Star Trek XI Review – Star Trek Finds Its Bearings Again

As was the case for many Star Trek fans, I took the opportunity to check out JJ Abrams latest film “Star Trek” on its opening night last Friday.  Although a few months ago I was cautiously optimistic about this fresh take on the Star Trek franchise, as the movie’s release date drew near, I found I was more and more eager to see this latest interpretation.  After watching Abrams’ “Star Trek”, I feel a sense of elation and satisfaction that those very elements that drew me to Star Trek in the first place have finally returned in full force.

Obviously, as a review piece, there are going to be a few spoilers coming up.  So if you haven’t seen the film yet, do yourself a favour and read this review after you’ve had a chance to watch it.  As was the case with my review of BSG’s series finale, this review is a long piece, in part because there is so much to point out, but also because it’s the first time in a long while there’s been something new and noteworthy in the Star Trek universe worth discussing at length.  Also, like my reviews of BSG, my focus is not on attempting to explain, rationalize or dissect the technological aspects of the work, but instead the character drama seen within it as that’s what is of particular interest to me.  So if you’re ready, click on the read more link to find out what I thought of JJ Abrams take on the Star Trek universe. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

Star Trek XI – The Anticipation Grows . . .

In North America, tonight is the night that many of us will finally have the chance to see Abrams’ take on the Star Trek franchise. Perhaps it’s a reflection of my change in social internet circles, but it’s nice to see that the last few days leading into tomorrow’s official release has been marked by a sense of anticipation and enthusiasm. I know I’ve been feeling more and more excited by this film’s arrival as opening day edges ever closer that “Star Trek” might finally mature into something more contemporary, instead of being relegated into being a vehicle for Trekkies to latch their childhood memories onto.

Of course, that’s not to say I’m not a fan of the original version featuring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley in the iconic roles of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. On the contrary, of all the variations of Trek that have been made, the first one, now referred to as “The Original Series” or TOS for short, is still my favourite simply because I enjoy watching the interaction between these characters. In fact, it’s my belief that the only reason Star Trek has maintained interest for so long is not the often-repeated notion that it presented hope for the future; rather, it had to do with its charismatic and engaging characters presented within tales that peaked the imagination and, when it was really good, offered us glimpses into humanity’s drives and motivations. Indeed, this is the reason why Shakespeare’s plays, set in time periods and social settings far removed from our own, as well as other literary works written centuries ago still hold up today – the characters that exist in these works cast light on the nature of humanity and our interpersonal relationships, something today’s audience can still relate to and find much relevance in. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

BSG “Daybreak, Part 2” – My Final BSG Review, The Conclusion

And now comes the last part of my review of the BSG series finale “Daybreak, Part 2″ and I can’t think of a more fitting way to complete this review than to focus on the principal characters of Bill Adama and Laura Roslyn, as well as the much discussed final scene that ended this formative series.  It’s taken me some time to sit down and finish this review, so let’s get right into it.

Bill Adama – His life fulfilled and his honour intact

In the first two parts of my review of “Daybreak, Part 2″, I noted how valuable the flashback scenes have been for allowing us to appreciate the full scope of the journey these characters have been on since before the series began and that’s certainly been the case with Adama and Roslyn. The interchanging scenes showing what their separate lives were like back on Caprica shows us that they’ve started this journey in the same boat, of leaving behind lives where they felt trapped into accepting the choices they were being given. In the scenes of Adama and Tigh partying in the bar, it’s clear that while Tigh has a better life waiting for him outside of serving the Colonial Fleet, Adama is being corralled into a job he clearly doesn’t want. Watching Adama outside the bar, slumped on the ground covered in his own vomit gazing wistfully at the stars above, it’s not hard to appreciate that the stars were where he felt he belonged the most and yet, it was never as far away from him as it was at that moment. In some ways, Adama is reminiscent of Ishmael in “Moby Dick”, Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

BSG “Daybreak, Part 2” – My Final BSG Review, Part 2

In the first part of my review of the BSG finale, “Daybreak, Part 2”, I examined the conclusion of the story arcs for some of the characters that we’ve been following for a good part of the series run. To start this next part of the review, I want to take a look one character whose internal driving force was only revealed to us in these final episodes of BSG to see whether we got the necessary closure for this particular plot line.

