I usually have no fear talking with celebrities, but I was nervous that Willem Dafoe would be ultra serious. Turns out he’s very approachable and extremely, extremely friendly. And very quick witted. I like being on camera with stars, but it usually is work. I’m trying to draw an interview out of them that can be edited into a usable piece, they’re trying to be clever and quotable. This time, though, I really felt like I was hanging out with a cool guy who liked talking to me. So it is either that Willem Dafoe thinks I’m cool or he’s just a great act—HEY!
I interviewed many celebrities yesterday and today (and more tomorrow) but these are the only photos that’ve made it from memory stick to JPG.
Maybe I’ve just lost my mind, but I still really like this movie. You can read my DVD review on UGO.
I remember May 23, 1994. In some ways it feels like 14 lifetimes ago, in other ways it feels like this morning. Kind’ve Q’s point about time (and anti-time!) and us puny humans and our inability to think outside of our precious little understanding of the Universe.
I remember being truly stumped right along with Picard – unable to solve the riddle of the reverse-time expanding gray glow-y primordial goo-killing thing.
In addition to that, it is just so cool to see the beginning of the show again from the end’s point of view, as well as a glimpse into 25 years down the line. Picard and Crusher married? And divorced? Oy vey!
It’s tough to wrap up a 7 year run of a series but All Good Things… does it just about perfectly. Four features are to follow – only one of them any good.
The dust is still settling from the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. An old member of the Petain-esque government wants to come home despite his exile. He’s able to do so by sharing information on Vedek Bareil who, wouldn’t you know, is this close to being elected Kai. But mean, nasty Vedek Winn is able to use this information.
I like this episode for two reasons. One, if this was the first episode of DS9 you watched you would really have no idea what was going on. Two, there is a twist ending and I must admit to you that I totally didn’t see it coming.
Starfeet’s favorite duffel bag full of damaged goods, Ro Laren, is back in town. Picard is beaming that his protoge is in some sort of special ops program. She is sent to infiltrate the Maquis and, wouldn’t ya know it, winds up joining forces with them.
Michelle Forbes, better known to the kids as Admiral Cain on Battlestar Galactica, is really a terrific actor. She has this amazing ability to appear both really strong and yet somehow unsure of herself at the same time. It’s kind’ve in the way she holds her neck. Hard to describe – you have to trust me. Anyway, this is fantastic stuff.
The Mirror Universe is back! And while the double Deus ex Machina to get ‘em in and out may be a drag it is sooooo much fun to play around in this setting.
The Terran Empire has fallen to a Cardassian-Klingon Alliance and Bajor is on a most favored nation status. They control the station and Kira Nerys rules the roost. She is tough as nails and when she isn’t forcing Sisko to service her she is sending Terrans down into the mines. The only good person here is Quark and Odo is still basically the same. “Oh, how our lives would be different if history went a different way.”
Oh – and Mirror Spock DID use the Tantalus to bring down Kirk. That was the whole problem. D’oh!
The Dominion War is in full swing so the Federation is out looking for as many allies as possible. Would it make sense to contact The Gorn? Sure – why not – it’s been a long time since that last dust up, maybe they’ve mellowed out.
And, indeed they have. Which is why an underground band of dissident Gorn have taken over the government and plan to lay waste to the Federation. Ay dios mio!
This is a really fun graphic novel and, if I may be so bold, it looks really nice, too. All the panels are painted and there is a lot of creativity happening here.
Although I’ve never sat down and hammered this out with my co-conspirator Kerry Douglas Dye, I think the two movies that we were holding up as our ultimate goal for Body/Antibody were Roman Polanski’s The Tenant and David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers. I’m not egotistical to think we actually achieved this, but the mix of eerie isolation and comedy (and, yes, Cronenberg’s films are meant to be funny, as my recent UGO interview proves) is a particularly hard nut to crack.
The main difference between a movie like Body/Antibody and Dead Ringers is the latter doesn’t need support from a complex plot. I mean – what is the plot of Dead Ringers really? Twin brothers – one starts taking drugs. I mean, that’s kinda it in terms of surface. How you fill in the rest of the two hours is what makes this such a fascinating piece. I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t blown away by this movie – it is just so fucking creepy – and, really, when you get down to it, not all that much happens. Same goes for The Tenant. THAT’S genius at work.
Ann had never seen this before & she liked it a great deal – and was all worked up when she found out it was based on a true story. Indeed, she hit the microfiche at the local library trying to find a write-up about it. Alas, our branch only has the Times. This is much more a Daily News type of story.
I was in attendance – in the fifth stinkin’ row – during this week’s world premiere of Tan Dun’s Piano Concerto.
