slaytonf
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Posts posted by slaytonf
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A reasonable person would express disappointment in someone being tiresome.
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24 minutes ago, Fedya said:
Marianne Faithfull couldn't act; indeed, she could barely sit in front of the rear-projection photography.
Was that what she was in the movie for?
25 minutes ago, Fedya said:Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mom's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad
Yeah. That one, too.
There's another. I don't remember the title. It goes something like: Who is (name) and why is he trying to (something)?
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Wondered about Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) until last year, when I found it somewhere. And The Monitors (1969). That's on YouTube now. But what about I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)? Or The Lady in the Car With Glasses and a Gun (1970)?
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Black and white? Color?
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1 hour ago, EricJ said:
She deserved ANY second movie-
I almost bailed at the beginning when the eerie light burst from the pseudo Inca thing, a thing so fragile that it came apart with mere taps a jabs, making it a wonder how it lasted the hundreds of years since its construction. But, I said, 'wait till you see Miss Lauper'. It was worth waiting, but she couldn't make it worth sticking with it. No discredit to her. Even Olivia de Havilland couldn't save some movies for me.
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Five more posts! Thanks! Keep 'em comin'!
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1 hour ago, hamradio said:
Just because it's a joke doesn't mean it's not pathetic.
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Come on, don't be pathetic.
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I made it about half-an hour through. Cyndi Lauper was fine, but deserved a better movie.
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It's surprising that a mediocre episode could have so much to get out of it. In addition to Spock's observation, the premise of A Taste of Armageddon, and Kirk's response to it have a lot to say about warfare, and also provides an opportunity for one of Kirk's best lines. The people of Eminar Seven have been fighting a five-hundred year war with its neighbor Vendikar that has been sanitized into a computer calculated conflict, with each side killing off their own citizens according to calculated lists, thereby preserving the respective civilizations. The Enterprise is a victim of one of these attacks, and in order to save it, Kirk sets out to disrupt the entire system. At one point the Eminar leader blasts Kirk for starting an inevitable course to real warfare and that there was no way to stop it. Kirk responds: Stop it? I'm counting on it.
Kirk's idea is that bringing back the horrors of war will provide an incentive for ending it:
Setting aside the Prime Directive (they were ordered by Starfleet to jump in with both feet), and the fact that humans, at least, have never seemed to be deterred from war by its horrors, his rationale doesn't seem well thought out. His reasoning goes that because people are unfamiliar with the effects of war, it has become tolerable. Visiting its devastation will persuade people to seek peace. But with peace, people will lose the memory and fear of war. One can predict a continuous cycle of periodic war extending through time. Much better would have been for someone to point out the system the two planets had in place was the way to make peace. It was evidence the two planets could cooperate and abide by an agreement. If a system can be used to conduct war, it can also be used to maintain peace. It might be pointed out that the agreement was maintained by the threat of real attack. But that could be said for any kind of agreement.
So it seems we don't get a life lesson here from Star Trek, directly at least. But by indirection we might glean some wisdom.
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What have I started?
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7 hours ago, EricJ said:
consider my curiosity peaked.
Bonk bonk.
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Harlan Ellison, man, he could write 'em.
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There's something Spock says near the beginning of A Taste of Armageddon that is apposite. Anan has just explained, to Kirk's disbelief, how they have fought a war for five hundred years with a rival planet by computer, mutually destroying by themselves the citizens calculated to have been killed, preserving both civilizations from obliteration. It's a short statement and is quickly forgotten, but is incisive. It comes at 1:47 in the clip:
It's long been a position I've held. People, those dedicated to an ideal, a cause, or something, preoccupied with it to the extent that they structure the world around it, will think that if others only understood, if their position could just be explained, they would agree. Or, that if people disagree, they just don't--or won't--understand. Oh, I understand, I understand completely. I do not agree.
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Thou neverest blaspheme 'gainst the Majel.
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2 hours ago, EricJ said:
For example put "Spock's Brain", traditionally considered to be the worst TOS episode
Oh, not nearly.
4 hours ago, misswonderly3 said:Wow, everyone here is still focused on the original series. I'm going to repeat myself here, and unequivocally state that I believe "The Next Generation " is the better show. Gasp ! Less cheesy, for one thing. Now let the phasers fly !
Never underestimate cheesiness. But seriously, my first reaction is don't take it so serious. This is meant primarily for fun, as all the things I post here, even the ones I'm serious about. They are only TV shows, after all.
The second reaction is I post only Star Trek life lessons because that's the only series I watched. That and the first two movies, which remain as vague and troubling memories. But don't feel bound by my limitations. If you can find wisdom in any of the Star Trek (or dreck) episodes or iterations, I'm eager to see it. Even bad episodes, because even bad TV can have something worthwhile in it.
More life lessons to follow.
