Star Trek First Contact: A Retrospective

Not too long ago, I did an article about Galaxy Quest where I briefly discussed the wonders of being a Star Trek fan back in those days. We've completed a few side quests since then, but today, I find myself drawn back to that time when I was younger, the world seemed more full of wonder and possibility, and Star Trek ignited a passion within me that seemed unquenchable. I'm glad that over time, I have learned to temper my passions somewhat, and learned wisdom that has helped me to grow into a pretty decent specimen of the human race, but those days of unbridled enthusiasm will always be looked upon with fondness. It seems only fair that if I'm going to review Galaxy Quest, then I should also review Star Trek: First Contact. They came out around the same time, although Insurrection actually came out just one year prior to Galaxy Quest. I still lump First Contact in with that particular era of Trek history. Let's take a look at why, and see how it's held up over the years.

I have to admit, for as much as I love Star Trek, I did not get a chance to see many of the Prime Universe films when they originally debuted in theaters. Apocryphally, I may or may not have seen The Voyage Home while living in Alaska as the theater there showed it during some off time from the recent releases. However, other than that, I only got a chance to see First Contact on the big screen when it debuted. Throughout most of the original Trek movie run, I was too young to make the decision autonomously as to when and what I wanted to go see in theaters. By the time I was a teen, First Contact was coming out, and I saw it twice in theaters when it did. Insurrection got so little marketing that I had no idea that it had even come out until I got the VHS as a gift after the fact, and a church mission prohibited me from seeing Nemesis when it was released. It's pretty tragic, but for the first half of my life, my love of Star Trek was almost exclusively fueled by the shows.

The stage for the release of First Contact was really a sight to behold. This movie really represents both Star Trek, and Paramount at their symbiotic prime. There were very few facets of marketing that weren't utilized to promote the film in the lead up to release day, and the effects of the film would reach beyond the big screen realm of Star Trek's mythology somewhat as well. The year was 1996. I turned 13 that year, and my passion for Star Trek was running pretty high. I had watched Next Generation since age four on and off, and had gotten into the collectible market of Star Trek not too long before the release of First Contact. The year 1996 was also the year that I discovered Deeps Space Nine, although it would be a few more years before I really got a chance to dig into that one further, and Voyager was barely a blip on my radar because my fascist, oppressive parents still insisted on an 8 PM bed time, gosh! And yeah, hormones had officially become a thing too. Ah the wonders of puberty, or jak'tahla as we Trekkies would put it.

Fundamental changes were coming in my life that would affect my relationship with Star Trek in some pretty monumental ways. My father lost his job where we were living and it was decided that we were going to move to Utah to be closer to where my parent both grew up. What this meant in terms of KC's Trek fix was that I was to live under my Grandma Liz's roof, and she allowed me probably way more autonomy than I needed at age 13. She also put a TV in my room. Now I could tune in every night and watch the adventures of Sisko, and Janeway as one of the Salt Lake City affiliates showed DS9 and Voyager back-to-back every week night. My exposure to, and understanding of the Trek universe began to grow, and I got to see some fantastic adventures set in portions of the Trek universe that had previously been unexplored by me. Consequently, my Grandma Liz managed a 7-Eleven and through that connection, I learned of the officially licensed Star Trek magazines, which I began buying with my allowance in order to get more Star Trek in my life.

It was around September of that year that things really started to ramp up for First Contact, and for Star Trek in general. TV Guide ran an issue previewing the film, which I dutifully picked up, and of course, Paramount threw the 30th anniversary celebration that was broadcast for the world to see. My grandparents and my father had left me alone for the weekend, and I taped the whole thing, and then watched it at least three times over the weekend just to revel in the excitement of it all! Also, I had no life. Of course, there were a few behind the scenes previews as well as trailers that ran during commercial breaks for First Contact, and I remember being really excited for this new film. Everything looked updated for our hip, cool times. Not to say that TNG, DS9, or VOY didn't look really cool, but suddenly we had darker toned, more muted uniforms, and more darkly lit, moodier sets, and the Borg just looked awesome! It really seemed like Star Trek was about to begin a bold new chapter, and that it could do no wrong.

I had a couple of friends who lived down the street who were also Star Trek fans. I told them that my dad would totally take us to see it. I don't remember if that's how things worked out exactly, but I do know that I went with my dad to see it. Man was it glorious! Let's recap a bit for the uninitiated among you. The Borg were introduced in season 2 of TNG as the ultimate enigma plot device/nemesis. They represented the antithesis of everything for which the naive Federation stood. The Federation values individuality and autonomy, and a person's sovereign right to pursue their own path, and on flip side of that, the Borg forcefully cast aside individuality and autonomy in favor of a collective existence. The Borg decimate planets and assimilate billions in the pursuit of attaining perfection, and the control that they gain as a result is a fringe benefit. There had been a number of Borg episodes during the run of TNG that had explored those themes of the importance of individuality, and the dangers of social homogenization, in this case the forcing thereof upon a populace. In First Contact, we were going to be getting an updated, more menacing look into the Borg, and the way that they exist.

The Borg ultimately attempt to invade Earth and assimilate most of humanity in season 3 of TNG. However, the gallant crew of the Enterprise stop them. I guess they held a grudge though because after First Contact opens with one of the coolest long action shots in cinematic history, and one of the most fun fake out moments in Trek history, Picard gets into a conversation with one Admiral Hayes who informs him that the Borg are headed for Earth again. It's just one cube, and Hayes seems confident that Starfleet will be able to fend off the attack as they've now got some super cool and powerful starships which they built after the first Borg attack. There's a scene in the new observation lounge where our beloved crew discuss the goings on within Federation space, and how they're totally ready to go kick some Borg booty, only to be told by Picard that they wouldn't actually be going to help, but instead would be left to patrol the Romulan neutral zone lest those pesky Romulans decide to take advantage of the situation. Next, there's a scene between Picard and Riker where we find out that the reason that Enterprise is being sidelined is because of Picard having already been assimilated once before. Starfleet feels that putting Picard in a position where he could be assimilated again would put him, his crew, and his ship in a compromising situation.

Picard and Riker return to the bridge and tune into the action like it's the Friday night fight only to hear that things are going dreadfully bad for the fleet defending Earth. Picard begins hearing the whispers of the collective and orders the channel closed. He makes the obligatory declaration that he's going to disobey orders, and asks if there are any objections, and then when everyone agrees to break protocol, they warp off to Earth. When they arrive, they chaos and disarray of battle are tremendous, and this scene is extremely cool! There are new ships flying all over the place, but we get a beautiful close up of the Defiant as commanded by our favorite turtle head, Worf. She's badly damaged, and the Enterprise swoops in just as the killing blow would have been dealt, and beams all of the Defiant's surviving crew to Enterprise. There are a lot of really effective, fast moving close angle shots to keep the action tight and chaotic, and the Millennium Falcon gets blown up off screen. That's totally true by the way. Look it up. However, Picard is still tapped into the web of instant communication that the Borg use, and he learns of their weakness. He orders all of the ships in the fleet to target a specific area, and fire everything. They all do, and the Borg cube explodes in glorious conflagration! However, as the ship is dying, a smaller, spherical ship emerges.

