Nov 23 | Chuckreturns to NBC with a special two-hour show on Sunday, Jan 10, 2010, before returning to its regular time slot, Mondays at 8pm on the following night. It's return to prime time television can be attributed to a successful fan renewnal campaign last year. CHUCK is a one-hour, action-comedy series that follows Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, "Less Than Perfect") -- a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent. This upcoming season will include some special guest stars, including Brandon Routh of "Superman Returns" who will play CIA agent Daniel Shaw in an episode, and the addition of SUBWAY restaurant as a major advertiser to the show. Chuck averaged a 4.0/6 rating last season, about eight percent better than the recently cancelled "Trauma". Ratings-challenged Heroes moves back an hour when Chuck returns on Monday nights. STAR TREK VOYAGER's Robert Duncan McNeill serves Chuckas a supervising producer and director.
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
Synopsis: Archer brings Surak's teachings to Vulcan, T'Pol leaves her husband and Trip annoys both Andorians and Vulcans.
Review: The final third part of the Vulcan arc is the most action packed of the three paying off on much of the material that had been set up by the far slower and often more turgid previous two episodes. Ultimately a lot of the action scenes such as Archer fighting the Vulcans as T'Pol is captured are superfluous and really don't do much for the story but they still speed up the pace and make the episode flow quicker at the very least as a substitute for much of the pointless arguments that characterized Awakening. The highlight of the episode though is unsurprisingly enough Shran who thanks to Jeffrey Combs always wonderful performances immediately brings life to any scene or episode.
Indeed Shran's scenes with Ambassador Soval are the most compelling moments that Kir'Shara or any episode in the three part arc or for that matter this season have to offer and are highly reminiscent of Garak's interrogations of Odo. This is of course somewhat ironic since these scenes also stray from the episode's format of 'Archer with Surak in his Head Saves Vulcan' but at the same time point the way to something far deeper which is Andorian and Vulcan reconciliation. The reconciliation of a clash of opposing philosophies between Andorian aggression and self-centeredness and Vulcan non-violence and self-awareness would have made for some compelling material. Particularly as Soval appears to be the last Vulcan on Enterprise actually acting like a Vulcan instead of a human with pointy ears.
Unfortunately any of this is scrapped in favor of the culmination of four years of evil Vulcan plots on Enterprise with the most evil Vulcan of all as V'Las continues behaving like a completely demented and unhinged villain. He's not acting like a Vulcan or even a Romulan but every villain cliche in the book right down to detaining a minister who protests against his actions. And of course his downfall comes in cliched villain style as Archer and T'Pau saunter into the room and put everything to rights in a matter of minutes. Sense this makes little, as Yoda might say.
First we begin with the premise that the Vulcan High Command completely warped Vulcan philosophy. How long this has been going on for is entirely unknown but since Vulcans aren't disagreeing with them combined with the Vulcan lifespan one would suspect a figure of at least five centuries or maybe a thousand years. A few Romulan collaborators fail to explain all this. Furthermore this twist ending dodges the complex questions the episode posed initially about the authenticity of the transmission of religious teachings and the nature of Vulcans. It reduces a complex philosophical debate to a matter of punching out or Vulcan neck pinching the right guy at the right time. And thus complex religious and philosophical problems are resolved.
In Awakening Surak claimed that even Syran himself was too corrupted to properly be the guardian of his teachings, by Kir'Shara simply flashing some of Surak's teaching on a holographic screen was enough to end all the violence. And what key element does Archer bring to all this that he needed to be selected above anyone else to be the savior of Vulcan morality? Well he punches people a lot. He also seems to have little trouble defeating Vulcans in hand to hand combat despite the complete strength inequities. Rather than any kind of revelation or meaningful conclusion all Kir'Shara really offers is a standard villain's downfall plot that in this case doesn't even make a whole lot of sense.
It remains then for the showdown between the Andorian and Vulcan fleets to offer what little suspense the episode has to offer. And here Jeffery Coombs and Gary Graham's performances continue to stand out and even Trip does a surprisingly competent job in command. It's possible to quibble that humans are once again getting foolishly involved in a conflict between two species, either of which could blow the Enterprise to bits, but the door closed on that particular objection years ago. Still Enterprise attacking a Vulcan cruiser, considering the disparity in firepower hangs on the lunatic fringe. As it taking sides in a conflict in which neither side is all that clean.
