Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

While it was on offer from Zavvi I decided to buy myself a 4K copy of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

While nothing compares to the Errol Flynn version of the take this was not a bad effort and the boxset is certainly worth the price I paid.

 

Blu-Ray Treats

Always on the look out for a few gems to add to my movie collection and a good portion of the time it's reissues or repacking of much loved movies that get my cash.

The Thing (Collector's Edition)

Flight of the Navigator (Steelbook)

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

I was surprised to see there was an Australian Blu-ray boxset of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, naturally I purchased it.

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Highlander 30th Anniversary

I finally pre-ordered the Highlander 30th Anniversary Blu-ray brought off the back of a 4k remastering a couple of weeks ago. It was priced rather high but when it hit £14.99 I was willing to double dip on the movie without feeling ripped off. Having watched the movie this weekend it did indeed look great but it was ridiculous that they didn't spend the money to digitally paint out the wire rigging on the final fight scene.
Sometime waiting for the release and review makes sense, probably wouldn't have bought this version given I only have need for a 1080p source and my existing steelbook blu provides that.

Star Trek Goodies

I got a quite a few pre-orders delivered this week, not sure when I will have the time to watch/read given my ongoing Trek paperback journey but I will no worries :)

My Random Journey Through Trek #57

Genesis
TNG

The Enterprise is field testing a new weapons system and day to day events around sickbay are in full swing, Reg is complaining of just about everything but Crusher does spot an anomalous reading on her tricorder. She injects Reg with a compound which will activate a gene which will help fight an infection and so life goes on. A photon torpedo goes astray so Data and Picard go to fetch it in a shuttle, they do not return for three days and the Enterprise is not at the agreed location, they search for the ship and find it a couple of light years away but something is seriously wrong.
During the time that the shuttle has been searching for the torpedo the crew have been struck down by a mysterious malady which has affected each one differently, Worf for example has become aggressive and primal, Riker forgetful and indecisive and Troi is always thirsty and cold and after three days no one is what they once were.

Picard and Data are able to identify the problem thanks to the fact that Spot (now a lizard) has given birth and the kittens seem fine and lucky for them Nurse Ogawa is pregnant and her amniotic fluid will provide the elements required to create a retrovirus for the crew.

Well what can you say about Genesis?
We kick off with Riker seemingly letting the whole sickbay know who he was fooling around with and so much for 24th century uniforms if a quill can penetrate them. Reg is once again his hypochondriac self and being a total pain in the backside, I still don't quite understand how he survived the rigors of Starfleet selection. Crusher to be fair is doing her best despite a room full of people and no semblance to privacy at all which I can assume may have led to her slight mistake when dealing with T- Cell's (cue Resident Evil flashbacks). Anyhow she gives Reg an injection to turn on a gene which is normally active and in walks Data with Spot who is due to give birth any day now. Yep in Starfleet the vet is the doctor, for a ship with so many specialists experts in veterinary medicine would not have been a surprise to me, the lack of is. We also get a very 20th and 21st century joke at the expense of the human male and dealing with pregnancy, oh how we laugh.
The Enterprise is field testing new weapons and targeting systems, could be fun but why in the middle of nowhere, these are not next-gen developments and they would have been thoroughly tested before even getting put into the flagship. I also laughed myself silly at Worf claiming he created the targeting systems, seriously these would have been designed by very intelligent and specialised personnel at Starfleet, not a bridge security officer with every day education. So a torpedo goes astray, they chat a bit and then decide to detonate it but oops it's out of range (ok maybe a good idea to be in the middle of nowhere) but the Captain goes to fetch the LIVE WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION, oh dear.
So Picard and Data are off the ship and thus begins the transformation of the crew beginning with small behavioral changes, Worf is hyper Klingon which is quite entertaining and Troi wants something salty (snigger) and Worf later is happy to help, funny enough Troi looked quite fetching the bathtub.

We get to see most of the regular crew undergoing some changes but obviously they have to limit these since they can not show everyone after the transformation so we get caveman Riker and fish face Troi and battle tank Worf but the best has to be Spot the lizard:)
Ah yes the kittens save the day, knew there was a reason why animals were kept by crew members, sorry but it was stupid on Enterprise and still stupid on TNG, mind you the whole crew are animals at the moment so what do I know. It was indeed lucky that Nurse Ogawa announced she was pregnant, an excellent way to make the story work but very heavy handed, she did look funny as a primate but even with 70% DNA match I think she should have looked very different.

