Image Credit: Star Trek: Odyssey promotional wallpaper, with Bobby Rice as Lt. Commander Ro Nevin and Michelle Laurent as Romulan Sub Commander T’Lorra.

[Commentary] | [Spoilers]

Before there was Star Trek: New Voyages there was Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, an ambitious online fan series that ran from 2000 through a final episode in the summer of 2007. Notable for its use of green-screen technology to place actors in interesting Star Trek settings, a diverse cast, and gay and lesbian subplots, STHF was successful enough to warrant a spin-off. The new series, Star Trek: Odyssey, like STHF, is set after the canon events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.

A new threat from outside the Milky Way has emerged within Romulan space and an uneasy alliance of Alpha Quadrant powers attempt to repel the invaders. The enemy is an alien race from the Andromeda Galaxy with the technological capability to build wormholes. Returning from STHF is Lt. Commander Ro Nevin (again played by actor Bobby Rice), a happily married and gay Bajoran Starfleet officer. After a successful attempt to destroy the wormhole, Ro and the surviving crew of the U.S.S. Odyssey are stuck on the wrong side and running from their enemies in the Andromeda Galaxy. Ro becomes captain of the starship and embarks on a journey back to the Milky Way and his husband reminiscent of the Greek hero Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey.

The gay-friendly storyline is perhaps the most promising aspect of STO, and in the pilot episode “Illiad”. Will Ro stay faithful to his husband or will he be tempted by others during the journey home? How will the sexuality of other crew members play out?

Bobby Rice took over the role of Ro from another actor during the run of STHF and effectively captured the character coming to terms with his sexuality. The series ended with his marriage to a fellow officer. On his own again and in command, the new story arc for Ro is also promising.

The episode begins with a confident new score and opening sequence, as well as a strong first scene that introduces Romulan Sub Commander T’Lorra, played very well by Michelle Laurent. Highlights include the interaction between Ro and his husband, Lieutenant Commander Corey Aster, reprised by guest star (and episode director) JT Tepnapa, including a hilarious but too-short scene of the couple trying to find a few minutes alone for sex before they embark on their mission, as well as brief appearances by other STHF characters. Matthew Montgomery is promising in a brief glimpse as Dr. Owen Vaughan.

However, the pilot episode is a surprising disappointment, especially after the vast improvements in acting and production values gained by the end of STHF. Bobby Rice seems to have lost some of his previous confidence in the character of Ro, with only glimpses of the natural and mischievous spark he previously brought to the role. I suspect this is mostly due to the exposition and speech-making the character is forced to make during the episode.

Most disappointing is the new alien race. Even accepting the human-like similarity between races in the Milky Way, I had hoped, and actually expected, the aliens from an entirely different galaxy to be radically different. Per usual in Star Trek depictions of aliens, however, they are human-like, with face paint and archaic speaking patterns offered as the only differentiation from humans. There are hints that the alien culture will be developed in future episodes (Are they bisexual? Newly ruthless?) and the alien vehicle and hardware designs are quite wonderful. Unfortunately, an opportunity for the fan filmmakers to truly strike out on their own with a unique Star Trek vision appears to have been wasted.

Some of the acting is top-notch, while some is surprisingly bad and ineffective. The plot meanders from long moments of exposition and technobabble to rather good but brief moments of character introductions (well, except for the Andromeda Galaxy aliens) and character development. There is no question that I will continue to tune in to STO, with hope that this series will not devolve immediately into the rehashing and lack of confidence and innovation of STV, which had a similar plot.

Image Caption: Promotional wallpaper for NBC’s upcoming Fall 2007 television series Bionic Woman

[Commentary] | [Spoilers]

Jaime Sommers is now a bartender with an angry kid sister and a professor boyfriend outside her socio-educational demographic. After a horrific car accident, her boyfriend has her rebuilt, because it turns out he is also working for a top secret bionics program. Sommers becomes the new Bionic Woman and at this point the viewer could care less.

