Reimagined by JJ Abrams: Star Trek The Motion Picture

I've also realized that not only is Star Trek a lot like Star Trek V, but it's pretty close to TMP. Again, I'm not joking. So rev up the absolutely ridiculous lens flares, brightness and contrast used in Star Trek and the results are not that dissimilar:

Going to warp actually looks kind of cool:

The Bridge looks, well, silly, but wasn't the new Bridge with what, it's price tag scanners and goofy colors?

And what's an Abrams Star Trek movie without gross product placement?

More to come...

Lost: The End

The ending was very emotional, very sentimental. I enjoyed it on that sentimental level, but now that I think more and more about the events that occurred throughout the season compared to how they came together in the finale, not a whole lot of it makes sense.

As I've only seen each episode of this final season once, I really am hard pressed to say I caught everything that appeared on screen. I still catch new stuff each time I've watched the show and I've seen season one probably at least 5 times at this point.

Problems With the Season

The two biggest problems with the season right off the bat:

• Widmore's involvement this season with Desmond makes even less sense now than it did before the finale. Where does Desmond go when he's experimented on?
• So after all of that, if the "flash-sideways" is a place they all went to they could meet up when they died, why the heck did they:
  
  • Have to forget who they were?
  • Not just create entirely new "lives" so when they all were there they'd be set?
  • Make it so difficult to remember their past lives?
• Fill the entire season with SO MUCH FILLER?

Why was it necessary to bring Desmond? Why was that experiment run on him? Why would Widmore be doing this experiment? Was it really just so he could remove the stone? That's it? They couldn't just write that some other way to have, say, Richard do it? Why even bother with this other than to "trick the audience?" While Desmond is experimented on, he "jumps" to a point where apparently they're all dead, and in limbo (mislabeled by most people I've talked to or read as "purgatory"). Why would he appear there? And why the heck would he appear to be self-aware in both realities? Did Desmond "realize" that they were all dead and together in the afterlife? How would he know this? Is what we got really the answer they believed we were going to buy?

This appears to be the case of what I like to dub, "Tim Kring" writing. For those unfamiliar, Tim Kring was the producer of the fast-tanking fantasy show, Heroes, where he would proudly mention that the writing staff often did not know what the heck they were going to be doing more than 4 episodes from the point they were currently in production. They claimed to have mapped out the remainder of the series sometime in season 3, but I sincerely believe that the limbo-world was an afterthought, a last minute "twist" to throw a wrench into the mix – and that there are plenty of pieces of evidence that not only contradict the ending they showed, but go against the logic they were developing during this final season.

Everything they did with this "sideways" world was just to tease and trick the audience - not for a clever ending, but to string us along. Precious time they could have spent developing the on-island actions and motivations far better than they did. The most the characters did when they returned to the island was move around - a lot. No honest interaction, no real character growth, no character movement at all.

I believe their intentions from the start of the season were that they were actually in an alternate world, that they "succeeded" in somehow creating an alternate universe in which the island "ceased to have any influence" over the people (though this is partially ruined when they showed the island underwater, it should just not exist). Without the island and its influence, it could not affect the people connected with it. I'll get to the avenue they should have taken a bit later in my post.

What the heck did I just watch?

Since they're in limbo, who is real and who is "fictional" and who was "real"? Obviously some are real people, most of the survivors that appear are real, while others aren't such as was implied with Jack and Juliet's son. My problem here is, who's real? Everyone connected to the island? Are Danielle and Alex real? Artz? Ana Lucia? Where's Michael and Walt? Mr. Eko? What about Ethan Goodspeed? Are those people who appeared but did not "pass" at the end just fictional constructs invented in this "meeting place" that Hurley talked about? Where were the other people? We got an indication that Ben was not ready, but why? What issues did he really still need to work out if he is dead? Was he going to make Danielle and Alex aware? Would Danielle be better off the way she is now, even if it's not "real"? How the heck does Eloise know about this stuff if they're all dead? Does she have "special powers" in limbo too?

With so many other things changed, why not just do away with the island and it's influence altogether? Have Ben grow up on the West Coast with his father and mother (who ended up not dying). Show that his (apparently fictional) life was completely different with two living parents. Assuming Alex was "real" and not some fabricated prop like Jack's son, she'd have lived her entire life off the island, never being born there.

Reason: Because the writers were stringing us along.

Had the "sideways" flashes taken only a small fraction of the screen time throughout the season, instead of taking up a huge chunk of the story from the on-island scenes it may not have been all that of a shock when the ultimate nature of the "sideways" reality was revealed. But no, we became invested in "fabricated" lives. Lives that all but ceased to exist when their eyes were opened to who they really were. Looking back, I would have been a lot happier had they just cut the serious fat from the "limbo world" scenes - instead we got Keamy talking about how good his eggs are, John having a good old time with his fictional wife, Jack hanging out with his fake kid in a few episodes. In the end it was like caring about what happens to completely fictional world and completely fictional characters on the the holodeck in Star Trek.

