Named after the city of Osgiliath in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but it's really just a blog devoted to the musings of a curious human being.
I plan to post approximately twice a week, so visit often! Don't expect serious stuff like the meaning of life, the universe, and everything; just whatever strikes my fancy this week.
Yesterday we visited the Star Trek Exhibit at the Detroit Science Center. It featured lots of costumes and props but the coolest part was the recreated bridge of the original series:
That's my husband in the Captain's chair and I'm at Sulu's station.
A volunteer told us the set was one-third scale, except for the chairs. The captain's chair is one of three actual props. Yup, I sat in it, I just didn't get my photo taken there. That's right: my butt sat where William Shatner's butt once sat! At least I wasn't geeky enough to wear a uniform to the exhibit. :)
I saw the new Star Trek opening weekend. No spoilers here! While it wasn't "your father's Star Trek," and not quite mine either, I really enjoyed it. I found the alternate timeline a clever way of rebooting the franchise without ignoring canon or alienating long-time fans. I'm thrilled to see so many people enjoying the characters I already love and hope it leads new fans to discover the original series and the best of its movies (2, 4, and 6, of course).
One thing I missed in the new movie: lots of long, loving shots of the Enterprise. You can tell the writers aren't Trekkies/Trekkers/Geeks because they didn't make Enterprise a character -- like the original series and previous films. I missed her.
I really enjoyed this article in Sunday's paper: "Capt. Kirk, American Icon?" by Ted Anthony, Associated Press.
By TED ANTHONY, Associated Press Writer Ted Anthony, Associated Press Writer – Wed May 13, 10:18 am ET
NEW YORK – There's a moment in one particularly silly episode of the original "Star Trek" that is, despite its camp, quite stirring. Captain James T. Kirk, on a distant planet that somehow developed into a twisted parallel America, rises to recite the preamble of the U.S. Constitution in a way that only William Shatner could.
It is pure schmaltz, patriotic manipulation puffed up by the swelling chords of "The Star-Spangled Banner." But it cuts straight to the heart of Captain Kirk, one of popular fiction's most enduring characters of the past half-century.
You can put him in a multiculti setting, dispatch him to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, entangle him with aliens and have him deliver speeches about the virtues of a United Federation of Planets. But there's no getting around it: Jim Kirk is unabashedly, enthusiastically American. "I'm from Iowa," he once said. "I only work in outer space."
Since his birth 43 years ago on mid-1960s network TV, the commander of the USS Enterprise has been a distillation of American ideals — one who finds himself suddenly reinvigorated for the 21st century now that the Kirk torch has been passed to a new generation.
"We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier — the frontier of the 1960s, a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats," John F. Kennedy said in 1960. "Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus."
That stalwart but softer version of Manifest Destiny — a sense that American exceptionalism could be exported to the stars, despite the Cold War — was, in effect, the manifesto that created Captain Kirk and the "Star Trek" universe around him.
Kirk was supposed to be the leader of what "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry dubbed a "Wagon Train to the Stars" — a convoy of travelers who bond while facing threats and exploring uncharted terrain. But from that framework, one of the most enduring characters of modern American fiction emerged.
Much is made of the duality of Mr. Spock, Kirk's half-Vulcan, half-human first officer who struggles to figure out where he fits in. Pundits have even compared Barack Obama to Spock, saying the combination of coolheadedness and humanity fits the times.
Kirk, though, embodies a different, distinctly American duality: the tension between exuberance and impetuousness on one hand and seriousness and intellect on the other. All at once, Kirk manages to be both Democrat and Republican, hawk and dove, humble and arrogant, futurist and traditionalist — and, in the most American duality of all, childlike and completely adult.
He's JFK — a deep thinker and voracious seeker of knowledge who disdains intellectualism when it is untethered from common sense. He's Andrew Jackson — populist and anti-elitist, as at home in jeans and an untucked shirt as he is in his full dress uniform. He's Vince Lombardi, rejecting the no-win scenario and pushing on to victory.
