Star Trek: The Gag Reel

Update:  Looks like Paramount made YouTube take it down.  Booooo.

From the 2009 movie:

J.J. Abrams is also wearing my Infocom shirt!

Papercraft Friday #53: Star Trek TOS Bridge

Not necessarily a hard model, the bridge of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series, by Ron Caudillo, has a lot of small pieces that can be difficult for the newbie.  But it’s an excellent example of what can be done rather simply with a little paper and a little imagination. Check out more photos and download it here.  Warp Factor 4, Mr. Sulu!

Trek Tuesday #4: The Naked Time

STATS

Original Airdate:  9/29/66
Starting Stardate:  1704.2

STORY

The crew of the Enterprise becomes infected one-by-one by a strange affliction that breaks down their inhibitions and ultimately threatens to destroy the ship as the crew loses control.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Spray snow!
• Nice safety-orange “biohazard” suits
• Kirk is playing with some more wooden 3.5″ floppy discs
• Nurse Chappel!  yay!
• Spaaaaaace Maaaaaadness
• Wow…you can make food with those wooden 3.5″ floppy discs
• Hmm…space food looks like colored tofu.  What can you expect from wooden floppy discs?
• Ha!  “You’re all steamed up, Joe”
• I guess Joe fell on some coffee that stained his uniform?  Certainly didn’t look like blood.
• If they suspected that Joe had the disease…and it was contagious, why did they let both men (Sulu and other dude) roam freely…and even resume their post on the bridge?
• There really is a good use of sound to convey something you can’t see
• Hmm…McCoy used a dust buster to stitch Joe up
• Sweating like a Bride Groom?
• Again…I repeat…they couldn’t figure out Sulu was gay even with the waxed chest?
• It’s seem really really easy to take over the Enterprise by simply locking yourself into Main Engineering.
• I take that back.  Apparently it’s really really really easy to take back control with magnetic lego blocks placed carefully in a Jefferies Tube.
• Kirk and Spock weren’t affected on the bridge when they subdued Sulu?
• Love Mankind.  Oh…the irony
• Spock loses control of his emotions… how often will this happen
• So…being drunk for Spock is like watching “Beaches”?
• I can relate to Spock’s emotional meltdown…cause I felt the same way when I did my math homework too.
• Wow…that’s one nasty hangover medicine
• Kirk is bleeding out of the wrong side of his mouth
• I can’t stop laughing…  McCoy rips Kirk’s uniform…to…give him a…hypo…BAHAHAHA!
• Apparently Spock didn’t need any medicine.  Just a good slap.
• A cold start of the engines apparently produces some wicked loud noises.
• Hmm…the clocks are soooo advanced…they are keyed into the universal constant of time, so much so that they go backward when the ship goes backward in time.  Woooooah!
• Lets…do….the….Time…Warp…AGAAAAAAAAAIIIIN!
• They go back in time, but it doesn’t mean anything (this time)

SPOCK’S “POWER OF THE WEEK”

• Earth History Expert
• Random Crewmember Background Information Expert

SHAT-ATTACK

18:06:  “Bones, I want the impossible checked out too!”
26:44:  “Is there any way or anything you can do to snap him out of it?”
40:16 – 43:33:  Too much to transcribe.  Shatner over-acting at it’s finest!

RED SHIRT ALERT

Joe Tormolen

MCCOY-ISM’S

He’s Dead Jim – 1

FINAL THOUGHTS

Zark: I can’t help now relating this episode to The Naked Now on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  But I really like this episode…. my favorite so far.  Creative, fun, moves at a good pace.

Justin:  Well, this was a good one.  It had just about everything.  Classic Shatner over-acting, character development for some of the minor characters and gave us our first rather healthy dose of Star Trek techno-babble.  However, the most important part was the introduction of the classic “time travel” plot device that will be used for generations of Star Trek episodes and movies to come!

