Star Trek: New Voyages is an amateur Star Trek series not dissimilar from Starship Exeter. New Voyages‘ primary refinement is that the shows are set on board the Enterprise of the original series as opposed to a contemporary ship of the same class, as is the case with Exeter. New Voyages also employs the same characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and so forth have simply been recast, and as the script makes clear, the events seen in New Voyages are intended to take place ‘in canon,’ if you will.

New Voyages looks like it has a larger operating budget than Exeter, and I thought the first episode, “What May Come,” (described as a pilot on the website) seems to employ some more experienced actors than those in the Johnsons’ labor of love.

It was a bit tough to download the episode, also. I ended up getting it from here. The site doesn’t explain the format, but the zip files are crisp-looking 240×320 (I think) .wmvs, playable on the Mac with the excellent MPlayer OS X. Alas, there’s no easy way to got from .wmv to DVD on the Mac, so you may be stuck watching the show on your monitor rather than on the tube.

I have written before about how this emerging genre fascinates me. New Voyages is particularly intriguing because of the close ties to the original show – two actors that appeared on the original series do guest shots, and a Trek fan muckety-muck who sold a story to Voyager also appears.

Overall good points include persuasive costuming, a variety of room sets including what appear to be complete bridge and transporter room sets, and some really good looking effects shots, all scrupulously employing designs drawn from the mid-seventies Starfleet Technical Manual.

New Voyages FAQ notes that producer James Cawley is a Trekanalia collector, and that the production shot in New York, facts that lead me to conclude that Cawley is the collector who purchased the DS9-built recreation of the TOS bridge set built for use on the DS9 time travel episode that placed Sisko and crew aboard the Enterprise during the events seen in TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Jimm and Josh Johnson of Exeter have told me they met with this collector in upstate New York to explore continuing their series on his sets but did not pursue the opportunity because it was geographically inconvenient for their cast and crew.

New Voyages FAQ also notes that Sulu doen not appear in the recast crew, ‘for good reason,’ which leads me to speculate that George Takei may appear in an upcoming episde, given his awareness of and involvement with the fan push to get Paramount to make Excelsior the next Trek to follow Voyager.

Naturally, there are some quibbles. The effects shots mix the textural look of the series’ movie effects with the cleaner surfaces of the original television series, which looks odd. The audio of all the interior shots is roomy; that is, there’s a clear acoustic reverb which comes from iimproper miking. The editing and pacing are – with the exception of the effects sequences – overly loose, leaving the whole production with a disctinct amateur feel; this is also a problem in the careless, busy use of soundtrack music as well. This overall slightly undisciplined sense is most obvious when the director violates TOS editing conventions in several places. This disrupts the desired effect of creating the illusion that one is watching a forgotten production from the time and place of the original series.

I am driven to comment on the visual failure of “Kirk’s” hair. It’s not even close to Shatner’s Kirk ‘do. Instead it looks like Elvis’ hair, long, square sideburns and all. Since the odd ‘Vanilla Ice’ image of the actor on the main page for the production clearly shows pointy sideburns, I assume that the square burns must be a reference to the square burns worn by Bill in the original series pilot “Whom Gods Destroy.”

In conclusion, I didn’t get the same giddy charge from seeing this as I did from seeing Exeter, but by the same token I saw nothing to indicate that the production couldn’t be tightened up. Given that both series are continuing production, I can imagine a very interesting set of scenarios between the two groups, from competition to cross-over. I also have a hard time imagining that Paramount is going to ignore or encourage this, as much as I believe it’s what they should do. On the other hand, the Paramount logo appears on the website, so maybe I’m mistaken.

Imagine if they took the budget for one episode of the current series, and distributed it to ten amateur efforts in the form of grants as a kind of farm system. In one fell swoop they’d get distribution rights to the fan material, reconnect with the fan base, and establish a modern, post-digital era production and distribution cycle to learn from and draw on. I’m not holding my breath.

