Stand By Me

Stand By Me is another one of those movies I've seen chunks of but never sat down and watched until now. And it's good! Rob Reiner knew how to direct mature movies that would be interesting to people of many different ages. It takes place mostly at the end of the 50s, but it still has a timeless quality that should remind anyone of summer vacations spending time with friends, especially if they lived in a rural area. The main character is Gordie, played by Wil Wheaton as a kid a couple years before Star Trek: The Next Generation and Richard Dreyfuss as an adult and the narrator. After learning that his childhood friend was killed in a restaurant, he decides to write down the story of a watershed moment from his youth, where he and his buddies walked through miles and miles of countryside to find the body of a local boy who's been missing.

The other three friends are played by River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell, and while they tend to be more famous for why they don't have careers than the careers themselves, it's remarkable how they're all still recognizable names 24 years later. I don't think that usually happens with kid actors. The older teenager characters are occasionally recognizable too, with Kiefer Sutherland playing the biggest jerk in town and antagonist and John Cusack in flashbacks as Gordie's deceased older brother, and the only one in his family who seems to care about him. Everybody does a pretty good job, and it's noteworthy how the kids all manage to act like real twelve-year-olds without getting annoying.

So it's sort of like a small-scale road movie as they wander along train tracks, over bridges, and through forests looking for where one of them heard his older brother describe the body's location. Their relationships are as realistic as you'll see when it comes to adolescent American males, always poking fun at each other and sometimes getting violent, but obviously still affectionate and understanding. O'Connell doesn't really get an opportunity to be dramatic, but the other three all have moments of vulnerability that bring them closer together as they use the body as a goal to get through their troubles. The movie is often funny and touching when it wants to be, and while the story sort of sweeps some of the difficulties under the rug by the end, it's still a good story and a definite piece of Americana. Apparently the Stephen King story that this was based on was quite a bit harsher, but the movie didn't need to be to work.

Star Trek: Nemesis

There's at least one thing Nemesis has over Insurrection - a sense of danger and excitement that at least makes it seem more like a science fiction movie than two hours of nothing. A lot of what it does is pretty dumb on further reflection, but it's got that being-a-movie thing down pretty well. It's a pretty slick movie too, benefiting from the relatively modern technology a fair bit. Like the recent Trek film, it features Romulans heavily, although they aren't exactly the bad guys this time, though in a way they're responsible for the villain. For some reason they're the least capable slave drivers of all time, having forced an entire species called the Remans to work their mines for them, but when a clone of Picard that they abandon plans for manages to start an uprising, they're able to create one of the most advanced starships I've ever seen in the Trek universe, built to stand up to the Enterprise with ease. Not sure how they managed that in captivity, but they forcibly take over and pursue Picard, needing his DNA to save bad-Picard from a degenerative condition.

And I mean, that's the movie I guess. There's some stuff with Data, and he becomes pretty important to the movie's resolution, mostly because Brent Spiner and his buddy wrote the movie. There's some solid action, including big standoffs in space and a number of phaser battles, although they seemed to take a fair bit from the Star Wars films, especially the Remans' inability to hid the broad side of a barn. Ron Perlman plays the bad guy's second in command, recognizable only by his gruff voice under all that alien makeup, and I enjoyed his role despite the pointlessness of it in the last third of the film. There's a fair amount of ripping off of the second Trek movie, and it doesn't really do anything as well as that movie did. I'd love to say the ending affected me, but it honestly didn't for some reason. Maybe it's because the tiniest bit of planning would have prevented the tragedy of some of the events, maybe it's because nothing the movie does to set up its grand moments is actually justified by the story in any way. I don't know. It's a stupid movie, made at least a little watchable by its flashier elements.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 4

Another couple weeks, another season of Star Trek. It sort of feels like work at this point, although I am enjoying it more than the original series still. The problem is more with my expectations from a series than the show itself. I'm used to the modern style of serialized storylines, whether they're integral to the show or just affecting character development in the background. Even Castle, which off the top of my head might be the most episodic thing I watch, makes it feel like some things are changing and moving forward. The Next Generation has the smallest hints of continuing stories, with the closest thing the show has to a genuine arc so far being Worf's false dishonor with the Klingons, which gets revisited a couple times including the season finale, which is once again the first part of a two part story that suggests a big change for the crew but will undoubtedly result in the status quo being restored in the season five premiere.

