One of the best Beastmaster scenes

I've only been looking for this scene on YouTube for, like, five years.... It taught me all I need to know about fake people Rip Torn is like every politician in the world at the end of this scene. I loved Beastmaster...

Book Review

Okay, so the only review I ever wrote of the Harry Potter books was a review for the entire set. I've never reviewed them one by one and since I'm re-reading the series for the first time in a few years, I thought I'd give a go at reviewing them one by one. If you're one of the few people in the world who haven't read it, beware of some spoilers.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The first book is everything the first in a series should be. It's simple and doesn't overwhelm the reader with too much information and doesn't give too much away. However, it also has a definite ending that wraps up the events of the book and that's very important because endless loose ends can lead to disappointment. Yes, he'll be coming back for another year at the school, but there won't be a Sorcerer's Stone to worry about anymore, or a three headed dog, or the antagonist that was doing the bidding of the Dark Lord. It's like a catchy song that is easy to memorize but that has many layers of meaning if you listen to it over and over. Since it's the first of seven books, and Rowling had planned seven from the beginning, the underlying story moves very slow and only the skeleton is presented - there is a Dark Lord and a boy who is destined to destroy him one day. They have a brief encounter at the end, but it's only a teaser since the boy is too young and the Dark Lord is mostly helpless at this point. But the book is hardly empty otherwise. It begins to build the world that envelops the underlying story, and it's one of the most original "hidden worlds" created in the last 25 years.  Instead of the notion of magic (spells, potions, creatures) taking place in ancient times or distant, fictional lands, it takes place in modern day London without losing any of the charm of fantasy as presented in those long ago and/or far away worlds. A lot of what goes on is simply exploring a very different kind of private boarding school that essentially is a medieval setting and seeing how this hidden world coexists with the normal world around it. The characters are real, complex, and easy to relate to... nobody is perfectly good or perfectly bad even in the short space of one book.  I've said myself that everyone in the book is someone that you probably knew growing up in one form or another and it can touch the reader on a more personal level than the great heroes of Tolkien or even Narnia. The maturity levels match the ages of the characters that range from 10 to 17 with the children and each has a distinct personality even if the character is only on the peripheries. The adults are developed as well which delivers endless viewpoints to consider without it seeming like a lesson is being taught and the interaction of all the characters is something that everyone of all ages can identify with.  Then there's the fantasy material itself. The linguistic and cultural influences are noticeable. The choice of Latin for spell incantations is inspired. The borrowed fantasy elements, like centaurs and trolls, follow the "rules" that had been laid down for them from tales of old, while the original elements like Diagon Alley, Gringotts, and Quidditch are creatively painted in the picture of the mind. All of it makes for clever misdirection that leads to genuine surprises in the relatively simple plot for this particular book. And the ending sequence of events being set up in an obstacle course style was a great way to summarize the new world that was created and incorporate many different elements at once.
Even though this book was designed to be a series, there's still a "first book" feel to Sorcerer's Stone that sets it apart.  The title for one thing.  The Philosopher's Stone is what it was originally called and that's what the object that the real ancient alchemists were actually looking for was called. That name and many other things were changed for an American audience. Also things like the use of the word "soccer." I don't think anyone in Europe calls soccer "soccer." They call it football. The characters didn't talk with a lot of the British slang worked into their dialogue either. This would change later on as the books gained a wider audience.  It's story also stands somewhat alone and apart from the rest of the series (as does the second book) even though little details that begin in this first book are eventually tied together with everything else by the end of the series.
The only thing I didn't like about it was the original artwork for the books.  There was a different artist after the third book and there was some improvement, but not much. But that's just aesthetics. Don't let it stop you from reading the start of a brilliant and original series.

Star Trek TNG A Matter Of Time

This episode... I go back and forth with it.  It's a good and clever episode, but I hate to see my crew being so seemingly easily duped.

The Enterprise is on it's way to a planet to help them with the extreme weather issues they've been having since an asteroid collision.  Worf picks up a space time distortion and a little shuttle craft appears. When they hail it, the occupant asks for Picard to specifically move over on the bridge so he can beam over. He is Berlinghoff Rasmussen, played by Matt Frewer of Max Headroom fame. The part was originally supposed to go to Robin Williams who had to opt out to make Peter Pan. Would it have been much different? I think not in this case, though Williams would've been better at the fast talking aspect of Rasmussen's personality.

