Will Weaton Turns 41: A Portrait Of Wesley Crusher

                          One of the qualities I appreciated most Star Trek: The Next Generation is the idea of a starship where the crew could bring their families on board. Very much born out of the production of the original Star Trek's dissolution of Gene Roddenberry's own family,this concept was also in keeping with Roddenberry's optimism for the future. One of the characters in this show was Wesley Crusher,the adolescent only child of the Enteprise's doctor and widowed mother Beverley Crusher. Whether we Will Weaton for his role in Stand By Me,his left wing politics and LGBT rights campaigning or his recent appearances in The Big Bang Theory he will,to me always have the most influence on me in the role of Wesley-a character named for Roddenberry's own middle name as a futurist version of himself so they say.

                     Wesley Crusher was a highly intelligent wunderkind,the "Mozart of 24'th century engineering" as a character in the show called the Traveler once implied. One of the most telling qualities he had however was his generally positive interactions with the crew. He only occasionally exhibited signs of cock sure adolescent attitudes. And although his intelligence led him into leading the Enterprise out of dangerous situations faster than the crew could, he was often more than willing to assist the crew-especially close friends Geordi LaForge and Data,in understanding his visions. He was a positive enthusiast and idealist-reveling in the new encounters he had on the ship. However from the start he had ambiguous feelings about going to Starfleet Academy as Captain Jean-Luc Picard was hoping for. After a time there led to a severe downturn in his enthusiasm he embarked on a more esoteric journey to understanding his gifts.

                  Much to my own regret, most people-especially Star Trek fans,have as equally as much vitriol for Wesley Crusher as I do respect and admiration. Much of this comes from the spiteful humor of 1990's comedians such as Craig Kilborn,one Trekker who delighted in getting hundreds of people to shamelessly laugh at the character. I always had a feeling a lot of this feeling was born of a form of envy-deriving from the young American male "jocks and geeks" style 20th century style social order. Today in the 21st century,as social attitudes are at last expanding there seems to be a strong re-evaluation of  Wesley's character. With no narcissism intended the Wesley character and myself have many qualities in common: strong idealist enthusiasm,a keen intellect,personal vulnerability and a tendency to be misunderstood-often misdirected by others.  I greatly admire Weaton's portrayal of this character. And am wishing a happy 41 to him and to his family!

Nana Visitor Turns 56-A Portrait Of Kira Nerys

                             Perhaps it may seem like a cop out to use an actresses birthday as a platform to discuss one character she played. However in this case I'm of the opinion that this particular role was extremely significant for this particular person. Nana Visitor has,and continues to have a very successful and diversified acting career-even marrying her Deep Space Nine co-star Siddig el Fadil and continuing to act while pregnant with their son Django: the event integrated into the story line of the show. From my understanding the character Visitor portrayed,one Kira Nerys was a replacement for Deep Space Nine's intended representative from Bajor (and Star Trek: The Next Generation) Ro Laren. Aware of Michelle Forbes interest in weekly television at that time,Vistor stepped into her part and fom 1993 to 1999 created a character that was,at the very least,very significant and redemptive.

                       As portrayed by Vistor, first Major Kira was a reluctant and rather resentful Banjoran national who was put into position as a liaison to Commander Ben Sisko on Deep Space Nine,ironically a former Cardassian mining station they called Terok Nor. Nerys was very protective of her possition and her people-known for challenging Sisko's authority on virtually every event on the station-even going over his head on several occasions. As local events on the station evolved into a conflict with the Dominion her life came to a strange full circle. Becoming the awkward midwife to Chief O'Brien's son as well as instructing her adopted daughter of sorts (actually the love child of her sworn enemy Dukat) essentially in how to be a terrorist, Kira Nerys' life became alternately conflicted and domestic. 

                  While I have my own personal conflicts over how Deep Space Nine was handled in its later years,it was the character of Kira that helped define and shape was it started out being: the "darker,grittier" Star Trek-with a firm sociopolitical ethic. One superb example is an episode called 'Duet' from the first season of the show, in which Kira not only has to confront that her worst enemy is actually a possible source of redemption for both the Bajorans and Cardassians-only for him to be killed. If the character of Kira had,say been written out in the next episode this would be her shinning moment on the show. Luckily she had the chance to have seven years of them. Developing a meaningful relationship with misunderstood shape shifter Security Chief Odo Kira Nerys embodied Star Trek's evolution in portraying strong female characters. She was volatile,committed,resourceful,confident and actually very vulnerable in the end. So to me Nana Visitor will always be remembered as portraying not only one of Star Trek's strongest female characters but one of it's strongest characters period. And Star Trek has many.

