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Monday, January 6, 2020

New year’s links

This Chaplin GIF is submitted in an attempt
to lighten all our spirits.
It’s not too late to reboot 2020 so we can start over, is it?

The holiday season, at least, was a good one. Virginia took me to a Cirque du Soleil show at Madison Square Garden, and in turn, I took her to a performance of Messiah at Carnegie Hall. These were our Christmas gifts to each other. It was the first time I had seen either one. On Christmas night we had dinner with friends—I made a salad—and on New Year’s Eve she and Sandi were once again part of the annual free choral recital in midtown Manhattan. Ann was part of it too, for the first time. It was kinda funny how many people I knew in the chorus this year. Our after-party was a tad smaller than last year, but that was okay.

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Last month was a sad one for Trekkies. On the heels of the death of popular Deep Space Nine supporting player Aron Eisenberg, we lost more stars, from both sides of the camera. I’ve talked about DC Fontana here before; not too much more to add. As a woman writer, she was an inspiration to many who came after her, whether they were professionals in the industry or fans writing for SF zines. As for Rene Auberjonois, I remember feeling good about him joining the cast of DS9 because of his TV and film work elsewhere, and his was a tremendous contribution. His interpretation of Odo was as a multi-faceted character, loaded with contradictions, yet with a human touch underneath his brusque exterior. His relationships with Kira and Quark were fascinating to watch unfold and they brought so much depth to the overall story. Great artists who gave us much to be thankful for as fans.

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On a somewhat happier Trek-related note: I had made peace with the belief I would never get to see Star Trek: Discovery, but Ann acquired CBS All Access last month and she was kind enough to invite me to her house so we could binge-watch it. No, I did not expect to do that quite so soon after my little experiment, but life, y’know?

We watched the first twelve or so episodes of Season 1, over two nights. I won’t go into specific details here, but while some things were impressive—Michael Burnham is a unique character in Trek lore, with her own set of morals, and I like the premise of a disgraced Starfleet officer seeking redemption—there was a lot more I didn’t care for. The technology which clearly is superior to that of Kirk’s era; the profanity, which wasn’t Scorsese-level but served no purpose I could tell; the gee-whiz shots of outside the Discovery and then zooming inside; the stronger-than-usual emphasis on action; the unnecessary redesign of the Klingons; the de-emphasis on Starfleet values; the generic American crew; the lack of humor, THE CONSTANT GODDAMN CUTS.

If you wanna get into specifics, let’s talk in the comments. For now, I’ll just say: I understand this is set during a time of war, but even during the Dominion War, DS9 placed a greater emphasis on character and plots tailored around each character than what I’ve seen from Discovery so far. That may change, but I’m not convinced yet. Here’s hoping Picard will be better.

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Let’s go straight to the links:

Le uses All Quiet on the Western Front to address violence in war movies.

Jacqueline on Lionel Barrymore and Christmas.

Cats is gonna lose a ton of money.

Sam Mendes on how his grandfather inspired 1917.

The animation studio behind the Lion King remake shut down.

Could Adam Sandler win an Oscar? If he doesn’t, he’ll unleash a bomb of a movie on us.

Former DS9 star Nana Visitor on Rene Auberjonois.

CBS All Access is expanding Star Trek in many directions.

This post sums up my feelings about the whole CGI James Dean thing.

The struggle to preserve film backdrops.

Spotlight on former NBA star Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems.

And then there was that time the US government thought Wakanda was a real country.

6 comments:

  1. I have missed a lot of reading. First coffee. Then catch up.

    We get Discovery on Space (I think they've changed hands and names recently) in Ontario. Maureen watches it. I watched the first couple of episodes, but ... I don't know ... I didn't feel like making time for it. It's an attitude that's developed lately about programs for good or bad.

    Your holiday events sound wonderful. I hope there is time for more of that sort of thing in this coming year.

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    1. Me too!

      My Trekkie friend Bibi would say, I believe, that this new generation of Trek, including the new movies, is veering away from space exploration and high-concept themes and concentrating more on action, and the more I think about it the more I believe that to be true. Maybe it’s in an attempt to compete with all the other SF/fantasy franchises out there. When TOS was around, they were practically the only game in town. No longer true now—but I like to think a better balance can be struck.

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  2. Thanks for including me with all your other interesting links, Rich. Glad you had a nice Christmas.

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  3. Thank you for adding my link and also for adding your thoughts to the war movie debate. You gave me a lot to think and I hope to go on investigating this topic.
    Cheers!
    Le

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  4. I suppose it’s like making an anti-racism movie with an unrepentant bigot character and being accused of racism yourself. I doubt even Truffaut could have predicted the PC environment we find ourselves in now. I think you just gotta say whatever it is you wanna say in your art and to hell with people who get offended because you’ll never please everyone.

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