Tribble-ing Dilemmas

 

This is my entry in the 10th Annual Favorite TV Episodes Blogathon hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts.

Star Trek is one of the most prevalent franchises to ever grace the small (and big) screen.  Beginning with the original, commonly referred to as Star Trek: The Original Series (or Star Trek: TOS for short) in 1966, the franchise spawned (as of today) 10 TV shows, an animated cartoon series, 13 movies and God knows how many novels and movie tie-in books. The fan base continues to grow, even to this day.  There are grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) of the people who watched the first series who are jumping on board, who weren't even passing thoughts in the minds of their predecessors when it first aired.

As for me, I was still a little too young to actually watch the first iteration, even though I was alive at the time. I didn't actually get into the show until watching reruns in the mid 70's. I do remember going with my sister to watch the first movie when it came out.  (I want to say it was Christmas Eve, but it may have been before then.) By then we had both been exposed to the original series so we didn't go in blind, but it was still fairly fresh, at least to me. I had only been catching syndication episodes here and there.

One of the classic episodes I remembered was the one called "The Trouble with Tribbles" which was more like a comic relief episode than an actual drama like most of the others.  Being the comedy fanatic that I was at the time, I enjoyed it. And it ranks favorably with the more fanatic Trekkies (as fans are traditionally known), too. One site I saw puts it at #12 in a ranking of the first series episodes, not a bad place even though there were only 79 episodes in that first series.

By the time I was in college and Star Trek: The Next Generation (Star Trek; TNG) came along I was still a fan of the original, however, it took a while for me to warm up to the new show.  My main problem with the new one was the character of Troi.  While I thought the actress, Marina Sirtis, that played her was attractive, I found the idea of an empath race to be very un-scientific, and as a result shied away from it for years.  I only got into it after it went into syndication and my parents were watching it.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine (Star Trek: DS9) appealed to me more.  It seemed to have a bit more of the kind of characters i could relate to.  And it had several episodes that really piqued my interest, since by then I was heavily into time travel stories.  Two in particular that dealt directly with the concept of time travel  were "Little Green Men", which took on the Roswell incident by implying that the aliens who crashed were three of the Ferengi characters on the show who had somehow been transported back in time to Roswell, circa 1947.

The other was "Trials and Tribble-ations". Side note: Don't ask me why I was more willing to accept a race of creatures that could multiply itself in such a radical fashion as the tribbles were capable when I was unable to accept an empath.  Maybe it's just the comic part that made it less offensive, even to my rational mind. Because tribbles make no sense from a evolutionary standpoint.  How could a creature evolve that only exists to consume and procreate? (And some of you more cynical readers are countering that argument, I know...)

The best part of this DS9 episode was how they managed to meld interaction between the two series. They used clips from the original series and yet managed to smoothly intersect the characters on the new series with those of the old show, even though some 30 years had passed between the two shows (although in terms of the two shows timeline it was actually more in the neighborhood of  100 years between the two).

Watching both in succession is an interesting way to see how the characters interact with these curious creatures. 

The Trouble with Tribbles: (Star Trek: TOS episode: Air date Dec. 29. 1967)

(Note: If you are lucky enough to locate a copy of episode author David Gerrold's  reminiscence of the background to this episode, The Complete Story of One of Star Trek's Most Popular Episodes "The Trouble With Tribbles", it's worth checking out.  He details his early background in attempts to get a story filmed on the classic show, including some of his story ideas that were not accepted.)

The story begins with a preparation to visit a space station near the border of Klingon territory. In the history of Star Trek, the Federation spent some time in a "Cold War" with the Klingons (who were a sci-fi equivalent of the Russians with whom the U.S. had it's own Cold War during the time). Kirk is in a meeting with Spock and Chekhov discussing the implications of a competition between the Klingons and the Federation concerning the sector.  Essentially there is a treaty between the two that whoever can lay claim to the best improvements in the sector will lay claim to the sector itself.

In the middle of this comes a Priority 1 alert, But when the Enterprise shows up, there is no sign of danger.  Kirk, of course, is incensed, because a Priority 1 distress signal means there is serious trouble brewing (you know, like maybe the Klingons are blasting away with photon torpedoes on the station or something...). It turns out that the local bigwig in the area, Nils Baris (William Schallert) had issued it so that the Enterprise could guard a shipment of special wheat.  Wheat?  A Priority 1 Alert to guard wheat???

 

Well, the wheat is extremely valuable to the Federation's interests. However, at least to Kirk, not worth a fuss.  But given a command by higher ups, he concedes to put two, and only two, guards on detail.  And issues a shore leave for all other personnel not involved in the detail.

