Star Trek: First Contact

The Borg are back, the future is in danger and the “Star Trek” mythology advances quickly. “Star Trek: First Contact,” released in 1996, is a wonderfully exciting sci-fi flick that is, in my opinion, the very best in the long-running Paramount franchise. Variety is right when they stated in their review, “Better still, this is one TV spinoff that does not require ticketbuyers to come equipped with an intimate knowledge of the small-screen original. Fans and non-fans alike will line up for this wild ride, and many will be repeat customers. Expect earthshaking domestic grosses, impressive foreign biz and, eventually, out-of-this-world homevideo sales.”

The title is particularly suitable, where that “First Contact,” which tells about the main encounter between humans and aliens, also is the first “Star Trek” movie to not have anyone from the late Gene Roddenberry’s original 1966-69 TV series. In the last film, “Star Trek: Generations,” the mighty Captain James T. Kirk passed the torch over to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, commander of the new and improved Starship Enterprise. Now it’s up to Captain Picard and his team from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to keep the universe safe for the United Federation of Planets. Thankfully, the new and, in my opinion better crew, are up to the mission.

Variety mentioned that, “Written by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, with considerable input from producer and “Next Generation” veteran Rick Berman, “First Contact” actually is a sequel to “The Best of Both Worlds,” a popular two-part episode from the “Next Generation” series. On television, Picard was captured and very nearly “assimilated” by the Borg, a marauding race of half-organic, half-robotic cyborgs. He managed to regain his humanity, but just barely.”

As the movie begins, Picard continues to have nightmares of when he was assimilated by the Borg. This clearly explains why Picard, normally a by-the-book captain, is wanting to ignore orders and join the fight when Starfleet Command fires a torpedo on the large Borg cube-shaped ship. Picard leads the USS Enterprise to the battle just in time to issue an order and attack the Borg. Unfortunately, several of the Borg escape and fly to Earth, where they want to control the “present” i.e., the 24^th century by rewriting the past. What’s even more unfortunate, some other Borg manage to get on the Enterprise, and go about assimilating the entire crew for the greater good of their Borg Queen.

Jonathan Frakes, an amazing actor who played Picard’s right-hand man, Commander William Riker, on “The Next Generation” show, does two jobs here as director and co-star. Having earned this right by directing a few of the show’s episodes, Frakes makes a positive debut as a feature filmmaker, satisfying excitement and keeping clearness as he runs through a two-track storyline.

Picard and his team follow the Borg back in time to April 4, 2063, the day before an oddball scientist named Zefram Cochran, played by James Cromwell, is supposed to make the first recorded warp-speed flight in a renovated rocket. The Enterprises know from their history books that, because Cochrane made this flight, he gave them the interest of traveling aliens, which in turn ted to the formation of the United Federation of Planets and the production of the United Federation of Planets and the making of four different “Star Trek” shows. Once they beam down to Earth, however, Riker and his friends find out that the Borg, also careful of history, have damaged Cochrane’s rocket. It’s up to the Enterprise’s Away Team to make repairs and to make sure Cochrane doesn’t get drunk long enough to keep history intact.

Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Lily Sloane, played by Alfre Woodard, Cochrane’s non-alcoholic friend, has her hands tied in Picard’s fight against the Borg invasion. At first, it looks bad for our protagonists. The Borg carefully take control of so many levels of the Enterprises, and turn every human they can get their hands on into one of them. In fact, the Borg Queen, played by Alice Krige, even is able to capture Lieutenant Commander Data, the android officer who has been given an “emotion chip.”

The Borg Queen gives Data what he wants by making him human. As they talk, the movie takes an interestingly uncertain turn, so that it’s not entirely clear just who is seducing them. For a while, there is serious doubt as to where Data’s real devotions lie. Credit Brent Spiner and the scriptwriters for finding incredible new ways to make a familiar character unsettlingly changeable.

Trekkies may be disappointed by the fairly short shrift to certain Enterprise characters as Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, Lieutenant Commander Jordi La Forge, played by host of “Reading Rainbow,” LeVar Burton, and Klingon warrior turned Starship officer Worf. Even more shaking, however, is the way “First Contact” introduces horror-movie elements to a traditional “Star Trek” story. Much of the violence and many of the shadow-flashed fight sequences are heavily influenced by “Alien” and “Aliens.” Variety made another comparison where, “The Borg drones and Borg-ified humans, like their counterparts in the original TV episode, look a lot like malevolent bit players from the “Hellraiser” movies.” Trekkies remembering Gene Roddenberry’s original look of a less violent “Star Trek” universe may be turned off by the heavy material. However, mainstream audiences will love the greater importance on the greater level and action-movie elements.