I had some major issues with the episode, first off it didn't really work, the setup felt haphazard and amateurish, the reasoning behind the transformations far fetched and the solution and total reversal of the condition the oh so typical scifi reset. We also had the Captain stating he was adjusting attitude control which seemed kind of pointless and the shuttle sensors were getting a visual image from two light years away, that's freaking impressive. The sickbay door seemed to be made out of fabric and Data in the close up looked very very old (HD doing the makeup no favours at all). The real twist of the knife was the almost happy and cheerful finish to the episode, people died on this ship and certainly more than the guy at the con, there would be bits of people all over the place as the crew turned on each other. Oh and Crusher, your incompetence should have you struck off, kinda your fault my arse! They also ducked the issue of Ogawa's unborn, she should have lost the fetus, yes it was immune to the virus but her body chemistry would have seriously compromised it.

I could easily have switched this episode off after ten minutes, yes I consider it that bad and the rating will reflect that but credit where it is due, some of the cinematography was very nice, the use of the subwoofer was perfect and ambient sound effects were spot on (award winning). Marina put everything into playing an amphibian and Riker did remind me of Oddbod from Carry on Screaming so points:)

IMDB

Rating 1

My Random Journey Through Trek #55

A Piece of the Action
Star Trek

The Enterprise approaches Sigma Iotia II a planet that was visited by a human crewed starship a century previously, fearing cultural contamination Kirk has been sent to investigate. They receive a signal from the planet from a man calling himself Bela Oxmyx with an invitation to visit, Kirk accepts and calls for Bones and Spock to join him.
They beam down onto a street which looks like a typical American locale with vehicles and outfits which match the late 1920's era, nearly everyone seems to be armed and soon two men approach and take the landing party captive. As they lead them away a car roars by and a machine gun opens fire, one man dies and the rest make their escape and proceed to Bela Oxmyx the "boss". He's overjoyed to see the "Feds" who are from the same organisation as those of the Horizon but he is not dealing in good faith, he demands a supply of "heaters" so he can remove the competition. Spock sees a large book on a pedestal entitled "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties" and indeed this book along with some basic text books have been used to shape this culture into what it is today, devoid of civil government but a number of organised crime families who run everything.

Taxpayers demanding their rights

When Kirk refuses Bela he tells his goons to put them away somewhere safe, they are taken to a warehouse under guard and Kirk ingratiates himself into the goons card game by mildly insulting them, he then goes onto to invent the mind boggling "Fizzbin" card game and once distracted the landing party subdue the goons, Spock and McCoy return to the ship and Kirk grabs a gun and heads back to Bela's office. He doesn't get far before being waylaid by a goon working for the rival boss "Krako" who then pretty much demands the same concessions from Kirk, he refuses again and is locked up but escapes. Spock and McCoy beam back down to negotiate with Bela who takes them prisoner again but Kirk turns up, disarms everyone and steals their suits. He and Spock then raid the officers of Krako, get taken prisoner again but Kirk is able to get Krako beamed onto the ship and during the confusion they escape and make their way back to Bela. Kirk then plays the part of a "boss" himself working for the Feds, he informs Bela and Krako that the Feds are taking over and if they play ball they could get a piece of the action. Bela calls each of the bosses in turn and Scotty tracks the signal and beams them into the room where Kirk lays down the law but when some goons turn up and questions begin to be asked he has Scotty use the ships phasers on low power to stun everyone around the block and demonstrating the power of the Feds. Bela is made boss with Krako second in command and Kirk promises the Feds will be back in a year to pick up their 40% of the planets profits.

