Blue Cord

N.B. The following review contains no spoilers, so you may read it without learning anything about the plot that will distract from your initial viewing.

I took in a matinée showing of Cloverfield this afternoon. One of the nice things about living in Iowa is the fact that a matinée costs only $4.00, about a third of what a regular priced ticket goes for in Massachusetts.

I went to see the film in part because I love a good sci–fi horror film.¹ Having seen Alien vs. Predator: Requiem last week — which was almost as bad as the first Alien vs. Predator film — I was hoping for more from Cloverfield.² Like Chris Heard, however, I also went to see it because I knew they would be showing a trailer for the forthcoming Star Trek film.

Cloverfield does not disappoint. It has elements from the classic sci–fi horror genre, particularly the Godzilla films and War of the Worlds. Like the latter, it is told from the point of view of a civilian who is only seeing part of the larger picture.³ You never fully find out what is going on or the origins of whatever is terrorizing the city, and there are things that happen to some of the characters that are never fully explained due to the fog of war.

Unlike a lot of sci–fi horror, Cloverfield does not depend on things jumping out at you unexpectedly. I have always found that to be a rather amateurish way of scaring the audience, and Cloverfield makes only minor use of it. The plot moves nicely from action sequences to scenes focused only on the human characters. The director recognizes something that horror films often overlook: the audience needs to care about the characters. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem centers around too many human characters, so you never connect with any of them. When the aliens catch up with them, you don’t care if they live or die (which is good, because you know they are going to die in fun ways). In Cloverfield, we see enough of the main characters to develop an attachment. They come across as fully developed people instead of cannon fodder.

One slightly bothersome yet critical aspect of the film is that it is set up to be video footage taken by one of the main characters. This vomit–inducing cinematography — popularized by The Blair Witch Project — made me a bit leery of the film. It turned out not to be as distracting as I feared. In some ways, it serves as a commentary on our wired lives in which everything has to be documented on video. The director (J.J. Abrams of Lost and Alias) is obviously aware of this. In a wonderfully done scene, when the Whatever–The–Hell–It–Is tosses the head of the Statue of Liberty down the street,⁴ the people do not turn and run away. Instead, a multitude of them pull out their cell phones and began taking pictures of the head. This and a few other humorous moment are scattered throughout the film, and elevate what could have been a B+ monster movie to A– status.

1. I don’t really care for non–sci–fi horror, with the exception of the Silence of the Lambs films. [back]
2. One problem I had with the Alien vs. Predator movies was that is was a combination of two series: Alien, which I liked, and Predator, which I didn’t. Because of this, I kept wanting the Aliens to win, even though the film is set up in such a way that you are supposed to be rooting for the Predator. [back]
3. In fact, it is a more fitting tribute to that style of storytelling than Tom Cruise’s mediocre remake of War of the Worlds. [back]
4. A tribute to Escape from New York. [back]

I have been having a SciFi filled couple of weeks. It started two weeks ago when my kids spent several days with me. Duncan got interested in watching Star Trek: Enterprise with me. The SciFi channel runs four episodes every Monday night. I had missed the final season because I was in Lithuania, so I have been catching up. Duncan loved the show, so I decided to show him some of the original Star Trek episodes.

Although I have all of the original episodes on VHS, they are all in storage (as were most of my belongings while we were in Lithuania — I still haven’t gotten them out). So, we went to Blockbuster. They did not have the original TV series in the store, but I got Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. My son loved it. And, because we had joined the Blockbuster on-line rental program, we get three DVDs at a time through the mail.

When the kids are not here, I am using the time to catch up on a few other series. Battlestar Galactica (the new series) came out while I was in Lithuania, so I have not seen it. I am currently in the middle of the second season, and I have to say that I am impressed. And because I never saw the original Battlestar Galactica when I was a kid, I am getting all of those episodes through the mail as well. I have made very good use of the two week free trial of Blockbuster on-line rentals.

I have also stumbled on the remastered Star Trek episodes as well. Again, this is something I missed while out of the country, but I caught my first episode tonight. It was “The Omega Glory,” where we get to hear Kirk’s very dramatic reading of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

For those who don’t know, Paramount has remastered all of the original Star Trek episodes. The color is better, and they have removed scratches and stains on the film. That part I think it great. What I am not so sure about is the fact that they have replaced all of the external shots of the ship and planets with computer generated models. Although I enjoy seeing new views of the Enterprise, there is something about messing with the originals that seems sacrilegious somehow.