Picard orders the Enterprise to pursue, and as they do, a wake of energy surrounds the sphere and the Enterprise. The two ships blink out of existence momentarily, and then reappear in orbit around Earth, but we're told that the Borg are attempting to go backwards in time and destroy Earth while it was still weak so we know that it's the past when the two ships reemerge from the time energy vortex. Having arrived just before, the sphere is firing on the planet. Picard orders Data to destroy that ship, which Data does with extreme prejudice. Crisis averted, Picard then asks Data to find out exactly when the Enterprise has emerged from a time energy vortex. Turns out it's April 2063. There's some exposition about World War 3, and how many people lost their lives in that war, and how that's a good time for the Borg to attack since Earth's governments are practically non-existent, and so there wouldn't really be any resistance. After figuring out where the Borg were shooting, our crew of walking encyclopedias realize that the Borg might have been trying to stop first contact between humans and the Vulcans. It's at this point that Picard decides that he, Data, and Crusher need to go down to the surface to make sure that the Borg haven't fatally crippled the ship that would change history.

On the surface, they find that the warp ship is leaking fuel and will require fairly extensive repairs. Also, Data bumps into a woman who needs medical attention. Picard orders the team beamed back to the ship. There's to be a swap as Riker, Troi, LaForge, and good old Broccoli beam down to repair the ship and find Zephram Cochrane, the man who would make history. Sidebar: We've already seen Zeke in the Trek mythos in the episode "Metamorphosis" of the Original Series. In this episode, he's a bit of a boy scout being tended to by a lonely energy being on a backwards, out of the way planet where he's been granted essential immortality. I guess you could say that Picard's impression of Cochrane was based on a log he ran across concerning Cochrane. This will be important in just a bit. Back on Enterprise, Picard asks for a quick brief of the situation and it would appear that certain systems have begun to go haywire, especially environmental controls, and when Picard hears the exact settings, he realizes that the Borg are not out of the fight just yet. Apparently, the beamed over to Enterprise just before their sphere was destroyed, and not they're converting the Enterprise for their own purposes. This point is driven home as Crusher is treating the primitive Earthling, and the Borg begin to beat the doors down. Everyone is moved in a hurry, and in the commotion, the woman from the 21st century, Lily, gets separated from the group.

Back on the surface, Riker finds Troi sitting at a bar looking morose. There's some banter and Riker accuses her of having had a snootful. It's at this point that we finally get to meet the fabled Zephram Cochrane. It's actually quite humorous, and the figure to which we're introduced is a far cry from the giant of a man that we're to have believed Cochrane to be. Turns out, he's a depressed, angry, raging alcoholic with an astronomical IQ, and an attitude to match.He loves classic rock, and hates people turning off his music. Riker is going to spend the bulk of the second act trying to convince Cochrane that he needs to take his trip as planned. To convince him to do so, Riker just lays out all of his cards. This culminates in LaForge showing Cochrane the Enterprise through a telescope. Marginally convinced, Cochrane at least agrees to assist in the repairs of the ship.Speaking of ships, when we cut back to the Enterprise, Picard and company have decided that they're going to nip their Borg problem in the bud by invading engineering. They take a team down, phasers are fired, Borg are indeed destroyed, people are assimilated, and Data gets kidnapped. Picard orders a retreat, and gets separated from the group, which as it turns out, is kind of prevalent theme in this movie. They apparently missed the suggestion that says, "Never split the party!"

But, in getting separated, Picard stumbles upon Lily, who steals his phaser. She understandably demands an explanation as to what's going on, and Picard promises her just that. Picard takes her to a place where a view port can be opened so that he can show her that they're orbiting the Earth. She's shaken by the revelation of her location and the technology that exists due to her efforts and those of Cochrane. Peace is made between the two of them, and Picard promises her that he'll get her back to Earth. They have to make a detour though. Picard needs information as well, and he knows just how to get it. We find the two not too long after in the holodeck. They're running Picard's Dixon Hill program, and the noir ambiance is a lot of fun. Picard has lured a couple of Borg into the holodeck with them, and once the opportunity presents itself, he uses a gun from the holonovel to strike the two Borg drones down! Why did he need to do this? Why to get the chip out of one of the drones that would tell him all of the orders that the drone had received. We're back to Earth and Cochrane is having a difficult time dealing with all of the attention that he's been receiving from the Enterprise crew. It's actually a really deep way to portray the character because we're given the impression that Cochrane, who is still trying to find his own identity, just doesn't feel worthy of the praise and adoration that he's been receiving from people who are three hundred years removed from when he lived, plain and simple. The whole situation just makes Cochrane extremely uncomfortable because he's not yet become this amazing giant of a man that everyone has come to love and adore. So he tries to run away... Riker shoots him with a phaser though so it's cool.

We're now back on the ship, and Picard and Lily have rejoined the rest of the main cast on the bridge. Picard finally tells us what was so danged important that he had to waste those Borg with a Tommy gun, and that is that the Borg are building a technobabble deus ex machina onto the deflector dish of the ship! Seriously though, they're attempting to build a device onto the dish that would let them contact their counterparts that are still trawling the Delta Quadrant in the 21st century. That's bad. Because that's bad, Picard, Worf, and the redshirt who is actually wearing a red shirt have to go out onto the hull of the ship in suits and stop the Borg from completing their plot device. They do so, and it's actually a pretty intense scene as the three of them have to jump through several plot hoops to do the thing. Hawk, our literal redshirt gets attacked and we lose track of him. Worf gets attacked, but by this time, the Borg have adapted to their phasers and so Worf just whips out a big stinking knife and slashes that Borg to bits, but his suit is damaged in the process and starts bleeding atmosphere. Picard is also attacked, but manages to do the thing before he is. He then shoots something that makes gas spew out, and demagnetizes his boots so that he can float over to where Hawk had previously not finished doing the thing. Picard does the thing and just as he's finishing, a Borg grabs him! It's okay though. Worf shoots the Borg. Oh yeah, Worf was in the opening roster, he's totally surviving this movie. Doing the things with the things makes part of the deflector dish rise up off the ship a ways, and Picard shoots the pole that extends out to separate that part of the dish from the rest of the ship. Worf says one of the cheesiest one liners in Star Trek history and then shoots the remnant of the dish, obliterating it!