I’m hardly a scholar of contemporary classical music, but I thought it was fan-frickin’-tastic. It was loud and raucous in parts and slow and lovely in others. It had a slight “east meets west” thing that is Tan Dun’s stock-in-trade. It was also a mere 30 minutes. That’s a good move.
The Times has nice things to say, as does France’s ConcertoNet. The NY Sun kinda does, too.
I have a legitimate concern. I find myself giving low marks to the episodes written by Brannon Braga – and I know that BB wrote a whole boatload of upcoming Voyager and Enterprise scripts. I hope I don’t find myself miserable during the second half of this Project.
Anyway, Emergence is a damned idiotic story, much of which set on that damned idiotic holodeck.
The Enterprise finds itself as an Emergent Lifeform – about to spit out some sort of something. And then – ugh – it’s all holodeck crap – I don’t even want to think about it. Let’s move on.
Can Sisko take up arms against his former comrade? Are The Maquis so willing to stand up for what they think is right they will plunge the entire Federation back into war?
Best is Sisko’s rant about the TOS/TNG point of view versus what is really happening on DS9. I quote: “On Earth, there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see Paradise. Well, it’s easy to be a saint in Paradise, but the Maquis do not live in Paradise. Out there in the demilitarized zone, all the problems haven’t been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints — just people. Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not!”
Also truly revelatory is Quark’s arguement for profit in peace. The bottom line attitude Quark has is a great antidote to the current military-industrial complex we find ourselves in the 21st Century.
Also remarkable is Gul Dukat. One of my favorite characters – he is seen vulnerable here (his superiors sell him out) and he has to band with Sisko to save his (horrible, scaly) neck. Like John DeLancie’s Q, Mark Alaimo’s Gul Dukat is one of Trek’s most fascinating semi-regular characters.
Picard has a son? Ruh-roh! And an evil Ferengi is trying to kill him? Double ruh-roh! And the kid is kind’ve a punk-ass who doesn’t like learning? Oy, such troubles!
Don’t worry – it all kinda works out in the end. The kid ain’t Picard, but one wonders what contraceptive devices they use in the future.
The fine print of the Cardassian-Federation treaty is causing nothing but trouble for various colonists along the border. Touched upon during the recent TNG episode Journey’s End, we get into the real nitty gritty here. Turns out there are double-dealing factions among the Cardassians (not so surprising) but there’s even a band of renegade wildcatting outlaws among the Federation!
And this is the precise moment that some hardcore Trekkies said goodbye to DS9 forever. Some could never accept that there would be a schizm in the UFP; that Starfleet would have dissenting “freedom fighters”. More on this in the (even better) Part II.
Alexander doesn’t want to have his Klingon bar mitzvah – that’s essentially what’s going on here. A mysterious Klingon consigliere who is very concerned with the future of the House of Mogh isn’t quite what he seems. It’s actually Alexander from the Future (whaaat?) come to try and coax his younger self into taking the warrior’s path. Everything goes back to normal, but not really, and this episode leaves itself open for lots of annoying criticism.
Hats off, though, for bringing back the Duras sisters and for once again trying to throw the baton over to DS9 (Quark shows up.) Stubborn TNG-only fans only have a few episodes left!
I love it when the Trek sequels refer back to the Original Series. In Blood Oath we get to check in with three Klingons from the classic era: Kor, Koloth and Kang. (They are all featured prominently in the fantastic “Blood Will Tell” graphic novel as well.) These were Kirk’s nemeses and now they are on DS9 in this new, post-treaty Universe. They are old, they want to die gloriously, and they have a bone to pick with a certain “albino” dude out there. Turns out, so does Curzon Dax – someone who was quite chummy with this Klingon triumvirate – and Jadzia lives up to Curzon’s oath.
I love most Klingon-heavy episodes, and I also like the stuff that deals with the prior Daxes. I’ve been critical of Terry Farrell and her portrayal of Jadzia, but she shows a little edge in this one. Good stuff all around.
From the author of Y: The Last Man comes a comic series that is a little less epic but, in a way, might be more enjoyable.
Mitchell Hundred – not that dissimilar from the protagonist of Y in his struggles to be GOOD and his near godlike ability not to abuse the inherant power in his situation – suddenly finds that he has dominion over machines. He is a second-rate vigilante until 9/11/01 when he is able to save the second tower from destruction. He suddenly finds himself mayor of New York on an independent ticket – and then the real trouble begins. Best way to pitch is DC comics meets The West Wing – but hardcore New York. The series is about halfway through its run.
Stylish and slick James Fox hires what seems like the perfect manservant in Dirk Bogarde. The American or J-Horror remake would lead to blood. The ‘63 UK version leads to….class consciousness! Lots of cool ties and upper crust accents in this well-loved flick with the Pinter dialogue. Good stuff.