                               

                                      

Star Trek Slipping Into Darkness?

                            Before I begin it should be stated that this is not a review of J.J. Abrams newest Star Trek movie staring Chris Pine And Zachary Quinto. One of the few Star Trek admiring friends I still talk with from my adolescence name of Jeff,and I discussed the possibility of seeing this film for the longest time. In many ways,I was more impressed with the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek film than I thought. Which leads to another important qualifier: the current Star Trek movies has virtually nothing to do with Gene Roddenberry's original Trek universe. Save guest appearances by Leonard Nimoy. 

                      While some might debate this factor,it is what it is. And important to know when taking in this particular film. I waited for two months since this film came out. Finally it was dollar day at my local second run movie theater,my teeth were still numb from a filling so finally seeing this film on the big screen to today seemed like a good way to kill some time. Sounds like a very poor endorsement doesn't it? Well not all is as it seems. And that,in a word is the core point of what I'll call a theatrical commentary on the film.

                       Avoiding any potential spoilers,the basic plot of this film involves Captain Kirk (Pine) being reduced in rank after his irresponsible behavior on a mission only to be reunited with his crew on the Enterprise to save Starfleet itself from destruction by a genetically engineered superman  Khan. Yes you've got it right-Khan Noonian Singh himself. Played here by Benedict Cumberbatch Khan is generally given a far colder and calculated attitude (only shedding a single tear throughout the film) than the late Ricardo Montalbahn's alternately smug and vengefully hostile interpretation. Still the question remains for me why is Khan in any modern day Star Trek at all?

                         One of the issues Jeff and I discussed regarding this film was J.J's obvious pandering to the nostalgia of Trekkers the world over with his films. And this particular film offers that level of nostalgia to such a degree it seems almost spoofed at times. Ironically, the characterizations of the original crew of the Enterprise are far closer to Roddenberry's original than they had been in J.J's debut Trek film of 2009. In particular Chris Pine-delivering a more adult swagger this time than the sometimes overblown cockiness in his first time out in the role. Karl Urban's McCoy is also far less of the hypochondriac here which is extremely appealing to me.

                        There are a couple elements that drag the film down significantly and that is the plot itself. Obviously drawing from 1982's The Wrath Of Khan, it does so to the shameless level of even including lines that are almost identical to the original film. The best example of this would involve a severe spoiler for anyone who never saw the movie so I won't include it here. The other element of the film that evades its intentions are that the film revels in so many steroid speed action scenes of characters attacking each other on fast moving objects that other characters,such Alice Eve's Carole Marcus are severely underdeveloped compared to Bibi Besch's original character.

                         Only one element of this film made me as angry as...say Spock's rage at Khan during the conclusion of this film. And that was the site of the Starfleet battleship U.S.S. Venture plowing into Starfleet headquarters. I felt it was a symbolic slap in the face to original Trek admirers and saying de facto that Star Trek somehow only belonged to J.J Abrams now. Aside from that it is a well produced and well acted film that suffers from poor writing made so by virtue of its nearly complete lack of originality. Whatever other controversies that might surround this movie, the overall effect is severe doubt as to whether Star Trek is still a thriving and inspirational  phenomenon or a mere franchise on it's last legs-with its best days in the metaphorical entertainment museum. If this film is any indication, that uncertainty would seem to be here to stay for a good while.

                     

                     

Confessions Of A Star Trek Admirer

            Data is probably the character in all of Star Trek that is the most identifiable to me. That's part of the magic of science fiction: how the life of a given character can metaphorically tell the story of a person they find hard to tell. Data was the one successful android with a  positronic brain-capable of interacting with anyone with the abilities and efficiency of a high powered computer. But he was a mechanical Pinocchio-desiring to have the emotions and relationships of a human. His is a character much imitated later in the world of science fiction but, in my own opinion never half as well. As much as it pains me,I was always bought up with the idea that humility outweighed confidence.That was my personal struggle. If one is such a person who feels the words "I,me and mine" are not to be used too often in a sentence,this is likely not the blog post for you. But its a story many others with the time and tolerance might find solace of their own in.

                   This is a little story about my life. As with many young children growing up, I was on the receiving end of a massive barrage of bullying. I would go to the principles office and tell them. Basically I was told that these bullies would never respect a "tattler". That I would have to deal with them on their own terms-face to face. Toughen up was what I was told. Not to be vulnerable. At home I was taught the lessons of "the peaceful warrior" by my family. My response to these contradictory responses was essentially to stay overwhelmed. I would make a run and try to ram myself into walls. Not to get attention but just to know I had the power somewhere to escape dangers. I would act like a foolish clown-make eccentric jokes and try to be the class oddball. Inwardly I detested the cliques,the lack of support. But every Sunday night at 7PM I could turn on this android who sometimes said the wrong thing,not understanding emotions. He would learn something. And his crew mates were his friends. And accepted him for who he was. They cared about each other. And helped others to care too. And that was very comforting.
   