Uhura goes shopping and in a bar meets up with Cyrano Jones, a trader who is trying to get the bartender to buy something, anything, that he has to sell.  But the bartender rejects all items.  That is until Cyrano brings out a tribble.  (Essentially just a ball of fur.) But the tribbles are extremely friendly and Uhura likes it, so Cyrano gives her one.  And convinces the bartender to buy more.

The tribble has only two qualities that are essential to it's survival.  One: it will eat almost anything. And two: (and this is the source of the plot for this episode) it reproduces quite rapidly.  By a few hours later, Uhura now has a half a dozen of the little creatures.

In the meantime, a Klingon ship has shown up at the space station.  And the captain of the ship, Koloth, demands shore leave for his own crew.  (Note: The Klingon ship must be cloaked most of the time, because when long shots are shown of the space station the only ship you see is The Enterprise, although for the life of me I can't imagine why it would want to stay cloaked all the time if it's current mission was only peaceful...)

 

Kirk reluctantly agrees, but insists that the contingent be a one on one basis; for every Klingon there will be a Federation person on the space station, basically to keep an eye on the Klingons.

One thing that becomes readily apparent is that the tribbles like everyone... except Klingons.  (Pay attention to that, it becomes relevant later.)  Meanwhile, the tribbles themselves are multiplying at a phenomenal rate, and threatening to overrun the space station, as well as the Enterprise. As Dr. McCoy observes, they are apparently "born pregnant".  Fairly soon there are more tribbles than you can shake a stick at.  

 

And eating everything in sight.  

Ultimately the tribbles get into the valuable grain storage.  And of course consume the entire batch.  But the downside is that the tribbles are dying after eating the grain.  And it turns out that the grain shipment has been poisoned.  And the blame falls on Baris' secretary, Darvin (Charlie Brill). 

 

 

And Darvin, it turns out, is not a human... he is actually, you guessed it... a Klingon.  Which is revealed when a tribble is brought near him and the tribble reacts the same way as it has near every other Klingon.

So the tribbles have become heroes, even if they had to sacrifice their lives to do so.  And the only thing left is to get rid of the remaining tribbles on the base.  Kirk tasks Cyrano with that duty, which will take years... hell of a fitting punishment if you ask me.  And Scotty comes up with an ingenious plan for those tribbles that are still on the Enterprise.

 

Trials and Tribble-ations: (Star Trek : DS9 episode: Air date: Nov 4, 1996)

The crew at Deep Space Nine have a problem on their hands.  They are being visited by the Time Patrol (not the actual name of the organization, just one I made up to keep from having to type in the full name every time).  It seems that the crew accidentally went back in time, not on purpose, as far as they are concerned.  Just that certain circumstances caused it to happen:

What happened?  They took on board a man who had been trapped in Cardassian space and had been released to the crew.  The man introduced himself as "Barry Waddle".  

 

At the same time, the crew had been tasked with returning a sacred relic, the Orb of Time, to the Bajorans, which had been held in Cardassian possession for some time.

 While en route they run into a massive surge of "chroniton radiation" and end up 100 years in the past, near the space station K7 (see the previous Tribble episode.) They are able to stay cloaked, but because they are where they are they are also near the events of that previously mentioned episode.  And there on the screen is the first Enterprise.

It turns out Waddle is not who he claims to be.  It is actually Darvin, the Klingon spy from the original series episode.  

 

 

 

No one is sure why, but Darvin managed to use the orb and the ship to go back in time. They speculate that either he intends to warn his younger self of his impending unmasking or, even more ominous, that he intends to kill Captain Kirk (which would certainly put a damper on the timeline as we know it.)

As it turns out, the latter is exactly what Darvin plans.  He has secreted a bomb in one of the tribbles. Which creates a suspenseful problem. Because although the spaceship can be scanned in toto with basically one fell swoop, onboard the K7, each tribble has to be individually scanned. With some 1,000,000 tribbles on just the space station alone, that's going to require days.  And "days" are not what the crew has.  They only have minutes.

 

Fortunately for the crew  (and the time line), they do manage to get to the tribble in question and have it beamed out into space before it explodes.  And the crew returns to it's right time line. Although not entirely with the same contingent that originally went back in time...

Both of these episodes prove that you can mix a little comedy in with sci-fi (not entirely unprecedented, mind you. The entire genre of sci-fi has had it's own share of comedic interludes). But thanks to Gerrold and his fellow writers for the DS9 episode we do have an interesting  side trip from the serious for a bit.

Well, folks, that wraps up this trip back through time.  Have fun.  And don't pick up any strange little furballs on your way home.

Quiggy

Meet Me at the Crossroads

 

 

Some background to my experience:

I discovered the blues in the early 80's.  My first experience was buying Muddy Waters' album "I'm a King Bee".  I didn't have any idea what I was buying at the time.  It was just on the shelf at Musicland, a music outlet at my local mall. (Remember malls? They were the go-to place for shopping back in the day and a decent place to hang out even if you weren't shopping).

