The first cinematic 007 has died aged 90
Arguably one of the greatest actors of his generation - and for many Scots, a national legend.
Rest in Peace.
The decision by Poland's top courts that abortion due to foetal defects is unlawful as it violates their constitution is manifestly wrong.
I'm not the most comfortable with terminations for social reasons, but I believe that a ban does more harm than good. However, if the foetus is so badly deformed that their life will very short if they survive at all, I would support a termination without hesitation. It's not fair to make any woman give birth to a dead child like that.
Poland is slipping into autocracy and reaction. The EU must act.
With cases continuing to rise in the UK, calls have been made for a temporary "circuit-breaker" lockdown to 'reset' the pandemic back a month and create an opportunity to fix Test and Trace. Here are my thoughts on this:
I'm not taking anything the White House takes about Trump's condition at face value. I believe he has it, but I'm wondering just how bad it actually is as you don't go from positive to hospital that quickly.
Also, the "72 hours" comment at the press conference today raises massive questions about what Trump knew and when, because he was campaigning on the days before Friday.
We are likely to be at this whole social distancing for a while yet. The vaccines are making good progress and I think we will see at least one approved in time for Christmas.
However, roll out will take a good while longer as at-risk groups are rightly prioritised. I can see March before I can get a jab - and I will get one - with social distancing measures lifted gradually over the course of Q1 2021. At which point patience will have run out - it's already getting pretty thin.
Getting the world vaccinated will likely take longer; the manufacturing capacity just isn't there. It may easily be 2023 or 2024 before we get global 'herd immunity'.
During which time people will continue to get this illness and die of it. The WHO representative who estimated two million global deaths yesterday is being sadly realistic.
Science fiction often holds up a mirror to our world - sometimes a black mirror (ba doom tish) - providing a fantastical commentary on a real-world situation.
One of the biggest real-world issues for the US at the time was the Vietnam War, with footage of the fighting broadcast nightly without government censorship into American homes and young men being drafted to fight in it.
While popular history depicts the war as "America loses to a bunch of rice farmers", in reality it's more complicated than that - for one thing the 'farmers' had pretty advanced weaponry made in the USSR and were themselves highly educated.
****
While examining the planet Neural for medical related herbs, Kirk reflects on the peaceful people of the planet who only use bows and arrows for hunting. At which point, a bunch of guys turn up with flintlock rifles and Spock gets shot. With Spock in a bad way and taken for emergency treatment, Kirk and McCoy dress up in native garb (meaning more pectoral action from Shatner, naturally) to investigate what is going on. Because the locals shouldn't have developed those weapons that quickly.
Of course, it turns out the Klingons are involved, giving one faction firearms technology so they can conquer the planet.
However, we don't really get much action with the Klingons. Instead, as soon as Kirk and McCoy come down, Kirk gets basically attacked by Bigfoot, whose bite is poisonous, so they have to go to a local leader and his wife...
****
This is an interesting concept, but woefully executed.
Firstly, we have Nona, the wife of the tribal leader of the Hill People. She's something straight out of William Ware Theiss' sex-fuelled imagination, dressed in tight leather trousers and a crop top with orange fur on it. It looks very well-tailored... like a sewing machine was involved.
That's something true of all the costumes here and it seems the wig closet was raided too as most of the natives
Speaking of sex, the scene where she heals Kirk using some root via psychic communion and flailing around making moaning sounds is well... I'm surprised that one got through Standards and Practices.
Then there's the rather problematic bit in which it seems she's basically using the herbs to control men... basically roofieing them. This proverbial elephant in the room isn't addressed, but we do see a bunch of other villagers try to rape her in what seems a gratuitous scene, along with an unconvincing death.
Speaking of unconvincing injuries, Spock is seemingly shot through-and-through by a lead ball with no visible exit wound... the penetration of flintlock weaponry was distinctly limited, especially at range. His healing is expected, but as part of that process, we get a pretty ridiculous scene where Nurse Chappell slaps him repeatedly to bring him back round.
The Hill People are problematic. Their diction is reminiscent of Tonto from The Lone Ranger and calling weapons "firesticks" is well, dodgy. They're basically a bunch of white guys playing Native Americans and the whole thing crosses over into cultural appropriation.
This is very much a Vietnam analogy - Kirk indirectly references the conflict himself - and the analogies would have been a lot more present had not Gene Roddenberry rewrote the episode, resulting in Don Inglis having his credit changed to "Jud Crucis" (a word play on "Jesus crucified") in protest.
The basic message of the episode is "the arms race and Vietnam are necessary because peace is impossible", which was debatable then and still is.
At least we don't get a comedy ending, with the episode ending on a sombre note.
****
Conclusion
Overall, like primitive firearms, this misses the target a lot and hits other things.
3/10
With more cases being identified and R now back above one, calls are being made for further restrictions and the government is considering a "circuit breaker" period of heavy restrictions during an extended half-term in October. Or earlier.
This - or even a full lockdown - is ultimately only a time buying measure. It may reduce the virus levels, but as soon as you lift one restriction too many, the virus starts coming back again. We have arguably done that since schools reopened.
