First, let me just say, quite unapologetically, that I actually LIKED the Enterprise TV show. I know that’s not a popular opinion among either Star Trek or general sci-fi fans. And I’m not saying it was a perfect show, by any means. But I still enjoyed it every week, and was sad when it got prematurely canceled. In fact, a few weeks ago, I tivoed the last half of the final season, and got sad all over again, because I really thought those episodes were pretty strong.
Except for the very last one. The series finale. Which I got pissed at all over again. So I chuckled when I ran across this short interview with Brannon Braga — who produced and wrote that episode, and who is finally will to fess up that yes, “it didn’t turn out as well as [he] hoped … it was kind of a lackluster story.” According to Braga, “At the time I thought it was very cool, it was only when it came out, I realized, ‘this isn’t quite working.'” Gee, you think?
Every other blog out there has posted this picture. I may as well too. It’s the first glimpse at J.J. Abrams’ take on the Enterprise, as it will look in the new Star Trek movie. Nothing radical here, from the looks of it. Just some smoother lines to bring it up to date with 21st century special effects standards. I like it!
The Star Trek movie won’t be out until May 2015 or something, but J.J. Abrams has released some photos to … I don’t know … torture everybody I guess. Enjoy!
This is a project I started working on a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t really want to share it with the world until I’d proved the concept to myself. Ten installments later, I think I’ve done that. From here on, I plan to crank out one of these a week. Unless it just turns out nobody’s reading it and/or the people who are reading it don’t think it’s funny. So let me know what you think …
This week’s W.Y.O.S.T. subject is Vaughn Armstrong. And the answer is a resounding YES, he HAS been in many a Star Trek show. In fact, he holds the record for having played the most different characters on the various Trek shows. He’s appeared 27 times as 11 different characters of 8 different races — 3 Klingons, 2 Cardassians, a Borg, a Romulan, a Vidiian, a Hirogen, a Kreetassan … and even a plain old human. He played 5 different characters on the Voyager series alone, and shares with Jeffrey Combs the distinction of being the only actor to portray 3 characters in the same season of the same show (Enterprise). The only Trek show he never appeared on was The Original Series … but I’m sure it’s only because he was a teenager at the time.
A Vietnam War veteran, Armstrong did a lot of stage acting in his early days, and didn’t actually enter the Hollywood scene until he was 27 years old. The following year (1978), he landed a one-shot role on a Wonder Woman episode, and the next decade would find him on such popular shows as Lou Grant, Matt Houston, Simon & Simon, Remington Steele, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, and the classic 1984 time travel movie The Philadelphia Experiment.
Sam Miller has written a spot-on examination of the difference between Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica over at mental_floss that any fan of either show MUST read. It may be an idea you’ve heard expressed before, but Miller expresses it so well in this essay that it’s worth revisiting …
“Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica have wildly different aesthetics and ideologies, and both aspire to very different goals. Fundamentally, it boils down to this: Star Trek is about who we want to be, and Battlestar Galactica is about who we are.”
I have some less profound thoughts about the Star Trek franchise, if you care to read them …
This week’s