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He’s dead, EJHill.
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Regarding Shatner’s actual acting ability, I recall him being pretty good in the very old The Intruder, but probably because he was uncharacteristically playing a bad guy (and a very, very bad guy, at that).
For unintentional hilarity, check out the movie Incubus, which has the fame (okay, more likely infamy) of being one of the first, if not the first, movies in all Esperanto. But the pronunciation is so bad that even the Esperanto fans hate it. And did I mention it’s a bizarre horror movie that makes no sense in the first place? Oh, right, I forgot that part. Mia kulpo.
When they went back and redid all the special effects from TOS in the 2000s, “The Doomsday Machine” benefited more than any other episode.
Yeah, but it shows what a pathetic life I’ve had, being able to place the episode.
As much as I love everything Ricochet, I have to say that it grinds my gears whenever I hear Rob or Peter say that they need us to become members.
Need does not gain you support in the long run.
Need will, for the most part, get you out of a momentary tough spot, as it did about a year ago when the site was in danger of being shut down, but it only goes so far and has diminishing returns.
What you should focus on are benefits.
Focus on the reasons why the listener will benefit from getting their skin in the game. Talk about how we’re all part of an exclusive and influential club. Highlight the unique aspects of Ricochet–for example, the fact that this is the only place on the web where you can have a reasonable conversation.
Make it so it doesn’t sound like you need us, but that we need you. And, I can assure you, that a lot of us do need you.
It’s weird how Trek is both revered and mocked, but seems to go through phases where each type of judgement predominates. I think we’re currently at the end of a mockery phase, and heading towards a reverence phase.
Oh, by the way, who remembers this Shatner phase?
Peter, if you’re out there:
Medved’s interview with Rand Paul today demonstrates why I fear Rand would kick the “Strong National Defense” leg off our three-legged stool if he ever became our nominee.
Said Paul: A formal declaration of war by Congress would be necessary before our military could strike Iranian nuclear facilities. He was very clear, mind you (after Medved gave him opportunities to recant or clarify), that a mere authorization of force in advance would be insufficient; a president would need a full-out declaration of war — preceded presumably by days or weeks of debate and lobbying — before he could launch an attack.
Which of course is completely unserious — if for no other reason than it would make impossible surprise, an important element in an attack on Iran or in a dozen scenarios we could imagine. Now imagine Paul defending that position in a debate with Hillary. Down goes the stool.
Peter, if I said Ron Paul would topple our three-legged stool if he were our nominee you’d know exactly what I mean, right? Well be careful with Rand, because there’s more Ron in him than he’s letting on, I believe.
I decided against bringing up 7 of 9 and her influence on history.
I have an American Air Force friend, who went to the Air Force Academy (recently retired), who tells me that “Balance of Terror” was shown as an example of command behavior, and a pattern to be exemplified.
Yup. It sure did.
So, following up on the coalition governments vs. two-party systems: Does the two party-system not merely displace the coalition building aspect of politics by moving it to the party primary system at the national level? C.f. current discussion of “The big tent” on the member feed and the “three-legged-stool” comment here.
James is right. “The Doomsday Machine” is the best episode of TOS.
And DS9, well, Majestyk is right. It was a mixed bag.
“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet'” as a precis of conservatism…hmmm. Good insight, I think.
“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet'” as a precis of conservatism…hmmm. Good insight, I think.
Great insight, yes, but also dark and terrifying. Remember that the Shatner character, despite being right, is never vindicated. It ends with him being dragged off by the authorities…
Not to trivialize, but the power of the Twilight Zone episode is evidenced by the fact I can remember that SNL did a spoof of it, and it was funny–and I can’t find it on the Web…
Can somebody please fix whatever is wrong with Peter’s set up? It’s maddening and it’s been going on for several weeks now.
And get off my lawn too!
Hated DS9, continual war with no resolution reminded me too much of the middle east. I stopped watching it after a while.
But I loved the chick with the little nose thingee.
While I enjoyed “The Doomsday Machine,” my favorite TOS episode is still “Balance of Terror.” Intro of the Romulans, the cat-and-mouse of a sub story, real choices and losses in battle.
I think/hope we have now done that. That said, Microsoft seems intent on ruining Skype.
And get off my lawn too!
Hated DS9, continual war with no resolution reminded me too much of the middle east. I stopped watching it after a while.
But I loved the chick with the little nose thingee. ·43 minutes ago
Wasn’t there an episode of TOS with Mariette Hartley in fur? I think Spock was doing some such and Kirk evacuating whatnot but, Mariette Hartley in fur!
What the hell, Rob.
