Generations

2002.12.20

Last night I watched Star Trek: Generations. There was no reason, I simply felt like it. During the film, I couldn't help but think that this one should have been number ten; this film should have been the swan song of the Next Generation crew. I have experienced few movies which continue to get better with each viewing. Generations is one of these.

This revelation about the seventh Trek film came on me tonight as I watched it. I couldn't help but think of the disappointment that is Nemesis, and I believe that if you could switch their numbers, the Trek film "curse" would hold true. Generations is packed full of rich character moments which only true fans could appreciate, and takes full advantage of the development that the TNG crew has undergone over their seven seasons.

I believe many people did not understand the significance of Picard's experience in the Nexus. After thinking back on the years of TNG and his slowly developing regret at never having a family, the scenes of the family which never was are bursting with emotion. Being completely familiar with the Trek series' is almost a requirement to appreciate Generations, something no other Trek film has been gusty enough to attempt before or since. While the story is noticeably weaker than the "good" movies, the script and underlying messages of the film are perhaps the best the franchise has to offer. It's surprising, considering the script was written by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga; the same Braga who is currently the big wig writer for the god-awful Enterprise and was responsible for the equally repulsive Voyager before it.

I would challenge any of you Trekkies out there to take a second look at Generations and reflect, as Picard does, on the past. Remember all that the crew goes through. The film will take on new meaning, now more than ever, as both Picard and the Trekkies look back and yearn for happier times.

"I used to be like you, so caught up with duty and obligation that I couldn't see past my own uniform. What did it get me? An empty house."
- James T. Kirk

"Time is a companion who is with us on our journey, reminding us to cherish every moment, because they will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived."
- Jean-Luc Picard

Truly words to live by.

The Two Towers

2002.12.19

I've got my review up, so read it below. Since my views and opinions of things change over time, I wonder what I will think of The Two Towers next year?

Sorry there aren't any pictures in the review. I'll try and find some later on.

The Two Towers Review

2002.12.19

Peter Jackson's epic telling of J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings continues with the second of three films, The Two Towers. For those of us who have read the trilogy, this film has much to live up to, and for the most part it succeeds brilliantly, just as The Fellowship of the Ring did.

One thing you must keep in mind while watching these films is that they're clearly designed to be seen one immediately after the other, which should make for a fantastic experience once The Return of the King hits theatres next year. Looking at The Two Towers as a movie in and of itself simply doesn't work, and I'm glad the majority of the reviewers out there have realized this. It is almost impossible to believe that one of these films could be fantastic with another could be horrible, since they were all made at the same time by roughly the same group of people. Creative decisions and direction don't change over the span of time this way, which is a huge plus for this story. "Fellowship" leads straight into "Towers", and "Towers" straight into "Return of the King."

Frodo finally begins to look as if the Ring is a huge weight on his shoulders. You can see it in his face and in the way he carries himself. His behavior becomes increasingly worrisome, and Sam cannot help but notice. One of the things the first movie failed to convey was the evil nature of the Ring itself, and not just of its master Sauron. Finally we start to see the Ring's effects on good, strong people. We also see its effects on less reputable characters, mainly Gollum. Smeagol, as Gollum was once called, is truly a masterpiece of computer imagery. Throughout most of the film Smeagol seems almost as real as the people next to him, a feat which has been incredibly difficult for visual effects artists to obtain. George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic have created dozens upon dozens of CG characters for various films, but none of them comes remotely close to achieving what Weta Digital has with Smeagol. Not only does Gollum look realistic enough, he acts real. Several scenes of the movie are almost one "man" shows, where the audience finally gets a glimpse into Gollum's mind (or minds) in a way that, until now, has only been achieved by live actors.

