So i’ve watched a few original Star Trek episodes here and there over the past few years, despite having seen them all a bazillion times by now. However they may have dated – and definitely many have – there are still some cool aspects of them to watch.

But, since CBS took over several years ago, they reissued all 79 original episodes on DVD. You’d think that was a good thing, and for the most part, it’s fine, BUT, they also took the ‘liberty’ of updating CGI into them. Again, you’d think well, in some cases, the special effects are pretty bad (i’m thinking of The Constellation flying into the Doomsday Machine scene in particular, where it is ridiculously obvious it’s a model on a stand in front of a tv screen showing the effects, right at the very end of this clip:

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However, I find in watching these ‘redo’ episodes that I mostly dislike the redo of the “CGI”. Maybe it’s just an old man ranting, but I just think in many cases, the original approach with the huge original model lit from within just simply looks better than their attempt at ‘muted’ CGI – naturally they can’t “really” do CGI because that didn’t actually show up until TRON and The Last Starfighter, over 16 years later.

The first YT video below shows the difference side by side (original vs update), from this episode, and you can see what I mean.

As to the episode itself, mixed reviews. Too much Kirk (no Sulu, Scotty at all), the plot is somewhat contradictory of itself (why does Kirk keep the attempt on his life such a big secret and, why does he yell at Spock, twice, for trying to keep him from getting killed, especially when that’s Spock’s JOB?). Also, his attempts at getting laid are simply lame and way too obvious, and like so many ST attempts at including Shakespeare – this probably being among the first given it’s from the first season of TOS – just detracts from the melodrama already in play (literally). And Uhura’s otherwise fine song in the rec room is obviously dubbed, much like the clip I watched of good ol’ Clint Howard in The Corbomite Maneuver as a (literal) kid, playing a scary alien. But i’m probably just jaded….

candybowl

So we were lucky enough to go to Oahu, Hawai’i this past week, related to a kerewin work trip. On Friday, I was able to visit the Foster Botanical Gardens (post forthcoming) and Diamond Head State Monument.

So I had seen a bit of Oahu recently via Marvel’s Inhumans (the show has since been cancelled) and I think at least some of the Jurassic Park movie(s) have been filmed on Oahu, too – but all of that is showbiz. But there was a scene in Inhumans where they show Diamond Head from the air, and that you can drive into it via a tunnel – pretty cool – and hike to the top of one of the rim(s), also cool.

So I took the bus to a nearby stop Friday afternoon the 15th, and started walking. You can walk all the way in, pay your $1 (cars, buses and taxis pay more) and pretty much start hiking, which is largely what I did. I would equate the hike to about 2-3x the hike up the back side of Smith Rock in central Oregon, which we’ve done a couple times in the past when visiting relatives over there, near Madras.

There are a couple good staircases, but most of it is switchbacks. Also near the top, as I hate heights for the most part, I didn’t do the very tippy top exposed staircases, but I was still pleased with the hike nonetheless, got up to almost the top in about 20 min.

the video linked here below gives you an idea of the hike – enjoy! Very cool, beautiful views and scenery, and an inexpensive way to get some exercise, to be sure.

candybowl

hilarious – highlights include ‘The Riker Maneuver’, ‘Worf getting his ass kicked’ and ‘acting’ 🙂

candybowl

PS – if you see a T-Mob-lame ad on this clip, F T-Mob-LAME!

Hmmm…again more of the same – we have (very, grudgingly one might argue) incremental progress in the “Search for Spock” but have at least one ‘save the world’ scenario along the way. No offense, but I think we need to get things back on track, everyone. At least last year we had Malfoy and the Klingon war/back story as a common thread, but they aren’t doing enough to push the Spock story forward, IMHO.

I like the fact that they are (yet again) drawing out Section 31, but at the same time, it begins to risk credibility when it seems like S31 has all the great toys and tech that could have won the war with the Klingons – then why was the Federation on its knees at the time? This was a minor problem in DS9 days too – hard to know….

Time will tell..

candybowl

Hmmm….Once again, Discovery giveth, and taketh away. On the one hand, we get the teaser of Number One coming to visit at the start of the episode (in the form of Rebecca Romijn – nice!) but despite the V’ger-esque main plot, we get a bit of a distraction with the parallel Tilly/spores plot, which IMHO wasn’t nearly as well executed (even though I actually enjoy Tig Notaro’s character well enough, kind of a blue-collar Scotty with even less respect for authority).

But I’m still unsure why they (the writers, not the actors) arguably strayed from the main longer-term plotline (going after Spock) to detour to these weird, arguably derivative minor side stories? The one involving Saru was completely predictable, guys? Come on.

The acting is still great, hoping for more for other members of the bridge crew as we go….onward….

candybowl

candybowl

I think this episode was an improvement over the last one – some good unexpected stuff happening, they broaden the story to not just be about ‘the search for Spock’ – although there’s more than a bit about that, too – and some good action too….they are pushing the envelope a bit (not completely in a good way) with the Section 31 stuff, but i’ll remain in check on that one for now…

candybowl

saw it last night – pretty good, definitely throwing in weird angles to the story, which the main plot of was otherwise a bit meh – Star Trek (and sci fi ad nauseum) has done the ‘old society confronted by modern space society’ – or whatever you want to call it – many, many times.

Still, I also like how they are *finallY* giving other bridge crew something to do – not just being ‘red shirts’ on missions (look it up) but actual dialog – keep it up! Of course Burnham keeps up the great work as the center of the show, but they are definitely letting her character grow too..

Finally, creating a main season multi-episode plot thread around Spock isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and that they are trying to create back story around Capt. Pike (thankfully NOT Capt. Kirk) is also cool – the plot thickens, as they say…

candybowl

candybowl

couple hard zingers in there for all generations – including mine (X) – ouch!

candybowl