The Lost Return to Krypton

Despite having had Superman Returns in my movie library since, oh, probably 2007, only yesterday did I watch most of the set's special features, including the deleted scenes. 

The first and best of these scenes is Kal-El's return to Krypton, partially explaining the title; originally conceived as the film's opening, this scene captures both Kal-El's return to Krypton, and Clark Kent's return to Earth. 

In brief, we see Superman flying a crystal starship much like the one that brought him to Earth in Superman (Richard Donner, 1978). This version is much bigger, and it has a windshield shaped like the irregular pentagram that houses Superman's famous S symbol. (In the films and some other media, this symbol happens to be that of the house of El. In the comics, the Kents are typically responsible for the symbol and its shape, directly or indirectly.) The starship is beautifully designed, and it's inferred that the ship was grown by the Kryptonian crystals ubiquitous to the Donner/Reeve Superman movies.

(Why does Superman need a spaceship, when it's been shown that he can fly through space under his own power? Because only in star systems like Earth, with its yellow sun, does Superman have his powers. Without solar energy, Superman eventually becomes a regular human. Dimmer suns, like Krypton's, are insufficient--and in this version of the myth, that star is gone anyway.) 

Within the starship, Superman gazes through the windshield at the shattered remains of his homeworld. We see that most of the planet has been blown to smithereens, but a sizeable chunk of the sphere remains, perhaps an eighth of the planet's surface. Superman pilots the craft for a closer look at that surviving chunk, and breaks out in a cold sweat the closer he gets. He soon learns why he's feeling sick: the detonation of Krypton's star has transformed much of Krypton's mass into Kryptonite, which is deadly to Kryptonians. He sees the crest of his family carved into a rockface, all that remains of his heritage, before the Kryptonite radiation forces him to turn back. He sets a course back to Earth. 

I really wish the filmmakers had found a way to include this sequence in the film's final cut. While Superman's reasons for leaving Earth are explained through dialogue during the film, this graceful, quiet sequence--through sound effects, Brandon Routh's performance, visual effects, and editing--shows, rather than tells, us why Kal-El would make such a journey. Like many heroes of myth, he has answered the call to adventure, and so must answer the call home--in this case, a home not just forever changed, but entirely obliterated. Having seen with his own eyes that he really can't go home again, he turns back to his adopted home, wiser and sadder. 

A half-dozen or so short deleted scenes set on the Kent farm follow, giving Ma Kent and Clark more time on screen together and giving Clark more scenes that again show, rather than tell, his mixed feelings about his time away. He stumbles upon stacks of newspapers that his mother has gathered in his absence, newspapers that cry out for Superman's help and wonder why and where he's gone. Not only that, but his mother has started dating again. Had he not left, Clark probably would have been happy for his mother, but a major change like this on his return clearly comes as a shock. And of course, as we see in the film as released, it's far from the only way his relationships have changed. 

The rest of the deleted scenes include some extra business when Clark returns to the Daily Planet, some shenanigans from Lex Luthor and his cadre of villains, and a final coda at the Daily Planet. I can easily see while these scenes were cut, though I do like the Daily Planet coda; it has a nice final moment for Perry White and Lois Lane. 

Superman Returns is not a well-loved film, and I'm well aware of its faults. But I still love it, because it feels like the natural continuation of the journey we saw Christopher Reeve's Superman begin in the 1970s. Reeve's Superman is gentle, charming, and self-effacing; he's a fundamentally decent person. But Reeve also captured the character's tragic side; he's an orphan one and a half times over, he has a secret he can't share with anyone, and carries a fantastic burden of responsibility; both his biologial and foster parents tell him over and over that he is on Earth for a reason, and that reason is not to play football--in other words, his life should not and cannot be normal. 

Clark takes on this responsibility gladly and solemnly, and he takes joy in helping people. But in the world of the Reeve films, he has no true peers. (Technically Supergirl exists in his world thanks to the titular Helen Slater film of 1984, but the two characters never interact, and none of the Superman films mention her.) There's not even a Justice League to pal around with. No wonder being Clark is so important to him; it's his only window to something approximating a normal life. 

