Regarding the "unwinding what could have been an all-time great death of an iconic character," David Gerrold wrote this piece in the Spring of '82, but I always mis-associate it with something done in advance of Star Trek III for just that reason.
As I've aged, I found myself enjoying STIII more and more. It is, more than any other film in the series, operatic. The height of drama is literally the planet offering the fulfillment of the greatest wish but demanding a blood sacrifice for it. A literal monkey's paw scenario.
The admittedly cheap sets work all the better considering the original show didn't look much better AND the operatic aspect lends to a more "Stage" flavor.
I think the only problem with STIII is that it comes on the heels of STII and the only problem with STII is that its so good, the rest seem bad. Its hard to follow up something excellent with something "merely" very good.
Star Trek III will always be my favorite of the films. It focused on the bond of the characters, officially making them a family and more than just a crew. The performances were mostly spot on and, well, Jim Kirk is my favorite character and this was his film. Spock was gonna come back, so I give Harve Bennett credit for not making it easy. There was a heavy price to pay for it. And Horner's score is absolutely beautiful, a wonderful companion to TWOK. I am thrilled this is being rereleased.
I know I will be tossed out of the village, but I think Star Trek II is just a bit, um, overrated.
I will agree that the 40 years of references and reverence has made it overrated. Not so much the film itself but the character of Khan. He was interesting in a mediocre episode. In the movie, he was a one-dimensional character elevated by the performance. Yet, they keep going back to him like he was the greatest and most fearsome f'n villain in the franchise. Kirk beat him with a pipe!
I will agree that the 40 years of references and reverence has made it overrated. Not so much the film itself but the character of Khan.
My least favorite thing in Star Trek III has always been the quoting of dialogue from Star Trek II. The characters on screen shouldn't sound like fans who've seen the last movie ten times.
That said, I think ST III is better than Into Darkness in the way that a bowl of mixed nuts is better than getting kicked in the groin.
I consider Star Trek 3 "The Return of the Jedi" of the franchise. Don't like it, thought it was cringe worthy and still do. Wrath of Khan remains a classic and excellent in every way and is not overrated.
My Aunt got me the album for my birthday on June 5th 1984. A date to remember!
My dad took me to see The Search for Spock on the Deuce in NYC shortly after the June 4th opening in 1984. I remember it was double bill with Uncommon Valor which preceded it. I don't remember noticing anything about the music (who knew I would later come to appreciate it being Horner...or that the film was a Horner Double feature), what I do remember was we arrived about 20 minutes before the end of Valor. I had just turned 8 and not at all appreciating the carnage on-screen, let alone the theatre, which felt skeevy. I remember being viscerally upset, not having words for it.
Then I hear a voice shouting from a few rows back that sounded either drunk or deranged or both, "Turn this shit off!, followed by what was a long pause,... then"I wanna watch Star TREK!"
My feeling EXACTLY!
I will forever remember that experience with fondness...and gratitude knowing that I would never have to risk bringing a son of mine to see a movie on 42nd street just cause it was 2 bucks cheaper than seeing it at the safe and sound Lowes State Twin around the corner (where we saw The Wrath pf Khan two years before).
We would return to the Deuce once more for Conan The Destroyer before summer was out. 1984, like 1982, what a great year for movies!
A few words about the passing of the great modelmaker—and human being—Greg Jein. Among many other things, Greg saved the master tapes to the classic Star Trek and is the reason we have all that music today!
A few words about the passing of the great modelmaker—and human being—Greg Jein. Among many other things, Greg saved the master tapes to the classic Star Trek and is the reason we have all that music today!
I met him on several occasions at his Marina del Rey warehouse in the early 1990s when he restored the original Lost In Space robot for Kevin Burns. At the time he had a large model of the Enterprise on the floor which was undergoing rewiring (with fiber optics, I think). Unlike a lot of ill-tempered people in the business, he was fun to hang out with. I have fond memories of him tossing lit firecrackers at my car when I'd back out of a parking space in front of the warehouse. Why he did that, I'm still not certain, and I was scared he'd ignite the fuel filter under the car, but hey, I survived to tell the tale. Greg was very much the type who'd save Star Trek tapes. I'm sorry to hear of his passing.
The Lukas and Charlie Screenplay Power Hour is back—and we’ve brought our friends!
Our inaugural guest is writer/director FRED DEKKER (Night of the Creeps, The Monster Squad, the Predator), who joined us to talk about writing, directing, creativity, intellectual property and more. Thanks Fred!
======================================== (My apologies for posting here; for some reason, I cannot comment on your Blog page) ========================================
A classic. One of the best cartoons of the 1980s, and I still have fond memories of the show to this day.
We _did_ have a tall antenna that was able to pull in TV stations from nearby Detroit, some 1½-hours away from us out in the country. In my mind, I imagined that we were the envy of all the other kids at school, being able to see shows from bigger, distant cities that they couldn't... at least until the kids in town got cable; it didn't come out to where we lived until well after I was in college.
My brother and I religiously videotaped the show as our local broadcast actually aired two new episodes each day: one before school and one after. For some reason, however, they never showed "The Midnight Sun" (New Gen episode) and always skipped over it, even in reruns; it wasn't until the first DVD set came out that I finally saw it.
The more "adult" content was certainly a draw during my formative teenage years. When my mother overheard Rook Bartley's speech to Dusty Ayres in "Hired Gun" (New Gen), where Rook was willing to sacrifice her life for those of her friends', she asked, "WHAT are you _WATCHING_?" It was certainly not like any other cartoon on TV at the time!
The music was always a treat; even though I had the LP, it was the soundtrack's first release on CD that forced me to buy a CD player in the late '80s.
...And as perfect a mecha as the Macross Veritech Fighter is, I secretly pined for the Cyclone Battle Armor instead!
This week on our YouTube screenwriting show, Charlie Vignola and I interview Paul Zeidman, a writer whose cool blog (offering useful interviews and resources) impressed us.
We thought Paul would be a great person to talk to—and we were right!