He tells everyone that he's from the 26th century and is a researcher that specializes in 24th century history. Picard doesn't really know what to make of him so he takes him to the observation lounge where everyone wants to know more. They start asking questions about future events that he obviously can't answer just as a matter of ethics. Troi is suspicious and claims that he's hiding something, but as he seems harmless and at this point only wants people to fill out questionnaires that don't probe into guarded intelligence, Picard greenlights cooperation. Some are more suspicious than others and most of them are uncomfortable at his presence and even Data is curious to know what becomes of him in the future. You see Rasmussen make the mistake of comparing him to a Model T Ford car when the more accurate comparison would be to call him a Model A, but it's also something that could be considered a common mistake that people adopt when generalizing and romanticizing such as saying Columbus was the first to find America, when most people are aware that the Vikings had been trading on the North American continent long before Columbus. So this mistake is easily overlooked and the excited look on his face as he's sitting alone in his quarters could be considered as one of sinister intent, or of genuine wonder.

Most of the crew is annoyed with him for the obvious reason that although he keeps dropping hints that important things are happening, he won't be specific about any of it.  It's like teasing kittens with a laser pointer, but it does provide some provocative dialogue about the past seen through the eyes of the present from different viewpoints . Still, he's quite obviously overplaying his hand and I think the thing that aggravates me the most about this episode is that Beverly of all characters is so anxious to believe him. You don't need Troi's empathic abilities to see that he's playing a game. A child could see that he's up to something. But thankfully they don't spend too much time trying to fool the audience. In fact I think the timing of how this character unfolds is actually pretty good writing. After he goes to engineering to talk cryptically of Data's involvement in the events taking place, you see him lifting a tablet; a PADD. Meanwhile the ship's targeted phaser bursts to release CO2 to counteract the nuclear winter brought about by the asteroid collision seem to be working and Geordi on the planet with Dr. Moseley are pleased.

Rasmussen's game is becoming more obvious to everyone else too as he seems pleased with how events have turned out... but then conditions on the planet begin to worsen due to volcanic activity caused by the help that the Enterprise was trying to give. Many of Rasmussen's scenes are kept comical so that the extent of his deceit remains an unknown. The scene with Data listening to several musical compositions at once is fun and also displays Rasmussen's particular interest in Data which is a foreshadowing of his intentions since he's stealing various technologies. Yes, the writing was actually pretty good in this episode.

It also got some well deserved awards for special effects as their solution involves ionizing the atmosphere and redirecting the excess energy into space so that the planet will neither burn nor freeze. Of course the calculations have to be hair line precise and that makes for a nice philosophical debate where Picard, even though he's not entirely convinced of Rasmussen's authenticity, asks him to advise based on his knowledge of the future anyway before they proceed. Rasmussen ultimately balks but he doesn't seem like he actually knows what's going to happen anyway and Picard takes the situation in hand like he always does, relishing the freedom of choice and risk taking that he has.  He also displays the point that Data had made in Data's Day regarding how unlikely Picard is to choose a safe, by-the-book course. They save the day as always.

So, once again acting like he knew what was going to happen all along, Rasmussen turns to leave. This part of the episode disrupts the flow a little though because Picard immediately orders everyone to intercept him which must mean that he knew about his criminal activities even as he was asking him what he should do about the planet. That makes Picard look foolish for asking his advice. But, even if he did know that things were being stolen, that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't who he said he was and I think that asking him about their role in saving the planet was merely a test to see if he was actually a historian, or perhaps just someone like Vash who steals relics, only he's traveling through time instead of crawling through excavation sites like her. The quickness of it all is a little awkward to watch though and is briefly confusing. But, the last scene is the best part of the show and makes it all worth it because even though everyone is aware that Rasmussen is a con man, it still manages to take another interesting twist. The shuttle really is from the 26th century and was piloted by a person who really was doing historical research... in the 22nd century which is the time Rasmussen is actually from. His charmingly quirky personality suddenly becomes frighteningly psychotic when he confesses that he killed the historian and decided to travel forward in time and steal technologies in order to take it back to his time period to "invent" them and become rich. He explains all of this to Data after telling the others that only Data would be allowed inside the shuttle to search for the missing materials since he is the only one that could be trusted not to speak of the 26th century tech of the vessel. And then he overplays his hand one last time, deciding that he'll take Data back with him too, eventually figure him out, and "invent" him as well.  But once his shuttle was opened, the Enterprise's security field disabled his phaser. Data's cold and emotionless (but polite and subtle!) threat to knock him unconscious in order to leave the pod is epic as is the look on his face when the shuttle disappears back in time, stranding Rasmussen in the future forever.
It's a fun episode. I don't have too many complaints and the writing as far as the particular con being played out was quite appealing.  I'll give it four stars.

