Well, I say it's not Star Trek because (to me anyway) the thing that made Star Trek distinctive is that it didn't say "it's science fiction, so anything goes".   Especially for a '60's tv show, that was a pretty radical stance to take.   It set out to establish some hard-science ground rules, and even though it also made up some of its theoretical technology, it mostly kept to the rules it laid out.

And one of the earliest and non-negotiable rules was the Enterprise is not meant to function in atmosphere.    That's why it had such a bizarro shape.   That's why it had shuttlecraft that were aerodynamic.

That alone made Star Trek stand out when it first debuted - they dared to have a "spaceship" that didn't look like a Buck Rogers rocket.   Even that minimal amount of understanding of what space travel truly might be like set Star Trek apart from any tv show that came before it (and a lot of them since).

This new thingamawhizzy with the Star Trek label starts out with the Enterprise not just blithely tootling about in atmosphere, but going underwater.   This is the filmic equivalent of giving a five-year-old an Enterprise toy and him taking it into the bath with him.  Sure, it's fun but it's ridiculous.   

It does answer one question I had from the first movie - if they assembled the Enterprise on Earth, how the heck did it get into space?  I thought maybe there was some clever rationalization for that, but now we know the answer - JJ and company think that's how the Enterprise works.   

That's how the movie starts, by the end they're actually ignoring the rules of freakin' gravity in order to justify another kickass action sequence.   

It's actually an entertaining movie in that a lot of exciting stuff happens, but it really is like a five-year-old in a bathtub full of Trek action figures without any understanding of anything, including basic physics.   I found it ultimately insulting, just as I do any movie that expects me to swallow a pound of dumb for an ounce of action.  It's just a little extra sad that this particular dumb movie has a Star Trek label on it.

Jeebus.  The whole time I was watching this I was wondering "How in the HELL did they get away with shooting all this at the Guggenheim Museum?"

So I looked it up, and the answer is even more amazing than I thought - that's not the Guggenheim, it's a studio set re-creation of the Guggenheim.     Wow.

And just a few minutes ago, lead actress Tatiana Maslany won the Critic's Choice award for best actress in a drama.   Woot!

The show's been very low on the radar so far, the season ended with miniscule ratings although it's been gaining ground since day one due to word of mouth.  And the lead actress just beat Claire Danes, Vera Farmiga,  Julianna Margulies, Elisabeth Moss and Keri Russell tonight - that should help raise the industry profile a bit.

The best news - despite the low ratings the show's already been renewed for a second season.   So get over to iTunes or Amazon this minute and get on board, so you can be all cool later and say you were always a fan.

When you write The Game of Thrones, you finish or you die.

No book or even specific show spoilers contained below, but just playin' it safe.

meine Nippel explodieren mit Lust

("You're welcome", according to my phrasebook...)

Yeah, it's weird the way he keeps saying that.   

Anyway, hey!  Wie Geht's?

LOL, okay that's just mean.   But well struck.

Oh I'm sure they have, too.   My point was just that even if you didn't have a plan at ALL, why not go ahead and get the data?   I would.  Ya never know.

However you get there, the ideal result would be a dragon that was believable as a dragon and yet somehow also had the presence of  Benedict Cumberbatch.  That could be quite something.   

And Jackson and WETA do have a pretty good track record with this mocap thing already 

Hey, something else about last week's episode: 

SPOILER Show

Heyooooo!

It CAN be a ridiculous idea if used incorrectly.    It can also be really useful if used properly.   Just like everything else.