All in all Kir'Shrara contributes some interesting elements to the Enterprise reinterpretation of the STAR TREK universe. Its touches of continuity drawn on the STAR TREK universe are nice as are the attempts to bring Enterprise continuity closer in line to the continuity of the STAR TREK universe. Nevertheless the three-part arc suffers from serious writing handicaps and the Augments arc did a far more credible job dramatically because ultimately it knew what it was about. It was about the tragic failure of a single man. What is the Vulcan arc about? Religious or philosophical truth? Archer learning to accept Vulcans? T'Pol learning to accept her mother? Discovering that T'Pau liked to wear gaudy makeup when she was young? The relationship between Humans and Vulcans? Vulcans and Andorians? All of these and more are present and none of these are properly executed or concluded.
Instead the three-part arc essentially consists of the search for a magical artifact that will set all problems to right. This is a rather simple and classic story. However its execution is crude and stumbles repeatedly. The discovery of the artifact is repeatedly dragged out and its use is too simplistic and anti-climactic. The Augments arc was a tragedy. The Vulcan arc veers between Archer Jones and the Holographic Vulcan Tablets of Wisdom and muddled and unfocused character melodrama. Neither makes proper use of Vulcan and Vulcans. Neither addresses the philosophical issues the episodes try fitfully to raise. Archer Jones and the Holographic Vulcan Tablets of Wisdom occasionally makes for entertaining viewing, particularly in The Forge and Kir'Shara. But as Yoda might or might not say, yet not in Archer punching people a lot does a good episode lie.
Finally continuity is important but continuity cannot and does not substitute for good writing, for good drama or for a good episode. Continuity is like the binding of a book. Without it all you have are loose pages. But if there's nothing worth reading on the pages, what use is the continuity?
Next week: Super-intelligent and genetically engineered reruns.
Hell, Jad, I'm not as old as you (I'm 37) but I remember growing up with the cold war. People bitch and moan about how bad things are today but I recall Jimmy Carter giving the world away to the Russkies, then Reagan going toe to toe with 'em. There was talk of nuclear proliferation, Mutuall Assured Destruction, Star Wars laser beam satellites, the works.
Fuck, people don't know how easy they've got it today. Sure, I'm worried that some terrorist nutjob might have a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb and they may plant it in Detroit, but when I was a kid it was the whole planet that seemed on the line.
So you're right, people who look back at the "good old days" don't realize just how scary they could be.
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"Oh, I'll wake up
To any sound of engines,
Ev'ry gull a seeking craft..."
I certainly realize that CNN was around and goofy Bob Saget was on top with America's Funniest... but it really wasn't the same - not at all. At least not for me.
I am 27, I hold a degree in broadcast journalism and, through a twist of fate, I am now in a profession I am truley grateful to have found - teaching. Fifth and sixth graders are more in tune with the realities of war and sex then ever before. They are concerned about it. It comes across in their writing and through our class discussions.
I started watching TNG late. A friend of mine had taped the series over the years and I began catching up in 1994. I wasn't thinking about terrorism in my back yard (and my neighbors and friends worked in New York - some in the World Trade Center in fact). Sure, there were things going on out there, but kids were, for the most part, shielded. Even after the first bombing of the WTC in 1993, when I was in high school, I wasn't growing up with fear (which I am very grateful to God for). Kids today are afraid. They sense what is going on. All they have to do is turn on one of the (now) THREE major 24 hour "blow everything out of preportion" news channels. Fox News Alert is as common as Cheerios in the morning to some of them. Heck, there is even a chapter in our text book devoted to September 11th already. Terrorism is now has a place as a headline in history. I'm not sure that was the case in the eighties and nineties. Again, it was out there, but not drilled into kids like it is today.
And, the first Gulf War was a relatively brief and it was a victory with a clear winner and loser. It was followed by an unpreceidented period of economic opportunity. Things were hopeful, for the individual. Again, there were events happening around the world and, yes, we had Bosnia and a Presidential impeachment - but individuals were not filled with an overwhelming sense of "it can happen to me too" feeling like they do today.
I don't look back at the world and think that it was a utopia. I'm a social studies teacher - I know better. But, I do look at the American childhood I was brought up in and, compared to kids today, it sure as hell was utopian. My students will never be able to say that there was a time when they were not aware that there were poltical dangers in the world that could hurt them. It's a tragedy but it's now our reality.
What I was trying to say about Star Trek was that it doesn't have to play into that reality. It can and should recall the hopes and dreams of mankind. Let's see what's out there. I don't want lizard terrorists attacking Earth. Archer is not Tommy Franks. Archer is the leader of a group of explorers. It was supposed to be about hope. Now what we are getting is just not matching that desire. I continue to watch it because I think it's getting better and, quite frankly, I'm a fan and I do enjoy most aspects of it. But it just isn't hopeful anymore. I miss that.
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