Star Trek TNG Unification Part 2

Closing out the two-part Spock episode in the middle of the fifth season with more surprises and political intrigue.

There's a lot of dialogue in this episode and a lot of necessary information is divulged in the opening scene. Both Picard and Spock wonder why the other is there. We find that Spock is on a personal mission to seek peace between Vulcans and Romulans based on his contribution to the peace talks with the Klingons (that's the plug for the sixth Star Trek movie which would be out a month later.) He refuses to come back with Picard who is only representing Federation interests.  If Spock is captured he could greatly compromise Federation intelligence under torture. The torch is handed from TOS to TNG as Picard accuses Spock of "cowboy diplomacy." It's an old phrase to describe rogue political behavior, but the original series was also sold as a space western and of course Kirk had that reckless, shoot-em-up personality that lead the show. When Picard won't back down and leave him to pursue his course alone, Spock notes that Picard is equally as stubborn as another captain that he once knew. I'm glad this passing of the torch didn't happen in the first, second, or even third seasons. TNG had a lot of maturing to do before it was worthy to not only carry the Star Trek franchise, but also surpass the first show in creativity and credibility. There's an element of corniness to their conversation, but the show had more than earned it's place in this evolution.  Picard also has to tell Spock that Sarek has died and relate to him the pride and love that Sarek felt for him. Spock waves it off as a symptom of his disease but Picard insists that his feelings were real.  The conversation also reveals the details of Spock's mission - that there is an underground movement of Romulans that have shown an interest in Vulcan teachings and want to emulate the Vulcan way of life and reunify the Vulcan and Romulan races. He's under no illusions that it'll be easy, but his friend Pardek has asked him to Romulus because a new and young Proconsul may be receptive to this change. Since Spock won't leave, Picard decides to stay and see how it all plays out. Data returns to the Klingon ship to monitor the Romulan Central Information Net, and naturally K'Vada is uncooperative and scared of getting caught. But Data offers to share any intelligence gathered with the Klingons which makes him a little braver.

Now, everyone can see that this mission is unlikely to succeed and that Spock may even seem a little foolish for trying, so later on while they're waiting for Pardek to arrive a young Romulan boy approaches Spock and Picard to show them a book that relates the separation of Romulus and Vulcan centuries ago.  It's a banned material and he shouldn't have it out in the open, but it gives the audience a chance to see that the underground movement is sincere and that there are enough of them to make a person like Spock seriously entertain the notion of reunification.  Then Pardek shows up and tells them that the Proconsul that we met in the last episode who was on the lookout for Picard wants to meet with Spock. Of course, it's all too easy, but there's no reason to suspect anything sinister yet.

The thing I love about this two-parter and many that follow is the way the characters are divided into teams and the teams work independently of each other towards the same goal. Yes, the captain is in a dangerous place, but while the others are ready to ride to the rescue if necessary, they also have things to do.  Riker needs information about the smuggler they blew up at the scrap yard so he tracks down one of his ex-wives. This is a fun little scene that lightens the mood and in the middle of the politics and science fiction just hearkens back to good, old fashioned detective work.  Riker charms the four armed pianist into revealing that a contact of her ex-husband would arrive soon; a fat Ferengi named Omag. So Riker leaves Worf down there to wait for him.