It needs to be said that throughout this, we get a few scenes where we get to see what Data has been up to all this time. These scenes are monumentally pivotal as they fundamentally change the Borg mythology forever. We find out that contrary to popular belief, there is one mind guiding the Borg in the form of a queen. Yeah, we're totally going all in on the bee/ant analogy. The queen is trying to tempt Data into joining their cause because she needs the access codes to the main computer core that Data had previously encrypted in order to finish her take over of the Enterprise. It's pretty well played as she offers Data something that only the Borg could give him, and that he's longed for since day one of the show's premiere: the chance to seem fully human. Up to this point, Data had been a clumsy looking facsimile of a human being. He has golden hued, synthetic looking skin. He doesn't understand emotion, and all he longs for is to be more like the humans that he's come to admire. The emotion thing was solved in the previous film where he had LaForge install the emotion chip that Dr. Soong, Data's creator had made. However, the natural skin thing is a conundrum that I'm sure would have taken at least several more decades to solve. But here are the Borg grafting organic skin onto Data's chassis, and offering to bring him closer to being human than he could ever have imagined. It turns out the real reason behind this is that the queen wants a more human counterpart that can meet humans on their own level to 'prepare' them for assimilation a bit in order to make that process more manageable. We find out that this was the original intention behind Picard's assimilation as well.

Speaking of, we find out that the Borg are systematically overrunning the entire ship, and that the phaser rifles are doing jack and squat against the drones at this point. Crusher suggests that they order everyone to evacuate the ship, and then destruct it. Worf seems to think that's a pretty good idea as well. Picard gives him one of the best tongue lashings in all of Star Trek, and Worf comes back with one of the best retorts in all of Star Trek. Picard stalks off to his ready room to pout and see about modifying the phasers to make them effective again. Lily is confused by the exchange and forcibly inserts herself into Picard's pity party. She reads him as easily and as quickly as a cheap harlequin romance novel, and they swap insights as Picard grows to learn that not even he is above the banal instincts for retribution. He has a moment where he comes to his senses, and goes back to the bridge to apologize to Worf and start the auto-destruct sequence. The crew begin evacuating, but Picard has some unfinished business he needs to take care of. Meanwhile, Cochrane has begun to come to terms with the hero worship that awaits him. He and Riker have a discussion wherein Cochrane reveals his true motivations behind inventing warp drive, which was to get insanely rich because apparently no one wanted to miss out on the irony of the guy who ushers in peace on Earth, and a departure from money being motivated by greed, but whatever. It's cool. They begin their final launch preparations, and as we crescendo into the climax, they roar out of the silo where the ship was built and off into space.

Picard has headed to engineering to save Data. When he arrives, he's taken prisoner, and there's an exchange between Picard and the queen. Picard offers himself in exchange for Data. It's at this time that Picard realizes that one of the things that went wrong during his own assimilation was that the queen wanted a more autonomous partner, and Picard would never submit. He offers himself freely, and the queen agrees to let Data go, but Data doesn't wish to go. He takes his place at the queen's side momentarily where he does his obligatory trailer pose, then moves to a computer panel where he deactivates the auto-destruct, and unlocks the encryption codes on the main computer. Picard is devastated by the turn of events. The queen orders Data to destroy the warp ship, and Data begins the targeting sequence. The thing locks on and the torpedoes fire, but just at the last second, the ship goes to warp and the torpedoes miss! Data has managed to slink closer to the warp core where he hits a pipe and sends scalding hot coolant cascading everywhere. As we learned earlier in the film, the coolant liquefies organic matter so all of the Borg who come into contact with it find their organic parts liquefied, and the queen as well gets her parts all liquefied. This results in the rest of the Borg aboard the ship becoming useless. That opens up a potential segue into a completely different discussion about continuity within mythology, but we'll save that for later. Picard clears all of the coolant and finds Data chilling on the floor with some bulky prosthetic makeup on his face. They have a heartwarming moment together, and then we cut to Earth.

A ship is landing that looks alien in nature, and we're made to believe that it's the Vulcans. Riker encourages Cochrane to go and greet them as they'll want to meet the human who broke the warp barrier. Picard has to say goodbye to Lily, who he has formed a close both with during the events of the film. It's poignant and emotional. We get to see Cochrane finally take those pivotal steps into becoming an architect of positive change and an historical legend as he attempts in futility to return the Vulcan salute, and then introduces the Vulcans to Roy Orbison. He'd probably be the perfect person for an actual first contact scenario if we're going to be honest with ourselves. The crew return to the Enterprise where LaForge informs Picard that they can recreate the vortex that the Borg used to bring them back and that's how they fly off into the sunset and ring in the end credits.

Wow! This is getting to be a really long article. Can you tell that I'm passionate about this movie?! There's good reason for that. It's a phenomenal movie! It really was a turning point for Star Trek, albeit a short lived one. It's not that Star Trek had gotten stale per se. It's only that as we marched through the 90s, trends in Hollywood, and in music, and even in things like sports saw us getting a little edgier, and First Contact reflects some of the best of that trend. While there's certainly a lot about the 90s that I'd just as soon forget, First Contact introduced us to Trek that had a new, darker, moodier tone, but that still beautifully retained all of that optimism and hope for the future that had become a hallmark staple of the Trek philosophy. First Contact is also unique as a Trek film in the fact that it's a sci-fi horror film. Yep, it's totally got that horror vibe, and it definitely borrows cues from the horror genre. When we're on the Enterprise, and the Borg are involved, everything is dark, cramped and disorienting. Those are textbook horror moves right there. I also appreciate the growth we get from both Picard, and Cochrane. Picard has been resting on his laurels since his assimilation, and has been unwilling to admit that the experience left a festering wound in his psyche that could take him to a dark place. He gets his opportunity at resolution and ultimately ends up taking the high road in order to do so, but it's a brilliant continuation of his arc from the show. Cochrane on the other hand, has been built up by our Enterprise characters to be this larger than life paragon that had this incredible vision, and Cochrane is most definitely not that person when we meet him. It's refreshing to see him start coming to that point, but it's gratifying to see that he's uncertain about the path he's being thrust down at every step. Even more, it's not necessarily that he's unsure that he's up to the task intellectually, rather, he's unsure that he has possesses the maturity, and the moral fiber to become this person that these people from the future have been describing.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Data's growth here. He realizes that he can be content with who and what he is at that moment. We see a bit of an end to his arc in the sense that he reaches a point where he doesn't feel the need to push quite so hard to be more human anymore. He realizes that he's reached that point of being human, and now he can focus on becoming a better human. He learns just how much his family means to him, and learns the lengths to which he personally would go to protect that family. Beyond good character growth, I do enjoy the themes that this film has to offer. The type of poisonous effect that negative feelings like revenge can have in our lives if we allow ourselves to become consumed by those feelings is going to relevant and poignant no matter the year. Learning that there can be a price to getting everything we want out of our lives, and tempering what we want with what's prudent is sometimes a choice that needs to be made is also a lesson for the ages. And these themes are presented really well.

