Taking A Tumble Down Memory Lane: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

I sometimes struggle with what to talk about week-to-week with my little corner of the Internet, but I rarely ever struggle with whether or not I should do a particular subject. This week was a week where I did just that. Don't get me wrong, out of the gate I can confidently say that I really like MMPR, but I do recognize that its heyday was extremely narrow, and that it's definitely... an acquired taste. Also, there is a ton that could be covered when it comes to MMPR. The show proper ran for three seasons and there are 145 episodes of just the one series. And then there are 24 other series that have come after. To say the least, that's a huge beast to tackle unless you keep things pretty focused. Now, the cultural impact of the show and its resurgence in popularity as of late are both undeniable... And since it's what I want to discuss this week, and since you're a wonderful part of my loyal audience, we're going to take a look at this blast from the past. We're going to see where it shined, and where it made us wince, and maybe talk about how its aged just a little. Let's go.

The formula for MMPR is pretty simple. Using footage from its Japanese counterparts, the Toei produced Super Sentai shows, American episodes were cobbled together to tell whimsical stories that involved a moral dilemma, a monster-of-the-week from Rita Ripulsa, or Lord Zedd depending on the season, and Zords. That's actually about it. It's a fairly simple formula, and it's worked so well that there have been concurrent seasonal spin offs every year ever since the show started in 1993. To add direction to this article, I'll look at things season by season, and to be clear, I'm only looking at MMPR because that's only one that I've watched through so far.

Season 1

I'll admit that I was daunted by the number of episodes season one presented. It all starts when Rita Ripulsa is freed from her prison jar on the moon. She's been locked away for 10.000 years, but now that she's free, Zordon, leader of the Power Rangers, must assemble a new team of Rangers to stave off her campaign of evil. Our original team of rangers consists of Jason, the red ranger, Trini, the yellow ranger, Kimberly, the pink ranger, Zach, the black ranger, and Billy, the blue ranger. They're brought to ranger HQ where Zordon shares with them his history with Rita, and the importance of a ranger team existing that can combat her evil overtures. He explains that they represent the best that Angel Grove, the main setting of the show, has to offer. He bestows upon them coins imbued with power that ties to prehistoric creatures, and that give them great power by allowing them to morph. The coins also tie to zords that the characters can use to battle Rita's monsters when she overclocks them and makes them gigantic. About one-third of the way through the first season, we're introduced to Tommy, who would become the green ranger. This is where the show really started to get interesting, in my opinion. Tommy's power was given to him by Rita, and initially, he was intended to be a thwart to the regular rangers. However, he's able to overcome the evil influence of Rita, and joins the team to fight against her.

Besides the adventures of the heroes, there are a few notable things going on with the first season that are worth noting. First, Zach has a crush on a classmate named Angela. He goes to some pretty ridiculous lengths to try and woo her, and when he's giving her gifts, she responds pretty well, but he always ends up bumbling the effort, usually due to ranger related antics, and so he never does get the girl. I bring this up because it's one of the rare aspects of the show where a main character demonstrates inadequacies that they aren't able to overcome. There are several other instances where a character has a minor imperfection, and Rita exploits that, and the character is then able to overcome that minor imperfection. A perfect example is Trini and her fear of heights. She's faced with that fear as Rita tries to exploit it, but she digs deep, realizes the potential within herself, and overcomes it by the end of the episode. This never did happen with Zach, and with the characters being portrayed as such paragons, it was humanizing in a necessary way. I only wish they would have done a bit more of that to add to the complexity and the depth of the characters.

Speaking of, let's take a second to talk about Bulk and Skull. These two characters were originally introduced to be the slapstick comic foils of the show. They start out as bullies who spend all of their free time in detention. They start out as some of the more basic characters on the show, but we'll talk a bit as we delve into the other two seasons about how they actually get the most character development of any of the characters in the original show. Just remember that they started out as bullying rejects who spent a lot of time putting down the rangers alter ego characters and serving in detention.

The inter-character dynamics of the show really hit its stride once the green ranger was introduced, and the bulk of the most interesting story arcs centered on the green ranger. Most of the time, the show was business as usual with a moral dilemma, and a monster, and zords, but when the usual started to get a bit tired, a green ranger story arc would be employed. These mini-arcs would build upon what had been established to that point and usually lead to some sort of appreciable growth on behalf of Tommy, the other rangers, or all of the rangers collectively. Eventually, Rita hatches a plan to steal Tommy's powers back from him using an evil candle. Jason is sent to retrieve the candle and fails, and Tommy loses his power. However, Zordon is able to infuse the green power coin with a slight reserve, but this introduction of Tommy's ever-weakening powers served to one, make the character more interesting, and two, conserve the amount of screen time that the green ranger actually got. This helped to maintain a balance between the characters, and give the show a little boost whenever the green ranger appeared. At any rate, Rita would hit the rangers with ever more powerful monsters, and every time Tommy would assist with the Dragon Zord, his power would dwindle ever further. It actually became really tense, and I found myself wondering how long it would be before his power dwindled away completely. Over the course of the first season, I was also impressed by how much actual character development went on in the show. Although the episodes were mostly self-contained, there were plenty of episodes that included milestone experiences for some of the characters, and that impacted the characters, and the story from that point forward.

Season 2

Season two brought a few bigger changes to the show. The actors that played Jason, Trini, and Zach had been asking for more money from a production with a shoestring budget, and so they were written off. They were chosen about a third of the way through the second season as to travel abroad with a high school ambassador program. To replace them, the characters Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were brought in as replacements. This began a protracted start to season two. It was an okay start, but in my opinion, this is where the show kind of started to go downhill a little bit. The formula didn't change, but the dynamics between the characters were gradually altered. At the start of the season, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha are just kind of there, having just transferred from a nearby town. They help out when they can, and actually learn the secret identities of the power rangers. This puts them in the unofficial sidekick category, but it's a cool set up because these three are just regular teens without super powers who are still willing to lend a helping hand. Eventually, Jason, Trini, and Zach leave, and the three new characters are brought in as full-time rangers with they powers being transferred from the one group to the other. The relationships between the groups of characters was handled pretty well. At first Tommy, Kim, and Billy kind of do their thing and rely on each other, and Rocky, Aisha, and Adam kind of do the same. They work well enough together as rangers, but outside of that, it takes a bit of time before they two groups finally mesh socially with one another, as it would in real life. Another aspect of the character building that takes place during this time in the show is we see Billy getting more proficient in the martial arts. From the start, the show makes a point to show that Billy is new to martial arts, but learning. Through the first season and into the second, you start to see his skills improving, and that's a pretty cool detail to include.

Now, Tommy eventually did lose his green ranger powers, and as a result, Zordon had to create a new ranger coin for him. At this point, he became the white ranger, and as white ranger, he became the defacto leader of the team. This was mostly because the shows producers were running out of Sentai footage that included the green ranger, and so a change needed to be made that could create continuity that would make sense to American audiences. Season two also introduced Lord Zedd. Rita got locked back up in her jar prison by Zedd when she continually failed to defeat Zordon and the rangers. Lord Zedd was kind of cool to look at, and his vocal shenanigans are way easier on the ears than Rita's. Of course, his plans always fail as well since this is a show about the Power Rangers, and not Lord Zedd, but there was always an underlying menace and ruthlessness to Lord Zedd that I could appreciate.

Back to Bulk and Skull, season two is when their arc starts to take shape in a fairly significant way. They resolve to unmask the Power Rangers, and in so doing, find themselves caught in the middle of quite a few sticky situations throughout the season. However, what I thought was pretty cool is that through their determination to unmask the rangers, they develop quite a bit of admiration towards the rangers, and this manifests itself in a number of ways. In the season premiere, a baby stroller is out of control and rolling down the world's longest and least dangerous hill in Angel Grove park. The stroller knocks into Skull, who reacts exactly like the campy comic relief that you'd expect, but Bulk, seeing a baby in trouble, takes off to assist. There's no promise of glory, no opportunity to find out the secret identities of the rangers, and no other real gain. Bulk just sees another human being in distress, and instinctively rushes off to help. This paradigm shift culminates towards the end of the season with Bulk and Skull facing off with a monster that Lord Zedd sent to steal the memories of the Power Rangers. They knew they were out classed before they even took action, but they also realized that the world was doomed if the monster wasn't stopped. In the end, all ends well, but it is incredibly cool to see two characters change so much and in such a positive way.

