Fewer Gods, more Men, and Some Baaaad Writers
All right, so "Of Gods and Men" was not God's gift to Star Trek. It was still pretty good for a fan-made flick written by some talented teenagers. (If they're not teenagers, they sure write like them! That last scene was painful, man. Every hollowed cliche that has ever ended a good Star Trek episode, strung together like pop beads in a chain of one liners. They are not funny the second time around. It's questionable if they were even funny the first time around. Does anyone actually remember that Stonn was married? I guess even he didn't want the b!#$&.)
The funny thing about Captain Harriman, whom we see a lot more of in this movie, is that he doesn't make any better of an impression the second time around. He strikes me as kind of the Wesley Wyndham-Price of Star Trek: someone who got his current position based on connections and background, despite being totally unqualified for the job. At least Wesley thinks he's qualified to be a Watcher. But Harriman just bumbles around with this mild-as-milk personality, even when he's supposed to be this fiendish Imperial menace. He reminds me of nothing so much as a giant galactic English teacher (one of the plain ones in plaid sweater vests, not to be confused with D'ag or Jordan or Dale or the nefarious Mrs. Kelly). He gives orders. Generally, they're obeyed. If not, there is lots of shouting. Shouting generates results. But I can't imagine any of his crew, including Martick-tock the cartoon Klingon, horny green Chase Masterson, or Harry Kim who spends the whole flick picking his nails with a big wooden toy knife, being genuinely afraid of the man. He just doesn't have the personality. I can't see anyone following him into battle in either universe. Why is this flim-flam the captain of the Enterprise? Where are the likes of Rachel Garrett?
I am most of the way through the Audio version of Sarek, and I have to say, the infinite number of monkeys working on Hamlet had better come over and reclaim their wayward brother. "Abridged version," my fanny, the cover should have said "chainsawed version." It wasn't abridged so much as rewritten completely. Almost all of the dialogue was redone, and badly, too. All nuances, all cultural touches, are all obliterated. Keraz gets scalped, Savel gets cut completely, and proud warrior woman Valdyr is slashed down until she sounds like Princess Jasmine. Awww look, Klingons are so mean to their women, what she really needs is a sensitive human guy to teach her about kissing and she'll be all right. It hurts, preciousssss, it burns our ears. I'm rereading the print version now, and you know, they did cut a lot that should have been cut. But they did so much more damage than they had to. This should have been 4.5 hours long, not 3, for a read version of the book. Mark Lenard was fantabulous, as always, but part of me wants my seven bucks back.
The funny thing about Captain Harriman, whom we see a lot more of in this movie, is that he doesn't make any better of an impression the second time around. He strikes me as kind of the Wesley Wyndham-Price of Star Trek: someone who got his current position based on connections and background, despite being totally unqualified for the job. At least Wesley thinks he's qualified to be a Watcher. But Harriman just bumbles around with this mild-as-milk personality, even when he's supposed to be this fiendish Imperial menace. He reminds me of nothing so much as a giant galactic English teacher (one of the plain ones in plaid sweater vests, not to be confused with D'ag or Jordan or Dale or the nefarious Mrs. Kelly). He gives orders. Generally, they're obeyed. If not, there is lots of shouting. Shouting generates results. But I can't imagine any of his crew, including Martick-tock the cartoon Klingon, horny green Chase Masterson, or Harry Kim who spends the whole flick picking his nails with a big wooden toy knife, being genuinely afraid of the man. He just doesn't have the personality. I can't see anyone following him into battle in either universe. Why is this flim-flam the captain of the Enterprise? Where are the likes of Rachel Garrett?
I am most of the way through the Audio version of Sarek, and I have to say, the infinite number of monkeys working on Hamlet had better come over and reclaim their wayward brother. "Abridged version," my fanny, the cover should have said "chainsawed version." It wasn't abridged so much as rewritten completely. Almost all of the dialogue was redone, and badly, too. All nuances, all cultural touches, are all obliterated. Keraz gets scalped, Savel gets cut completely, and proud warrior woman Valdyr is slashed down until she sounds like Princess Jasmine. Awww look, Klingons are so mean to their women, what she really needs is a sensitive human guy to teach her about kissing and she'll be all right. It hurts, preciousssss, it burns our ears. I'm rereading the print version now, and you know, they did cut a lot that should have been cut. But they did so much more damage than they had to. This should have been 4.5 hours long, not 3, for a read version of the book. Mark Lenard was fantabulous, as always, but part of me wants my seven bucks back.