Of course, this sort of thing always leads me to wonder where the fan series production of Space: 1999 might be.

Viv and I spent to day wandering around and seeing movies. We hit RoTK again, and then after munching we saw Big Fish. Despite Mr. Goldstein’s transparent slanders, I concur with his judgement of the film as one of the best of 2003. My pop’s getting a phone call tomorrow for no reason at all, between lawyer time.

Confidential to Y. S.: Okay, okay, so I’m running a bit behind on the book, okay? And, yeah, yeah, we’re springing for the booze in Vegas, I heard all about it from, believe me, everyone. I’m not picking up his and Frankie’s bill at the worst bar in New York, though. Sorry for any mizundastoods. Hey, if you get phone time with L’il Kay-Gee, can you stall him on the ink for Ken’s Misbegotten or whatever that dog is? I am this close to patching things up – I even gave him an invite to join orkut today – he’s warming up! I just know it!

it ain’t the quote but it’s what I heard.

And I so love this film. It feels like my mind.

Do you have tobacco?

O fer krissakes.

AMC is running Jarmusch’s masterwork this secont, Dead Man, and OF COURSE I’m gonna stay up and watch it.

For which I owe thanks, as I learned that my %^&*#$!@ stereo amp has a channel out, godammit. God-dammit.

Ixaybichay: I am Nobody.

(That’s Gary Farmer, and he’s in the very excellent Smoke Signals, too.)

Mr. Paine’s spirit is apparently distributing handbills on the streets of Seattle.

As a designer who has gleefully cribbed from the type design of other eras, I applaud this somewhat unrefined effort to employ eighteenth-century modes of type design. The lovely marbling is nothing more than street mud, which I believe truly finshes the piece.

front

reverse

handbill found at the intersection of Pine and 9th,
Tuesday evening, January 13, 2004

This is the review I submitted to Tablet for publication in this week’s issue, street date of December 18. I had to cut it to 800 words for them, so I thought I’d run the whole thing here. Issue content there is usually updated online by the end of the following weekend, so compare and contrast come Monday!

One of the many thoughts I remember having at about 9 am on September 11, 2001 was “Those people will never get to see The Lord of the Rings!” I recall frowning at the idiocy of the thought; but as I watched the towers fall, I couldn’t shake it. Last year it surfaced as I watched The Two Towers on Christmas Day. This year, once again, it buzzed around in my mind as I watched the final installment of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of The King.

A summary seems beside the point; yet a reviewer can no more assume knowledge on the part of the reader than a filmmaker. Frodo, who bears a magic ring to be destroyed into great peril, and his companion, Sam, venture into the land of evil, Mordor. They seek a mountain, the place the Ring was created and the only place it may be destroyed. Meanwhile, Elves and Men have defeated the army of the turncoat wizard Sauruman, whose overlord Sauron now seeks to destroy the city of Minas Tirith. The ancient city is located within sight of the heartland of Mordor. The elves are leaving Middle-Earth, and Sauron’s orc and human army vastly outnumbers the forces defending the White City, the seat of kings past. Can good triumph over evil and the reign of men be saved? Your guess may prove unusually accurate.

The first image of the film is an earthworm writhing in the fingers of a character we do not at first recognize. Shortly we realize we’re watching the story of how the Ring came to Smeagol. Andy Serkis appears on screen in person as Smeagol rather than the computer-animated avatar, Gollum. We see his transformation into the creature, in stages, mixing makeup and computer graphics. It’s a canny move, as we carry that memory of flesh-and-blood forward and project it on the computer-generated character.

Nitpickers will be relieved that while significant episodes from the books are excised (Ghan-Buri-Ghan and Tom Bombadil are undoubtedly sulking in the canteen, cursing their agents), no further ill-advised major redefinitions of character have taken place, as in the second film’s reinvention of Faramir. However, those unfamiliar with the books may be puzzled by the wholly unsympathetic portrayal of the ill-starred Steward of Gondor, Denethor. How did such a self-centered and deluded man retain his position of leadership? Jackson leaves the explanation out of the film, presumably to surface on the extended DVD. For those left wondering: Denethor has been partially bewitched by Sauruman, and his character in the film reflects this influence.