Fizzbin is Addictive

Fuzzy hats but sharp suits

A Piece of the Action begins with the surprising news that the Federation has only just learnt about the cultural contamination by the Horizon a century after the ship was destroyed, standard radio signals had only just been picked up but you still have a small question over the reckless nature of the space fleet back then, we assume the fledgling Starfleet was still playing with a prime directive. More surprising is that the planet contacts the Enterprise, not quite sure how they managed that but not to worry this Bela guys sounds reasonable so much so Kirk doesn't take any security with him.
Always enjoyed the Paramount backlot this time in classic gangster era guise and my oh my the young woman certainly wiggled when she walked, I'm sure Kirk and McCoy were feeling right at home until of course the tommy gun wielding goons appeared. We then get a classic drive by which was done very well, a rather high energy dramatic sequence for the show and just to add the cherry on top two I assume ladies of negotiable affection accost the surviving goon demanding that the "percentage" they pay should be funding better street conditions etc. I've to admit that this "tax" in everything but name would work in theory, a good boss would make sure those who paid for his protection/favour got a return making the cost a worthwhile investment and allowing the local society to flourish. We then meet Bela who makes it a point to show off his "dame" and his well total lack of skill on the pool table but the clash of expectations makes for good drama and of course we see the "book" which has caused this culture to embrace this aspect of US culture. "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties" was left behind by the Horizon and it seems to have become the bible for this culture dictating how they should live and interact with each other, it hamstrings them in many ways but has certainly empowered the growth of this worlds technology. One thing you do quickly realise is that Shatner and by extension Kirk is having a lot of fun hamming it up, even introducing "Fizzbin" was a scene worthy of any comedy/drama of the time, it was inspired and shooting Kirk and the goon up close just added to the impact of the scene.
Spock and McCoy go to the radio station and yes as McCoy says Spock has got the nerve pinch down to a fine art although truth be told the actress was making the most of her time on screen but the humour of the scene continues with Spock being taken down a peg or two by his failure to get the Enterprise on the first retune of the AM station. Kudos to Kirk for doing a MacGyver long before that show every hit the screen and clever of the goons to realise that until the transporter beam stopped sparking they were safe. I'm not sure if we had two sets of suits one for the goons and the other for Kirk and Spock but they certainly seemed to fit well on the two Starfleet officers and they looked cool with hats and tommy guns:)
Brace yourself now, Krrk is going to drive a manual motor vehicle. The grinding of gears puts a smile on your face, the reverse and crunch has you laughing and then the stop/start progression through the streets is just ridiculously funny but we're not done there. Kirk is approached by a youngster who realises they are going to hit Krako and offers his services as a distraction for a piece of the action, nice touch that. The writers must have been on a roll, the guys return to the car and it's Spock deadpan saying when Kirk sees his is a little concerned that it's Kirk driving that is alarming.

The story begins to wrap itself up when Kirk is in full on gangster mode, he forces his personality onto the situation and the bosses and goons respond and only question the path they are being led down when the shooting starts outside. Lucky I guess the ship's phasers can be set for stun since it offers a very clear demonstration of the consequences of not playing ball with the Feds and so the deal is done by raising a glass.

A Piece of the Action is a fun episode, over the top yes in pretty much every aspect but played to perfection by everyone involved. I'm not sure if it just me either but Kirk's solution makes a lot of sense given the situation and by stating the 40% cut would be funneled back into the planetary finance market to fund development which would help correct the flaws in the society he pretty much covered his backside. Of course there would still have to be some sort of presence on the planet, the threat of Fed intervention may always be there but given the opportunity there will always be those skimming off the top when there is no one watching, it's the nature of the beast:)
Oh and McCoy left his communicator on the planet, clever piece of writing and who knows where the franchise would be if that loose thread had been pulled years later.

IMDB 

Rating 9

My Random Journey Through Trek #53

Who Mourns for Adonais?
Star Trek

The Enterprise is doing a little routine planet mapping and is on approach to Pollux IV an unremarkable world with no records of being populated but they detect an object approaching them in the shape of a giant human hand. Spock says it's pure energy but it tracks the ship's efforts to evade and grabs hold of them in the manner of a very powerful tractor beam. The optical scanners pick up an image of a human face, audio is also being broadcast towards the ship and the entity welcomes and praises them for the journey they have undertaken and being so far from their homeworld. Kirk is a little put out but nothing seems to phase this being and he invites the Captain and his officers (not Spock though) down to the planet.

