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

Disunity, Part 2 – Mission Accomplished

I’ve mentioned here on my blog how the last couple of months has seen my free-time being more and more consumed with completing work on the “Disunity, Part 2” episode and consequently, having the time to write and post new entries here has suffered. Fortunately, that situation has now been rectified with the release of “Disunity, Part 2” on Christmas Day and with the episode now out for public consumption, I think you can understand why I prioritized work on the episode at the expense of keeping this blog up to date.

Granted, it was never my intention to put writing for my blog on hold in favour of completing post-production work on this episode. But unfortunately, production on this episode simply took far longer than it should have Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

Majel Barrett Roddenberry – A Truly Classy Lady Has Moved On

In my inbox this evening, I got an email stating that Majel Barrett Roddenberry, best known for her roles on Star Trek as “Nurse Chapel”, “Lwaxana Troi” and even the voice of the Enterprise computer, if not also as the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, had passed away.  Naturally, my first reaction was of sadness upon hearing the news. But it also reminded me of my memories of meeting her and of something that came out of that encounter. It’s a wonderful memory and upon hearing news like this, I can’t think of a better time to share it. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

JJ Abrams’ Trek XI Flick – It’s Not Your Daddy’s “Wagon Train to The Stars”

The sci-fi community was a-buzzing this week after Paramount finally lifted the veil of secrecy on what JJ Abrams’ take on “Star Trek” will look like with the release of several stills from the upcoming movie. And while there were some real surprises in the mix, what I ended up finding more interesting was what this sudden reveal tells us about Abrams’ film and Paramount’s apparent new viewpoint on their prized Trek franchise.

For those of you who have already seen the pictures, I’m sure you’ve had your share of other peoples’ descriptions of what minutiae can be dissected from these images, so don’t worry this won’t be more of that. Besides, in all honesty, I don’t spend my time over-analyzing stills looking for some hidden secret just as how I don’t look for images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in oil stains. In other words, I do have a life, thank you very much. All I will say is that looking at this shot featured above of the new Enterprise bridge, I can’t help but wonder if the production designer got some sort of discount deal with a light bulb manufacturer as there are a LOT of lights in that layout, some of which make no sense at all – those halogen-spotlight circle lights running along the top of the stations are a good example. Oh, I’m sure this design has got the geek “SO Cool!!!!” vote sewn up, but from my viewpoint, it just seems a tad too cluttered. Put it to you this way, would you buy an iPhone or other electronic device if it had that many bells and whistles decorating its housing? It’s clear as technology gets more advanced, we’re moving toward not only smaller devices, but also simpler interfaces, something this image doesn’t quite bring to mind. In any case, now that I got that out of the way, let me get to the point that is surprisingly being overlooked surrounding the release of these various images. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

I’ll Be Right Back . . . After This Musical Interlude

As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been writing much in my blog here lately and I fault that on the fact that I’ve been busy writing in another medium – music. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I’m directing/producing my second episode for the amateur-based science-fiction series “Star Trek: Unity”. Production on the latest episode, “Disunity, Part 2” wrapped up at the end of August and much of my off-hours time has been spent knee deep in post-production work. While I learned the ropes of post-production working on “Disunity”, this time round I’ve added another new challenge to the mix – instead of utilizing cinematic scores written for other works, I plan on using music written specifically for this episode. Of course, the twist to this new approach is that I’m taking on the role of the composer who’ll create these original music compositions. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry

Landing A Parsec Award Nomination – It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This

As some of you may have noted from my list of other blogs I write, in addition to blogging I also work on the creation of an original, dramatic series called “Star Trek: Unity”. At the beginning of this month, I was informed about a major achievement for this production, something that we’ve now been able to share with the public. Our first audio dramatic presentation “Disunity”, which I directed, co-wrote and even acted a few roles in, has landed one of the five coveted nomination spots for the 2008 Parsec Award for “Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama – Short Form”. On our project’s website and blog, we’ve made this news public along with our obvious pride and elation at landing this honour. But I wanted to use this outlet to speak about this accomplishment on a more personal level.

But before I do that, let me provide some background for those of you who are not familiar with this dramatic series. “Star Trek: Unity” is an amateur series production set in the time period between the TV series “Star Trek: Enterprise” and “Star Trek”, the Original Series. Our series will be a full CGI animation series, but for now, we’re releasing a set of audio-only episodes that serve as a prequel to our animation series, to help introduce and establish our original characters and some future story plot lines. Our premiere episode, “Disunity”, which was released last December, is a mystery story that centers around a terrorist attack on a Federation construction yard. The episode was written as an allegory to our ongoing conflicts with those who use acts of terrorism for political/social gain, with certain character actions mirroring the posturing of some world leaders on this issue as well as the fallout that events like 9/11 have had on our collective society. Although the main cast consists of amateur actors, we have been fortunate to land the talents of professional actor Kurt Carley, who quite effectively breathes life into the part of the leader of the terrorist organization. Click to continue reading the rest of this entry