Presented by Zark from zarkseven.com and Justin from justinriggle.com

Trek Tuesday #3: Where No Man Has Gone Before

STATS

Original Airdate:  9/22/66
Starting Stardate:  1312.4

STORY

Out at the edge of the galaxy, the Enterprise encounters a galactic barrier that gives Kirk’s old friend Mitchell silver eyes and god-like powers.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Love the old style uniforms…look like felt shirts
• Spock’s eyebrows are a bit too sloped
• Rank braids are different
• Scotty isn’t wearing a red uniform!
• ooooo…it’s beeping!  RED ALERT!!!
• theme is different too
• oooo….love the tin foil in the hallways
• wait a minute….Spock isn’t wearing a blue uniform!
• Sally Kellerman will always be Hot Lips from the movie M*A*S*H.
• HA!  intership communication is done with a megaphone, I guess
• Sulu is wearing a blue uniform!  What is going on here!!!  lol
• Spock’s suction cup listening device is kinda wonky
• oooooo….the Mac OS 10.5 background picture is on the view screen!
• Spock is really yelling…for no good reason.
• Wow…Mitchell gets to console Yeoman Smith…who is supposed to be an Starfleet Officer herself.  bah…60’s sexism.
• What the hell is “lateral power”?
• “Space Warp” ability gone…lol
• Why are people yelling at each other about ESP and what it can do?  Soooo inappropriately dramatic…
• Mitchell has tin foil eyes!
• Getting to read some of that “long haired” stuff…
• Looks like Mitchell is playing Pong in sickbay
• After his strong presence in the first episode, it comes off strange that McCoy is not in this episode.
• Mitchell IS playing Pong…with the medical scanner
• Boy…I’m glad they got rid of these uniforms…they were poorly sewn.
• “leeeeevers shifting by themselves”…lol
• My good GOD…thankfully they got rid of Dr. Dehner.  “A mutated, superior man could also be a wonderful thing”
• Though how they get there is different, the powers that Mitchell had were very similar to the powers that Charlie had in the previous episode, Charlie X.
• Hmm…nice…re-enforcing that “Asians are good with numbers” stereotype
• I sometimes feel like the outcomes of my meetings at work are “kill Gary Mitchell” too.
• Wow…there is a water spout next to the book shelf in sickbay.
• Hmm…Delta Vega has really changed.  Not so snowy.  (Spock recommends stranding Mitchell on Delta Vega.  In the new Star Trek movie, Spock himself was marooned on Delta Vega.)
• There is no Gary Mitchell…there is only Zuul
• Phaser rifle looks like a portable 70’s vacuum cleaner
• Pills?  No hypo’s?
• Wow…Mitchell’s Eden is filled with plastic flowers
• and a fake rock water fountain
• Phaser rifles may look like vacuum cleaners…but shoot sparklers
• James R. Kirk? Not something viewers would have thought twice about in 1966 but something these days that viewers get a good snicker out of
• Hmm…the sparkler rifle dropped a big rock on Mitchell…and it actually worked?

SPOCK’S “POWER OF THE WEEK”

• Logic Master
• Weapons Master

SHAT-ATTACK

22:49:  “It is my duty…whether pleasant or unpleasant…to listen to the reports, observations and even speculations on any subject that might affect the safety of this vessel!”
25:32:  “If YOU mean strand Mitchell there….I won’t do it!”
25:59:  “Will you try for one moment to feel…to at least ACT like you have a heart!”
28:30:  Classic Shatner pain emotion!
29:07:  Classic Shatner “elbow of DOOM” maneuver!
33:55:  “Dr. Dehner doesn’t feel that he’s that dangerous.  What makes you right and trained psychiatrist wrong?”
41:52:  “And what will Mitchell learn in getting there?!?  Will he KNOW what to do with his POWER?  Will HE acquire the WISDOM?”
42:25 – 42:50:  Shatner goes on a HUGE rant here…too much to type.  Classic Shatner over acting peppered through the entire thing.
42:51:  Classic Shatner “roll on the ground for no damn good reason” maneuver!
44:34:  Classic Shatner pain emotion!
45:50:  Fight scene between Mitchell and Kirk has all the good stuff…including Kirk’s shirt being ripped!

RED SHIRT ALERT

9 unspecified crewmen died in the initial space disco storm
Lt. Lee Kelso
Dr. Elizabeth Dehner
Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell

MCCOY-ISM’S

No McCoy!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Zark: While it seems odd that this episode is similar in ways to the previous episode, Charlie X, this episode is much better.  Gary Lockwood’s performance as Gary Mitchell really stands out. “Command and compassion are a fools mixture.”

Justin: Man, this episode sucked.  I believe it was supposed to be the pilot episode but was bumped to 3rd.  The writing was horrible…and the special effects, even for that time…were awful.  It did, however, have a healthy dose of social commentary…both good and bad.  Sexism was rampant, men were men only if their shirt is ripped…and women are overly emotional creature incapably of standing on the bridge without being consoled at the mere sign of a space storm.  All-in-all…classic Trek.

