#Star Trek Astro Helmet

[chernobog13]

The Star Trek Astro Helmet from Remco. An exact replica of the one Kirk wore in that episode.

[oldschoolsciencefiction]

If memory serves, Kirk wore this during the entirety of “City on the Edge of Forever”.

[magicalmonsterhero]

Captain N (Live-Action) trailer

My take on a live-action Captain N movie trailer, partially inspired by the trailers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1.

(Open on a fifteen year old brunette boy in futuristic-looking clothes entering a storage room full of video game-related paraphernalia. He looks around the room a few times before his eyes land on a blue sphere with a golden letter P etched into it. As he grabs the sphere, however, there’s a sound behind him. Turning toward it, his eyes widen as he sees a blonde girl his age, who looks just as surprised to see him.)

Blonde Girl: Kevin?

Kevin: Sarah?

(The sound of an explosion causes them both to jump in surprise.)

Sarah: Talk later?

(Kevin tucks the sphere into his pocket before tapping a red and gold band around his wrist, which transforms into a laser pistol.)

Kevin: Oh yeah.

(The Nintendo, Konami, and Capcom logos briefly appear. Cut to Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, and a blue R.O.B. unit standing in front of a large display screen. Fox is tapping at the keyboard, bringing up a live feed of Kevin and Sarah in what looks like a conference room. They are joined by Samus Aran [in her Zero Suit], Mega Man, and Simon Belmont.)

Fox: There’s quite a few bad guy groups who are after that Key Orb. Lucky for us, these five are willing to help keep it out of their hands.

(The feed is replaced by a picture of Simon. A video pops up in the upper right corner, showing Simon facing off against a pair of mummies, Medusa, and Death.)

Fox: Simon Belmont, vampire hunter born in his world’s 17th century. He was accidentally sent to NESector after his third trek through the occult fortress known as Castlevania.

(The screen switches to a picture of Samus. Footage of her taking on space pirates and Metroids is shown.)

Fox: Samus Aran, bounty hunter. Orphaned when notorious space pirate Ridley and his crew attacked her birth planet, she was taken in by the Chozo, who infused her with Chozo DNA, trained her, and equipped with a suit of powered armor.

(Another switch, this time to Mega Man. The accompanying video shows him going up against Wily’s Robot Masters.)

Fox: Mega Man, AKA Rock Light. After Dr. Albert Wily began a quest to dominate his Earth, his former colleague Dr. Thomas Light upgraded one of his robotic assistants with the Variable Weapons System, enabling him to copy the abilities of his fellow ‘Robot Masters.’

(Shot of Kevin and Sarah running down a hall, being chased by Pigmasks. Cut back to the display screen, now displaying Kevin and Sarah. The accompanying footage shows Kevin turning his wristband into various weapons and tools.)

Fox: Kevin Keene, AKA Captain N. Abducted at age 10 from the Player Realm by parties unknown, he has become something of a ‘hero for hire.’ The girl accompanying him is Sarah Field, a childhood friend who witnessed his abduction.

('All Star' by Smash Mouth begins to play. Shot of Sarah donning a yellow and silver wristband. Shot of Kevin donning a jetpack similar to a Game Boy Advance in appearance. Shot of Samus wearing most of her power suit, picking up her helmet and donning it. Shot of Mega Man checking the Mega Buster. Shot of Simon with the Vampire Killer. Cut to the five of them seated around a table.)

Kevin: So here we are...two gamers...

(Shot of Kevin firing his laser pistol at a Starman as he runs down a hallway. Beside him, Sarah holds the Key Orb to her chest with one hand while shooting at a mob of Pigmasks with the other.)

Kevin: ...Tron-style Astro Boy...

(Shot of Mega Man using the Rolling Cutter on a trio of Mettaurs, before placing a Crash Bomb on the Yellow Devil.)

Kevin: ...the bounty hunter love child of Iron Man and Black Widow...

(Shot of Samus using a Morph Ball Bomb to propel herself to a ledge, where she unleashes a Zero Laser upon Kraid. As he is blown away, her Power Suit comes apart, revealing Samus in her Zero Suit with her Paralyzer drawn.)

Kevin: ...and a He-Man vampire slayer.

(Shot of Simon swinging over a large pit, using the Vampire Killer as a tether. Landing on the other side, he takes out a small flask and flings it at a trio of zombies. The flask shatters as it hits the floor in front of the zombies, and they are sprayed by the holy water inside, causing them to shriek in pain as their skin starts to melt. Cut to Fox and Falco standing beside the former's Arwing, along with a regal-looking brunette woman dressed in Greco-Roman style armor.)

Brunette Woman: You really think these five can unlock the Sony gateway?

(Cut to Shade Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Flash Man, Bright Man, and Gravity Man standing in a circle, looming over an unseen prisoner. Shot of Mega Man charging a Mega Blaster shot, aiming at a Game and Watch Octopus. Shot of Simon taking on Carmilla in a sword fight. Shot of Samus piloting a ship, with Kevin and Sarah seated directly behind her. As enemy craft begin firing on them, Sarah clutches her seatbelt for dear life. Shot of the five doing a Power Walk down the hall of the Robot Masters' base. Cut to Simon looking at something with a curious expression. He reaches out and presses a button somewhere below the camera view, then jumps back in surprise as 'Danger Zone' begins to play. Cut to title card.)

