FilmRoar

Star Trek meets The Flintstones and animates the Demento classic Star Trekkin’ courtesy of stonetrek.com.

James Doohan (a.k.a. Scotty in the original Star Trek series) just passed away. I will have a toast in his name tonight. Hope you all toast to his memory in your own ways as well.

After surviving many previous close calls it seems that Star Trek Enterprise has finally met it’s end. According to an announcement from UPN and Paramount the series will complete it’s fourth season and then be cancelled. The news does not affect me since I am one of the many Star Trek fans that, it seems, never bothered to tune in but is sure to disappoint many other fans more faithful to the franchise.

So you own the complete DVD set of Star Trek The Next Generation. You have watched the series chronologically, watched all the extras and had a chance to see Marina Sirtis learn to act, Gates McFadden get sexier and sexier as the years go by, seen in interviews what an outstanding individual LeVar Burton is and just how much of a dick Brent Spiner can be. Obviously what you need now is the new Star Trek The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection (1987) yours for the discounted price of $23 plus shipping and handling! Wait, what? Lets double-check the box contents… seven next generation episodes and a short documentary hosted by Stewart. No new material, nothing that you don’t already have. So why would you want to buy this thing? I guess if what you really want is just a few of the TV episodes with focus on one (very excellent) actor/character this could be good for you… but honestly how many people really want to own just a few episodes in a series? I would venture to guess that the fans are already collecting the complete set and the causal viewers are going to save their $23 for feature films. Then again, this is probably very cheap for Paramount to produce so from their perspective even if they only sell a few hundred copies they will make their money back. Still seems weird to me though.

I was sent a link to DarkMateris’s Star Trek Songs and was so amused and impressed that I have been incesently listening to the Picard song ever since. A must download for any fans of Star Trek Next Generation.

Following up on themes established in The Measure of a Man in the episode The Offspring Data decides to procreate and uses his own positronic brain to create a new android he names Lal (played with great effect by Hallie Todd). With the stage set the show makes no delay to delve into the first of many ethical debates prompted by the new arrival. Star Fleet is made nervous by Data’s experiment to ‘create life’ and experiment he had not advised Starfleet or Picard of because to Data he is dong what any other member of the crew has the right to do without having to ask for the captain’s permission: he is having a child.

The ethics of Data’s decision comes into question again later in the episode as Admiral Hatfel comes aboard the Enterprise to evaluate Data’s capacity as a parent and take the new android away to a research facility if he should decide that is the better course of action. I am sure that the writers of the episode meant to mirror some of the controversy towards Child Protective Services which are both praised for their mission to safe guard children from harmful environments and reviled for breaking up families, sometimes with no clear cause. The writers are likewise able to touch on other sensitive topics such as how exposed children should be to subjects of human sexuality. The situation lends itself to a hilarious encounter where ReKirk.. err. I mean Riker comes across the comely Lal and not realizing her android nature turns the charm on. Lal who is working in ten forward in an effort to learn more about human behavior takes the opportunity to pick Riker up by his uniform and plan a great big kiss on his lips. Data who observes the exchange approaches the surprised Riker and directly asks him ‘Commander, what are your inentions towards my daughter?’ Riker’s look of astounded fright and sudden decision to make a run for it alone make the episode worth watching. Incidentally for anyone who wonders why the Riker character only had one scene in the whole episode, take a close look at the opening credits and you will realize that this is the first TNG episode that was handed to Jonathan Frakes to direct. Frakes will not direct again until season 4 for the episode Reunion, but by that point he will have proven his ability as a director well enough that he will get to sit in the directors chair again for 6 more TNG episodes, 3 episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager each and two Star Trek movies.

One detail that particularly appealed to me about The Offspring was the liberties the story took with taking the common subject of a new child to uncommon frontiers. The ability of Lal to choose her own species and gender for example was particularly interesting. In a day when parents are tempted to meddle with the development of their unborn children it is refreshing to see a case where the child is not only allowed to develop but given the choice to decide just what kind of a person they want to become.

One of the most enjoyable episodes in the third season, Yesterday’s Enterprise is a treat for Star Trek fans. The episode is full of action, intrigue, tension, old friends, new enemies and best of all ramifications for the Star Trek Universe.

One of the joys of following an episodic series like Star Trek The Next Generation is that viewers build knowledge of the history and mythos of the universe they develop. The more you watch the more of the history of the universe you get to know and the better you get involved story arcs and inside jokes. Those familiar with the universe will know that the Next Generation Starship Enterprise’s full name is U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D and is a successor to the Enterprise from the original Star Trek series and in turn from the NX-01 featured in the latest series Star Trek: Enterprise. Through bits dropped in the various episodes and movies we have learned about the fate for the NCC-1701, the A, the B and the D models but history had not told what happened to the Enterprise-C… until now. At the beginning of the episode the Enterprise-C time travels into our present from a battle against Romulan Warbirds while helping to protect the Klingon outpost Narendra III. Not only is the fate of the C model revealed but this bit of history is filled with a rather epic story of great battles and epic sacrifice. We also get to see the NCC-1070-C (great job the set designers did with the older-generation bridge!), meet her captain and crew and even get to see her in battle!
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