The cinematography is just great in this movie. I love the use of disorienting camera angles, and moody lighting with lots of contrast. I love the set designs. The new Enterprise sets are slick, and clean, but still warm. The tones of the color palette used in the set design really help to sell that futuristic style while lending an almost timeless quality to the sets. The Earth sets are ramshackle and nomadic in nature and convey a sense that things really hit the fan not too long ago. I love the costumes! The First Contact uniforms are some of the most pleasing looking uniforms ever to come out of Trek, even if they're still pretty impractical for space exploration purposes. They're clean and futuristic looking while still honoring the tenets that had driven costume design within the Star Trek universe previously. The 21st century costumes are vaguely reminiscent of the costumes worn by another Enterprise crew in Voyage Home. They're fun, and fitting to the setting. The new props designed for this film feel like an organic evolution of the equipment that we saw during the run of TNG. They've been updated for a world on the cusp of a revolutionary and innovative future, and they just look cool. The writing is mostly top notch here. There's a lot going on that's pretty heavy, but it's balanced with humor really well, and doesn't drag you down as an audience member. The story paces really well, so you don't really feel bogged down during the viewing. Of course, I have to talk about the music, and I have to say that Jerry Goldsmith really outdoes himself with this score. The title theme to First Contact is one of the most beautiful, regal, and majestic theme songs ever written for any movie ever. Goldsmith was uniquely suited to score this film as his style had always included adding synthetic, electronic sounding elements into his organically performed scores. He was doing it before it was a thing and his penchant towards that philosophy lends itself exceptionally well to portraying the cybernetic villains presented in the Borg. He captures the mystery, and feeling of peril, and his score really elevates the movie viewing experience. Lastly, let's talk about the ships! The ships designed for this film were amazing! I love the Akira class, and the Steamrunner class. But none of them stands out more than the new for the time design of the Enterprise. Like The Motion Picture before it, First Contact set out to help us fall in love with a new ship, and it succeeds tremendously. John Eaves was given a directive to design a ship that would look good at every conceivable angle, and he pulled it off brilliantly! Just take a look at that beauty! I know it's not for everyone, but it's one great starship design:

It's amazing to me that 22 years removed from the release of the film, First Contact has had such a profound impact on my life that I can vividly recall how I viewed it as a 13 year old kid. The passage of time has yet to degrade those rose colored lenses for me. This is a film that has a little offer just about anyone who watches it. It stands on an extremely well crafted foundation as a movie and that really shows. This film in particular really captures the phenomenon that Star Trek had built at the time where it could be flat out cool simply because it was was Star Trek. Trek was still setting trends back in these days, and First Contact makes that abundantly clear. It does have its flaws, but the film does such a great job overall that it's extremely easy to overlook those flaws. This is considered by most to rank among the best Trek films of all time and it's easy to see why. With a seasoned and talented cast, an enthusiastic and effective crew, and a fun and interesting premise, First Contact is a thoughtful and fun movie to watch. I certainly can't recommend it enough! If it's been a while, or heaven forbid, this one has slipped under your radar for whatever reason, then I suggest that you give this one a watch! You won't be disappointed! Stick around to see what I've got brewing for next week!

Please Stand By: A Heartwarming Exploration of Human Adventure

This fine film was meant to be the subject of last week's review, but I found myself uncharacteristically wound up last week, and I felt the need to step back and reassess some things before proceeding. I try not to be too political or subversive with this rag because that sort of thing ticks me off a little, but there are still those things that get the green Vulcan blood boiling like pon farr from time to time. You may not get to experience this article in its original form, but I think that's for the better anyway. This week, we're looking at a film that got very little recognition from the mainstream, but nonetheless, managed to make a mark on the general topography of our social world. Please Stand By, in my opinion, is a film that represents what I would like to see more films attempt to do in earnest so let's just jump right in and take a look at this one, shall we? Due to the subject matter, and the nature of the material, I just want to say that no offense is meant in the presentation of this article. As someone who struggles with mental illness myself, I'm deeply sympathetic to those who share in that struggle. But I only know what I know about things, and I will attempt to articulate things to the best of my limited understanding. Please check your pitchforks and torches at the door. Thanks.

The movie begins with a space sequence as the opening credits roll and vague, sometimes unintelligible dialog. Finally, we see two figures in undeniably Star Trek EVA suits on a desert planet struggling. We then cut to Dakota Fanning, playing Wendy, typing on her laptop. We watch as Wendy meets with her counselor, Scottie. We're also shown that Wendy lives in an assisted living home for higher functioning people with certain mental challenges. These fine folks receive regular counselling and the structure that they need to act self-sufficiently in the world. Wendy walks Scottie through her daily routine, which is at times humorous, and at other times just a little uncomfortable, but it gives us a lot of insight into who Wendy is, and how she deals with her own personal challenges day-to-day. We're meant to gather that Wendy has Asperger's, and that kind of serves as the main premise for the film. We're made aware through dialog, that Wendy is a Star Trek fan who is working on a script for a writing contest that Paramount is holding. The grand prize is $100,000, and Wendy is determined to win it.

Wendy goes to work that day, and a co-worker gives her a mixed CD of cool music. She appears to blow off the gesture, but this is where one has to remember that she may not necessarily know how to respond to the gesture. We further learn that Wendy has a sister named Audrey, who is played by Alice Eve, who is going to visit soon. Audrey has a newborn daughter and we're shown that she and her husband are preparing to move from their house, which we later learn is Audrey's and Wendy's childhood home. Audrey watches a video of she and Wendy learning how to set a table. Wendy does well until the stimulation overwhelms her and she throws a tantrum. We also see Audrey successfully teaching Wendy how to play a song on the piano. It's not a drawn out sequence, but it effectively shows the ups and downs Audrey experienced growing up with her sister. The visit happens, and Audrey attempts to converse with Wendy. However, Wendy is fixated with the contest as her script needs to be mailed that day, and she wants to go home with Audrey. Wendy sees herself as self-reliant enough to leave, but Audrey worries what might happen with a baby at home, and the conversation turns south quickly as Wendy falls into a tantrum. Scottie has found a way to help Wendy calm down, and walks Wendy through this exercise. Audrey leaves, and it's one of those scenes where the actress holds her composure until its deemed an 'appropriate' place to lose it. I commend actors that can pull this off in a realistic fashion because I imagine it's pretty difficult. But we can tell that Audrey is shaken, and crushed by the way the visit turned out.

Wendy remains upset as she had hoped to go back to live with her sister now that she had learned to take more responsibility upon herself, and she retreats to her room to cool off. She realizes that she's missed her window of opportunity to mail her script and becomes really upset. She begins to think of ways that she might manage to still be able to mail it, but it's Martin Luther King Jr day that Monday, it's already Sunday, and the scripts have to be delivered by 5 pm Tuesday so the USPS is out of the question. Concluding that, Wendy resolves to deliver the script on her own. She lives in the Oakland area, and Paramount Studios is LA, which is about 400 miles so it's not unreasonable to assume that taking a car ride, it might be a day trip, or two, but that wouldn't make for a very entertaining film at all. Wendy checks her notebook to see when sunrise is that day because she can't leave the house until sunrise, and then lays down to watch the clock. In preparation for leaving, she grabs a sandwich, and a few other things before heading out the door.