Denethor’s utterly wretched, tragic death is the absolute nadir of The Lord of The Rings as written by Tolkien, and a deliberate invocation of King Lear and other mad kings. Yet, Jackson’s version left me unmoved and a little nettled by the final pyrotechnic exclamation point. I suspect this reflects Denethor’s simplified depiction as a loathsome man, rather than a tragic figure undone by loss and pride, the tragic failure to Theoden’s noble success. The mirror image is present even in their names. Jackson’s streamlining has weakened the narrative structure of the work. There may be a trace of political commentary in Denethor’s depiction as the leader of a great nation, born to privilege, blinded to the multiplicity of forms that loyalty can take, a danger to his people.

In Tolkien’s presentation, tragedy piles on tragedy. Jackson has leavened the tale by breaking them up and cutting in events that give hope. Over years of re-reading the books, I have come to savor those black hours. Their lightless depths make the triumphs to come blaze brighter in exaltation. Missing that incarnation of defeat and utter doubt lessens the impact of the final segment of the film.

Elsewhere, Jackson transcends his source material. In the ancient world, signal fires were used to communicate events over long distances at the speed of light itself. Jackson exhilaratingly depicts such an event. The confrontation between Miranda Otto’s Eowyn and the leader of the Black Riders on the plain before Minas Tirith is also a success. Here, as in the book, it’s a remarkable moment, and drew the largest cheer of the film. Otto is remarkable, her character’s experience of fear and determination visible behind her helmet in the jarred and shaking shot. On the other hand, if Gandalf’s grandfatherly twinkles look a bit like shtick, one can forgive McKellen; given the length, a few familiar things are to be expected.

Jackson brings back the war oliphaunts seen in The Two Towers, and in fine cinematic style, they are bigger, better, faster, and larger in quantity. Just as the impeccable visualizations of Minas Tirith are a literate adaptation of early medieval Romanesque architecture, the black-masked oliphaunt riders draw costume inspiration from various non-European and Middle-Eastern cultures. Tolkien’s novels clearly cast the Southern peoples of Middle-Earth as lackeys to the black evil of the lord of Mordor (his ‘Southrons’ are ‘swart,’ among other things). As a consequence, I found myself wondering ‘What would this film look like to an Iraqi?’

Despite my own love for the books I did not find myself moved to cheer during the climactic battle at the foot of the Black Gate. Instead, I was discomfited by the plot’s depiction of an outnumbered force of valiant men facing evil at the gates of hell. I was unable to take Aragorn’s speeches imploring devotion to duty at face value, hearing Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld claim defense while plotting murder, lying to me through Mortensen’s teeth, helpless to keep their specters at bay. Who is the Dark Lord again? Where is Mordor, exactly?

Jackson also presents Tolkien’s image of a tower crumbling as emblematic and factual evidence of defeat and ruin. Tolkien certainly expected his readers to be heartened at this. Jackson clearly understood that the image would have a different meaning to his audience. His visualization is brave, and worthy of the books. There was a perceptible pause in the cheers of the audience as the tower tottered and crumbled, in fear that a direct visual reference would jar.

In the end, if I find Jackson’s epic sweep wanting, it’s because Jackson is competing with a lifetime’s love and familiarity with his sources. It’s because it’s over, and (extended DVD aside), I’ll never have that sense of giddy anticipation again. It’s because Jackson never topped the personal impact of The Fellowship of the Ring, an indelible moment in my experience of cinema. It granted me insight on the emotional impact that earlier epics could carry, an effect largely lost to contemporary audiences.