Anyway, I bought the record without having any idea what I was getting, just because it was on sale.  I got home and put it on the turn table and was transported to a world I had never known existed previously.  

You have to understand: from the time I was born (1961) until about 1978, my total experience was country music.  Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, they were my total experience, barring the occasional snippets of music I heard when hanging out with school friends.  And those friends were into either heavy metal music (my first experience hearing AC/DC was while a freshman riding around with a few seniors at lunch) or pop music.

But in 1978 I transitioned to the local pop music radio.  But pop music was disco and R &B and the like.  Bee Gees, Village People, Donna Summer and Electric Light Orchestra.  My universe was expanding in the late 70's and I gradually started to realize there were different musical worlds out there.  So by 1981 I was willing to listen to anything.  It was during this time that I also discovered jazz.

But for a time I was entranced by the music of the blues.  Granted, I didn't identify with it lyrically, but then no form of music ever touched me lyrically as a genre. The traditional "life is hard and I got a long road to hoe to get to happiness" theme was not my experience. I just liked the melodies and the sound of the instrumentation.  Blues really hit me in that respect.

So when Crossroads hit the theaters I was already attracted by the musical portion.  At the time I was also attracted to Ralph Macchio as an actor, so having his name on the marquee also gave me an incentive to see the movie.  I later learned it was directed by one of my favorite directors, Walter Hill, but I have to admit, at that time I hardly ever paid attention to the director's credits in film (with the exception of John Carpenter, of course, who has always been a draw for me, dating back to my first experience with him with Halloween).

This Crossroads should NOT be confused with that turkey featuring the "no talent" (as an actress) Britney Spears.  It's an entirely different movie, with it's basis on the legend of Robert Johnson, the ultimate king of the blues, who supposedly made a deal with the devil for his bluesmanship. Which is part of the driving force behind this film, as you will see.

(There are also several other movies out there with "Crossroads" in the title.  It's apparently a very attractive title.  I counted 14 others.  But stick with the 1986 film if you want a very good drama.  No telling what you'll get if you go down those other "crossroads"... Some of them, to be fair, may be actually good, but if you want to go with this theme, there is only one that I know of that fits it).

Crossroads(1986):

Eugene Martone (Raph Macchio) is a talented guitarist studying at Julliard (the mecca for talent in the music world.  You get in that door and you really have something to write home about.).  But according to his professor, he is wasting his talent messing around with this "primitive music" called the blues. Dr. Santis  informs him that "excellence in primitive music is cultural... you have to be born with it". And coming from rich money (and Long Island to boot), Eugene is unlikely to have been born with it.

 

But Eugene is nothing if not dedicated to his sideline interest.  In an effort to become known in the blues world he seeks out one of the last remaining original blues me, Willie Brown (Joe Seneca).  Eugene is is convinced that this Willie Brown is also the man who played with Robert Johnson under the name Blind Dog Fulton.

 

But Willie is incarcerated in a minimum security old folks home, basically a prison but for people who are old and not considered too much of a risk.  What Eugene wants is to get Willie to teach him the legendary missing 30th song from Robert Johnson's recording sessions.  Willie tells him he will teach it to him, but only if Eugene helps him escape the prison and get back to Mississippi.

Willie tells Eugene that he has a money stash to help chip in for the trip, but he won't show the wad of dough in New York City.  He insists that Eugene pay the bus fare to Memphis and he will pay the rest of the way.  But, of course, when they get to Memphis it comes to light that Willie's "stash" only amounts to $40.  That won't get them anywhere near Mississippi...

So they have to start hitchhiking, or, as Willie refers to it, "hoboing".  Along the way they meet up with a runaway, Frances (Jamie Gertz). And end up rescuing her from a sleazeball bar owner whose intentions are not entirely pure. 

 

Although Frances and Eugene start out at odds, they eventually hook up.  

 

And Eugene, being a young man with the requisite hormones of said such, but also with the sense of said such, falls in love with Frances.  But Frances is a bit more jaded for a girl of her age.  So she takes off, leaving Eugene to his hormones and sense.

The ultimate goal of Willie comes to light, as the reason why he wanted to get to Mississippi was to get back to the crossroads where he made a deal with the devil umpteen odd years ago.  The original go between, the Devil's assistant  (Joe Morton), shows up, but Willie insists on talking to the big guy himself, the man who calls himself Scratch (Robert Judd).