On her way down the street, Wendy's dog Pete follows here incessantly, and refuses to go home so Wendy puts him in her bag and soldiers on. Next, we're treated to humorous scene of Wendy trying to figure out if her regular bus goes to LA. It doesn't and two drivers simply tell her that, but in films, the third time is always the charm, and the third drive directs her to terminal where she can buy a ticket to LA. He's even considerate enough to get her headed in the right direction when she takes off the opposite way. Wendy has to cross Market Street, which she's been told never to do under any circumstances however, the bus terminal is on the other side of the street. She bravely crosses, and that's when we know that we've reached the road trip portion of the film! She finds the bus with the LA label in the sign thingy and the driver informs her that a ticket is needed to ride the bus. Wendy begins to write that down in her notebook, and the driver tells her to go buy a ticket. Wendy does so and comes back with the ticket to ride only to see a sticker prohibiting animals from riding the bus. Wendy does her best to hide Pete while giving the ticket to the driver and taking a seat. The trip starts off pretty well. We see Wendy enjoying listening to her music on her iPod. She's even imported the songs from the mix CD that her co-worker, Nemo gave her!

Difficulties arise when Pete begins to whine. Wendy realizes that he has to pee, but there's no where for dog to pee on a bus. Wendy goes to talk to the bus driver who informs her that there's a stop an hour up the road where Pete, who is just a friend, and totally not a dog, can pee when they arrive, but Pete can't hold it and so he pees on the bus. The bus driver kicks both of them off the bus at the next stop, and it's out in the middle of nowhere. There isn't even a terminal anywhere near by! Wendy starts huffing it in the general direction of LA, and stumbles upon a farmer's market of some sort. It's closed due to drought, but Wendy ventures in as she sees a hose from which she and Pete could get some water. After hydrating, Wendy stumbles upon a young woman with an infant. There's a short conversation about infants, and Wendy's tantrums in her younger years. The young woman tells Wendy that she and her boyfriend are headed to LA, and that they would be happy to give her a ride. Wendy accepts, but needs to use the restroom first. As Wendy is using said facilities, the young woman roots through Wendy's backpack and steals Wendy's money! Wendy approaches the boyfriend's truck, and the boyfriend rips the lanyard thing from Wendy's neck. He wants her iPod, but her notebook is also on that thing. Wendy shrieks plaintively for the woman to give back the notebook, which fortunately the woman does.

Wendy is left without a ride, and without her iPod, and we get a good understanding of the importance of that blasphemous piece of junk (Zune for life!) almost immediately. Wendy has reached a town, and there are loud noises everywhere! There are dogs barking, motorcycles revving, people yelling, and all sorts of things overloading Wendy's senses. It's pretty apparent by the way that they play the scene that the iPod was meant to help Wendy tune out the din that the world offers up non-stop in order to help her not feel overwhelmed by it all. Now she's having to learn to adjust to not having her coping mechanism. Already having eaten her sandwich and apparently feeling hungry again, Wendy stops into a convenience store to buy some food. It's here, preparing to buy something, that she finally realizes that her money is missing. She grabs a bag of candy bars and asks the attendant how much the bag costs. He tells her that it costs a dollar a bar. She begins going through the math to add up to a total, but then the coolest grandma besides yours and mine steps in to thoroughly chastise the man for being a douche. He tells her the real price, and she pays. The grandma gets Wendy something to drink and they sit and talk.

The grandma asks who is taking care of Wendy, and Wendy tells her that it's more of a solo mission. Grandma feels like that that isn't right and someone should be taking care of Wendy. We learn that grandma has a grandson who also has Asperger's and that grandma is on her way back to LA after having visited with the grandson. Grandma invites Wendy to ride on the bus that the nursing home used to transport a group, and they take off. There's a fun scene where Wendy tells grandma all about the script that was written and why Wendy's on the trek to LA. The grandma doesn't quite get it, but tells Wendy that her grandson would love it, and that Wendy is pretty cool. Unfortunately, some genius decided to let one of the old people drive the bus and he nods off and crashes the bus. Wendy is knocked out and when she comes to, she's at a hospital. At this point, it's important to share that Scottie and Audrey have been searching frantically to find Wendy. They were able to track her to the bus station in Oakland, and the bus company told them where the driver kicked Wendy off the bus, but they come up empty beyond that. It's not until Wendy is admitted to the hospital that Scottie tracks her down, and only because Scottie was calling all of the hospitals between Oakland and LA. And then only because one of the nurses told Scottie that they had taken on a dog wearing as Star Trek uniform. It's more of a sweater with a science patch on it, but it's adorable! That's the piece of the puzzle that helps Scottie to finally track down Wendy.

Once Wendy is finally coherent, it's morning, and the sun is up. She's informed that she'll be moved to a different floor, probably to begin discharge procedures, but she doesn't want to be moved, she just wants to leave. She protests a bit, but is met with firm resistance from the nurse. She then complains that she has to pee really bad. The nurse protests at first, but then capitulates. While Wendy's in the restroom, the nurse tells some really disturbing stories from his youth that are pretty inappropriate to be sharing with anyone other than a trusted confidante or a therapist, to say the least of a random patient that you just met. Wendy takes quite a while in the restroom, and the nurse lets himself in. He sees an open window and no one in the room and takes off, yelling to all the other nurses that Wendy has climbed out of a window. However, Wendy had actually hidden in the cupboards under the sink, and once everyone takes off looking for her, she gets out, dresses, grabs her bags, leaves the sweater for Pete, and gets out of there. For some reason, her script is not secure at this point, and I guess because the plot called for it, she drops all of the loose pages. She tries to gather them all, but the nurses find her and are closing in so she takes what she's got and flees.

She's distraught over the loss of her script, but she finds some blank paper in a trash bin and starts writing. There's a scene where Scottie and her son are driving to retrieve Wendy, and the son helps Scottie to better understand Wendy's obsession with Star Trek a little. Scottie had never realized that Star Trek being about the character meant that there were many facets of human existence that are explored, and that Spock in particular struggles with emotions, and coming from a culture that looks down upon them, but feeling them all the same. When the two arrive, the find Wendy gone, and the remaining pages of her script on the ground. The son gathers them all up and the search continues. Meanwhile, Wendy has found the bus depot and attempts to get another ticket to LA. She's informed that there's not another bus until the morning. So Wendy asks if she can sit in the depot. The cashier agrees to that and Wendy works to bang out transcribing more of her lost script. Unfortunately, this bus depot closes and the cashier lady asks Wendy to leave. Wendy asks if she can stay on a bench out front, and the lady agrees to that a little bit warily, probably because it wasn't the best part of town.