The rest of the film's visual effects are equally impressive, bar one or two shots. The battle at Helm's Deep is simply one of the finest battle sequences ever put on film. It's right up there with the climax of Spartacus, the beginning of Gladiator or the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan. Thousands upon thousands of individually visible Uruk-Hai Orcs, the army of the wizard Saruman, assault a few hundred Human and Elf warriors, defending atop a massive stone fortress. The entire battle lasts nearly three quarters of an hour and takes place at night during a rainstorm. Several of the shots were so impressive in scope and execution that I got physical chills as I sat in the theatre with my jaw on the floor. Equally impressive were the Ents; treelike creatures which Merry and Pippin encounter in one of Middle-Earth's ancient forests. Many of the Ents, especially Treebeard, were exactly as I had pictured them. Some of them had bark which was too smooth for my tastes, as it resembled skin a little too much, but that's something which definitely belongs in the "nit-pick" category.

Not all of the visual effects were perfect however. Several shots of the great river pouring over Isengard were poorly done in my opinion. The water seemed to be practical, as it looked grossly out of scale with the environment, resembling the dam-bursting scene from Superman. The CG water ILM created for The Mummy Returns may not have looked real, but at least it looked big. Also, several objects and creatures seemed to fade away as the water engulfed them. Perhaps the artists did not have enough time, or perhaps they believed they could get away with it. In any case, I am curious to read more about the creation of this sequence. Another bit of the effects which bothered me were the Nazgul's winged beasts. I'm glad the production designers went for the dragon look, but the creature just didn't move properly. Whoever was animating these creatures should have watched Reign of Fire a few more times, which is the only dragon movie I've seen in which it actually looks like the dragons are flying using their wings. The creatures from The Two Towers just don't flap their wings enough to make the physics believable. If you haven't seen Reign of Fire, I would suggest taking a look. You'll see what I mean. When all is said and done however, I haven't seen better visual effects this year, so I'll be pulling for The Two Towers come Oscar time.

I do have a few of gripes with the film beyond the visual effects. First of all, they cut between stories far too often. I remember some scenes, especially the ones with Merry and Pippin, seeming like they were only 1 or 2 minutes long. The book is organized in much clearer sections, and I would have preferred the movie to follow this approach a little more closely. Sauron seems to be pushed out of most of the story this time around, and the so called "union" of the two towers isn't particularly emphasized. I thought there was far too much narrative. Too many people describing what did or would happen. The scenes with Arwen were not only wasteful, but they give away that Aragorn will be king, and seemed to change much of what their relationship is in the books.

Now, what I believe to be this film's most significant failing: the ending. Those of you who have read the book will remember how it ends. It's a cliffhanger unlike any other, almost to the point where it's impossible not to pick up Return of the King immediately. I had been looking forward to this cliffhanger for months, and was immensely disappointed when it did not come. Indeed, a massive section of the novel was left out of this film, and unlike what was left out of the last movie, this is also a massively important section. The Fellowship of the Ring ended on an emotional high which had people gasping in the theatre, and had The Two Towers ended like it's paper counterpart, the effect would have been ten fold. I would gladly have traded some of the Arwen scenes, along with the battle at Osgiliath, for Frodo and Sam in Shelob's cave. As the movie stands, it does not live up to the novel as Fellowship did, and this left a bad taste in my mouth.

Watch the extended version of Fellowship has shown me things which help the story, but the original version of the film did not need them to feel complete. With The Two Towers, I feel like the film absolutely needed another half hour. All of the individual pieces of Towers are just as excellent as the first film, some are even better, but when I look at the movie as a whole, it's just not as good. It's still a masterpiece however, and I can't wait for the next one!

It Is Time

2002.12.18

I hope I can get into The Two Towers sometime today. It's finally here.

Democratic?

2002.12.17

The United States and a good deal of its population have long believed that they are the founders of democracy. This is completely untrue of course. Al Gore's announcement that he would not be running for President again in 2004 made me remember something about the 2000 election. Al Gore won the popular vote.

In a true democracy, an election is held, and whichever candidate receives the most votes is the winner. It doesn't work this way in America, because of the Electoral College. Some states are given more "value" than others, regardless of their populations. When America was founded, the Electoral College was created because the founders did not trust the people to elect who they thought should be elected. This system carries through to today, creating a situation where the votes of some individuals are literally worth more than the votes of others. Democratic indeed.