My Humble Solution

My solution is not too drastically different from what we saw, but certainly keeps (in my opinion) sync with what we saw happen in the "sideways" reality. With everything they built up earlier in the season, they would have been much better off killing off EVERY character one by one throughout the season, have them "remember" their lives in the flash-sideways reality, and have them live their lives out in peace in the flash-sideways reality. We'd already spent the entire season believing it was an alternate reality (akin to "Back to the Future II") so it wouldn't have been that much of a shock to accept it as an actual alternate time line.

I'm not saying that this would solve everyone's problems with the show. The ending I think would have worked better would have most definitely not satisfied everyone. However, I think a lot of people are mad not necessarily the direction they went, but because they introduced the "sideways universe" and at the 11th hour, with moments before the clock struck one, revealed that the entire thing was LIMBO.

With all that said, had the "sideways universe" been *real* the backup plan Widmore talked about would have been Desmond "awakening" all the people in the other universe to what happened to them on the island. This is what they were doing for the last half of the season anyway. My first noticeable realization that the writers were pulling a fast one was when Eloise talked about if Desmond would take her son away from her. That was it - I knew they dropped the ball and that they were all dead. Stick to the original plan (or what appeared to be the original plan).

The Incident splits reality into two universes.

1) One reality where the island is "destroyed" and has no influence over the people, save the events that occurred before the island sunk.
2) One reality where the island is unaffected and "the incident" forces DHARMA to modify the Swan Station so they can push a button every 108 minutes to keep the electromagnetism under control. Okay. So there's two realities.

Now follow me:

1) Jacob dies.
2) Desmond "awakens" in the other reality and begins to do the same for the rest of the characters.
3) Have EVERY character die off one by one throughout the last season and finale. By the last hour of the finale, have some variation of Jack/Hurley/FakeLocke and maybe Ben/Richard be the only surviving people on the entire island.
4) Jack becomes the new protector of the island.
5) Jack secretly gets (Hurley?) to promise to take over as protector if Jack dies "he becomes like him"
6) Jack and FakeLocke must descend down to the Source together. Jack removes the stone, appears to be dying. Jack recovers long enough to fight with FakeLocke and push him into the center pit of the source.
7) Jack gathers just enough strength to put the stone back, saving the island.
8) Jack dies at the beach, where he first woke up after the crash. Would Hurley be the best choice to take over, would Richard? Going down the route I'm suggesting would mean that everyone closely associated with the island would be alive and "aware" of their old lives in the "sideways" universe once they've been made aware of it's existence. Could Richard take care of the island all alone, with everyone in the other reality? Could the island be moved to this 'sideways' universe entirely? The ultimate "fail safe?" I don't know - I personally think just about any explanation rather than "oh you're all dead and in limbo" would have been a better way to end the show.

But then again I'm not some small bald guy with glasses who decided not to answer jack about the show when they finally got around to penning the finale. Take the following from former producer, David Fury, a guy who left the show a few years back:

"What we are trying to do is make sure everything has a very Scully explanation, this is not a show about the supernatural, despite the fact that we have a very huge creature that likes to eat people. Despite the surreal, bizarre aspects of the island, there will be an explanation for it. It may not come for a very long time, but certain information about the island will explain how things are possible. We'll try to root it in real science or real pseudo-science. There will be no mystical reason or an island of monsters."

THIS IS WHERE THEY FAILED.

The End

I was satisfied emotionally, and it was a fine send off in that regard, but mentally? No freaking way.

If this world is somehow limbo, are the other people real? Is everyone there real? Why would they be forced to live out their lives again, especially since it was inferred that they "created" (assuming Hurley as the new Jacob) this place to "meet" - why is "Eloise Widmore" concerned about her son, "Daniel Widmore," unless they're both real? Which returns me to my previous question about why these other people would be forced to live in this "created" place? Why wouldn't they all go at once if they're supposed to all be dead?

I'm not even asking for answers about "what the island is" who built the statues, what happened to the original inhabitants, who did the DHARMA airdrops, and who was in the other outrigger during the ocean gunfight during one of season 5's time-flashes. I just wanted better closure for the brand new plot threads that were introduced during season 6 and ended up being pushed aside to tell a story about all the characters being in "limbo" after all of them were long dead.

I have a feeling that upon re-watching it that I won't buy it, that I will simply be unable to accept that this was the end result of everything that occurred *this* season. Forget about previous seasons, this one introduced a whole lot of new stuff to the mix, and a lot of it might not jive well once I get around to viewing it again, especially since we now know the end result.

