Lucas in Beverly Hills Cop III, a movie probably just as bad as Howard the Duck. Which means it’s entirely possible that he got his information from a very inside source – George Lucas himself.
I hope that this is true.
I have a tendency as an engineer to fiddle beyond when the design is done, to the detriment of the end product, budget and schedule.
I spend a lot of time fighting against this in my work.
I call it George Lucas syndrome, for obvious reasons.
I see nothing wrong with a creators original vision, and perhaps some commentary, back story, and deleted scenes in a DVD package, but the fact that Disney is prying this from his cold stiff fingers is a good thing.
Cast:
Harrison Ford … Han Solo
Mark Hamill … Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher … Princess Leia
Adam Driver … Kylo Ren
Daisy Ridley … Rey
John Boyega … Finn
Oscar Isaac … Poe Dameron
Director:
J.J Abrams
This is a spoiler free review, so I will not go into the minutae of the plot.
I think that J.J Abrams did a thoroughly competent job in this movie.
As my son said, no one is going to call J.J. Abrams “Jar Jar Abrams” after this.
It was worth watching in a movie theater.
That being said, I was not as impressed as my wife and kids were.
The original Star Wars was very consciously following anthropologist’s Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.
George Lucas has been very explicit about this.
The nickel tour of the Hero’s Journey is:
1. Ordinary World
2. Call To Adventure
3. Refusal Of The Call
4. Meeting The Mentor
5. Crossing The Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach To The Inmost Cave
8. Ordeal
9. Reward (Seizing The Sword)
10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return With The Elixir
Campbell posits that this is at the core of most, if not all, hero stories and myths.
I don’t think that J.J. Abrams did this. I think that he was looking at doing Star Wars.
I got the sense in a number of scenes that Abrams was marking the checklist. I found it a bit distracting and I found the film derivative.
As to the performances, I thought that Harrison Ford was more playing Harrison Ford than Han Solo, Carrie Fisher was a clenching her jaws throughout her performance a bit too much .
As to the newcomers, both Ridley and Boyega did well. Neither of them were overawed by the shoes that they had to fill.
They were both fun to watch, particularly Boyega, who has a flair for playing a flawed character finding himself.
Oscar Isaac’s performance was good, but basically he was just playing the eye candy hotshot pilot. It was kind of a throw away role.
That being said, of the 5 Star Wars movies that I’ve seen, I’ve not seen the Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones, it is firmly in 3rd, behind the original and The Empire Strikes Back, and well ahead of Return of the Jedi (I hate Ewoks) and Revenge of the Sith (I hate Hayden Christenson even more than I hate Ewoks)
I would give it 3½ out of 5 stars, but as I noted, my wife and kids all thought that it was the best thing since light saber sliced bread.
Courtesy of Bear who Swims:
………
The hopeless non-sense spoken by everyone about recent terror attacks miss a single point:
We can minimize attacks, but we can’t stop them
.………
Yes we can improve intelligence, control weapons, strike an bases. And a good strategy might improve safety, limit gun crime, prevent radicalization.
But it won’t stop it all. As the font of much wisdom pointed out “Four thousand throats may be cut in one night by a running man.”
In case you are wondering, this was said by to the Kang* who was Kang before there was Kang and Kodos on The Simpsons.
*My bad, I got the dialogue in the ST:TNG episode Day of the Dove wrong. I am not worthy.
The folks at Cracked make the point that the Star Trek universe is actually a dystopian nightmare where affluence has snuffed out all creativity, and thus they send civilians on warships out into the far reaches of the galaxy to prevent boredom to turn into revolution:
I was getting off the Metro on the way to work, and, not for the first time, noticed the green light underneath the escalator.
So I fired up search on my phone, “Why is there a green light under an escalator?” and immediately found the answer: the lights are there to limn the edges of the steps, so as to reduce the possibility off placing one’s feet between stairs, which might cause a fall.
This is a technical development that was unimaginable to the most technologically forward looking science fiction author just 30 years ago.
Of course those same authors had me commuting to work with a jet-pack, which has not yet happened.
I still want that jet-pack, damn it.
Posted via mobile.
Last night, I watched the Dr. Who episode The Waters of Mars, the episode in which astronauts are infected by evil water that they use on the crops that they are growing.
Today, on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, they were discussing the fact that the astronauts on the space station had just grown crops on the station, and had a salad made from the greens.
I found this somewhat unsettling.
Scott Walker tried to glom onto the “Forth be with you” Star Wars phenomenon.
Hope for Republicans there still is. #MayTheFourthBeWithYou #StarWarsDay @StarWars -TW pic.twitter.com/DEqTUQE5gA
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) May 4, 2015
I thought it was kind of lame, but the good folks at NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) put it in a way that is f%$#ing perfect.