Season 3

Season three was a challenge for me to watch. In my opinion, it's where the show strayed into the 'too much of a good thing' territory. Lord Zedd was a fine villain for the show, and as established in season two, all of the dynamics of the show were fine for the most part. You had some comic relief characters, some characters who were sufficiently menacing, and the heroes with pretty good chemistry. You also had side characters adding dynamic growth to the mix. Then the parents got involved. Apparently, there were some grumblings that Lord Zedd was too frightening for younger children, and so toward the beginning of season three,  Rita is freed from her space dumpster prison, and uses a magic spell to woo Zedd and marry him. The two characters combined are just too much camp for me to handle. To further add to my unrest, as we round into season three, the rangers lose the powers they possess as bestowed by Zordon. As a result they have to go to the Desert of Despair, and find Ninjor, the original creator of the power coins. It was through this arc that the rangers got their ninja powers, and the show got yet another semi-regular annoying character, Ninjor. It was also in this season that Rita's brother Rito Revolto was introduced. On the plus side though, the rangers got shiny new zords to command, and they looked pretty sweet. The third season also saw the introduction of a new pink ranger, Kat. We'll get to that.

The formula obviously stays the same, but the show relied a bit more on mini-arcs throughout this season. This makes sense since the show ran every week day during its season run, and doing week long arcs would have been an easy, yet effective way to pull in viewers. But there were a lot of changes taking place throughout. Most of this was due to having to use footage from different Sentai shows, I'm sure, but the rangers get their Ninja Zords, and use those for about two episodes, and then Rita activates the ancient Shogun Zords, which are obviously more powerful that the crummy old Ninja ones, and so the Rangers have to learn to control these new Shogun Zords, which makes the Ninja Zords obsolete, but hey, that's the way life is when you're trying to build a narrative around pre-existing Japanese television footage. Thankfully, Ninjor is phased out. But between Rita's terrible screeching voice, Rito's bumbling humor, and Aisha's sometimes annoying line delivery, it gets pretty rough. The one shining beacon of the season is, surprisingly, Bulk and Skull. The two mature beyond wanting to unmask the Rangers, and join the junior police squad. This is where we see them transition from simply admiring the Power Rangers to actually trying emulate them. There's some camp involved in some aspects of this subplot, but you have to bear in mind that comedy was the original intended purpose behind the characters.

Towards the end of season three, Rita employs a new character name Kat to act as a spy and a thwart to the Power Rangers. Kat came to Angel Grove by way of Australia. She has the ability to transform from a human to a, wait for it, CAT! Isn't that creative? Seriously, though, joking aside, her character served a much more significant purpose. Throughout the season, the show started to hint that Kim would be leaving, and Kat was brought on to eventually replace Kim as the Pink Ranger. I bring this up because had the show been lazier than it was, the writers could have just done the change, and I don't think that many people would have made a fuss, but I found myself impressed time and again as I watched by how plot devices were never just tossed out for convenience's sake. Every major change that was made to the show was preambled with some sort of set up so that the changes wouldn't feel forced. The show really upped the ante on the peril at the end of it all as we're introduced to Lord Zedd's boss, Master Vile, who turns the Rangers into children. With the Rangers out of the way, Vile is able to run amok on Earth, and so, in a desperate move, Zordon contacts five Rangers from an alien planet to help defend Earth until the Earth Rangers can be restored. This segues into the next show Power Rangers Zeo, which as I said before, I'll not be covering here today, but maybe later on.

On the whole, I enjoyed most aspects of MMPR. The stories got a bit repetitive over time, but not to a point where episodes were unwatchable. I can appreciate the morality tales that the show offered. Often, they were pretty topical, but they always boiled down to the viewer trying to be their best self everyday, and always doing their best at whatever they undertake. I was actually stricken by the depth of the lessons taught at times, and by the continued character development that the show undertook. However, by season three, the show really feels like its surpassed its freshness date, and it starts to threaten to become a parody of itself. There were just too many blatantly annoying characters introduced, and it becomes pretty tough to watch at times. However, I have to give credit where credit is due. MMPR has become a cultural icon. Its beloved by millions, and the shows that are released these days are met with the same enthusiastic welcome by children as MMPR was met with back in its day. Plus, I have to admit that when I was younger, I loved this show.

Besides some of the obvious, the show actually does quite a bit right. One notable thing is the theme song.  It's one of the best TV theme songs ever composed! Ever. And the music that was written for the show was, in general, really cool. Ron Wasserman did most of the music for MMPR, and he did a phenomenal job! The fight choreography, as I mentioned before, was really well done. I realize that most of it was done in Japan, but even when the characters are not morphed, and fighting lesser monsters, you can see that the actors and their stunt doubles really put their all into the fight sequences. The characters may have been a bit unbelievable in their abilities to just do all of the things, but they were generally entertaining to watch, and as I said, the lessons that the viewer could learn through the characters' adventures were surprisingly well thought out. I really have to praise the way everyone was treated on this show, character-wise. People, no matter their circumstances, were always seen as equals to one another, and always valued for who they are and what they could offer. It's not unlike a certain Star Trek show that was wrapping up around the same time. I also enjoy that the show is so colorful. I know that might seem odd, but there are so many shows on TV these days that are washed out, and boring to look at, mostly that's a result of my change in demographic, but when did dark and brooding suddenly become an automatic equivalent to cool? It might seem corny, but I enjoy the color and the vibrancy of the show. Even in its 90s lameness, it adds to the ambiance of the show.

On the whole, MMPR is a pretty enjoyable bag of mostly awesomeness. It's a really fun trip down memory lane, assuming it was your jam back in the day. It's a show that can be enjoyed on several levels, and I think, much like me, anyone who takes a look at it now will be pleasantly surprised by how much was actually going on with the show. It's campy, and hamfisted. It can be over-the-top at times, but it delivers clean, fun viewing that can be really entertaining in small doses. If you're interested, all of the shows are currently available on Netflix, and it's a pretty fun watch.

Mr. Spock: A Convoluted, Yet Logical Theoretical Analogy

There are probably readers out there who see Star Trek like scripture. I have to admit that I put a lot of stock in the lessons that Star Trek has to teach. Let me expound. Those who prescribe to such things love scriptural study because of the idea that depending on your particular situation at any given time in your life, you can read something that you've read several times before and get something new out of it. This phenomenon extends to all sorts of literary works. Our perspective on life changes how we see the world whether it's holy scripture, our favorite author's classic novel, or Star Trek. This is going to be one of those articles where we look at something that we've had in front of us for decades, but from a slightly different point of view. Specifically, I want to present the theory that Mr. Spock's character evolution over the years can act as a parallel for the ideal cycle of working through depression. I promise it will all tie together in the end so just bear with me. Also, in order to really do my diligence, just let me acknowledge that the only version of Spock I'll be examining is the one portrayed by the fantastic Leonard Nimoy in TV and films that are unrelated to JJ Abrams' films.

As I've pointed out before, the topics of my articles are typically informed by what's going on  in my life at the current time, or in this case, they're informed by re-reading articles that I previously wrote, as is the case here, which makes this some Inception level stuff, and a really long sentence. Yeah, I stumbled on this train of thought revisiting my article on Star Trek Nemesis, and specifically the character arc for Data. I was just puzzling through why Data's arc worked less well than Spock's. Just thought you should know. Now,  I'm no stranger to depression. I've been dealing with it for over a decade. It has been quite the roller coaster, and I'm happy to say that I have fared better than a lot. That's not to say that it's been an easy road though. There have been some pretty low points. That's not why you're here though. You want to know how this harebrained theory works. Alright then, let's get to things.