 

Scratch tells Willie he won't negate the contract for his soul.  But if Willie is willing to pit a contest with Scratch's #1 guitarist, Jack Butler (Steve Vai), and Willie wins, he'll tear up the contract.  But Willie is not a guitarist.  But Eugene is.  And Eugene, not believing in all this mumbo-jumbo about selling a soul to the Devil, agrees to sit in as Willie's substitute in the battle.

Of course, the battle is real, as the scene shifts to a juke joint in Hell.  And Jack Butler, the guitarist representing Scratch in the contest turns out to be the epitome of a heavy metal wizard who had previously sold his own soul for the wizardry.  And the guitar battle that ensues is one of the main reasons I have always liked this movie.  On a list of musical sequences in film, this ranks in the top 5 for me.  Jack and Eugene alternate, much like a heavy metal/blues version of "Dueling Banjos", with Jack playing a heavy metal piece and Eugene countering with a blues rendition of the piece.

 

 

Ultimately Eugene reverts to his classical training, and it is entirely a mystery to Jack. (Apparently Jack was not the most open musical guy, like I was and am.  He had not had much experience with that genre and ends up losing the contest, which leads to Scratch tearing up the contract.

Crossroads is a decent film in terms of acting, but for me, the draw is really the music.  It's not a musical in the sense of the traditional term. You want a real musical with blues as it's basis The Blues Brothers is a better choice.  But for drama and character, this one would be a better selection.  Macchio and Seneca fit well together on screen.  I can't say the same about Jamie Gertz.  Gertz and Macchio just don't have the chemistry.  It's hard to believe that pairing would happen, for me.  Probably because I see myself in Eugene and I personally would never have made it past the physical attraction into the emotional attraction part with Frances. 

Most of the time when Eugene is playing, we get a close up of hands playing the guitar without the long shot of Macchio.  There is a purpose to this,of course.  Macchio is not actually playing the guitar for the soundtrack. (Whether Macchio can actually play guitar or not I admit i don't know..) For his guitar playing it is actually guitar wizard Ry Cooder.  Steve Vai, on the other hand, is really a guitar player.  (Along with Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson, Vai has been on tour playing in what has been called the "G3 Tour"). I'm pretty sure Vai could have pulled off the classical music guitar if it had been Vai himself and not the character he played, Jack Butler.

Fortunately, unlike Eugene and Willie, I have this old Plymouth to get on down the road. So drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

MCU Sunday #11: The Avengers: Age of Ultron

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the eleventh installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

 

 

The newest Marvel Cinematic Universe film delves into some issues that I find very uncomfortable.  For one thing I have a very "worst case scenario" mind; I look at what is coming and immediately extrapolate how this could become a bad thing.  One of the biggest bugaboos in my mind is that AI is not necessarily always a good thing.  Call it my The Terminator mentality.  What if AI became so self aware that it could use it's own technology to take over.  (This is a rather pessimistic viewpoint, but then I've always been a freewill type.  The classic quote, attributed to, I think, Benjamin Franklin, has always been one of mantras: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety").

 

 

 

 The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015):

The Avengers are raiding a fortress held by Hydra under the command of Baron Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann).  Strucker has possession of Loki's scepter which he has been using to implement his experiments.  The experiment he has been working on at the time is human enhancement, which has helped him create "The Twins",  two young people who have their own newfound abilities.

Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has become a boy who has superhuman speed (think The Flash from the D.C. comics universe). His sister, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) is able to manipulate minds as well as use telekinesis. These two present some trouble for the Avengers but they still manage to defeat the Hydra forces and take the scepter.

Back at headquarters, Tony Stark uses his AI to investigate the scepter before letting Thor take it back to Asgard.  In the process, he uses it to enhance his Ultron program, which is a program designed to help make the world safe.  But ultimately Ultron becomes self-aware (see I told you...)

Where is Stan Lee? At a party held by Stark, Stan is a guest talking with Thor. Thor has a drink that he claims is not for normal mortal men, but Stan scoffs.  So Thor gives him a shot.  Which puts him in an inebriated state with just that one shot.  Oops.

At the party a fun sequence (and the last fun time the Avengers are going to have for a while) occurs in which everyone tries to prove their worth by trying to pick up Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, off the table.  (But of course we all know only Thor can do it. It's why he's THOR...)

Ultron (James Spader) makes his first presence known, although, as he states he is still hampered by strings.  The Avengers, with a little trouble, do manage to defeat this first incarnation of Ultron, but Ultron says, after defeat of his first body that now he is "free from the strings".  (You didn't think it was going to be THAT easy, did you...?)

Ulton expresses a desire to make the Avengers "extinct".  It's the first step in his goal to secure the security of humanity.  And to do that he need Loki's scepter, which he takes with him.  Ultimately, the Avengers learn that what motivated Tony to create Ultron was the desire to protect humanity from outside forces (such as those seen in the first The Avengers film.)