The Krypton and Smallville deleted scenes make the final film's sombre tone even more justified, and give weight to Superman's final scene in the film.Though he's lost Lois, he knows that Krypton's heritage will live on through their son. "Will we see you?" Lois asks. "Around?" 

"I'm always around," Superman says, with his beautiful, confident smile, but we can feel his sadness, his loss, and his renewed sense of purpose. John Ottman's gorgeous music is a beautifully wistful accompaniment to this moment, until its forced to transition to the Williams theme for an upbeat final look at this version of the Man of Steel as he flies off into the sunset to resume his never-ending battle for truth and justice. 

Through Lois Lane, this film asks us if the world needs Superman. Lois' answer--and the film's--is yes. But that answer comes with a price. For Superman, the price is never having a normal life or a romantic partner. 

For us, the audience, the price is the knowledge that Superman isn't real. It's a beautiful fantasy--the idea that there could be a person selfless and true, someone with enough power but enough decency to shape the world for the better. 

So as it turns out, the only way to have the better world a real-life Superman would enable is to take on his mantle ourselves, to the best of our limited ability. We're always around, too, and we can choose to use our time to make the world better or worse. That's all Superman does. He needed a break in Superman Returns, but when he came to grips with his grief and his losses, he returned to his best self. 

Maybe someday we can all do something similar. 

Taking Deep Space Nine and Voyager to the Next Level

In 2012, CBS released three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation on blu-ray disc, with reach episode remastered in high definition. This was no mean feat, because the show was shot on film, but the episodes were edited on video, which effectively meant that any shots with special effects were, by their nature, restricted to standard definition. The producers of the blu-ray sets had to re-edit every episode from its original elements, an incredibly expensive and time-consuming process. 

To test the market, they released this disc, which included the remastered pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," one of the series' most beloved episodes, "The Inner Light," and the Worf-centric "Sins of the Father." 

According to CBS, the blu-ray releases of seasons one through seven of TNG did not sell well enough to giving Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Star Trek: Voyager the same treatment. Indeed, to this day, every Star Trek series except for those two has been released in high definition. 

But what if CBS had decided to forge ahead, once again releasing sampler discs before the season sets of DS9 and Voyager? What episodes might they have included? 

Doubtless they would once again include the pilots for the shows: "Emissary" for DS9 and "Caretaker" for Voyager. Both pilots are excellent, with plenty of outer space action to show off the remastered special effects. That leaves two more episodes for each series. 

Were I in charge, I'd choose "Duet" and "Far Beyond the Stars" for the DS9 sampler disc. While the episodes are light on special effects, they offer some of the very best dramatic storytelling the franchise has ever produced, and the great performances of the cast would look amazing in high definition. 

As for Voyager's sampler, I'd choose "Death Wish" and "Living Witness." "Death Wish" features an appearance by Q and Commander Riker while telling a compelling story about the consequences of immortality and the right to end one's own life. And "Living Witness" is simply one of Voyager's best episodes, giving us an alien perspective on the ship's adventures through the Delta quadrant. 

I want to believe that one day the business case will make sense and that someone will release DS9 and Voyager in high definition, maybe even sooner rather than later; physical media seems to be making a comeback. 






 

Salem's Lot Boo Boo

Today a lovely special edition of Tobe Hooper's adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot appeared on my doorstep. It comes with a two-sided poster, a "Welcome to Salem's Lot" sticker, and a handsome perfect-bound booklet that collects essays about the miniseries. 

Alas, sometime during the editing process, someone--more likely, multiple people--missed adding the name of Bonnie Bedelia's character to the cast list. For the record, Bedelia played the ill-fated Susan Norton. 

Farewell Old Friends

Today I gathered up dozens of old books and movies, some of which I've had for decades, and took them to Goodwill. It was hard, because I'm sentimental about such things, but I don't have infinite space, and I'm forced to admit to myself that there are many books I'll never read again, many movies I'll never see again; and so the time has come to pass those pleasure on to others. 

This reluctant culling will continue. But I take comfort in the many books I have yet to read, the many movies I have yet to see, still wrapped snugly around our walls. 