First, you have to look at Spock's depression parallel in terms of his logic versus emotion dilemma. It's no secret that one of the more interesting aspects of the character was that constant struggle to remove emotion from the equation and operate of pure, hard logic. Let's face it, that's what made the character fun to watch! As I proceed through the years, I'll mostly point out highlights as delving really deeply into Spock's past would just be too much to write in a single article. But feel free to explore things on your own in order to form your own opinion of my theory! I'm also going to break things down by 'era', or maybe it should be 'sub-era' as there were a lot of different phases that the character went through at various times. Alright, you got that juxtaposition between logic and emotion in mind? Good. Now superimpose that train of thought onto the idea that dealing with depression is also sort of a struggle between logic and emotion, or at least it can be. See, there are a lot of different treatments available for people suffering from depression. You can do meditation, various types of activities, and of course, there are pharmaceuticals available. There are a ton of different factors that a physician is going to look at in determining the best course of treatment for an individual. It can be a painstaking and frustrating experience as trial and error is definitely a course of action on the physician's part, but once you really start to get things under control, the benefits are tremendous. In my personal experience, drugs were the way to go, coupled with counselling. I started on Prozac, but had some issues there so my physician opted to put me on Lexapro. It's a wonderful drug, but over time, I felt like it leveled me too much, and it really became impossible for me to feel anything. I was nearly completely emotionless. That's also a bit of where I'm coming from, and I like to imagine that there are quite a number of people out there who deal with similar issues. And that's why it's so easy for me to draw these parallels, but enough yammering about it, let's get to the meat of things!

-The TOS Years-

I like to think of Spock's TOS years as him in his pre-depressive prime. Think of this phase as the adolescent phase of a human's development. We're not really sure what constitutes normal for us on a day-to-day basis and so we're really just trying to figure out what all of our constituent parts actually become when summed together. This is TOS Spock. As a result of naivete and a small bit of ignorance, Spock is able to function pretty well as both an officer, and more generally as an individual. He understands the importance placed on logic by his primary culture, and he strives to emulate that, but he also feels the tug of emotion from his human side, and as a result, the two tend to clash from time-to-time. A perfect example of this comes from the episode "The Naked Time" wherein, under the influence of an intoxicating malady, we see Spock's emotional side in full splay. He's crying, or at least, he's laugh crying, and he's conflicted in a deeply emotional way, and you can tell that the entire experience is taxing him even physically. But, by the end of the episode, he's regained his composure, and he's able to mostly reconcile his logic with his emotions. This is a pretty important point. Again, from personal experience, dealing with depression is a lot about reconciliation between wanton rampant emotion, and rationale. It's literally a struggle between what you may know logically, and what your over-taxed emotional side is telling you. Most of the show, we see Spock dealing with this reconciliation fairly well. He breaks form sometimes, especially when it could be of benefit to his friends and crew, but that veneer of composure remains pretty solid.

But now, think of Spock's struggle between logic and emotion as a sort of coping mechanism. This is another one that I picked up from personal experience. When I was on Lexapro and unable to feel much emotion, I fell back on logic as a way to sort of justify the lack of feeling I was experiencing. That made things better because I wasn't just some emotionless robot, I was a rational human being who put more stock in the facts than in the feelings. That's Spock at this point. He doesn't really know how emotion is suppose to fit into his life, and so he seeks to subvert it, and he rationalizes that away with the culture of the Vulcans, and their quest for the suppression of emotion. In this way, his lack of emotion is normal, at least for him. We see Kirk and McCoy pointing out the fallacy behind this line of reasoning all the time, but Spock has entrenched himself in this idea, and let me tell you, once you've entrenched yourself in a particular way of thinking, it is hard to change your mind. But at any rate, it's during his TOS adolescent years that Spock at least appears to be a pretty well balanced being. As we're going to see though, he's in for a pretty abrupt wake up call...

-The Motion Picture-

Alright, now say what you will about Star Trek: The Motion Picture, we're not here to critique, yet, but in terms of Spock's emotional growth, and especially as pertains to our depression parallel, this movie is really important. For reasons unknown, at least canonically, Spock decides to leave the Enterprise and go home to perform the Kholinar ritual, or the Vulcan ritual where emotion is banished. It's easy to infer that this probably just seemed like a logical next step for him. He's matured, and he's faced his emotional side head on. He probably hasn't found a lot of merit in this side of his personality, and so he seeks to completely subvert it. But out in the cold reaches of deep space, he suddenly feels a connection to a being that embodies all that he seeks to become. He's mentally touched by a being of pure logic. Ironically, this sudden discovery elicits an emotional response in him, and he ultimately fails his ritual. He returns to the familiarity of the Enterprise and his friends there so that he can confront this being that represents the realization of all of his aspirations, and the film is not shy in pointing that out. His primary goal is to contact this being, and learn from it.

This represents some interesting growth that also happens to work in our analogy. See, there comes a point, hopefully, where those working through depression begin to feel a bit more complete. Odd, and obsessive though it may sound, I had a similar experience to that of Spock. But before we get there, I just want to point out that 'breakthrough' experiences can happen for a person dealing with depression. These moments leave us feeling more complete and content than we have for a long time, and we're able to take pretty honest stock of ourselves and make fairly informed decisions as to how we want to proceed in order to make life even better. But getting to that point involves facing a lot of demons first. In my case, as in Spock's it took facing the embodiment of a being devoid of feeling. For Spock, that was V'Ger. For me, that was myself as I had become on Lexapro. Spock got to mindmeld with the V'Ger creature and in so doing, he was able to realize how, in an ironic twist, the creature was severely handicapped by its lack of emotion. Sure, V'Ger was perfectly logical with vast stores of knowledge at its fingertips, but not being able to access emotion left it unable to tap into the imagination that emotion offers, and that in turn, left it unable to truly realize its place in the universe. Spock looked into V'Ger's eyes so to speak and saw a creature asking questions that its current way of living couldn't answer. It needed its emotional side in order to continue to grow in an effective and meaningful way. This is the type of revelation that I too stumbled upon when I realized that despite my inability to really feel much of anything, it scared me that I couldn't really feel much of anything. Sure, logic is a good start, but I really wanted to define my place in this universe, and I found that logic alone was not going to get me to that point.

That's the point when I decided that I was going to ween myself off of my meds, and take my lumps, but I was really going to try and work through my depression and I was really going to learn to master my emotions, not by suppressing them, but by learning to use them constructively. This is really similar to how Spock reacted after his experience with V'Ger...

-The Wrath of Khan-

Who here doesn't like The Wrath of Khan? It's a bonafide classic! Again, that's not really why we're here, but I just wanted to get that out in the open. Wrath of Khan is a really interesting film in context of our theory. By the time we rejoin Spock, he's learned to use his emotions in constructive ways. He hasn't completely tossed his Vulcan heritage to the side, but the major by product of his emotional reconciliation is an empathetic ability to meet his friends and crew mates on an emotional level. We see him getting down right sentimental as he presents Kirk with a personalized gift in the form of an antique book. We see him act with a manner of pride as Saavik commands the Enterprise out of spacedock. He exaggerates the truth! These are states of emotion that Spock previously would have found to be totally abhorrent. However, by this point, he's learned better who he is, and therefore, he better understands how that emotional side of him fits in in the grand scheme of things. In much the same way, those dealing with depression eventually will need to get to a place where they understand the role that this affliction plays in their life. It's at that point, that they can hopefully learn to channel the affliction to more constructive pursuits, or at the very least, they can learn to suppress it to a point where it interferes less with their day-to-day activities.

