Trekathalon TOS: 1-16 The Galileo Seven

The motor!  We've thrown a rod!

Is the episode title a riff on the Mercury Seven astronauts, or The Magnificent Seven, or Seven Samurai, or Seven Up?

I'll stop that now...

Spock crashes a shuttle, the stranded crew get testy and insubordinate (again!), then they wait for enough guest stars to get killed by giants so the rest can take off and be rescued.

The goofy monsters are effective as omnous sounds, oversized weapons, and quick glimpses, but in full view, less so.  The B plot with the snotty bureaucrat drags this one down in my book.

Trekathalon TOS: 1-15 Shore Leave

The trouble with tribbles?

There sure are plenty of naive super-advanced humanoids in the galaxy!  This episode's species is eager to manufacturer your idle thoughts into physical objects, which have a tendency to kill.  But it's ok, it's a temporary sort of death.

Impaled Mcoy, and the plastic knight in armor really disturbed my younger self.  Have I mentioned I was scared of everything as a kid?  Because I was scared of everything.

I wonder if the federation quarantined this planet too?  It makes Rhysa seem like a dentist's waiting room.

Glyos Customs: Dice Heads

Some day, I will learn how to take a good picture.

For some reason, I like dice.  I don't play RPG's, which multi-sided dice are most commonly associated with, but I lurv the little jewel-like dice produced for RPGs and Strategy Gaming.

I also lurv Glyos!  So I combined them!  Glow-in-the-dark Zocchi GameScience dice, painted with Tamiya Clear paint, and with a custom peg added.  They still glow!

I'm zany! Which results in creativity.

Trekathalon TOS: 1-14 The Balance of Terror

Hail Ming!

Despite the IMDB screen-grab, I watched this one on DVD.  Was I disappointed with the updated effects?  Of course.  What's the point of doing an updated Romulan Warbird if you're still going to repeat the footage three or four times?!  Plus I didn't see a good view of the bird of prey livery on the bottom of the ship.  Either I wasn't paying attention (probable), or that was a major oversight.  At least for a spaceship nerd like me.

As episodes go, this is another one that's gotten creaky in comparison to later, better, takes on the destroyer vs. submarine-style starship duel.  I did get a chuckle out of the 'silent running' on both ships, complete with whispers.

Mark Lenard (Sarek!) does an excellent job as the Romulan Commander, and Lawrence Montaigne is this weeks insubordinate officer.  Those guys were a dime a dozen back then!  Also, widows.

Trekathalon TOS: 1-13 The Conscience of the King

23rd Century Denny's.

Old hammy actor Karidian (Arnold Moss), feels threatened by younger hammy actor Kirk, menwhile
Karidian's ca-razy daughter (Barbara Anderson) uses exploding phasers and Windex to silences people who don't enjoy their Shakespear troupe.

Karidian is also Kodos (where's Kang?), a mass-murderer.  All the guest stars end up dead, just like Hamlet!


Can you tell I was bored with this episode?

I need this chair:

Meet the Verte' from Anthro.  From the back, it looks like something HR Gieger would create.  Only it won't frieghten co-workers (that may be a drawback), and is likely is incredibly comfortable.  I've been searching for the perfect office chair since I was 17, and this may be it.  At $1500 (or only one penny with purchase of a $12,000 desk), it's going to take a while to save enough money.

Anthro's headquarters are nearby though, maybe if I stand outside begging, they'll give me a discount.

Week of Dec 20, 2010 - My butt smells like flowers

• Trekathalon is on Hiatus again, I watched a bunch of episodes out of order, and OCD compels me to go back and do it properly.
• Should have my opinions of RealD 3D up soon, know you all were holding your breath for that.
• I bought some Febreeze Glade Fabric Refresher to take the stink out of my hand-me-down office chair, and now my cube, and my person, smell like the cheapest perfume imaginable.  Spring Breeze apparently equals "Watermelon Jolly Ranchers dissolved in bleach."
• I really miss Original Scent Febreeze.
• Should have some more project and travel pictures up this week as well.

Best to avoid Tron: Legacy

Plodding, humorless, and excessively gruesome, Tron: Legacy is best avoided.  Garret Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, and Bruce Boxlightener do a decent job with a terrible script, while Jeff Bridges takes The Dude up to eleven for his Kevin Flynn performance.  He may be doing an ok job as CLU, but the digital youngified Jeff Bridges is to awful and distracting to notice anything else.   Lets make a deal Hollywood: Never use CG to make a young version of an old actor again, and I'll consider going to more movies.

While the plot, and the rules of the digital world make no sense, I found it more offensive that the special effects and production design were incredibly boring and derivative.  While the first Tron featured groundbreaking production design from visionary artists, Tron: Legacy has nothing you haven't seen before, and most of the sets, designs, set-pieces, and even dialogue are lifted from other movies (Wargames, Blade Runner, 2001, the original Tron).