Sixteen Legs

The 3D Stooges

On Saturday night I screened The Mad Magician, a fun 1954 horror tragedy starring Vincent Price as a nice guy magician who gets wronged one too many times and, well, goes mad, turning to murder. The Blu-Ray is another fine disc with work from the 3D Archive; they do a really superb job of restoring vintage 3D films for current 3D television systems, and for my money the results on my home TV are more satisfying than the 3D theatre experience. (Sadly, though, 3D TVs aren't being manufactured anymore, or at least the number of models is disappearing fast, so I have to rush through my 3D collection before this TV goes bust.)

As a nice little bonus, the disc includes two remastered Three Stooges shorts, also in high definition 3D: "Spooks" and "Pardon My Backfire." Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've seen Moe, Larry, and Shemp do their patented eyeball-stooging right at YOUR EYES in 3D. And of course other implements of pain (along with some pies) get thrown at the audience throughout each short. I'm not sure what possessed the disc producers to include two Stooges shorts in this package, but bless them! 

I’m a Hi-Def Hero!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is my favourite, alongside the original series, of the various Star Trek television shows. So when showrunner Ira Steven Behr and several other members of the cast and crew organized the production of a brand-new documentary about the show, I contributed to their Indigogo campaign right from the beginning. Later, when an opportunity arose to remaster select scenes from the show into high definition for the documentary, I threw some more coin their way - and was rewarded with this nifty DS9 challenge coin and a letter from Behr! 

I Do Declare

The Criterion Collection kindly sent me a new Eraserhead disc to replace their flawed first printing of David Lynch's bizarre film. I find it amusing that Criterion felt it necessary to label the package as "nonporno," though I'm sure more than a few censor-minded folk would love to burn Lynch's creepy ouvre. 

DS9 in HD (if only...)

Some talented and enterprising souls have, to date, produced four videos to show what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine could look like in high definition. Would that the TNG HD blu-rays had sold well enough to make it so...still, this is gorgeous work. CBS, I plead once again: reconstruct DS9 in HD, as you did with The Next Generation. You know I'll buy every season, dammit. Possibly twice. 

Going A*P*E

I've seen a lot of terrible movies, but A*P*E (1976) takes the cake. Apparently made on a budget of literally just thousands of dollars, A*P*E omits the traditional second and third acts of a normal movie and gets straight to the climax, which is of course the typical military-versus-giant-beast showdown. Setting (and shooting) the action in Korea adds a tiny bit of interest, as does the 3D format, but the performances, direction, editing and effects are so slipshod that it's hard to believe this thing ever got released. Still, it's worth a few laughs, and the in-your-face 3D gimmicks make for some cheesy fun. 

I watched A*P*E on Kino-Lorber's new Blu-Ray disc. The folks at the 3D film archive have done their usual bang-up job of restoring the image (for what it's worth), and the included commentary by Chris Alexander is informative and funny as hell. I don't know that I'd recommend this as a buy even for my bad-movie-loving friends, but it's worth at least one watch. 

My Secular Shrine

Blu Fire, Walk With Me

A Moment of Melancholy

How sad that there will likely never be a Blu-Ray box set of Toilet Chase, Pipe Maniac, and Toilet Chase III: Flush Point. 

The Classic TV History Blog

No one in my circle of friends seems as fascinated by television as me, at least not that they've admitted thus far, so perhaps the following link won't be of much interest. But if you think television is worthy of study as an art form, if you have an appreciation for old television shows, or if you simply enjoy good research and scholarship, then you should visit Stephen Bowie's Classic TV History Blog.

I've been slowly working my way through Bowie's blog over the last few days, and the man is full of fascinating stories, from a behind-the-scenes look at the infamous flying turkeys episode of WKRP in Cincinatti to the weird directing career of Ben Casey himself, Vincent Edwards.

My favourite article so far is Doing it Right, a conversation about the merits of physical media like Blu-Ray discs over the ephemeral pleasures of streaming television. As a streaming skeptic and a huge proponent of the idea that you should own the art that you buy, I found this discussion incredibly relevant and valuable. Check it out.