CAPTAIN N and LADY K

(Cut to the quintet boarding Samus's gunship. Sarah, standing in the entryway, turns to look at the others.)

Sarah: Hey, uh, anybody know a good place to grab a bite?

Mega Man: I know this place that does a mean Texas barbecue.

[defconprime]

Remco Star Trek Astro-Helmet and Rocket Pistol Set, 1970.

[tydy-the-megnet]

A Homey Side of the Camp

I wanted to write Marris. It ended up being mostly gen though. And I’m not even too happy with it…

Eh, whatever. I’m sure somebody will enjoy it, right?

“Alright, Campers!” David spoke loudly and cheerfully as he always did, grabbing the attention of every kid in the mess hall as they dutifully carried their trays toward the washer, “Today is Gwen’s day off, so we won’t be bothering her!” The jovial counselor hopped in place, betraying his own excitement.

Max scowled, just thinking of what David would have them do without Gwen there.

“Instead, we’ll be hiking into the forest to see all the different trees!”

Max groaned and slumped forward, leaning his check onto his fist, “Figures you would come up with this, you tree fucker.”

The grumpy boy ignored the chiding response.

…

The campers trekked through the forest, following their overenthusiastic counselor, and cursing the day that derived them of Gwen – the only protection they had from activities like this.

And it didn’t help that David was stopping every five seconds to lecture them for twenty-five minutes on each and every tree they saw. It was all little facts and trivia and almost seemed like he was trying to lose his interest, Max thought, as he looked away.

One thing did catch his attention. The scream-rustle-thud that sounded decided unlike Conifers 101.

Max turned around, eyes darting to where David stood – he was gone. What the fuck?

“Where did he go?” Space Kid asked, scratching his bowl.

“He fell into the bushes…” Neil responded, digging through the shrubbery. Jolting back, the boy pulled some bright cloth from the branches. It was a small, yellow shirt – David’s, which they all knew he wore as an ascot. The worst part, Max noticed, was that it was splattered with red.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Max swore, looking upward.

...

“Great, he probably got eaten by a bear or something.” Max griped as the campers headed back the way they came.

“Perhapth it was a wood troll. They can be particularly nefariuth creaturth.” Nerris replied, “And their CR is too high for David’s current level.”

“Yeah, but bears are real.”

“Aw man, I wanna wrestle a bear!” Stars danced in Nikki’s eyes as she skipped a few steps ahead of the others.

“Nikki! We need to stick together!” It was Neil who spoke next, attempting to keep them safe. “Any one of us could be next.” Nikki stopped, allowing the others to catch up.

Conversation between the campers continued in a similar pattern until they reached the main campgrounds again. They went immediately to the counselor cabin, knocking urgently on the door.

There was no answer. Neil stepped forward, knocking again, and the door swung open with an eerie creak. The room was lit only by the open window, a soft breeze rustling the drawn curtains and letting in the occasional beam. There also were words etched in the wall beside it.

newg ame xam pers

“… The fuck? Is that Latin? Is this that fucking cultist!?”

“It doesn’t look like Latin.” Neil said uncertainly, examining the carvings.

Max glared at the offending words as his fellow campers started to panic. What he failed to understand was why someone would come all the way to this dump just to kill people off.

Psychopaths were weird like that.

“Would you guys shut the fuck up already? Let’s go get the try the Quartermaster. If anyone can stop some crazy serial killer, it’d be him.”

“Yesh! The elder one will surely hold the key to thith mythtery!” Nerris cheered, and the others shakily cheered back.

Max sighed, and the group began to exit the counselor’s room. Max was the first out, pausing when he heard a whooshing – “Oh my got they got Space Kid!” Nurf’s voice rang out clearly in the night, and everyone turned quickly toward Gwen’s window, where only the astro-enthusiast’s helmet remained. The glass bowl was spinning slowly, rattling on the floor as it slowed.

Loud rasps and scratches came from just outside, and Max ran around the corner to try and spot the culprit.

All he saw was the faint swish of a cloaked figured barreling into the woods.

“T-they’re picking us off one by one!” Neil wailed, sinking to his knees.

“Jesus, this guy’s good. How did none of us see him?”

…

Quartermaster had given them some creepy spiel about pesky dryads and left to search. That had been expected, but it meant they were left alone, and now Max and the others were stuck in the mess hall out of fear, or at least concern.

“Maybe the camp will get shut down after this,” Max muttered idly, reclining on a table.

Nikki gasped, “Oh no! You think it would! We can’t let that happen!” She grabbed Neil and a frying pan and charged out the door, shouting, “Onward to the hunt!”

Max watched the door that the pair had burst through. He was slowly becoming more and more done with the situation. “Ugh, come on. I guess we should go look for them. But if we get brutally murdered by whatever fucking thing there is out there, I swear to fucking god—” the boy groaned.

“We should shplit up, for efficiency.”

Max stared disbelievingly as everyone accepted the idea without question. It’s like they were trying to fall into every horror movie trope in existence.

