Star Trek IV
Lord Kahless
There may be some spoilers in this, so beware.
I found the movie somewhat disappointing, somewhat ordinary.
Another alien thingie is suddenly in orbit around Earth, and only
Captain Kirk can save everyone. This is the second time we've
seen this plot device in four movies. I couldn't help but thinking
of the clan of monsters that is always coming to eat Tokyo.
I suppose I like whales as much as the next guy, but there's a
limit to how long they can hold me off the edge of my seat. I mean,
they're just not *THAT* cute.
Personally, I thought the movie looked cheap in places, particularly
in the makeup on non-Earthers. The Andorian at the end looked down right
fake, with uniformly bright blue skin. There were many cheap animal-critters
in the court-martial scene, like something out of a cheap horror movie.
None of the aliens looked *REALLY* alien, really new.
Also, I wonder about the technical accuracy of the movie, particularly
in the realm of Klingon technology. For instance, it is widely known that
Klingon transporters are SILENT, yet over and over we heard the screach
of a Federation transporter when using the transporters on the Bounty.
On the plus side, John Schuck wasn't too bad as the Klingon Ambassador.
I had feared he would be simply dreadful, given that his past parts have
been doing things like bumbling robot cops and buffoon deputies in Disney
movies. Also, there were entertaining moments, like Chekov asking everyone
where the nuclear powered ships in Alameda were.
Here are a list of issues that I think need to be addressed:
Did anyone wonder why *NOBODY* accidentally ran into the parked
invisible Bounty? Also, there was a huge depression on the ground where
the ship landed, yet nobody seemed to look.
What were the phasers Chekov et. al. carried? They weren't old
issue Federation #1's, and they didn't look like Klingon phasers. I don't
think the Empire even makes such dinky toy phasers. When Kirk arrived
on the Bounty back in Star Trek III, he was carrying a Klingon phaser,
wasn't he? He certainly wasn't carrying a #1. The Vulcans, being
peace lovers, surely didn't give them a bunch of phasers so they could
be better armed when they went back to Earth to turn themselves in.
I mean, the trip to Earth was supposed to be a brief one, and they should
have made the reasonable assumption that a working Earth would be there
when they arrived, so they would have no need to load phasers, communicators,
etc. If anything, they should have been using the Klingon phasers left
over from the previous owners of the Bounty.
When Kirk, Bones, Chekov, & Whatzername transported out of the
hospital, did I really see them materialize on the lawn instead of
inside the ship?
About possible time contamination: Chekov left behind a working
communicator on the Enterprise, plus a broken phaser and who knows
what else. Kirk was upset when a working communicator left behind
on Iota, and the Iotians are considerably less technically sophisticated
and immitative than late 20'th century Earthers. From the communicator,
they could figure out the basis of the transtator, and that would give
Earth transporters and other things they shouldn't have for a long time.
Anybody else have any opinions on any of these issues?
Matthew Belmonte
In article <5...@samira.UUCP> kah...@samira.UUCP (Lord Kahless) writes:
> About possible time contamination: Chekov left behind a working
>communicator on the Enterprise, plus a broken phaser and who knows
>what else. Kirk was upset when a working communicator left behind
>on Iota, and the Iotians are considerably less technically sophisticated
>and immitative than late 20'th century Earthers. From the communicator,
>they could figure out the basis of the transtator, and that would give
>Earth transporters and other things they shouldn't have for a long time.
To quote Scotty, how do we know he didn't invent it?
To all you "Re: Transporters" fans, here's your answer. NOBODY really
invented the transporter. The U.S. Navy somehow acquired the central
technology for the transporter in the year 1986. Of course they kept it
under wraps for awhile. The first major use of the transporter on Earth
was to lock onto and dematerialise all the missiles on the day when we finally
got stupid enough to fire them. With the decline of the individual states on
Earth and the rise of unity in the Federation, transporter technology became
more widely available, at least to the military. The big problem on into the
23rd century is that since nobody really invented the transporter in the first
place, nobody really knows what to do to it when it goes wrong (except people
like Scotty, who've gleaned alot of empirical knowledge of transporter
technology).
--
"When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
-- a member of the Nixon administration
Matthew Belmonte
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Lord Kahless
>
New questions also, which expose more spoilers...
>
> The reason Chekov was caught was that his communicator failed to
> reach Scotty.
I thought that the reason was that Scotty lacked enough transporter power
to pull over two people at once, so Uhura went first with the recharged
crystals.
> It was probably just as damaged as his phasor.(sic)
The communicator was in operational condition, as Chekov was talking on
it up to the moment everyone on the Enterprise started pointing guns
at him.