Reimagined by JJ Abrams: Star Trek TOS

The new Star Trek movie made it a point to show the ships at angles not normally used in Star Trek (or most science fiction for that matter). I've added a sun to the Enterprise/Romulan confrontation in "The Enterprise Incident" to add in some much needed glare for a Abrams space-shot, and a rotated image about 45 degrees. I thought about rotating it further, but it started to look silly. It actually doesn't look that bad when you kill off the "sun."

Lost: Leadup to the finale

Woah. What a rush. This Sunday. It's finally here - The End.

"Everybody Loves Hugo" - Hugo tries to be a leader. Ilana has some explosive ideas. Black Rock goes boom. Man in Black insulted by Desmond - throws him down a well. Even in Death, Michael is still annoying. Libby's still crazy - but only sorta. Desmond tries to hit Locke with some ideas.

"The Last Recruit" - Claire still appears to be crazy. Sayid prepares to kill Desmond. The Elizabeth makes a reappearance. Jin and Sun, together again. Jack recognizes a future client.

"The Candidate" - Jack just can't keep his mouth shut and visits Dr. Bernard Nadler to talk about teeth. Widmore offers a fast escape from the surface of the island. Fake Locke provides some sinking truth to the survivors in the submarine. Um... Lapidus?

"Across the Sea" - A woman strikes a rock-solid bargain with Claudia to care for her children. The woman shows a very illuminating side of the island. MIB makes sure she gets the point of his message. ~~FLASHBACK!~~

"What They Died For" - Um... Lapidus? Richard takes a very large leap backwards. Desmond knocks some sense into Ben. Ben provides Widmore some ammunition when talking to Fake Locke. Zoe finally shuts up.

FlashForward canceled; at least I can now watch Community

Well, I've just found out that FlashForward has been canceled.

I watched it weekly, but man, the show was a mess.

Had they been able to cut the fat by not introducing some of the minor characters from the show, or having them appear very rarely, the show could have more effectively focused on the plot that every seemed to care about. At the start of the show there was far too much emphasis on Lloyd and his son interacting with Olivia. Even with this heavy interaction I, along with quite a few others, don't buy their relationship. I feel like the introduction of savant Gabriel McDow (James Callis) was thrown in there to try to convince the audience that their contrived relationship "had" to happen.

They really should have decided at the very start whether or not the show was going to:

1. Have a time line that could not be changed.

Pro: Characters would all end up where they saw themselves. Possible chance to "trick" the auidence with twists such as Demetri being unconscious during the blackout instead of being dead.
Con: Show could become predictable with the knowledge that things can't be changed.

2. Have a time line that could be changed.

Pro: Characters could make assumptions that turn out to not be true, the future would be unpredictable.
Con: The auidence will not see the end results of where they were on April 29th the way they saw it at the start.

3. Have a time line that can be changed, but have "destiny" play a part in keeping events as close to the "way they were supposed to be" as possible.

Pro: Keeps flash forwards or potential flash forwards as close to what the auidence saw, even if major changes occur.
Con: The constant nagging that everything will always turn out a certain way, and that destiny is forcing people to do things or "fix" events that were supposed to happen. If that is not done correctly the show becomes a muddled mess.

4. Having people see events happen slightly differently in each of their flash forwards.

Pro: It would immediately introduce the possibility of different universes and an infinite combination of futures that could happen. It would work best if most of them were about the same, but slightly different such as Mark wearing a red tie in one person's flash forward and a blue one in someone else's or Olivia being on the couch while Lloyd is on the couch in another.
Con: This could be incredibly confusing.

The problem is that the show couldn't decide where it wanted to go.

I honestly think that now, after seeing where the show went, things would have been better with the knowledge that "nothing can be changed" (option one). They could fight their hardest, but that every action they took always made sure that the event happened the exact way it was supposed to (none of this "Final Destination" garbage).

Heck, let's just forgo that conversation at the moment. What else could they have done differently?

The first few episodes where they went case-by-case introducing guest characters like they were a patient in an episode of "House," where they investigate this one-off character's flash forward and slowly add to the main story, is how the show should have gone through the majority of season one. The show could have kept momentum, remaining pretty consistent in the story they were telling, and had ended the season on a cliffhanger months before April 29th even occurred. Having Demetri shot would have made a pretty good cliffhanger. Season 2 could have delved directly into the conspiracy behind the blackout and could have covered the remaining weeks leading up to the blackout.

The plus to doing it slow and methodical would mean that it would have been far less serialized in their first season. People could tune in and out without missing much of the overall storyline, even while they slowly introduced the blackout conspiracy. This could build momentum and a loyal fan base, without immediately neglecting the simple nature that people want something more stand-alone. Once that base is built up, they could jump into the meat of the storyline involving government double agents, secret societies, and rogue scientists full on, and actually have the base to support that kind of show. Basically, I'm talking about making it like the early years of the X-Files.