Middle-Earth was born in Tolkien’s mind amid the muck and stench of the First World War. That moment represented the passing of the old world, the end of an age; Tolkien’s books memorialize its’ passing in fire and blood. Jackson’s films memorialize not only the original work, but by tragic coincidence the birth of our own age, also in fire and blood. Although this time it’s sand and oil – and falling towers – instead of trenchfoot and mud in the role of midwife, unprecedented and unpredictable change is heralded. Tolkien’s books helped two generations make sense of the experiences of their fathers and grandfathers. Let’s hope Jackson’s work helps us to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.

I attended a screening of a film last night for review, and I’ll be cranking out the piece this afternoon. When I watch a film for review I take notes the whole time, and in general I prefer to see the film in complete ignorance of everything about it. This film is a special case, and I hadn’t anticipated how complex it would make the review-development process for me.

In essence, I found myself applying the technical and analytic tools I employ in film-watching for review, as I should, but to a film that I also have had high personal hopes for; doing so inhibited the sense of involvement I would otherwise have expected to experience in viewing the film.

I’ll talk more about this after the review is out, including identifying the film (thoughtful readers should be able to anticipate the title), but for now, I need to do some self-investigation to sort out what to write.

Dan links to an AICN item in which Peter Jackson notes that the final humiliation of Sauruman and Grima Wormtongue was shot but will not be included in the theatrical release of The Return of the King; Dan correctly highlights the more troubling news that the Scouring of the Shire was cut entirely won’t appear in any release of the film.

While this cut certainly reflects the excision of the Bombadil material from the first book (both sections provide literary recapitulations of the entire plot-arc of the series, and do not contain materials that directly affect the main story), it’s a regrettable and debatable choice, potentially as misguided as the demolition of Faramir’s character inserted into the second film.

The Scouring sequence ties Tolkien’s mythos to the historical experiences of England during the industrial revolution. The professor’s quaint propagandizing for the Arts-and-Crafts aesthetic position established by the likes of Rossetti during the professor’s earliest youth is by no means something which is immune to critical analysis. Yet it’s the only section of the book in which something clearly discernible as a twentieth-century political position is outlined.

Speaking about the section from a character-development angle, it also demonstrates the extent to which both the characters of Merry and Pippin and the Shire itself have been affected by the War of the Ring, and presumably, the perception that the professor carried of the returning warriors in his own time and place.

It certainly tempers my expectations for the film. The misguided depiction of Faramir in the second film provided evidence that as expectations for the filmmakers increased they felt greater confidence in enforcing their own judgement on the materials – let’s hope that this is not merely the first of several misguided plot adjustments.

I’m going out on a limb here, but Pete, if the geeks hate it, the Oscar train ain’t arriving, mate. I know it’s too late and all, but I sure hope you heard and understood the critiques of the Faramir sequence. I’ll always be grateful to you for the experience of the first film, whatever happens, though.

2003-10-26 11:20:58 (UPDT 10-28 15:40)
Weyland Yutani Inner System Dispatch Office

Dear Crewperson:

Congratulations! You have been assigned to a berth on the CTV USCSS NOSTROMO (registration number 180286), freighting a petrochemical ore refinery via waypoint Thedus, waypoint LV-426 in the Zeta 2 Reticuli system, and waypoint L-5 in Earth orbit, under command of Captain A. Dallas.

This voyage will require standard cyrogenic metabolic suspension, so please have your proof of a recent physical vetted and duly approved by your local Weyland Yutani (hereafter: The Company) medical affiliate office or at the transshipment point. As an employee of The Company, your heath is your responsibility and The Company can offer no guarantee that you will not suffer irreversible harm as a consequence of the slight risk associated with this voyage and standard cyrogenic metabolic suspension.

Enclosed please find a sample standard embroidered fabric uniform identifier emblem. You are responsible for preparing a set of not less than seven (7) duplicates which will be applied to your standard-issue onboard uniform wear. All personnel will be provided with onboard uniform wear from company stores and are allotted a personal freightage exemption from shipment fees for up to 7kg of non-organic material including personal computation and amusement devices and materials.