Wrath of Khan packs a huge emotional gut check in the form of Spock's death. What I love about Spock's death over Data's is Spock's death fit with both sides of his psyche. The logical side of him could fall back on the axiom of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the individual. In that way, he could rationally decide that it was better that he die than all of his friends. But the emotional sentiment of friendship that he felt could also be satisfied as he made the ultimate sacrifice out of love for his friends. It works both ways, and it represents the ultimate in conciliatory moments for Spock. In parallel, there hopefully comes a time in the life of an individual working through depression where they find enough inner strength to serve others as well as work on themselves. What I have found is that the more I put myself out there to help others, the better I feel, and the more balanced my life feels. Spock was able to come to that epiphany at the moment of his greatest sacrifice, and I think that that moment is one of Spock's most relatable in the entire franchise, at least for me...

-The Search for Spock/The Voyage Home/The Final Frontier-

I lump these three films together because old Spock as played by Nimoy gets very little screen time in The Search for Spock, and we're going to see a lot of similar things going on in both The Voyage Home as well as in The Final Frontier. However, I don't want to minimize the outing in The Search for Spock because in terms of our analogy, some pretty big stuff happens. By the end of Search for Spock, Spock has been returned to his former glory physically. His body is restored, but his mind has a great deal of healing to undergo. Life is not without hope, though, and we get that hope via the brief interaction between Spock and Kirk where Spock sort of relives his experiences from the previous films, and remembers to a small extent the relationship that he used to have with Kirk. The saddest part of this whole situation is that the task of filling in the gaps in Spock's post-resurrected mind falls to those pesky Vulcans. They have chosen to suppress their emotion, and as a result, they fail to see the value in embracing them. This leaves Spock in a sort of factory restore mode. All the parts are there, but they're not working the way that they used to, and this is quite evident, especially throughout Voyage Home.

During that film, we see Spock grappling with the person he currently is, and the person he used to be. This is where Spock's evolution as a character becomes especially poignant. You see, even as a person begins to overcome their depression, and get to a more balanced place in life, memories of that former life before depression, assuming that such a time exists, tend to haunt the mind. We long to be that person that we were before the emotional train went off the proverbial rails. I know for me, I found that I liked a lot of what I was before I became sidled with depression. I was a pretty vibrant person with lots of different interests, and the energy to actually pursue those interests. I was decisive, and sometimes even a little brash, and I was pretty self-assured. Not to say that I was in a super great place, but in my mind, I felt like I was at least in a better place than I was as I was working through depression for myself. We see Spock struggling with that conflict in Voyage Home, and also in The Final Frontier. He's been in a place where he understands the kind of balance that can be achieved between logic and emotion, or in the case of our analogy, depression and rationale. He probably understands the benefits from a clinical point of view, but though the heart is willing, the mind has not yet reached a point where it's capable of operating in the same ways that it once did.

We see this in Voyage Home as Spock tries to understand the significance of, and employ in his own language those 'colorful metaphors'. We also see this struggle manifest itself in the form of Spock forgetting how to lie. We see him going through life kind of robotically with flashes of emotional insight along the way. Then in Final Frontier, we see him grappling to find the meaning of a camp song with nonsensical lyrics. He struggles to really grasp the meaning and the value of friendship. But, he experiences the possibility of losing a friend as they thwart the efforts of an alien 'god', and he sees the convictions that can sprout from emotion through his half-brother, Sybok, and you could say that these experiences are analogous to the little experiences, had over time, that can help those struggling with depression to work through that depression. You experience little victories, and you learn to take great satisfaction in these little victories, and that helps to bolster self-confidence, and that in turn helps the rationale balance better with the emotional. That's why by the end of Final Frontier, Spock has more thoroughly come to terms with the way in which he exists, and the way in which his emotions fit with his livelihood.

-The Undiscovered County-

Undiscovered Country sees the culmination of Spock's rebirth into a being that learned to master his emotions, and as far as our analogy is concerned, it lays the groundwork for what it means to cope with depression. Spock has reached a point by this movie where he's more comfortable with himself, especially where his illogical emotions are concerned, and he's more comfortable in sharing those emotions with those around him. We see a Spock who is really self-assured, and who's extremely empathetic to those around him. He's learned the value of logic in guiding discipline, but he's also come to terms with the fact that logic is insufficient in the pursuit of self-determination. At this point, Spock has learned the value of his emotions in taking leaps beyond logic as well as the value in imagination in expanding his intellectual horizons. All of this culminates in Spock's off color comment at the end of the film, as well as his undeniable tendency towards a 'zen' perspective as a result of the reconciliation of intellect and emotion. For purposes of our analogy, this is the point that everyone dealing with depression hopes to reach. It's a point where mastery of depression allows a person to lead a mostly fruitful life, a life where they can pursue their interests and where they can actually be passionate about things, and a life where they can appreciate the day-to-day, just as Spock had done by this point.

What's the point of this particular exercise? There are a ton of people out there who deal with depression everyday. Their struggle is typically private, and unseen. These people don't get the luxury of a lot of understanding from their peers who don't understand what the struggle is actually like. You may also have noticed that I haven't alluded to ever actually overcoming depression. That's quite intentional. There never really comes a point when anyone struggling with depression is ever actually cured of it. It's a struggle that tends to continue everyday for life. It's a struggle that takes courage and resolve to deal with on a daily basis. The lives of those who struggle can be made infinitely more bearable with a little understanding from the people around them. So I guess the moral of the story is, everything that I've ever needed to know about life, I learned from Star Trek, and try to be kind to the people around you because they're bravely struggling in ways that you probably can't see, and that you probably wouldn't quite be able to grasp. Oh, and stick around for next week! We're gonna step in some serious stuff! Should be fun!

Taking a Wild Detour: Fried Green Tomatoes

We've been on quite the roll here on Critical Mass the last little while and I don't see that slowing any time soon. However, a lot of the time, my topics each week are informed by the things happening to me in the real world. Recently, I added strength training to my exercise regime so that I could start to tone myself into a somewhat less flabby nerd. As a result, I've been drinking protein shakes with creatine in them, and using apps that feature men who look like they've been chiseled from solid granite. I felt like after all that brotein and physical punishment, it might be nice to get back in touch with my sensitive side a bit a look at a film that has become a classic over the years, and that takes the idea of a 'chick flick' and kind of turns it on its ear. Fried Green Tomatoes also happens to be one of my all time favorite movies simply because it defies expectations so well so let's take a look at a gem of a classic. Here's Fried Green Tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes centers on Evelyn Couch, who is a timid, and miserable housewife in her forties. Evelyn's husband Ed has an aunt in a nursing home in Anderson, Alabama that the couple go to visit on holidays. The aunt hates Evelyn, and isn't shy in showing so Evelyn finds herself hanging around the common area, which is where she meets Ninny Threadgoode. Ninny moved into the nursing home when her dear friend, Miss Otis needed to have more structured supervision, and now Ninny is just kind of biding her time until Miss Otis takes the deep sleep so that Ninny can finally go home. It's in this context that Ninny sees Evelyn sitting alone, and lonely in the common area, and strikes up a conversation. It's all fun and games at first, but then Ninny starts to talk about murder, and at that point, Evelyn is hooked. It's this frame story, and this relationship between Evelyn and Ninny that serves as the backbone of the film. Evelyn starts visiting Ninny more often, weekly in a lot of cases in order to hear more of the story behind Ninny's home town, Whistle Stop.

The framed story is a period story set just after the end of World War I, and it primarily revolves around Ninny's sister-in-law Idgie Threadgoode. Idgie is a tomboy, and an ornery one at that, but she's got a soft spot in her heart for her charming older brother Buddy who is the focus of infatuation for pretty much every young girl in town. The period story starts off when an older Threadgoode sibling gets married. Idgie threatens to ruin the whole affair, Buddy defuses the situation, and in the process, we're introduced to Ruth Jamison, Buddy's girlfriend. It's all pretty charming until Ruth's hat gets blown onto some train tracks. Buddy goes to retrieve it and decides to do some showboating in the process. However, his boot becomes stuck as a train is barreling down the tracks towards him, and the worst happens. Buddy dies, and Idgie removes herself from civilized culture pretty much completely.