Canada is the same way, more or less. Different areas of the country have different ridings, each of which is represented by a Member of Parliament. Some ridings have small populations, while others have large populations, even though they all elect a single MP. This is the same scenario as above; some votes are worth more than others. Is there a way to change this? Not likely. I'm not sure how it works everywhere else, so please send me a note if you're more educated than I.

The preceding was another reason to hate the government. Thank you.

The Curse is Broken

2002.12.16

For those who aren't familiar, there has been a long standing "curse" placed upon Star Trek movies. The even numbered films tend to be good, while the odd numbered ones tend to be poor. On Saturday night I went to see Star Trek Nemesis, the tenth Trek film, and walked out of the theatre disappointed. It's not that this, the tenth Trek movie, is especially bad, it's just not good.

As with almost all mediocre movies, the problems start with the script. The story in this case, or at least the premise, is quite good. What better villain for Picard than his clone? The idea offers countless opportunities for ethical and ideological debate on the subject of cloning and the fundamental nature of what makes a person who they are. Unfortunately, none of these ideas are addressed in Nemesis beyond passing references. The script is also full of plot holes and continuity errors, as well as a few laughable, technologically related plot devices (two seconds after Picard beams onto the enemy ship, a small spark flies from Geordie's console, followed by his statement that the transporters are down).

How did the Remans manage to build the Scimitar, the massive enemy battleship, in complete secret? How did they discover how to make a completely invisible cloaking device, something the Romulan scientists have been unable to achieve for years? How did they discover a way to fire through their cloak? These are lower-class miners with no resources, yet they manage to overthrow (and assassinate) the Romulan Senate and gain the support of the Romulan military. None of the "how" is addressed in Nemesis, and the political maneuvering which made Star Trek VI so interesting is nonexistent here.

The visual effects were quite nice, although nothing revolutionary. The previously mentioned cloaking device effect is especially attractive, and the rest of the battle scenes are what you would expect. The Enterprise's ramming of the Scimitar is technically well done, but it lacks aesthetic presence and impact, a result of the scene being too formulaic and pre-planned. If Shinzon (Picard's clone) was really the ingenious tactical commander he is made out to be, he would ensure the enemy was completely crippled before stopping in from of him in order to capture prisoners. Instead he gives Picard ample opportunity to ram the Scimitar, which Picard resorts to because the Enterprise's self-destruct is disabled for no apparent reason. After the impact, Shinzon orders the deployment of his huge 1950's death ray, which conveniently for the Enterprise crew, takes over seven minutes to deploy. People don't put up with that kind of shit anymore, and Star Trek has resorted to two such devices in the last two films, where previously there were none.

Star Trek Nemesis is worse than Generations, and even The Motion Picture has more charm. It is however better than The Search for Spock, The Final Frontier and Insurrection. If you're a Trekkie, you've probably been to see Nemesis already, if not, save your cash.

The franchise needs a break. It needs more than a break actually. Paramount must get rid of Rick Berman, and man who's ideas are so old and stale that, if they were cheese, wouldn't be eaten by an Iraqi rat. Television's Enterprise needs to be canceled, with a new series taking its place in 5-10 years on a different network, perhaps even a return to NBC. Paramount must ensure that the new series' writers have never been involved with the franchise before, but respect what it stands for and heed its history. In short, a "reformat" of Star Trek is required. People say that Star Trek has run out of gas and that there aren't any more stories to tell. Bullshit. There are plenty of stories to tell, but the current establishment is physically and mentally incapable of creating original ideas.

Remove them Paramount, remove them now, or Star Trek may not get a third chance.

Shopping

2002.12.13

As it stands, I have absolutely no idea when I'm going to do my Christmas shopping. This happens every year of course, and every year I make a list of what I'm going to buy and for whom, and I rush to one mall or the other sometime between the 20th and the 24th. For this reason, I'm really big on Christmas lists.