Nonauthorized organic matter introduced in the context of the personal freightage exemption will be charged to the crewperson at triple freightage rates and summarily removed from the vessel.

Sample definitions of nonauthorized organic matter that may incur these charges:

• Food
  (ship’s synthetic stores are vetted to provide optimal nutrition while en route)

• Plant matter
  (An oversupply of organically produced oxygen may create an imbalance in the onboard CO2 scrubbers)

• Recreational narcotics
• Fermentable substances
• Cotton-based garments
  (the increasing incidence of floral print shirts is the subject of increased vigilance reflecting The Company campaign to reassert uniform dress codes for all merchant spacefaring personell)

• Domestic animals, whether intended as pets or as food sources
• Any alcoholic beverage
• Materials deemed pornographic by the mission commander

Crewpersons with additional questions on these matters may consult the FAQ. However, final discretion rests in the hands of on-board representatives of The Company and a variety of penalties in addition to the freightage charges specified above may be forthcoming, up to and including capital punishment .

This voyage may be among those selected by The Company for unannounced monitoring, surveillance, and inspection to ensure the highest degree of compliance and quality of service. Thank you for your attention to these matters, and again, congratulations on your new berth!

You may board the USCSS NOSTROMO at any date following October 31, 2003 in most locations by traveling to a local Weyland Yutani kino facility and purchasing the appropriate transshipment pass. Personnel stationed in the greater Puget Sound vicinity may obtain transshipment passes as early as October 29. Please be advised that it is doubtful that this specific early boarding opportunity will remain available beyond November 5.

We thank you for your service to Weyland Yutani. Together, we’re building structural perfection matched only by our commitment to service: We Build Better Worlds.

rev.2b interoff corr. auth: D. Lope. typos, slogan, logo corrected. IF-12/bn. 3.

A survey, compiled as a reference work for yours truly to familiarize myself with what’s out there.

MIS-ONE.COM was the source of the hilarious video cited by dan in late August, and has an ever-growing repository of slacker video to peruse via the link above.

Doin’ OK is a UK based house apparently oriented to music video. I’m looking less for music video and girly-reels, actually. Or fetish reels, actually, for that matter.

Isuma: Inuit video.

Neural.it pointed me to the New Global Vision project. Neural.it also has a passel of fascinating media links that I was unfamiliar with, such as the Molecular Media Project and Digital Fiction.

Volksmovie.com, “the complete online resource and community base for the digital filmmaking movement.”

Videoactivism.org. Clarification unnecessary.

Vital 5 Productions: Seattle based! Distributes Arbitrary Art Grants.

…

This area looks much to me like online comics; there’s clearly a huge amount of work being produced without much headway to identifying a self-sustaining business model. I think that the lower costs of creating this sort of entertainment directly threaten the dominance of the feature film and TV market by Hollywood, but don’t expect to see significant pressures on Hollywood to adopt indie-style production techniques as a regular, day-to-day thing for at least a couple more years.

I think the genre based fan-films I often highlight here are the probable nexus of that threat (Blair Witch Hunt, anyone?). Knowledgeable and passionate genre fans have already shown that they can create work that is more entertaining and compelling than the material coming out of the studios targeting the same audience. Of course, indie production places some constraints on the pieces themselves that limit the direct threat at this time.

But what happens when someone in Hollywood recognizes that you could make an entire season of Starship Exeter for less than the cost of a single episode of Enterprise, and get better ratings with the product? Havoc will ensue in the industry. It will be like NAFTA for film and video professionals, and it’s going to be ugly.

In the meantime, indie video people will have a couple choices. They may seek to perfect their imitation of the commercial product, (which seems to be the goal of most of the genre stuff). Or they may perfect their own idiosyncratic techniques and themes while firmly aiming for mass-market accessibility. in a way, this has already happened, with the commercial success of Girls Gone Wild and Bumfights. Yet, the extreme and prurient content of these videos, by design, makes them unacceptable media for broadcast, ensuring the unit-sales that underpin the producers’ business models.