Years pass, and Idgie falls in with the riffraff of the town. She's always boozing, and gambling and making a ruckus, and her mother has run out of ideas on how to draw Idgie back into civilized society. Enter Ruth, who Idgie's mother invites down for a summer to try and befriend Idgie. I suppose the reasoning is that since Ruth was also close to Buddy, Ruth might better understand how Idgie is feeling and maybe that could help Idgie towards a breakthrough. Ruth finds Idgie at the local watering hole, and attempts the tough love approach. Unfortunately, Idgie is super stubborn, and after a verbal altercation that saw Idgie actually in a car ready to leave, Idgie cuts and runs. After failed attempt number one, Ruth takes a different approach. She decides to get to know Idgie on Idgie's terms. To that end, Ruth learns to play poker, tries drinking, plays baseball, and accompanies Idgie on a relief run wherein Idgie hops a freight train and tosses food to the needy living in vagrant camps. It may not have been 100% morally ethical, but Ruth recognizes traits in Idgie that can be worked with.

Over the course of some time, the two women form a deep bond, like sisters. However, all good things and whatnot... Ruth meets a man by the name of Frank Bennett. For those wondering, Frank is in fact the man that was murdered, but we'll get to that. Frank and Ruth marry, and the two move back to his place in Valdosta, Georgia. Idgie misses the wedding, but shows up a time later to catch up. During the visit, Ruth is sullen, and squirrely. With some pressing, Idgie finds out that Frank has been abusing Ruth, and what's more, Ruth is pregnant. Spurned by a love for her friend, Idgie grabs her trusted right hand man, Big George, and another volunteer, and the three return to remove Ruth from her abusive situation. Frank shows up and there are a few tense words exchanged, but Frank, ever the coward, sees the writing on the wall. He still gets his final word though, as he pushes Ruth down the stairs on her way out of the house.

Once Ruth is settled back in Whistle Stop, she and Idgie decide to open a cafe. They naturally call it the Whistle Stop Cafe, and their specialty is fried green tomatoes served fresh all day, and barbecue, which Big George makes exceptionally well. Ruth raises her son, named Buddy Jr after Buddy Threadgoode, by way of community upbringing, which seems kind of weird by today's standard, but from a narrative point-of-view, it really helps to show how closely bonded everyone in this town really was, and how much they were able to reliably depend upon one another. Things are looking good until Frank Bennett shows up one evening to harass the people of Whistle Stop, opting to bring his buddies from the KKK. They whip Big George, but all of that is a distraction so that Frank can sneak a peak of his son. His intention was to kidnap the child, but he's found and aborts this attempt. Everyone is shaken up, but Idgie promises that if Frank ever shows up again, she'll do whatever is necessary to protect Ruth and Buddy.

In the meantime, our frame story between Evelyn and Ninny takes some twists and turns as well. Evelyn sees her marriage eroding and starts taking classes to try and get ahead of the mess. She starts trying to serve Ed more, and be more present in his daily routines at home, but Ed is a dense early 90s man's man who just doesn't get it. He's so absorbed in his football, and baseball, and challenge of the gladiators to notice how unhappy Evelyn has become. She even contemplates serving him dinner wrapped in nothing but cellophane. Evelyn starts menopause, and not knowing, becomes a hormonal basket case. At Ninny's behest, Evelyn gets on some hormone replacement pills, and gets a job with Mary Kay. The new found independence, and hormone replacement sees Evelyn begin to come into her own as an individual. She gains confidence in herself, and starts to stand up for herself more. The ensuing shenanigans are hilarious! Over the course of months, Evelyn, who has seen what's actually left of Whistle Stop, petitions Ed to led Ninny move in with them. Ed resists, but thinks the better of it because Evelyn is holding a hammer.

Back in the period part of the story, Frank Bennett has made another attempt to kidnap Buddy Jr, but at the last minute, he was thwarted by an unseen assailant. This leads to an investigation on the part of one Curtis Smoot, who just can't shut up about how good the barbecue is. The investigation seems to stall as no body is ever recovered, and even Frank's truck has never surfaced, but Smoot is persistent, and during some particularly heavy rainfall, Frank's truck literally surfaces in the local river. Immediately, Idgie is a prime suspect as she had publicly threatened Bennett, and so she and Big George are taken into custody, and transferred to Valdosta to await trial. The trial is goes nowhere really as Smoot still couldn't produce a body, and back in these days, the general rule of thumb was that there could be no murder without a body. The linchpin against the case is Reverend Scroggins, the reverend in Whistle Stop, getting on the stand and testifying under oath that Idgie and Big George were at his church revival the night of the murder. This gets both Idgie and Big George off for the murder, and that's that. Of course, the reverend lied, but he swore his oath on a copy of Moby Dick, and Ruth may have insinuated that in gratitude, Idgie might be persuaded to start attending church.

Years pass and everyone forgets about Frank Bennett. Buddy Jr is around 8 or 9 years old, and in keeping with the cyclical nature of time, there's a tragedy involving a train. Buddy Jr is hit, but only ends up losing an arm. Shortly thereafter, Ruth is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She'd been sick for a while, but asymptomatic. Throughout her decline, Idgie is there to keep her company, and to encourage her to fight her illness. Idgie also takes on a more direct motherly role in Buddy Jr's life as Ruth becomes to ill to even get out of bed. Eventually, Ruth passes away, and with her, so does one of the integral sparks that held Whistle Stop together. Things don't change over night, but slowly, people begin to drift away, and once the train station is closed, the town goes more or less completely under without any means of continued commercial support. It all seems pretty sad, but we know that Ninny and Miss Otis were still living there before they moved to the nursing home so there must have still been some life there for quite some time afterwards.

It's at this point that the frame story and the framed story begin to more closely intersect with one another. Evelyn arrives at the home one day, and Ninny is gone. Distraught, Evelyn tries to find out what happened, and she's initially led to believe that Ninny died. Really, it was Miss Otis who died. Ninny hopped a cab shortly before Evelyn arrived in order to go home. Realizing that Ninny would find the remnants of a ghost town, Evelyn rushes to the town. She finds Ninny sitting in front of what used to be her house. Ninny mourns the loss of her lifelong home as Evelyn suggests that Ninny move in with she and Ed. Once all of that's settled, Evelyn begs Ninny to reveal the identity of the real killer. Ninny recounts a lot of what we saw before, but peppers in details that we missed. For those who wish to avoid 27 year old spoilers, I suggest that you stop reading now! We were led to believe that a vagabond named Smokey Lonesome killed Frank Bennett, and that Idgie covered for him, but in actuality, it was Big George's wife Sipsey. She was soft spoken, but feisty, and always called things how she saw them. We then see Idgie, George, and Sipsey in George's house discussing how they'll never get Sipsey off on the murder of prominent white man. It's at that point that Idgie proclaims that it's time to make some barbecue. Now, the editing and implications here are not for the faint of heart as they insinuate that Big George barbecued the body of Frank Bennett, and Curtis Smoot at it all. It's a shock twist that should make M. Night Shyamalan blush in extreme embarrassment. But it's the kind of twist ending that you would never expect to come out of a 'chick flick'.

The final bit of insinuation is that Idgie is still alive charming bees, and raising Cain. There's even a fresh jar of honey on Ruth's grave to further support the theory. At that point the camera pulls out and  we roll credits. I personally have always wondered if Ninny wasn't Idgie, but there's a lot of evidence to contrary. However, there's just enough evidence to support the theory that I keep it going just for fun.

Can I just say I love this movie! I love everything about this movie! I love the stories, I love the characters, I love the settings, I love the music, and I especially love the twist ending! There's very little to not love about this movie. The characters are dynamic, and well represented, even the side characters are extremely well developed, and interesting to watch on screen. All of the characters are so believable and relatable. The story is a slower burning story, but it's not boring to watch. The narrative does a great job connecting with the viewer on an emotional level, and that keeps you engaged. The idea of using parallel stories to frame the period stuff in a contemporary recounting was a genius idea because that gives us a perfect point-of-view character from which to approach the period stuff. Evelyn becomes an analog for the audience, and we only get to learn what happened back in the day as she does. So her enthusiasm towards the story that Ninny is telling helps us to be enthusiastic about it as well.