People moved around him, pairing off – Ered with Dolph, Harrison with Nurf – leaving only Max, Nerris, and Preston.

“This is stupid,” Max griped, “We should just leave. Our counselors are dead. We should go into town and call the cops, not search the camp for some rabid psycho-cryptid or whatever.” The boy pulled David’s bloodstained shirt from his hoodie and murmured, “Or we’re gonna die.”

“Relax, Max,” Nerris said, bounding a few feet forward, “I’ll protect uth with some magic wards.”

“This is Act Three! The climax is approaching!” his other partner insisted – how had he gotten stuck with these two again? – “The heroes can’t leave now!”

Nerris nodded, “No self-respecting adventurer would leave in the middle of a quetht! … Unless there’s a sidequetht that must be completed…”

Max drowned his tone in sarcasm and attempted to roll his eyes at both of them, “Well maybe—”

He was interrupted by the sounds of several things breaking. Something darted out of the bushes with a familiar feral snarl. Max barely caught sight of glinting teeth before the thing leapt onto Preston. The thespian’s cries of terror and pain were drowned out by loud growls and a distinct ripping was heard. Red sprayed everywhere, and Max was right in the splash zone.

A couple of limbs were left behind as Preston’s gurgling body was dragged through the underbrush, leaving two horrified campers gawking at the gory aftermath.

“… Fuck.”

…

The pair had been running through the woods for at least ten minutes, trying to get away from the mess. Ragged and rattled, the duo burst out into a small clearing, tumbling together out of the vegetation. They stumbled to their feet, holding each other upright.

“That… Was… Horrifying…” Max stared at the ground, still in shock. Nerris started nudging him, but the touches barely registered. Nerris’ voice was distant – “Max… Max…” the lispy whisper begged his attention.

He looked up to see Nerris’ face staring wide-eyed into the area. Slowly, he followed his gaze to see a tall – maybe ten-foot – figure ambling toward them slowly. Behind the figure was a pile of bodies with ashen faces.

Nikki, Neil, David – they were all there ­­– Nurf, Harrison, even Preston… The figure stumbled slightly, and began muttering… Max grasped Nerris’ arm, nearly paralyzed and mind hurtling through several scenarios.

Quartermaster’s body was absent. That was a plus.

The tall cloaked being’s mumbles became clearer as it approached. A rasping whisper assaulted their ears, “Camp Campbell is the place… For you… And…”

Gwen! She was not there either. She probably had gone to the cops, like a sensible—

Wait.

The thing shuffled closer, and Max’s grip loosened. He took a single step forward, ignoring Nerris’ gasp and frantic grab.

Gwen was one of the first to be discovered missing, with those weird words in her room – Newg something.

That song… “Arsony and dying… Hurt and torture—dying…”

It was David’s song with the lyrics switched out…

The figure was right beside him now, raising a too-thin arm. Max glared at it.

He had been stuck with Preston – the actor – and Nerris ­­– the roleplayer.

“Holy shit. Am I being punked?”

The figure stopped, and a grumbling came from its stomach. Its arm descended, and a broomstick fell from the sleeve.

It lowered its hood, revealing Gwen, smirking at him from whatever perch she had.

David perked up from his spot in the bloody pile, “We thought you’d like a murder mystery camp night!”

“What?”

Gwen lowered herself slowly, and took off the cloth, revealing Quartermaster underneath. “It was Nerris’ idea.”

“We do a lot of activitieth for all our campth. This time we wanted to do one for you…” Nerris rubbed her arm as she looked away.

Nikki ran up to him from where the others were untangling themselves, “Yeah! So, we all decided to put you through a horror movie!”

Max’s eyebrows rose as they all started talking at him, excitedly telling him which parts their ideas were. They all looked so happy to have done something for him...

The camp sucked. But the campers weren’t that bad.

[thomwade]

After the prequels, Star Wars appeared to be…well, complete.  Lucas was no longer talking about a third trilogy.  All had gone quiet on that front.  Instead, Star Wars thrived in animated fare like the Cone Wars cartoon and in comic books through Dark Horse. Dark Horse had even started a Canon series that took place between a New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

But then, in 2012, came a very unexpected announcement.  Disney had purchased Lucasfilm and all it’s properties.  And with this announcement came the news that they were working on a new trilogy.  And on top of that, Disney would also be making Star Wars films set outside the main storyline.

This came with some controversy, as Disney declared that the extended universe of Novels and comics were, in no way, canon. Only the Six movies counted.  This was partially to allow new novels and comic books to start building the universe anew. Dark Horse lost the rights and Marvel took up telling all new stories within the Star Wars universe.

J.J. Abrams was brought in fresh from rebooting Star Trek (ironically enough, he was often criticized for bring a Star Wars attitude to the franchise) to create the new story that would continue the adventures. Of course, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were all brought in to reprise their roles (some more limited than others).  So let us go forward, back to that galaxy far, far away…and be ready for spoilers!

Opening up about thirty years after Return of the Jedi, we are greeted by a star destroyer.  It appears that while the Republic was restored, the remnants of the Empire formed as the First Order. The First Order is getting bolder and are trying to wipe out the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa.  She has sent a top Resistance Pilot named Poe Dameron to the planet Jakku in an effort to get information that could lead them to Luke Skywalker.