Patrick Stewart once again agrees himself with all the weight and style you would expect from a Shakespeare stage actor. His greatest moments is when he is with Woodard in a scene that has their characters fighting over the best tactic to fight the Borg. Woodard’s Lily agrees with the Enterprise officers who want to escape in escape pods after setting the Enterprise’s self-destruct program. However, Stewart’s Picard who, logically, has some unfinished business with the Borg doesn’t agree and says this is weak negativity. Give both of these actors credit that their mercurial conversation is honestly exciting.

Other performances, including Cromwell’s delightful change as the hard-drinking Cochrane, are just what they should be for “First Contact” to work. Variety stated, “Much the same can be said for the special-effects wizardry, by far the most elaborate seen in a “Star Trek” film. Tech credits including Matthew F. Leonetti’s striking cinematography and Michael Westmore’s inspired makeup are stellar across the board.”

If “First Contact” is telling viewers what the next generation of “Star Trek” movies will be like, this series is show to live long and prosper.

As I had stated already, this is actually my personal favorite of the entire franchise. I guess you could say that I prefer “The Next Generation” over the original show. Don’t get me wrong, the Original Series is a classic that will live on forever, but I, like many others, think “The Next Generation” was just better since I liked the characters more in there. If you liked The Original Series better, I don’t blame you. That’s probably the reason why people like the second or four the best. This movie did exactly what "Wrath of Khan" did, where it fixed everything wrong from "Generations" and both "Wrath of Khan" and "First Contact" makes viewers want that to be the starting movie for both The Original Series and The Next Generation. Many will say two is the best, others like James Rolfe might say four, but then there are others, like myself, who like this one better since it felt like the show. I liked the introduction of the Borg and everything so that it didn’t leave you out in the dust. If you haven’t seen this, don’t read my review and go out and see it.

Seeing how great of a job Frakes did on this movie, he was signed on to direct the next movie. Will the next one be a decent odd-numbered Trek movie, or will it fall in the same trap like almost all the others with its horrendousness? Find out Wednesday in the next review that I’m not looking forward to at all in “Star Trek Month.”

Star Trek: Generations

“Star Trek Generations,” released in 1994, was supposed to be the movie that bridged the original “Star Trek” cast and the cast from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Captain Kirk would pass the torch to Captain Picard and then the crew of the Enterprise-D would continue in a new series of movies. Even though this sounds like a good idea when written, in reality the results don’t do justice to either Kirk or “The Next Generation” crew.

The movie starts with the maiden flight of the Enterprise-B. Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are onboard as part of the ceremonial launch. During the launch the ship gets a distress call from two ships caught in some kind of energy ribbon called the Nexus, they respond with a rescue attempt where Kirk is “killed.”

This opening segment was to have Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but the late Leonard Nimoy turned it down because the script was really weak and the late DeForest Kelley’s deteriorating health prevented him from showing up. With very little change of the script, the late James Doohan and Walter Koenig came in to replace them as Scotty and Chekov. Scott Nash stated in his review, “Out of sheer laziness their lines remain the same despite the character change.” You can obviously see that when Chekov tells two crewmen that they’re now nurses as he goes to prepare a sick bay.

The film then fast forwards 78 years later on the holodeck of the Enterprise-D for a really embarrassingly unfunny segment of the crew on a ship for Lieutenant Worf’s, played by Michael Dorn, promotion ceremony. Data’s, played by Brent Spiner who voiced Pock in "Gargoyles," “I want to be more human” bit, which had gotten old during the series, is brought up one more time here and he is given the emotion chip.

When the story does eventually move forward, it is revealed that a Dr. Soran, played by Malcolm McDowell, who was one of the men rescued by Enterprise-B at the beginning of the movie, is trying to find a way back into the Nexus, because apparently once you are in the Nexus, anything you really want is there. Nash made a good comparison when he said, “It's like living in a Matrix of your own design.” His plan wouldn’t be such a problem except that to get back in the Nexus, he’s destroying stars to change the course of the Nexus so that it will pass through a planet that he wants to be standing on.

Nash is right when he said, “Although there are moments of excitement and action, this plot ends up feeling like a souped-up two part episode of the television series with some higher quality special effects. It's definitely not a movie for anyone who is unfamiliar with the characters. No introductions are provided and no background given.”

Picard does find out about the Nexus through his ship’s bartender named Guinan, played by Whoopi Goldberg, and ends up in the Nexus along with Soran. He finds out that instead of dying, Captain Kirk was actually inside the Nexus this whole time. Picard convinces Kirk to leave the Nexus with him and help him defeat Soran. Kirk does and he (spoilers) dies for real this time in a very unsatisfying way.

Kirk’s death should have been emotional. He should have been saving the galaxy one more time and he absolutely should have died while onboard the Enterprise. Nash mentioned, “Reportedly an early version of the script had Kirk commanding the battle bridge onboard the Enterprise-D and dying in combat against the Klingons, but the plot was scrapped. So instead he dies trying to stop a madman from destroying a star, which is noble enough, but not nearly legendary enough.”