The acting in this film is really top notch. Every actor puts in their level best performance whether they were a main or they had one line. I like the way that shots are framed in this film too because the terrain isn't terribly dissimilar to that of the terrain where I grew up, and seeing vistas that remind me of home front and center in beautifully composed shots always makes me a bit wistful for my youth, but in a good way. The score that Thomas Newman did for this film is beyond amazing! It punctuates and highlights the story so perfectly that you'd almost think that Newman also helped to write the script. This is a fantastic movie, and I could praise it all day! I know it's regarded well because it cost $11 million to make, and it made $119 million in the box offices! I wish Hollywood would get their collective heads out of their butts, and go back to making great films like this on budgets that allow for more creative flexibility. But until then, we have movies like this on various digital media sources to enjoy over and over, and I highly recommend that you enjoy this one when you get a chance! And stick around for next week to see what we put under the microscope next!

Celebrating the 1st Anniversary of a Great Zelda Game: Ocarina of Time

Bet you didn't see that coming! What's that you say? You did see that coming? Hmm. Guess I need to work on my material. It was this time last year that I did my own review of the newly released Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild. It was pretty much just first impressions on the game as I hadn't gotten much time with it. Since that time, there have been tons of reviews about BotW everywhere from tech sites to lifestyle magazines. It's been everywhere! Video game review outlets have been giving it perfect scores pretty much across the board, and it's easily the biggest video game phenomenon of last year. I've had plenty of time revel in that universe and explore the secrets of Hyrule that BotW offers, but today is not about that. Today is about what most hardcore Zelda enthusiasts consider one of the benchmarks, if not the pinnacle, of the franchise. It seemed only fitting since it's still way too early for me to do a thorough review of BotW, and Ocarina turns 20 this year. Let's not waste any time. Here's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 

I'm not one to get terribly excited about  things anymore. It's not worth the energy when you've seen as much disappointment as I. Ooh, maybe I should dial back the sarcasm a little. At any rate, I remember Christmas of 1999 pretty well. I was a junior in high school, blink 182 was everywhere, and I woke up Christmas morning and unwrapped possibly one of the best video game related gifts that I have ever received, and my reaction was as follows:

True story. Ocarina had been everywhere since its release the in November of the previous year. Magazines had been hyping it up previous to its release, and those fortunate enough to have gotten it on release day had been bragging about it to me for way longer than was necessary, nor appreciated. I grew up with a single parent and times were always tight, but Christmas of 1999, my mom pulled one of her most amazing hat tricks and scored me a copy of this legendary game and I couldn't have been happier. I had spent over a year ogling the graphics and lustfully listening to friends describe every detail of the game from the story to the mechanics. I was excited about this new cultural phenomenon, and my chance to play it for myself was probably the highest form of personal gratification that I could have hoped for at that time of my life. If this all seems kind of exaggerated, let me put a few things in context for you.

The late 90s were a great time for video gamers, but especially folks who enjoyed certain RPG franchises. In 1995, we got our first truly 3D gaming console in the PlayStation. Then in 1996, Nintendo released its N64 console. Both were wildly different from one another, but each offered its own unique take on gaming that made it a great experience to play. PlayStation banked on bringing a bunch of great Japanese titles States side for Americans to enjoy as well as allowing third party developers to just go wild making whatever game that they could dream up. Nintendo focused on giving the world some great titles based on their in house properties as well as letting some third party developers make some pretty great titles. There was a four year run where if you liked A list RPG video games, you were getting at least as much as you could handle. In 1997, Sony and SquareSoft rocked everyone's world with Final Fantasy VII, which is still considered to be one of the best in a franchise that should have eaten a bullet after 1999. In 1998, Nintendo, not one to be outdone, released Ocarina of Time. Square Enix rebutted with Final Fantasy VIII in 1999. Then both companies finished the century off with huge releases with Square releasing Final Fantasy IX, and Nintendo releasing Majora's Mask.

I mostly watched in contentment from the sidelines as these two juggernauts duked things out, but Ocarina was different. See, the previous title, A Link to the Past, had been released on the Super Nintendo, and was your typical, albeit extremely well crafted top down Zelda. Ocarina represented the first time that Link and company would enter the realm of the third dimension and I'm sure that Nintendo knew that there was a lot riding on this release. Although Zelda was a tried and true brand, the N64 still had some things to prove about itself. Sony had blown away the market with the PlayStation, and its use of optical media made it easier to program on, as well as more capable in releasing bigger games. Nintendo on the other hand, had opted to stick with cartridges. They had slightly more power under the hood of their console, but all of that advantage was offset by the fact that cartridges couldn't hold as much data, and this severely limited the contending power of the N64. Don't get me wrong, Nintendo was rolling in it after the launch of N64. But to achieve real staying power, they needed to show the world that they could make games that could rival what Sony was licensing. I'm sure this mentality was further exacerbated by the fact that two years previous SquareSoft had pulled Nintendo's exclusive rights to Final Fantasy in order to move the Final Fantasy VII project over to the PlayStation. And yeah, gamers were still pretty obsessed with the age old argument over which consoles were the best at this point, but PC master race.

With all of this going on, excitement over this new Zelda title was at a fever pitch. Screenshots in magazines showcased rich textures and colors, amazing items, and hinted at a roller coaster story filled with mystery, intrigue, adventure, and a plethora of emotion. And for all of these reasons, I was extremely excited to play this game. It was definitely a rewarding experience finally finding out what the things was all about. So what is it all about? Well, that gets a little complicated so why don't you kick back for a second and we'll rap. If you care about such things as chronology within a franchise, Ocarina is set before Link to the Past. Link has a dream about a man in black armor pursuing a young girl on horseback. A fairy named Navi awakens Link from his dream and informs him that the Great Deku Tree has requested his presence. Link is a child living with the child-like Kokiri at this point, and he's kind of the outcast as he hadn't until now received a fairy companion, which is something that all Kokiri enjoy. However, Navi joins him, and after a few small side quests, Link visits the Great Deku Tree. The Deku Tree tells Link that a man from the desert seeks to conquer the world and it is Link's job to stop this mad man. The tree then gives Link the Spiritual Stone of the Forest and tells him to go visit Hyrule Castle to speak with the princess.

When Link visits the castle, Zelda tells him that she thinks that Ganondorf is the king of the Gerudo, and that he seeks to control the Triforce. Zelda tells Link that he needs all three of the Spiritual Stones in order to enter the Sacred Realm and claim the Triforce for himself. Link embarks on his newly acquired quest to get the last of the Spiritual Stones. He has to perform further quests to help the leader of the Gorons, and the leader of Zora in order to get the stones, but if you're good enough at the game, he totally does. Link then returns to Hyrule castle and as he does so, he sees Ganondorf chasing Zelda away from the castle. Link tries to stop Ganondorf, but is unsuccessful. After the altercation, Link goes to the Temple of Time where he uses the Ocarina of Time and the Spiritual Stones to enter the Sacred Realm. In the Realm, Link pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal. As he's doing so, Ganondorf shows up and claims the Triforce.

