Today marks 70 years since the Queen's reign started. For 94% of the world, she is the only British monarch they have ever known.
For all the problems the rest of the family has, she has been a beacon of leadership for this country and the Commonwealth. If we voted for a President, she might well win it.
Thank you, Your Majesty.
Visited this most infamous of new towns today to check out the National Film and Sci-Fi Museum. There's a huge amount of stuff there - including Ripley's helmet from Alien, Orac from Blake's 7, multiple rooms of Star Wars stuff and loads of screen-worn costumes. Almost too much in fact; the space is too small for all this science fiction goodness.
Mind you, if you're going to visit Milton Keynes to see it, make sure you find something else to do in that place while you're there - you'll be done in an hour. Partly as there's a no photography rule for all bar a few designated points, including a replica TARDIS console that should really have been labelled as such.
After lunch, I visited the MK Gallery, which has an exhibition on Laura Knight, a 20th century English realist painter who ended up a Dame and was the second woman elected to the Royal Academy.
This one you might recognise:
_(Art.IWM_ART_LD_3834).jpg)
This is Take Off - one of her war artist works. Lot of other good stuff there - she rather liked doing nudes... but most painters do, she seems.
The wide avenues and very non-pedestrian friendly environs of Milton Keynes are not going to be somewhere I'll forget in a hurry, that's for sure.
In any event, my Network Railcard got me £8 off my ticket from Euston, so now I need to find another £22 worth of savings... but I don't intend to ride a LNWR Classs 350 again if I can help it.
Now, I'd heard of this episode by reputation as supposedly the worst episode of Star Trek, quite possibly of the whole franchise. It's not the worst science fiction episode I've ever seen, but it's heading in that direction.
****
While investigating a mysterious spacecraft, a beautiful woman suddenly beams onto the bridge of the Enterprise (seriously, they need some shielding) and knocks everyone out. When they come too, they might that she has absconded with Spock's brain, removed without leaving any marks and with Spock's Vulcan physiology somehow keeping him temporarily alive. So, they must follow her and persuade her to give it back, but she needs it to run a planet...
****
The third season of TOS see the show moved to the Friday Night Death Slot (remember no streaming or DVR back then and much of its audience had other things to do on a Friday night) and its budget slashed. The Netflix episode being the 2007 remastered version, the cost-cutting is a lot less obvious, especially on the spacecraft scenes.
Gene Roddenberry stood down from day-to-day production duties, although kept the executive producer credit.
So, anyway, this episode was written by Gene L. Coon under a pseudonym. Coon as the former producer had created a huge chunk of the lore or at least written the episodes they debut in... but I suppose everyone has at least one clunker during their writing career. I know that I have.
We start with a ludicrous premise, and it doesn't get much better from there. We've got more "sexy" costumes from William Ware Theiss, who is frankly starting to get on my nerves now. The dialogue is mostly inane with the primitives of the icy world they visit being particularly stereotypical and the women not exactly doing wonders for female representation; they're dumb and the men are dumber - when I first saw the later cavemen, I immediately thought of Monty Python's "It's" guy. It is also unclear how this species managed to survive with the social structure as set up.
The worst bit of the episode is 'Remote Control Spock' where McCoy somehow manages to develop a device allowing a Starfleet officer to pilot his body with no training and sufficient control to win a fight.
Actually, strike that - the surgery scene at the end takes the proverbial biscuit where Spock somehow is able to talk McCoy through inserting his brain... and once it's done, there is again zero marks - his hair isn't even ruffled. Speaking of hair, Scotty has a new back-combed hair cut that makes him look much older and is distracting to boot.
The leads try their best with material they know is awful and admitted as such in later accounts on this one.
It's a pity, because there's potentially a good story underneath this and a couple of good scenes, including an application of 'science' being attacking the guards.
Conclusion
This is pretty poor - it's watchable, but I wouldn't choose to watch it again.
3/10
****
A quick glance at articles on "worst episodes of Star Trek" reveal that there are a number more to come in Season 3...
The answer to that question is no, but Gary Seven has appeared in a number of non-canon works[1], including the Year Five IDW comics series from as recently as 2020.
Been a good while since I did one of these - when a 'current' series is running, I will focus on that. In any event, Discovery is on hiatus until February, so I might do a couple more of these before then.
****
In a spot of rather casual time travel, the Enterprise goes back to 1968 to observe Earth's history and find out how the planet dealt with historical problems back then. As they're doing so, they intercept a transporter beam from a thousand light years away, with a suited man and his black cat. Who it turns out has advanced alien technology and plans to do something on Earth. Can the crew stop him? Should they stop him?
****
Star Trek was not doing well in the ratings during its second run and Roddenberry basically created the episode I am reviewing as a "backdoor pilot" for another show that was ultimately not picked up. NBC, convinced by among other things a mass letter writing campaign, renewed Star Trek, but... more on that in another post.
The plot is very Cold War in its basis and would have worked just fine as a standalone episode. A mysterious operative with high-tech gadgets (including an early version of a speech-to-text machine, a concept under development, but still very primitive at the time) that could be mucking around in Earth's history... definitely a good idea. Space nukes were something in the headlines at the time - the Outer Space Treaty banning them had been signed and ratified in 1967.
The execution, however, is rather lacking. The Enterprise regulars are fine. Zero complaints about any of them - Sulu turns up as well in this one.
But then you've got those for the proposed spin-off series, Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln. Gary Seven is a rather forgettable character, one of those generic action heroes that fill so much of television even today. Any series would have likely built on his background of course. As for Roberta Lincoln, the very-of-her-time secretary, she's a 'dumb blonde' who in one case literally advances the plot with her backside. As for Isis the cat, who is very well trained (any cat owner can tell you that getting one to do what you want is not easy), the revelation at the end really cheapens the character. Terri Garr would go on from this to get much better roles, including an Oscar nomination.