NBC’s Bionic Woman is both a disaster and an insult in a long history of anti-technology storytelling. English actress Michelle Ryan as Jaime Sommers is wasted in a plot that attempts to convey angst, history, and mythology via relentless exposition and hurt looks. The characters speak exposition-ese without the audience getting any opportunity to truly know them or care for them. The accident comes after rapid-fire angst and tears, unexpected, yes, horrific, true, but without any emotional investment.

Superhero origin stories are difficult to tell on film. Audiences who eagerly anticipate heroic actions and special effects must wait while the protagonist is introduced, experiences an accident, evolves into a transhuman entity, and begin to learn about his or her new powers. Origin stories told well allow the audience to feel for the protagonist almost immediately, with nuanced scenes that whisper “See? I’m just like you!” until the character is no longer like you at all.

The worst, like Bionic Woman, paint angst with broad strokes, just annoying filler leading up to the inevitable accident and transhuman capabilities. Even worse, in this telling Jamie Sommers, rapidly cured and enhanced, hates her apparent health and new capabilities. She is so angry and hurt that her boyfriend would successfully attempt to save her life that she throws him across the room, screams, cries, and walks sullen in the pouring rain. When she is reunited with her sister, she immediately lies about her whereabouts as both characters attempt to out angst each other in the limited time they are given.

More pain is ahead. The original bionic woman 1.0 - Katee Sackhoff, so good as Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica and badly acting here - is a violent wreck, presumably because someone also successfully attempted to save her life. Throw in mysterious figures, other actors from Battlestar Galactica, and hints at a larger - and dark! - mythology, and the result is a great depression for the characters AND the viewers.

Show creators apparently hate technology, especially when used to successfully save lives. At what price, they want to explore, do we do so? A character who suffers terrible trauma must continue to suffer long after they have transcended their human weaknesses and been relieved of their pain. The price, we learn, is generally too high, and it would have been better if the character had just died. Because they did not die, they now must spend the seasons performing altruistic acts, to give back to simple unenhanced humans who are owed some unexplained debt. The moment the transhuman start enjoying her powers, she will be taught a terrible lesson.

This bionic woman is a creation of nanotechnology and cybernetics, packaged in a beautiful and indistinguishable-from-human body. A simple bartender enriched by her involvement with a man of education and science must now pay the ultimate price for becoming transhuman. We do not learn in one episode, of course, exactly what price she will pay during her upcoming ordeals, but we can be sure it will be gratuitously gory and tearful.

Modern medicine is marvelous and technologies in labs and on the horizon suggest great things ahead. We know from experience that most people in pain, experiencing great suffering, or nearing death, will, no matter what their prior belief system, embrace relief. Relief is so obviously joyful that relief as horror as depicted in fiction simply rings false, yet writers go back to that same dark well over and over again.

Could there be conflict in a depiction of a transhuman that was joyful and thankful for her transcendence? Absolutely. We have already seen one such character on television, albeit with her own moments of angst and depression and confusion. Her name was Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and she was always at her best when she gave into the morally valid pleasures of her power.

And Buffy Summers, of course, was partly inspired by another woman of incredible power who could, sometimes at least, enjoy her powers. She was the original Jaime Sommers in the original 1970’s Bionic Woman. If her joy was not always apparent, she was a superior role model compared to the current ungrateful incarnation. Until writers embrace the potential joys of transhuman existence, they will continue to “re-image” old material while popular storytelling continues to stagnate.

Image Credit: Promotional poster for Star Trek: New Voyages “World Enough and Time” episode

[Commentary] | [Spoilers]

There is in fact not world enough or time for me to express just how much I love the latest episode of Star Trek: New Voyages, the continuing adventures of the classic USS Enterprise crew in a fan-tastic fourth season. “World Enough and Time” now stands proudly with the very best episodes of Star Trek.

The first few episodes of Star Trek: New Voyages were great fan efforts: a little rough around the edges but enjoyable enough. It is obvious that the cast and crew have a deep love for Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry’s original concept, but when watching these fan films there is always that sense of “I wish the original was still around” and “I wish this were maybe a little bit more professional.”

