Category Reviews

Mar 23 2013

At Last, Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary Is Here

Most of the other big sci-fi, fantasy and comic book treek vis2franchises has had those Visual Dictionary large-format books put out by DK Publishing. One major sci-fi franchise noticeably left out was Star Trek and that universe is a perfect fit for these informative books with their large, visually pleasing pictures and lay outs. Finally, one has been made for Star Trek and it’s just been released.

It was worth the wait.

Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary by Paul Ruditis is a beautifully designed and laid out book full of rich pictures and information about the Star Trek universe. It is lay out and format is similar to the other Visual Dictionary books of other franchises and covers all the Star Trek shows in their universe’s chronological order. So it starts with humanity discovering warp drive, continues through Star Trek: Enterprise and finishes with Star Trek: Voyager.

Basically, the major races, characters and some events are presented and all the shows are given equal space. Alien races included are popular ones like Vulcans and Klingons to more obscure ones like the Vidiians. So there is some meat for fans of any particular show.trek vis1

The only complaint that can be made about Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary is that it’s a bit short. It couldn’t be a mammoth reference guide like The Star Trek Encyclopedia, but some characters and aliens were unfortunately left out. DK Publishing could’ve done what they did with the Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary books and published more than one volume. Hopefully this will prove to be a test to see if there is a market to put out more volumes. There is plenty of material left to cover. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if one were to be made for the new Star Trek reboot films.

In any event, it certainly is a treat for Star Trek fans and at an affordable price ($20) Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary makes a terrific addition to a fan’s library collection.

Lewis T. Grove

Mar 19 2013

Star Trek Movie Retrospective–Star Trek: The Motion Picture

“Out there. Thataway.”

Admiral James T. Kirk replying to a request for a course heading

posterWith the new Star Trek film coming out in a couple of months (Star Trek Into Darkness), it’s time to take a look back at the many Star Trek films that preceded it. Let’s start off with the one that launched Star Trek’s cinematic voyage, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

This film isn’t regarded as a top tier Star Trek film and for good reason. It’s slow moving, yet seems rushed and for good reason. Director Robert Wise recounted how far behind schedule they were that the effects work was only completed just before the film made its debut, translation: Wise didn’t have time to properly edit the film. On the other hand, it does have undeniable merits.

Out of all eleven Star Trek films (twelve counting Star Trek Into Darkness), Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the most majestic and oddly the most Trek like. Meaning that this film captures the core concept of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic view of humanity’s future. That is largely because Roddenberry produced the film and it’s the only one where he was directly involved. After its perceived failure, Roddenberry was relegated to a “consultant” role in the other Star Trek films until his death. In this film, we get a few glimpses of Earth and see that it’s a bright, pastoral paradise where people either wear New Agey type of clothing or bland Starfleet uniforms. The conflicts in the film are largely internal believe it or not. Sure, there’s the threat of this V’Ger entity that wants to annihilate life on Earth, but the problems that capture viewers’ attention are those with Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Commander Will Decker (Stephen Collins). Anyone expecting a mustache-twirling villain will have to look elsewhere.

cast

In between the original Star Trek show and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Kirk was promoted to a desk-bound position as an admiral and he’s bored. He’s in charge of refitting his old ship the Enterprise, which was supposed to be commanded by Decker, but Kirk uses the V’Ger threat as a excuse to take command of the Enterprise, which naturally angers Decker. Now with Spock, he’s retired from Starfleet and off in his home planet Vulcan undergoing this ritual to purge all emotions from within him, but he finds himself unable to go through with the process. He feels a calling, which so happens to coincide with the coming of V’Ger.

The film opens with V’Ger, seen as an immense multi-colored energy cloud in space that dematerializes three Klingon battle cruisers. It should be pointed out that this film is responsible for introducing the modern take of Klingons, now adorned with thick armor and sporting their distinctive sagittal crests on their foreheads. While the film properly shows how badass the Klingons were with their guttural speech, armor and a tribal music soundtrack, they are quickly taken out by V’Ger. It effectively illustrates the entity’s power and deadliness. And of course, it’s heading towards Earth.

enterprise 2

Equally convenient to the plot is how the Enterprise, although not finished with its refitting, is the only starship that can intercept V’Ger. How many ships does Starfleet have? But hey, what’s a Star Trek film without the Enterprise and its crew being the only thing standing between life and death?