Upon arrival they are greeted by a scaled down version of classic Greek architecture and the being now in standard human form lounging on a what amounts to a throne. He greets them and introduces himself as Apollo the very same from classic mythology, again he is pleased by the development of his "children" and especially the beauty that is Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas but soon he shows his impatient side as the crew refuse to automatically bow down and worship as their ancestors did 5000 years ago. Scotty feels the brunt of his anger when he takes exception to Apollo's interest in Carolyn but she agrees to go with Apollo and learn some of his secrets. Back on the ship Spock is driving the crew hard to break through the communications interference and the energy field that is holding them, slow progress is being made but they eventually succeed. Kirk and the landing party have deduced that Apollo is drawing his energy from the environment and more importantly via the temple, he has the ship phasers targeted on the building ready for the right moment. Kirk orders Lt Palamas to spurn the advances of Apollo to anger him and when he is drawing upon his power to punish her they destroy the temple and with it the hold this "god" like being has on them. Apollo is devastated and calls upon his fellow travellers to embrace him as he fades from this reality.

The episode kicks off with a standard bridge scene along with the character of the week one Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas ( Leslie Parrish ) but soon goes off the rails as the behaviour of well the human males is not exactly up to modern day standards nor I expect of the military at the time at least when on duty. Scotty calls Lt Palamas by her first name and asks her for coffee even though she is currently in the middle of doing her job which probably doesn't take her to the bridge too often. McCoy and Kirk both talk about her openly on the bridge and even mention the cringe worthy aspect of her eventually settling down to married life and leaving Starfleet to be a wife and mother. Anyhow as they near the plant the energy field is detected and everyone stands and stares at it, it takes way too long for Kirk to order evasive action and then it's too late. I did like the idea the energy field was adaptive enough to mimic a hand and apply direct pressure but I wasn't quite sure why when pressure on the hull was increased it made any practical difference to the well being of the crew, the air processing in a starship should be pretty bullet proof or so I would have thought. So they are invited to the planet, no Spock though who is probably grateful he won't have to put up with the sounds of the pipes:) I found it hilarious when Palamas asked why she was in the landing party, she does realise what she actually does for a living or was it more to remind the viewers why she was there, either way attractive women studying ancient societies etc are almost as at risk as a red shirt! So we meet Apollo, pretty good looking dude although it looks like his nipple has been powered/foundationed over to avoid inflaming the ladies but when he does his impressive growth spurt the simple trick of having the actors maintain eye contact with the camera as it rises worked very well, nothing fancy just let the actors sell the surprise and awe. We also see a very disturbing look on Kirk's face as he realises he may have just bitten off more than he can chew but then crash bang as Apollo says Palamas is "wise for a woman". Oh yeah no question she is a woman when he with a wave of his hand changes her outfit, nice touch to do in front of the statue with a similar outfit and kudos to the costume department for creative use of sticky tape/glue to keep Leslie's bits hidden from view:)
We also get the notion that the Greek gods were indeed a space faring species that came across the Earth and "fed" off the worship of the primitive peoples in and around Greece at the time, say what you like the modern world owes an awful lot to the ideas and concepts that came out of that region regardless of who the people at the time considered deities. Of course one of the myths is how a few of the gods dabbled in the pleasures of human female flesh and Apollo has taken a serious shine to Carolyn and well not to make too fine a point she seems interested and I think we are supposed to believe that something happened between them, After the fact it came to light that one missing story element was that she ended the episode pregnant, a bit advance for US network tv back in the day it seems. I loved Spock and Sulu as they discussed scanning the planet for the energy source, scan where it isn't, there was some good chemistry between the two actors, pity it was never really developed. Kirk finally hatched his plan and and while the first attempt failed (thanks to Palamas) when he finally convinced her to turn her back on Apollo she did a real number on him and to be fair Palamas did a good job exploiting the attraction Apollo had for her, a lot of exposition was given as she talked to him. Uhura also got to flex her muscles with actually working on her communications board, we know she is more than just a switchboard operator but often the show doesn't do her justice so despite some dodgy dialogue in terms of what women were considered to be back then we also got two female characters performing well.
Finally Kirk and Spock are communicating, the ship's phasers are targeted on the temple yet the guys are casually standing in the structure, that's pretty stupid and I really think it was set up that way for Kirk to do a run, jump and roll as he commanded Spock to fire. Oh and credit to everyone involved in creating the storm that Apollo launched towards Carolyn, all on stage of course but it looked pretty good.