First Order ships arrive on the scene, and Poe tries to escape, but his ship is damaged.  He puts the top secret info into his astro droid BB-8. The droid goes on the run and Poe is captured by the mysterious Kylo Ren.  It is quickly revealed that this is the son of Leia and Han Solo.

In the middle of this, one of the Stormtroopers seems out of step with the others. When they return from Jakku, he removes his helmet to reveal a young man who is not a clone (later in the film, it is explained the First Order takes young children from their families and trains them to be unquestioning soldiers rather than clones). The Storm Trooper helps Poe escape.  In the middle of their escape, Dameron asks what his name is, and the Trooper responds with FN2187.  Poe determines that he will just call him Finn, and the newly christened Finn declares he likes it.  They crash back on Jakku.  Finn cannot find anything but Poe’s leather jacket.  He wanders the desert planet, tossing aside his Storm Trooper armor.

Meanwhile, BB-8 has been found by the young scavenger Rey.  She helped BB get away from a junk collector and offers to help the droid get to the city. They arrive and Rey finds herself being followed.  BB-8 sees Finn in Poe’s jacket and Rey attacks.  Finn claims to be a member of the resistance, and that he can help.  Finn hears a familiar sound and they realize they are under attack from the First Order.

They rush to find a spaceship.  Finn points to a ship offscreen and Rey mocks it as being garbage, but the ship she wants blows up…resulting in her yelling out “The garbage it is”…but it turns out to be a very famous hunk of junk. It is the Millennium Falcon.  Rey pilots while Finn mans the guns.  This leads to a very exciting chase through the air forcing the two to rely on their best wits.  At one point, Rey flies the ship through the carcass of a crashed Star Destroyer.

Once they reach space, they start to try and figure out how to get BB-8 and Finn back to the Resistance.  Finn, of course, has no knowledge of the Resistance, but manages to convince BB-8 to play along. They are overtaken by a larger ship, and it turns out to be Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Things take a turn for the worse as two factions Han has double crossed show up.  After a narrow escape, the newly formed crew head to meet up with someone Han knows can help. Their mission is now to get BB-8 to the Resistance, especially after they find that BB-8 holds coordinates to finding Luke Skywalker.  They reach a lush planet and Han brings them to the temple of Maz.

Maz is a small alien who is even older than Yoda.  She apparently has a crush on Chewbacca (she refers to him as her boyfriend, and it is unclear if this is playful or serious).

Finn confesses that he was a Stormtrooper and he is terrified.  He only wants to run as far from the First Order as possible. Maz points him out to a couple of guys he could run with.  Rey gets distracted, believing she hears a child calling for help.  She goes to the basement of Maz’s temple where she finds a trunk with a familar item.  Luke’s lightsaber, last seen in the Empire Strikes Back. As soon as she touches it, she faces a barrage of visions and sounds, voices and images of the past and future.

Rey runs from the Temple in terror.  Unbeknownst to Maz, Han or the others, spies for both the Resistance and the First Order have sent out alerts, as the First Order and Resistance are both on the hunt for BB-8.

The first order has a new weapon they call Starkiller Base (this is a reference to the original scripts for Star Wars, when Luke was named Luke Starkiller). It is basically a variation on the Deathstar, except they used an actual planet to create it.

Having seen Rey run off, Finn starts to run for her, but everyone is stopped by a sight in the sky.  The Starkiller Base has fired on the Republic’s central planets.  The First Order knows that the Republic has been helping the Resistance, and without them, the Resistance loses key support.  Everyone on the ground near Maz’s temple can see the lasers burning through space towards their targets.

Then, the First Order shows up, firing on the temple and it’s fleeing occupants.  Rey and BB-8 are running through the forest while Stormtroopers are in pursuit.  Han, Chewbacca and Finn fight Stormtroopers trying to get to Rey, but end up overwhelmed.  Meanwhile, Kylo Ren has found Rey.

Ren discovers that Rey has seen the map and dismisses the need for BB-8, instead taking Rey with him.  In the meantime, the Resistance shows up with X-Wings to chase off the First Order troops, saving Han, Finn and Chewbacca.

They are greeted by General Leia Organa, who embraces Han.  Now, instead of running from the First Order, Finn argues for a direct assault on Starkiller base so they can save Rey. It is also revealed that Poe survived the crash landing, just as Finn had.

Rey is being interrogated by Kylo Ren, though, he seems to have deeper motives.  He sees that Rey seems to have a natural gift for the Force, much like his grandfather.

After Ren leaves, Rey feels emboldened and tries a “force” trick by getting a guard to unlock her restraints. The seen is quite entertaining, and more played for the humor than the drama. But the scene works pretty well, showing Rey both a quick learner and more than willing to accept things on faith.

Back at the Resistance base, they prepare for their attack.  They plan for Han, Finn and Chewbacca to take out the shields that will allow the Resistance fighters, led by Poe to take out the base before it can fire.  The Starkiller Base’s primary weapon actually requires the energy of a star, so they have until the star being used for power is snuffed out.