Despite’s Chief Engineer Scott’s (James Doohan) usual protests that the ship isn’t ready, Kirk orders that the Enterprise be launched to confront V’Ger. Afterwards, the engineer entreats Kirk to an exhaustive external inspection of the Enterprise while in drydock. It’s at this point, that the film first rears its indulgent tone. Continue reading →

Feb 8 2013

The High Ways Presents An Attainable Future

high way coverWhen we were kids, the future was presented to us by magazines like Popular Science and the long-gone Omni and pulp magazines was one that had us using jet packs to go to work, beaming to a planet, and using family VTOL rec vehicles. Other notions included colonies on Mars, cities in the sky and tricorders as seen on Star Trek. These developments back then were forecast for today, but as we all know that future missed its mark and was ultimately proven to be unattainable as of 2013. Except for the tricorder, which is a lot like smartphones. The new comic book limited series by IDW The High Ways takes place in the late 21st century and the future it represents seems like an attainable one.

Written and drawn by John Byrne, The High Ways has a future that seems as if its midway between our world and that of Star Trek. Space travel is much more common than it is now. Humanity has begun to travel regularly within our solar system, but faster-than-light travel is still a distant dream.

The limited series features Eddie Wallace, your typical young rookie navigator who is out seeking adventure in space. He can’t wait to go out into space and we first meet him in this vast space station inspired by the spoke-like wonder seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Naturally, high ways shipwhat he expects and what he encounters are two very different things. Byrne’s skill as a detailed artist are put to good use in this comic book. There is hardware everywhere and it’s not aesthetically appealing like in Star Trek. In The High Ways, things have a lived-in look as seen in Star Wars and Alien, but not as advanced. Workers have to virtually live within their spacesuits. There isn’t any artificial gravity in the Wallace’s assigned freighter, the Carol Ann. The ship isn’t sleek at all, if anything, the Carol Ann is downright bulky and cobbled-together looking, even the Serenity on Firefly looks more appealing. From looking at Wallace’s expression when he first sees the ship that even he isn’t impressed.

highways panelAt the station, Wallace meets his partner, Marilyn Jones, an attractive though slightly older and more experienced worker. She takes a liking to him in the way a big sister is fond of her little brother who is just out experiencing the world for the first time. The other main character is the Jack Cagney, the captain of the Carol Ann, who is short and craggy, looking much like movie legend James Cagney. According to Jones the captain only loved two things in his life and one of them is his ship and is only willing to take two people along with him on the Carol Ann on an assignment to Mars.

As they set out on the Carol Ann, their assignment is changed and they are diverted to a station orbiting Europa, Jupiter’s moon. There is where the mystery begins. For starters, the personnel at the station didn’t seem to know that the Carol Ann was assigned to the station. After meeting a normal, motley crew at that station, Wallace notices something isn’t quite right. The station crew seems oblivious to this ominous feeling that is plaguing Wallace. What is revealed in the final panel is downright creepy and actually gave me the creeps. I can’t wait to read what happens next.

The High Ways had very endearing characters and is a fun read at the same time it gives us readers a believable and attainable future setting; I recommend it to everyone who loves science fiction. Byrne is in his element with this story and he’s at his best when he writes and draws science fiction tales.

GEO

 

Jan 18 2013

Fringe & Its Fantastic Foray

title 2
fringe cast
After five seasons, Fringe, one of the best science fiction shows on TV, comes to an end. Fans can now breathe a sigh of relief that the show runners were able to conclude the wonderfully twisting saga of the Fringe Division’s Science Team and its investigations into the bizarre and who later became freedom fighters for humanity.