I really don't want to have to think of something "meaningful", even though that's what's supposed to happen. I like to get things which I will either use, watch, or enjoy having. There's nothing worse than the gift someone thought would be meaningful, but isn't. People will say I'm a horrible, thoughtless person for saying that, but I know for a fact that everyone has had a gift like that at some point.

Use lists! They are never wrong.

*sigh*

2002.12.12

Enterprise was boring. What else can I say? I actually found myself flipping to other programs during last night's episode. Boring, boring, boring.

More Trek

2002.12.11

There's another new Enterprise tonight after a few weeks of reruns. I get the same feeling from this series as I did from Voyager; I know each episode will be bad, but I continue to watch it out of habit. Hopefully Enterprise's ratings will continue to drop, viewers won't fall for another sex object character addition, and the series will fall victim to the network axe. Star Trek needs a break, at least from television.

The 10th Star Trek film, Nemesis, opens this Friday. I'm planning to see it this weekend. Early reviews have been slightly on the positive side, but keep in mind that reviews for Star Trek movies have always been all over the place. There are two scenes in which Picard and Data sing, so I'm hoping against all odds that they are done as tastefully and minimally as possible. I would never write-off the movie because of a couple of scenes however, as that would be the sign of a weak mind.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Canada is Dead

2002.12.10

It's official.

Canada can no longer defend itself. While this agreement sounds like simple cooperation, it is much more. I can only imagine the meeting which created this travesty against the Canadian people. During the Cold War we cooperated, and still do, under NORAD. Canada and the US each did their share of the defense of the continent, and back then, Canada was actually capable of this defense. This new agreement however is nothing more than an admission of the Canadian military's inadequacy. Now, if ever a terrorist event occurs, or threatens to occur, in North America, the United States will be allowed to deploy troops inside Canada's borders.

As a Canadian I have mixed feelings about this. The positive side is that at least they'll be some level of military protection I can actually believe in. I'm immensely proud of our "armed" forces, but you have to admit that if faced with an emergency, or a war, they amount to little more than pop guns. At the very least, the Americans are capable. However, in my view, a country which cannot defend itself does not deserve to be a sovereign country at all. Canada has reached this point, and with this agreement, the government has admitted it.

If I thought that joining the Canadian forces would help, I probably would at this point. It would be fruitless however, since our military can't even support the troops it already has. Equipment, in most cases, is older than the people using it. In the case of Canada's prehistoric Sea King helicopters, more than double their operators' age. Our top of the line combat fighter, the F-18, is being phased out in America. Canada's F-18s may as well not exist however, as we have less than 100 of them operating at any given time. All of this is made even more painful considering that Canada's military personnel remain some of the most highly trained in the world.

This truly is a matter of international trust and respect. The Americans stopped respecting Canada's military long ago, but now they don't trust it to perform even the most basic of tasks. I can hardly blame them. When Pat Buchannan called Canada "A nation of whiners and freeloaders" I felt insulted, but you know what, he was right. What words would you use to describe a people who are unable to defend themselves, and are naive enough to think they don't need to?

Standards

2002.12.09

I solved my iPod problem on Friday evening. After reading several posts at online forums, I discovered the problem was with my Soundblaster Audigy sound card, made by Creative. The iPod connects through "Firewire", known as IEEE1394 on the PC, a standard created by Apple which allows high speed data transfer with peripherals. If you look closely at the Audigy specs, the card supports "SB1394", Creative's own proprietary version of Firewire. Non-Creative products such as my iPod may or may not work with the SB1394 connection depending on various driver issues on the PC.

Things like this really piss me off. Standards exist for a reason in the computer industry and companies who break from those standards always have the same defense: innovation. There's nothing innovative about Creative's SB1394 connection. Maybe it was easier for them to stick in on their sound card, or maybe it was cheaper, but the workings of the connection offer nothing that standard Firewire doesn't. All Creative has managed to accomplish is anger it's customers.

I'm not sure if I'll buy another Creative sound card, or even a sound card at all, for my next PC. Motherboard manufacturers continue to include better and better sound solutions on their boards, so maybe I'll just stick with that. Standards are a good thing.

