Review of
How Sharper that A Serpent’s Tooth,
episode 5 of season 2 of Star Trek: The Animated Series
Five out of five stars
Powerful point for diversity
All evidence
indicates that humans have an instinctual
desire to create gods. Many of these creations, such as the Greek gods, are
based on humans with greater powers, yet still captive to human emotions. However,
there are some that are not augmented humans.
Some of the
gods of the Natives of Central and South America were not derived from humans, many
of them were essentially of animal form. One specific example is Kukulkan,
worshiped by the Mayas and depicted as a feathered serpent. Another origin
theory for the human development of gods is that they were space travelers that
landed on Earth and interacted with humans.
This
episode uses a combination of the space traveling god along with the Mayan god
Kukulkan. The Enterprise encounters a spaceship that has the shape of a serpent
and it is recognized as Kukulkan by Native American bridge crew member Walking
Bear. Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Walking Bear are transported onto the ship
into what appears to be an ancient Mayan village. They are told that this is a
test of their reasoning skills. It also becomes clear that the creature expects
to be once again worshipped as a god.
The
Enterprise crew members solve the puzzle while Spock is able to break the
containment field holding the Enterprise. This combination overwhelms Kukulkan
and it is forced to release the Enterprise and drop the pretense of godhood.
A
Native American appearing on the bridge and being essential to the survival of
the Enterprise is a powerful point in favor of diversity. Featuring a “god”
that is not based on Greek-Roman mythology is another powerful point in favor
of diversity. Finally, the “god” of the story has a non-human form, a cultural
fact that is sorely neglected in western education.
Review of
The Counter-clock Incident,
episode 6 of season 2 of Star Trek the animated series
Three out of five stars
Use of unreasonable gimmicks
When an alien vessel passes them going at over warp
30, the Enterprise crew realizes that it is heading directly for a supernova. After
communication gains nothing, the Enterprise locks a tractor beam onto the ship.
While the connection slows the ship down, it does nothing but drag the
Enterprise into the supernova at an unreasonable warp factor.
Once they pass
through the exploded star, the crew of the Enterprise realizes that they have
entered an alternate universe where time flows backward. People are born old
and then regress to infancy when they die. This has the same effect on the
Enterprise crew, as they begin the de-age. Fortunately, the aged Commodore
Robert April, the first commander of the Enterprise and his wife are aboard the
Enterprise.
April and his
wife get younger, but they retain their abilities to pilot the ship when all
others return to infancy and no longer have the knowledge to carry out their
duties. They bring the Enterprise back to their home universe and are able to
restore them to their normal age using the transporter.
The idea of
time traveling backwards in this manner has been used in other contexts, but it
always seems to take the appearance of a gimmick. The complexity of someone growing
younger and smaller, with the need to shed mass, makes it absurd. Finally, the
crew is restored using the stored transporter patterns, in this case the
transporter would have to add significant mass, which would also be an
exceedingly difficult operation. The transporters are designed to precisely
duplicate mass, not add or subtract to it.
Review of
Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
DVD version
Five out of five stars
S.H.I.E.L.D is a subsidiary of Hydra
The world is
rapidly changing, but the deepest changes are well hidden. S.H.I.E.L.D, the organization
dedicated to protecting the United States and the world from the greatest of
criminal threats, is compromised by Hydra, the most powerful criminal and
terrorist organization in the world. In the Marvel universe, Hydra is the main
opposition group to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury, the
leader of S.H.I.E.L.D, becomes suspicious of factions in his organization and
he engages in some questionable actions. One of the main ones involves the hijacking
of a S.H.I.E.L.D ship, and Captain America is one of the operatives sent to regain
control of it. While on the ship, fellow agent Natasha Romanoff takes the time
to download some information, making Cap suspicious regarding the operation and
he confronts Fury.
With extremely
high level Hydra agents within S.H.I.E.L.D, it is not long before Cap and
Natasha become fugitives from S.H.I.E.L.D and Fury is apparently assassinated.
Hydra has recruited a mercenary known as the Winter Soldier, a man captured by
the Soviets and turned into an extremely deadly and efficient force.
S.H.I.E.L.D is
about to deploy a system of three helicarriers that will be aligned with satellites
to target people considered threats. Hydra has developed an algorithm that
identifies all people considered threats to itself and the plan is to simply
have the system kill them. It becomes a battle between S.H.I.E.L.D factions,
with Cap, the Falcon and Natasha fighting desperately to reprogram the system
so that it will not engage in mass killings.
The battles are
intense, there is a lot of gun and missile play, but the most significant is
the hand-to-hand fighting between Cap and Hydra operatives including the Winter
Soldier. It is extremely well choreographed as the opponents knock each other
around a great deal. The action is intense, yet there are moments of human passion
and compassion, where the heroes demonstrate that despite their considerable
strengths, they remain human to the core.
