Star Trek: Once Upon a Planet

My friends and I are embarking on a new journey to watch all 22 episodes of Star Trek's animated series.  We'll be posting on Wednesdays.  All are welcome to join us for all or parts of our adventure. 

Episode: "Once Upon a Planet"
Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series

Season 1, Episode 9

Original Air Date: November 3, 1973

via Memory Beta

"Once Upon a Planet" is a sequel to the TOS episode "Shore Leave."   The Enterprise crew returns to their favorite vacation spot where a mind-reading computer generates fantasy tales for its visitors.  All innocent fun, or so they thought.  Alice and the White Rabbit are harmless enough but when the Queen of Hearts and her minions attack Dr. McCoy, the dream turns to nightmare. 

When our friends last visited, a being known as The Keeper oversaw the planet but he has since died, leaving the Master Computer (voiced by James Doohan) in charge.  The MC is tired of sitting around and amusing others.  It wants to get out and see the universe, intending to hijack the Enterprise for this purpose.

The fun of the TOS episode was the mystery of the origin of all the fantastical beings.  This later story goes a bit further down the philosophical query path: where is the relationship between human and machine heading?  Which is master, which servant?  If we are to endow machines with intelligence, what are our responsibilities to them?  To what rights and liberties are they entitled?  How can we convince them not to enslave us all?

Apparently we just need to convince them they already live in the perfect vacation spot.

If you would care to join us for all or part of our travels, sign on to the list below.  Please visit the other participants.  Next week: "Mudd's Passion."

 

On the Road: Arlington National Cemetery

This past week, our daughter and I made our annual April visit to see my parents in Washington, DC.  The Purple Penguin is generally content to hang out with Grandma on her own which means I usually have an opportunity for my own adventures in town.  Despite growing up in the area, there was one major Washington sight I'd never gotten around to visiting: Arlington National Cemetery.  On Monday morning, I set off to rectify that.

Arlington National Cemetery is the most famous military cemetery in the United States.  Contained on the grounds are the remains of two Presidents, 367 Medal of Honor winners and surely thousands of others.  More come in nearly every day, as I was reminded by the white hearse that was leaving as I arrived.  The beautiful grounds are built upon the hill of an estate formerly owned by the legendary Confederate general, Robert E. Lee.  One can hardly help feeling moved walking amidst the endless sea of gravestones remembering those who have served, officers laid to rest alongside enlisted from the Civil War to the present.

Anyone living under the illusion that we live in a classless society would quickly be convinced otherwise at Arlington.  As one moves uphill, the markers get bigger and the ranks more impressive.  One sees a lot more generals and admirals near the top.  Even those with less distinguished military careers gained esteem as senators or captains of industry.  On the other hand, the cemetery's most revered memorial contains the remains of three soldiers who were never identified:

It was a beautiful, though warm day so I wasn't too keen to hunt down grave markers.  However, I did make a point of finding one:

Marshall never served in the military but certainly deserves his place for his extraordinary civilian service to the country.

The gravestones of Medal of Honor winners are marked, though I only saw one:

Click here to learn more about Staff Sergeant Windrich, including his award citation.

I am glad to have visited Arlington and recommend it to anyone with time and good weather in the Washington area.  The sun was certainly nice but I could have done with a cooler day.  In the visitor's center, there were some nice wintery pictures of the grounds, suggesting it might be meaningful to go again at a different time of year.

On the Coffee Table: Flambé

Title: Chew, Volume Four: Flambé
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Rob Guillory

via Amazon

The excellent comic book series Chew continues with Flambé, collecting issues #16-20.  Strange writing appeared in the sky at the end of Volume Three and much of Four is devoted to unraveling that mystery.  Public reactions to the writing range from panicked lawlessness to religious fervor.  The stories continually push the edge on the disgusting but while I'm not as impressed as I was in the beginning, I'm still enjoying the series.  Layman has quite a knack for strong cliffhangers and the end of Flambé is no exception.

Half the fun of Chew is the food powers some of the characters possess and Flambé introduces a couple of new ones.  Daniel Migdalo, a former FDA agent, is a Voresoph meaning he becomes smarter the more he eats.  New character Peter Pilaf has an unnamed power which allows him to control people with food.  There's also The Vampire lurking around the periphery.  I've rather had enough of vampires in pop culture but given the overarching food theme of Chew, I suppose it's appropriate.