Wendy awakes the next day, Tuesday, and attempts to 'shower' and do some of her usual routine. Then she attempts to buy another ticket, but she's out of money. The cashier turns her away, and so she finds the bus going to LA and sneaks into the luggage hold. We see the bus being unloaded in LA, and Wendy sneaking away. Next we see Wendy walking down a street. Two cops recognize her from a missing persons report and attempt to approach her. Wendy gets spooked and runs. One cop starts to take off after Wendy, but the one played by Patton Oswalt figures it's easier to give chase in their cruiser. They track Wendy to an apartment building and, in one of my personal favorite scenes, Patton Oswalt confronts Wendy, in Klingon! The two have a conversation in the language of warriors as Patton Oswalt attempts to gain enough of Wendy's trust to get her to the police station. It's a really cool scene. The partner has no idea what to make of things, which just adds to the levity of the scene. Wendy agrees to come with them, and Patton asks her if she speaks English. She tells him that she does.

Wendy is finally reunited with Scottie and Audrey, but she's also still determined to get her script in. As they're already there, everyone piles into Audrey's SUV and they head to Paramount Studios. Wendy takes her script onto the lot and looks for the building where the ads told her to send the script. She does, and it's the mail room. She approaches a man at a desk and tells him that she's arrived to turn in her script. It's almost 5 pm, and she's down to the wire, but still on time. The man tells her that scripts have to be postmarked and delivered by the mail service. He gets pretty snooty about it and asks for someone to call security. Wendy initially seems to back down to leave, but then rehearses a plan under her breath. She goes into an outburst and tries to explain to the man how hard it is to write a script. He's still unfazed and so she asks him if he knows who she is. He laughs as he does not, and she barrels by him and drops her script in the slot that's conveniently marked 'Star Trek scripts', and then she flees. She meets back up with Audrey and Scottie to inform them that her mission was a success. They go home.

We montage a bit at the end as we see Wendy give Nemo a mixed CD as a return gesture of affection. We learn that Wendy's script was not chosen, but the letter is really kindly worded, which I guess is pretty cool, and then we see Wendy visit Audrey and meet her niece for the first time. Pete even shows up, which is meant to insinuate that Wendy has been allowed to move back in with her sister. Then roll credits.

Now, you should know by now that this synopsis is not comprehensive by any stretch. I like to leave a bit of mystery for you guys to experience should you decide to check these things out for yourselves, but that covers the broad strokes. What I really enjoy about this film is how socially responsible it's attempting to be. In a world where 99% of what we get from Hollywood is either mindless, glitzy slug fests, or over politicized dreck, this is a film that's simply trying to help, in some small way, build bridges of understanding between groups where understanding can be hard to attain. I have the pleasure of knowing several friends who have experience with Asperger's and autism, and one in particular assured me that this film provides a reasonably authentic portrayal of what it means to live with Asperger's. Is it 100% accurate? I don't think so. Just like me, the crew only knows what they know, and they can only speak to that which they know, and maybe try to learn along the way. However, it makes an attempt, and it tries to do so in a respectful, and empathetic fashion. I can get behind that. Now, that's not to say that it isn't without its flaws. There are plot points that seem a bit forced, or contrived, and we never do find out what happened to all of the other people who were on the bus that crashed. However, from the broad perspective, this is a feel good film that paces well, is well acted, and that is mostly put together well. It leaves you rooting for Wendy as she overcomes her various struggles in her pursuit to fulfill her dream, and that's inspiring. Is it realistic? Again, I couldn't say, but I like to think that we all have within us the capacity to become more than we are. If you're looking for a feel good film that's appropriate for the whole family, minus one F-bomb, then this is a film for you! It's got heart, and it's got Star Trek at that heart, and you're sure to get a good bit of enjoyment from it! Stick around to see what we're scheming for next week!

Cobra Kai: Nostalgic Cash Grab, or Poignant Swan Song?

In 1984, a film that would go on to become a classic cinematic staple was released. You might have heard of it. It's a little movie called The Karate Kid. Now, I've discussed before how 1984 was a nexus of cinematic excellence, and I've put countless exhaustive hours into trying to figure out exactly why this phenomenon occurred. I'm still empty on that front. At any rate, The Karate Kid crane kicked its way into theaters, and the hearts of millions that year, and like any successful film, it received a deluge of sequels, spin-offs, and reboots. Some were okay, most were pretty terrible. That's just the nature of the beast I suppose. Fast forward eight years since the awful reboot attempt starring Jaden Smith trying to learn Kung Fu from Jackie Chan, and about a month ago, I heard that YouTube Red would be launching a show that would act as a sequel to the first film called Cobra Kai after the dojo where Johnny Lawrence trained in the first film. We're going to take a look at that today and see if it's a worthwhile addition to the franchise. Also, spoilers.

When I saw the trailer for this show, it appeared to me to be the story of a has been Johnny Lawrence trying to relive his glory days by reopening the Cobra Kai dojo. Then as I got further into the trailer, that premise took a bit of a twist as you see Johnny instructing the misfit outcasts who get bullied on a regular basis. The trailer was succinct, but informative, and most importantly, it made the show look like it was going to be fun. I can appreciate succinctness. Fast forward just a few weeks, and a bit of talking up to the wife about it, and my wife and I took the plunge on a Sunday. We finished the Monday immediately after. It's not necessarily just that it was a good show, it's just that it's only ten 30 minute episodes, so it's a quick watch. But there is quite a bit going on so let's get a bit deeper into things.

The first thing that needs to be said as a jumping off point is that the crane kick that Daniel uses at the end of the original movie is, from my research, definitely an illegal move in all but the most extreme forms of competitive karate so LaRusso should certainly have been disqualified for his shenanigans. Why is that important? In terms of the show, that one event was a turning point in Johnny's life that began a vehement downward spiral in his life. It acted in much the same way in Daniel's life, as we'll see in a bit. Johnny has spent the last 30 years or so just kind of coasting through life, and living in the past. He's become resentful and depressed, and his lifestyle reflects that. He has a job as a handyman for hire that he loses due to a dispute with a client. He lives in a pretty dumpy apartment where he spends his free time drinking, and he wears his demons on his shirt sleeve like a badge of honor. However, as my favorite Vulcan is fond of saying, "Life is replete with turning points." And Johnny gets to experience quite a few just in the opening act of the first season.

First, he goes to a convenience store to get more beer, and in the process, finds some bullies beating on a new kid that has moved into Johnny's apartment complex. Johnny appears impassive until the bullies ding his car. Then Johnny brings back '84, and gives the entire group an embarrassing butt kicking, old school style! It's an impressive bit of fight choreography as a man in his early 50s just destroys a group of high school boys. It's not an entirely lopsided encounter, but it must have been pretty humiliating to the boys all the same. The boy being bullied, Miguel, is certainly impressed, and begins pestering Johnny to teach him (Miguel) how to do all that stuff, but Johnny doesn't think the kid is ready. However, watching, I'm pretty sure, Iron Eagle, Johnny has an introspective epiphany moment, or at least the start of one, and he takes off to the place where his life began to spiral out of control to start confronting his demons. That's about the time that some teen girls in a swanky SUV wreck Johnny's car. The thing is a sweet Firebird, probably from around '84, and it needs to be towed and repaired because it's undriveable.

