Pon Farr in the Park
Yesterday, Mr. Daroga, tkp and myself drove down to Portland to see Trek in the Park, a free, live-action rendition of the episode "Amok Time." Yes, with the "Vulcan biology" and the sexy fighting.
The play was a lot of fun, and there were tons of people. We were late, and only secured a seat through the generosity of a man whose friend didn't arrive. He'd never seen an episode, so we tried to explain to him what we love about the show without sounding rabid or anything. I'm not sure how well we, or the play, succeeded but he was really nice.
Most of the joy of the production came from everyone's knowledge of the source material. Stripped of the background and acting of the actual show's leads, the dialogue comes off rather ridiculous. If you're not a fan, maybe it does anyway, but somehow Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley are always able to make things sound far more reasonable than they are. Maybe because they've made those characters real people. None of the actors yesterday impersonated those original actors' quirks, but most of them lacked that "real person" sense. Kirk was far too passive, though Spock did a better job of imbuing his performance with some sensitivity and edge. Mostly, though, it was campy fun. There was a soprano delivering the theme song, sound effects, and Kirk's uniform was strategically pre-ripped. It wasn't great theater, but it was good fun, and I'm glad we went. We spent the drive home speculating about how we'd do our own production in Seattle, with me as Kirk, Mr. Daroga as Spock, and tkp as McCoy.
So as not to say we'd driven all the way down there just for that, we spent the day in Portland, visiting the legendary Powell's--best bookstore in the world--and seeing other sights. I didn't get photographs of everything, but here's a sample.
In Grant Park, where Beverly Cleary's characters lived, there's a sculpture garden which displays Henry, Ramona and Ribsy.
Then we played on the swings...
...and drove out towards Multnomah Falls. (I don't know what this particular waterfall is called, actually.)
We found a rock and I made Mr. Daroga do this:
Some of you might get it.
Then he found a cave and we took these pictures:
(That's me and tkp. Wow, I'm short!)
I love WPA (or CCC, I didn't see a sign or anything, I'm just assuming) stuff.
Sorry these photos aren't great. They're more snapshots, really, since I couldn't move around at all, and the lighting is obviously weird.
It opened with the theme song, complete with soprano:
Kirk's crossing his legs. Spock's being stoic. Sulu's doing something. All is well.
A shot of Uhura, and some guy's head.
Yeah, T'Pau!
The blood fever is upon him.
Aw, he's killed his captain and his friend.
(By the way, it was weird, but when T'Pau told him to "live long as prosper" and he said "I shall do neither" the whole crowd laughed. I didn't really get it.)
An emotional display! Entirely logical
The play was a lot of fun, and there were tons of people. We were late, and only secured a seat through the generosity of a man whose friend didn't arrive. He'd never seen an episode, so we tried to explain to him what we love about the show without sounding rabid or anything. I'm not sure how well we, or the play, succeeded but he was really nice.
Most of the joy of the production came from everyone's knowledge of the source material. Stripped of the background and acting of the actual show's leads, the dialogue comes off rather ridiculous. If you're not a fan, maybe it does anyway, but somehow Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley are always able to make things sound far more reasonable than they are. Maybe because they've made those characters real people. None of the actors yesterday impersonated those original actors' quirks, but most of them lacked that "real person" sense. Kirk was far too passive, though Spock did a better job of imbuing his performance with some sensitivity and edge. Mostly, though, it was campy fun. There was a soprano delivering the theme song, sound effects, and Kirk's uniform was strategically pre-ripped. It wasn't great theater, but it was good fun, and I'm glad we went. We spent the drive home speculating about how we'd do our own production in Seattle, with me as Kirk, Mr. Daroga as Spock, and tkp as McCoy.
So as not to say we'd driven all the way down there just for that, we spent the day in Portland, visiting the legendary Powell's--best bookstore in the world--and seeing other sights. I didn't get photographs of everything, but here's a sample.
In Grant Park, where Beverly Cleary's characters lived, there's a sculpture garden which displays Henry, Ramona and Ribsy.
Then we played on the swings...
...and drove out towards Multnomah Falls. (I don't know what this particular waterfall is called, actually.)
We found a rock and I made Mr. Daroga do this:
Some of you might get it.
Then he found a cave and we took these pictures:
(That's me and tkp. Wow, I'm short!)
I love WPA (or CCC, I didn't see a sign or anything, I'm just assuming) stuff.
Sorry these photos aren't great. They're more snapshots, really, since I couldn't move around at all, and the lighting is obviously weird.
It opened with the theme song, complete with soprano:
Kirk's crossing his legs. Spock's being stoic. Sulu's doing something. All is well.
A shot of Uhura, and some guy's head.
Yeah, T'Pau!
The blood fever is upon him.
Aw, he's killed his captain and his friend.
(By the way, it was weird, but when T'Pau told him to "live long as prosper" and he said "I shall do neither" the whole crowd laughed. I didn't really get it.)
An emotional display! Entirely logical