  Arriving in the Millennium Falcon, the heroes go in to find both Rey and set up the destruction of the base.  As they search for Rey, Han realizes she has already escaped.  They meet up with Rey and start planting explosives. Han sees Kylo and calls out to him.  Han and Kylo meet on a bridge.  Han reaches out, and Kylo speaks hesitantly, wanting his fathers help.  Solo promises to help him, in this moment, Han’s facade of cocky hero drops to reveal a father who lost his son, and sees an opportunity to heal the relationship.

Instead, Kylo impales him with his lightsaber.  Han, in a touching moment, touches the face of his son before falling from the bridge. Angrily, Chewbacca fires and hits Kylo Ren.  The horrified trio of Rey, Finn and Chewbacca race out of the structure, setting off the bombs. This allows the X-Wings to start strafing the surface.  Chewbacca heads for the Falcon, while Finn and Rey run into another obstacle…

Finn turns on the lightsaber and engages Ren, but it is a short fight.  He starts to use the Force to grab the lightsaber the unconscious Finn dropped, but instead, it find’s Rey’s hands.  This is a really nice dramatic and exciting moment, scored just tight by John Williams.

Rey and Kylo have a furious lightsaber duel, only to have the planet starting to break up around them.  Ren tells Rey he could train her, she may be a strong raw user of the Force, but he can teach her better control.  They are split apart by the turmoil around them.  Chewbacca appears with the Falcon and they get Finn, leaving before the Starkiller Base is fully destroyed.

Returning to the base, Rey meets Leia (an they embrace, which Abrams admits was probably a mistake, there is no reason for the attachment, as Leia and Rey have never met). Using the information from BB-8, they have the missing puzzle piece.  Earlier in the film, it is revealed R2-D2 has been in powersave mode, he wakes up and provides the rest of the map.  Rey and Chewbacca fly off to the remote planet that Luke is staying on.  Rey walks up and stands before Luke reaching out with his old lightsaber and the film ends…

Probably the two biggest knocks against the film were the fact that it mirrors A New Hope far to much and Rey is a Mary Sue.

The film does follow the beats of a New Hope quite closely.  A young desert planet nobody is drawn into a larger battle of intergalactic forces and learns to use the force…while helping to destroy a planet sized planet destroyer. But I do not find this overall a problem.  The repetition is certainly a valid storytelling device.  I confess, I wish the big plot device did not hinge on a planet killer all over again, but I do like the visual design of Starkiller Base.

But the whole “Rey is a Mary Sue” thing.  This is often leveled as a criticism along with folks upset by the film having “diversity”.  Finn is played by a black man, Rey is, of course, a girl and Poe is played by a man of Cuban and Guatemalan heritage.

Before then, the casts were largely white.  Lando and Mace Windu were exceptions.  And I think Mace was mainly “Wouldn’t it be bad ass if Samuel L. Jackson was a Jedi???” There is a silly contingent of people out there that are certain having non-white male actors in roles is a problem. It somehow ruins the stories to have a variety of actors. They claim, of course, not that their problem is the diversity, but forced diversity.  But John Boyega’s presence did not force some magical change on the story. Opening up considerations for actors in the Star Wars universe is hardly a problem.  Especially when you consider how baked in the cake it is with Star Trek. And it sure seems to work okay there.

But back to Rey.  So, Mary Sue is a term that is a part of fan fiction.  If you are not aware, Fan Fiction communities are folks who love to write stories continuing the adventures of shows, movies, comics, etc that they love. Sometimes they work within the cannon of the franchise, but often, this is their way of saying “what should have happened.” Some writers are specifically focused on relationships they want to see that the official works clearly won’t be doing (*cough, cough* Finn and Poe *cough, cough*).  But the most derided thing in fan fiction is the dreaded “Mary Sue”.  A Mary sue is a character that is created by the author that is simply better and smarter than everyone else.  There is nothing they cannot do. They always save the day and fix everything. It is generally believed that a Mary Sue is a way for the author to insert themselves into the story.

In the film we see Rey fly the Millennium Falcon, fix the Millennium Falcon, use the Force and have a lightsaber duel with a trained Sith Lord.  Does this make her an all powerful Mary Sue?

No.

There, that was not so hard.

Not satisfied?  Okay…then we are going to break this all down.

Rey just happens to be a pilot who can just happen to fly and fix the Millennium Falcon.  She even seems to understand it better than Han Solo. But let us look at Rey’s history.  As a child, she is left with junk dealer Unkar Plutt. Her whole life has been as a scavenger.  She plunders the ruins of the crashed ships that litter the surface of Jakku. This means she has some basic technical understanding of how ships function.

We know Rey is familiar with the Millennium Falcon, because when she is running with Finn, he calls out the Falcon and she says they are not going to take it because it is garbage.   Unkar Plutt owns the Falcon at the beginning of the film. We know this in part because as Rey fires it up, he yells out about his ship. Later Rey tells Han about modifications that Plutt made that she disagreed with.  So, she has been in the Falcon probably many times. So, between being a scavenger and working for Plutt? It stands to reason fixing ships would be a skill she might have.

She also points out how she has flown ships before, though never in space.  And even with this, the film portrays her as a pilot who gets farther on luck than actual skill.  When she first tries flying the Falcon, she nearly crashes it. This is not Mary Sue Territory.