After seven years Link awakens in the Chamber of Sages, a special area of the Sacred Realm where the protectors of the Sacred Realm reside. There a sage named Rauru tells Link that he (Link) was sealed up for seven years so that he could be physically matured enough to actually wield the Master Sword and defeat Ganondorf, who at this point has pretty much taken over Hyrule. Afterwards, Link is returned to the Temple of Time where Sheik, a mysterious warrior, delivers some more exposition. She tells Link that there are five Sages who don't even know that they're sages and that Link needs to complete five temples in order to awaken them so that the sages can help seal Ganondorf up in a prison in the Dark Realm. The five sages end up being people whom Link met when he was a child. The Forest Sage is Saria, one of Link's childhood friends, the Water Sage is Ruto whom Link met whilst getting the Spiritual Stone of Water, and to whom Link casually betrothed himself (It's a long story), the Fire Sage is Darunia, whom Link met when getting the Spiritual Stone of Fire, the Spirit Sage is Nabooru, the second-in-command to the leader of Gerudo, and the Shadow Sage is Impa, Zelda's caretaker. Once Link has awakened all of these sages, Sheik reveals herself to be Zelda, and Zelda is the seventh Sage. Zelda tells Link that when Ganondorf attempted to take the Triforce, his heart and mind were unbalanced and as a result, he only got the Triforce of Power. Zelda ended up getting the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link the Triforce of Courage. This splitting of the Triforce brought balance to the power of the artifact.

At that point, Ganondorf appears and kidnaps Zelda. It's up to Link to infiltrate Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganondorf, which he does with the help of the other sages. However, knowing defeat is imminent, Ganondorf attempts to kill Zelda and Link by destroying Hyrule Castle. Link and Zelda escape, but shortly after Ganondorf emerges from the rubble, knocks the Master Sword from Link's hand and using the Triforce of Power, transforms into a pig like creature named Ganon. There's another battle, which Link eventually wins as Zelda assists him in retrieving the Master Sword. Once Ganon is defeated, the sages lock him away in the Dark Realm, but Ganondorf swears revenge even as he's still holding the Triforce of Power. I guess they should have frisked him first and removed any dangerous weapons before throwing him in the brig. Anyway, Zelda uses her Ocarina of Time to return Link to his childhood. After arriving back to day one, Navi leaves Link, and Link, knowing that he's not actually a Kokiri goes to Hyrule Castle garden to meed Zelda. There's a touching moment where Link realizes that he remembers everything, but in that moment all is right, and then roll credits.

That's a really basic summary of the story of Ocarina of Time. So, what makes this game so enduring with fans? I think first and foremost is how the story was handled. It's very similar to the story line of previous games, but there are enough new and well-executed story elements that it takes something that's already been done, and makes it new and fresh again. Second, as with just about any Zelda game, the world is immersive and tremendously fun to explore. It's not the biggest world ever created for a Zelda game, but it is big, and it was the biggest at the time, and golly is it big. Even today, it still feels grand and epic in scale. Speaking of exploration, there was so much to do in this game! Besides the main quest, you had myriad side quests that you could enjoy. Some of these side quests resulted in getting vital items to help you progress through the game, and some gave you optional items that just made things a little easier on you, but no matter the payoff, they were all really fun to do, and they added hours of extra game play that allowed you to more fully enjoy the world that had been created. Of course, no experience would be nearly as memorable if not for great characters to populate the world, and there were some great characters in this game! From Talon, owner of Lon Lon Ranch to the guy who challenges you to a foot race that seems unbeatable, to the mask shop owner who sends you on a roundabout quest to get all of the masks, the characters are varied in type and personality, and for the most part, they're a lot of fun to interact with.

I decided to revisit the game in preparation for this article, and I can honestly say that I had forgotten how addictive it can be under the right circumstances. I started at around 11 pm, and didn't stop playing until about 1 pm. Two hours isn't much time, but it's a pretty good stretch for me. I've been playing via the virtual console on the Wii, and it does take a little time getting used to the change in controller schemes, but once you make the adjustment, it's pretty fun. I was a little miffed that I kept wasting items trying to use the second joystick to move the camera. I had to keep reminding myself that when this came out, free moving camera angles were really hard to accomplish in a game! But I have to say, although I have much more to accomplish in BotW, I've literally reached the hard mode portion of the game, and that's slowed my progress. Also, we're not removed enough time wise for me to revisit it just yet. However, Ocarina really has helped to curb some of that disappointment I've felt that my first BotW experience is over. I love the world of BotW in all its sweeping grandeur, and I thought that I would just have to play that game again to experience all of those feelings, but Ocarina really does give you those same feelings of awe and excitement even 20 years later.

This is a game that is as challenging as it is fun! You'll encounter puzzles and battles that will push you to the limits of your gaming skills and beyond. For every fairly easy battle that you fight with an aspect of Ganondorf, there's a Dark Link battle. For every puzzle that you figure out fairly quickly, there's a Water Temple, and for every main quest item grab that you finish in a reasonable amount of time, there are plenty of obscure quests that will task you to complete them, no matter how long it takes! This game offers such varied game play, environments, and characters that it's no wonder many call it the best of the series. I'm not going there personally. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and honestly, I haven't played through enough of the games to weigh in conclusively. It is, however, my favorite, and it's a real testament to the game's staying power that even 20 years later, I can still enjoy it as much as I did when I was in high school. The game has been re-released several times over the years, and although it might be a bit pricey to get into it, it's definitely worth the cost! You might even be able to get it pretty cheap if you've got a Wii-U since I think you can still buy things off the virtual console for that system. At any rate, if you enjoy challenging video games with complex and rich narratives, vibrant world settings, and memorable characters, this is a game that you need to add to your playlist. You will not be disappointed! Enjoy your week, play the game, and stick around to see what we step in next week!

A Complicated Review: Star Trek Nemesis

I've had an interesting relationship with Star Trek Nemesis since its release in 2002. A lot of that has to do with the circumstances of my own life at the time. The year 2002 was the year that I left to serve a two year church mission during which time, I would voluntarily abstain from doing certain things, which included watching movies. That summer, I got my fill as I prepared for this personal journey. My beloved friend and I somehow found out that a teaser for Nemesis would be included with The Time Machine, not that we really needed an excuse to go see that film, but it definitely helped in the decision making process. That summer, anticipation was high. I had really enjoyed Insurrection, and I was really looking forward to eventually seeing what Nemesis did to build on that mythology. December rolled around, and I got the score for the movie. It was dark, brooding, atmospheric, and not a single bit like what I had expected based on the score for Insurrection. The previous film was lighter, had more soothing cues, and juxtaposed all of that with some darker movements. Intrigued, I decided to pick up the novelization and read that with what little free time I did have. It was a quick read, and pretty enjoyable. It didn't give me the full picture as to what was really going on with this new film, but it did give me a vague general idea.

Sixteen long months later, I returned home from that personal journey of service, and with said beloved friend, sat down one afternoon to finally experience the glory of Star Trek Nemesis. It opened with those dark mysterious tones, and that font that screams conspiracy, and I was thinking that this was going to be a truly memorable experience. And was it ever, but not necessarily for the reasons I was hoping. Everything started off fine, but suddenly, there was Picard acting juvenile and boisterous, making jokes on the bridge, the bridge, and I saw a film that lacked quite a bit of energy. Thus began a strained relationship with a film from a franchise that I loved. I found a lot of flaws with this film too. They were egregious to boot! I would often pander the out-of-character lines that each character had to parrot on screen, the poor pacing, and lackluster ending. It was tumultuous, and it lasted for years. But, with age comes wisdom, and hopefully, a tempering of passions, and so begins the tale of how the underdog film of my favorite franchise won me over.

Actually, it's a short tale. I never hated it enough to never watch it so anytime that I would do a marathon, it was always in the mix. I've seen a few dozen times at least. I've not ever refused to sit through it, and I I've always tried to not make too big of a stink during viewings. I'd say over the years, it's grown to be mostly an apathetic take on this movie. However, one night within the last month, I was doing a ritual marathon of the Prime universe films, and I popped in Nemesis, and it was a completely different experience. I'm going to blame it on the 4k TV that we got for Christmas, but for the first time in ever, I was able to see some real artistry in this movie that I had previously disliked so much. I started to notice some nuance in the way that Picard's facial expressions were portrayed, I saw some create framing of shots in areas that had previously seemed pretty mundane, and I even started to see why it was that old Picard was acting in such a garish manner. He was probably intoxicated at an event that celebrated two of his dearest friends, and he was probably also working to reconcile with some major changes in his own life. 

I'll be brief on the synopsis since I know my audience pretty well. The gist is that on Romulus, a Reman named Shinzon has conspired certain Romulan senators to carry out a political coup and sieze the praetor position. Meanwhile, Riker and Troi finally tie the knot. On the crew's way to Betazed, they pick up some positronic energy signatures on a planet so turtle heads. They go the planet, gather pieces of an android like Data, and then reassemble said android, which as it turns out, it supposedly a prototype to the make of android that Data was eventually developed into. Around the time that the prototype comes online, Picard receives orders that Enterprise has been invited to Romulus for peace negotiations. The crew go to Romulus for said negotiations only to find out that the new praetor who invited them is Picard's clone. Picard is now shaken by the fact that someone just arbitrarily used his DNA to clone him. The whole thing stinks, but any opportunity for peace is too important to pass up. Shinzon and Picard have a philosophical discussion about nurture versus nature. We find out that Shinzon's little scheme worked really well because he had the support of the military and also that he has a degenerative disease that is killing him. We also find out that the android had been programmed to steal vital information from the computer banks of the Enterprise. Tragic backstory... Awkward Picard academy photo... Mind rape... Awkward mind rape. A revelation that the Reman ship employs copious amounts of extremely deadly radioactive material. Shinzon kidnaps Picard in order to perform a full blood transfusion in order to save himself (Shinzon) from the disease that's killing him (Shinzon). But wait! Picard and Data discovered the treachery behind the prototype and pulled a switcharoo! Data doing the Vulcan nerve pinch and introducing the MacGuffin of the film. A daring escape via a really nifty looking fighter ship. Shinzon cloaks and leaves in a huff and Enterprise flies off in pursuit. We finally find out that Shinzon pretty much just aims to destroy Earth to destabilize Starfleet and the Federation, but also because he's butt hurt over how hard his own life was compared to Picard's. Talk about Shinzon's potential plans by the heroes. Preparations for battle. Shinzon is getting sicker. Aw man, there's a nebula in the way of our course that will cut off communications with the rest of the fleet! Ambush! An, honestly, really sweet space battle. A failed attempt to play to Shinzon's humanity. Surprise back up in the form of Shinzon's former co-conspirator in a freakin sweet Warbird! Mind rape revenge... The Enterprise gets boarded. Riker and Shinzon's lackey have a fight so more mind rape revenge! Troi crashes the ship... again... Shinzon decides to set off his doomsday MacGuffin right then and there in order to destroy the Enterprise. Picard beams over to stop the madness. Data takes the old fashioned train via open space in order to assist. Picard and Shinzon get into a tense fight, and Shinzon is killed, but Picard has no way to survive destroying the doomsday MacGuffin. Enter Data, who uses his previously introduced MacGuffin to save Picard and make the ultimate sacrifice. To absent friends... An homage to The Motion Picture. Riker and Picard part ways for the first time in 15 years. Another Data MacGuffin, but a glimmer of hope nevertheless. Another Motion Picture homage of sorts and roll credits.

Okay, that wasn't nearly as brief as I had anticipated. But that is the gist of the film. Now, the things that Stuart Baird did well, he did pretty darn well. The movie is a little on the slower paced side, but it is kind of a mystery film so I suppose I should cut it some slack there. Like I said, for someone with only editorial experience previous to this project, Baird is able to frame up shots in some pretty interesting ways. He also didn't constrain himself to traditional lighting which works sometimes, and sometimes not. John Logan is not my favorite writer in Hollywood. He made some poor dialog choices in this film, and I'm sticking by that assessment. There are just some lines that a little too out of character for the characters presenting them and every time one of those lines is said, it takes me right out of the movie. I liked a lot of the prop design for this film. The toys would have been amazing had a licensing agreement extended to such things because these props were pretty sweet. I also like the starship design for this film. The Scimitar is an imposing ship to look at, and the Valdore as a follow-up to the D'Deridex is a great design. John Eaves got to go back and add a great bit of detail to the Enterprise as it was built up as a digital model for this film, and he did a great job, and Baird must have loved it because he get intimate with is a lot. I'm not kidding. Some of the beauty shots of the ship are practically pornographic! Take a watch, you'll understand. Lastly, Jerry Goldsmith delivers another good score. It's not my favorite from him, but he captures the tone of the film extremely well with his music, and it highlights the film beautifully.

The things that didn't work for me is a list that tends to shrink over the years, but there are a few things that really stick in my craw. First, by the time we get to Picard's 'Mr. Troi' joke, I am done with jovial Picard. It just pushes the whole bit way too far for me to stay on board. Second, the lighting filter that they used for the turtle head planet is awful. I know that Baird was trying to make it look alien, but it's just too harsh. It washes out the color, and it literally hurts my eyes, especially on a UHD TV. Third, I don't like what they did with Gates' makeup design. I'm about to get a tiny bit shallow here, but I had a TV crush on Crusher for a long time, and the way that the makeup team did her makeup always highlighted her natural beauty and radiance. The team on Nemesis made her look frail, old and frumpy and I don't like it one bit. I get that she was getting older, but they made her up to look practically necrotic, and it was such a waste of beautiful person. Lastly, I don't particularly like Shinzon's motivation, or lack thereof depending on the moment. It's very inconsistent throughout the movie. At one point, he just wants to meet Picard, then he wants to use Picard's blood to save his own life. Okay, I can get on board with that. But his drive stems from wanting to make the Remans equal to the Romulans until it doesn't and when it doesn't, it stems from wanting to destroy everything that Picard loves because Picard had an easier life that Shinzon. He's all over the map. I didn't particularly like how Nero's motivation played out in the 2009 film, but at least he was consistent about it. I really feel like Shinzon could have been a much better character if he'd been better honed.

Believe it or not, that's all I have. Now I will say that the Next Generation films suffered a bit by comparison to the Original Series movies. I realized that part of that is because even if the films were not directly related, whether is was a good film:

Or a bad one:

There was always a little something holding the mythology together. Most prominently in the TOS films, it was the character arc that they put Spock on. However, Kirk and McCoy and even the rest of the crew got some development that spanned all of the movies and that helped to tie everything together a bit. The TNG films have a little of that with a Data growth arc, but no one else really gets an arc that spans beyond a single film. Also, Data's arc by the end seems forced and contrived. I realize that Spiner felt like he was getting too old to play the role, but if 2018 me could time travel, I would totally go back and inform him that by 2016, we'd have the ability for him to realistically look 20 forever in any movie he made. I think killing the character was a wasted moment with inadequate build up. 

I don't think that this film deserves the red headed step child treatment that it garners. It is technically the lowest grossing film in the franchise, but I'd like to put that in perspective a bit:

That is terrible competition against which to pit a Star Trek film! Star Trek is great and I love it so hard, but it is never going to be the kind of mass appeal blockbuster money maker that Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings became. NEVER. It will always have its cult following, and those fans will, for the most part, stay pretty passionate about the franchise, but whoever thought that Nemesis could realistically compete with the two highest grossing franchises of the 2000s was nuts. I really think that's sad too because my biggest disappointment with this movie is that it left so much unfinished for me. Yes, there was a way for Data to return, and yes, the crew were still mostly where they had been for 15 previous so exploring what becomes of this beloved cast seems like something that someone would have pushed for a bit harder. Too much time has passed now, but I dream of one day experiencing the universe where the TNG cast got the theatrical send off that they earned.

All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone who's looking to get really into Star Trek. If you want to be come the uber Trekkie, this is a must see. It's not Trek at its finest, but it's also not Trek at its worst. It puts forth a satisfactory effort that will entertain, and there are quite a few nuanced tidbits to discover through subsequent viewings. It's available to watch on most streaming services in HD and I'd definitely say that if you've got some free time soon, give it a watch! Stick around! Next week we're going to take a look at a special subject to coincide with a special anniversary!