He's Humphrey Bogart, the darkly driven loner intimate with fisticuffs. He's Edison, always thinking outside the box. He's Elvis — robust wooer of women, intergalactic California blondes in particular. And, as we learn in an episode that re-enacts the shootout at the O.K. Corral, he's Gary Cooper — not only a gangster of love but a space cowboy descended from frontiersmen.
"He's the George Bush that George Bush pretended to be — the compassionate conservative, the `uniter not the divider,'" says Richard Slotkin, author of "Gunfighter Nation" and a historian of the frontier.
"His style of action is George Bush's style of action — `I go with my gut and I have an indomitable will to win,'" Slotkin says. "It's essentially a right-wing style, but it's controlled in Kirk's case" — by an ingrained sense of progressivism, among other traits.
But while Shatner's Kirk was a reflection of mid-20th-century America as defined by Kennedy — eyes optimistically toward the future but girded for any fast-approaching upheaval — Chris Pine's take on the character is just as distinctly a product of the 21st century.
The Kirk of J.J. Abrams' retooled "Trek" was raised by a widowed mother and questionable stepfather after losing his father in battle. Pine's Kirk is Shatner's on Red Bull and vodka — rebellious and sarcastic, vaguely felonious, tragically hip, soaked in irony and maybe a bit ADD. He leaps, then — maybe — looks.
And yet the new Kirk, however brat-packy, remains the vessel of American exceptionalism — the regular kid from the Midwest who manages to be, in the eyes of his mentor, Capt. Christopher Pike, "meant for something better, something special."
The Kirk character is "the embodiment of the everyday guy becoming a hero," says James Cawley, who plays the captain in an elaborate fan-made production that picks up where 1960s "Trek" left off. "He's definitely a leader, someone we look up to, but if you could get inside his head, he wouldn't see himself that way."
With a few key exceptions (Atticus Finch, Vito Corleone, some comic-book superheroes), Americans have spent much of the past 50 years bringing our fictional protagonists down to eye level. Where once we had Captain Ahab and Paul Bunyan and John Henry, now we have Rabbit Angstrom and Jack Bauer and Tony Soprano, characters consumed by their faults or quirks or doubts.
That makes for great tragedy and great realism but, perhaps, not great myth. And "Star Trek," as a history of the future we desire, is unrepentantly mythic.
Through the "Star Trek" movies of the 1980s, the sense of nostalgia that had settled over the nation found its expression in Captain Kirk. He was looking back more, examining regrets, wondering about roads not taken. The Rabbit-style introspection fit him well, but somehow it reflected a gradual abandonment of the New Frontier's optimistic tomorrow.
That's why Kirk 2.0, rebooted to the beginning of his interstellar career, feels so fresh, so necessary for the times.
The world is more confusing, more ambiguous than ever. Change is everywhere. The contours of American life keep getting blurrier. "The new frontier," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Congress in March, "is that there is no frontier."
A scary prospect for Frontier Nation. But if you accept that the Kirk character embodies American ideals projected into the future, here's a guy who — after 9/11, after waterboarding, after Katrina and economic meltdown — restores the balance of American duality.
Strong but caring. Deeply American but casually, completely multicultural as a simple matter of fact. Understanding of history but with eyes squarely focused on the things to come. And possessed with a just-do-it sense that while safety is important, risk, as Shatner's Kirk once said, is our business. America, after all, needs leaping and looking both.
Captain Kirk has endured for a reason: He shows us what we want to be. And whatever the answer, having a slice of American popular culture that is unashamed to help us figure it out is a refreshing thing indeed. A generation after the Enterprise first flew, we have met the future once again, and once again it looks like James T. Kirk.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE — Ted Anthony covers American culture for The Associated Press.
Shame on the Flint Journal for omitting the Capt. Kirk/Pres. Bush comparison! (Can you say "censorship"?)