Until now. “World and Time Enough” brings back George Takei, the actor who played helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the original series, for a time-bending adventure and emotional journey. With his return and new guest stars, the overall production values and acting have all improved. James Cawley finally becomes Captain James T. Kirk, especially in scenes with a lovely new visitor to the USS Enterprise.

Everything about this episode is wonderful. The plotting and pacing will have you at the edge of your seat, with moments to breathe and learn something new about favorite characters. The banter between Kirk, Spock, and Bones is as good as it gets. The special effects are breathtaking and often quite beautiful. The displays, the references to Star Trek canon, small moments and big moments, a new look at the USS Excelsior and her crew under the command of a certain captain, and so much more…

Christina Moses deserves special note. She captures perfectly the excitement, joy for life, and heartbreak of her character. Make sure you have something available to wipe away your tears…

The latest episode debuted August 23, 2007 to technical difficulties that have not yet been completely resolved. Right now the STNV website offers only a small streaming version of the video at the following link:

http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/weat_streams.html

I was very disappointed by this technical turn of events, though I commend the STNV team for being upfront about the issues. Still, I only grudgingly started the stream. Then, after just a few moments, I had forgotten all about these technical details and found myself completely entranced. If you do not get the stream right away, definitely try again later. Seriously. This episode is that fantastic.

There is also a preview of the next episode (STNV’s first two-parter!) which promises to take Star Trek in a direction Gene Roddenberry wanted to take but was allegedly not allowed to do so, except superficially, by the studio. Featuring one of my favorite actors you might not have heard of - Bobby Rice - and special guest star and fan favorite Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation), “Blood and Fire” is at the top of my must-see-now list.

Fan films have come a long way in the past few years, and Frontier Channel has covered just a small portion of this activity. Fan series like STNV and Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, short films like Still Life, and original series like The Scene show how technological progress, and the rapid flow of once expensive technologies into the hands of everyday yet creative people, is expanding our entertainment options and threatening stagnant Big Media. Much of this work has in fact been wonderful, and with “World and Time Enough” I think such content has finally become a legitimate contender for my time.

Shame on CBS Paramount Television for not recognizing the potential in Star Trek fan fiction. Sure, they currently have a hand’s off approach as long as the fan creators do not make any money off of their efforts, but CBS Paramount Television could be doing so much more while helping to build their franchise in lucrative ways. Why not offer a license to Star Trek material for a 10% cut of all proceeds? Doing so would create a cottage industry of fan fiction filmmaking, with a wealth of new ideas as well as improved production values. The STNV team donate their own time and money because they love Star Trek, but there is the potential for so much more if CBS Paramount Television offered something, anything, to these creative people.

That aside, some fan fiction has already surpassed the worst of television, and even become worthwhile in their own right. Today I saw fan fiction that equals the very best of television, and Star Trek: New Voyages has me completely hooked.

• Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime
• by Aubrey de Grey and Michael Rae
• September 04, 2007

I’m in complete geek overload at the moment. Long rumored but not confirmed until today: Karen Allen is reprising her role as Marion Ravenwood in the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel!

[Commentary] | [Spoilers]

Science fictions movies do not need to be about a realistic future. If the creators have something to say, they might use the trappings of science fiction.

Able Edwards, the first movie shot completely against a green screen and released the same year as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, has something to say. Set in a future just after the decimation of humans by a biological agent and the survivors relocation to a space station, Able Edwards wants to tell us about individuality, reality, and childhood innocence. It might also have something to say about cloning and virtual reality. Like the obvious clash between the real actors and the digital backgrounds, the movie fails miserably.

Able Edwards is a mogul based on Walt Disney, a maverick who brings joy to the public through animation and theme parks. The Edwards Corporation survives his untimely death and the near extinction of the human race to become a monopolistic robotic firm. In an effort to shake up the establishment and put the company in growth mode once again, the board decides to clone Able Edwards and raise the child to take over the corporation when he turns 25 years old. A hint of climatic events in his first 25 years make him the man he becomes, something like the original Able Edwards but haunted and driven by doubts about his own individuality. After a gruesome accident that claims the life of his girlfriend, Able begins to rage against societies focus on virtual reality. When he finally takes over the company, Able has a plan: develop a physical theme park on the space station, complete with real, albeit cloned, animals, rides, and exhibits.

