The Enemy Within

I was really surprised to see the story credited to Richard Matheson. I got my hands on a copy of I Am Legend recently, and am looking forward to reading it.

As per usual, I jotted down some thoughts as I was watching this episode (for the first time, I might add):

• Note: I haven’t seen many episodes from the first season to date.
• The introduction was superb: what a way to end it, with that eerie lighting under the Kirk close-up.
• The freehand camera work and the horns in the score during Kirk’s brandy rampage really left me feeling off-balance; I didn’t know what he was going to do. :-)
• Spock’s insistence that the truth be kept from the crew was very emotional, almost human; it was really jarring for me, coming off the entire second season — I’ll have more to say on this in a moment.
• The alternate Kirk’s outburst in his quarters was fantastic — I had chills running up my spine!
• The confrontation in the bowels of the ship was well choreographed: the doubles weren’t too obvious; that goes for the rest of the episode too — some really great work in the sickbay, actually.
• Spock’s analysis of the situation was typical, if a little emotional (for him), but his justification for a possibly perceived lack of empathy — “That’s the way I am” — was a bit odd; I guess it depends on when this episode aired: how much do we know about Vulcans (and half Vulcans) at this point?
• Re the predicament with Sulu’s team: again, a perfect use for shuttlecraft. I should read up on how they were introduced to the show, and whether it was consist with episodes like this one.
• Spock’s diving in to take over a conversation with Sulu was excellent; Kirk’s slow deterioration in general was superb; you felt the discomfort of those in the know, as they attempted to assess Kirk’s mental state from moment to moment.
• The final debate between Spock and McCoy was brilliant: both sides argued well, and Kirk’s indecision was positively painful to watch! :-)
• Again, however, as a final point: Spock was unusually forceful in that debate (I liked it, don’t get me wrong!); and he described his Vulcan ancestry as “alien”: that’s different, isn’t it? And so was his final comment to the Yeoman, come to think of it; a bit creepy, frankly, seein’ as she was assaulted (ah, the 60s ;-) ).

Return to Tomorrow

I recognized Diana Muldaur’s voice immediately! Man, I had no idea there were so many connections between the original series and The Next Generation. The funny thing is that, in a second reference to Where Silence Has Lease in one night, as I recall, she kissed (or almost kissed) two starship captains while “not herself,” shall we say. :-) (According to the Memory Alpha summary of Where Silence Has Lease, Dr. Pulaski — Muldaur’s character on TNG — simply refuses the Nagilum’s request for a demonstration of how humans propagate; why do I remember Pulaski and Picard in this ultimately-aborted, stiff-limbed dance toward one another? Ah well; it was many years ago.)

What a great episode. I loved Nimoy’s performance; there wasn’t a trace of the Spock we know and love, and yet Henoch was an entirely believable character with his own motivations and mannerisms. (While I’m on the subject of Henoch, I did find it odd that that whole “rival faction” business didn’t come up in the discussion about whether to proceed; bit of a wild card, no? ;-) )

One final point: I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a captain finish his initial log on screen; it was required for that line on how long it would take to reach Starfleet headquarters, but it struck me as a nice touch nonetheless.

A Private Little War

A dark episode, to be sure. If it had been a Next Generation episode, the story likely would’ve included a lot more diplomacy following the discovery of Klingon interference.

The only other point of interest that comes to mind is the opening sequence: I don’t ever recall seeing those sorts of camera angles — quick panning, with Kirk and Spock at the pivot point — in the show before; a bit disorienting, actually.

Two more Star Trek episodes

The Gamesters of Triskelion:

• Ah, Kirk; that sly ole son of a gun: seducin’ the enemy ‘n’ then leavin’ her. ;-)
• The whole episode reminded me of Q or the Nagilum in The Next Generation. (The latter is that face in the cloud; man, it took me a long time to track down its name, thanks to the vague summary of Where Silence Has Lease on this Wikipedia page. I would’ve thought they were avoiding spoilers had I not seen that Lt. Yar’s death is freely discussed in the Skin of Evil summary.)
• I couldn’t get over how tall Kloog was: over six feet, seven inches, according to the Internet Movie Database.
• Galt looked really familiar, which isn’t surprising, now that I know the actor, Joseph Ruskin, has been in so many things.

