Star Trek Again...

[fenlings]

This episode:

With Spock and Kirk in their tiny tiny tunics, proves that someone up there likes me. OMFG.



This episode is such *crack*. Just the sheer *amount* of crack like, boggles the mind. These crazy Greek aliens have TK (*not* TP) and make everyone do these utterly *cracktastic* things. (I have to say, everyone did a pretty good job at acting like they were being pulled by invisible forces.)



Plot device people use their powers and...



Spock laughs!





Spock cries!



Kirk crawls!



Kirk is a slave!



Kirk slaps himself! (Hehe.)



Spock dances flamenco on Kirk's head. (Aww, his darling little boots!)






Whee! Can't. Stop. Laughing.




Work it!



Spock breaks crockery! (hot)



Kirk and Spock dance and chant an Alice in Wonderland rhyme. (I'm *so* not getting into the retconning of that rhyme on the planet of people who left earth at the fall of the Greek Civilization.)



Kirk is a horsey!



Spock sings! (A song warning women that they shouldn't listen to silver-tongued lads lest the men "love in the breathless excitement of night" and leave with the women's "treasure in cold morning light." It's just funny to have Spock railing against the faithlessness of men like he's not one. But whatever, the Greeks are "making him sing it". A strange choice from Leonard or the director or whoever, though.)



Spock is pretty.



Spock and Kirk wear plant life on their heads.





Little people! (OMG I *love* Alexander.)





Historical artifacts! (Shield of Pericles, Scroll of Hippocrates... yeah right...)



The women are dressed and made up like something out of a seedy holosuite program.





Kirk and Spock wear tiny tunics!



Mmm, Starfleet's golden boy, indeed.



Heh, he's finally found a pre-ventilated shirt.



Spock's collarbones.



Mmm, sandals. Legs.



Forced kissing!

"Please make them stop."



"I haven't the power. I'm deeply sorry."



"For so long, I've wanted to be close to you. Now all I want to do is crawl away and die."





While Spock and Chapel's kiss is humiliating and gross, it's also kind of hot.

Whereas Kirk just gives Uhura the single most unsexy kiss ever.







Though this Greek chick is turned on by it.



Forced violence!



Whips! Brands!





Our boys *manifesting TK*.





Such. Crack.

But they're such committed actors, they make me believe it! (Except for Leonard's singing. That was just a pause-for-crack.)

And lastly, linked because I'm kind of ashamed to be capping this when Leonard was working so hard -- but not enough to stop myself: Spock panty shot wardrobe malfunction.

So the crazy Greeks make Kirk and Spock do things against their will. Like kiss people they've never wanted to kiss before. And this is almost disturbingly meta, if we read the show's writers (or fanfic writers) for the crazy Greeks. Putting Kirk and Spock in short dresses, the women in bad makeup, and throwing in random acts of unmotivated sex and violence. Hmm.

The more I watch TOS, the more I really like the acting. (Yes, okay, this may be partly in reaction to switching directly between Hidden Frontier and TOS.) I mean, people make fun of Shatner's acting, and yes he overacts, but he's also really *good*. At least IMHO. I think they're all really good. If they weren't, they wouldn't get us to swallow half the gobbledy-gook they try to sell us. I mean space ships and aliens and women in combat and no racial discrimination among humans? Come on! Their sets, costumes, and make-up are frequently ridiculously cheap, and the writing sometimes suspect. But by God, the actors *commit* to the story. I've heard similar things about Blakes 7, and that makes me want to pull out the season 1 I have downloaded and give it another chance. Umm, someday.

Comments

[glaphix.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for sharing! I forgot what old Star Trek is like. Strange lighting/colors and retro interpretations of future re-visited outfits from ancient times.

My favorite was the dancing on the head and crawling on the floor. SO WEIRD. Um...what was with the midget? Was someone making fun of someone else's culture for liking midgets on The Daily Show?

[fenlings]

My favorite was the dancing on the head and crawling on the floor. SO WEIRD.
This whole episode was WEIRD.

Yeah I don't really know why there was a midget? But he was cool, yo.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_unhurt_/]

oh, god (gods? probably more apt in this case.) i haven't seen this episode for years, but it just boggles - in a good way - with its insanity.

(sadly, the wardrobe mafucntion link will not work for me. and i am intrigued!)

blakes 7! dooooo iiiiiit! hmm, did you hear that?

[fenlings]

sadly, the wardrobe mafucntion link will not work for me.
Argh filehost.to was being such a bitch all weekend. Just keep refreshing and eventually it will work, I promise.

::eyes blakes 7 dvd::

[http://users.livejournal.com/_unhurt_/]

ok, this time it worked. and,

!

erk, there's vulcan bulging there.

[fenlings]

Heheheh. Oh, God, please don't make me think of frals!

I feel dirty enough already - he was so in the moment and I was all PANTIES!

::facepalm::

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

I love Blakes 7 so much. That was my first fandom actually. You've probably heard the line "I am not stupid, I am not expendable, and I am not going." Right? That's a classic Avon line from B7.

The thing is - yes, the sets and special effects are cheap, the concepts and lines are silly, the actors are odd-looking and very seventies - although they grow on you - and the acting's been described as, well, Kabuki. But it's... ack! It's just awesome! I'm sorry! That's all I can say! The first episode you have to kind of wade through (although I think it has Jenna & Vila's first appearances, which are good) but once they get onto the prison ship it's all good times.

And did I mention Avon is blatantly, desperately in love with Blake? Who he also kind of hates? And Blake's feelings are up for interpretation, but he seems to have no real interest in women? And you want personal space invasion and inappropriate eye contact, oh, we've got personal space invasion and inappropriate eye contact. And... *controls self*

[fenlings]

OMG yay pimping comments! Oh, CUTE, first fandom squee. Hm, I think I saw up to 103 before I wandered away, but the more you pimp, the more it stays in the forefront of my mind... I want to watch it anyway, just for TV and SF fandom history. It's just a question of *when*...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_unhurt_/]

also: avon wears quite a lot of leather. it might look like pvc, but is in fact real leather. with studs! and there are gauntlets!

the first few episodes are a bit slow, but later there is death! betrayal! more betrayal! snark! and as time goes on, increasing amounts of despair and moral ambiguity. hurrah for the bbc. (also, blake buggers off about half way through. some* people don't consider this to be a bad thing...)

*ok, me.

[fenlings]

Mmm, leather. And gauntlets! There's just no reason to wear gauntlets in the Future except hotness.

And despair and moral ambiguity sound very appealing...

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

And, although Blake is gone for seasons three and four except for the two season finales, Avon never stops thinking about him, trying to find him, even turning on his crew - to the point of being willing to kill them - to do so. Meanwhile, he disintegrates as a human being (although his costumes and hair get better), turning into the worst, craziest, most violent and self-centered version of himself. But everything will be made right once he finds Blake. OR WILL IT??!!OMG!!1!

It's really a dark show, in its own innocent, silly way. The good guys just lose and lose, and then they stop being good guys, and but they've still got each other, and then they don't even have that, and by the end of it, well...

[fenlings]

OMG. Avon's use of *grammar*. He says things like, "Some of this technology is a little more advanced to that which I'm used."

!!!!

In fact, everyone is so British and cute. Blake's "Right. Send us down," with the "tellyporter."

And wow does Avon's snark and Voice of Reason like totally save the show.

And OMG HE IS so in love! Avon saving Blake from the bomb out of "habit"!! Avon admitting, "Yes, I'm glad you're all right," and Blake TOTALLY IGNORING HIM!

And his RIDICULOUS LOVELY SHOULDERWINGS.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Well it's... really not for everyone. I admit that. Also, the first season is very different from the fourth - the show went on for a long time and the style changed a lot. Some people prefer the later parts. It's all, well, it's all cheese, it's just different types of cheese. I dunno.

*gets sentimental*

[fenlings]

Up to 106 accomplished! Wow, I know that everyone kept saying how Farscape was really just Blakes 7, but I didn't believe it, and now I realize that it REALLY IS. Except there is no Aeryn or Scarrens and I don't care about these people as much as I care about the Farscape characters. Except for Avon! <333333333 Avon!!! His snark is the only humor in the show... sad.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Yup, Farscape's opener concept was totally based on Blakes 7 - and some of Firefly too (there's one episode in particular I'm thinking of.)

I don't care about these people as much as I care about the Farscape characters.

Yeah, they're not nearly as appealling, and there isn't heavyweight acting of the Aeryn & Zahn sort or chemistry of the John/Aeryn sort.

But I think the main problem is that at that time, the writers/producers/BBC/whatever seem to have thought it was sort of... unseemly? To get personal with characters and focus on their interrelationships? Whereas that's most of what we want and expect, now. I mean Farscape is almost entirely about that, with the sci-fi and adventure coming in second, whereas Terry Nation was actually trying to do something political with B7. So the stuff that happens between the characters tends to be pretty understated, and the intense gay subtext was, so far as I've been able to find out, an accident.

On the good side of things, the relationships do grow and develop over time, just as we're now used to from Whedon shows, as opposed to staying static and resetting every episode like some, naming no names. Actions do have consequences, etc.

Oh, and there does get to be more humour later. Season Two is funnier than Season One. Vila's often pretty funny, and there's some good banter between Blake and Avon. Seasons Three and Four - actually I should probably stop before I get too spoilery. I was going to try and explain why Tarrant makes me laugh just looking at him.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

And a strong female character! All right, she's the ultimate evil, but... she's got great hair!

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Basically, you have to be able to accept a show that's simultaneously incredibly earnest and waaaay campy. If you can enjoy that, you're all set.

And now I really will stop.

[voyn.livejournal.com]

I'm totally just passing through here, but I thought I'd mention that the Kirk & Uhura kiss is the first "interracial" kiss ever on TV and was considered to be pretty outrageous and groundbreaking...

[fenlings]

I'm completely aware of that. I just don't think it was sexy. Maybe titilating to see those barriers broken, but I don't think the kiss itself was sexy.