Presented by Zark from zarkseven.com and Justin from justinriggle.com

Trek Tuesday #2: Charlie X

STATS

Original Airdate: 9/15/66
Starting Stardate: 1533.6

STORY

The Enterprise takes on a teenage boy that was the sole survivor of a crash when he was 3, and some of the strange things that begin to happen onboard show there may be more to him that appears.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Robert Walker Jr. looks like a young Patrick Duffy! HA!
• Random Red Shirt Crewman slaps random Blue Jumpsuit Crewman on the ass after crawling out of a Jeffrey’s Tube. odd
• Charlie tries the same move on Yeoman Rand…much to her surprise. Classic
• Kirk plays with 3.5″ floppy disks
• Spock smiling while playing the Vulcan lyre
• Kirk makes a reference to Thanksgiving…that the crew is made to eat “synthetic meatloaf”…but he wants to make it look like turkey. ewwww
• In addition to 3D chess…there is also a shot that shows 3D checkers as well (around 18:37)
• Starfleet cartwheel club!
• Kirk has his gi (shirt) off for no reason in the work-out room.
• Is the guy in the back ground watching Kirk and Charlie “work out” pumping iron…or generating power for the Enterprise’s electrical system?
• Kirk is wearing panty-hoes for underwear!
• Everyone is sweaty all the time, again. Those lights on the set must have been very warm.
• The episode is a lot of the Twilight Zone episode “It’s A Good Life” which also aired on CBS 5 years earlier in 1961.
• Generally, when you make a program around an annoying character, the program itself ends up annoying the audience.
• The ending feels very unsatisfying because Kirk and company don’t resolve the problem. The resolution comes to them.

SPOCK’S “POWER OF THE WEEK”

• Vulcan lyre-playing rock star
• Chessmaster

SHAT-ATTACK

09:23: “Gentlemen…the fact is…the boy is here…and he’s alive…and he needs our help.”
43:45: “You’ve got my ship…and I want it back. I want my crew back, whole…even if I have to break your neck to do it!”
43:58: Kirk in pain! Classic Shatner over-acting!
48:56: “It’s alright, Yeoman. It’s all over now”

RED SHIRT ALERT

Crew of the U.S.S. Antares

MCCOY-ISM’S

None!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Zark: I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between good writing and bad writing. Often in a story, the writer lets you the audience know what is coming before the characters in the story do. When something is written well, you anticipate what is coming and relish watching it unfold. When it’s not written so well, you want to scream at the characters for not already knowing what you know. This episode is a case of the latter. As the second episode aired, though, it’s decent enough. Set solely onboard the Enterprise, you get to see a lot of the ship and crew and life onboard the ship. The story premise also gives you a chance to think “what would I do in this situation.”

Justin: Kirk is legitimized by everyone as the alpha male on the Enterprise in this episode…thus cementing his reputation as THE space stud. Very little explanation on what made Charlie the way he was other than the exposition from the floating, semi-transparent head at the end. Then, like magic, the hour is up and things are back to normal again. Gotta love Star Trek for that!

Presented by Zark from zarkseven.com and Justin from justinriggle.com

Trek Tuesday Remastered

My good buddy Justin from justinriggle.com answered the call to join me on Trek Tuesday.  He bought some cool ideas to the party, so we’re going to combine my original thoughts with his ideas into one happy post.  Our comments on all sections will be combined, and at the end we’ll each give you our final thoughts.  I remastered last week’s post on “The Man Trap” with the new format, so check it out.   And fear not!  The remastering is not going to delay Trek Tuesday… stay tuned for today’s post.

Trek Tuesday #1: The Man Trap

STATS

Original Airdate:  9/08/66
Starting Stardate:  1513.1

STORY

The Enterprise stops by M-1113 for a routine medical inspection of an archeologist and his wife (an old flame of McCoy) and are threatened by a shape-shifting alien that craves salt.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

• Rigley’s Pleasure Planet…need to go there some time
• Starship surgeon?
• Everyone is very sweaty
• Vulcan has no moon?
• Why could no one could figure out Sulu (George Takei) was gay?  He was in the botany section of the life sciences department “gardening”.
• Love the “hand” plant, Boregart.
• What does it mean to go “space happy”?
• McCoy 3F 127
• Sulu calls for a medical team then heads over to the body to “feel” the strange facial modeling.  No fear of contagion, I suppose.
• McCoy(Nancy) pushes a button to open the doors to McCoy’s quarters.
• Phasers on stun make a “pew pew” noise that sounds a lot like a bullet ricochet.
• Crater is “stunned”…and when they interrogate him…his voice is “slowed” down to show he’s stunned.  Hillarious.
• So many iconic Trek things are present, right from the start: phasers, teleporters, communicators, vulcan green blood.
• Good mix of futuristic ship and alien planet for the first aired episode.
• Nancy starts out with a changing appearance depending on who was looking at her.  McCoy, Kirk, and Darnell are all looking at her at the same time and seeing her differently.  After that, though, she actually physically changes shape, so much so that the she’s able to fool the teleporter when she changed into Green.  Odd to switch premise midstream… the first concept was more interesting.
• Maybe we’re more keen on these things now than back then, but how the teleporter determines who to beam up is a bit of a mystery.  One time, three to beam up meant Kirk, McCoy and the dead Darnell.  Later, three to beam up meant the three live beings there, Kirk, McCoy and the fake Green, and not the dead Sturgeon.