                    During this time I knew a couple people interested in Star Trek. But I started to learn that "Trekkies" as Star Trek admirers were called at the time were not socially acceptable in a lot of circles. Suddenly that became an object of bullying for me-verbal bullying. That I could not take at all. True I detested what football and pro wrestling represented as being the primary interests of other children. On Star Trek,characters regretted when violence was used. They didn't advocate it as real life,present day violence of that time seemed to. In 1994 Star Trek The Next Generation went off the air. There was a series called Deep Space Nine on the air. But it was looking to imitate the air of the 1990's. While it was brilliant in many ways,it simply didn't provide the same therapeutic atmospherics in my own life as its predecessor had. Of course Star Trek was not made for me. Aside from my interests in photography, most of the others interests I had during that time found me bumbling rather pathetically through them. I kept thinking of the Star Trek universe-full of many different people. Amazing star ships. No worries about money or materialism. Then my mother made a friend for me. It made a huge difference.

                Out of respect I'll refer to him only as "my friend". He was unlike any friend I had before. He was a decade older than I. His love of Star Trek was even broader than my own. In getting to know this new friend, I began becoming very confessional to him. He knew the important place Star Trek held in my heart,mind and soul. He even advised me on a Star Trek series I was writing. It was not fan fiction. It was intended as a genuine television series in the spirit of the by then deceased Gene Roddenberry. It was to be an enormous movement. No commercials,an open detain for fighting and killing. And of course Star Trek's futurist mentality. Eventually reality intruded of course. In terms of the series I was writing,controversy erupted when those who saw it objected to the doctor in the story being a lesbian. That felt like another crushing defeat.  During this time even Star Trek itself began to seriously let me down. The movies they were making such as First Contact and the series Deep Space Nine seemed to emphasize the glamorization and gratuitous use of violence that Star Trek had once railed against. In society the economy was balanced,there were no wars but so many people desired to be unhappy. 

            From that point on? Star Trek gradually had a slow death in my life in terms of a socially and morally guiding force in my life. 9/11 happened. Unhappiness among people went to outright paranoia. Suddenly the economy was not so good. There was a war and millions on both sides died in horrible ways. Some of them people I knew.
The dream was over. Society had fully and suddenly embraced the philosophy of total war. In 2002,the character of Data was killed off in the motion picture Nemesis. In 2005 the last televised Star Trek series made by Paramount called Enterprise left the airwaves after apparently miserable ratings. In 2009 director J.J. Abrams returned Star Trek to the silver screen with a new motion picture. However,while casting talented actors such as Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto he created his movie completely outside the spectrum of Gene Roddenberry's vision and even cannon. A lot of it had to do with commercial product placement and fast past action violence. While a well done film for what it was,it seemed the slogan had reversed: Star Trek no longer lived. It had died. In the film the planet Vulcan was destroyed. Romulus was destroyed and the timeline was wrecked to bits. Star Trek had at last died.

               So what happened to me after the official demise of the Star Trek universe? Is it only a brand name for nostalgia? Both written and filmed fan fiction? Its very much a homeless phenomenon now. Another comparable science fiction show,one that I never paid much credence to in the past had a massively successful revival after Star Trek's last day. That was Doctor Who,on the BBC. Today Doctor Who thrives,in its own context carrying on the torch of thoughtful science fiction onward. While I've come to love this show,I miss Star Trek deeply. I have the old shows on DVD of course. But new shows are no longer on the television. And it was a slow death-starting really around the time I first lost touch with my friend. Now it's all about awkward hope. My friend and I have since reconnected. And in our minds,the dream of Star Trek seems to be there. The embers of Gene Roddenberry's vision still burns somewhere within us. I have been extremely neglectful in the last two months of this blog-for reasons which you the readers of this posting now know quite well. The embers may burn, but the interest doesn't seem to be there.  Do I want to try to keep my New Star Trek Manifesto going? I don't know now. But where there are embers,there's always the possibility of an eternal flame.

