Dirt in film

I had a conversation about dirt with a friend the other day. We were on the bus, and it centred around how people try to distance themselves from what is essentially a dirty world; by avoiding public transit, for example.  However, I did turn the conversation to cinema at one point: how I loved how dirty the city was in The Crow from 1994.

Since then, the breakfast crowd at work had a conversation about the ‘dirty future,’ if you will, again, as portrayed in cinema. Alien was on the tip of everyone’s tongue, followed smartly by Blade Runner. Despite all of its faults, I would add Outland to that list for its fantastically dirty environment. (I think it helps that everyone smokes in these movies, but that’s a topic for another time. And, no, I’m not vehemently opposed to smoking in any ‘dirty habit’ sort of way; I quite like how it plays on screen, actually.)

All this came back to me as I watched Minority Report again. Talk about a sterile future: even Anderton’s supposedly neglected dwelling is spotless between the clutter and crumbs. Hell, Witwer’s blood would’ve blended right into the walls of Deckard’s cramped quarters…

Aside: size is another difference. Hard to stay clean when you’re forced to crawl around on your hands ‘n’ knees. Even the supposedly seedy rooms in Minority Report have high ceilings.

Anyway, I’m not saying the clean future doesn’t have its place on the screen. I really enjoyed THX 1138 and, Spielberg again, Artificial Intelligence, which, come to think of it, had a good mix of the pristine and the grimy; Gigolo Joe, what do you know?

What I am saying is that I find the dirty future more… comforting.

Who Mourns for Adonais?

This was another very compelling story. Leslie Parrish did a fantastic job; her anguish at the end couldn’t have been more plain. Michael Forest too pulled off a very difficult role, I felt. He truly seemed ancient, and his dialogue was just superb! (It was the first thing that struck me about the episode, in fact.)

Something else came to me as I watched this episode; a pattern that I’m seeing throughout this series that really sets it apart from The Next Generation: the instinctive nature of all the characters, including, albeit to a lesser degree, Spock. What I mean is, very early on in these episodes, a character presents one or more theories; one of these is then seized upon, the story quickly progresses, and it’s later revealed that the theory was in fact correct.

My memory of TNG (and it has been a while, so I may be mistaken) is that much more time was spent trying to eliminate a plethora of competing theories until only one remained. Now, as a statement, that really appeals to the scientist in me; however, what I’m finding as I watch these original episodes is that the instinctive approach is actually more entertaining: the story progress much more quickly – TNG episodes would have to compensate for these hours Data and Geordie spent investigating by splicing in other action, with only limited success in some cases – and there’s more time for a story arc, character development, etc.; the stories just seem so much more ambitious, for lack of a better word.

That obviously speaks to the quality of the writing as well, but I’m convinced that they’d have to cut these stories down if they did them in the TNG-style that I’ve outlined.

Mirror, Mirror

Wow! What a fantastic episode! Initially I worried that they wouldn’t have enough time to do both away teams justice; tying the ‘dark’ side up in the short brig scene was a masterstroke! “What do you want, Spock? Power?” Awesome!

I really enjoyed seeing Sulu and Chekov too; they managed to convey strong personalities with their limited screen time. Sulu’s scar was a great touch.

But, overall, I think what impressed me the most was how believable the parallel universe was. Yes, things could really operate that way, for a time, and they even addressed its ephemeral nature in that superb final dialogue between Kirk and the ‘dark’ Spock.

The City on the Edge of Forever

I loved the scene when McCoy finally arrives; when he’s speculating on the hospitals of the time: “needles and sutures…” Man, what a great performance!