On the Coffee Table: Manuel Vázquez Montálban

Title: Off Side: A Pepe Carvalho Investigation
Author: Manuel Vázquez Montálban

via Amazon

Off Side is one of a series of novels the Spanish author Montálban wrote about Barcelona-based detective Pepe Carvalho.  In this story, a newly signed center forward at FC Barcelona is receiving poetic death threats.  The book was published in 1989 and reflects a time of profound transition for the city, spurred by preparations to host the 1992 Olympics.  The story also provides an intriguing view of the soccer world's underbelly.

The book's language is frequently delightful, even in translation (courtesy of Ed Emery).  A couple of my favorite passages:

As long as there are young prostitutes, there will also be contemporary art, he thought, and this thought proved to him that he had reached the desired level of alcoholic surrealism.

 and

She was about forty-nine, but looked fifty. Carvalho had often observed that people who looked a year older than they really were were very bitter people.

However, it's less than satisfying as a mystery novel.  The reader knows everything while the detective (slight spoiler) never manages to piece much together at all (end of spoiler).  Carvalho's an endearing character, though - a bit cranky, pedantic about the things that are important to him and indifferent to the things that aren't.  He's passionate about food and its proper preparation.  Apparently, other books in the series focus more on the culinary world.

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: May 2015 Blog List

 

Greetings to all!  I hope you'll join us for the next installment of the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, an online gathering of bloggers who love books.  The next meeting is set for Friday, May 29th.  If you're interested, please sign on to the link list at the end of this post.

The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Please join us:

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: April 2015

Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the tomes they enjoyed most over the previous month.  Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.  If you wish to add your own review to the conversation, please sign on to the link list at the end of my post.

Title: The Who, the What, and the When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History
Authors: Jenny Volvoski, Julia Rothman and Matt Lamothe

via Chronicle Books

Perhaps no one can claim to have achieved greatness without help from someone along the way.  The Who, the What, and the When celebrates the men, women and a dog behind some of history's legendary figures.  Each chapter is written by a different author and illustrated by a different artist.  Among the highlights for me:

• Lulu Peyraud, mentor of Alice Waters, chef and restauranteur
• Hiroshi Arakawa, coach of Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball legend
• Michel Siegel, father of Jerry Siegel, Superman's co-creator
• Jack Sendak, brother of Maurice Sendak, children's author extraordinaire
• Frank Wild, right-hand man of Ernest Shackleton, explorer
• Alma Reville, wife of Alfred Hitchcock, film director
• Ian Stewart, the Rolling Stones' sixth man

Some of the sidekick's featured are reasonably well-known: Anne Sullivan Macy, for instance, Helen Keller's miracle worker.  For many others, I didn't even know about the front (wo)man before.  With all of the artwork, it's an extremely pretty book.  It's not the sort that makes me want to run out and learn more about all these folks but it is an easy, enjoyable read.

Please join us and share your own review of your best read from the past month.  This month's link list is below.  I'll keep it open until the end of the day.  I'll post May's tomorrow.  Meetings are the last Friday of each month.  Next gathering is May 29th.

Star Trek: The Magicks of Megas-tu

My friends and I are embarking on a new journey to watch all 22 episodes of Star Trek's animated series.  We'll be posting on Wednesdays.  All are welcome to join us for all or parts of our adventure.

Episode: "The Magicks of Megas-tu"
Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 1, Episode 8
Original Air Date: October 27, 1973

via Memory Alpha

Once again, humanity is on trial.  It's one of the franchise's favorite storylines: beings from another world demand the Enterprise crew answer for the injustices perpetuated on Earth centuries before.  This time, our friends encounter Lucien, a not-so-thinly-veiled Lucifer.  The demon brings them down to the planet Megas-tu where the inhabitants hold them to account for the Salem Witch Trials. 

"The Magicks of Megas-tu" was originally pitched for TOS but was rejected.  The episode generally fares very well with critics for its dazzling visuals and the morality play.  I don't think I'd rank it among my favorites so far but I enjoyed it.

*****

In the original story concept, our friends were supposed to meet God rather than Satan.  For whatever reason, the latter was an easier sell to network executives.  Interestingly, Larry Brody, the episode's writer, had been faced with a similar situation while working on the show Police Story.  NBC was alright with the depiction of sex between a man and his mistress but NOT between a man and his wife. 

Lucien was voiced by James Doohan.

If you would care to join us for all or part of our travels, sign on to the list below.  Please visit the other participants.  Next week: "Once Upon a Planet."