After reading"Inspirations for a Whole New Enterprise: How the old 'Star Trek' influenced the new film" by Jeff Jenson (published in Entertainment Weekly Oct. 24), I had high hopes for the new film. It is supposedly influenced by "Balance of Terror" (original series episode), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (movie), "Unification" (one of the few Next Generation episodes I could stand to watch), "Yesterday's Enterprise (ditto), and Diane Carey's 1992 novel Best Destiny (one of the best Star Trek novels ever, in itself a rarity).
The cover story of the same issue of EW,'Star Trek': New Movie, New Vision also by Jeff Jenson, made me change my mind. That's Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as Kirk pictured on the cover.
I'm worried. The characters look great, but it appears they are ignoring the Trek timeline by putting all the main characters in Starfleet Academy at the same time (thus making them all close in age).
Jensen's article confirmed my fear. Director J.J. Abrams "was engaged by the possibility of a Star Trek movie 'that grabbed me the way Star Wars did.' That meant a bigger budget and better special effects than any previous Trek film, plus freedom to reinvent the mythos as needed."
Oh crap!
More stuff that makes me nervous: "The storytelling is newbie-friendly, but it slyly assimilates a wide range of Trek arcana, from doomed Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to Sulu's swordsmanship to classic lines like, 'I have been, and always shall be, your friend.' More ambitiously, the movie subversively plays with Trek lore — and those who know it. The opening sequence, for example, is an emotionally wrenching passage that culminates with a mythic climax sure to leave zealots howling 'Heresy!' But revisionism anxiety is the point. 'The movie,'' [Damon] Lindelof [friend of Abrams close collaborator] says, 'is about the act of changing what you know.''
What the hell does that all mean?
On the plus side:
Quinto campaigned for the part of Spock and looks quite comfortable (and convincing) in the role. I suspect he's a good enough actor that when we see the film we won't even think about Sylar (his evil character on the TV show Heroes).
Abrams wouldn't make the movie without Leonard Nimoy (the original Spock). Jensen hints Nimoy will appear in a scene with Quinto and/or Pine. I figure that means time-travel is involved. (No wonder the time cops hate Kirk so much!)
Abrams gave "Randy Pausch, the now-late author of The Last Lecture and avowed Trekker, a cameo in the film."
On the other hand, the new trailer (shown before the James Bond file Quantum of Solace) doesn't encourage me:
Only six more months until we can see it and decide for ourselves. In the meantime, keep an eye on Star Trek: The Official Movie Site for updates.
Update Nov. 23, 2008: This scene-by-scene analysis of the trailer did not make me feel any better about the movie.
Today StarTrek.com confirmed rumors that the next film (ST XI) will be about young Kirk and Spock. No news on who the actors are yet, but the film will be directed by J. J. Abrams (who created Alias and Lost, two of my favorite modern TV shows), and will be released on Christmas day 2008.
Can't wait until 2008 for more the original Star Trek? Check out Star Trek: New Voyages (ST: NV). These are Internet-only free new episodes created by folks who loved the original series and are producing a 4th season as if the original series was never cancelled. You won't recognize the actors playing Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc. but you might be surprised by some of the guest stars: William Windon (Commodore Matt Decker), Walter Koenig, and (coming in Spring 2007) George Takai.
The first episode I watched was "In Harm's Way" (season 4 episode 2). It's time travel story involving The Guardian of Forever, The Doomsday Machine, and Christopher Pike. The writing and production values are amazingly good. They've captured Trek right down to the music and the NBC peacock. It's a hoot seeing how close they come to the original (and best) series. In case you are wondering why it's not a copyright problem, Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. is one of the producers.
The cast and crew are devoted to the original series and want to continue it without parodying it, so the actors are good but are not imitating the original stars. They are excellent, especially when you consider no one is getting paid for this. They have a sense of humor, too. It you watch "In Harm's Way," be sure to watch through the credits for a clip of Jeff Quinn (Spock) singing a line from "Bilbo Baggins" (but he's a much better singer than Leonard Nimoy).