> And as I recall, the Iotians were incredibly inquisitive and fond of
> duplicating things.
So are humans! Look at the fashion industry. When any human in reasonably
high fashion authority creates anything, irregardless of how impractical or
ridiculous looking it is, every lower priced store begins selling excellent
immitations. My Vulcan can also site similar "monkey-see -> monkey-do"
behavior in Earth military.
> I'm glad Nemoy(sp) isn't directing the next. --ed
The problem isn't the director, it's the *WRITER*! Somebody needs to
have a *REAL* plot, with some real needs and real conflict. One really
legitimate and driving need is that of the Klingons for revenge on Kirk.
Let's get a blood fued going here! Or, they could drop that whole
idea and start a brand new adventure.
Was anybody else *REALLY* disappointed they revived the Constitution
class ships *JUST* for Kirk? I thought they were scrapping the series!
Oh, I could see they giving Kirk a bigger version of the Reliant with
the name Enterprise on it, or a cut down version of the Excelsior with
the Enterprise name, or even a copy of the Excelsior, but not a carbon
copy of the E itself! I mean, didn't they have enough money in the
budget for one more model?!?!
Also, a question for those who understand the fine points of Earth
military tradition... Spock has been a Captain for two movies
now. Kirk has just been demoted to Captain. Since Spock's date
of rank as Captain now goes back farther than Kirk's date of rank
as Captain, does that mean Spock now outranks Kirk?
Kenneth Leung
>> Beware, Spoilers within.
>>
> New questions also, which expose more spoilers...
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>> The reason Chekov was caught was that his communicator failed to
>> reach Scotty.
>
> I thought that the reason was that Scotty lacked enough transporter power
> to pull over two people at once, so Uhura went first with the recharged
> crystals.
at a time, but when Uhura went through his communication with Chekov was
breaking up and he couldnt lock the transporters for co-ordinates.
>
>> It was probably just as damaged as his phasor.(sic)
>
> The communicator was in operational condition, as Chekov was talking on
> it up to the moment everyone on the Enterprise started pointing guns
> at him.
the communicator was in a bad shape anyhow, noticed how much static there
was between their communication?
>
> Was anybody else *REALLY* disappointed they revived the Constitution
> class ships *JUST* for Kirk? I thought they were scrapping the series!
> Oh, I could see they giving Kirk a bigger version of the Reliant with
> the name Enterprise on it, or a cut down version of the Excelsior with
> the Enterprise name, or even a copy of the Excelsior, but not a carbon
> copy of the E itself! I mean, didn't they have enough money in the
> budget for one more model?!?!
I know, the special effects on that scene looks really bad. I dont know
but the Enterprise scenes in the end looks too fake, in comparision
with the scenes of Enterprise undocking in ST II or ST I. The bridge
scene is even worse.. I am not sure whether it is the particular angle
of shot or just the way the bridge is colored bright white, it simply
looked bad....
>
> Also, a question for those who understand the fine points of Earth
> military tradition... Spock has been a Captain for two movies
> now. Kirk has just been demoted to Captain. Since Spock's date
> of rank as Captain now goes back farther than Kirk's date of rank
> as Captain, does that mean Spock now outranks Kirk?
Probably, if you come to think of it, I dont understand why Sulu wouldnt
be commanding his own ship, he also is qualified for it.
Another point to note, did anybody noticed the fact that when the Bird of
Prey decended on the whaling ship, there was no shadow? the thing was floating
above the ship but I see no shadow on the ship (it was a sunny day, too)
One thing I noted from ST I (I didnt say it is better) is that fine details
are noted, like when Kirk was inspecting the outside of the new Enterprise
it showed the shadows of the metal frame around the E on him when he was
looking, that is what I call details. The special effects is not as good
as I expected in ST IV.
-ken
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Chris Ambler
> Another point to note, did anybody noticed the fact that when the Bird of
> Prey decended on the whaling ship, there was no shadow? the thing was floating
> above the ship but I see no shadow on the ship (it was a sunny day, too)
> One thing I noted from ST I (I didnt say it is better) is that fine details
> are noted, like when Kirk was inspecting the outside of the new Enterprise
> it showed the shadows of the metal frame around the E on him when he was
> looking, that is what I call details. The special effects is not as good
> as I expected in ST IV.
There was too a shadow! Ken, you need to get new glasses. I distinctly saw a
shadow as the whaling ship was turning. BTW, as my Uncle pointed out to me,
did you notice that the whaling crew was not speaking any recognizable
language?! I assume this was done so as not to pin the whaling ship to any
particular nation...
--
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