Star Trek not-quite-a-rewatch

It was the 50th anniversary last week, which somehow crept up on me despite all the stuff over the last few months discussing it. Huh. A part of me is surprised it's the 50th already, another part thinks the sho should be older, but I think that's because Star Trek and Doctor Who are so tightly tied in my mind (my brain is a weird place) that I keep thinking "we already did this!" when it was Doctor Who we did three years ago.

My brain. So weird.

Anyway, in honour of the event, I rewatched "Where No Man Has Gone Before" on Thursday and "The Man Trap" yesterday. If this sounds like I might be starting a rewatch, I couldn't possibly comment...

Dad is visiting, so he and Mum were here to watch, too, which is was nice.

We all found it a little disconcerting to watch "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and have the Enterprise crew sort of there, but not quite right yet. No McKoy or Uhura. The uniforms from "The Cage". Spock still in the make-up from "The Cage", although now with the Vulcan logic being an important element to his character.

I surprised myself with how much I initially liked Gary Mitchell, and how intensely I disliked him by the end. But I think that's the point: power corrupts and twists people, even reasonably decent people like Mitchell. By comparison to a lot of modern sci-fi, it's slow and thoughtful, more interested in the moral dilemma of Mitchell's power and the philosophical implications than the crash-bang-wallop fighting. It fascinates me that this was the less cerebral option that finally sold the show!

The costumes were a bit drab, and it was hard to see the difference between the command and engineering/security specialties, so I don't miss those shirts. I did appreciate that all the women got trousers, though, and I wish they'd kept that aesthetic with the brighter colours. My feelings about Elizabeth Dehner are mixed. Her character should have been great, with her background, but it was like the writers didn't quite know what to do with her. She only really showed her strength towards the end, when she fought back against Mitchell. I guess we got spoiled with Number One :-(

As someone on another board said, the new film Carol Marcus looked a lot like her, and Into Darkness might have been a more interesting film if they'd done something with that. Argh.

I enjoyed the more than I expected to, but it was still a relief to watch "The Man Trap" and get my familiar flavour of Star Trek back. It was interesting, to me, that the first "proper" episode focused so heavily on a character other than Kirk and Spock. You'd think they would have waited a couple more episodes before doing that, but nope. Bones got to feature heavily and have a lot of his backstory established, while we've still only really got Kirk and Spock sketched in. As Bones is my favourite, I'm a-okay with that decision :-) Shatner seemed more comfortable in the role here and Nimoy's Spock is finally starting to behave like the Spock I know, so it's all quite lovely.

My feelings about Uhura are mixed. Obviously I adore her, and I loved seeing her do things that aren't just communication--she helps Sulu coordinate the search!--but there is such a heavy focus on her being lead by the potential for love and lust. That made me a little uncomfortable, because although I love Uhura's poetic side, I don't love the image of her being so easily led by a pretty face. Does that make any sense?

I was highly entertained by the fact that Sulu is, apparently, a master of everything. Mathematics (in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"), botany, navigation and helm...Sulu, you are the best person on the ship, aren't you? :-D

I'd promised myself I wouldn't do a TOS rewatch until I finished TNG and DS9. My discipline is weakening...

Stuff and other stuff

This whole thing where I promised to post to Imzy daily hasn't really worked...but it has got me posting to Dreamwidth more regularly (and cross-posted to Imzy when I remember). So, er, yay? Well, it's improving my rate of posting *somewhere*, at least.

I was reading some old posts here, and I realised how much I miss having that record of what I was doing and feeling. My posting petered out almost completely around 2014 (AKA The Year I Was Sad), so I have very little written down about that period. It makes me sad, because reading those old entries reminded me of happy times and places that I'd almost forgotten about. Turns out, DW/LJ weren't just about community for me - they were a way of recording my experiences for posterity. The silly every day stuff as well as the big memories. That's why I need to get back into the habit of writing here, even if I'm getting my fill of community-love on Imzy. I need that record of who I was, what I did, and how I felt.

And so...

This whole iPhone-having thing is still rather neat and lovely. I can reply to messages when I'm out of the house! And look up tide-times when we're trying to make last-minute beach plans! And catch up on Twitter while I'm waiting for a doctor's appointment! It's all very cool :-)

Dad has been visiting for the last few days, and I can tell how much the move to Canada had been weighing on his mind, because he's still in an excellent mood several months after deciding not to do it. The last couple of visits he made here, he was in such a terrible mood that I was frankly glad to see the back of him. I wasn't entirely sure Mum would go back to England at the end of her visit last year, thanks to his behaviour.

He's been a delight this trip. Fun, funny, happy to go out and do stuff or veg around the house as we please, no black silences and refusals to make decisions about even minor things like what to eat. For the last two or three years, he wouldn't go on any little trips with Mum, so his visits were three weeks of gloomy hanging out at the house, but today they're off for a few days driving and visiting and he's really happy to do it.

I can also see the difference in Mum - she's enjoying her time with him, which she really hasn't been over the last couple of years. They're going to have a great time away together. Even though she was upset and angry when he unilaterally decided they weren't moving, I think it's actually going to be good for them in the long-run. If he'd continued being a miserable git for much longer, I don't know what would have happened. Now the weight's gone and he's back to being the Dad I used to know.

Although, as much as I'm enjoying having him around this time, I am looking forward to having the house to myself for a few days :-)