The shop that's going to be doing the repairs just happens to be owned by Daniel LaRusso. LaRusso in the intervening years, has taken all of the confidence that he gained through training with his sensei, Mr. Myagi, and channeled that into creating a pretty cushy existence for himself. He's also kind of become a smug ass. He's taken aspects of what made his character endearing in the film, and morphed them into annoying tropes. It opens up a great segue to discuss context as this entire show really hinges on that philosophical debate. The takeaway for now is that the whole idea of Daniel fixing his car turns Johnny way off, and an encounter ensues when Johnny goes in to ask to have his car taken elsewhere. Ultimately, Daniel offers to do the repairs free of charge, but only after joking with his bro friends about how he kicked Johnny's butt, or sorry, more specifically, Johnny's face. The show gets a really strong start, and it only gets better as you progress through.

You find out that Daniel's daughter was in the car that hit Johnny's car that night. That's a little twist that just serves to draw these two nemeses back together. It's during the start of Johnny's life changing epiphany that he decides to reopen his old dojo and take back the thing that brought him so much satisfaction in his youth. He has to dig through his trash can to retrieve two halves of a check that his step father had given him in order to deposit that and use the funds to make the initial investment, but at least he has one student for sure to teach and bring in a little income, right? Yeah Miguel is his one student who has just rubbed the bullies the wrong way because he's attracted to Daniel's daughter, Samantha, who runs with that crowd. Also, Miguel sat at the loser table the first day of school. On the bright side, he makes a couple of entertaining friends in the form of Eli and Demetri. The two serve mostly as comic relief, but their character arcs are pretty substantial throughout the first season.

Remember when I said that Daniel had become kind of an ass, and that perspective and context were super important? It's right around episode two that this all becomes pretty evident. Johnny succeeds in getting his dojo opened, and things are kind of status quo, but then Daniel finds out about it. He confronts Johnny about it, pointing out that what Cobra Kai stood for engenders everything that's wrong with people and all but declares war on the entire endeavor. Interestingly, from Daniel's perspective, he's acting heroically here. He believes that Cobra Kai was a dojo that taught hate, and merciless persecution of the weak. His experiences with Johnny and Johnny's friends scarred him. However, despite his frequent declarations to the contrary, it becomes evident pretty quickly that Daniel also has not completely moved on from those times. His attitude towards the situation seems to be that Johnny can have a comfortable life so long as Cobra Kai isn't involved in any way whatsoever. But then as the show progresses, you see Daniel essentially demonstrate that he just wants Johnny to be miserable for the rest of his life.

On the flip side of things, we get a pretty thorough delve into what led Johnny to be the way he was as a teen. We see a home life with a mostly indifferent mom, an emotionally vacant and abusive step dad, and a sensei whose twisted views of the world just happened to fit what Johnny was looking for at the time. We see Johnny training and getting attention from his sensei. Then we see epic beating that Johnny endures after losing the tournament to Daniel. From Daniel's perspective, Johnny was just a spoiled rotten rich teen from Encino where Daniel was a teen in a struggling family that lived in Roseda and worked hard for whatever they had. Daniel's contempt makes sense because from his perspective, Johnny lived a charmed life and had everything handed to him on a silver platter. Daniel never saw the abuse emotional and otherwise that Johnny had to endure as a repercussion of his seemingly charmed life. Similarly, Johnny didn't really see that the mentor that Daniel found in Myagi was the life saving grace that Daniel needed at that time in his life. From Johnny's perspective, Daniel was just a twerp who moved in on the girl that Johnny was dating at the time, who threw the first punch, and Myagi was the old man who kicked Johnny's butt for no real reason. Half of those things might be true, but you should definitely watch the movie to verify which are what.

As the story progresses, and the plot thickens, Daniel does everything that he can to thwart Johnny. First, Daniel expresses interest in buying the strip mall where the dojo is in a bid to get the rent raised, which works. Then, when Johnny applies to participate in the All-Valley Karate Championship, Daniel attempts to block him from doing so, which does not work. Daniel has a cousin who's just a dunce, and who makes a lot of trouble, and the cousin and some goons torch Johnny's car. The actions weren't sanctioned by Daniel, but Daniel also doesn't feel a need to offer compensation either. See, Daniel gets really bent out of shape when the Cobra Kai dojo opens, and from his perspective, he owes Johnny nothing no matter who does what to Johnny on Daniel's behalf. Daniel's life has become strained in every conceivable way since Johnny opened the dojo, and in Daniel's mind, the only way to excise all of the grief that life has been giving him is to shut down the dojo.

A show that focused only on the two characters would not be nearly as satisfying as what we actually got, and so layered plots are introduced to keep everything interesting. For example, Daniel's daughter starts dating Johnny's student. We find out that Johnny has a son, Robby, whom he attempts to approach to create a relationship with. The son, never having gotten anything from Johnny except a child support check, sees the relationship that Johnny has with Miguel and starts working for Daniel at the car dealership, and taking Karate lessons from Daniel. Miguel trains hard and gets stronger, and confronts his bullies, essentially shutting them all down. The entire school's worth of misfits start taking lessons from Johnny. Some stick around and other leave, and over a few episodes, the crowd is whittled down to a core group. Interestingly, we see how Johnny's jadedness rubs off on the students and jades them as well, turning them into bullies.

Of course, the entire season culminates in the final showdown at the karate tournament. It's an intense event as Johnny and his students compete for greatness, and Robby fights to thwart them. There's a lot of dramatic and emotional conflict resolution along the way, and a ton of character development. This really is an addictive, and well crafted show! I had my misgivings going in. Nope, I can't do that with a straight face! I figured this would, at the very least, be a really fun ride, and boy was I in for a surprise! Not only was it a tremendously fun ride right from the start, it delivered way more than it initially promised. The characters are all well developed from the start, but get massive development throughout the show. The drama is brilliantly dramatic, the humor is hilarious, and the plot is exceptionally well developed. The acting is also great. But what really drives it home for me is the music. See, Johnny lives in the 80s, and the licensed music reflects that in the most poignant and entertaining way possible. I love the music they chose episode to episode on this show! It's a thoroughly satisfying trip down nostalgia lane for me, but it also reflects the moments in the show well, too. The producers, one of whom is Will Smith by the way, could have just phoned things in and tried to coast off of that nostalgia, but you can really tell that everyone involved went way above and beyond the call to craft something truly special here. It's currently got a 98% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the whole season is available to watch with YouTube Red. If you can take advantage of the free trial, you can binge the whole thing in a couple of days,and I believe that first two episodes are free to watch. Give it a look! I swear you won't be disappointed! Stick around for next week to see what we're cooking up for then!