When Fringe first premiered in 2008, it came off as a sophisticated, 21st-century version of The X-Files. Both shows were similar in that they were about government agents investigating freakish phenomena. In Fringe’s case, the main characters FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), consultant Dr. Walter Bishop (brilliantly played by John Noble) and his son Peter (Joshua Jackson) didn’t chase UFOs or ghosts but encountered weird monsters-of-the-week and fringe-level science like teleportation, fast-growing humans and so on as part of their investigations for the Science Team.

libertyBut the show soon developed its own mythology. It turned out there was a reason behind all the weirdness going on in the world, which was called The Pattern. Usually they happened in the New York/ New England area as illustrated by bold 3D location titles. Unlike The X-Files, where it became apparent that the producers didn’t know what was going on with its convoluted stories, Fringe methodically explained things and the answers led to more intriguing questions. It made one want to find out what was going on. For instance, in the first season finale “There’s More Than One Of Everything” viewers learned that Peter Bishop was actually dead with an apparent doppelganger of his running around. That led to the revelation of an existing parallel world, which was dramatically shown when Olivia found herself transported inside a very much intact World Trade Center.

Things became stranger and more titillating in latter seasons. That could be one reason why the show wasn’t a ratings hit. While sci-fi fans may have loved the bizarre antics of mad scientist Walter Bishop (like eating licorice during grisly autopsies) or the uncanny plots and macabre premises (such as reanimating a beheaded person when the missing head was reattached to the body) it probably turned off casual viewers. Well what would one expect in this society that loves shallow reality programs? Still, Fringe grew a cult following as people discovered this quirky show that dealt with parallel universes and visiting enigmatic post-humans from the distant future.

cast 2

But fans fell in love with the equally peculiar characters. There was Peter who was conflicted about his place in the world as seen in the show’s pilot. He was a brilliant but shiftless person with dubious morality and estranged from his father (who was committed at that time to a mental hospital). Olivia was seen as the more stable person yet contended with being thrown suddenly into bizarre cases while remaining a dedicated and resilient agent. Her core was terribly shaken from the events of the late second season/early third season. She traveled to the parallel world in “Over There, Parts I & II” and was captured and brainwashed. Her redheaded double (nicknamed “Fauxlivia”) came to Olivia’s world and took her place. These early third season episodes that shifted between the two worlds were some of the best. After Olivia finally escaped, and had difficulty with her romantic relationship with Peter, it was clear that she was traumatized.

olivia

Continue reading →

Jan 4 2013

Dark Knight Exhibit

photofourBatman fans living in the L.A. area were very lucky recently when Warner Bros. held a free Batman exhibit to coincide with last month’s Blu-ray and DVD release of The Dark Knight Rises.

It was called The Dark Knight Legend Exhibit and was held in L.A. LIVE from November 30, 2012 until December 14th, 2012. The exhibit was held under a humongous tent on a parking lot and thanks to all the props, displays, murals and vehicles it had a very moody atmosphere. It was like being in a Batcave of sorts.

phototwo

Visitors were greeted to large murals of Gotham City as seen in the Christopher Nolan Batman films along with Hans Zimmer iconic music. The first thing to see was beautiful artwork from various artists displayed as if in an art gallery.

pic3 pic2

Moving past the art came real eye openers; several mannequins adorned with the costumes from The Dark Knight Rises and Nolan’s other Batman films. Moving deeper into the exhibit revealed assorted props in display cases and costumes worn by other characters in the Batman films. It was a thrill to see outfits worn by Bane, the Scarecrow and, of course, the Joker (the Heath Ledger version). One of the best parts was examining the cool gadgets from Batman’s utility belt and intricate maquettes.

pic5

But any Batman fan would say that the highlight of The Dark Knight Legend Exhibit were the prominently displayed vehicles seen in all the Batman films and the 1960s TV show as well. It was great seeing all the different Batmobiles which started off with the 1960s, Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher versions to the tumbler vehicles. They even had a realistic mockup of the neutron bomb seen in The Dark Knight Rises and the Bat Signal too. The only thing missing was the Bat flying vehicle from The Dark Knight Rises. Maybe they didn’t have enough space for it.

photo3

There were also videos along the walls featuring interviews with actors and production personnel that could be listened to via headphones. It was a nice way to experience the exhibit, which took about an hour to walk through leisurely.

It’s such a great exhibit that would’ve been enjoyed by more fans who don’t live in L.A. There isn’t any information as to whether or not Warner Bros. will have The Dark Knight Legend Exhibit elsewhere, but it’s something to be considered.

Article & photos by GEO