What’s really annoying about his death is that he dies because of a ridiculous plan that is because of a poorly written script. When Kirk and Picard leave the Nexus, they are told they can leave it and go into any time or place that they want. Picard chooses five minutes before Soran’s plan is successful. This means that the finale is a race against time. Why doesn’t he leave with some more time before Soran’s plan was completed? It could have been anywhere from hours to a day or when Soran was on the Enterprise and make him a prisoner there?

Not only is Kirk’s death ruined, it also takes time away from “The Next Generation” cast, which this movie was supposed to be about. Dr. Beverly Crusher, played by Gates McFadden, and Worf are shrunken to extras in their first film. Commander Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes (who also did the voice of David Xanatos in “Gargoyles” and hosted “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction”), gets a few lines, but only Picard and Data get their own plotlines. Commander Troi, played by Marina Sirtis who also did the voice of Demona in “Gargoyles,” has a scene with Picard early in the movie that you don’t really feel emotion for, but at the end is given the task to pilot the ship to give her something to do (something she was never shown to have before).

Nash is right when he says, “Being that this is Star Trek 7, an odd-numbered Trek film, I suppose it's no surprise that it's such a bad one.” This is evident that they shouldn’t have combined casts from two shows, at least not in this incompetent way. Kirk’s dead should have had a movie of its own and definitely “The Next Generation” deserved a better introduction than this one.

Like I already stated, this movie doesn’t make any sense because it’s all over the place. Some parts are good, some parts are bad, there some powerhouse scenes later and some nice effects, but it falls in the same trap that “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” did where it wasn’t a good first film of “The Next Generation” cast. If you were entertained by this, great, but I really thought it was insulting to make Data into Bozo the Android.

Also, I vaguely remember seeing this movie in the theaters years ago. I only remember two scenes of Data: one is where the Klingon ship was blown up, the camera pans around the bridge, then Data breaks the silence by going, "YES!" Another is when the ship is crashing and Data mutters the S word. My brother claims I sang Data's "Life Forms" song for an entire year, which I don't remember at all since I was only a kid. Plus, that song was really random and annoying.

After getting that movie out of the way, check in next Monday where we talk about a much better film in the series, which is also my personal favorite, for “Star Trek Month.”

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

After the miserable failure of “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” everyone thought that the franchise knew that they had a limited chance of success to set things right. The series’ original cast was getting older past the age of reasonably another huge sci-fi adventure, yet no one wanted “The Final Frontier” to be their final movie. Also, “Star Trek” was approaching its 25^th Anniversary, and that was a positive moment too good to look past. Paramount gave them another film. Leonard Nimoy, who had Executive Produced the final movie, approached director Nicholas Meyer, who directed “The Wrath of Khan. Together, they came up with a story idea where the longstanding fight between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire would work as a political story for the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union.

“Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” released in 1991, opens with a literal crash. On a routine scientific expedition, the starship Excelsior is shot by an energy shockwave coming from a huge explosion near the Klingon home planet. What has happened is that the Klingons’ main energy production factory on their moon of Praxis has had a Chernobyl-type catastrophe. The Klingons at first refused help from the Federation, but is soon forced to admit that their empire is falling because of economic ruin and public unrest. Their current leader, Chancellor Gorkon, played by David Warner, starts to talk in order to end hostilities with the Federation. On the Blu-Ray review, it states that, “A new age of Glasnost (however that may translate in Klingon) is emerging.”

As their first step, Starfleet assigns its battleship, the U.S.S. Enterprise, to meet the Chancellor and escort him to a peace conference. Captain Kirk, whose son was murdered by the Klingons, grudgingly accepts the tasks and tries to hide his inner prejudice against the Klingons. He thinks that a difficult diplomatic dinner will be the hardest part of the mission. However, strangely, the Enterprise has opened fire on the Klingon vessel without Kirk’s command. General Chang, played by Christopher Plummer, the Chancellor’s hard-nosed right-hand-man, has Kirk and Bones arrested and put on trial for trying to start a fight. Spock and his new Vulcan apprentice, Valeris, played by Kim Cattrall, must look through the Enterprise and find out what conspiracy was attempted to interfere with the peace process.

The review stated, “Though I hadn't been too impressed with Meyer's script for the series' fourth movie, 'The Undiscovered Country' is a welcome and much needed return to form for the 'Trek' franchise.” The same director of “The Wrath of Khan” is back at the top of his game. The film not only has the expected sci-fi action, but also parts of a political thriller, murder mystery, courtroom drama, and prison camp escape movie. Somehow, they blend perfectly with every spaceship, photon torpedoes and latex makeup.

