Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame. They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
Nov 08 | Unreality-SF.net has interviewed Star Trerk author James Swallow about some of his upcoming projects. He talks about Titan: Synthesis and Seven Deadly Sins: The Slow Knife, as well as some forthcoming Doctor Who and Stargate stories.
Synopsis: Back home the crew face vacations that aren't particularly relaxing.
Review: Like ST:TNG's "Family," which followed the catastrophic and tense "Best of Both Worlds," ENTERPRISE's own season four begins with "Home," an episode with much the same function. Namely, to provide a break in between the crisis of the previous two parter and the crisis to come. The problem, in part, is ENTERPRISE's own "Two Days and Two Nights" did this far better and that "Home" lacks the color and life of either "Family" or "Two Days and Two Nights," episodes that could merge humor, pathos with revelations about the breaking points and healing powers of the characters.
"Home"'s strongest of the storylines focuses on Archer coping with a cynical and dark view of exploration and Starfleet driven by his own self-loathing and sense of betrayal of his original mission. We also encounter Captain Hernandez who may help bury once again the foolish idea propagated by some using the borderline non-canon TOS episode, "Turnabout Intruder," that women can't be Captains. It is good to see such a character on STAR TREK, particularly as female Captains have not been as visible as they should be; seven years of Captain Janeway have done quite a lot to hurt the perception of the role of the female Captain as a leader to a professional crew, rather than Janeway's substitute mother figure to a family of misfits. And even though Captain Hernandez in the episode is reduced to a stereotypical nurturing and romantic interest role, the actress still manages to make her come across as competent and professional.
Bakula gives another capable performance in "Home" that reminds us once again that Archer can be a strong character when he's given something to work with. Here he projects both frustrated anger and idealism as we see him coming to terms with the events of the previous year and gaining a sense of peace from them. Even coming to terms with the Vulcan Ambasaddor. The battle on top of the mountain and the mountain climbing itself are both cliches, but they're not badly used here, even if we can finally maybe offer a grateful prayer that the funny looking wire sculpture Xindi suits may have actually seen their last use on our TV screens except for when reruns of season three come calling again; if they ever do.
By contrast Trip and T'Pol's Vulcan adventure is far weaker, not the least because it relies on non-existent chemistry between two characters who seem as if they could exert more appeal on some of the prayerful stone statues standing around the matte backgrounds than on each other. Still, T'Pol's mother is well acted and comes across as a real person rather than another one in a long line of mean ENTERPRISE Vulcans, which is what she appears to be at the beginning of the episode. And the unexpected and dramatic ending, rather than a cliched and nauseating scene in which Trip and T'Pol announce their love for each other adds significant power to the story by elevating it from a story of true love to a story of sacrifice, which is always stronger. And the neo-Japanese decor of T'Pol's mother's home makes the episode seem somewhat more graceful than it is.
The weakest link of the stories is the afterschool special section on Phlox facing prejudice on Earth. While Phlox puffing up his head like a blowfish is good for a laugh, the material is earnestly tedious and cliched and a distinct matter of condescendingly preaching obvious virtues to a sleeping choir. Worst of all, this entire scene is all the more hypocritical since rather than being blatantly outrageous and unfair by ENTERPRISE's moral standards, the redneck's treatment of Phlox is quite similar to Archer and Trip's Season one treatment of T'Pol and other Vulcans. But instead of making use of this opportunity for some of Enterprise's crew to recognize and deal with their own prejudices, we have the Enterprise crew nobly and gallantly rising to Phlox's defense and lecturing us, them and even Phlox on prejudice.
Maybe it was the influence of seeing Team America: World Police but for a moment there before the fists began to fly, I thought that instead of fighting, Reed, Phlox and Mayweather would rise and sing a rousing pop anthem about tolerance and diversity. Sadly, instead all we got was five minutes of them hanging around in one of the most fake looking bar sets ever followed by one of the most fake looking fight scenes ever. Perhaps the next time ENTERPRISE decides to take a ground breaking story idea that has only been previously tackled by such groundbreaking series as HAPPY DAYS, BEVERLY HILLS 90210 and the COSBY SHOW; they might try using it in a way that makes you think instead of yawn, and that speaks to an adult awareness of the complexities of human nature instead of educational slogans aimed at small children.
All in all, "Home" doesn't live up to the more complex storytelling combinations of "Family" or "Two Days and Two Nights." It lacks the sense of fun those two episodes had and the character development isn't nearly up to par either. But nevertheless it's a useful placeholder episode that marks the ending of one time of trial for the Enterprise crew and the beginning of the next.
Next week: Brent Spiner is back...and he has a really creepy laugh.
I agree, I'm surprised Deus was far more negative about Home than Storm Front.
Edit: Upon rereading his review I've decided to change this headline. In fact he is pretty evenhanded if not outright praising of the episode. After looking at his review again I think my headline actually mischaracterizes his opinion. In fact, Deus was pretty critical of both Storm Fronts and he certainly has plenty of positive - if not glowing - things to say about Home. So in retrospect, I think I read too quickly early this morning and this review isn't any more negative than the first two of the season. Mea culpa!
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It's a rip-off. / We're stepped on, and cheated! / We're flat, stone-cold lied to / But we're not defeated / No!
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