 Rey uses the force pretty well with no training.  So?

Okay, okay.  First off, the films have clearly established that those who are Force Sensitive may find themselves using it without even realizing it.  You do not have to have training to use it, training simply helps you better control it it. Rey does a bit more than we see Luke do in the first film, which does not mean anything.  Luke has nobody to duel Lightsabers with, that falls to Obi Wan in the first film. Luke has no more training than Rey in the beginning of Empire when he uses the Force to retrieve his lightsaber from the snow.  There is no in movie argument that he could not have done that in a New Hope. So, this notion that a person who is Force Sensitive cannot do Jedi mind tricks and the like is not based in anything other than “It was not done by Luke in a New Hope”, which is, frankly, not much of a point at all. Still not Mary Sue territory.

Rey fights a trained Sith in a lightsaber duel.  This often is argued that she wins.  But that is absolutely false. Nobody won the fight.  It was a draw. And you might think this still favors the Mary Sue Argument.  But, no, it does not.  Early on in the film, we see Rey protects herself with a staff.  As a scavenger, a weapon is probably a necessity.  And she uses a staff.  It is pretty clear she uses the lightsaber in a similar fashion. But still, how could she fight Kylo Ren to a standstill? Well, right before this confrontation, Ren has killed his father and Chewbacca shot him with his bow.  They spend the entire film establishing just how powerful that bow is. In the fight, Ren is clearly in pain, and he constantly pauses to punch himself in the side, apparently trying to blunt his pain.  He also has been wounded by Finn in their brief lightsaber duel. Rey is fighting a wounded man who still manages to nearly best her, only the destruction of the Starkiller Base ends their fight.

So, in closing, the Mary Sue accusation does not hold up under scrutiny.  In addition, unless you are condemning the original trilogy, the arguments for Rey as Mary Sue apply every bit to Luke Skywalker. If you think Luke is not a Mary Sue (or, Gary Sue, because people seem uncomfortable applying a feminine descriptor to a male character) than Rey cannot be either.

A few things that were bothersome…

Captain Phasma played by Game of Throne’s Gwendolyn Christie.  While I liked the character’s visual look (and loved that they were comfortable always keeping the Helmet on, leaving for mystery), I felt like the character never got to show off, so to speak.  They hired Christie, who is a commanding physical presence and she never really gets her moment.

Supreme Leader Snoke is only seen in in the form of a giant hologram.  Who he is gets played up as a big mystery, but I do not find him particularly threatening here.

I was not sure how I felt about Luke being this legend and enigma in this film, the Last Jedi has given me perspective I will address in that piece.

But, for me, the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.  I enjoyed returning to the universe and the characters. Seeing Han Solo and Chewie and General Leia were all welcome.

Driver gives a fascinating performance.  His Kylo Ren worships his grandfather Darth Vader.  He seeks to be like him, but he is a young fanboy desperate for approval from Snoke, but struggling with a part of him that still desires the love of his parents.  The first six films all focused on the allure and deceit of the Dark Side. The Dark Side is an almost romantic threat that can overpower good.  The Force Awakens is the first time we see the idea that the Light Side of the force has it’s own pull.  And I like this.

I really like Rey and Finn.  Both are in struggles that sometimes cause them to be overtaken by fear. Finn has only known the First Order, and the concept of friends like Rey and Poe quickly start to give him a new kind of hope. Rey has never had the courage of Jakku believing that some day her parents will return.  When Maz points out that Rey knows this is not true, but she has the potential of a new family, Rey is terrified to face this and runs. Poe Dameron is one of those fun swashbucklers, who makes things work by kind of flying by the seat of his pants and hoping it all pays off.

When I saw the Force Awakens in 2015, I enjoyed it a lot.  I have revisited the film a few times in the past few years, and my feelings have not changed.

Nothing But Star Wars Episode Seven (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2015) After the prequels, Star Wars appeared to be...well, complete.  Lucas was no longer talking about a third trilogy. 

[cptdorkery]

I am astounded I have lived this long and never heard of Spock's helmet. Not to doubt the veracity of The Toys That Made Us (or @janey-jane) but I had to research this.

A quick Google search turned up an article at StarTrek.com, and holy crap! This was a real thing.

To quote the article, "... the Enco Company must have drawn inspiration from the 1969 Remco Star Trek Astro-Helmet when they released their Official Star Trek Helmet in 1976. Enco took the ridiculous concept to all new heights of absurdity, however, by adding a movable visor, pull-out antennae and a large red 'flashing light emitter with pulsing sonic sound.'"

This is the 1969 helmet.

Make fun of it if you want, but I'm kind of digging the flaming Starfleet insignia.

And it turns out that the 1976 version isn't actually "Spock's helmet." It came with a customizable sticker sheet so you could be whomever you wanted.

This toy was obviously made to cash in on Star Trek's rising popularity in the 70's, and just as obviously was marketed towards people who had never seen Star Trek. Just make it look space-y and they'll buy it for their kids.

But... it is possible Kirk and Spock and the rest of the crew actually did wear these on the Enterprise.

I mean, this happened:

A little protection, via a helmet and flashing red light, isn't such a bad thing in a universe where brains are as vulnerable to theft as a cell phone in an unlocked car.