Pardek introduces Spock to Proconsul Neral.  Neral says all of the right things just like an accomplished politician, telling him that he's willing to publicly support reunification and even presents him with the Vulcan greeting. Spock's not stupid.  You can see the apprehension in his face as he leaves. Even he can see that it's all too easy and clean. After he's gone Sela appears from a closed door and she and Neral are thrilled at having tricked the undergound movement into exposing themselves. Back in the cave Spock reports that there appears to be progress in the right direction but Picard is not convinced. When he first arrived he'd accuse Spock of being emotional and now he accuses him of being biased by Romulan emotions and both times Spock is reminded strongly of Sarek, assuming that Picard has been overly influenced by their mind meld. However, though Spock doesn't deny that this may all be a trap, he's still determined to see this venture play out.

Then the meeting that all the fans were waiting for... Spock and Data. As expected, the comparison is drawn between Data wanting to be more human whereas Spock has chosen to repress his human side.  It's certainly not the first observation made like this regarding Data as he's had similar conversations with the likes of Q or his brother, Lore. But this conversation is another mark of the unification and transitioning of the shows from old school to new school. Back at the bar another throw away bit of humor turns, later on, into a big part of Klingon culture.  Bored with waiting, Worf asks Amarie to play a line from a Klingon opera and he can't stop himself from singing along. When the fat Ferengi arrives, he and Riker question him with extreme prejudice until he reveals that he'd delivered the Vulcan ship to a Barolian freighter near Galorndon Core, which you will remember is the planet near the Neutral Zone from the episode The Enemy, although that episode isn't referenced directly.

Riker and Picard confer briefly and although Picard doesn't see what a stolen Vulcan ship has to do with reunification, he sends Riker to check it out anyway.  Then on the Klingon ship they discover that the Romulans were communicating with a Barolian ship by Galorndon Core and the message read 1 4 0 0. They call Spock away from more of his hopeful talks with the idealistic young Romulan boy. When they tell him what they found out, he very coolly and logically deduces that Pardek has betrayed him since his reunification speech was to take place at 1400 hours the next day. This shows you that Spock is still Spock and not as affected by emotions as we are all being led to believe. At that point Sela reveals herself and announces that reunification will happen in the form of the Romulan conquest of Vulcan.

The rest of the plot is outlined by Sela. The Vulcan ships were stolen to send a Romulan invasion force to Vulcan disguised as a peace envoy.  She writes a speech for Spock to give announcing the peace envoy and he refuses to give it. The look on her face is priceless.  Really, she got so much better stuff to do after Tasha died. Unfortunately this would be her last appearance because, lets face it, Sela is a failure as a commander, first with the Klingon plan and now with the Vulcan plan, and I don't think the Romulans would just let someone like that stay in command or even alive for very long. It's a shame they couldn't find another way to work her in though.  Anyway, she shows them a holographic Spock that she's made to give the speech for him and leaves Spock, Data, and Picard in the office together. They immediately start to hack into the computer network.

The Enterprise sees the three Vulcan ships leaving Galorndron Core and try to approach them but Sela sends out a distraction of an emergency medical situation that only the Enterprise is close enough to deal with. Meanwhile Spock and Data set up their own holographic simulation in the office, faking a rescue attempt and  trapping Sela. Spock gets to be caught up in the action again, just like days of old. He also gets a few seconds of uninterrupted air time to begin a truthful speech about the invasion force before he's cut off. And Data gets to preform the Vulcan nerve pinch to incapacitate Sela before they escape.

To everyone's horror, the Romulans move in to destroy their own people on the Vulcan ships rather than allow them to be captured, but this is what makes the Romulans so solidly evil. The captain and company escape to a different set of caves the Pardek didn't know about and Spock vows to stay and go on with attempts at reunification. Picard then offers Spock the chance to meld with him so that he can see what was in his father's heart from the thought's Sarek had shared with Picard. This is where I'm disappointed with the balance of the two parts of the episode, because this important moment was too rushed and brief. Nimoy makes it count, but They'd devoted a lot of time to Spock and Sarek and their relationship and even though this episode was more exciting than the first part, they could've trimmed it a little to work in some more reaction from Spock after knowing his father's mind. It was the last best look into Vulcan culture we'd get for a good long while. But I guess you can't have everything.
I'm giving this one five stars though, because it was very well rounded and thought out. The plot was interesting and intense. The humor was well placed and not overdone. Put together with the first part and it's a really good episode.