       

               

     

Star Trek-Voyager: Caretaker

                      Captain Kathryn Janeway,commander of the Starship Voyager journeys to a Federation Penal Colony in Australia to temporarily release imprisoned Marquis sympathizer Tom Paris to help her pilot Voyager through the Badlands,an area of intense fire storms,to locate a Marquis vessel containing her undercover chief of security Tuvok. Upon arriving at the Badlands,Voyager is thrown forward by a powerful energy field and half the crew either killed or knocked unconscious. When the captain awakens,her operations officer Harry Kim informs her they are now 70,000 light years from from where they started-in the distant delta quadrant. They find a mysterious alien array before them,firing energy pulses to a dead planet below. After they revive the EMH (emergency medical hologram) to treat the injured,they suddenly disappear. With the array as the only possible culprit the Captain,Harry and Tom transport on board to find what seems like an Earth style barn yard dance. In a barn on the premises,Harry detects indications of Sporosystian life. They suddenly find themselves dangling on platforms,in an enormous chamber,with the rest of their own and the Marquis crew. When they are returned to their own ship,Janeway finds Harry is missing. He is being held with Marquis engineer B'lanna Torres by a race calling themselves the Ocampa. 

                   The Ocampa claim the two have a disease they are asked to treat by an alien called the Caretaker,who overseas their world after their planet turned into a dessert and the Ocampa were forced to live underground. Voyager,for their part,soon encounter a Talaxian scavenger called Nelix who promises he can help them find their missing crew member. He takes them to the surface to a group of aliens called the Kazon Ogla who,in exchange for water,release Neelix's Ocampa lover from their custody. Despite Neelix's  odd methods,this allows the Voyager crew and the Marquis team,who've elected to join forces to get to their home quadrant,to rescue their crew mates and confront this caretaker. Turns out the caretaker blames himself for what happened to the surface of the Ocampa home world,and has been bringing aliens from other parts of the galaxy to try and procreate. Because the Kazon wish to commandeer the array,Janeway is forced to destroy it-along with the crews one chance of getting home,in order to maintain the balance of power in this region. While making an enemy of the Kazon,Janeway manages to unite Starfleet and Marquis personal in a mission of exploration of the Delta Quadrant,while searching for another way to get home.

               As with the Deep Space Nine pilot,this is a very busy story. Not only are we introduced to a one set of new characters but two,as the central theme of the show is two divergent crews coming together for a common goal. And a diverse group it is. We have Torres,an intelligent but aggressive Klingon/Human hybrid. There's the holographic doctor with no bedside manner. There's the new alien Neelix,a mildly mischievous rogue who is looking for little more than love and to reform his vagabond ways. And his girlfriend Kes,who offers their services to Janeway as guides to the quadrant. The title character is one we learn very little about. He comes off as compassionate but too powerful to fully comprehend human needs and therefore has a mildly sinister quality. One theme that carried on from this story through the rest of the series was Janeway's controversial choice to destroy the crews one way of getting home-to keep from violating the Federation's Prime Directive. While it shows her strong moral fortitude,which is at the heart of Star Trek itself,it is a source of contention between her and Voyager's crew on many occasions throughout the series.

Deep Space Nine-Emissary

                   Three years after his wife was killed when the Borg,led by Locutus,destroyed the ship he was first officer of,Commander Benjamin Sisko is assigned by Captain Jean-Luc Picard to the space station Deep Space Nine in orbit around Bajor following the Cardassians withdrawing their occupational forces from that world. The reluctant widowed officer,along with his son Jake,arrive on the station to be greeted by a wrecked station partially crewed-with most of it's original occupants preparing to leave. He meets up with the equally reluctant Bajoran nation Major Kira Nyrys,who is convinced the Federation has no place administrating on the station now that the Bajoran's are finally liberated and cynically believes he and the other Starfleet officers will be gone in a week. She convinces Sisko to visit the Bajoran's spiritual leader Kai Opaka. Upon arriving Sisko is introduced to an orb Opaka calls "the tear of the prophets",which reveals Sisko's first meeting with his deceased wife. When his new Trill science officer Jadzia Dax arrives,she studies the orb and suggests she and Sisko,with whom she had been friends in her past host body, take one of the Federation runabouts on the station to investigate a source signal from the orb in the nearby Denorious belt.

                             Upon arriving their they find themselves in an unusual wormhole that Dax discovers to be the only stable wormhole encountered by the Federation-with the end destination in the Gamma Quadrant 75,000 light years away. On the way back,the runabout mysteriously touches down inside the wormhole,Dax believes she is in a tranquil garden while Sisko on a rock face in the middle of an atmospheric storm. An orb appears and whisks Dax away,but envelopes Sisko. He finds himself speaking to aliens who appear as his comrades and loved ones,claiming to be aliens existing in this wormhole outside. As he uses metaphors to explain linear time to the aliens,Kira and Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien attempt to fend off invading Cardassians as they look to stake a claim to the newly discovered stable wormhole. O'Brien manages to re-engage the shields to provide enough power to move the station to the edge of the wormhole-just in time for Commander Sisko's return,after which he formerly accepts his new assignment to Captain Picard.