The Toys That Made us Star Trek episode!

so the second season of The Toys That Made Us just dropped on Netflix and the first episode is about star trek!

So first of all there’s this bit where they mention Shatner’s “raw animal magnatism”  (lol, sure let’s go with that) complete with a clip of him with his shirt half torn off, but the best bit is that it’s followed by three clips…

one of Rand …

…and Uhura…. both looking intrigued, and then because SOMEONE on this production crew is either a fucking troll or ONE OF US you get this: 

and then the clip of Spock cuts to one of Jimbo looking like smiling, charming, sunshine embodied.

but omfg it gets better.

because they start talking about the “best of the worst” of trek toys  and i’m sitting here immediately like “SPOCK HELMET SPOCK HELMET SPOCK HELMET”

announcer: “Something so odd and strange… it’s hard to put into words” and the toy collectors they’re interviewing all look torn between embarrassment or amusement…

and i’m like… vibrating in my seat because it HAS TO BE THE SPOCK HELMET.

SPoiler alert. It was TOTALLY the spock helmet.

FUCK. YEAH.

but anyway this show is great (i loved the first season!) you should watch it if it’s available in your region and you like material culture history!

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: A History of Science Fiction’s Future Visions

Installation view of Into the Unknown at the Barbican in London (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

LONDON — The 1982 film Blade Runner imagined 2019 Los Angeles as a dystopia of noirish neon and replicants, robots sent to do hard labor on off-world colonies. It’s a future in which engineered beings are so close to humans as to make the characters question the very nature of life. We’re now just a couple of years from this movie’s timeline, and although our robots are still far from mirroring humanity, our science fiction continues to envision giant leaps in technology that are often rooted in contemporary concerns of where our innovations are taking us.

Patrick Gyger, curator of Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science Fiction at the Barbican Centre, told Hyperallergic that, for him, science fiction “allows creators to look beyond the horizon of knowledge and play with concepts and situations.” The exhibition is a sprawling examination of the genre of science fiction going back to the 19th century, with over 800 works. These include film memorabilia, vintage books, original art, and even a kinetic sculpture in a lower-level space by Conrad Shawcross. “In Light of The Machine” has a huge, robotic arm twisting within a henge-like circle of perforated walls, so visitors can only glimpse its strange dance at first, before moving to the center and seeing that it holds one bright light at the end of its body.

Film still from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (courtesy the Roger Grant Archive)

Most of Into the Unknown is concentrated in the Barbican’s Curve space, a winding gallery with a high ceiling that permits objects to be stacked to the ceiling. They range from spacesuits worn in Star Trek and Moon (2009), to the robot TARS from Interstellar (2014) and Ava from Ex Machina (2015), to drawings by H. R. Giger for the Alien series and paintings by James Gurney for his Dinotopia books. The post-war architecture of the Barbican is a fitting setting for Into the Unknown, with its concrete angles and utopian spirit. In conjunction with the show, Penguin Classics released a series of limited-edition science fiction books with Barbican architecture on their covers. The brutalist conservatory graces H. G. Well’s The Island of Doctor Moreau, and two of the triangular towers appear on George Orwell’s 1984.

Throughout the exhibition, niche and popular culture are juxtaposed, chronicling how science fiction emerged as a cultural force in the 20th century. Manuscripts by Jules Vernes hold incredible insights into how much research the author put into works such as Around the World in Eighty Days (1872), and an adjacent display of dinosaur models sculpted by Ray Harryhausen for 1960s stop-motion shows how, by the mid-20th century, films were using recent scientific knowledge for entertainment. Artwork like Dino De Laurentiis’s storyboard drawings for the Sandworm battle in the 1984 Dune (and some nearby concept art by Giger for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unrealized version), testify to artists’ presence in shaping science fiction. An array of aerospace industry advertisements from the 1950s and ’60s feature fantastic space crafts similar to those in Soviet postcards illustrated by Andrey Sokolov and Aleksey Leonov (a cosmonaut who created the first artwork in space).

Gyger noted that the fact that the genre “has been so impactful” cannot be separated from the link to “its context of production and to the mass market that makes it flourish.” Over the years, this has involved pulp magazines, trading cards, comics, and paperbacks, often aimed at young audiences, or presented as a cheap thrills.

Certainly science fiction is incredibly popular at the moment — see the success of Westworld, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Black Mirror (which is featured in the exhibition through a six-foot video installation based on the unnerving virtual world in the episode “Fifteen Million Merits“). While these series explore serious issues in our reality, there’s still a tendency to overlook them as serious art (unless you count The Lord of the Rings, no science fiction film has won the “Best Picture” Oscar, for instance). Into the Unknown might not sway anyone without a curiosity for science fiction, being that you’re immediately immersed in a constellation of spaceships, dinosaurs, alien monsters, and robots. But for those with an interest, it demonstrates how these themes developed from “low to “high” art.