As usual, there's some good and bad. Wesley is finally gone, after being made a full ensign by Picard he at last went off to Starfleet Academy, only to reappear occasionally for the rest of the show. I have to say I've been disappointed by Geordi quite a bit. I was hoping for more from the host of Reading Rainbow, but for the most part he's every awkward, dorky TV character thrown into outer space, an expert at maintaining the Enterprise but hopeless at personal interaction, especially with the ladies.

It's okay though, because exactly 100 episodes in, I can say with confidence that Picard is a better captain than Kirk, and while I'll still take the original show's top three over Riker and Data, I'll also still say I prefer the main cast of The Next Generation as a whole. I could have declared the Picard preference earlier I guess, but I'm definitely sure of it now. Stewart's a way better actor than Shatner, and he's simply a more competent commander, more concerned with running the ship properly than exploring strange new vaginas. And I kind of like him more as just a dude, too. His scenes of levity are a more likable self deprecating sort than Kirk making fun of Spock because hahahahaha he's a Vulcan. I have 78 episodes to go, and I'm still trucking.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3

This was supposed to be the season where the show really got good... and it did, I guess. It at least seemed more consistent in having watchable episodes instead of embarrassing ones. And there are some pretty good stories in here, I'm just having trouble remembering what they are. Oh yeah, the one with Data creating an AI "daughter" was good. Seems like he's in a lot of the best episodes. The alternate reality/time travel one that brought back Yar for a little while was interesting. Worf continued to grow into a more intriguing character than just being the token alien on the crew, although some of his best moments are just using his badassness for comedy instead of actual badass things. And you have to give them credit for ending the season the way they did, in the middle of the first two-part story since the pilot, with the crew in disarray. Sure, I know it's going to be resolved by the end of the season four premiere, but it's still a brave way to do things for a show that lives on the one-plot-per-week system. I've still got more than half the series to go, but I do have to say I've been enjoying it more than the original.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 2

A few things happened this season. Riker grew a beard. Doctor Crusher disappeared while another woman took her place temporarily. Her son continued to be an annoying punk. Worf got his groove on. Data constantly pondered the mysteries of being a human. Some things made Deanna pretty upset. Geordi continued to wait for his moment to shine. Picard kept on running the ship the way he wanted to. There were finally some pretty darn good episodes, like the trial deciding whether Data could be considered a life form or not. Some good stuff on the holodeck. They had the gall to end the season with a clip show, which is nigh inexcusable. I've found that I tend to enjoy the little moments between characters that reveal some small details more than the main plots of episodes, which are usually fine but not too exciting. For example, there's a scene where Riker cooks a meal for a few other officers, and thanks to the odd ingredients Worf is the only one who ends up liking it. So far at least, the show is at its best when it's just considering life a few hundred years in the future. They introduced the Borg this season, which are an interesting new foe but yet to be fully explored. Since the next season is the general consensus of when the show actually got good, I'm fairly excited to continue watching.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 1

So I've heard from multiple Trek fans that this show doesn't really get good until the third season. Of course, me being me, I couldn't just skip 48 episodes, so I started at the beginning as usual. And it was... fine. Seemed like normal Star Trek to me. I'm pretty sure I like the cast more than the original series. I mean, I'm still undecided on Kirk versus Picard, and Wesley is pretty annoying. But while it's hard to beat the original's trio of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, the overall main crew of The Next Generation is broader and more interesting. And when a regular departs, they don't just mysteriously stop showing up on the bridge, they get a proper send off.

I'm not saying bad The Next Generation is as good as the best of the original series, because in this first season there really aren't any standout episodes like Kirk and company had. There's just a baseline level of quality - watchable but easy to lose your attention. If I didn't have other stuff to do while it was on, I might get tired of it. But if I just have some episodic science fiction that doesn't require a huge investment on while I'm working on something, The Next Generation works out pretty nicely. I'll keep watching it for now, even if it will be another while before it starts setting my world on fire.