tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post8571070015412773391..comments2024-03-27T19:03:23.094-04:00Comments on The Armchair Squid: Squid Flicks: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered CountryThe Armchair Squidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-20158104852171359202021-11-14T19:31:18.637-05:002021-11-14T19:31:18.637-05:00Got it.Got it.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-14820213220230031182021-11-13T09:11:16.013-05:002021-11-13T09:11:16.013-05:00I see what you mean.I see what you mean.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-44033166015672970012021-11-08T14:16:24.302-05:002021-11-08T14:16:24.302-05:00Hope I got my numbering right. I envisioned stopp...Hope I got my numbering right. I envisioned stopping right after the whales. Leave the adventures of the NCC-1701-A to the imagination. :-)Cygnushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10394890573443379954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-50617819424694205972021-11-08T06:15:56.815-05:002021-11-08T06:15:56.815-05:00I am glad for the rebound. Final Frontier would h...I am glad for the rebound. Final Frontier would have been quite a sour note to finish.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-35609711258857618962021-11-07T16:44:09.247-05:002021-11-07T16:44:09.247-05:00What I’m talking about is having a black friend wh...What I’m talking about is having a black friend who shares things on Facebook like “the real origin of the term monkey wrench” because they grew up with history books written by black people for black people that perpetuate a known lie, and telling them that it’s a lie, and they refuse to believe it because that’s what they grew up with. This is what I’m talking about. A whole alternate history. Stuff you wouldn’t even begin to guess about until you randomly learn it exists as “ truth” for someone else. Everyone has examples of things they learn differently. For some it’s denying what others know is true (the Holocaust), for others it’s knowing what others perpetuate as truth (as a Catholic, it’s interesting to revisit vast tracks of history). Anyway.Tony Laplumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-7081077123639858042021-11-06T18:48:04.647-04:002021-11-06T18:48:04.647-04:00... So much to unpack here...
American racism run...... So much to unpack here...<br /><br />American racism runs a lot deeper than assumed separation. Black citizens face structures which prevent them from living on equal terms with white citizens, no matter the economic and educational status they and their families may have achieved despite such obstacles. Resentment and protest are perfectly reasonable responses to the cultural realities. <br /><br />As to the movie, I'd say you have a good point in regards to the broader, Roddenberry vision: the good guys still had things to learn. Indeed, that was a crucial theme of "Errand of Mercy."The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-56402412183716835282021-11-06T18:37:15.738-04:002021-11-06T18:37:15.738-04:00Or at least bigger.Or at least bigger.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-63125544742219193742021-11-06T18:34:17.606-04:002021-11-06T18:34:17.606-04:00I've heard that criticism of some of the movie...I've heard that criticism of some of the movies. I like the ones that feel like episodes but I suppose I understand the objection. A movie should feel like something special.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-36759294369975145942021-10-31T12:29:09.675-04:002021-10-31T12:29:09.675-04:00I'm of two minds about this one. There are ma...I'm of two minds about this one. There are many little things in it I like... and I appreciate all they were doing with the end of the Cold War stuff... but I think in many ways it really <b><i>was</i></b> as goofy as IV and V. I don't think they quite knew how to put the goofiness genie back into the bottle at this point.<br /><br />With hindsight, I'm thinking they should've taken a break after IV and then gotten the gang back together for one last <i>Generations</i>-type handoff in the early 1990s.Cygnushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10394890573443379954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-53859607289069596632021-10-29T15:49:20.528-04:002021-10-29T15:49:20.528-04:00The sentence that ends after the parentheses witho...The sentence that ends after the parentheses without finishing itself probably finishes something like, “says a lot, too.” Anyway.Tony Laplumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-61285824816096798722021-10-29T15:47:45.858-04:002021-10-29T15:47:45.858-04:00I hope you can figure out where I should have edit...I hope you can figure out where I should have edited that. But hopefully still worth considering.Tony Laplumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-19687886015949136762021-10-29T15:45:09.569-04:002021-10-29T15:45:09.569-04:00Adding the racism to the conflict probably have it...Adding the racism to the conflict probably have it added depth. If it was two sets of humans patching things up, it would be one thing. But humans and Klingons were two different species. It was worth revisiting the second biggest social commentary of the original series, beyond the clash of competing cultures the Klingons represented. <br /><br />I didn’t know Nichols refused to say that line, and I won’t quibble about that, but her presence and the famous anecdote about MLK, Jr., and the first interracial kiss, all of that doesn’t get enough attention. Fans think more about the aliens with bodies half white and half black are the biggest legacy of Star Trek’s statement on the civil rights era, but Uhura herself was, and the fact that no episode or movie ever even mentioned it (Spock got more attention as Vulcan, and <i>did</i> face racism, even in his grudging friendship with Bones).<br /><br />In 1991 not only was the USSR closing shop but race relations in the US were heating up again. So this is a movie that’s pertinent to both, and probably more relevant now for the latter than the former. It’s actually gotten to the point where black people are voluntarily isolating their perspective from the mainstream one, which they assume is the exact opposite of theirs. There are two social narratives. The protests said nothing about this, but that’s what they were really about. And the problems our society faces will continue as long as we exist in a perpetual state of assumed separation. <br /><br />So having our good guys facing up to their end of a conflict with the other guys is a way of saying, it takes two. It takes both sides for there to be a problem. It’s a bold statement, especially for the last story featuring the original cast. It says the good guys still had things to learn. Gene’s vision always implied the good guys had it all figured it. It’s this last one that acknowledges the human adventure is, as always, just beginning. He said it himself with the first film. And somebody else said it with this last one.Tony Laplumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-43613994201110306372021-10-29T12:10:18.729-04:002021-10-29T12:10:18.729-04:00I remember liking this one but feeling like it was...I remember liking this one but feeling like it wasn't really movie level. I felt like I had watched an episode of the series, not gone to a bogger event. I don't know. Maybe that's praise? I haven't watched it since it came out. <br />Without re-watching, my rankings would be completely different, except maybe for this one. It might still get the #2 spot but, as a story, I've always felt the first movie was the best. It's philosophically Trek.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.com