Family Movie Night: Rififi

Title: Rififi
Director: Jules Dassin
Original Release: 1955
Choice: My Wife's
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Rififi was American director Jules Dassin's first film in five years after being blacklisted in Hollywood.  Based on Auguste Le Breton's novel Du rififi chez les hommes, the movie tells the story of a beautifully executed jewelry heist that unravels disastrously afterwards.  The robbery itself has inspired several copycat crimes in the real world since.

Parts of the story are riveting: the heist, of course, and also the final act involving the abduction of a child.  The character development that fills the rest of the time is less compelling.  The men are all rotten.  The women are all blameless and treated horribly.  Black-and-white footage of 1950s Paris is quite satisfying.

Star Trek: The Infinite Vulcan

My friends and I are embarking on a new journey to watch all 22 episodes of Star Trek's animated series.  We'll be posting on Wednesdays.  All are welcome to join us for all or parts of our adventure.

Episode: "The Infinite Vulcan"
Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 1, Episode 7
Original Air Date: October 20, 1973

via Memory Alpha

While Chekov was cut out of TAS for budget reasons, Walter Koenig, the actor who played the character, did write one TAS episode.  In "The Infinite Vulcan," our friends discover the planet Phylos where the intelligent life is vegetable rather than animal.  Also living on this strange world is Keniclius Five, a giant clone - apparently fourth in a line of clones - of a scientist from Earth's Eugenics War.  The Phylosians and Keni 5 abduct Spock with the intention of cloning him, too.  K5 needs a Spock 2 to help enforce peace throughout the galaxy.  The only problem is that the original Spock will not survive the cloning process.

I wasn't overly impressed by this episode but I love the idea of intelligent plant life.  Koenig actually fought hard against that concept through several re-writes.  The smart veggies were Roddenberry's inspiration and the producer ultimately got what he wanted.  One humorous wrinkle: K5's face is modeled after Koenig's own.  So Chekov made it onto the show after all.

*****

via Memory Alpha

Agmar is our heroes' primary contact among the Phylosians.  He introduces himself by saving Sulu's life, a strong play in the first impressions game.  Naturally, Agmar is voiced by James Doohan.

If you would care to join us for all or part of our travels, sign on to the list below.  Please visit the other participants.  Next week: "The Magicks of Megas-tu."

From the Queue: Waltz with Bashir

Title: Waltz with Bashir
Director: Ari Folman
Original Release: 2008
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

This weekend's Family Movie Night movie is one I'll be using for the next Mock Squid Soup gathering so I'll hold off on that review for now.  My Wife and I did watch another film on our own: Waltz with Bashir, an animated work from Israel.  The film is a quasi-documentary based on the director's experiences in the 1982 Lebanon War.  Or rather, it's based on his efforts to piece together his own memories of the war.  He visits comrades and other war veterans to help fill in the gaps.

The story is brutal.  As one might expect, the horrors Folman had forgotten are considerable.  I probably would have done my best to block them out, too.  The artwork is highly inventive - it looks like rotoscoping but is actually a combination of Adobe Flash cutouts and good old fashioned cel animation.  Folman claims Joe Sacco and Otto Dix as influences and I sense Frank Miller, too.  The film was adapted into a graphic novel. 

I was impressed by the film but I wouldn't watch it again.  Too heavy.

Mock Squid Soup: May Blog List

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to present Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society!

This month, everyone gets to throw a movie of their own choice into the pot.  Here's the wrinkle for May, a fabulous idea from Mock:  the week before our gathering, a trivia challenge on Friday, May 1st!  Everyone is invited to post three clues about his/her movie for others to guess.  Our next regular meeting is Friday, May 8th.   No need to sign up twice.  I'll use the same link list for both.  If you are interested in joining us, please sign on to the list below.

Mock Squid Soup: Three Days of the Condor

MOCK! and The Armchair Squid are proud to welcome you to Mock Squid Soup: A Film Society, meetings on the second Friday of each month. This month, each of us is choosing another society member's March movie to review.  Here is last month's list:

Horns - Cherdo
Death to Smoochy - Toi Thomas
Strangers on a Train - Brigit
The Dish - angryparsnip
Superman Returns - Tony Laplume
Three Days of the Condor - MOCK!
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - The Squid

And here is my review:

Title: Three Days of the Condor
Director: Sydney Pollack
Original Release: 1975
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Amazon

Paranoia was normal in the post-Watergate world.  Ordinary people in an ordinary neighborhood getting up to all manner of CIA-connected hijinx right under our noses?  Easy sell.  Three Days of the Condor tells the tale of Joe Turner (Robert Redford), a CIA analyst who comes back from lunch to find his entire office dead on the floor.  He spends the rest of the film trying to unravel the mystery of why people are out to kill him.  Along the way, he abducts innocent bystander Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway, contractually obligated to appear in every movie of the early-to-mid '70s) and coerces her into aiding him.  Of course, Turner is Redford-handsome so she falls in love with him. 