Ultron kills off Strucker and eliminates all the computerized data that Strucker had.  Fortunately for the Avengers they still have some data 9the old-fashioned printout kind, stored in cardboard boxes. (Ye gods, primitives...) They find a known arms dealer operating out of Wakanda, the source of the strongest metal on Earth (yes Cap's shield). Note: Wakanda also has another resource, but that's for a future installment.

Ultron and the twins go to seek out this weapons dealer, Ulysses (Andy Serkis, whom, after seeing him only as a voice and motion capture creation; Gollum from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and as Caesar in the current spate of Planet of the Apes films I finally got to see what he actually looks like in the flesh) But the Avengers also show up and another battle ensues, at least until Wanda manages to use her special power to warp the minds of the heroes, making them see visions of being else where.

This in effect makes just Iron Man and Hulk available.  And we all know how undependable Hulk can be. But Banner (Hulk) has been warped by the mind efforts of Wanda, too. So that makes him entirely undependable, not just a little bit. The damage that Hulk (and Iron Man) inflicts cause a backlash and the Avengers are forced to hide out.

The Avengers have to figure what the dreams they were given by Wanda mean.  Thor heads out to confer with Dr Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) about his own vision of Armageddon.  meanwhile Tony's old boss, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) puts in an appearance to try to get the rest of the Avengers back on track.  And reveals that Ultron's ultimate goal is total destruction of the Earth.  As Ultron tells the twins, the earth will have to evolve. Like the dinosaurs, so to speak. Not exactly saving the Earth for a better future, if you ask me,

But once the Twins learn that Ultron's ultimate goal is destruction of the Earth, they have a change of heart in their loyalties so the Avengers get a couple of new allis.  But since Ultron himself is evolving into a more powerful entity, even their help may not be quite enough...

So what is the ultimate plan?  Why, a meteor somewhat akin to the one that supposedly destroyed the dinosaurs would do the same for civilization.  Except, who knows when a meteor might be coming by at the right moment? But Ultron has a plan.  Turn a portion of a city into a meteor.  Get that portion up high enough and drop it and the effect would be close to the same,

Now the Avengers have their mission: prevent this catastrophe.  But Ultron is not exactly alone.  He has an entire army of androids that he has created to keep the Avengers busy while he performs his geological trick.

After saving the Earth and defeating Ultron, it turns out that Vision is now in possession of the Mind Stone (one of the Infinity Stones) and the Avengers believe it is probably in the best hands.

And the Credits Roll: After the initial credits we see Thanos getting a gauntlet and saying "Fine. I'll do it myself." (What "it" is is coming to a theater near you soon...)

Age of Ultron really starts the ball rolling in the drive towards what is the best Phase of the MCU (Phase 3), although there still remains to be one more hero to introduce before we can get there (see next week's entry).

Despite the general consensus that Age is one of the lesser entries in the MCU cycle, I personally liked it, even though, as I said in the beginning of this post, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable in terms of the potential of AI.  (And maybe that's why most people dislike it. Maybe they are nervous about the pessimistic feelings it brings on.)

Well, folks, next week's adventure is cued up so it's time to warm up the old Plymouth for the trip.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

 

 

MCU Sunday #10: Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol.1)

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the tenth installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

The first movie characters of the MCU universe in which Stan Lee did not have a direct hand in creation, the so-called Guardians of the Galaxy are a disparate group of criminals who are brought together to achieve a goal that none of them are really gung-ho about.

There are some great names who came on board to bring this film to fruition.  Not in the starring roles, since most of the actors in the Guardians were basically unknowns. Not that they hadn't had careers before this, just that most people would probably not recognize them.  But in the supporting roles you got Glenn Close, John C. Reilly and Benecio del Toro.  (as well as a couple of other names you might recognize if you are a credits watcher like me... 

Of the four main characters, the only one that most people would know by name is probably Vin Diesel. Although you won't recognize him as the character he plays, or probably even his voice.  Diesel plays Groot, an animated tree. And his vocabulary consists solely of "I am Groot." (Which words convey his entire demeanor, but it requires his companion Rocket to translate...)  He did have some previous experience with which people of my stripe would know him however.  He was Dom in the Fast and the Furious series, as well as Xander Cage in XXX.

Chris Pratt, as you will remember from previous entries in the MCU Sunday series, had been in consideration for several other superheroes, but the roles ended up going to others.  He finally succeeded in getting his own mark on the MCU Universe here by playing Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord  ("Who...?" is the oft repeated response when he says that.  Apparently Snake Plissken he is not... Nobody knows who he is.)

Zoe Saldana MIGHT be familiar (if it wasn't for that green skin I might have recognized her right away.) She was in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film. 

