I was a little disappointed in the first episode of the season because it felt like an hour long Season 2 epilogue. While Dark Wings, Dark Words has lingering whispers of season 2, there was enough here to make me feel like Season 3 had begun. There wasn’t a lot of action but this show is about positioning and politics first and foremost. The battles will come in time. For now, I’m happy to watch these characters plan their next moves.
My favorite moment of the episode was a not-so-subtle exchange between Gendry and Arya.
“You could have named King Geoffrey.”
Be honest… Throughout the whole Jaqen storyline of season 2, you wondered why she never named The King or Tywin Lannister. It could have been so easy!
It was also fun watching a restrained Jaime take on Brienne. Theon made a quick and painful appearance. It’s always tough to see characters get tortured but he was a giant idiot in season 2 so….
Those were fun moments but, for me, the moment of the episode was a close battle between Sansa and her mother Cat.
SANSA CAN TALK!
King Joffrey is one of the most hated characters on television. A large part of that hatred was sparked by his horrific treatment of Sansa and her relentless silence. In Dark Wings, Dark Words she finally gets a chance to speak her mind.
“He’s a monster.”
That comment may come back to bite her at some point but it was nice to see her speak of the suffering she has endured.
Overall, it was a close battle but my pick for best moment was Cat’s story.
CAT & JON HAVE HISTORY
We’ve always known her hatred for Jon Snow. He was a constant reminder of Ned Stark’s unfaithful act. But praying to the gods to bring death to a child is pretty cold. (Even in Winterfell)
What I loved the most about this moment was the history. This show is amazing because of the details carefully placed in every corner of Westeros. Every character has a story and connections to others. Jon Snow and Cat haven’t been in the same room since the beginning of season 1. Yet still, the writer’s managed to use their fractured relationship as a window into Cat’s mind. Her family is completely shattered and the guilt is a relentless weight on her shoulders. It was a fantastic moment for the character.
I was just about to turn 10 when Jurassic Park was first unleashed. How many kids hate dinosaurs when they’re 10? None. I was lucky enough to be a part of a generation of kids who grew up with Jurassic Park. A film that pushed the limits of technology and left audiences in awe. Now, 20 years later, I’m nearly 30 and got a chance to appreciate the film on the big screen as an adult. Before I get to my thoughts, I’ve carefully selected appropriate background music while you read. Please hit play:
WELCOME BACK TO JURASSIC PARK!
It’s amazing how much your life can change in 20 years yet movies can take you back in an instant. As a child, I was terrified and inspired simultaneously. As an adult, I knew what was coming and it was just as suspenseful and entertaining.
Revisiting an old film you adore is like seeing a cherished old friend.
You know everything about your friend yet there are always new details to discover. From the moment the film began, I experienced the larger the life moments all over again in a brand new way. It was amazing to see my old friend on the big screen once more.
Jurassic Park is a FUN movie to watch. It always was. Discovering a world where dinosaurs exist is the very reason we go to the movies. For two hours you suspend disbelief and accept that dinosaurs exist and automation isn’t cheap. But I don’t have to tell you how amazing Jurassic Park is. I’m not going to ramble about the effects or the relationships between the characters. It’s been 20 years after all. I’ll sum up my thoughts in one sentence:
If you loved Jurassic Park you owe it to yourself to see it in 3D.
I saw the movie in a sold out IMAX theater with a crowd of people who gave all the big moments a round of applause. There was even a modest standing ovation at the end. I’ll admit it was a little annoying at first but I couldn’t blame them. Perhaps it should be common place to applaud when a Tyrannosaurus Rex whips a raptor into a fossil display. It really is amazing that the effects still hold up after all this time.
Throughout the film, I wanted to write notes about all the details I never saw before. I wanted to include a list in this review but it’s hard to concentrate on blogging when Dilophosaurus is doing this:
… Clever raptors do this:
… And T-Rex was does this:
Still, it was interesting to watch Lex flip out over interactive CD-ROMs and state of the art UNIX systems. Indeed, a lot has changed in the last 20 years.
I’ve changed. 20 years ago, my obsession with film was just beginning thanks to movies like Jurassic Park. I was 10 years old AND 30 years old at the same time in that theater. When the credits rolled, I couldn’t help but wonder where I’ll be in another 20 years. What will be different about my life? At 50 years old how will I experience movies like Jurassic Park? No one knows such things but it’s nice to know an old friend will always be there to inspire me all over again. I imagine when I’m 50, I’ll still have the same expression as Dr. Grant when he sees a living dinosaur for the first time.