The rest of the guest cast... not really memorable... and look more than a bit silly after being hypnotised by Gary Seven. I wonder when the NYPD got rid of the double-breasted overcoats? They certainly don't wear them now. Feel free to respond in the comments.
There is a lot of stock footage of a Saturn V in this story, which would of course be the rocket that took man to the Moon for the first time, although it had only made one test flight at this point. It does seem a very odd choice for the space nukes described in the episode - there were plenty of far less powerful rockets in the US inventory that could do the job just fine. This footage in any event provides a considerable amount of padding.
That's the problem with this episode. It's too slow and padded out with not very good set-up for a series. The denouement is great as Spock and Kirk have to work out if they can trust Gary Seven... but that's the best part of the episode.
Ironically and tragically in the latter case, shortly after this episode aired, a Saturn V did have problems[2] and there was an "important assassination" - namely Martin Luther King Jr., who had persuaded Nichelle Nichols to stay on the show as she was an inspiration to young black women.
****
Conclusion
The concept is interesting, but let's be honest, I would not be joining the Gary Seven Army.
Oh, and "Spock's Brain" is next... I will brace myself.
6/10
[1]CBS policy is basically that only the TV series and films are 'canon'. The Abrams films from 2009 onwards are considered part of an alternate reality called "the Kelvin timeline" after the ship that was attacked at the beginning of the first of those, a term that has become official. The Animated Series went from being canon to non-canon to de facto canon again. In any event, stuff from these works has turned up in TV and film, therefore becoming canon, such as James Kirk having the middle name Tiberius.
[2]Apollo 6 had been planned to simulate a lunar return profile and had a number of engine problems meaning that the full mission plan could be achieved. In any event, with Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election and MLK's assassination, followed by mass riots, meant that the thing was rather ignored in the press.
It is looking like Omicron has very peaked in the UK, with recorded case numbers coming down pretty rapidly over the last week. It is likely that this won't be the last wave of Covid infections here, but we're getting better at treating this all the time and I'm not sure how much more evolution the virus can do considering its pretty contagious as is.
In any event we will need to be vigiliant.
I've been following the developing scandal about parties in Downing Street like everyone else here. There seems to have been serial breaches going on here and Boris Johnson should have been aware of what has happening in his own offices. It's time for him to resign.
A true legend of the anti-apartheid movement; a man not afraid to criticise all parties, including the white supremacist regime that caused so much harm to South Africa's people and the ANC governments that have not truly delivered on the equality hoped for. There are very few like him.
Rest in Peace.
This has been a better year than last, with the vaccine rollout making lives a lot better allowing for many restrictions to be at least temporarily lifted. Omicron is now posing a big challenge and it is clear that the fight against Covid-19 is by no means over yet.
All this has caused a lot of problems for people's mental health; uncertainty over plans and what we'll be allowed to do next week means that there isn't always a lot to look forward to.
But Jesus is something to look forward to. One day there will be no more guilt, no more fear, no more tears and no more uncertainty. Just an eternity of happiness with him in heaven. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be able to keep going at times. He came to save sinners - and we are all sinners - taking our sins away from us via his perfect sacrifice. Things will get better.
With that message of hope, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
So, we're back to mandatory masks in public transport and shops, along with self-isolation for all close contacts of those with this new variant. As yet, we don't know how much Omicron can beat the vaccine - I suspect it might allow for the vaccinated to be infected but not hospitalised. But better safe than sorry.
I've been monitoring the viewing figures of the show for a number of years now and the trend is rather concerning.
Ultimately, Russell T Davies is a man I trust to turn things around; he knows what works. Because if he isn't, we'll be back in the wilderness with no TV Doctor Who at all. Which would be a real shame.
I see "The Abominable Snowmen" is next to be animated - I watched the first episode of "Galaxy Four" and it holds up pretty well despite being over 50 years old.
In any event, happy 58th anniversary!
Edit 28/11: The graph is in a way not comparing apples with apples; the headline figure for the post-2005 era is Day+7 i.e. those watching live or within a week. Day+28 figures are seemingly about the same as for the Capaldi era, although we don't have those yet for "Flux". But it would be nice to have more people watching the show.
Can't say that I'm massively optimistic about this one - mind you, it would be a lot worse if Trump was still President. Guess we're probably need COP27, 28, 29 and 30...
It will of course be easier to take the action now rather than later, but humans are procrastinators on a big scale. At least I'll be dead by the time 2100 comes in the round.
In the meantime, I will do what I reasonably can to reduce my impact.
So, Russell T Davies is coming back to run Doctor Who. A very pleasant surprise, I would say. The show has frankly lost its way under Chris Chibnall; this is no slur on Jodie Whittaker in the slightest, who has done a good job with the material she was given.
The show is now going to have to up its game considerably to survive. We have Disney churning out Marvel and Star Wars series - and good ones to boot - on a year-round basis. There are no less than three live-action Star Trek series ongoing. Netflix is grabbing high-quality fantasy content the world over.
Frankly, a handful of actors in an old factory in South Wales isn't really going to cut the proverbial mustard for a modern audience.
But I confident RTD can do it. Just no farting aliens, please.
Those who are refusing to have their Covid vaccines are putting themselves and others at real risk. If I was in a care home, I would not want any carer who come into contact with me not to be jabbed.
Personally, if you won't take the jab, which is safe, why are you in that profession?
(For the record, I am already double-jabbed)
In memory of all the innocent people who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and in the twenty years' conflict since.
Rest in Peace.