Additionally. if you like a variety of movies, one of the more familiar faces is Michael Rooker, an actor who had memorable roles in several movies on my list of favorites: Eight Men Out, Mississippi Burning and JFK , among others.

One of the best parts of the film, for me, is the soundtrack.  There are several songs from the 70's that crop up in the film (and this is established by the fact that Peter Quill has a mix tape that he has apparently had ever since he was a kid.)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014):

(Note: retroactively because the sequels have been named "Vol. 2" and "Vol. 3", this film as been given the appellation of "Vol. 1", but it was originally released without that.)

On Earth in 1988, a young boy watches his mother die. Before she dies she gives him a mixtape. He runs outside to cry and is abducted by aliens. What are the Ravagers? (Not exactly a good time, but be that as it may).

It turns out that the creatures who abducted him are known as the Ravagers.  What are the Ravagers?  Apparently a race of thieves for hire.  Peter is shown next trying to retrieve a mysterious orb.  He approaches the orb while playing a mixtape he has brought with him from his past (playing "Come and Get Your Love", which for the past few years I thought he played "Hooked on a Feeling" in this scene, but that song comes later). 

But he isn't the only one showing interest in the object, as just as he has freed the orb from it's secure location a band of others show up to try to take it from him.  (There is no honor among thieves... more's the pity.)

Peter of course succeeds in being the one to leave the planet with the orb.  He takes it to Xandar, where a collector has hired him to retrieve it.  But it turns out when the collector finds out who is also looking for the orb, Ronan, he backs out of the deal.

Ronan has sent a mercenary Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve the orb.  Also in the mix are Rocket (Bradley Cooper), a cybernetically enhanced racoon (Rocket Racoon?  What is this "Rocky and Bullwinkle"?) and his companion, Groot (Vin Diesel) an animated tree creature.

Where is Stan Lee? While Rocket and Groot search for Peter, Rocket makes some disparaging remarks about the inhabitants of Xandar.  One of them is an old man hitting on a woman about 1/3 his age.

A fight ensues over the orb as each tries to gain possession.  The end result however is that all of them are arrested and sent to prison. Where none of them are very well liked... Especially Gamora, whom it seems, was involved in the death of one of the other prisoner's significant other (Dave Bautista as Drax).

Although nearly every prisoner in the facility wants to see Gamora dead, Quill convinces Drax that the true enemy is Ronan himself and they can succeed if they escape the prison.  With the help of escape whiz Rocket. the crew manage to initiate a jailbreak.  But not without Quill's treasured mixtape.... (Is there something about that mixtape that is key?  It remains to be seen...) The person who has his tape is playing "Escape".  Have I said how much I love Quill's choices for a mixtape?)

So everybody is after this Orb.  Including, as we see, a character revealed to be known as Thanos, who has even Ronan under his thumb.  Thanos really, really, really wants that Orb... And threatens Ronan with a severe demise if he doesn't retrieve it.

Meanwhile back on the escape ship, Quill's own private ship, the disparate group of renegades have to TRY to learn to work together if they are going to succeed in their mission. The group not only includes Quill and Gamora and Rocket and Groot, but Drax has gone along for the ride.  Because Drax's mission is to kill Ronan because Ronan was instrumental in the deaths of members of his family.

The crew end up going to a place called "Knowhere (which is essentially, according to Gamora, the "severed head of an ancient celestial being: (Whoa).  (David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" plays as they approach.)

We find that Gamora is not Thanos' daughter as Quill thought. Thanos killed her parents.  And she asks Quill about his mixtape, why he would risk his life for it.  He reveals that it was the gift of his mother (Remember the first scene of the film?  Maybe there isn't all that much power in the tape after all...)

We meet The Collector (Benecio del Toro), the person of interest in the Orb.  And the tantalizing revelation from him that the Orb is actually one of the Infinity Stones that where  around since the beginning of time.  And the power that each Infinity Stone has. 

When Ronan gets possession of the Orb, which he now knows has an Infinity Stone, he decides to keep it for himself rather than turn it over to Thanos.  (Probably not the best decision he ever made, but that is to be seen.)

Now our heroes have to finally find some way to band together to stop Ronan from destroying the galaxy with his new found power through the Infinity Stone. And with the help of Yondu and the Ravagers, they have a chance to succeed.  And save Xandar, which wants Quill back in custody, so only Quill's sense of honor spurs him on.

The end result of course is the bad guys are defeated (surprise, surprise). But the future of the crew is now set.  These are our new heroes.  The GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.  And the immediate future of the Infinity Stone is now in the hands of Xandar and the Nova Corps (at least for now).

And the Credits Roll:  At the end, the Collector sits among his ruins.  We get introduced to a couple of other (future?) characters; Cosmo an astronaut dog,, and Howard the Duck. Note Howard the Duck had been a movie endeavor all it's own back in the 80's, but this one looks to be a bit more like the comic book version which gives one a bit of hope. 