The director keeps the pacing sharp and the production values high. Trying really hard not to repeat the laughable special effects from “Star Trek V” (which was stated as “outsourced to the lowest bidder”), the team at Industrial Light & Magic have come back into the chair. Their work here returns to the franchise’s previous look. The Blu-Ray review states, “The shockwave blast from the Praxis explosion proved so influential that the visual (thereafter known as the "Praxis Effect") was later reused in numerous sci-fi movies, including George Lucas' wretched 'Star Wars Special Editions.'” In his most motivated scene, Meyer gives a zero-gravity assault inside the Klingon ship. The CGI drops of floating blood were quite impressive for 1991 (if a little dated now), as were the shapeshifting effects (all the rage at the time) of a shapeshifter alien played by model/actress Iman.

Gone is any silly comic relief that had poisoned the last two movies. “Star Trek VI” has a focused and thematically-rich screenplay with hilarious dialogue and multi-dimensional characterizations. The review stated that “Plummer's Shakespeare-spouting Chang is a juicy villain.” One of the nice things is that Sulu, who has been underused, is not the captain of the Excelsior in “Star Trek IV,” and this promotion makes him play a critical part of the movie’s climax. The rest of the team, who has really showed their ages in recent movies, seem especially alert and energized here, no doubt responding to the better material they had to work with.

The review states that, “Acknowledging that this was to be the original crew's last adventure, the film has many themes of retirement, outliving one's usefulness, passing of the torch, and death, all handled eloquently and with proper respect.” Wrapping up 25 years under their belt, “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” makes a very stylish finale for our favorite crew of the starship Enterprise.

“Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered County” is a welcome return after the failure of “Star Trek V” and a worthy finale for the original Enterprise crew. Too bad the producers couldn’t help but to bringing Kirk back for the disappointing “Star Trek: Generations,” but we’ll get to that this Friday. It gives the reason that Paramount will probably re-release this film in its longer “Director’s cut” format. How long that will take is only what time will tell. The Blu-Ray review ended by saying, “To be honest, the theatrical cut is superior, if only for the removal of the dumb plot twist at the end. Even so, this Blu-ray's video quality is problematic. I would welcome any excuse for a fresh remaster. The audio is pretty good, though, and the disc has plenty of bonus features.”

I would strongly suggest that everyone watch this movie. You will absolutely love this, especially since it was released at the 25^th Anniversary of “Star Trek.” If you saw “Star Trek V,” and I would feel bad if you did, “Star Trek VI” will wash that bad taste out of your mouth. This movie was a great final entry of the Original cast.

Check in Friday when we talk about the disappointing next entry in “Star Trek Month.”

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

With the late Leonard Nimoy’s “Star Trek” films being both critical and commercial successes, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” released in 1989, was William Shatner’s turn as the director of the series, and it almost killed the franchise.

The movie opens on a mysterious planet called Nimbus III, we meet a Vulcan with a crazy laugh, and can take away peoples pain. We then cut to Earth where we see Kirk, Spock and McCoy enjoying their break at the Yosemite National Park, Scotty is busy trying to get the new Enterprise up and ready, while Chekov and Sulu are enjoying their hiking trip.

The crazy Vulcan I mentioned before is named Sybok, played by Laurence Luckinbill, who has a strong faith, and an urge to leave Nimbus III (Adam Sloman stated in his review, “I'm not quite sure how or why he ended up there”) and kidnaps three delegates that represent Earth (David Warner), the Klingons (Charles Cooper) and the Romulans (Cynthia Gouw). The team’s breaks are soon interrupted however, when, like always, Kirk is the only Captain who can save the day.

On the other side of the galaxy, Klingon commander, Klaa, played by Todd Bryant, gets annoyed of shooting down space probes and after hearing about Kirk and the Enterprise playing to Nimbus III, he decides to put himself up against Kirk.

With the new Enterprise’s transporters acting finicky, a shuttle is dispatched, sending a rescue party to the surface of the planet. Kirk soon has rescued the hostages, only to realize it was a planned out trap on Sybok’s end to capture the Federation starship.

Cut back to the ship, the Klingons have got in the way again and the shuttle craft has to go for an emergency landing. Kirk has a brief fight with Sybok. Spock has the chance to shoot Sybok, but refuses, telling Kirk that they are, in fact, half-brothers and the trip are taken to brig.

Working his ability on the rest of the crew, Sybok soon has the ship at his fingers and sets course for the Galactic barrier where, he thinks, god lives.

Scott is successful in breaking the trio out of their cell and they go around trying to regain control of the ship. They succeed only in telling the Klingons where the ship is going, before Sybok catches up with them, asking for the chance to heal their pain. We get a nice look into McCoy’s back story, but Sybok’s attempt with his brother is not a success. Spock, what it looks like, has found his place in the universe and is happy with that.