TNG Season One in HD: Worst to First

Today I finished watching the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-Ray in gloriously remastered high definition. Re-edited from the ground up from the original film elements, the series looks better than it ever has. It really is like watching an entirely new show; the more detailed and accurate picture adds great depth and previously unseen context to the storytelling.

For example, during one early episode aliens kidnap Natasha Yar. When the crew sees her again, still in the clutches of her captors, there's a line of dialogue that suggests Yar has been a bit of a handful. In the original broadcast the line falls a little flat. But in high definition viewers can plainly see that one of her kidnappers has a swollen black eye, a detail that gives additional weight to the line. Similarly, computer readouts that were once illegible now often reveal clever in-jokes or background information about the show's universe. It's a huge treat for detail-oriented fans.

Still, this is the much derided first season of Star Trek's first spinoff, a year of uneven acting and weak stories - or so the conventional wisdom goes. Perhaps it's merely the high definition gloss, but TNG's first season is much richer than I remember, improving by leaps and bounds as the season progresses...with a few notable exceptions that nearly derailed the show right from the beginning.

Here's how I rank the 25 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season, with a brief explanation following each choice. From worst to first:

25. "Code of Honor"
An episode lambasted even by the cast for its heavy-handed racial stereotyping and goofy catfight, there will be "no vaccine!" for viewers forced to suffer through it.

24. "Angel One"
As sexist as "Code of Honor" was racist, this outing's only highlight is Commander Riker's enlightened attitude towards diversity. Due credit goes to actor Jonathan Frakes for doing his best with some pretty awful material.

23. "The Last Outpost"
The Ferengi make their embarrassing debut, hooting and hollering like chimps while the Enterprise crew smugly dismiss them. Thankfully the producers gave the alien species more depth in later episodes (and series). 

22. "The Naked Now"
It's the second episode of a brand new series and already the writers are stealing plots from the original show. There are a couple of cute, broadly comic moments, but it's the first example of poor Wil Wheaton being forced to save the ship as Wesley Crusher, earning the near-universal hate of fans. 

21. "Justice"
Picard and company visit Planet of the Half-Dressed Himbos and Bimbos and anger their vengeful god. Awkward and immature sexual allusions, a contrived Prime Directive crisis...it's just a mess.

20. "When the Bough Breaks"
Aliens who can't procreate kidnap six Enterprise children in the hopes of saving their civilization. I don't think six people would provide a diverse enough gene pool to accomplish such a task, but leaving that aside this is still a dull episode bereft of drama - there's no way that anything bad was going to happen to the kids. Now, if they'd lost one in a rescue attempt, that might have been good storytelling, really calling into question Starfleet's wisdom of including families on starships. Sadly, this episode plays it safe.

19. "Lonely Among Us"
There's nothing particularly bad about this episode, it's just not very challenging. The Enterprise inadvertently kidnaps an energy being, who spends the episode body-hopping in an effort to get back home. The issue is resolved with very little suspense.

18. "Encounter at Farpoint"
TNG's pilot has a lot going for it - an interesting central mystery with a great payoff, the introduction of Q, great performances by Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart. But the pilot is hampered by one over-the-top music choice and its treatment of the female leads. Gates McFadden's Dr. Crusher comes off as wooden and cold, Denise Crosby's Natasha Yar is overwrought, and poor Marina Sirtis is in tears for practically the entire episode, her Deanna Troi overwhelmed with fear one moment, rage the next, joy the next. Several sections are actually embarrassing to watch; everyone, both in front of and behind the cameras, was still finding their footing.

17. "Too Short a Season"
An ancient Starfleet admiral takes a youth drug with predictably tragic consequences. There's not much for the crew to do but watch things fall apart. 

16. "Hide and Q"
Q returns with an intriguing offer for Commander Riker, offering him omnipotence. John DeLancie is great as always, but the episode's preachiness and a truly embarrassing scene forced on Denise Crosby mar the episode. You're the security chief and you start crying on the bridge? Really?

15. "We'll Always Have Paris"
In which we learn that Captain Picard was too chicken to date one of the Mamas and the Papas and a time travel experiment goes wonky in a way that's still pretty hard to understand.