Any circuit breaker period needs to be used to fix the wiring, such as ramping up test capacity and getting the tracing system sorted. This is easier said than done, although the app should help. I will definitely be installing it.
If we have to close something, I'd rather have closing pubs than a ban on socialising, but it needs to be based on the data.
Johnson's threat to breach part of the Withdrawal Agreement is a very bad move; why are the Tories so keen on holding onto Northern Ireland anyway?
I hope this plan gets blocked by the Lords - or the courts.
The 'second wave' in Europe seems to be very much among younger people, who are less vulnerable in general to the virus. Social distancing among this group seems to be much less followed from my own personal observations, making it easier to spread the virus between them. Then of course they could spread it to their much more vulnerable relatives.
We need to find a way to reinforce the need for social distancing at this time; messages from politicians aren't getting through to this generation, who don't trust them. The people they listen to are sadly just as likely to break the rules themselves...
No easy answers here.
We're hopefully getting closer to a vaccine, but it could still be a few months yet.
We're now just over two months from the US Presidential Election; although many will soon start voting with the use of absentee ballots likely to be extensive due to Covid-19.
Trump is going to try to use every legal and semi-legal trick to win - if he loses, he will claim voter fraud. He was even claiming it after he won, stating that he had actually won the popular vote when he didn't.
Biden is in a better position than Clinton was at this point with a significant lead. Trump is the worst position for an incumbent in decades and it could well get worse for him. He could somehow eke out a win, but I doubt it.
In any event, it's likely to be messy in US politics for quite a while.
The death of the Black Panther star has come as a shock; we had no idea that he was so ill. The fact he did those Marvel films, all intense hard work, while battling the cancer that would ultimately kill him, is an achievement in itself.
His portrayal of King T'Challa was a massive inspiration to many black people. My local cinema, which is rarely even a quarter full even for major new releases, had a near full screen for Black Panther, which was a massive hit, disproving the mantra "get woke, go broke".
His legacy will be huge in film-making.
Rest in Peace.
Today marks 75 years since the Japanese surrender in the Second World War that would bring the conflict to an end.
The Pacific conflict is very much forgotten in Britain and our involvement in that theatre, especially in what is now Myanmar, needs to be more remembered; it wasn't just an American show by a long chalk.
Let us remember those who served in atrocious jungle conditions, ended up in awful POW camps and died defeating a truly horrific regime.
We will remember them.
We seem to be seeing increases in cases across most of Europe now. It's not at the height of the peaks back in March and April, but still pretty concerning.
It seems that young people, reasoning (with some justification) that Covid-19 isn't going to get them, are increasingly ignoring social distancing. This is resulting in more cases overall, although not as much an increase in deaths.
The risk of course is that while younger people might not die themselves, they could easily spread it to those who are more likely too. While many of the most vulnerable may already succumbed to this disease, not all of them will have done and they could end up unintentionally killing their families and older friends.
Parties and nightclubs can wait a bit. I myself have postponed a planned holiday because I can't do it without quarantining when I return and I don't like wearing face masks.
Just be sensible people and wear a mask when you can't socially distance.
Star Trek today tends to have season-long arcs where the only way to fully understand the story is to watch each episode in order; something true of most science fiction and fantasy shows. In the 1960s, with video recorders not exactly a thing in households, people might end up missing an episode with no opportunity to see it again.
So, each episode is basically one story, wrapped up in around 50 minutes and rarely mentioned again.
Anyway, I'm digressing, onto discussing the episode.
****
On their way to Starbase 6 for a break, the crew of the Enterprise encounter some strange distortion. A Starfleet ship full of Vulcans goes dead, then an entire star system. NCC-1701 must investigate a zone of space darkness that is draining the very energy from the ship - and its crew.
The primary 'triangle' in TOS is Kirk-Spock-McCoy and their overall relationship is very well established by this point. Spock and McCoy insult each other's species as Spock basically says that humans see one death as a tragedy, but a million as a statistic.
(That quote is attributed to Stalin, but there is evidence of similar satirical sentiments being expressed back as far as 1759)
Kirk is weary in the literal and metaphorical sense, the whole grave situation weighing heavily on him. Sure, Shatner does his... famous pauses... but the actor plays Kirk as more than just a cliché. Nimony and Kelley also do very well.
Scotty, Uhura and Chekov also aren't bad. Their material is a fair bit weaker as they're merely serving as plot exposition. Sulu is again absent, his position taken by recurring character Kyle, who doesn't have much too.
The overall mystery is a very strong one, with each layer unwrapped pretty convincingly. Well as convincingly as you can get in a show like this. The solution is a pretty good one as well.
The Netflix version contains the remastered effects, which I'd imagine look much better than the original ones were (although they did win an Emmy); those would probably have taken me out of the episode slightly.
One thing this episode contains in abundance is 'Starship Acting' as the cast throw themselves around the bridge, not always in the same direction. You'd think that they'd invest in some actual harnesses in Starfleet.
****
Conclusion
A highly enjoyable, self-contained episode with a strong overall plot. Classic Trek.
8/10