As a final footnote:  My memory of this one is going to see it in the theater with someone other than my sister (or alone, which was my usual way of seeing movies).   That woman who has since passed on is a fond memory, and I dedicate this post to her.

Time to fire up the jets on the old Plymouth and blast off to worlds unknown.  Drive safely folks.

Quiggy

Board to Death

 

 

 "Clue.  It's not just a game...anymore"

(from the trailer to the film)

Here's an oddball idea. Take a classic children's board game.  Get several actors and actresses together to portray the characters in the game. To make it even more oddball, cast the film with some lesser known but still memorable people who can do physical comedy well. Get a well known comedy director who also has decent chops at writing comedy and pair him with another well-known comedy director, also having an ear for comedy dialogue to do the script.  Let the second writer/director direct the film, because, after all, he has the ability to do comedy.

Result? John Landis (director of numerous funny movies and writer of Schlock, The Blues Brothers, and An American Werewolf in London) and Johnathan Lynn (director of Nuns on the Run, My Cousin Vinny, and Greedy, as well as writer for numerous TV comedies) got together to put together a script that, while not on par with some of those fantastic comedies you may be thinking of right now, is still chock full of funny moments.  It seems that Landis had to shop around to finally get a co-writer because, although he had the basics, he was at a loss as how to wrap it up.

In addition, along comes a cast of character actors who can pull off the physical comedy that the script requires, as well as deliver some of funny double entendre jokes with which the writers peppered this script.  

You got Christopher Lloyd (famous as Reverend Jim on TV's Taxi, as well as a previous comedic slot as Doc Brown in Back to the Future). You got Madeline Kahn (famous for comedic turns in Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles). You got Michael McKean (famous as Lenny from TV's Laverne and Shirley as well as one of the members of the notorious band "Spinal Tap" in This is Spinal Tap). You got Eileen Brennan (who pulled off one of the best female drill instructor roles in Private Benjamin). You got Martin Mull (memorable as Bart Gimble on three different TV shows: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Fernwood 2-Night, and America 2-Night). You got Lesley Ann Warren (who even snagged an Academy Award nomination for her role in Victor/Victoria).

And last, but DEFINITELY not least, you got Tim Curry (and if  I had to list all the great roles he had done prior to this movie, I'd still be typing... but I will add one: Dr. Frank N. Furter, in Rocky Horror Picture Show).

So when it all came together you had a pretty good lineup.  But we still aren't done.  Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever on TV's WKRP in Cincinnati), Jane Wiedlin (not a name actress yet, but famous as the guitarist of the band The Go-Gos). and Lee Ving (leader of the rock band Fear, and also known as Willem Dafoe's deputy gang member in Streets of Fire) also make appearances. Coleen Camp, Bill Henderson, Jerry Kramer and Kellye Nakahara may not have had the name or face recognition at this point in their respective careers, but they still shine in their brief roles.

At this point you may start to get the idea that I really like this movie. And that's not a bad idea. Although it is not in the top 10 of my favorite movies (or even top 10 of my favorite comedies) it still is a pretty good movie, especially if it's cold and rainy (like it is right now outside here in real life as I write this piece, as well as like it is outside the house in the movie).

You would think that taking a board game and turning it into a movie might not actually work. There haven't been all that many attempts at it.  The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Battleship, which I haven't seen so I don't know enough to compare (other than the fact that it garnered several nominations for Razzies, which doesn't bode well.)  I won't hold out for a screen adaptation of Chutes and Ladders or Hungry Hungry Hippos (although that second one sounds like a potential future Disney kid's movie or even a horror movie...)

This one fared better with the critics than did Battleship.  And it did manage to stay off John "Razzies" Wilson's radar.  Unfortunately most people stayed away in droves when it was in the theater.  It didn't even make back it's original investment.  But it did develop a following afterwards as what we call a "cult" film.

One of the more interesting things about this film was, in keeping with the game theme, it was released with three different endings, and depending on which theater you went to to see it, you may have seen a different ending than a friend who saw it across town at a different theater.  If you get to watch it now on DVD, however, all three endings are on the disc.  But my copy has an option so you can watch it as it was in theater with a random chosen ending.  If the odds gods are with you you could watch it three separate times and get to see it with all of them in different settings. (Of course, if you have my luck, you'd probably have to watch it at least 7 or 8 times before you saw it end with all of them in different settings).

The movie also has an added bonus in the realm of Hollywood big names.  It was scored by John Morris, the favorite musical composer of Mel Brooks, having done the music for many of Brooks' movies.  As well as being nominated for an Oscar for his work on The Elephant Man (which he lost to Michel Gore for Fame, by the way.)