I am pleased, though, that my son has started watching Star Trek. Watching the original episodes for the past few weeks has reminded me how truly wonderful that show was. It has also reminded me why Kirk was my hero as a boy and still is my hero now that I am an adult.

Several of the episodes I have watched so far have been ones dealing with the issue of struggle. Repeatedly, Star Trek had episodes where humans would find paradise but discover that life without any challenges is problematic.¹ There is a great quote at the end of This Side of Paradise. McCoy says that this is the second time that humanity had been thrown out of Eden, and Kirk responds, “No, this time we walked out on our own.” Kirk goes on to say:

“Maybe we weren’t meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through. Struggle. Claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can’t stroll to the music of the lutes. We must march to the sound of drums.”

That last bit of martial imagery aside, it is an interesting idea, especially in light of the Gospel. Humanity seeks for paradise, but Jesus comes as a suffering savior. Humans crave the easy life, but Christ tells us to take up our cross and follow him. Paradise, even the paradise of salvation, comes only through suffering and struggle.

1. The episodes I have seen lately on this topic are This Side of Paradise and Return of the Archons. [back]

Part of the ashes of James Doohan were launched into space today.  Doohan, best remembered for his role as Scotty on the original Star Trek, died almost two years ago.  Today, one gram of his ashes, along with those of about 200 other people, were launched from New Mexico.  They ascended to an altitude of about 70 miles before returning to earth.

The service is provided by Space Services Inc., a private company that charges about $500 for one ounce of ashes.   The same company launched the ashes of Gene Roddenberry into space ten years ago.

For the record, I would like my ashes scattered on the pitchers mound at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

OK. I will be the first to admit that I have done some pretty ridiculous things as a fan of various TV shows, movies, books, etc. When I like something, I have a tendency to go overboard. Most of them involve Star Trek, but not all. Here is but a small sampling:

• I was the director of the Klingon Bible Translation Project. (Yes, I speak Klingon.)
• I have, in fact, gone to Star Trek conventions in a full uniform.
• I put a Klingon battle cruiser on my wedding registry.
• I once watched every single James Bond movie in a two week period.
• I am currently documenting pop culture references in the sitcom NewsRadio. Yes, I know it has been off the air for eight years.
• I collect Doonesbury books.

Nothing I have ever done, however, could compare to what a guy and a couple of his friends did over Christmas break. The modeled the entire Battle of Helms Deep from The Lord of the Rings trilogy in candy and icing. Pictures of the model, which measures 7′x3′x2′, can be seen at his blog, Miss(ed) Manners. They used over 500 Gummy Bears as orcs and Uruk-Hai. The Elves, Dwarves and Men were represented by sour patch kids. My personal favorite is the Tootsie Roll Pop catapults, although using Smarties as stonework in the walls was visionary.

This thing puts every fan activity I have ever done to shame, with the possible exception of the time I build a full size working model of the starship Enterprise (”No bloody A, B, C, or D”) out of pipe cleaners. Yet not even this candy representation of the Battle of Helms Deep is as impressive as the Abston Church of Christ, which is made completely of LEGO building blocks.

I’m feeling inspired. Maybe at lunch today I will build a model of the Devil’s Tower out of my mashed potatoes.

By the way, as an interesting tie-in between two of my obsessions passions, I discovered in a web search last night that Stephen Root, the actor that played Jimmy James on NewsRadio, also played a Klingon on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘Unification’.

A friend e-mailed me a link to a site that I had not come across. It is trekjews.com, a site that discusses Jewish aspects of Star Trek. It is run by a Hasidic rabbi, who had just written a book entitled Jewish Themes in Star Trek (Where No Rabbi Has Gone Before!). He is currently looking for a publisher for the book.

Among the better parts of the site (a site that suffers from poor production value) is a page of links to other sites that discuss this topic. Apparently one of the hot button issues is whether the Ferengi are an antisemitic stereotype.

When I came across this, I couldn’t help but remember the closing scene in Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part I. It was supposed to be a preview of Part II, and it depicted Jews flying around in space ships shaped like the Star of David. It had a great theme song:

We’re Jews, in outer space
We’re zippin’ along protecting the Hebrew race.