Kirk refuses Sybok, and reminds us that pain in important, that it teaches us a lesson, and makes us the type of person we are.

Sloman stated in his review, “With the sort of timing only found in Hollywood, the Enterprise then arrives at God's planet. Sybok, Kirk, Spock and McCoy head down for a tête-à-tête with the Almighty.” They find on this planet isn’t God, but an alien, played by George Murdock, looking for a ride and wants to join with the Enterprise.

Suffering the wrath of God, Kirk asks what God needs with a starship. Attacking Kirk and Spock, the alien reveals he is a prisoner of the planet and Sybok realizes his mistakes and fights the alien, wanting to heal its pain.

Scott finally gets the transporters working, beaming Spock and McCoy back on the Enterprise, leaving Kirk alone to face the increasingly peeved extraterrestrial God. The Klingon Bird of Prey suddenly arrives, firing at the alien and beaming Kirk on their ship. Back on the Enterprise, Klaa apologizes for his unnecessary violence and the two ships fly their separate ways allowing the Captain and his team to finish their vacation back on Earth.

Sloman stated in his review, “The Final Frontier is widely regarded amongst fans as the worst of the series, but I don't think it's as bad as that. There was certainly worse to come from the franchise.” I do agree with him, but this is pretty bad. However, there is one movie that I think is worse than this, which we will get to later in the month. As with all good “Star Trek,” its strong moments are character led. The camp fire scene is great at first, and McCoy’s disregard for Kirk’s mountain climbing is another great moment from the late DeForest Kelley. What is also worth mentioning is his scene with his father, played by Bill Quinn, the suffering of his father’s death with a cure so close to getting is a great look into his character’s background, away from Starfleet.

The film really fails with it special effects. Simply put, they’re terrible. There’s no other word best to describe them. Robbed of ILM’s help, (they were busy working on an “Indiana Jones” movie and “Ghostbusters II”) Shatner was forced to look around for the cheapest choice possible and it hurts the film.

Sloman said, “It puzzles me why Paramount chose to cut so many corners with this film, from cheap special effects to simply cutting large chunks of storyline (Den Of Geek has already covered the cut Rockman sequence) that could have lifted the film; it shows little faith in Shatner, his story and his direction.”

There are problems with the story, however. It’s jumbled, to say the least. How does Sybok know about the God-Alien? How is the Enterprise able to travel across the galaxy so quickly? Sloman mentions, “It also rankles me that, despite Sybok's powers, the crew are so quick to betray Kirk.” The funny moments feel a little forced, as if it was shoved in to calm those that, after “Star Trek IV,” were happy to see a “Star Trek” film.

This movie isn’t great. In all honesty, you’re not missing a lot if you decide to skip straight from “Star Trek IV” to “Star Trek VI.”

I agree with Sloman where I feel that other films that were about finding God, it was done “way” better than in here. I don’t feel like anything was accomplished with the whole “finding God” element. This is worse than the first movie, in my opinion. Reasoning behind this is because of the flat story, pointless characters and scenes that just don't seem to flow together. The infamous Uhura dance made me feel really dirty and when Kirk, Spock and McCoy are singing, “Row Your Boat,” mentioning it again and bringing it back at the end I felt was really stupid.

Alright, now that we thankfully got that stinker out of the way, tune in Wednesday for my review on the final film entry of the Original Series cast, “Star Trek VI.”

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

When they finished writing the script for “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” released in 1986, they must have had so many pointless smirks on their faces. This is easily the most convoluted of the “Star Trek” stories – however, strangely enough, it is also the best, the funniest and the most enjoyable in laymen’s terms. Roger Ebert admitted, “I'm relieved that nothing like restraint or common sense stood in their way.”

The movie starts with some unfinished work from the previous movie, including the Klingon ambassador’s protests before the Federation Council. These scenes don’t have much to do with the rest of the movie, but they give a certain encouragement (like, how Ebert described, “James Bond's ritual flirtation with Miss Moneypenny”) that the series remembers it has a history.

The Starship Enterprise team is still stuck on Vulcan with the Klingon starship they confiscated in “Star Trek 3.” They choose to return home on this alien ship, but on the way they find a strange deep-space inquiry. It is sending out signals in some strange language which, when translated, turns out to be the song of the humpback whale.

It’s around this mark that the script talks must have really taken off. See if you can wrap your head around this: The Enterprise team decides that the inquiry is targeting on Earth, and if no humpback songs are responded, the planet could be destroyed. Therefore, the team’s mission becomes this: Because humpback whales are extinct in the 23^rd Century, they must travel back in time to the 20^th century, steal some humpback whales, and return with them to the future – which will save Earth. Ebert said, “After they thought up this notion, I hope the writers lit up cigars.”