Finally it's oddly grisly for a PG movie.  Limbs are severed, combatants are decapitated, and characters dissolve into gouts of electronic blood, and cubes of digital gore.   A scene of a woman sobbing as she held the remains of a slaughter loved one felt particularly excessive, and tone-deaf.

It's not Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, bad, but it's best avoided.  I did enjoy the Cillian Murphy cameo.

I'm also apparently allergic to Real3D, as it gave me a blinding headache, but that's for another post.

Trekathalon TOS: 1-12 The Menagerie Part II

"I spilled my oatmeaaaaaal!"

Not much to say on this one, the Enterprise crew finishes watching the old pilot episode's footage, and dumps Pike on Talos.

I'm pretty sure the Talosians just let Pike imagine he walked inside, and he's still sitting out in the cold.  Poor guy.

Trek? Trek! Toys? Toys!

Trekathalon resumes today, I had a hard time getting the exact right screengrab for the second half of The Menagerie.  It doesn't really matter, but it was enough to completely derail my efforts.

Work has also been incredibly busy, but yay, I still have a job!

Despite being rather broke, I still spend money.  And on completely useless things!  Like these lovely customs from Onell Design:

Mini-Pheyos, and Vegibrain Trooper

Trekathalon TOS: 1-11 The Menagerie Part 1

Meet George Jetson!

Watched this one on IMDB, so no mewling over updated effects!  Instead I will lavish praise on the old ones.  See that landscape?  That is beautiful.  The matte painter did an excellent job.  It's that kind of thing that fires a kid's imagination.

The episode?  Not bad for a bookended-clip-show.  All this time, I thought Kirk was being court-marshaled for causing Pike to be horribly burned.  None of that is accurate.

Oddly enough, I think I've seen The Cage more then either of the episodes that proceeded it.

I made this!

Norman

Well, some of it anyway.  The base figure is an Onell Design Glyos Founder.  I sculpted the head, hands, and feet from Sculpy Primo.  The paint job is a mix of spray enamel and acrylics.

It's got it's messy bits, but I'm very happy with it, and I think the figure's recepient was too, as this was part of the 2010 Glyos Exchange (they called it secret santa, but I don't celebrate christmas. Also, most of the exchange figures won't be shipped until after the holiday anyway).

The design is a sort of hybrid between the Dr. Who Mondas Cybermen, and their White Robot servants.

Trekathlon TOS: 1-10 The Corbomite Manuever

"This way to the probulator!"

Yay, a classic episode I that surpasses my recollections!  Very enjoyable, even Anthony D. Call, as the insubordinate Lt. Crazypants, who redeems himself by volunteering to keep Clint Howard company.

Was there any paperwork with that?  Did they leave him some food?  Clothes?  Cursory review of Clint Howard's cultural practices?  No?  Ok then; the Federation played fast and loose those days (It's never been called the federation yet, wonder when that became a series staple).

An aside about the updated effects: I still dislike the updated effects.  The new cube-probe-thingy looks like the old cube-probe-thingy, so why do it?  Clint Howard's Disco-Death-Ship is now a well defined metallic sphere, covered in yellow domes and ductwork, removing the ominous mystery of the original effect.

There's Ted Cassidy again as the voice of Balok's puppet.

Why I should Never Start a Business

So that tidy profit I made on ebay?  Funny story: the one big Transformer that I had made the profit with?  Turns out, I had super glued parts of it together, making it useless as a Transformer.

Of course, I only remembered this when I was packing it to ship out.  Now my Japanese buyer is most likely very confused by his refund, and I'm in the red.

Sometimes I wish I was smart.

Ebay Follow up.

Thanks to everyone who bid on my last round of ebay items.  I offered free international shipping, so I'm going to lose my shirt on a few items, but made a tidy sum on some others.

Also I will be shipping to Italy for the first time.  I am filled with trepidation on that one.

Live and learn!  Thanks again.

Nostalgia buttons

Hahaha, yesterdays post, whew.  So sad and dreary.  Sorry.  How about some nostalgia:

At a Target near you.

A reproduction of circa 1980 Star Wars packaging, with modern day action figures.  I have a sinking feeling I'm going to buy this, despite have no money or space for it.  Just look at those clean, beautiful graphics!  And there's a Lando!  And Luke's arm comes off!  Sure hasbro has done the retro thing before, but this time, they went whole-hog.
Picture from Rebulscum.com, head over there for a complete review.

Momentum Loss

It's been a dark winter in my corner of the pacific northwest, and inertia builds up fast.  Our Winter Death Blast 2010 didn't materialize, it's just our usual damp and cold.  You would think I would be used to it after 29 years.

The nights seem darker somehow. The road swallows light like a black hole, reflections look greasy and mean.  The night is malevolent, and I simply want to stay in bed.

Trekathalon resumes soon.