                            This is an extremely complex premiere that,in approximately 90 minutes,attempts to sum up a number of very complex plot points. There's the shape shifting security chief Odo,attempting to maintain order on Deep Space Nine following the Cardassian desertion and Quark,the conniving Ferengi bar owner who Sisko assigns as a community leader on the new liberated station. The main thrust for Sisko in this story is actually an extension on what was attempted in the original Star Trek pilot The Cage-a tortured man in a command position who is forced to confront his demons with the help of powerful aliens. Only this time while the wormhole aliens are able to express to Sisko he is living in the past,he manages to help them explain linear time effectively through examples like baseball.  Though Deep Space Nine would be a series that was very uneven in quality through it's seven year airing,this counts as one of the best Star Trek pilot episodes ever aired.

Star Trek:The Next Generation-Encounter At Farpoint

                      En route to investigate Farpoint Station,a star base built for Federation use by the Bandi of Deneb IV,Captain Jean-Luc Picard becomes better acquainted with the state of the art Galaxy Class U.S.S. Enterprise he is now commanding. His ships counselor Deanna Troi senses an unusually powerful mind. Suddenly a mysterious man addressing himself only as Q materializes on the bridge of the ship. Changing in wardrobe from an ancient ship captain,to a Korean War era GI and a drug controlled 21'st century shock troop he accuses humanity of being a dangerously savage child race who must return to Earth. Picard convinces him that he is a self righteous life form only looking to prosecute and judge lower life forms. This inspires Q to put the crew on trail,in a post apocolyptic 21'st century Earth Kangaroo court,for the crimes of humanity after Picard separates the saucer from the rest of the Enterprise to avoid a confrontation with the Q entity.

                 After taunting the crew by freezing two of it's personnel including security chief Tasha Yar,for standing up for humanity Picard insists Q tests humanity as to it's virtues. He insists the Farpoint mission will be an excellent test. And he sends them on their way. When the Enterprise arrives to pick up,among other new crew members,it's first officer William Riker at Farpoint it is only the star drive section that arrives. After being briefed on their encounter with Q,Commander Riker successfully re-connects the saucer and reveals his past romance with Counselor Troi.  Riker has been curious,after his encounter with the ellusive Bandi leader Grappler Zorn,how Farpoint could have so many contradictions-such as in his own description near magical attempts to please visitors. When it's also clear the only technological advantage the planet has is a mass of geothermal energy. 

           Upon Riker organizing an away team,Troi senses great emotional sadness in the Grappler's office and later in the mysterious caverns beneath the city. Amid Q's continual harassment,the Enterprise notices a large flying saucer approaching Deneb IV. Interestingly enough,it fires weapons on the Bandi city but carefully avoids Farpoint. With Q encouraging weapons fire,Picard decides to send an away team to the ship. There they find identical corridors to that below Farpoint. Troi senses first anger here,than satisfaction at the destruction of the Bandi city. Upon capturing Zorn,he reveals to Picard a space fearing entity of this sort arrived on their world and was injured. They provided it with enough energy to keep alive,but only so they could use it to curry favor with the Federation by using it's shape shifting ability to create a suitable star base. The Enterprise releases the entity after evacuating Farpoint,where it meets what turns out to be it's mate in orbit.Having passed Q's test and the Bandi agreeing to rebuilt Farpoint,Picard and his new crew head into space to "see what's out there".

             It was an enormous gamble for Gene Roddenberry to re-imagine Star Trek,a century in the cannons future and with an entirely new crew,in 1987 having failed to do so already with the original cast for the aborted Star Trek Phase II series in the late 70's. And in syndication no less. This pilot succeeded on all levels. It had to tell little introduction stories for each member of the crew: Picard,Riker,the android Data,the Klingon Worf,Geordi,Counselor Troi,Tasha Yar,Dr.Crusher and her son Wesley and their new adversary: the aggressively arrogant and omnipotent Q. John DaLancie brings this character to life almost fully formed,if far more adversarial than was later portrayed. As for the rest of the cast,there would be a lot of room to crew. Data is far more mechanical in personality and a stronger "babbler" than later. Captain Picard lacks much of the strong personality he'd develop later and is more a straight laced authority figure. And Deanna Troi's emphatic reactions are far more pronounced.  It's Johnathan Frakes as Commander Riker who is the most fully formed of the new characters. Overall a wonderful and visually stunning introduction,with it's far higher budget FX,  to a new series that would expand Star Trek's audience from a cult following to a viewership large enough to change everyone's perception of the show.