Who Mourns for Adonais? is one of original series stories that gets a lot of respect upto the point of being the kicking off point for the Star Trek continues movie “Pilgrim Of Eternity” and not forgetting the episode itself draws upon an established mythology that permeates western society. It's an interesting concept that the Greek gods were space faring beings who used their knowledge and technology to set themselves up as divine beings who like humans eventually could not put aside the base elements of some of their natures. In this episode Apollo seems impressed by the strength of character of his "children" but doesn't seem to realise how much they have changed perhaps because he hasn't in the 5000 years since being on Earth. For all the negative aspects he sees in Kirk and company he too expresses them with arrogance, indifference and anger combined with a fragile ego.
Overall this could have been rather cheesy but good acting and some good effects worked in the episodes favour.

IMDB

Rating 8

My Random Journey Through Trek #49

Chosen Realm
Enterprise

The shuttle pod after scanning one of the spheres in the expanse is tracked by a mysterious ship, soon after the same ship sends a distress call and the Enterprise offers to take the crew onboard as the alien vessel has lost life support. The crew of the ship give thanks to Archer and explain they are on a pilgrimage to one of the spheres, it seems they worship them as divine and while this proves a little awkward especially with T'Pol everything seems to be ok. Their leader D'Jamat approaches the captain and demands that they turn the Enterprise over to his people, an explosion then rocks the ship as one of the visitors triggers an organic explosive, threatened with the destruction of the ship Archer surrenders. It turns out that D'Jamat wants the ship so he can return to his homeworld of Triannon and use it's firepower to end a civil/religious war between two factions one who believes the Chosen Realm was created in nine days the other in ten days.

D'Jamat offers mercy to the crew of the Enterprise for the sacrilege they have committed by visiting the spheres and demands just a single death, Archer has to choose and in the mean time the database that contains all the information the Enterprise had collected gets wiped. Archer chooses himself to be executed and convinces them that the transporter is used for such requirements, T'Pol "executes" Archer who is now free to sabotage the ship. As a side note one of the women in the alien party approaches the Doctor about her pregnancy, a note of discourse is present in the group and Yarrick and Indava prove to be instrumental in undermining the hold D'Jamat has on the ship. The Enterprise is approached by four Triannon ships which are crewed by the opposing faction, a firefight breaks out and in the midst of this Archer puts his plan into motion. Phlox puts a compound into the ventilation system which will nullify the organic aspect of the explosives in the aliens bodies and Archer starts pulling plugs out of sockets.

"Some things in here don't react well to bullets."

The ship is eventually retaken and Archer contacts the surviving two ships, together they return to Triannon to find the cities and population decimated, peace has been achieved as no one is left alive to argue.

First off I've never liked tv or movie plots where the antagonist is driven by dogma over reason, it's a little too easy to create a bad guy that way and it requires an awful lot of work to make said bad guy and his actions work in the framework of the whole. Chosen Realm is no exception, the source of the religious war between the two factions makes no sense at all unless it's within the realm of blind devotion to dogma. As for their overall faith raising the spheres as the work of deities that also takes some accepting, a warp capable science based world to be driven by this level of faith based existence makes little sense.
Ok then specifics, it's a pity the Enterprise sensors can not detect the alien ship which seems to have no active cloaking technology but gold star to Archer for ordering full security but a bit pointless if unknown aliens can sidestep scanning on religious grounds, that was sloppy. It's not long either before the science and faith start to butt heads, it's clear to the extreme that D'Jamat ( Conor O'Farrell ) has no time for reasoned debate and Archer at least moves the conversation onto other things. Alas by this time these unscanned aliens have had the free run of the ship including main engineering so when their plan is acted they catch security and the Maco's totally off guard. Archer and Reed really have to have a good chat but as we know in decades to come Starfleet continue to open their ships to one and all and suffer the consequences. So with a few button presses D'Jamat is able to wipe the database of all references to the Spheres, how the hell would he first learn how the system works and side step any security designed to prevent this sort of action. The question is raised once again how much access and instruction are the crew giving to these aliens and don't they believe in ancillary off site backup or hard copy for such critical data? Granted there are limits, if the central computer gets written off the likelyhood is that no amount of data would allow them to finish their mission but it was just too easily done and only there to let the plot continue. I would have liked to believe that D'Jamat respected Archer for volunteering to die but I think it was more the point he expected him to sacrifice a lesser member of his crew just as D'Jamat would have done, I doubt he would have sacrificed himself if there were others to do the sacrificing. Onto the fire fight, seriously the phasers hardly left a mark on the structure of the ship, I guess that's handy when you are shooting like crazy in and around the warp core but at least we had the Maco's front and center with what looked like much better or useful weapons. It's at this point we get perhaps my favourite moment of the episode as Archer over the coms twists the knife into D'Jamat who still believed he held the upper hand with his suicide bombers "Try to blow yourself up, I'll wait".
The episode wraps with the people's return to Triannon and we get the not so subtle message delivered with the proverbial sledgehammer, the planet is devastated thanks to the intolerance of it's people. I suspect the writers stayed away from condemning faith outright rather they targeted conflict within a faith which led to the extremes taken by at least one element, we really never found out what the other faction actually did over the century of conflict.