14. "Symbiosis"
The series' "drugs are bad!" episode, complete with lecture from poor ill-used Natasha Yar. No wonder Denise Crosby asked to be released from her contract. Still, Picard's solution at episode's end is nicely open-ended and even a little cruel in a thought-provoking way.
13. "Home Soil"
Terraformers accidentally threaten an indigenous silicon-based life form, and the Enterprise crew must put things right. Notable mostly for the alien description of humans as "ugly bags of mostly water."

12. "Coming of Age"
A setup episode for "Conspiracy" with some very effective editing and direction, plus some needed positive character development for Wesley Crusher.

11.  "Haven"
Majel Barrett's playfully shrewish Lwaxana Troi and her manservant Mr. Homm are fun to watch, considerably elevating the otherwise silly and overly mystical romance plot. Mrs. Troi, like Q, would go on to become a beloved recurring character across modern Trek series, but like Q her first-season debut is a little rough around the edges.

10. "Datalore"
Gene Roddenberry's last teleplay introduces one great concept: Data's evil twin brother, Lore. But while it's fun to watch Spiner play two parts, the episode's pacing is a little off and it's hard to believe that Lore could pass for Data for even a few minutes, given their personalities. Still, Lore is a wonderful menace, sadistically shooting Dr. Crusher in the arm and setting her on fire. (She was just singed.)  Pretty hardcore!

9. "Where No One Has Gone Before"Gorgeous special effects, a sense of wonder, some nice character bits and a journey to the edge of the universe help this episode stand out. 

8. "The Battle"
Picard gets a bit of background and the Ferengi are slightly redeemed, though the titular battle's staging is a little rushed and doesn't quite serve the story as effectively as it could.

7. "The Arsenal of Freedom"
The critique of arms trading and advertising is a little on-the-nose, but then why should everything have to be "sutle?" (That's for Mike Totman.) The evolving doomsday weapon is an interesting precursor to the Borg, and there are tense phaser fights in orbit and on the ground. Lightweight but fun.

6. "Skin of Evil"
A lot of people don't like this episode, but I think it has a lot going for it: Deanna uses both her empathic powers and her training as a counselor effectively, there's actually some poetry in the episode's title and the titular villain's dialogue, plus it's an irredeemable monster, which is actually kind of refreshing. Even Data notes, quite coldly, that it should be destroyed. Tasha Yar's death occurs in a flash, without glory, in the line of duty, one of Roddenberry's ideas and one I think works extremely well; she was, after all, one of the leads, but she was also a redshirt (metaphorically). Her senseless death is the sort of thing that one would expect to happen on dangerous space missions, and her abrupt departure added verisimilitude to the show. Dr. Crusher's quietly desperate attempts to revive her in sickbay also made for a tense, well acted, well directed scene.

5. "Heart of Glory"
Worf confronts his cultural duality in a fast-paced, cleverly-shot action episode, notable for reintroducing the Klingons and setting the groundwork for a number of interesting Worf stories. 

4. "The Neutral Zone"
The season's final episode is a bit schizophrenic: it reintroduces the Romulans, lays the groundwork for the Borg, and also covers the crew's attempts to deal with three cryogenically frozen and revived 20th-century humans. The Romulans are well done and the "people out of time" story does a good job of illustrating the vast differences between Roddenberry's 24th century utopia and the culture of the present day.

3. "11001001"
The "stealing the Enterprise" sequence alone is terrific, but this episode's action set piece is just a means of telling a solid story about trust, diversity and compassion that really captures the Roddenberry ethos in a compelling way.

2. "Conspiracy"
The season's creepiest episode was so shocking back in the day that ITV (now Global) broadcast a warning before the episode began. At the time I thought there was some kind of mistake, that ITV had broadcast the warning in error; there was never anything truly shocking or scary on Star Trek. The warning was repeated after the final commercial break, and my teenage eyes boggled at the sight of Riker and Picard phasering a man's head until it exploded and then vaporizing the alien creature hiding in his unfortunate guts. But aside from the shock value of the episode's climax, "Conspiracy" delivers a delightfully creepy experience of low-level paranoia throughout. It's a shame that this storyline was never explored again.