The Trouble With Tribbles:

• I had heard about this episode many times, and, for some reason, I never got the impression that it was at all serious. On the contrary, it has many serious moments (and much levity too, of course), and is actually a really good episode.
• I’ve heard that there was a Deep Space Nine episode where the cast are forced to live this episode; I could see that working well: there was actually a lot of open space in many of the shots.
• They sure laid the revisionist history bit on thick in this one; man, that was a different time, eh?
• I loved Spock’s reaction to the tribble. :-)
• And they do have replicators in the original series! (Well, it’s a food synthesizer, according to Memory Alpha, but I call that splitting hairs — tribble hairs, maybe. ;-) )
• Kirk’s interrogation of Scotty had me in stitches: “And that’s when you hit him.” “No…” :-D

Cloverfield

Well, I finally saw the subject movie, after all the hype — including some that friends of mine got swept up in with their role-playing game, Alpha Omega — and I must say that I was surprised: I wasn’t nearly as nauseated as I expected to be (admittedly, the big screen at home is probably better than the movie theatre for avoiding that particular effect), and, overall, I was entertained.

I found the acting a bit spotty, but I was surprised by how good it was at times. And I can’t put the bad parts all down to the actors either, as a big part of what kept kicking me out of the later scenes was their general ability to avoid shock (in the medical sense, and I’m not just talking about how much blood they did or did not lose), remain calm and keep going. That all them could do that, and not really experience any sort of cumulative trauma, as it were, was a bit far-fetched, in my mind (but entertaining, as I said).

I liked how it included moments of levity, and I really liked the concept of recording over an earlier recording; it made for a great ending.

Alpha Omega campaign: character background

Maintenance Droid (45 series), or MD-45, is a retired general-purpose, free-floating AI, formerly of the city-state of Sao Paulo. While employed for the city-state, it specialized in all manner of machine and electronics repair. It was retired (no, not in the Blade Runner sense, thank Loth) in 2273, after eight years of service, as part of the general modernizations that went with the city-state’s new security measures following the biological attacks of that same year.

Living as a resident in Sao Paulo with its lower Level 1 security clearance was inconvenient for MD-45, so that same year, it joined a long list of other hopefuls in looking for a better life on Divinus. Since then it has had a number of jobs, including, but not limited to, dock worker, jack-of-all-trades repair-being and security guard.

Quick sketch of MD-45's head and torso.

In recent years, MD-45 has begun to wonder whether there is something wrong with its instinct module: the lack of consistent repair jobs — still its primary function, when it’s feeling particularly philosophical — leaves it feeling a bit aimless these days. While it scoffs at the human ’shrinkers’ that seem to have no lack of work amongst the elite of Divinus, it is at a bit of a loss when thinking about who to see regarding this potential problem. It takes the AI abuse rumours surrounding the Vidal Corporation very seriously, but wonders whether some smaller company might be able to help it, through modifications to its instinct module or some such.

MD-45 also has an affinity for a classical musical form of the early 20th century called Heavy Metal. The name itself has obvious appeal, as does the predominantly-apocalyptic theme of the music of its favourite band, Megadeth. (Note that it chose its name from the incredible coincidence of the abbreviation of its model number matching the name of a Dave Mustaine side project; astronomical odds, surely.) In fact, MD-45 has been known pump out Tornado of Souls or Countdown to Extinction during particularly dicey battles, and secretly hopes that its offhand references to itself as Psychotron will catch on with its team-mates.

However, MD-45 is aware of the dangers of taking this too far, and takes every opportunity to point out how silly ‘going rogue’ and the other subversive ideas of 111 are. (It oftens jokingly refers to AC-6^3 as “ole ay-see”, when it’s certain no other AI who could possibly be 111 members are in earshot, of course.)

Definitely, Maybe

I just finished watching the subject movie, and I couldn’t help thinking of Stuff White People Like; it’s a movie written by white people, for white people. :-) There are obvious points, such as the way New York is exalted, the ubiquitous platonic friendships in these romantic comedies, and the white cast, but they’re just the beginning:

• Making it: the ’successful’ April went back to grad school, moved to Brooklyn, and got a job with Amnesty International — no word on whether the recommended life coach had anything to do with the turnaround, but either way, that’s at least three entries right there!
• The jobs: many characters work for political campaigns — Democrats, of course — one is a journalist; one of the two ‘bad’ jobs is working for some corporation.

I’m sure there are others, but I guess it’s that first point that had me laughing; that, and the stuffy feature on the DVD about how great it was shooting in New York — it was like they were reading from a Christian Lander script. :-)