Star Trek not-quite-a-rewatch
It was the 50th anniversary last week, which somehow crept up on me despite all the stuff over the last few months discussing it. Huh. A part of me is surprised it's the 50th already, another part thinks the sho should be older, but I think that's because Star Trek and Doctor Who are so tightly tied in my mind (my brain is a weird place) that I keep thinking "we already did this!" when it was Doctor Who we did three years ago.
My brain. So weird.
Anyway, in honour of the event, I rewatched "Where No Man Has Gone Before" on Thursday and "The Man Trap" yesterday. If this sounds like I might be starting a rewatch, I couldn't possibly comment...
Dad is visiting, so he and Mum were here to watch, too, which is was nice.
We all found it a little disconcerting to watch "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and have the Enterprise crew sort of there, but not quite right yet. No McKoy or Uhura. The uniforms from "The Cage". Spock still in the make-up from "The Cage", although now with the Vulcan logic being an important element to his character.
I surprised myself with how much I initially liked Gary Mitchell, and how intensely I disliked him by the end. But I think that's the point: power corrupts and twists people, even reasonably decent people like Mitchell. By comparison to a lot of modern sci-fi, it's slow and thoughtful, more interested in the moral dilemma of Mitchell's power and the philosophical implications than the crash-bang-wallop fighting. It fascinates me that this was the less cerebral option that finally sold the show!
The costumes were a bit drab, and it was hard to see the difference between the command and engineering/security specialties, so I don't miss those shirts. I did appreciate that all the women got trousers, though, and I wish they'd kept that aesthetic with the brighter colours. My feelings about Elizabeth Dehner are mixed. Her character should have been great, with her background, but it was like the writers didn't quite know what to do with her. She only really showed her strength towards the end, when she fought back against Mitchell. I guess we got spoiled with Number One :-(
As someone on another board said, the new film Carol Marcus looked a lot like her, and Into Darkness might have been a more interesting film if they'd done something with that. Argh.
I enjoyed the more than I expected to, but it was still a relief to watch "The Man Trap" and get my familiar flavour of Star Trek back. It was interesting, to me, that the first "proper" episode focused so heavily on a character other than Kirk and Spock. You'd think they would have waited a couple more episodes before doing that, but nope. Bones got to feature heavily and have a lot of his backstory established, while we've still only really got Kirk and Spock sketched in. As Bones is my favourite, I'm a-okay with that decision :-) Shatner seemed more comfortable in the role here and Nimoy's Spock is finally starting to behave like the Spock I know, so it's all quite lovely.
My feelings about Uhura are mixed. Obviously I adore her, and I loved seeing her do things that aren't just communication--she helps Sulu coordinate the search!--but there is such a heavy focus on her being lead by the potential for love and lust. That made me a little uncomfortable, because although I love Uhura's poetic side, I don't love the image of her being so easily led by a pretty face. Does that make any sense?
I was highly entertained by the fact that Sulu is, apparently, a master of everything. Mathematics (in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"), botany, navigation and helm...Sulu, you are the best person on the ship, aren't you? :-D
I'd promised myself I wouldn't do a TOS rewatch until I finished TNG and DS9. My discipline is weakening...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenay.dreamwidth.org/536464.html. There are currently
babbles on the entry on Dreamwidth. Leave comments at http://selenay.dreamwidth.org/536464.html?mode=reply
My brain. So weird.
Anyway, in honour of the event, I rewatched "Where No Man Has Gone Before" on Thursday and "The Man Trap" yesterday. If this sounds like I might be starting a rewatch, I couldn't possibly comment...
Dad is visiting, so he and Mum were here to watch, too, which is was nice.
We all found it a little disconcerting to watch "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and have the Enterprise crew sort of there, but not quite right yet. No McKoy or Uhura. The uniforms from "The Cage". Spock still in the make-up from "The Cage", although now with the Vulcan logic being an important element to his character.
I surprised myself with how much I initially liked Gary Mitchell, and how intensely I disliked him by the end. But I think that's the point: power corrupts and twists people, even reasonably decent people like Mitchell. By comparison to a lot of modern sci-fi, it's slow and thoughtful, more interested in the moral dilemma of Mitchell's power and the philosophical implications than the crash-bang-wallop fighting. It fascinates me that this was the less cerebral option that finally sold the show!
The costumes were a bit drab, and it was hard to see the difference between the command and engineering/security specialties, so I don't miss those shirts. I did appreciate that all the women got trousers, though, and I wish they'd kept that aesthetic with the brighter colours. My feelings about Elizabeth Dehner are mixed. Her character should have been great, with her background, but it was like the writers didn't quite know what to do with her. She only really showed her strength towards the end, when she fought back against Mitchell. I guess we got spoiled with Number One :-(
As someone on another board said, the new film Carol Marcus looked a lot like her, and Into Darkness might have been a more interesting film if they'd done something with that. Argh.
I enjoyed the more than I expected to, but it was still a relief to watch "The Man Trap" and get my familiar flavour of Star Trek back. It was interesting, to me, that the first "proper" episode focused so heavily on a character other than Kirk and Spock. You'd think they would have waited a couple more episodes before doing that, but nope. Bones got to feature heavily and have a lot of his backstory established, while we've still only really got Kirk and Spock sketched in. As Bones is my favourite, I'm a-okay with that decision :-) Shatner seemed more comfortable in the role here and Nimoy's Spock is finally starting to behave like the Spock I know, so it's all quite lovely.
My feelings about Uhura are mixed. Obviously I adore her, and I loved seeing her do things that aren't just communication--she helps Sulu coordinate the search!--but there is such a heavy focus on her being lead by the potential for love and lust. That made me a little uncomfortable, because although I love Uhura's poetic side, I don't love the image of her being so easily led by a pretty face. Does that make any sense?
I was highly entertained by the fact that Sulu is, apparently, a master of everything. Mathematics (in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"), botany, navigation and helm...Sulu, you are the best person on the ship, aren't you? :-D
I'd promised myself I wouldn't do a TOS rewatch until I finished TNG and DS9. My discipline is weakening...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenay.dreamwidth.org/536464.html. There are currently
babbles on the entry on Dreamwidth. Leave comments at http://selenay.dreamwidth.org/536464.html?mode=reply