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I couldn't find a clip with this scene excerpted. It's probably forgotten among Commander Scott's other plethora of famous lines, so I've had to post the entire show of Bread and Circuses:
The action begins at 30:12. It's the most arresting thing I ever heard him say. The best evidence of his fitness for captaincy. He's fully aware of the capabilities of the Enterprise. But canny enough to know how to apply them. Direct action is not always possible, or advisable. Just like direct proof, or direct knowledge. Some situations call for indirection, which is not to say passivity. For those who don't want to go to the time in the video, I post the text here, but you really want to see James Doohan's delivery:
Ship's log, stardate 4041.2. Chief Engineer Scott recording. Captain Kirk and his landing party have checked in
[Bridge]
SCOTT: But they have used the code term Condition Green, which means they're in trouble. But it also prohibits my taking any action. (ends log entry) Mister Chekov, pinpoint power source locations. Type, power, load factors, and how much our beams will have to pull to overload them.
CHEKOV: That may take some time.
SCOTT: Let it take time, lad. They're in trouble, and I'm under orders not to interfere. However, no order can stop me from frightening them. It may do no good, but it may suggest to someone just what a starship can really do. Aye.-
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5 minutes ago, SansFin said:
Never feed a tribble.
Well, that goes without saying.
6 minutes ago, SansFin said:When estimating how long a job will take, overestimate. When you do better, your captain will be impressed.
is that from a particular program, or something you derived from your viewing?
7 minutes ago, SansFin said:The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - or the one.
Is that from a show?
Thanks for the list!
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1 minute ago, SadPanda said:
It will be.
No, the series is over.
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1 hour ago, Dargo said:
So, are you sayin' that YOU are as tight with a buck as Fred MacMurry was reported to be?
HEY! That reminds me! Did you know that the very first date Fred had with June Haver, he took HER to Norm's TOO?
(...well, that was what I've heard anyway)
You're determined to misunderstand. I'll give you a hint:
"A dozen woses. How owdinawy."
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57 minutes ago, SadPanda said:
Assimilation is inevitable.
But it wasn't.
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Man, you guys don't have a clue.
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I wasn't being critcal, just curious. Can you post any?
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So she wasn't a good enough actress to put it across.
Life lessons from Star Trek.
in General Discussions
Posted
The Ultimate Computer is one of the best episodes. Naturally, as it was written by D. C. Fontana, one of the best of the new wave of science fiction writers. The Enterprise is fitted out with a computer that eliminates the necessity for almost the entire crew. It's touted as a revolutionary breakthrough in technology, able to take the place of people, completely competent to deal with all exigencies- - -and, of course, you know things will go wrong. There's a lot going on in the show. It explores themes of hubris/humility, machines making people redundant, the dangers of surrendering control to technology.
One thing that's good about it is the reaction of Kirk to the threat it poses to his position. Kirk expresses his uneasiness with taking away responsibility from people, responsibility needed for them to have a sense of self-respect and accomplishment. The computer's inventor suggests that's prompted by the loss of prestige and ceremony he has enjoyed as captain due to it. He talks about this with McCoy privately. I can't find a good clip of it, so here's the text:
MCCOY: Did you see the love light in Spock's eyes? The right computer finally came along. What's the matter, Jim?
KIRK: I think that thing is wrong, and I don't know why.
MCCOY: I think it's wrong, too, replacing men with mindless machines.
KIRK: I don't mean that. I'm getting a Red Alert right here. (the back of his head) That thing is dangerous. I feel. (hesitates) Only a fool would stand in the way of progress, if this is progress. You have my psychological profiles. Am I afraid of losing my job to that computer?
MCCOY: Jim, we've all seen the advances of mechanisation. After all, Daystrom did design the computers that run this ship.
KIRK: Under human control.
MCCOY: We're all sorry for the other guy when he loses his job to a machine. When it comes to your job, that's different. And it always will be different.
KIRK: Am I afraid of losing command to a computer? Daystrom's right. I can do a lot of other things. Am I afraid of losing the prestige and the power that goes with being a starship captain? Is that why I'm fighting it? Am I that petty?
MCCOY: Jim, if you have the awareness to ask yourself that question, you don't need me to answer it for you. Why don't you ask James T. Kirk? He's a pretty honest guy.
(sorry about the shading, it's from the place I copied it).
D. C. Fontana sure could write well. You don't find dialog like that often, a person being so honest with themselves. At least not in shows of that time. Not only showing Kirk feeling threatened but surprised to discover in himself things he might not otherwise have recognized, or dismissed. That is, the fact that part of his objection to the computer was indeed due to his enjoyment of the pomp and circumstance of being captain.
As it turns out, he was right about the computer. But the wisdom is to know what is behind your reaction to things. Why you feel the way you do. If you know that, you can be in control of your actions. Otherwise you will be a victim of your impulses.
The show also gives Kirk one of his best soliloquies. It's not entirely relevant, but William Shatner comes through with one of his better deliveries: