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Has star trek changed

It was a wire. If you look closely you'll notice that Montalban has to sort of slightly yank and pull Koenig back down to earth, something he wouldn't have to do if he were strong enough to lift Walter so easily in the first place.
 
Why did it matter that they were older?

It doesn't and I didn't say it did.

Riker being red-faced and bloated speaks more to things other than age. Such as, perhaps, a fondness for distilled or fermented spirits, but definitely a lazy attitude regarding his big screen appearance.

Heck, Dorn was the same age as Frakes, but he had at least kept himself trim and slim and looking good (check out the Dodge Dart commercial he's in.) Stewart was also trimmer than Frakes. It seems that Frakes didn't care because it was his last acting role and he wanted to be a director more, so he didn't put any effort into his appearance (and this despite the type of food that they were serving for the cast that was low-fat since Insurrection, IIRC.) That makes Frakes appear to by very lazy in contrast to Ricardo Montelban when he played Khan (who had kept himself in shape and was able to lift Walter Koneing) or even Samuel Jackson in Avengers, who looks like a man that's been in the military for years and who maintained a great build as per regulations. All told, I liked the movie (and still do) but I can agree with what you've said here, Danger Ace.

Frakes looked a little like a "Season Three" Shatner or Shatner in TUC, though not quite like Doohan. Not being afraid to let the characters change and age was part of the charm of Trek.

I'm also sure Frakes had enough personal pride to show up for the role in as good a shape as he could get himself in.
 
You mean you are not of the body? :eek:

Uh... of course I am! Peace, brother...

But Gene's "vision" and crap like that came later. It's revisionist history. It's all part of the "cult" of Trek and the self-importance it used to market itself. We've all read that stuff at some time during our fandom. Some dismiss it. Some are absorbed. :borg:
Amen.

Don't want to bloat the thread too much, but the talk ITT gave me an idea:

PERFECTION'S GERM
Star Trek, Season Four, Episode One


Captain’s log, Stardate 5941.5. We’re in orbit around Tre’knir VII, an M-Class planet that has been emanating some unusual readings of late. Starfleet has ordered us to investigate.

Spock reports signs of intelligent life, an agrarian community centred in one small part of the planet, underneath an incredibly large piece of vegetation which Spock classifies as ‘tree-like’. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Ensign Cadaver beam down. Scott is in command on the bridge.

The four arrive on the outskirts of the settlement. It’s a farming community which appears idyllic. Ensign Cadaver trips on a pebble and breaks his neck, dying instantly. McCoy manages to revive him. McCoy remarks that the peaceful, rural setting seems ideal to him as a simple country doctor. Spock makes an arch remark about disease rates. McCoy reacts in irascible frustration. Kirk rolls his eyes as LOUD, INCREDIBLY OBTRUSIVE WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS play, in case a deaf guy on the other side of the galaxy doesn’t realise the scene is played for laughs.

Spock’s tricorder shows further unusual readings which Spock is presently unable to explain. In the distance they can see the massive trunk of the incredibly large tree. They head towards it, after Ensign Cadaver is killed by an allergic reaction to the local crops. McCoy manages to revive him.

They encounter a native, who is puzzled by their strange appearance and Spock’s ears in particular. Ensign Cadaver challenges him and is killed by the native’s spear. While McCoy revives the ensign, Kirk speaks with the native, inquiring about their way of life. The native, apparently well practiced in summarising the existence of his entire community, explains that they are Tre'kkians, and live in the gentle shade of ‘The Great Tree, where the Groddenberries watch over all’. He explains that the Groddenberries are the fruit of The Great Tree, and that the natives rely on the “Viz’hen” of the Groddenberries to achieve what he calls ‘Dre-mmah’. Spock tentatively translate ‘Dre-mmah’ as ‘Nirvana’.

Ensign Cadaver notices a rustling in the vegetation around them and reaches for his phaser, then drops dead with an arrow sticking out of his chest – our heroes are suddenly surrounded. McCoy revives the ensign. The native explains that the four must appear before the Council of Elders to be judged. If the Council decides that they do not meet with the Groddenberries’ approval, they will be executed.

Cut to our heroes confined in a crude cell carved into the trunk of the Great Tree. McCoy and Kirk exchange simplistic, sentimental musings on the idyllic agrarian life led by the Tre'kkians. Ensign Cadaver tries to break through the bamboo-like bars of the cell and is killed by a sliver of the stuff. As McCoy revives him, Spock announces that he has completed his tricorder analysis. The soil in the area surrounding the Great Tree is rapidly becoming infertile. Soon, perhaps within a decade, the Trekkians will be unable to farm there at all. In order to survive, the Tre'kkians will need to leave the shade of the Great Tree. MORE INCREDIBLY OBTRUSIVE MUSIC PLAYS as we see Kirk's HORRIFIED YET WORDLESS REACTION and we're out for the ad-break.

Coming back from the break, our heroes are facing the Council of Elders, four middle-aged men and one young, attractive, scantily-clad woman. All of them wear masks with subtle variations, the woman's being the least obstructive, so we can see that she is, indeed, very attractive.

Unaccountably, the trial follows the popularly-understood form of criminal trials in the US of the twentieth-century. Our four are charged with various transgressions of the Viz'hen of the Groddenberries and told they will be executed if found guilty. Ensign Cadaver freaks out and is killed by the guards. McCoy is unable to revive him, so we know the shit's hit the fan now.

Kirk embarks on a lengthy, scenery-chewing speech in which he extols the virtues of change and decries the vices of stagnation, exhorting the Tre'kkians to abandon the Great Tree. The Elders are outraged and say that they can never stray from the Viz'hen of the Groddenberries – it's all they know! Kirk condemns himself from his own mouth with this blasphemous talk! Kirk embarks on a shorter, yet still more intense monologue, telling the Tre'kkians that they can find a new Viz'hen elsewhere, far from the Great Tree and away from the watchful gaze of the Groddenberries. Perhaps, he tells them, they can even find a new kind of Dre-mmah.

Finally the elders are convinced and all is forgiven. The Tre'kkians begin to plan their migration away from the Great Tree. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam back up to the Enterprise without making any arrangements for Ensign Cadaver's mutilated corpse to be returned to them. So it goes.

Back on the bridge, after completing his log entry, Kirk speaks with Spock about their experience. Spock remarks that the Tre'kkians were not unlike ancient humans in their determination to stick to old ways no matter what the cost. Kirk smirks and makes more simplistic, sentimental remarks about how appealing the agrarian lifestyle of the Tre'kkians seemed to him. Spock raises his eyebrow. FIVE TO EIGHT SECONDS OF FORCED GROUP LAUGHTER AT THE DIRECTOR'S DISCRETION and ROLL CREDITS


THE END

:rommie::guffaw: I love you so much right now.
 
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