SPOCK’S “POWER OF THE WEEK”

Super document, report and databank researcher.  He would be a modern day Google’ing Guru.

SHAT-ATTACK

13:25:  “How you lost love affects your vision, Doctor, doesn’t interest me.  I’ve lost a man!”
17:30:  “I don’t like mysteries.  They give me a belly ache and I’ve got a beauty right now.”
20:34:  “You could learn something from Mr. Spock, Doctor.  Stop thinking with your glands.”
45:20:  “The creature…it kills…it needs salt to live…Bones, move aside!”

RED SHIRT ALERT

Crewman Darnell: “Dead by violence”…is there any other kind of death by unnatural causes? lol
Crewman Green
Crewman Sturgeon
Crewman Barnhart

MCCOY-ISM’S

He’s dead, Jim:  2

FINAL THOUGHTS

Zark:  It’s a pretty good opening episode.  You are definitely thrown right into the program.  No lengthy setup of how things came to be as they are.  Very sci-fi with shape-changing alien beings and so forth.  McCoy’s disbelieving reactions played out a bit too long, but otherwise the story was good.  A lot of good characterization too: Uhrua’s conversation with Spock, Sulu and Rand in his quarters, Kirk ribbing McCoy.  Decent start.

Justin:  A solid start to the series.  This episode is packed with examples of each character’s major personality traits.  Kirk is clearly in “command”, McCoy is clearly the emotional one and Spock is, not so clearly at times, the emotionless one.  Plenty of red shirts bite it in this one too which is another essential Star Trek: The Original Series building block trait.

Presented by Zark from zarkseven.com and Justin from justinriggle.com

Coming Soon: Trek Tuesday

So I’ve been thinking of adding two new features to the blog, similar in nature.  The first of these is what I’m going to call Trek Tuesday.

The new movie has gotten me in the mood to watch some Star Trek, and the week the movie came out, the Blu-ray set of the first season of the original series came out, and the new versions look gorgeous.    So to “force” me to watch them, I’m going to try to watch one each week in airdate order, and upload my impressions on Trek Tuesday.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time recapping the story.  I’m not much of a nitpicker, either… I don’t usually notice if someone’s tricorder switches from their left hand to their right hand, and I don’t really care.  I’m sure there are a million websites that outline all that stuff in great detail.  Instead I’m going to do a couple of quick sections: “Stats” section, a “Story” section with a one sentence description of the story, a “Stunned” section detailing what I liked, a “Killed” section on what I wasn’t so crazy about, and a “Final Thoughts” section to recap.  I’m going to do one episode a week, which should be manageable with my schedule and something I should be able to keep up with.

All the episodes are available to view on YouTube (not the new Enhanced versions), and I’ll be embedding them into each post. I’d love for anyone interested in doing the same to follow along each week and leave your comments!  Stay tuned Tuesday for “The Man Trap.”

Movie Impressions: Star Trek

Well, in feat that’s probably never again to be repeated, I went with my brother G and my friends Craig and Justin to see a movie.  We went to the first showing of Star Trek at the local IMAX theater.  To gauge where I’m coming from regarding Star Trek, let me say that I would consider myself a fan of the franchise, but not to the point of being a Trekker or anything.  I watched the original series in syndication and when they ran remastered versions on the SciFi Channel years ago and watched them and recorded them on videotape.  I also bought the first DVD set.

I faithfully watched Star Trek: The Next Generation when it aired, and bought the DVD set.  I watched a lot of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but wasn’t as interested in it as ST:TNG.  I probably saw half of Star Trek: Voyager.  Star Trek: Enterprise was more interesting and I’ve watched probably 80% and bought the DVD set of those.  With regards to movies, I know for sure I saw from Star Trek 3 onwards in movie theaters.  I don’t recall if I saw Star Trek 2 in a theater or not.  I went on my first date with my (now) wife to see Star Trek 4.  And needless to say I’ve seen them all, some multiple times.  I have them all on DVD.

So in general I’m pretty familiar with the franchise.  I’d say of the 4 of us that went to the new movie, we had Justin (Star Trek nut), Craig (hardcore viewer), myself (more than casual), and my brother (very knowledgeable and DS9 devotee).  The crowd, of course, was full of fans waiting to see the first showing.  So how did the movie fare?  Will the franchise live long and prosper?  (Spoilers abound, so read at your own risk.)