The Chosen Realm was not as hard to get through as I remembered but the character type as portrayed by D'Jamat always annoys me to the point where I actually put more stock in the blatant browbeating message as delivered by the original series "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield".

IMDB
Rating 3

My Random Journey Through Trek #48

Angel One

TNG

The Enterprise investigates a wrecked freighter and discovers that a number of escape pods could have reached a nearby system and the inhabited planet of Angel One. The planet is pre-warp and on par with mid 20th century Earth in terms of technology but has a global single state under a matriarchal leadership. Picard has Troi lead the opening contact and after some issues they are allowed to beam down a party which includes Riker, Data, Troi and Yar. They are taken before the ruling council which comprises of six "mistresses" and the "elected one" named Beata (Karen Montgomery) who is the voice of the planet, she allows the Enterprise to search for survivors on the promise of removing them. Meanwhile back on the Enterprise some of the crew fall under an infection, it looks like a severe cold or flu but it's rapidly spreading and the Enterprise is on a schedule to finish it's mission on Angel One then warp to the Neutral Zone to aid in a Romulan issue.

On Angel One the landing party are shown graphic examples of the dominance of the female half of the native population but still Riker asks for a one on one meeting with Beata and dons the traditional male garb and well she enjoys a man that knows what he wants...

Beata with her man toy.

The Enterprise sensors track down the survivors of the freighter (all male) via the platinum they were carrying, the metal being absent from this world's ecology but it turns out they don't want to leave, they have wives and families and their crime is that they won't live as second class citizens and they don't want that for their make children either. The twist is revealed that one of the mistresses of the planet is secretly married to Ramsey the "leader" of the survivors but when Enterprise prepares to leave being unable to force repatriation Beata arrests the radicals and when they refuse to leave they are sentenced to death.

Back on the Enterprise Crusher is having no luck, Picard and Worf are down for the count and Geordi is in command but more and more of the crew are sick and the pressure to get to the Neutral Zone is increasing. Data beams back to the ship and takes command but there is only really him running around but he won't leave until it's impossible for the crew to be cured and to make it on time to the Neutral zone. This leaves just enough time for Riker to make an impassioned plea on behalf of the condemned citing that martyring these people will not help in the long run and that the issues with Angel One are down to the culture evolving which would happen with or without the arrival of the male survivors of the Federation ship.

The Patented Riker Stance

Angel One reminds me quite a bit of a Buck Rogers episode where Buck ends up on a Female dominated world although that was down to war rather than cultural development and the same theme was used in a show I watched as a kid which for the life of me I can not remember the name of. Neither example of this sort of story really worked even though at times the message being conveyed comes through with some clarity and logical presentation. To be fair Riker's speech in defence of Ramsey and his people was spot on, the global culture of Angel One was beginning to be pushed and poked by those with a more encompassing world view. Funnily enough I didn't make half as many notes for this episode as a few more recent Trek episodes, my attention may have waived if I was being totally honest:)

First off what is with the Federation and Starfleet taking seven years to look in on the Odin and if Angel One is pre-warp why are they even visiting now let alone 60 odd years earlier (the Federations last visit). I thought it was also a stretch that a civilian freighter would have warp capable escape pods, you know the Enterprise doesn't even the saucer is only impulse.