No matter how questionable the story is, it gives what is probably the best of the “Star Trek” movies so far, directed with cool professionalism by the late Leonard Nimoy. What happens is that the Enterprise team land their Klingon starship in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, cloak it with an invisibility shield, and separate into the teams through the Bay area looking for humpback whales and a complete source of reduced nuclear power.

What makes their search entertaining is we already know the members of this team really well. That cast’s laidback contact is unique among movies, because it hasn’t been figured out in a few weeks of rehearsal or shooting. By the time this movie was released, it was the 20^th anniversary of “Star Trek,” and most of these actors have been working together for most of their professional lives. These characters know one another.

For example, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock visit a Sea World-type aquarium, where two humpback whales are held in custody. Catherine Hicks (who played the mother in the horrendous “7^th Heaven” show), as Gillian, the marine biologist in charge, plans to release the whales, and the Enterprise team need to find out her plans so they can recapture the whales and go back to the future.

Obviously, this requires the two men to ask Gillian out to dinner.

She asks if they like Italian food, and Kirk and Spock do a wonderful little verbal jazz based on the running joke that Spock, as a Vulcan, cannot tell a lie. Ebert advised, “Find another space opera in which verbal counterpoint creates humor.”

The stories of the previous “Star Trek” have focused around dramatic villains, such as Khan, the feared genius in “Star Trek 2.” This time, the villains are faceless: the international hunters who continue to follow and kill whales despite clear signs they will annihilate these decent mammals from the Earth. “To hunt a race to extinction is not logical,” Spock calmly observes, but we see shocking footage of whalers doing just that.

Instead of giving a single human villain as counterpoint, “Star Trek 4” gives a heroine, in Hicks. She obviously is moved by the dilemma of the whales, and although at first she understandably questions Kirk’s story that he comes from the 23^rd Century, eventually she joins in the mission and even claims on returning to the future with them, because of course, without the humpback whales, the 23^rd Century also doesn’t have humpback whale experts.

There are some major action scenes in the movie, but they aren’t the highlights. The “Star Trek” series has always depended more on human contact and thoughtful, cause-leaning stories. What happens in San Francisco is must more interesting that what happens in outer space, and this movie, which might seem to have an unlikely and inconvenient plot, is actually the smartest and satisfying “Star Trek” film so far.

I liked this better than 2, just like James Rolfe admits. The environmental message in this movie was needed at the time, and they pulled it off perfectly. Plus, the comedy in this movie is the best of all of them thus far, especially with how the crew is trying to fit in the 20^th Century. Nimoy really followed this movie up from 3 very well, so it ended the trilogy very well. Now, when I mean “Trek Trilogy,” I mean 2, 3 and 4. These three are connected very well to one another and I highly recommend everyone to check this one out. If you liked 2 and 3, you’ll love this one, I promise you.

Look out next Monday when I review what Trekkies and regular moviegoers like to call the worst “Star Trek” movie. Trust me, I’m not looking forward to it either.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Whether you’re a diehard Trekkie or a regular moviegoer, everyone who has seen all of the “Star Trek” movies will tell you that the even-numbered films are good but the odd-numbered movies are not. Certain people will tell you that if you look closer that theory will be invalidated. On the one hand, everyone’s favorites “The Wrath of Khan” and “First Contact” are even, while on the other hand everyone’s least favorites “The Motion Picture” and “The Final Frontier” are odd. Brian Eggert stated in his review, “It’s not that the odd-numbered films are poor, though indeed one or two are; but rather, for some reason, they usually contain less actionized plots, and thus are less likely to serve up a blustering crowd-pleaser.” If you look at “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,” released in 1984, which follows the movement of an Enterprises crewmember’s soul, or “katra” in the original Vulcan language. A spiritual journey is hardly a classic story for a big-budget blockbuster, which is probably why writer-producer Harve Bennett included some Klingon troubles for excitement.

Yet, the story is what Time critic Richard Schickel called, “the first space opera to deserve that term in its grandest scale.” Eggert said, “Indeed, Paramount Pictures didn't release another swashbuckler like the film’s immediate predecessor, but a weighty, sometimes cornball drama filled with themes of rebirth.” After everyone crying over Spock’s death at the end of “The Wrath of Khan,” Bennett began writing the script backward, starting with the final sequence of Spock’s rebirth and working his way back, since resurrecting Spock was the main reason Paramount signed on this sequel. Produced for $16 million, the studio kept the production cost (and even the production value) low. The devoted fan base guaranteed “The Search for Spock” would gross $76 million, giving another profitable release and setting the franchise’s future, regardless of unexcited responses.