Scottie is completely owned:
.@ScottWalker thinks he’s the next Princess Leia, apparently… #MayThe4thBeWithYou #OwnIt https://t.co/UEQO0LIBbU pic.twitter.com/MyyqgrdNrB
— NARAL (@NARAL) May 4, 2015
Epic.
H/t Hullabaloo
Leonard Nimoy has died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at 83:
Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83.
His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Mr. Nimoy announced that he had the disease last year, attributing it to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.
Seriously. If you smoke, stop today.
*It’s an old family story. My mom was talking to a friend in Alaska, Danny Plotkin, and asked how he was doing. He replied to her that he was flying down to the lower 48 to go to a “Vulcan bar Mitzvah”. It turns out that Leonard Nimoy was his nephew, and Nimoy’s son was having a Bar Mitzvah
The Reliant
The Enterprise
Still, this quad-copter Millennium Falcon conversion is unbelievably cool.
Hats off to Robert C. for an inspired bit of modeling.
It helps that the Falcon is largely circular in planform.
Doing the USS Enterprise would be a lot more difficult, if just because, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to locate the rotors to make that configuration work right now.
I might wimp out, and just go with the Reliant from Wrath of Khan, which as can clearly be seen, would be a bit more amenable to a balanced configuration with the rotors
I’m going to talk to the kids, and see if we can do this as a summer project.
Of course, if I can figure out how to configure rotors for the Constitution class cruiser, I will go with the original Enterprise, from the original series, because, if given a choice, I will always go with the original series.
I’m funny that way.
I was thinking that the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi, was the oldest doctor, was the oldest actor to play The Doctor, (Do we capitalize the “The”?) and then I realized that John Hurt, at age 73, as [T]the Doctor, albeit a Doctor who never had a bit on the series.
So, is Peter Capaldi the oldest actor to play [T]the Doctor, or is it John Hurt, who played [T}the Doctor who did (or didn’t) destroy Gallifrey?
I’m curious here, but I figure that I am stirring up a sh%$ storm, but I am alcohol loading for the new year, so I do not care.
I have been watching the Dr. Who marathon on BBC America, and this evening, I had an epiphany.
Since I was at home, I shared it with Charlie.
I would have shared it with Natalie at the same time, but seeing as how she is in Hawaii, she will have to read it on Facebook.
My epiphany was that the toys in the Pixar film Toy Story are weeping angels. (See picture the picture with the doctor, I am not the first to come up with this idea.)
Whenever someone looks at Sheriff Woody or Buzz Lightyear they are inanimate, but when unobserved, they move on their own.
They, and Mr. Potato Head, are weeping angels.
I mentioned it to Charlie, and he suffered a bit of a meltdown, and he strongly implied that I had ruined his childhood.
About a half hour later, I talked to him again, and he gave me a high-five.
He told me that after some reflection, he realized that my brief moment of insight actually improved his memories of the whole Toy Story series.
Weird.
FWIW, he’s getting into Dr. Who, though he is still first and foremost a Brony.
In particular, he likes the degree to which the show adheres to the Novikov self-consistency principle, and so does not create paradoxes.
When I criticized Rush Limbaugh’s racist screed about the possibility of Idris Elba being James Bond, I neglected to consider other possibilities.
I think that, once Peter Capaldi is done, Mr. Elba should give it a shot.
It would be an epic win.
Seriously? They filed complaints about Dr. Who?
Seriously?
The controversial “lesbian-lizard” kiss in Saturday’s Doctor Who episode will not be investigated by the media regulator, which said it “did not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same-sex couples”.
Six people complained to Ofcom after Saturday’s series opener, Peter Capaldi’s first full episode as the Doctor, in which lizard woman Madame Vastra kissed her human wife, Jenny Flint.
The pair, played by Neve McIntosh and Catrin Stewart, shared a kiss as they were forced to hold their breath as they hid from killer droids, prompting complaints from some viewers that it was “gratuitous” and “unnecessary”.
A spokeman for Ofcom said: “Ofcom can confirm it received six complaints about a kiss broadcast in an episode of Doctor Who on Saturday 23 August.
“Having assessed the complaints, we can confirm that they do not raise issues warranting further investigation. Our rules do not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same sex couples.”
What a bunch of f%$#ing wankers.
Interestingly enough, this is from a “Gen”† Star Trek (The Original Series) fanzine from the late 1970s, and you can still find copies on eBay.
Had to be an amazing labor of love, because you would have to pay for a 4-color press to do that cover art, and that would have been some serious bank.
What the f%$# were they thinking with the artwork?
*If you do not know what Goatse is, Do Not Google It!!!! That which is seen cannot be unseen.
†Not containing sexual content, basically what you might find on broadcast TV.
I think that Peter Capaldi will make a fine Dr. Who.
As to the episode, meh, though I’ve generally found the first post-regeneration episode to be primarily about defining the new Doctor, and not about the plot.
Sam Waters is a freaking genius!