1. "The Big Goodbye"
A Peabody winner for good reason, the season's best episode gives Picard emotional depth while asking interesting questions about the nature of consciousness and reality itself. Not just the best of the season, a standout for the entire series. 

The Next Generation's first season certainly has its share of stumbles and embarrassing moments, but there are some solid stories here. Of course season two is even better - I can't wait to rank its episodes a few months from now!

OMG STTNG HD

I never thought it possible, but CBS (who now owns Star Trek on TV), is in the process of remastering Star Trek: The Next Generation in high definition - a Herculean editing task, because while ST:TNG was shot on film, it was edited on low-definition video. That means each episode's elements have to be re-edited together, recomposited, the whole shebang.

A sampler disc has been released, including three episodes: the pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," "Sins of the Father" and "The Inner Light." I watched the pilot tonight, and it looks spectacular. The six-foot Enterprise-D miniature has never looked more beautiful, and the image is uniformly sharp and vibrant. For a Trekkie like me, it's like watching a brand new show; little details once too blurry for the naked eye now stand out in sharp relief, offering a familiar yet new and exciting experience.

CBS will release the entire first season this year, with seasons 2-7 coming at a rate of about two seasons a year. I can't wait to enjoy one of my favourite shows all over again.  

The Best of ST:TNG Season One

Star Trek: The Next Generation is currently being remastered for a high-definition Blu-Ray release next year, and as a science-fiction cinephile, I'm thrilled. On the downside, with the exception of the three-episode teaser advertised above, the series will be released season by season, and TNG's first season isn't highly regarded by fans, thanks to uneven production values, weak stories and uncertain acting. There were certainly some growing pains, but frankly I think the show's first season contains several gems:


Where No One Has Gone Before
Trippy visuals and a voyage to the end of the universe evoke a strong sense of wonder, one of science fiction's primary goals.

The Big Goodbye
An engaging mixture of film noir and science fiction that asks important ethical and existential questions. Won the Peabody Award.

Datalore
The introduction of Data's twin android brother gives Brent Spiner his first chance to really show off his impressive acting chops.

11001001
This episode features an exciting doomsday countdown sequence and an interesting alien species.


Heart of Glory
We learn more about Worf and the Klingons - a suspenseful action story that empathizes with its villains.

The Arsenal of Freedom
Fun satire of our own violent culture.

Conspiracy
Creepy paranoid thriller with a truly shocking ending.

The Neutral Zone
Reintroduces the Romulans and hints at the Borg threat to come.

Eight good episodes out of twenty-six isn't exactly a compelling average, I know, but there are some good moments scattered throughout the rest of the season - certainly enough to justify Star Trek nerds like me purchasing the show all over again...

Super Hard of Hearing

A couple of days before I left for Alaska I watched, for the umpteenth time, Superman (1978), this time on a shiny new Blu-Ray. The high-definition picture was astounding, but so was the audio - so much so that the crystal-clear sound cleared up a decades-old personal mystery.

Midway through the film, Lois Lane interviews Superman about his past, his politics, and his powers. One exchange goes something like this:

"Is it true you can see through anything?"

"Well, pretty much, yes."

She asks a couple more questions before suddenly switching gears:

"What colour underwear am I wearing?"

"Hmmm," Superman says.

"Oh, I've embarrassed you."

"No not at all, it's just that this fabric must be made of lead," Superman says, pointing. "I have a little trouble seeing through lead." This line has puzzled me for years. Are there fabrics that use lead fiber?

The questions continue. A couple of seconds later, Superman says "Pink."

"Excuse me?" Lois asks.

"Pink," Superman says, pointing at her hips.

For decades, I figured this meant that Superman could eventually see through lead, if he tried hard enough, or that there was sufficiently little lead in the fabric of Lois' dress that his x-ray vision eventually penetrated it.

But that's not what happens.

In fact, Superman says not "This fabric must be made of lead," but "this planter must be made out of lead." There's a lead planter standing between Superman and Lois. And sure enough, right at the moment Lois moves into a position where the planter isn't blocking Superman's sightlines, that's when he says "Pink."

Lead fabric, lead planter. It's a silly little piece of trivia, to be sure, but this issue has nagged at me for years. What a relief to have high fidelity audio clear up the matter.