The only problem I'm having with ST: NV is downloading episodes! Most episodes are posted on mirror sites, with 4 or 5 parts per episode. Windows Media Player seems to be the standard format (and that works fine on my Mac PowerBook G4) but not all mirror sites use the same format. If you dowload WMP format, be patient; it will take a while. If you download .avi files they may not work with QuickTime 7; you may need to download VCL Media Player or something like it. Some files are zipped, so Mac users will need something other than StuffIt to open the files.
Despite my download problems, I've now watched everything available (three episodes and one vignette) and I can hardly wait for the next new episode! That should tell you how impressed I am. Actually, I'm more than impressed, I wish I were involved.
Actor James Doohan, best known for his role as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, died in July. He had a full, adventurous real life and was loved by many fans. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year. Photo and obituary courtesy of Star Trek.com.
Trivia: In addition to playing Scotty, Jimmy did many voice-overs in the original Star Trek series and in the movies. According to the Internet Movie Database, he also created the first Klingon dialog in Star Trek: the Motion Picture. His words were later expanded into a full language by others. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Scotty gave a 20th century engineer the formula for transparent aluminum, something the military is working on. :)
Next month, as he requested, part of his ashes will be launched into space. Fans may send tributes (by Nov. 15, 500 word maximum) which will be "digitized" and put in the canister with his ashes. The canister will remain in orbit for about 10 years, then burn up in the atmosphere on re-entry. This is a nice, but puzzling, idea. What could I possibly say to someone I admire but never met?
My Favorite Scotty Quotes (non-Trek fans might want to skip this part):
It's green. (Original series episode "By Any Other Name" and Next Generation episode "Relics" too drunk to identify liquor by its name)
I can't change the laws of physics. I've got to have thirty minutes. (Original series episode "The Naked Time")
Laddie...don't you think you should...rephrase that? (Original series episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" right before he beats up a Klingon for insulting the Enterprise, not for insulting Capt. Kirk.)
Captain, the engines can't take any more! (Pick any episode)
McCoy: I'm a Doctor, not an engineer. Scotty: Now you're an engineer. (Original series episode "Mirror, Mirror")
Scotty: I find it hard to believe I've traveled millions of miles... McCoy: ...thousands... Scotty: ...thousands of miles for an invited tour... only to be forgotten McCoy: Don't lose yourself in the role (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Hello, computer. (Speaking to an Apple mouse in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Admiral, there be whales here! (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
What are ya standin' there for? Da ya not know a jailbreak when ya see one? (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, rescuing Kirk and Spock)
Are ya daft, lad?! How long will it really take you to fix it? (Next Generation episode "Relics," to engineer Geordi LaForge who does not share Scotty's reputation as a miracle-worker)
NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D. (Next Generation episode "Relics," yelling at the Enterprise-D's holodeck computer as he programs it to show the original Enterprise)
Godspeed, Jimmy. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you boldly go into the undiscovered country. Give our best to Gene and De. Thank you for your brave service in WWII and the many happy memories you gave us as Scotty!
*****
Psuedo-related news Scotty would approve of: According to Sky and Telescope: Now through mid-November, Mars is closer and appears larger in a telescope than it will again until 2018! The so-called Red Planet (actually bright yellow) blazes high in the east by late evening, awaiting your telescope. It's 20 arcseconds wide, larger than it almost ever appears. A full guide to this Mars apparition, including a surface-feature map, is in the September Sky and Telescope, page 67. More about Mars
After reading "Inspirations for a Whole New Enterprise: How the old 'Star Trek' influenced the new film" by Jeff Jenson (published in Entertainment Weekly Oct. 24), I had high hopes for the new film. It is supposedly influenced by "Balance of Terror" (original series episode), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (movie), "Unification" (one of the few Next Generation episodes I could stand to watch), "Yesterday's Enterprise (ditto), and Diane Carey's 1992 novel Best Destiny (one of the best Star Trek novels ever, in itself a rarity).
Actor James Doohan, best known for his role as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, died in July. He had a full, adventurous real life and was loved by many fans. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year. Photo and obituary courtesy of Star Trek.com.
Audio book: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, read by Ray Bradbury