Postcard of “On the first Lunar cosmodrome” (1968), by Andrey Sokolov and Aleksey Leonov (courtesy Moscow Design Museum)

Andrey Sokolov and Aleksey Leonov, postcard series from the set “A man in space” (1965), offset printing on paper, full-color (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

The exhibition shows, but does not dwell on, who has been left out of a history mostly shaped by white men (there are rare exceptions on view, like the “Astro Black” video installation by Soda_Jerk that muses on Sun Ra’s theories of Afrofuturism). It would be worthwhile to spend more time on figures who broke through these barriers, such as author Octavia Butler. As discussed on a recent podcast from Imaginary Worlds, her black characters were sometimes portrayed as white on her book covers to make them more appealing to science fiction readers. The exhibition could also have a deeper context for why certain veins of science fiction are prominent in particular eras, and perhaps question why we don’t have a lot of science fiction narratives on current crises like climate change. For instance, the much smaller 2016 exhibition Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction 1780–1910 from the Smithsonian Libraries compared milestones like Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus with physician Luigi Galvani’s “animal electricity” experiments on animating dead frog legs, and highlighted how Jules Verne channeled the doomed Franklin expedition in his 1864 book The Adventures of Captain Hatteras.

Nevertheless, having an exhibition like Into the Unknown at a mainstream space like the Barbican is significant, showing the art world appreciates science fiction beyond kitsch. And science fiction continues to be one of our important portals for thinking about the ramifications of our technological choices, and where they might take us. There’s a reason that 1984 is now having a popular Broadway production in a year of “alternative facts,” and why Black Mirror episodes such as “Nosedive,” where a person’s worth is judged by their social media “likes,” resonate so deeply.

“It is the genre of ‘what if,’ shedding light on our hopes and fears for a future closely linked to our present and our environment,” Gyger said. “In doing so it inspires and warns us, while entertaining us, creating a plethora of iconography, and leaving a deep mark on culture.”

Dinosaurs designed for films in the 1950s and ’60s by Ray Harryhausen (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Installation view of Into the Unknown at the Barbican in London (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Glass plates for magic lantern depicting scenes from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days (Paris, 1885), lithographic transfer on glass (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Albert Badoureau, “Le Titan Moderne: Notes et observations remises à Jules Verne pour la rédaction de son roman sans dessus dessous” (“The Modern Titan: Notes and observations presented to Jules Verne for the writing of his novel The Purchase of the North Pole or Topsy-Turvy,” 1888), manuscript page (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

“L’an 2000” (“The year 2000,” 1901), print on cardboard; a collection of uncut sheets for confectionery cards showing life imagined in the future (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Amazing Stories #1 (July 1933), Agence Martienne (courtesy Maison d’Ailleurs/Agence Martienne)

8mm film reel boxes (1949–67) (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

George Pal Productions, Luna spaceship miniature from the film Destination Moon (1950), mixed media (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Installation view of Into the Unknown at the Barbican in London (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Martian models by Ray Harryhausen for War of the Worlds (1949) and First Men in the Moon (1964) (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Anubis and Horus helmets by Patrick Tatopoulos for Stargate (1994), fiberglass with metallic surface (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Art by H. R. Giger for Alien III (1992) (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

The Original Science Fiction Stories #1 (November 1958), Agence Martienne (courtesy Maison d’Ailleurs/Agence Martienne)

Dino De Laurentiis, series of three Sandworm battle storyboards for the film Dune (1984), pencil on vellum adhered to board (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Magazine cover, Amazing Stories #1 (April 1926), Agence Martienne (courtesy Maison d’Ailleurs/Agence Martienne)

Theta space station miniature from the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century(1979–81); Kane (John Hurt) space suit from the film Alien (1979) (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Trevor Paglen, “Orbital Reflector (Diamond Variation)” (2017), freestanding model for inflatable spacecraft; aluminum, stainless steel, acrylic (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Conrad Shawcross,” In Light of The Machine,” kinetic installation (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science Fiction continues through September 1 at the Barbican Centre (Silk Street, London, UK).

The post A History of Science Fiction’s Future Visions appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[chernobog13]

REMCO EMPLOYEE: Hey, boss, we still got a whole warehouse full of those Hamilton Invaders toys we couldn't sell. You want we should take 'em to the dump?

REMCO BOSS: No, just slap some "Star Trek" stickers on them and ship them out to the stores. Those Trekkies are so desperate they'll buy anything!

I swear on a stack of Tijuana bibles that the above is a true and accurate conversation that took place in the Remco offices in 1967.

[chernobog13]

CRAPPY STAR TREK TOYS

I think by now most people have heard of this piece of utter ridiculousness, the “as seen on TV” Spock helmet.  I never saw this back in the day, either in a store of catalogue.  In fact, my first exposure to it was Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us Star Trek episode.

It was made by a company called Enco.  I think if someone had gifted me this helmet I would have gone to Enzo’s headquarters and leveled it to the ground.

Here is modern day Spock, actor Ethan Peck, unboxing this monstrosity:

As much as a joke as this is, the Spock helmet is now officially Star Trek canon thanks to a recent episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks.

But wait, it gets worse!

Remco, which had one of the first Star Trek toy licenses, gave us their own version:

I don’t know what this label slapped-P.O.S. was originally, but no one would wear this unless they wanted to be mistaken for a bug-eyed alien.  Or a Sleestak, as one observer noted.

It came with a sweet dart gun, though, that looked EXACTLY like a phaser.  Exactly!