So Picard is spot on letting Troi lead the communications with the ruling government but then sends Riker down in the landing party and he is argumentative and judgmental from the word go, that was bizarre and I don't buy a lack of development for the 1st season. We did get one of the Data not knowing something he should in this case perfume, that gets old pretty quick and never made much sense given his pre Enterprise history. So they find Ramsey and his people via the platinum in his wings, wow they are good sensors to pick up a few ounces of a metal from orbit yet why didn't they just seal the deal by beaming everyone up, stripping them of weapons and job done. By going in person they not only get talked out of their promise to the elected one but also lead the government to the revolutionary element. That said score one for the boys when Trent (Leonard Crofoot) the personal assistant(?) of the elected one gets to press the disintegration beam button, just the once because Riker saved the day and not with his man parts but with reasoned logic.

Deep breath, Wesley what a useless waste of time, the infection showed how useless Crusher was and what the f**k is the Enterprise doing looking into a 7 year old incident when the Romulans are on a war footing in the Neutral Zone?

This was not a good episode, we did get Riker doing his patented leg up which is always worth a point and Troi was pretty useful even if she was sidelined but overall not a favourite.

IMDB

Rating 2

Wrath of Khan Steelbook

I know what I've said about steelbooks basically repackaging and reselling the same thing over and over but I think I really want to own this :)
Trekcore

My Random Journey Through Trek #23

Star Trek
S3 Spectre of the Gun

The Enterprise has orders to make contact with the inhabitants of the planet Theta Kiokis II, they are known as the Melkotians and it seems not a great deal is known about them. When they approach the system a buoy approaches and blocks the path of the ship and they are warned not to advance but Kirk ignores it and proceeds towards the planet. Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Chekov and McCoy beam down to the planet but their destination is unlike anything they expected and then a voice announces their punishment for trespassing on the world and as Kirk was their commander he will be the source of their doom. The next second the landing party find themselves in a wild west town and the role playing begins but with deadly consequences.

Spectre of the Gun for my money is a very good episode of the original Star Trek and for once really benefitted from having such a tight budget, they simply could not provide a fully featured sets for the Melkotian world nor the western town so we got a lot of fog and some simple set fronts for Tombstone with piecemeal additions. The whole look worked so well both as an alien viewpoint of a human centric location but created from the minds of alien creatures they did not fully understand.

The idea behind the episode worked as well, it was simple but effective. We get the Federation once again putting Starfleet into a position that goes beyond diplomacy and allowing the crew of the ship to suffer the consequences. The action of Chekov was a little silly even for the role the ensign was expected to play on the show but I suppose it was used to emphasise the deadly aspect of the predicament they were in. Spock being the only crewman able to 100% know they were really not in any serious danger was cool as was the mind meld being used to implant this certainty into the rest of them. Kirk refusing to kill the tools of the Melkotians opened the door to diplomatic contact but really the choice not to kill something that really didn't exist was not that impressive but hey happy ending and no one died, that's a result for all the red shirts on the ship:)

IMDB
Rating 8

Eureka Rewatch - Season 1

I picked up the German Blu-ray boxset of Eureka some time ago and well I never really found the time to sit down and begin a rewatch but over the recent holidays I watched the first season so here are a few thoughts.

The Eureka pilot is very good, it sets up the town and it's secrets effortlessly and a lot of that is simply down to some great characters and performances from the actors, we easily fall into cheering on Jack Carter as he is exposed to the strange events and methods of dealing with them from something simple like a stray dog through to exploding experiments, missing children and maybe the end of the world as he knows it. Yes Eureka comes with its own share of everyday problems and this is what gives us the fish out of water experience throughout it's entire run on television, Carter never quite feels at ease in the town no matter how involved he becomes.
Colin Ferguson plays Jack Carter and is ably supported by Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe) and Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo) with some very fun supporting characters but we do see some changes between the pilot and the series proper all of which worked out very well. As you would expect there are plenty of familiar faces if you are a regular viewer of Canadian produced US television as well as a healthy supply of actors based in the US, this mixture I suspect helped balance the budget as well as get the name recognition any show requires to maximise the US market which is critical even as the global market grows in importance.
Season 1 gives us a good mix of drama and humour, the chemistry between the characters is immediate (great casting no doubt) and to be honest it's one of the best first seasons of a genre show, even the weakest episodes have enough merit and entertainment value to make them worth watching although a 12 episode season helps out there.

Favourite S1 Episodes...