As his personal life unravels and clone discrimination rears its ugly head, the theme park becomes a huge success, leading to more theme parks and a senate race. In the midst of all this change, one thing becomes obvious: this cannot be the future!

While science fiction can be used only as a setting, the success of the film depends on whether or not the future is reasonable, given the plot. The future depicted in Able Edwards is not reasonable, and this becomes more and more obvious as the story’s timeline moves through the years. In one scene, Able sits at a kitchen table next to his wife who is stirring and sipping coffee in a mug. They are on a space station with homes right out of “Ozzie and Harriet”! Occasional badly designed CGI robot and space station exterior shots, bullet train, and holographic video displays are the extent of futurism in this tale. Oh, and the androids that are different from humans only because they have ugly contact lenses and their hair is slicked back.

These science fiction trappings fail to invoke anything of the future, and the story of the clone fails to invoke any emotion other than sentimentality: Able sings softly to his baby sleeping in a not-at-all futuristic crib; someone snarls that he is doing a good job “for a clone”; his wife grows distant, because a big jump in time has occurred between scenes and she is inexplicably angry all the time now; etc.

What ultimately does the movie have to say? The future will be little different from the present. Humans will not change, and we will take our modern foibles, with a nice dash of the 1950’s, with us to space. Clones will question their existence off screen while androids passively stand doing nothing in their freaky contact lenses.

In other words, nothing is said about anything. I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars, only because out of all the bad acting, Scott Kelly Galbreath is surprisingly engaging as Able Edwards and his progenitor, despite most of his angst occurring offscreen.

I am only nine songs into my first listen to the new ATB album - Trilogy (iTunes link) - and it is already a favorite. “Renegade” alone deserves to be played over and over again.

There is something about particular artists’ passion and creativity that hits me deep, often because I have trouble wrapping my head around the concept of their existence and their art. It is like discovering you can fly, but you keep shaking your head in disbelief at the very concept of you flying. More superficially, it is often because they are incredibly attractive in addition to being so talented.

André Tanneberger is just that sort of artist to me. I will not dwell on my silly fan crush, but instead I will point you to another artist and his website, which is definitely not suitable for work: AHunter.org. Yeah, I know, but he is hot, gay, and an incredible graphic designer. I just keep shaking my head in disbelief at the very concept of the existence of these amazing artists.

I was not quite there yet.

Although all my digital music and movie downloads are now legal, only most of my television show downloads are. I obtained Naruto from a popular fansub and I obtained Doctor Who just as quickly as it became available Saturday afternoons, using a wonderful program called TVTAD.

But no more.

Stealing is stealing. Stealing is not the appropriate response to content providers who have yet to make their content available legally on the Internet. If I am going to say anything more about this in the future, then I better make damn sure I am on the appropriate moral ground to do so. Therefore, I have uninstalled TVTAD and deleted all the past episodes of Naruto and Doctor Who I had stored.

Goodbye, pirating. The activity brought me great enjoyment and near-instant gratification. But if content providers do not want to put their content up for the world to enjoy, legally, then I do not need their content. I will also no longer respond by stealing their content. And when they do offer their content legally, then I will have something to look forward to as I get caught back up.

Oh, and creators of Doctor Who: stop ragging on transhumanists with your silly plots! The Doctor himself is an enhanced and incredibly capable entity. Why are enhanced capabilities okay for him but not for humans? Come on now!

Tom Merritt from CNET writes about “My fight with Amazon Unbox” and his thoughts, along with many of those commenting on the article, are predictably negative. In the blogosphere the universe centers around the individual speaking and most individuals tend to fill their space with bitching. Call it Bitch 2.0.

Amazon Unbox is the best digital download service yet since Apple added television programming for purchase through their iTunes Music Store last October. From iPod quality to DVD-quality, from one download version to two (DVD-quality and portable media player versions), from a modest selection to 200 television series and 1000 movies, from one service to many, and all of this in less than a year. This is something to bitch about?

