Could you try? I just voted for it for worst of S2. I respect your opinion and am open to change.
Entertainment Weekly Reviews The Star Trek Movies
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Could you try? I just voted for it for worst of S2. I respect your opinion and am open to change.
The trick is to remember that it's basically a special Halloween episode and just enjoy it on that level. It's STAR TREK does trick-or-treat . . . what's not to love? It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup: two of my favorite flavors--STAR TREK and Gothic horror--in one tasty treat.
Plus, on a more serious level, it's one of the few episode that ends with Kirk remembering that some poor redshirt died earlier instead of indulging in some humorous banter on the bridge. And the bit with the pipe-cleaner aliens at the end is a nice little twist, reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. Granted, the giant-cat SFX hasn't aged well, but, hey, it was 1967 or whenever . ...
Believe it or not, I actually pitched a sequel to "Catspaw" to the Powers That Be a few years back. Let's just say the idea was met with a certain lack of enthusiasm.
"'Catspaw,' Greg? Really?"
I grew up on "Nightmare Theater," Hammer Films, and classic Universal horror flicks, so creepy old castles and dry-ice fog are my comfort food. Heck, I was watching "Calling Doctor Death" with Lon Chaney Jr. just last night.
Plus, I'm a Robert Bloch fan, so I like both "Wolf in Fold" (Jack the Ripper meets Star Trek!) and "Catspaw."
But space hippies? Nah, that doesn't push my buttons.
Plus, I'm a Robert Bloch fan, so I like both "Wolf in Fold" (Jack the Ripper meets Star Trek!) and "Catspaw."
But space hippies? Nah, that doesn't push my buttons.
The trick is to remember that it's basically a special Halloween episode and just enjoy it on that level. It's STAR TREK does trick-or-treat . . . what's not to love? It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup: two of my favorite flavors--STAR TREK and Gothic horror--in one tasty treat.
Plus, on a more serious level, it's one of the few episode that ends with Kirk remembering that some poor redshirt died earlier instead of indulging in some humorous banter on the bridge. And the bit with the pipe-cleaner aliens at the end is a nice little twist, reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. Granted, the giant-cat SFX hasn't aged well, but, hey, it was 1967 or whenever . ...
Believe it or not, I actually pitched a sequel to "Catspaw" to the Powers That Be a few years back. Let's just say the idea was met with a certain lack of enthusiasm.
"'Catspaw,' Greg? Really?"
I feel similar with Spectre of the Gun - my personal favourite episode but its not really a fan favourite (you never see it in any best of lists etc). really felt like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits- the trippy music, the half sets, the odd camera angles, red backdrop, the almost robotic performances of the Earps and the strange obliviousness of the townsfolk, the twist of the heroes playing the villains… one of those very eerie, spooky trek episodes that could easily be a Twilight Zone (the Enterprise alone in deep space quietly charting a haunted universe that hid some deeply strange things full of supernatural awe and dread.) it just pushes my buttonsI grew up on "Nightmare Theater," Hammer Films, and classic Universal horror flicks, so creepy old castles and dry-ice fog are my comfort food. Heck, I was watching "Calling Doctor Death" with Lon Chaney Jr. just last night.
Plus, I'm a Robert Bloch fan, so I like both "Wolf in Fold" (Jack the Ripper meets Star Trek!) and "Catspaw."
But space hippies? Nah, that doesn't push my buttons.
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You seemed to miss the fact that I stopped listing movies because I didn't want to spend more time typing it up, not because I couldn't think of 49 more movies better than TMP. Hell, if I open it up to movies that aren't on my DVD shelf, it gets even easier.
But yeah, I don't want to waste my time doing that just so you can discount my entire list by saying "it's basically subjective" again. Life's too short.
I am not discounting it in the manner you seem to think. I can look at my DVD shelf, I guarantee there are some I ended up with by accident (until recently I had three copies of Star Trek:Nemesis) and I also know my DVD shelf represents only me (and even then it represents my tastes poorly)
The main reason I would discount it, other than 'its subjective...your 'best' films are not all the same as my 'best' films, and Fred in the corner likes Gigi and the films of Elvis Presley' is that the closest we will ever get to an objective list is 100 films you can remember as being good without looking at a shelf. Because odds are, your favourite Star Trek film will probably be in that list (you're on a Trek Bbs...that sort of precludes not having seen any, though it is possible.)
My contention is not that they should appear on every 'top 100' just that it's pretty much impossible to say they don't belong in any list of that nature. (you have On Her Majestys Secret Service on your list....as far as I am aware that's a bit of an outlier even among Bond fans. I didn't even like the book. But that's me.)
True. I have seen them all, although I've never bothered rewatching Insurrection, Nemesis, or Into Darkness, as I found them all pretty disappointing and have had no desire to revisit them.
Eh. "100 Films I Can Readily Remember That I Have at Home" isn't, to my mind, which of a criterion.
I mean, I started watching Star Trek when I was 5 years old, and there's multiple installments in the franchise. It is therefore, at least via association, much, much easier to remember that I have those than to remember that I own a singular film which I may have really really liked but haven't watched again since.
I mean, I started watching Star Trek when I was 5 years old, and there's multiple installments in the franchise. It is therefore, at least via association, much, much easier to remember that I have those than to remember that I own a singular film which I may have really really liked but haven't watched again since.
I would have loved to have heard and seen the pitch for a Catspaw sequel.The trick is to remember that it's basically a special Halloween episode and just enjoy it on that level. It's STAR TREK does trick-or-treat . . . what's not to love? It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup: two of my favorite flavors--STAR TREK and Gothic horror--in one tasty treat.
Plus, on a more serious level, it's one of the few episode that ends with Kirk remembering that some poor redshirt died earlier instead of indulging in some humorous banter on the bridge. And the bit with the pipe-cleaner aliens at the end is a nice little twist, reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. Granted, the giant-cat SFX hasn't aged well, but, hey, it was 1967 or whenever . ...
Believe it or not, I actually pitched a sequel to "Catspaw" to the Powers That Be a few years back. Let's just say the idea was met with a certain lack of enthusiasm.
"'Catspaw,' Greg? Really?"
Where's the Star Trek IV review?
It should be up by now, right?
It should be up by now, right?
It's up, all right. I think the reviewer is writing about his ideal version of TVH (heck, he even mentions the Sulu scene that's not in the movie) rather than the actual, imperfect--although very popular--movie that opened in November 1986. To me, at least, the review says "I love this movie and I am going to bend all my analysis accordingly, and I don't care how obvious that is."
Really?
There's one scene that wasn't in the movie that he brings up, which is the Sulu one you mentioned, but all of his other points are valid.
It wasn't as in-depth as his review for The Wrath of Khan or The Search for Spock, unfortunately, but that's fine.
Shalashaska: Well, it seemed to me that he went out of his way to praise certain elements that are objectively not entirely praiseworthy. I don't want to turn this into "I didn't like elements X, Y, and Z so therefore the reviewer is wrong"; I do think some of his points are valid (concerning the Kirk-and-Spock stuff, Dr. Taylor's leave-taking of Kirk, etc.). But I think the reviewer is a little too pleased with his own reaction to a film that can easily be viewed as "too pleased with itself." For example, the end credits appearing over highlight clips from the movie we just saw - the only Star Trek film to pat itself on the back in this fashion - left (retroactively) a really bad taste when I first saw the movie, and ever since. I could even argue that Rosenman's music contributed to this aspect of TVH, whether or not the "yuletide" feeling (chimes, etc.) noted by the reviewer was Rosenman's idea in the first place.
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