Sunshine: A Bleeding Cool Sci-Fi Flick

Our film this week is one that you're probably familiar with, at least tangentially, even if you're not aware of it, but we'll get to that. Sunshine is a more recent sci-fi film that, while not necessarily adding anything terribly significant to the genre, is a pretty fun film to watch. It's not very well known, and since I think that's a shame, let's take a look at this sci-fi underdog.

Sunshine works off the premise that in our near future the sun is dying. Scientists the world over had toiled for years looking for a way to reignite the sun and get it back to full strength, while in the meantime, the Earth has started to slip back into an ice age. That's about as much background as we get, at least for the people of Earth. The bulk of the film takes place on board the space ship Icarus II, named after the Greek character who flew too close to the sun. Get it? So the plan is, a crew of 8 highly trained astronauts will traverse the vacuum of space until they reach a certain distance away from Sol, and then they will launch a ginormous nuke into the star, detonate the nuke, and that will get the sun doing what it's supposed to be doing again.

Like any film, there needs to be some tension, and some conflict. We get a bunch of that just due to the clashing personalities of various crew members, but a hiccup is experienced when Icarus II detects a distress signal from Icarus I, the first iteration of the mission, which this current crew was sent to replace. There's some heated debate about what to do as intercepting the ship would use precious fuel, but intercepting the ship would also mean potentially having a backup comically gargantuan nuke. Ultimately, it's decided that the Icarus II will investigate and use the nuke on the Icarus I as a backup should theirs fail. However, in changing trajectory, the navigator forgets to program the solar shield for the change and as a result, small parts of the shield are damaged. That doesn't sound too bad, but consider that the surface of the sun burns at around 5770 K. That's nearly 10,000° F. It's a huge gamble that the ship will hold together under those conditions.

The crew attempt a repair and turn the affected portion of their shielding away from the sun in order to do so. However, in so doing, they inadvertently incinerate their botanical garden and their source of oxygen as well as their backup supply of oxygen. It's amazing how much of the tension in this film hinges on the ineptitude of the crew. At any rate, the navigational computer knows what it's doing, and it automatically starts resetting the shield while two crewmen, including the captain, are still out making repairs. The captain tells the other crewman to get back to safety, while captain makes the final repairs, and captain manages to do so just before being incinerated himself.

Icarus II finally reaches Icarus I, and four of the crew, including the newly appointed captain, go over to the derelict ship to investigate. They find that the crew of the ship have been incinerated in a forward observation area which they were using without any sort of shielding. The captain's logs are recovered and it's learned that the Icarus I's computer mainframe had been sabotaged, making delivery of the nuke impossible. Bummer... The captain's logs also devolve into ramblings over time, but the gist is that he's decided to scrub the mission as he saw no way to complete it. As this is going on, the Icarus I is rocked by shudders and we see that the lifeline between the two ships has been explosively decoupled. One crewman on Icarus I suggests that someone stay behind and use the depressurization of the airlock on Icarus I to launch the other three crewmen to the Icarus II. This is ultimately done, but there's only one actual spacesuit so one crewman gets the spacesuit and the other two are wrapped in insulation from Icarus I's outer structure. Unfortunately, one of the poorly protected crewmen misses Icarus II's airlock and freezes to death.

For those keeping count, difficult as I've made that with this summary, we started with 8 crew members, and we're now down to 5. However, the engineer has calculated that if they're all going to be conscious when Icarus II reaches their destination, they need to be four because they only have enough oxygen to sustain four people until then. There's another tense debate, and it's decided that there will be a sacrificial killing. There's vote and the sacrificial lamb is chosen, but when the leader goes to kill the person, they've already committed suicide. There's another issue though. When it's discovered that the sacrifice killed himself, it seems odd that the computer would still register five life signs aboard the ship.

The leader heads out to search for this mysterious life form. When the leader guy finds the mystery person, it's revealed that the stowaway is the former captain of Icarus I, only he's super disfigured. Icarus I captain locks leader guy in an airlock and then proceeds to the Icarus II computer mainframe, which he raises out of its coolant bath causing the thing to begin melting down, literally, which causes the computer to start shutting down. One of our remaining Icarus II crew are killed in the process of this happening. We're down to three. The engineer attempts to lower the computer back into the coolant bath, but in the process, gets his leg caught on it, which automatically aborts the process. The engineer starts to freeze to death from exposure to the coolant so he calls the guy trapped in the airlock and says to escape the airlock, and decouple the nuke from the ship so that it can be manually piloted and detonated. And then there were two.

The airlock guy manages to escape the airlock and jettison the nuke from the rest of the ship. He also finds the other remaining Icarus II crew member. The two of them move to detonate the nuke, but get ambushed on the way by the Icarus I captain. The captain explains some mumbo jumbo about God telling him to take humanity to heaven, or something, and then the plot relieves us of the captain. The airlock guy gets to the detonation device, but is unsure as to whether everything will operate properly under the current extreme conditions. However, he's relieved when the nuke begins the detonation process as planned. Finally, we cut to Earth, where we see the intensity of the sun grow, and then roll credits.

Now I'm not saying that this is a great movie, or even that it could be considered good. It is a fun watch though, and for what it's trying to do, it does it pretty well. It's not entirely a sci-fi film. It's more along the lines of Alien where it's a horror/thriller set within a sci-fi setting. As a result, there are some gaping holes in the scientific plausibility of everything upon which the film is premised. For one, we know that our sun still has billions of years left in it before it starts to die. For two, I'm reasonably sure that detonating a nuke at the surface of the sun isn't going to do squat to get the sun doing fusion again. That's a problem at the core of the star to do with the amount of helium that remains. Please correct me if you understand such things better than I. And lastly, as I said before, so much of what happens in this film hinges on gross negligence on behalf of the crew. But in context of a horror movie, most of this is forgivable because in horror films, it's all about creating tension and general sense of dread, and to that end, this movie does its thing really well. Also, included in the cast are Cillian Murphy, who is a personal favorite of mine, and Chris Evans, Rose Byrne of X-Men reboots fame, and Michelle Yeoh so there's definitely a little bit of star power behind this lower budget flick.

Our scope is really small. It's mostly just the Icarus II. There are plenty of creepy twists to keep you guessing along the way, and there's plenty of atmospheric elements to leave you feeling that general sense of dread. The actors do a fantastic job bringing the characters to life, and the characters are well defined; well defined stereotypes perhaps, but still well defined. The film doesn't stray into weird plot twists that lack proper setup at all. Even the big twist about the Icarus I captain's fate is actually foreshadowed earlier in the film. Also, the music is phenomenal! You've probably heard it here, here, here, and here. They tried to hide it in that last one, but it's pretty recognizable once you know what you're listening for. In fact, this one track from Sunshine, aptly titled "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)", has been used in a ton of marketing campaigns: 

It's a good song so I'm not complaining. At any rate, the whole film is a really fun ride, and as long as you're not expecting a heady dive into the meaning of existence, it will probably live up to your expectations. It's got thrills, chills, and tension, and I think it's a movie worth watching at least once! Check it out and stay tuned to next week to see what we're cooking up!