JAY: A fan of J.J Abrams’ Star Trek Universe with little knowledge of the original series.
JOHN: Not a fan of J.J Abrams’ Star Trek Universe but a huge fan of the original series.
THE DEBATE BEGINS
ROUND ONE
(JAY) When J.J Abrams’ Star Trek first trailer came out, we were both pretty pumped but for different reasons. For me, it was the first Star Trek movie I was genuinely excited to see. For you it was a chance to see classic characters re-imagined. Of the two of us, you were definitely more of a skeptic.
I grew up at the height of The Next Generation so I never got into the original series. You would think I would have been all over Star Trek growing up but I was never interested. Still, I was aware of Kirk and his crew. How can you not be? Whether you love the series or not, you can’t deny Star Trek’s impact on pop culture.
It was obviously the filmmakers goal to simultaneously pay homage to the original series while introducing new fans to characters. This approach worked perfectly for me being relatively new to the Star Trek Universe.
I suppose my question to you would be how you discovered the original series? And what were you hoping J.J Abrams would deliver for long time Star Trek fans like you?
(JOHN) Skepticism is an understatement when it they announced a new Star Trek. A reboot that involved characters so near and dear to my heart. Like yourself, I’ve always been a bit of a trailer junkie and it is in fact trailers and teasers that got me interested in editing as a career path. I’ve always been fascinated how a trailer could take many of the main sequences and dialogue from a film and put them together in a way that still leaves the viewer wanting more.
But how many times have we seen a trailer that looked awesome, only to find the film itself was actually not what we expected? (Personal examples: Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Matrix: Revolutions. True, these are sequels that build upon pre-established characters, but then again, isn’t “Star Trek”?)
The ability to draw people in and often trick the viewer into thinking a movie is going to be awesome (when unfortunately a little too often it doesn’t meet expectations) is what I love about movie trailers. So when I saw the trailer for Star Trek, I wasn’t excited for the movie itself, rather how good they were able to make it look. Add to that the music they used was pretty damned good.
I shall try to contain my inner Trekker from taking over and ranting too much. (Yes, Trekker. I’m not a Trekkie. I don’t dress up.)
I discovered the original series when I was a kid through my dad. He has always been a fan of the original series. During my youth an old TV station called CKVR based out of Barrie, Ontario used to rerun the original series and he would always be taping them on VHS. He would catalog them and keep track of which episodes he had and which ones he still needed.
My Saturday afternoons as a kid consisted of playing road hockey with my dad, then coming inside, eating Kraft Dinner and watching an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series with him. You could practically set your watch to it. In fact, I’ve been told that even before I could really comprehend what I was watching, I used to tell my dad that I wanted to watch “Spock Ship.” This is what I thought the show was called as a toddler. Talk about an early start, eh? The adventures of Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew became a part of my upbringing and the characters became almost like family. Almost everyone has a show they look back at growing up and loving. For me it was The Original Series (TOS). So, right there, it is easy to see how I have a very personal connection with the show, the characters, and the actors who portrayed them. They became a part of my Saturday afternoons, right there with my dad, road hockey and delicious Kraft Dinner. (I shudder to think how much of that stuff I have eaten over the years.)
Now, what was I hoping J.J. Abrams was going to deliver for a long time fan like myself?
To not screw it up. To be loyal to the original. To respect what came before it.
… Oops.
The moment I heard that they had the stones to RE-cast the original characters, I lost all hope. Someone ELSE other than Shatner playing James T. Kirk? A different actor donning the ears and bringing Mr. Spock to life? Not possible. Not after all this time. Not after, as you said, the show, characters and actors themselves became a part of popular culture. They are entrenched. There’s no going back.
Want to make a new Star Trek? Fine, do just that! NEW! Create NEW characters! They did it 4 separate times after TOS was over. With the exception of The Next Generation (because that was airing as I was growing up and is practically 1-B to the 1-A that is TOS) I was slow to accept the new series’ each time they came out. But that’s okay. Because even though they were all under the “Star Trek” umbrella, they were also all different and new characters, and if I didn’t care for some of them, that’s fine. It’s not like they are trying to mess with the original. (As a side note, after given enough time and getting used to the new and different characters, I grew to enjoy aspects or all of the more recent incarnations of Trek, those being Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise.)