So anyway, is Clue a great movie or is it well deserving of it's status as a poor movie that tried hard but failed?

Clue (1985):

A cast of  what turn out to be shady characters have been invited to a dark mansion with a note that claims it would be in their best interests to appear.  Each person is given a alias to prevent their identity from being known by the rest of the guests. (Although as the movie goes on, some of those guests are not entirely unfamiliar with some of the others).

The guests are (in the tradition of the board game) given these monikers:  

Mr. Green (Michael McKean)

 Mr Green works in the state department where he has been hiding his homosexual affiliations.

Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull) 

Colonel Mustard has access to Army secrets which he has been making a profit from.

Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan)

 Mrs. Peacock has been guilty of accepting bribes to influence her politician husband's votes in Congress.

Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd)

 Professor plum has been guilty of having assignations with female patients in his role as a psychiatrist.

Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren) 

Miss Scarlett runs a house of ill repute in downtown D.C.

Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn)

Mrs. White has several husbands who have all died under mysterious circumstances.

Each of the characters has some secret in their past that they have been trying to keep from being made public.  As such, the central "villain" has come into the knowledge and has been using said knowledge to blackmail them. "Mr. Boddy" (Lee Ving) is ostensibly said villain (although even that is in question).

The person of Mr. Boddy's butler, Wadsworth, played to perfection by Tim Curry is the glue that is holding the event together, although even he has a dark secret that Mr. Boddy has been using to blackmail him, in this case forcing him to act as his personal butler.

After the main cast has assembled Mr. Boddy shows up and informs them that really it is Wadsworth who is the person they need to direct their venom towards, and issues each a weapon with which to dispatch him.  Each one receives what are, in the tradition of the board game itself, implements of destruction:

Mrs. White; A rope

Miss Scarlett: A candlestick

Mrs. Peacock; A knife.

Mr. Green: A lead pipe.

Colonel Mustard: A wrench.

Professor Plum: A gun.

But after the lights are turned out, it is not Wadsworth, but Mr. Boddy himself who has become the victim of the nefarious dispatch. And because the lights were out, no one knows who did it (or with what).  

The whole comedy (of murder) hinges on the cast of malcontents searching the house to see if the murderer is hidden somewhere within (since all of them claim innocence and therefore assume there MUST be someone else.

They break up into pairs, despite the fact that they are all convinced that the murderer is really one of them and therefore the other one paired with him or her may be the next victim.  But while they search, dead bodies keep cropping up.  The cook. The maid.  A stranded motorist who just came in to use the phone. A policeman checking up to see whether the broken down car of that motorist came to the door. A girl who just showed up to deliver a singing telegram.

What with everyone around them keeling over dead, is it any wonder that they all become suspicious of each other? 

The side part of this whole scenario is that, while the movie was filmed on a sound stage, the entire set was laid out just like the board game with secret passages that lead from one room to the next. The film crew actually constructed a sound stage to fit the layout.

 While they search more dead bodies keep cropping up. Which doesn't make any of them very comfortable (obviously).

Eventually they come to an end and Wadsworth reveals that he knows who did it. 

"Very well.  I know who did it.  And furthermore, I'll tell you how it was done. (In excruciating detail... Ok I added that line,,,)"

At this point in the film, there were, as mentioned, three separate endings.  And if any of you can watch these and not use the back tracking feature to watch the scenes that Wadsworth details, you are a better man (or woman) than me.  Of course, if you succumb to this you will find out that Wadsworth (or at least the writers) were full of crap.

Of the three endings (assuming you use the feature that lets you see all three in succession), only one is truly satisfying.  At least, only one is truly satisfying to me...  But watching all three does lead to some in depth speculation into the nefarious intrigues each of these malcontents were pulling off.  Admittedly most of them would probably just be blips on the radar by today's standards.  It might seem a little unconventional that a psychiatrist would have liaisons with his female patients, or a DC madam might be frowned upon by some of the more self-righteous types.  To be sure, no one would look twice at a man with homosexual affiliations.  But given that this is all supposed to be happening in 1954, during the height of the Red Scare (among other mores of society) the comedy can still come across as we laugh at the outrage that the others have over their companions' indiscretions.

So the ultimate question is did Landis and Lynn make a halfway decent attempt at turning a board game (which in itself is fairly mediocre to say the least, at least from my perspective) into an imminently watchable film.  I think so.  I admit that it's not one of those that will bear up well with repeat viewings. Once the film wraps up, it is just, after all, a simple transition from game to film.  But it is definitely fun.

Well folks, all the bodies have been stashed, so it's time to leave the theater quietly.  Try not to take out the ticket taker as you leave because he is just an innocent bystander.

Quiggy