I don't want to get into this debate because I really don't care. But in my book the TOS Cochrane came first and was accepted as such for decades. FC is such a fuck-up in my view that I just wholly discount it anyway.
Revisiting Star Trek TOS/TAS...
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number6
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You kind of brought it up by mentioning FC and rolling your eyes in the first place. Given your attitude, it's hard to take any of your "reviews" seriously. I wonder if you're going to be this forgiving of the third season. You're certainly a lot less forgiving in your TNG review thread. If you want to avoid arguments about the other series and how you perceive them, perhaps you should leave your own snark at the door first.
Both appeared on-screen, so both are canon. Up to the individual viewer on how it fits together.
number6
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There is nothing in ST canon that would preclude how ZC behaves in FC.
Cochrane was hardly a "drunken buffoon" in Star Trek: First Contact. He just wasn't made out to be a saint, which, as it happened, also made him a little more human. It's also hard not to read the character in that movie as a critique of Gene Roddenberry, but I don't think either Braga or Moore have ever indicated that as their conscious intention.
I've never been blown away by "Metamorphosis" myself. Perhaps I should see it again, but my memory places it squarely into three-star territory. Whoever was in charge of scheduling (NBC, I presume?) was wise to open with "Amok Time."
I've never been blown away by "Metamorphosis" myself. Perhaps I should see it again, but my memory places it squarely into three-star territory. Whoever was in charge of scheduling (NBC, I presume?) was wise to open with "Amok Time."
I really like the shots of Nancy-Companion looking at Cochrane through Nancy's scarf, shown here. This was an example of someone deciding to go the extra mile, to use visual poetry to express in a few frames what it feels like to experience an irrevocable transformation that involves both loss and revelation. Looking at Cochrane through the scarf just isn't the same as it was when she was an energy blob surrounding him. But now she sees him in a different way, and perhaps even more clearly.
The explicitly depicted symbiotic bonding between Cochrane and the Companion strikes me as somewhat edgy (in a good way)! I suspect that this particular alien sex theme was what was elaborated on in Galaxy Quest.
I also think the set was pretty cool.
It could have been better, and I appreciate the complaints, but I like this episode.
The explicitly depicted symbiotic bonding between Cochrane and the Companion strikes me as somewhat edgy (in a good way)! I suspect that this particular alien sex theme was what was elaborated on in Galaxy Quest.
I also think the set was pretty cool.
It could have been better, and I appreciate the complaints, but I like this episode.
If you find my opinion so offensive then don't read them. I frequently come across positive opinions of work that I think is trash, but I don't bother going into those threads screaming "BIAS!"
I was asked a question so I answered it with my opinion. Oh yeah, you're offended by that. Too bad.
I can already see episodes in 2nd season that will have me rolling my eyes.
Again it's my opinion...which, of course, we know you don't like.
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Cochrane obviously changed and grew as a person, he became a popular figure that attended a lot of events after the Phoenix flight. Remember that Spock said the information they had from that time period was very sketchy, doesn't seem hard to believe he may not have been as history painted him...at first...
made for a more interesting character overall. I like the Cochrane that overcame his failings to become a hero.
RAMA
“Metamorphosis” ****
The shuttlecraft Galileo is dragged off course to an isolated planetoid inhabited by a long missing person.
It isn't awesome, but this is a touching story in the end. The Companion gives up everything for her love of Zefram Cochrane. And he in kind turns his back on guaranteed fame, honours and recognition to be with her. What starts out as a "threatening alien" story turns out to be an unusual love story. A number of good moments here and my favourite is the one where Kirk speaks to Cochrane of being on a thousand planets and spreading and finding life everywhere.
When I look at this original portrayal of Zefram Cochrane I find it quite hard to reconcile it with the drunken buffoon version seen in TNG's First Contact.
I like that Kirk was more accepting in this episode, the attitude here was quite different from "The Man trap". Enjoyed the embracing of universal values that suggests there are many different possibilities of life/love/acceptance above our current narrow human view. This raises the episode above some of it's cons...the somewhat stilted dialogue at times and occasional melodrama. **** stars
No 'maybe' about it. he stated he was an old man and wanted to die in space. The Companion found him, and rejuvinated him; and then kept his body from any further degeneration.
And apparently repaired any damage from radiation poisoning and chronic alcoholism.
And made him prettier.
To be fair, the Companion wasn't salt-sucking his crewmen to death.
To be fair, the Companion wasn't salt-sucking his crewmen to death.
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According to director Ralph Senensky's blog (google it, it's great) on the subject, the fact that the scarf looks like the energy blob is a coincidence.
Wow, thanks Myko!
I found the blog. It's here. Senensky says he stole "the idea from himself" from a scene in an episode of The F.B.I. called "The Escape". This other scene is described and given here. Serendipitous or not, it sounds like Senensky did everything he could do on purpose to make it happen. Maybe some unknown person in the effects lab made the blob effect conform to that idea, or maybe it was coincidence. Maybe we'll never know. Amazing.
Senensky also discusses issues with the set.
This really is a great read. Thanks a bunch.
Reviews without snark? Better call Ebert - hell, call EVERY reviewer, and tell them they've been doing it wrong.
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