My pleasure! Just my two cents.
“All Our Yesterdays.” While investigating a planet around a sun that’s about to go Nova, the away team is forced by an elderly librarian (The ageless and ever-old Ian Wolf as Mr. Atoz – great name for a librarian, eh?) to do what everyone else on the planet has done, which is escape the nova by going back in time. Spock and Bones go back to the planet’s ice age, where a cruel dictator sent his political enemies; Kirk goes back to the era where Cotton Mather-type jowly men were on the lookout for witchcraft. Spock reverts to pre-Sarek lusty Vulcanism; Bones simpers around realizing he’s not going to get any; Kirk punches people. All is well at the end –
– except for the haunting image of the ship leaving the system as the star explodes and engulfs the planet, and you realize its 4 billion people are still alive, on a planet that no longer exists.
Indeed. Great episode.
My wife went as Kira one Halloween. Rowr. I loved the last half of DS9 – huge story arc, lots of politics, some indelible characters (Sisko, I thought, was a bore) and the best battles of any Trek series.
Interesting you mention the Middle East. The Bajorans, as introduced in TNG, were an analogue for the Palestinians. They ended up being Eastern Europeans of a sort, since the post-Wall version of Trek had a decaying, retreating empire (The Cardassians) letting go of its captive planets. TNG was happy-smily glasnost with the bad guys, and no real existential threat; DS9 was about the messy result of a power vacuum.
Voyager, which should have been the “Galactica” of the shows, was an overall disappointment with more good points than people remember. Clinton-era end-of-history vibe. We were was done exploring; the ship just wanted to go home.
“Enterprise” had its own 9/11 attack – on America – and then they went to kill the bad guys. But that’s another post.
My overall point, I guess, is that there’s no other show like “Star Trek” – each iteration used a common dramatic vocabulary in new eras, and as such represented the cultural assumptions of the 60s, 80s, 90s, and Oughts. You can learn a few things by treating these shows more seriously than just a Buck Rogers serial. It’s not what they tried to say; it’s what they couldn’t help but say, because that was what their era thought.
Don’t forget the cultural imprint on the 1970s on The Motion Picture: Terrible fashion, trying way too hard to be epic and profound, and ultimately drawn out and boring.
Some of us couldn’t wait for it to be over! The 1970s, I mean, not The Motion Picture. TMP was actually okay, just plodding and slow for what was ultimately a decent, though punchline-like, ending. It would have made a good episode, which is actually where its script (“In Thy Image”) originated, in the planned Star Trek: Phase II followup series which never materialized, though it did include the characters Decker and Ilia — and, while we’re at it, Decker of STP2/TMP is the son of Commodore Decker in “The Doomsday Machine.” See, it all fits together! And all done without googling!
Which brings us to the rest of the movies. Past the first few, the even-odd rule even stopped applying toward the end there with the TNG movies. Ended the franchise with a whimper. But then, so did the last two series, come to think of it. Voyager was boring, and Enterprise really stunk it up.
Well put. Thanks for the feedback.
Needdoes not gain you support in the long run.
Needwill, for the most part, get you out of a momentary tough spot, as it did about a year ago when the site was in danger of being shut down, but it only goes so far and has diminishing returns.
What you should focus on arebenefits.
Focus on the reasons why the listener willbenefitfrom getting their skin in the game. Talk about how we’re all part of an exclusive and influential club. Highlight the unique aspects of Ricochet–for example, the fact that this is the only place on the web where you can have a reasonable conversation.
Make it so it doesn’t sound like you need us, but that we need you. And, I can assure you, that a lot of us do need you. ·1 hour ago
Edited 1 hour ago
Voyagerwas boring, and Enterprisereally stunk it up. ·1 hour ago
I’m not going to defend ST: TMP; it was what it was, but it was also something else. Watch the director’s cut. It’s almost a different movie. As for Enterprise, you are, alas, mistaken. ;) The last season in particular was fan service and backstory – here’s how the Vulcans got it together; here’s how the Federation formed; for heaven’s sake, here’s what happened to the ship lost in the Tholian web.
And Jeffrey Coombs as the Andorian? C’mon. Also Jolene Blalock slinking around with that wary glower? C’mon.
One of the best, although I tend to suspect the xenophobic helmsman would have washed out long before posting to deep space.
He was an Obama strawman made real!
One of the best, although I tend to suspect the xenophobic helmsman would have washed out long before posting to deep space. ·17 minutes ago
The art for this thread is hilarious.
We should have some kind of Star Trek contest over the holidays, just to kill the dark nights.
Then again, you see my picture. It’s really dark in Tallinn right now.