Nature of the Universe

2002.12.05

Just last week, Metroid was occupying all of my free time. At the moment it's my iPod. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but it's not working. I've made the required calls for help on the iPod Lounge community forums, so hopefully I'll have it fixed soon.

This is the way the universe works. When one task is completed, it drops another one into your lap. It doesn't matter how much planning you do, it will work out this way. The annoying part about this whole thing is that the task which rushes to fill the vacuum in your life is never the task you wanted it to be. "Once I'm done Metroid, I'll be able to get some work done at home". It's almost as if the universe hears your thoughts, and responds with the voice of a Saturday morning cartoon villain: "Ha ha ha ha ha. You fool. Did you think I would let you get away with your little plan? Now you will pay, with pain."

In any case, there's no point in avoiding this. All I can hope for is a quick solution to my iPod problem, then I'll have all the free time I could ever need, and nothing will happen to stop me from doing what I want to do. What could happen?

Bye Bye AOL

2002.12.03

AOL has bee having difficulties lately. The narrowband section of the ISP market isn't growing, which means people don't want dial-up Internet access anymore, and they especially don't want it from AOL. It's easy to understand for me, being a broadband user, but there's more hurting AOL than just slow connection speeds.

For years people all over North America have been getting those devil spawn AOL CDs in the mail. People are sick of it. There's even a movement to get AOL to stop sending them. I must admit at least one AOL CD did provide me with some measure of knowledge, as I now know exactly how much you can bend a CD without breaking it. Unsolicited CDs aside, AOL has other problems. Its users are getting more experienced with every passing day. Subscribers don't need the gimmicky services in order to find their way around the net anymore, and those services are starting to become a hindrance. People have seen what the Internet can be like without AOL, especially if broadband is involved, and they like it.

Personally I really don't care what happens to AOL. At least if their ISP department goes under, I won't get anymore of those dammed CDs in the mail.

Metroid Prime

2002.12.02

I finally completed Metroid Prime this weekend. I haven't found all of the items yet, since the file still reads 87%. I think I've missed at least one energy tank, and perhaps some missiles. No matter, I still managed to defeat the final boss. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the game. When I first played Super Metroid eight years ago, I didn't think it would become my all-time favourite game. I get the same feeling with Prime, so who knows how I'll look back on it.

Metroid Prime is certainly one of the most atmospheric games I've played. Since the game is played from a first person perspective, and from behind a "visor", it's very easy to be drawn in by the expansive environments. Enemy blood splatters on the visor as their carcasses explode, courtesy of your arm cannon. Walk through steam and the visor fogs up; walk out of a lake and water drips down your view. Details like these help make the environments feel real, and it's something Metroid Prime does very well.

There are a couple of black marks on the game, but since they're so incredibly outweighed by the good that it hardly matters. The controls for the most part are well done, except the auto targeting system is reluctant to target enemies who are just beyond your field of vision. This can mean lots of manual view adjustments to get the system to target the enemy you want it to. I also would have preferred the game if Retro Studios had gone a bit more retro, incorporating more design elements from the early Metroid games into this one. I particularly missed the "item rooms"; creepy rooms in which ancient Chozo statues would hold crucial items.

Level design in the game is some of the best I've seen. From the ancient buildings of the Chozo Ruins to the frozen wastelands of Phendrana Drifts, from the boiling lava lakes of Magmoor Caverns to the radiation filled mazes of the Phazon Mines, Metroid Prime draws you in like few games can. Imagine playing Myst in full 3D, where your character wears a powered armour suit which sports massive energy and ballistic weapons, and you'll have an understanding of what this game is like.

I managed to "complete" the game in less than 18 hours, which seems to be the norm. I fully intend to go back and earn my remaining 11%, and I have yet to try out the "hard mode" which is unlocked once you've completed the game once. Metroid Prime is certainly a game I will play over and over in future years, and any self-respecting gamer should at least try it. It's that good.