John/Cavil – The Cylon with a plan

In the episode “No Exit”, in addition to the information dump provided by the reawakening of Anders’ original memories of Cylon Earth, we were also given some interesting insight into the John/Cavil character and his unmistakable hatred for both his Cylon creators and the inherent limitations imposed on him thanks to their encasing him in a human body. In the scenes between Ellen and John/Cavil, we learn that John/Cavil is driven in large part by his rage against his creators and the subsequent desire to make each of them endure as much pain and hardship as he can create. The ideas presented in that episode carried on into “Daybreak, Part 1” where we see that John/Cavil clearly relishes how his plan to kidnap Hera would inflict much pain on Ellen to the point where he wishes he could have been there to witness it first-hand. While we’ve always understood that the Cylons saw Hera as being the key to their future – even more so in light of the loss of the Resurrection Hub – these scenes help us to understand that John/Cavil’s drive is also fuelled by his seeking revenge against those he believes have wronged him.

It’s for this reason I found something noticeably lacking in the showdown scene between John/Cavil and the Colonial/rebel Cylon alliance in the CIC. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

BSG “Daybreak, Part 2” – My Final BSG Review, Part 1

When I sat down to start writing this review, I realized that it was going to be a hard one to do, in part because of how much there is to discuss about the BSG series finale, but also due to the reality that this would be my last time writing about this incredible series. After thinking about the various aspects of this finale that I wanted to write about, I realized that it would be best to divide this up into a multi-part review so that I could really delve into the episode’s various storylines and yet still keep the piece from becoming too weighty a read. To start off this first part of my review of “Daybreak, Part 2”, I want to touch base on two elements of BSG I haven’t mentioned previously, the work of the VFX team and the music score of Bear McCreary.

Gary Hutzel’s VFX Team and Bear McCreary – The magic behind the cameras

One of the common complaints about the last few episodes of BSG has been the minimal presence of its hallmark CG animation from the team lead by visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel. In “Daybreak, Part 2”, it’s clear that Ron Moore and David Eick wanted to save the CG effects budget so as to create the visual feast seen in this two hour finale. Indeed, there were times where the CG sequences had more the quality and feel of a blockbuster film than a TV series episode. Without question, BSG’s talented team of CG artists have once again raised the bar even higher for episodic television visual effects, a fact I expect the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will once again recognize when they hand out the Emmy awards for this season. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

Battlestar Galactica – Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

For those who have been mesmerized by Ron Moore and David Eick’s series “Battlestar Galactica”, today is a day that is certainly filled with contradicting emotions of happiness and sorrow as expressed by Juliet at Romeo’s departure. The sadness felt by BSG fans is obvious as today marks the end of that journey we all undertook with these characters four years ago in their search for a new home and with it, a new life and beginning. On the other hand, the sweet aspect of tonight’s airing will be the culmination of all the events that we’ve witnessed so far into the final outcome, along with the expectation of addressing the numerous questions this series has wrought over its duration. With tonight’s finale, the writers will finally be bringing out the dessert carts so we can at last see what choices they’ve made for how they want to end this resplendent meal.

I wanted to write this piece before watching tonight’s episode because I do expect these emotions to percolate up to the surface, as it should if the drama and the story told therein are to live up to the expectations fans understandably have of this series’ finale, if not the legacy of storytelling this series has fostered over the course of its four seasons. And while I’m sure that there will be much for BSG fans to discuss and theorize about at the conclusion of tonight’s episode, I wanted to share my own personal thoughts before I watch the end of this series. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

BSG “Daybreak, Part 1” – The End Is Found In Where We Began

It is often said that to reach the end of any journey, one needs to look back and see where it all began. It’s from this vantage point that the first part of the BSG series finale “Daybreak, Part 1” starts out and in doing such, provides us with some greater insight into these characters and through it, the significance of the choices they’ve made and probably will make in the final two hours of this remarkable drama series.