The movie's fun, set in New York and the DC area, realms most familiar to me.  Rotary telephones and enormous computers abound, leading one to wonder what a 21st century update might look like (a TV series is in the works).  Inaccuracies regarding area codes bothered me a little - only DC is 202, whereas Chevy Chase, Maryland would have been 301 in 1975.  Langley, Virginia would have been 703.  The movie would have one believe it was all covered by 202.  Then again, any movie that allows me to be geeky about area codes is already winning.  It's not the sort of film I want to comb over again for the subtle details but I enjoyed it.

Next month, everyone gets to throw a movie of their own choice into the pot.  Here's the wrinkle for May, a fabulous idea from Mock:  the week before our gathering, a trivia challenge on Friday, May 1st!  Everyone is invited to post three clues about his/her movie for others to guess.  Our next regular meeting is Friday, May 8th.  I'll post the sign up list tomorrow.  In the meantime, please visit this month's participants:

Star Trek: The Survivor

My friends and I are embarking on a new journey to watch all 22 episodes of Star Trek's animated series.  We'll be posting on Wednesdays.  All are welcome to join us for all or parts of our adventure.  

Episode: "The Survivor"
Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 1, Episode 6
Original Air Date: October 13, 1973

via Wikipedia

Shapeshifters are a big deal in Star Trek.  The very first episode of the original series (TOS) to air, "The Man Trap," was a shapeshifter story.  27 years later, the Changeling Constable Odo would be a principal character on Deep Space Nine.  "The Survivor" resides comfortably in that tradition.

When our friends rescue the pilot of a damaged spacecraft, they believe him to be Carter Winston, a well-known and long-lost human philanthropist.  But naturally, he's actually a shapeshifting Vendorian bent on mischief.  He takes the captain's form, then orders the ship into the neutral zone.

This is one of the better episodes so far, reminiscent of typical stories from TOS.  The Vendorian (rather squid-like) is voiced by Ted Knight of Mary Tyler Moore Show (MTM) and Too Close for Comfort fame.  I always smile inside when MTM alums turn up in other things.  Knight had quite an active voice-over career in the 1970s, also performing on The Super-Friends among other shows.  His voice is close to Shatner's, in fact - a drawback for some critics of this episode but I think it's fine.

*****

via Memory Alpha

M'Ress, one of TAS's recurring characters, first appears in "The Survivor."  She is a Caitan, a felinoid race.  The only other appearance of her kind in Trek lore is in a courtroom scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  While she never appears in any of the other TV series, M'Ress does turn up in various books and comics.  In TAS, she is voiced by Majel Barrett.

If you would care to join us for all or part of our travels, please add your link to the list below.  In the meantime, please visit the others who are participating.  Next week: "The Infinite Vulcan."

Family Movie Night: Jesus Christ Superstar

Title: Jesus Christ Superstar
Director: Norman Jewison
Original Release: 1973
Choice: Purple Penguin's
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

A rock opera based on the last week of Jesus's life, Jesus Christ Superstar focuses on the interpersonal relationships between Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdaline.  Copious amounts of ink, bile and blood have been spilled over considerations of the humanity vs. divinity of Jesus.  The topic is certainly well above my own pay grade so I won't enter into it here.  I'll focus instead on the artistic side.

Initially, Jesus Christ Superstar (JCS) was just a record album.  Remember those?  The 1970 album's success led to the stage followed by the inevitable movie released in '73.  JCS is, in fact, my favorite production from musical theater's all-conquering tandem of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.  It is a demanding show to perform.  Quintuple and septuple meters predominate.  Male vocal ranges tend to extremes from the screaming Jesus and Judas to the rock-bottom bass of Caiaphas.  The rather minimalist film was shot on location in Israel with many of the performers from the traveling Broadway cast.  Interestingly, both Ted Neeley (Jesus) and Carl Anderson (Judas) had originally been understudies.  Modern elements - clothing, a tour bus, army tanks, not to mention the rock opera music and dance stylings - are applied liberally.