Starting exactly where “The Wrath of Khan” ended, the film starts with Spock dead, having sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise and the crew, his body shot on a planet being created by the Genesis Device. This device creates life where there isn’t any, growing abandoned vegetation and atmosphere in wealth. With Spock’s body on the planet, he begins his rebirth. Meanwhile, the Enterprise has returned to Earth and stopped at a spaceport, the crew still mourning over the passing of their friend. Admiral Kirk has noticed that Dr. McCoy is acting somewhat strange. When Spock’s father, Sarek, played by Mark Lenard, arrives and hears of McCoy’s actions, he deduces that Spock must have transferred his “katra” into McCoy just before he sacrificed himself. Sarek tells Kirk he must recover Spock’s body and return him to Vulcan, where he will set up an ancient ceremony to return Spock’s “katra.”

Easier said than done. Back on the Genesis Planet, shameful Klingon Captain Kruge, played by Christopher Lloyd, wants to retrieve the life-bringing Genesis Device and recreate it as a weapon. On the planet, Vulcan scientist Lt. Saavik (Robin Curtis) and Kirk’s son David (Merrit Butrick), both characters introduced in “The Wrath of Khan,” find a Vulcan boy (Carl Steven, Vadia Potenza, Stephen Manley, Joe W. Davis and Steve Blalock, with Frank Welker providing the screams) aging rapidly, slowly growing into the ever famous Spock. Luckily, Kirk disobeys orders and quietly leaves with the Enterprise, with only the main crew, to stop the Klingons, recover the Genesis Device, and restore Spock’s “katra” from McCoy’s body to its newly reborn and rightful person on Vulcan.

Some awkward casting is very clear when Robin Curtis shows that she’s not Kristie Alley, who played Saavik in “The Wrath of Khan” and does not reprise her role in this movie. Alley supposedly wanted more money than was offered to reprise her first movie role from the last film. Paramount could have written her character out, but they re-casted the actress, a decision that made the film feeling erratic. Curtis’ presence is unnatural and stiff, too much even for a role to play a Vulcan. Additionally, as much as the Kruge character is needed to give some space action, his motivation is distorted, although Lloyd does great with one-dimensional roles.

Despite the late Nimoy being largely absent from the film, he appears on the poster and his name is on the director’s chair. Nimoy started his directing job for “The Search for Spock” after his positive experience on “The Wrath of Khan,” a film he originally said would be his last as Spock. Eggert said, “More than any other Star Trek film director, Nimoy renders all the characters with humanistic traits, which challenges the raw entertainment value of any photon torpedo battle. He captures how the actors and characters alike play off one another in a fixed rhythm—particularly Shatner’s Kirk and Kelley’s McCoy in this film—thus solidifying their permanent status in film and pop-culture history as genre icons. Doing this with sensitivity and consideration for the dramatic depth of the story is what makes Nimoy’s direction exceptional.”

Yet, there are creative choices that feel unusual to a movie and better fit for a two-part episode. For example, earlier in the opening credits we are treated to a recap of what happened in the previous film (Eggert said, “as though “Previously on Star Trek” should have opened the film”). Eggert goes on to say, “Such a generic intro hardly helps distinguish the film series from its television roots, but the visual splendor (save for some cheap-looking soundstage sets) and impressive effects make up for that. The aforementioned rigid acting and seemingly forced Klingon conflict also present unnecessary comparisons to the show.” Though, undeniably the studio fought for a villain, as saving Spock would not be enough to interest audiences that aren’t fans of the show – since “obviously” that would happen in this sequel. (After “The Wrath of Khan,” and even before it was released, fans wrote angry letters to Paramount against killing Spock.)

Despite all the problems, “The Search for Spock” is a nice, character-driven entertainment. Once again you would have to rethink the theory of ranking the “Star Trek” films by their numeric order, even-numbered good, odd-numbered bad. Eggert is right when he says, “Since The Search for Spock is the third film in the series, many waive-off its dramatic merits solely in support of this superstition, ignoring how the film elevates this franchise from mere adventure in the stars to a full-fledged theatrical experience, complete with a narrative that has us emotionally invested in familiar and lovable characters and their fates.” Helping the film out, audiences find out what kind of “Star Trek” viewer they are: Either they’re the type that allow themselves to get emotionally involved in the story, or they’re the everyday viewer watching only to see spaceships explode and the once in a while alien vaporized by a phaser. You can say I am in the former category.

Like I had already stated, this is the only odd-numbered “Star Trek” movie that I really recommend. It’s a good sequel, although the villain wasn’t a good follow-up to Khan. Lloyd is like a one-note villain, but a pretty good one, even with him going in a hand-to-hand fight with Kirk, like how it used to be in the original series. Kirk always had a number of physical fights with villains in the television show, as I have heard. A strong rivalry could have helped, but it’s still enjoyable, despite the fact that it can drag, since the big death scenes and strong moments will help the film feel operatic. Not as good as some of the others, but a nice sequel to follow “The Wrath of Khan,” so I give it credit for trying. Definitely check it out if you liked “The Wrath of Khan” because this film will not be a huge disappointment, even though I can understand why some people may find it boring.