Merritt complains that the Unbox software is too invasive and requires too much effort to install and uninstall. He complains that he cannot burn his purchases for viewing on a DVD player, and he complains that the first file downloaded was corrupted.

Merritt, and his sympathetic readers, should remember that he is an early experimenter with a service early in the existence of this industry. He should remember that just a year ago, no such extensive video service or software existed. He should remember that content producers pay money to produce content and can be forgiven for being Draconian in their first fledging attempts in a new industry. He should remember that Draconian measures always diminish with competition. He should remember that he was not forced to download the Unbox software and that his first Unbox digital download was free. He should remember that new services and software are beta whether or not they have been labeled as such.

I, on the other hand, remember what it was like before most media became available online. I remember my clunky television and the physical storage space required for VHS tapes and DVDs. I remember not having ready access to my favorite television shows and movies. I remember driving to the store to purchase content or waiting for content to arrive via snail mail. I remember watching television at a network’s preset time. I also remember the sour reception of DVDs, iPod and the iTunes Music Store, and other so-called failures. I remember less than a year ago when there were no broadband video channels supported by advertising nor burn-to-DVD services.

In spite of the negative commentary, consumers are rapidly adopting digital downloads. Competition continues to sweeten the offerings. In a year, most of the issues with current services will have been resolved or replaced.

Bitch all you want, you Bitch 2.0′ers; all you are really doing is taking for granted just how rapidly our world is changing and how far we have come.

In May there was a series of specials called “The End” on CBC Newsworld about the end of traditional media. I finally got around to watching the first one about radio tonight, and found both a wealth of music options and, in my opinion, confirmation that terrestrial radio is dying a slow and agonizing death. The most important find was Pandora, a web service for creating your own streaming radio station.

Back in the late 1990’s while I worked at eBay, I used a vaguely similar streaming radio service. You rated songs as they came up and based on your ratings the station slowly tuned itself to your interests. This was fantastic until the music studios had the service shut down. Their argument? Adding artists and rating them meant the listener could basically listen to whatever they wanted whenever they wanted for free.

Now that the media conglomerates are finally starting to experiment and relent just a little, new web services have better options for licensing their content. Pandora allows you to start listening to music right away without setting up an account. An account gives you greater access to songs and you can listen on different computers, though only one at a time. A paid subscription (around US$36 a year) gives you ad-free access to the Pandora site.

Pandora station setup began with choosing a song or artist I like. I chose my favorite band: Fleetwood Mac. The service then began playing a Fleetwood Mac song, followed by other artists’ songs that Pandora believes are similar in sound. This similarity comes from what Pandora calls the “Music Genome Project” - a group of musicians and music experts who analyze music to capture those attributes than can relate songs together. As songs play, you give them a thumbs up or a thumbs down and the service will tailor itself based on your votes. My “Fleetwood Mac Radio” station now includes Gin Blossoms, James Taylor, Queens of the Stone Age, The Pretenders, and artists I have never heard of but who turned out to be great. You can ask Pandora “Why did you play this song?” and it will respond with something like “Based on what you have told us so far we’re playing this track because it features electric rock instrumentation, a subtle use of vocal harmony, major key tonality, electric rhythm guitars, and many other similarities identified in the music genome project.” How true

If you want more variety in your station, you add addition songs or artists and the station will search for wider ranges of music. I added another favorite band - The Weakerthans - and a different “genome” of music started to queue (leading to songs from the Beatles!) You can create separate stations for specific sounds, or stations with a wider variety of favorites across multiple genres.

All of this activity is through Flash, done correctly. Navigation is easy to figure out. Other features of Pandora include the ability to search for songs and albums for purchase on Amazon or iTunes; read more information about the song, album or artist; and send family and friends your stations and lists of bookmarked songs. You can even add your lists to your blog (something I may add here in the near future). Here is my page if you want to take a listen to my station:

http://www.pandora.com/people/rleisjr

Music options today are nearly endless. Pandora is a wonderful example with its mix of streaming favorites and new discoveries. The only thing missing is portability. The day Pandora becomes available in my car will be a box opening worth living for.