While we are not a religious family, listening to JCS during Holy Week is a long-standing tradition at our house.  As such, our daughter is well-acquainted with the show.  We finally saw it on stage this past fall at the high school in the town where I work.  It was a daring choice for a public high school for both political and artistic reasons but they pulled it off beautifully, even finding a boy to sing the Caiaphas part.  Today, watching the movie was a fine way to celebrate Easter morning.

I am sure the religious elements bother a lot of people but I love JCS.  The story can drag a bit between the big musical numbers but overall, it's a highly enjoyable film.

On the Coffee Table: Rock Jaw

Title: Bone, Volume 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border
Writer and Artist: Jeff Smith

via Wikipedia

I have written about this wonderful series previously both here and here.

The story picks up with Fone and Smiley Bone venturing off to return their new friend, an orphaned baby rat creature, to the wild.  The critter has a name now: Bartleby, one of the frequent homages to Melville in Bone.  Rock Jaw is the mountain lion whose territory they must traverse.

Bone makes excellent use of the serialized narrative format, always leaving the reader curious about unanswered questions.  Recently, Drama Guy and I have been talking about cliffhangers in regards to The Walking Dead - he knows the TV show, I know the comic books.  He doesn't like the cliffhangers.  It occurs to me that most television programs don't make much use of serialization.  Most episodes are one-shot deals.  There are exceptions, of course.  The Battlestar Galactica reboot was serialized, as are daytime soaps.  For comic books, I'm okay with an issue being a complete, independent story but I still want to be left curious about the next issue.  Otherwise, why bother reading it?

One of the best ways Bone keeps the reader going from one issue to the next is the presence of morally ambiguous characters.  Both Bartleby and Rock Jaw are wonderfully nuanced.  One knows intuitively they have roles to play in the tale to come, but how?

On the Coffee Table: Mimi Pond

Title: Over Easy
Writer and Artist: Mimi Pond

via Drawn & Quarterly

Over Easy is the author's graphic novel memoir of her time as an art school dropout in Oakland, California in the late 1970s.  One day, while running out of life options, she stumbled upon a diner.  Charmed by Lazlo, the quirky proprietor, and a surprisingly good omelette, she took a job, first as a dishwasher, then a waitress.  The colorful cast of staff and customers became her world.  With a simple, comic strip style, Pond provides an intimate view of early adulthood.

I've never been an art student or worked in a restaurant but sympathy for the protagonist came easy.  My early 20s were a lot of fun.  But they were also often lonely, frustrating, tedious and uncertain.  Going from student life to real life is, for many people, a greater shock to the system than they expect.  Over Easy captured all of that beautifully.  The material is frank, not shying away from sex or drug use.  It's a lot of fun to read from an adult perspective but I think it could also be meaningful for a late high school student pondering the future.

Star Trek: More Tribbles, More Troubles

My friends and I are embarking on a new journey to watch all 22 episodes of Star Trek's animated series.  We'll be posting on Wednesdays.  All are welcome to join us for all or parts of our adventure. 

Episode: "More Tribbles, More Troubles"
Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series
Season 1, Episode 5
Original Air Date: October 7, 1973

via Memory Alpha

"More Tribbles, More Troubles" was initially submitted as a TOS episode as a sequel to one of the franchise's most famous stories: "The Trouble with Tribbles."  On a mission to escort grain cargo ships, the Enterprise runs into a Klingon battlecruiser.  The Klingons, in turn, are in pursuit of an old friend of our heroes: Cyrano Jones.  Jones deals in tribbles, an adorable and dangerously fertile critter.  Just as in the earlier story, Kirk and company must juggle delicate diplomacy with pest control.

*****

via Memory Alpha

Stanley Adams voiced Cyrano Jones, reprising the role he had performed in the prior episode.  Adams was born April 7, 1915 in New York City.  He made his first film appearance as the bartender in 1952's Death of a Salesman.  He played Rusty Trawler in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Most of Adams's work was in television, making guest appearances on many of the most enduring shows of the 1960s: The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, The Addams Family and The Dick Van Dyke Show among others.  In addition to his acting appearances on Trek, he wrote a TOS episode: "The Mark of Gideon."

Adams died in 1977 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

If you would care to join us for all or part of our travels, please add your link to the list below.  In the meantime, please visit the others who are participating.  Next week: "The Survivor."