Since Nimoy really hit a homerun with this movie, how do you think he will do since he returns as director for the next one? Find out this Friday for the next installment in “Star Trek Month.”

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Welcome back to “Star Trek Month,” where today we will be looking at the vast improvement over the first movie and the one that you should start the movie series out with, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” released in 1982.

At a time when the underwhelming “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was released, the starting of the “Star Trek” movies needed an improvement, which is what “The Wrath of Khan” gave. While still having the thematic elements of the late-60s TV series and using the original and loved USS Enterprise crew, “Star Trek II” added a lot of action, adventure and suspense, putting life into a concept that had been left declining by the first movie. A lot of people like to declare this the best “Star Trek” movie and even the strongest any movie adaptation of the series that fans loved.

Unlike the first movie where the uniforms were pastel and clinical white, this one had a nicer burgundy uniform. James Berardinelli stated in his review, “The ship also seems smaller and homier than three years ago, although there's a definite warlike aspect to its comforts (witness the detail shown as the Enterprise prepares for the film's climactic battle).” The characters also appear more relaxed here, and the three-way friendship/rivalry between Admiral Kirk, Spock and McCoy heeds back to the best moments of the show. Director Nicholas Meyer, along with writers Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards, has taken quite some work to revive the humanity of “Star Trek.”

The film is a follow up to the first episode of the 22^nd season (“Space Seed”). Here, the villain Khan, played by the late Ricardo Montalban, in an enjoyable over-the-top performance, and his comrades have escaped from the barren planet where then-Captain Kirk imprisoned him fifteen-some years ago. Khan, once a brilliant, fascinating leader, has become a bitter psychopath, driven only to revenge. He blames Kirk for the death of his wife and his own life being ruined, and plans to execute revenge – in blood. After taking over a Federation starship, Khan steals Genesis, a possible doomsday weapon created by Kirk’s son, David (Merritt Butrick), and former girlfriend, Carol (Bibi Besch), and traps the Enterprise into a carefully-executed trap.

The “Star Trek” cast does what fans expect them to do. Berardinelli said this about William Shatner: “William Shatner, not generally regarded as a top-flight actor, fits comfortably into this role, mixing heroic arrogance with surprising vulnerability. Of the seven Star Trek features in which he has appeared, Shatner does his best work here.” As always, the late Nimoy plays Spock with a spark of sarcastic humor, and the late Kelley proves to be his perfect, inconsistent foil. Familiar faces James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei and Nichelle Nicols have all returned, although only Koenig has more than a few empty scenes.

Along with bringing back Montalban’s enjoyable performance as Khan (Berardinelli stated, “This is a fun performance to watch, principally because it's so campy”), “Star Trek II” introduces three important new characters. The first is Saavik, played by Kristie Alley from the famous TV show “Cheers,” the half-Vulcan understudy of Spock. Then there are a couple of characters out of Kirk’s past – a son and a former girlfriend. Berardinelli said, “However, while Alley steals scenes as Saavik, both Bibi Besch and Merritt Butrick are flat and unappealing, causing the entire "Kirk's family" subplot to flounder. Fortunately, it's afforded only token screen time.”

“The Wrath of Khan” is a top-notch, fast-paced thrill ride that can be enjoyed equally by Trekkies and viewers who have never seen the show. There are several tense, well-shot battle scenes that show impressive special effects and a great score by James Horner. Berardinelli stated, “The ending, which I won't reveal (although everyone probably knows it by now) is tender and poignant -- proof that Star Trek can still touch the heart.” You might even know what I am talking about, but I won’t say. “The Wrath of Khan” shows the possible characteristic in the “Star Trek” idea as useful to the big screen. Berardinelli ended his review by saying, “It's unfortunate that none of the other films in this long-running series have come close to the level achieved by this marvelous example of entertainment.” A lot of people say that, but I beg to differ. Not to say that I hate this movie, I think this is one of the best. As the month goes on, I will reveal my personal favorite.

In the end, if you haven’t seen this movie, you shouldn’t even be reading my review. Skip the first movie and go to this one. You will be thoroughly enjoyed by it, I promise you. Not only will you like Khan and the film’s pacing, but the interactions between the characters really help this film out. Only downside are the special effects and some of the acting. Plus, Shatner and Montalban don’t have any screen time together. Their scenes had to be shot separately, so you don’t get a face-to-face encounter, but that’s fine. There's also the famous "Khan" scream that Shatner famously delivered in this movie.

Happy Independence Day once again my online readers. Wednesday I will look at the only good odd numbered movie in “Star Trek Month.”