Movies
Growing up in the 70's meant a lot of time in front of the television. It was also the height of the afternoon movie. "Prize Movie", "Dial a Dollar"…probably this kind of show wasn't unique to the North coast. What it did was give kids an easy babysitter after getting off the school bus. It also created a love for movies, particularly black and white horror films. One channel in particular must have shown "House on Haunted Hill" with Vincent Price twice a month.
That also means we like cheaply made movies of questionable taste. Here's what we watched recently:
Star Trek: The Final Gasp of a Franchise
I'm going to keep this short and I warn you there will be spoilers to prove my point. The latest Star Trek film disrespects everything I love about Star Trek.
It feels so good to get that off my chest! My first flash of anger - James Kirk driving too fast in a classic car to the strains of a Beastie Boys song. Um...what happened? Was that shot for a The Fast and the Furious kind of film and nobody wanted it to go to waste? And what about that ridiculous condescending scene with Scotty going through the pipes? These little annoyances are quickly overshadowed by the two biggest problems in the film.
First of all, creating an alternative universe because a character goes into the past and alters it is a cheap plot device at best. At worst it's sloppy, lazy screenwriting. It gives them the opportunity to make any mistakes they want and claim it's because of the alternative universe.
The second problem is tied directly to the first. Because the timeline has been altered, everything we know about the Star Trek universe disappears. No Vulcan Academy, no great scientific breakthroughs to help the cause of the Federation. And forget about Data, Picard, Riker - they won't exist the way we know them. Heck, they might not exist at all. With the Romulans aware the Federation, particularly Vulcan, there is a greatly increased possibility of the Romulans forming an alliance with the Klingons. How does that sound?
What does all that mean? It means we've reached the final frontier and the last leg of the journey wasn't worth the dilithium crystals to get there.