Hillary Lipko: Frustrated Bunny

Crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701 in Star Trek XI. Credit: Industrial Light and Magic

Supposedly, they were supposed to run the trailer for Star Trek XI before the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, but having gone to see the movie this weekend, I can add myself to the list of people whose screening did not include this geeky treat. However, the trailer has been released online, downloadable in standard definition as well as 720p and 1080p HD. The site seems to insist upon the most recent version of Quicktime (or Quicktime Alternative, which I highly recommend), which gave me some difficulties in downloading the trailer, but once I updated, everything was cool.

The trailer definitely suggests that this Trek film will have a significantly different “feel” than any of the others. The spot opens with a car chase across a desert landscape, an unknown driver speeding along a dirt road in a red vintage automobile, with a motorcycle cop giving chase, siren wailing. The car approaches a cliff, the driver sends the car into a skid, and we see the towheaded driver leap from the auto as the car falls over the edge. Here we see the driver, a young boy, as he scrabbles back over the edge, getting to his feet as the motorcycle cop reaches him, though the motorcycle could be better described as a hoverbike, and the cop is a robot of sorts. “What is your name?” the robocop asks. “My name is James Tiberius Kirk,” the youth replies.

The rest of the trailer is a series of disjointed vingettes which allude to more blatant action than Trek fans may be accustomed to seeing, particularly in the era of Kirk and Spock. We also see flashes from the childhoods of Kirk and Spock, which leads me to believe that we may see either some rewriting of “history” or some greater detail regarding things that we already know about these characters’ backgrounds. The trailer also seems to allude to a continuation of the more blatant use of sexuality that we saw in Enterprise (which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it). My biggest problem with the trailer? The part where Kirk claps his hand on Spock’s shoulder on the bridge of the Enterprise and tells him to “buckle up.” Everyone knows there aren’t seatbelts on the Enterprise! I mean, how else are they supposed to go flying when the inertial dampeners can’t compensate for the concussion of attacks?

The film is beginning to feel more and more to be a sort of “reboot” of the franchise, something that seems to be working well for the James Bond franchise these days (among a few others), but the jury’s still out on whether this is a net good or a net bad. There seems to be concern, based upon the trailer, that this foray into the Trek universe by J.J. Abrams may result in the film having the feel of a “generic sci-fi movie,” rather than the uniqueness-bordering-on-quirkiness that Star Trek has. On the other hand, perhaps the intention of this trailer is to draw new blood to the film, and by extension, into the fandom. I have noticed in the time that I’ve spent at conventions that the youngest cohesive group of Trekkies/Trekkers has an average age of about 25. There’s the occasional fan under the age of 18, but those are typically “hereditary fans,” those whose parents or older siblings are fans.

Overall, I like the trailer. I’m excited about the movie. I have no doubt that my friends with whom I regularly watch Star Trek and I will be at the theater at the stroke of midnight May 8, 2009 for the debut of the film, maybe even in uniform.

Some days I don’t have anything substantial to talk about. Ok, most days. But I still find things that are interesting. I usually share them on Twitter (and my latest tweet is always on the left side of the page), but Twitter moves fast. So today, I bring you two links that are merely coincidentally related.

The Return of Clinton Futurism?

The last time the Democrats controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, Gillian Anderson wore pants. There were two Star Trek series at once, which promoted women and minorities and looked at the dark side of the Federation. Cyberpunk reigned supreme. The future was a shiny place — but with dread lurking just beneath its polish. Now that the Democrats have finally scored another grand slam, are we going to see the return of sunny-but-questioning science fiction?

Obama Positioned to Reverse Bush Actions

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

To provide just some brief commentary, both of these notions excite me. To be honest, I’d love to see another Star Trek series, myself–perhaps the upcoming film will breathe some new life into a franchise that has been flailing about since the cancellation of Enterprise. However, I suppose that’s neither here nor there when it comes to the bigger picture of truly thoughtful and intellectual science fiction that is still wildly popular and entertaining, something that there’s been a sore lack of “new blood” in these past several years.

I am equally, if not more excited over the prospect of an administration that values scientific opinion again. I have never much cared for anti-intellectualism, particularly among those who are supposed to be our leaders. I am also delighted that the incoming Obama administration seems to have a better grasp of the executive’s Consitutional powers. President-elect Obama is a Constitutional scholar, after all, which gives me great hope (if you’ll pardon the expression) that the highest law of our land will again be viewed as the foundation of our leaders’ goals rather than as a hinderence to them.

The remnants of my middle-school self just went, “SQUEE!” E! News reports that David Duchovny told reporters on Saturday that he’s supposed to see a script for a new X-Files film next week. Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are reportedly both on board and will reprise their roles as Special Agents Mulder and Scully. The film will be directed by Chris Carter, who, according to Anderson, “wants to make a really scary horror, like a stand-alone episode.” This likely comes as good news to those like me who are fans of the early seasons of the series which were more or less done in this format. It’s even better news to those (also like me) who felt that the series really went downhill when the plot focus shifted dramatically toward the whole all-encompassing conspiracy theory thing. (In my opinion this really happened about a season after the first movie came out, but it definitely started the season leading up to the film.)

I started watching X-Files at some point during the first season in 1993, but I didn’t start watching it religiously until about 1996. I fell off the bandwagon about a season and a half after the film (sometime in 2000, I think) and only watched sporadically after that. The show really was a huge part of the culture of my peers during the years that I watched regularly. The lunch table conversations on Mondays were invariably about the new episode that had aired on  Sunday night. I had a friend who had a huge crush on David Duchovny that occasionally verged on the highly inappropriate. (To that point, I have a message for anyone who understands: Teacup.) There was a point in time where I wanted to be Agent Scully. Even though I got over that, the first business suit I ever purchased could be described as Scully-esque. Mentioning all of this is probably mostly unnecessary to describe the hugeness of this to anyone who actually cares, but it’s fun to reminisce.

Obama speaks at Georgia Tech, April 2007

This is our moment; this is our time.

I’m excited. His victory speech was very moving and very gracious. Can’t say so much for Hillary Clinton’s speech, which all but sealed my suspicions of her narcissistic personality disorder.

But back to Obama…I’m pretty sure that this is the first time that any speech, let alone a politician’s speech, has nearly moved me to tears. Or maybe I was just so happy to be able to open my bottle of champagne, which was waiting for him to acknowledge his victory.

So yeah…on to Denver, and then…the White House!

(The picture at the right was taken by me at an Obama campaign rally in Atlanta in April 2007.)

So I was entertaining a little flight of fancy of mine the other day, hunting down some pictures of Michael Weatherly (NCIS, Dark Angel), whom I find highly attractive, and I came across the Livejournal of someone who is a fan of Michael Shanks (Stargate SG-1), whom I also find attractive, as well as Michael Weatherly. In particular, I came across a post in which this LJ’er had posted icon sets of both actors. With the two icon sets one after another, I realized that the two actors look a LOT alike. I mean, look! (Weatherly is on the left, Shanks on the right.)

It has been brought to my attention that I have a “type.” It has also been brought to my attention that my boyfriend (not pictured and not named Michael) bears a resemblance to these two actors, though not nearly as much as they look like each other. Seriously. They could be brothers. Brothers with unimaginative parents (after all, they’re both named Michael), but kin nonetheless. (more…)