Review of
The Blood Line,
season 2 episode 15 of Bonanza
Four out of five stars
Even a justified killing can be problematic
When a man goes
berserk in the local store and tries to kill Ben Cartwright, he draws and kills
the man. Even though he knows that he had no choice, Ben feels deep remorse and
wishes that there were something else he could have done.
Shortly after the shooting, 16-year-old Todd Grayson
arrives by stage from Boston in order to be reunited with his dead father. Anguished
and full of hero worship for his father, Todd can think of nothing but killing
Ben in revenge. Ben takes responsibility for Todd, even taking him to the
Ponderosa and giving him room and board.
A gunman
traveled the stage with Todd and befriended him. Seeing an opportunity to be
paid well for killing Ben, the gunman talks the girlfriend of Todd’s father
into paying him. It is only when the girlfriend finally comes clean with Todd that
he realizes that his father was not the man he thought he was. It is at this
point that Todd drops his vendetta.
The essential goodness
of Ben Cartwright is on display here. Even though he knows Todd is determined
to kill him, be reaches out to Todd and does everything he can to try to make
amends for an act not his fault.
Review of
Badge Without Honor,
episode 3 of season 2 of Bonanza
Five out of five stars
A wolf in lawman’s clothing
When two men
attempt to gun down an unsuspecting Adam Cartwright, a man claiming to be a
deputy U. S. Marshall kills them. He is a charming man, deft with words and a
quality swordsman. A woman close to the Cartwright’s and considered equivalent
to a sister to the Cartwright boys is married to a man that has a dark and
unknown past.
The Marshall
states that he is there to escort the husband back to San Francisco in order to
testify at a trial. However, uncertainties are developed as there are some
inconsistencies in his story. Adam decides to accompany the two men to San
Francisco, a development that the Marshall does not like. He is in fact a hired
killer whose mission is to kill the husband. This forces am armed confrontation
between Adam and the Marshall.
This is an excellent
episode, the supposed Marshall is many things, even a ladies man as he charms
the woman, taking what would be scandalous liberties with her in the days being
depicted.
Review of
The Family Circus Treasury,
by Bil Keane ISBN 0836207351
Five out of five stars
The highest of
family comic strips
The Family Circus
has long been the power strip for the nuclear family of two parents, four young
children and three pets. The artist Bil Keane openly states that what appears
in this strip is often just a slightly modified rendition of what has taken
place in his life with his children and pets.
The theme of
the daily strip is generally confined to a single image, although there are a
few with two or more related images. They revolve around the simple events in
the lives of parents and children, from getting them off to school to family
vacations to visits back and forth with grandparents. The father in this case
is the only one working outside the home, generally speaking the mother can be
considered the traditional, albeit now somewhat archaic homemaker. When the
father is shown doing housework he is often depicted as being of marginal
competence.
Wholesome in
the old sense is the best word to describe this strip. While it is good, it is unfortunate
that it is in so many ways outdated.
Review of
Tom Swift and His Ocean Airport,
by Victor Appleton
Five out of five stars
The first books in the original Tom Swift series were
published in the decade from 1910 to 1919, 22 books in all. It was a time of
significant improvements in the motor car, airplane, and ways to deal out mass
death in battle. Once World War I was over, which as far as the series is concerned,
1920 and later, the improvements were incorporated into the books and the
subject matter went away from the tools of war. This book was first published
in 1934, so it can be considered a member of the 2.0 series of Tom Swift books.
The premise is
a simple one, as the concept of trans-Atlantic air travel is being developed,
there is a perceived need for refueling or emergency landing stops. In the northern
Atlantic Greenland, Iceland and Ireland are not that far apart, so the planes
of that time did not need the capability to fly long distances non-stop.
However, in the
tropical areas of the Atlantic, there is almost nothing between the Atlantic
seaboard of the United States and the western islands of Portugal and Spain.
Therefore, Tom Swift develops the concept of a floating landing strip in the
middle of the Atlantic. It is composed of a series of high-buoyancy logs that
are snapped together by magnets, so it is modular in structure. There is a
great deal of elasticity built into the system so it can deal with the
significant waves of Atlantic storms.
The first
military aircraft carriers were designed and built in the mid 1920’s, so the
proof of concept was present when this book was written. Of course, the landing
pad for commercial airliners would have to be much larger than the deck of a
carrier. That is an implicit premise of this story.
This is a Tom Swift
book where the supporting characters are there, but other than Ned, only just. The
focus is on the creation of the airport and the supposed need for an emergency
landing strip. The self-assembling modular nature of the landing platform is a fascinating
aspect that predates later self-assembling structures. This is a good book that
I found to be a page-turner.