Watching the flashback scenes of what life was like on Caprica, we now learn that many of the series characters had in fact lost much of what mattered to them well before the fall of the thirteen colonies. The Kara we see traipsing around the apartment getting the place ready for her first dinner with her fiancé’s brother is almost unrecognizable from the Starbuck character we’ve known from the start, making the psychological impact of Zack’s death and her sense of responsibility for her part in it that much more palpable than it was before. When Adama wraps his arm around Kara later in the episode, reminding her that no matter what has happened she is still his daughter, serves to reinforce this reality, that those who knew Kara when she was engaged to Zack have seen the tectonic shift in her emotional grounding. Adama’s gentle words to Kara at this point also serves to remind her and all of us that the bond they have over that shared grief transcends any concerns over the nature of Kara’s existence, that such issues ultimately don’t change who she is or what she means to those around her. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

BSG “Islanded in a Stream of Stars” – Finding One’s Place To Call Home

As the penultimate episode of the BSG series, “Islanded in a Stream of Stars” is unlikely to be remembered as one of the series most dramatic or memorable episodes in terms of specific moments or events. However, as we’ve seen in the previous episodes following the discovery of Earth, the focus of the series in this last leg has been an internal examination of how the principal characters are dealing with the new reality of there being no real collective goal for them to rally around. This particular episode continues on that approach and in doing so, shines a light on the very heart of the series – how will these characters find their new home.

The scene in sickbay between Adama and Roslyn sums up this episode’s message best when Roslyn starts discussing the idea of home, that perhaps it’s not so much a specific physical space but more a state of mind and the individuals who populate your life. Looking out from that lens, it becomes apparent that Roslyn is one step closer to her proverbial death bed because she’s realized that, for her at least, she has come to the end of her search for a home. In some ways, her journey is like Gaeta’s in that it’s only when she is nearing the end of her life that she is finally able to free herself of all the burdens – of tending to the fleet as a sheepherder does to his flock – and is now able to take out her emotions from whatever internal box she’s kept them in all these years and at last experience genuine peace. Her admission that it’s only been in the last few months that she has been able to feel this sense of contentment replacing that feeling of longing is a stark contrast to the realities that have been plaguing the rest of the fleet’s population. In some ways, this is becoming the thematic reality for the series – that the fleet’s population will never gain a home in the collective sense. Instead, the concept of home is something that needs to be resolved on an individual, internally-driven level. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

Interview with Ridley Scott – Insights Into the Process of Storytelling

This week, I found a great resource for those who are interested in learning more about the process of creative storytelling. Fox Searchlight arranged an interview with director Ridley Scott for a few of their interns where he shared his thoughts and experiences on how he goes about creating a filmed work. For myself, I found this informal talk with the renowned director of such films as “Blade Runner” and “Alien” (can you tell I’m a sci-fi fan?) to be both a source of inspiration and knowledge for my work as a writer/director for the internet drama series I also co-produce, “Star Trek: Unity”. Of course, I think Sir Ridley Scott’s presentation would be of great interest to anyone who wishes to learn more about how he approaches directing the films he’s made, if not the creative process of bringing a story to life.

The interview is split into four parts, all of which I’ve embedded into this entry for easy viewing.

NOTE: The interview features some coarse language during the course of the conversation. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

BSG “Someone To Watch Over Me” – A Return to the Well Executed and Balanced Meal

In my earlier BSG post “Four More Days Until It’s ‘Frakkin’ Friday’ “, I described how one could approach the series as a whole much in the same way as one would a five course meal, with each season playing a specific part in the overall effect of both the meal and its presentation. With most of the episodes in this final chapter of the series now past us, it’s becoming clear that this analogy can also be focused onto this handful of episodes given the variety in character and plot arcs that were dealt with, if not also the manner of their presentation. For example, despite the prevailing disapproval among the BSG audience for “A Disquiet That Follows My Soul”, when viewed in such a context, the episode comes across much like a palate cleanser, something that was meant to wipe away the savoury tastes and textures of episodes past so that we could be prepared for the more elaborate and vibrant dishes to come in the episodes “The Oath” and “Blood on the Scales”. Watching last night’s “Someone To Watch Over Me” evokes the same idea, with its role being to remove the flat and unsatisfying impressions held over from the previous two offerings in this series countdown to what will hopefully be a decadent delight.

Continuing on using this analogy, it’s not uncommon for certain ingredients to be carried over from one dish to another in the meal plan and in some ways that’s what occurred at the start of this episode with the focus being on picking up on where we left the relationship between Boomer and Tyrol. Coming on the heels of last week’s focus on the love triangle between Tigh, Ellen and Caprica Six, it’s obvious that we’re once again revisiting the idea of viewing these characters through the initial lens of being humans – and not Cylons – and what their ability to love and feel pain and hurt means in regards to the distinction between the realities of being human or Cylon. And yet, the history that the audience has shared with Boomer and Tyrol makes their story Click to continue reading the rest of this entry