IF…
IF they had cast unknowns as the original characters…IF they had decided not to mess with 701 episodes, 10 feature films, and over 40 YEARS of history…they might have had me. I may have accepted it. They decided against that though. They decided to cast one of the Tremor Brothers as Kirk, Sylar as Spock (I will give them credit, he was the ONE actor who I think actually resembled his previous counterpart), KUMAR’s freaking pot smoking, White Castle craving buddy Harold as Sulu and Shaun/Nicolas Angel as Scotty? Simon effing Pegg?? All of a sudden Scotty is a comedian? Complete with a sidekick?? And yes, you could say “but John, they DIDN’T mess with history, they created an alternate universe!” well that’s almost worse! To me, I’m taking that as a huge middle finger from the creators of this movie. (Spoiler Alert…although to me, it just seems like they were trying to spoil the whole franchise) I’m interpreting that as they didn’t like what had been established and what had transpired beforehand. “Hey, I don’t like what you’ve done here, and because I can’t come up with my own original ideas, I’m going to take YOUR characters and YOUR universe and erase everything and use YOUR stuff to make what *I* wanna make. So there.” So now that I’m playing with your toys, let’s kill off Spock’s mother. Let’s destroy Vulcan. Let’s have Spock and Uhura try and get into each other’s pants. Excuse me?
My real question is why. Why did they have to use TOS characters? Clearly the answer is money. They figure if they are going to “re-boot” the franchise (isn’t there too much of that going on these days? A Spider-man reboot 5 years after the third installment of the previous incarnation premiered?? Are you kidding me? Hey, The Avengers just came out in 2012…lets reboot it in 2013.) Then let’s start at the “beginning” and use characters people know or have heard of and gear it towards young people and get them invested in Star Trek again.
For right or wrong, it worked. The movie did extremely well. It catered to all the people who just wanted to see explosions and sex (well who doesn’t) and slapped the title “Star Trek” on it. Star Trek is “cool” now! “I’m a Star Trek fan!”… Are you? Please, be specific. Are you a fan of ONE movie that came out, or are you a fan of science fiction? The exploration of ideas, concepts, time and space? Things that make you think? Equality, the human condition, political issues? These are the things Gene Roddenberry was thinking about when he created the series back in 1966. THAT is what the franchise was built upon.
So I guess my question to you is, by using the names, characters and setting of TOS in “Star Trek”, are you at all interested in seeing where it came from? Are you invested in The Original Series? Have you watched a single TOS episode or movie? Because if not, then what was the point of using those characters?
The wait is over! Game of Thrones has returned for another season of battles and betrayals… Just not in the first episode. It’s hard to fault Game of Thrones for masterfully balancing so many groups of major characters but I was a little disappointed in Valar Dohaeris. Much like the first few episodes of Season 2, we spent a lot of time catching up with our favorite characters.
It kind of felt like an hour long ‘previously… on Game of Thrones‘ montage. Having said that, this show is overflowing with characters I wanted to see. I just felt there wasn’t enough ‘Season 3′.
That will change in the coming weeks as the inhabitants of Westeros continue their ruthless campaigns to rule. As far as choosing a moment, I’m tempted to go with Daenerys’ dragons. Watching their fishing techniques was pretty fantastic. As was Jon Snow’s first encounter with a giant.
However, in terms of story, I decided to go with…
TYWIN VS TYRION
“I would let myself be consumed by maggots before mocking the family name and making you heir to Casterly Rock.”
Ouch.
From the moment this scene began, you could feel the tension between father and son. It’s amazing to see such a powerful character in Season 2 be reduced to nothing by his father with nothing but words. Tywin really is a hard ass. I’m sure Tyrion will find a way to get back in the game but it will be much more difficult with his father in King’s Landing.
Some of the best moments of Season 2 came from Tyrion’s strategic and clever mind. Hopefully, it doesn’t take long for him to pick himself up.
This exchange was easily my favorite moment of Valar Dohaeris. While it was a slower episode, it served as a reminder of how well they juggle story lines on this show. I can’t wait for next week as Season 2 is officially wrapped up and Season 3 can begin… Right?
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