• Before I Forget
• Purple Haze
• Once in a Lifetime

I haven't included the pilot in my favourite episodes even though it's a good one but it's a scene setter and with cast changes feels a little different but when viewed as a whole the first season has much darker overtones then the series overall. I've read that Eureka was intended to be a little darker and more gritty but evolved into a more lighter and comedic series and I think that was a good call by the producers to let that happen, the audience was there for family friendly scifi which Eureka delivers in spades.

Eureka Season 1 IMDB & Wiki

Batman Boxset

I got the Batman Blu-ray boxset delivered from Amazon today and it's been a while since I owned a model of the classic Batmobile. A very nice package just a question of finding some shelf space to show it off and of course watch the episodes in their restored glory, mind you easier to spot the stunt double:)

My Random Journey Through Trek #18

Star Trek

S1 The Alternative Factor

The Enterprise is minding it's own business doing what amounts to a routine scan of an uninhabited planet when an energy wave passes through the ship, Spock reports the sensors indicated the planet they are orbiting for a brief instant did not exist and now a single life form is being detected. The dilithium crystals have been drained and an emergency call from Starfleet indicates that the Enterprise is the only ship tasked with investigating these strange circumstances. The man found on the planet awakes in sickbay and calls himself Lazarus and claims he is in struggle to defeat a "monster" which was responsible for the death of his people but it's the "rip" in space which is keeping them apart. Spock concludes that these two entities are infact the same person but from different universes/realities, their transition between realms is what's causing the drain on the energy systems and disrupting the very fabric of all universes. Lazarus or at least one aspect of him steals the crystals from the ship to power his vessel left on the planet but which one can the crew trust, they both want the other dead but eventually after a mishap Kirk travels into the other universe and has a frank exchange of views with the more reasonable Lazarus and together they plan to trap both versions in the "tunnel" between universes forever to fight with no end in sight.

Lazarus played by Robert Brown

The Alternative Factor does not get a lot of love and on the surface you can understand why, the story while having a lot of merit is so disjointed and full of what amounts to endless amounts of padding and repetitive scenes you are left wondering what the hell was going on. The story behind the episode does explain a lot and we can thank These Are The Voyagers by Marc Cushman and other sources for original series information for the revelations. The studio it seems baulked at the interracial relationship intended for Lt Masters ( Janet MacLachlan ) and Lazarus which in part led to the intended lead actor ( John Drew Barrymore ) to leave the production. Faced with an episode in serious production trouble Shatner help bring Robert Brown into the part on very short notice and the running time filled with perhaps too many shots of Lazarus falling off the rocks and almost psychedelic like effects which seemed to go on forever. 

We blend right in.

To be fair Robert does make the most of a bad job, no disrespect to him at all and who knows if everything had gone to plan this season 1 episode could have been one of the early cornerstones of the modern representation of African Americans and women on network US television. Alas it was not to be and we left with an episode which is derided by many a Star Trek fan and this one has to agree, it's never going to be a voluntary rewatch as there are so many better original series episodes.

IMDB

Rating 3

Sunday Treats

An unexpected bonus of Amazon Prime was that my pre-order for season 2 of Arrow on Blu-ray arrived this sunday morning along with a original series Star Trek novel by Christopher L. Bennett. I may have already watched three episodes of Arrow and the season 1 recap:)

Star Trek: The Compendium

A very nice four disc blu-ray package but what's important is that they have finally incorporated the extended commentary feature for Into Darkness onto the disc, now I have seen it via itunes but for my setup it's not the most ideal way to watch the feature.
Amazon US

Carry On Cleo

I picked up one of my favourite Carry On movies yesterday on Blu-ray, I say picked up but I clicked on a pre-order via Amazon UK a few months ago and the movie arrived yesterday:)
Carry On Cleo is set against the turmoil, brutality and betrayal of the clash between the Roman and Egyptian empires with little old Britain a resource for slaves and other things, especially from Bristol for some reason, oh the subtle humour of the time:)

Carry On Cleo 

• IMDB
• BFI
• Amazon UK

Interesting Shelves

No one has ever claimed I got my own jobs done in a quick and efficient manner, other peoples and those I am paid for are a different matter but my own well not so much but nearly there:)

Yes I still had to make some sacrifices with some novels going to the charity shop to look for a new home and of course I already had 90% of my DVD's ripped to the NAS but the up side this is only 2 and a bit walls...