Lost did the standalone/serialized mix pretty well, even if the show was heavily serialized in season one, you could conceivably miss a few episodes in it's freshman season and not feel like you had completely dropped the ball. You just couldn't do that with FlashForward.

Heck, my blood sugar was so low one night I passed out in the last 15 minutes (not aware I actually missed the end or anything important) the following episode they talked about one of their agents dying... I had no idea what they were talking about! Another episode I walked to the kitchen to get some food, I missed about 5 minutes of the show, and I couldn't follow what the heck was going on later (they even had a flashback that no one watching could remember seeing, even though it happened earlier in the episode).

The show was a jumbled mess. I'll miss it, mostly because of the potential it had.

Reimagined by JJ Abrams: Star Trek V

Since seeing the new Star Trek film, I realized how closely related that film and Star Trek V are. No, I'm not joking. One decent emotional scene (Kelvin's destruction and McCoy's vision), misplaced humor, silly inner workings of the Enterprise, and a madman Vulcan/Romulan as the primary villain. So rev up the absolutely ridiculous lens flares, brightness and contrast used in Star Trek and the results are not that dissimilar:

More to come...

Reimagined by JJ Abrams: Star Trek III

I noticed a while back how the new Enterprise bridge looks quite a lot like the old Excelsior bridge from that 1984 film. Rev up the absolutely ridiculous lens flares, brightness and contrast that J.J. Abrams and his Director of Photography used to cover up the fine details of the extremely expensive sets and the results are not that dissimilar:

Quite a few more are coming...

The Greater Marvel Universe

A few quick things to note now that I'm decompressing my viewing of Iron Man 2 on Sunday, and the movie was fantastic by the way.

Any minor plot threads that have been left "unresolved" at the end of Iron Man 2, and I can honestly think of none at the moment, were probably left open because they play into the larger Marvel Film Universe.

Marvel is doing something brand new that hasn't been tried before. This company is creating a movie franchise that spans multiple, and unique properties, tying these films together in a consistent and clear universe.

Films so far include Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2. Coming up next is "Thor." So far they've done a pretty good job tying in these films. Iron Man introduced Nick Fury. The Incredible Hulk had a nice cameo of Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 established that it takes place during the events of The Incredible Hulk and includes a fantastic tease... Stick around until after the credits (you may as well for all films since theaters have its people rush out of the theater the second the film ends so you're not going anywhere for a few minutes anyway).

This may benefit the narrative of this fictionalized universe far better than some of these other comic book franchises have been handled, where the "goal" is a "trilogy" and that's that. If Avengers is a hit (I see no reason why it wouldn't be), I suspect that that least the rest of the decade will be filled with additional Marvel comic book films that will tie directly into new comic films with tons of cameos from already established characters with zero "reboots" of the franchise anytime soon.

This prospect is far more exciting than knowing every few movies they'll just "reboot" Spiderman again.

LOST Season Six:"Happily Ever After"

Desmond, Desmond, Desmond.

Finally, the season gets some Desmond and it was good.

Of course, with Desmond, things also got a whole lot more confusing.

Charles Widmore has convinced Desmond to take part in an experiment. This experiment has somehow changed Desmond in both the "real" universe and the "sideways" universe.

The "sideways" universe is starting to look more and more like one where everyone has gotten their wish (at least some wish).

Desmond finally appears to have gotten respect from Charles Widmore in the sideways universe. He's on an errand to pick up Charlie. Charlie tries to kill himself, and causes Desmond to "remember" things that happened in the real universe, notably, the death of Charlie ("Not Penny's Boat"). Trying to decipher what that means, he runs around the city, both trying to keep Charlie to his schedule, and to figure out what he saw.

Charlie goes AWOL ultimately, and Desmond goes to Widmore's party where he meets not only his wife, Eloise Widmore, but Widmore's son, Daniel Widmore. Eloise Hawking and Daniel Faraday respectively. Not that this would be a surprise since they were all related in the other universe. But what about Penny?

Desmond overhears "Penny Milton" being mentioned on the guest list, but Eloise stops him from looking, and in her typical creepy and knowing demeanor, said it was a "a violation." A violation of what, we'll find out eventually (we can hope).

Daniel stops Desmond before he can leave, and spills the beans. He's a musician, but not long ago he started to write down things he "remembered" - it turned out to be advanced equations that only a skilled and learned person would be able to do. He saw Charlotte for the first time but felt like he had loved her for years. He spills the beans and lets Desmond know where he can find his half-sister.

Desmond goes with his driver, George Minkowski (originally from the freighter in the real universe), to meet Penny.

While the scene may appear a little creepy, it's touching to know that they're together in both realities.

And with that, Desmond steps to on the island to get started.

Watch the episode here: