Star Wars "Fanboys"

Spock: I find Master's fascination with Star Wars most illogical.
Kirk: I've tried to understand it myself, but ultimately,
I failed.  It was just "too big" a conundrum.
Yoda: Do, or do not.  There is no try.
Spock: Who is that short, wizened green figure, Captain?
Kirk: Him?  Oh, he's nobody.  Just an interstellar Muppet.

Warning: This post contains plot spoilers!  (But not too many).

In the movie "Fanboys," Eric's friends Hutch, Linus, and Windows give him a chilly reception when he meets up with them at a party.  We soon learn that this is because Eric has traded in his dreams of drawing a comic book series with Linus, and instead has become a successful salesman at his father's car dealership.  Eric defends his decision: at least he has made something of his life.  The other three seem little changed in the three years since high school.  Hutch and Windows work in a comic book shop, along with their friend Zoe, and they are willing to set the past aside for a moment, to enjoy this unexpected reunion with Eric.  Linus, however, refuses to talk with him.

Through Hutch and Windows, Eric learns that Linus has been diagnosed with cancer, and has only four months to live.  Perhaps Linus saw his future as intertwined with Eric's, and when Eric chose to fulfill his father's expectations over collaborating with him on a comic book series, this left him with little hope of fulfilling his dream.  In any case, with no future left to him, Linus is reluctant to admit Eric back into his life.  So Eric embraces a wild idea he and the group had fantasized about in the past: to travel from their native Ohio to Marin County, California, where they will break into Skywalker Ranch, the home of Lucasfilm, and steal a rough cut of the new, upcoming Star Wars movie.*

Although the four are fascinated by Star Wars and comics, clearly they also have talent and abilities.  They exhibit these on their drive across the country.  Hutch in particular shows promise, as he has painted George Lucas and Leia on the side of his van, and installed an R2-D2 dome on the top. He's also "made a few modifications himself," which he exhibits during the course of their journey.  Although he still lives at home, Hutch dreams of starting his own auto detailing business, once he's gotten enough money.  But it is Windows who uses his Internet contacts to eventually get them detailed information on Lucasfilm's physical layout and security, and badges so they can get into the ranch. 

And the person who gives the boys the secret plans and forged credentials?  None other than William Shatner, aka Captain James T. Kirk.  They meet him at a convention in Las Vegas, where they also meet up with Trekkies who bear them grudges for previously ridiculing them in public.  The Star Wars versus Star Trek theme echoes aspects of fandom in which diehard fans defend the validity of their love for one franchise by putting down another.  But all of us define ourselves as much by what we embrace as by what we reject.  You can't become a person of real character by embracing everything.  Thus, in this way Eric, Hutch, Linus, and Windows show us who they are.  What their beliefs are.  What is important to them.  What they are willing fight to protect, and risk their jobs, injury, and even imprisonment for.

"Fanboys" received largely unfavorable reviews from critics, with the well-regarded Roger Ebert even suggesting that the boys should have poked fun at the Star Wars movies, and their heroes, rather than embracing them so fully.  But critics, and most people for that matter, will never understand those who love the characters, stories, and elements of a particular fictional universe so much that they seek to structure their lives around it.  For most people, there's Fiction, and then there's Reality.  For them, to embrace Fiction so fully means that one's progress through Reality is halted prematurely.  "Fanboys" isn't a perfect movie, and at times, it serves up a little too much crass and juvenile humor for my tastes.  But where it succeeds for me is in demonstrating how one can channel the positive elements of Fiction (as others would utilize Religion, Science, Politics, etc) to pursue the future one desires, even if one's dreams seem unconventional and unrealistic to others.  

But then, what do I know?  I'm not a person of real character, after all.  I tend to embrace too much, to love too many different types of Fiction. And yes, even that includes Star Wars AND Star Trek.

Dragon Dave

*Although made and released later, this film is set six months before the release of "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace."

Star Trek & Phil K. Dick on Enlightenment

"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" reaches its climax with the vast alien entity V'ger in orbit over Earth.  V'ger sends out blasts of energy, which will destroy all carbon-based life on Earth unless Captain Kirk can supply the answers it seeks.  As a machine intelligence, V'ger cannot comprehend the validity of any other form of life.  This is a theme prevalent within Science Fiction, and is further explored in Hard SF author Gregory Benford's Galactic Center series.

At least V'ger is not arrogant.  It recognizes that it was created, and yearns to unite with its creator.  When Kirk supplies the proof that it was created by Humans, V'ger shorts out its circuitry, so that the last portion of the information it requires will be delivered by a Human.  

This time, unlike with the Klingons aboard their ships, the Humans aboard the space station Epsilon 9, and the Deltan navigator Ilia, V'ger unites with the consciousness of a living, organic being (one wholly different from itself), without destroying the other in the process.  

Up until now, V'ger has recorded carbon-based life: it has stored it like we would scan a document or photo into a computer.  It has analyzed the data gleaned from this process.  But only through becoming partly Human--only through uniting its inorganic consciousness with an intelligent, organic one--can it truly enhance its understanding of the universe.  Just as occurs with us--when we throw down our mental barriers and accept another person's viewpoint as equally relevant and insightful as our own--V'ger's paradigm, formerly limited, is blown wide open.  As Marvel writer Marv Wolfman channels the Biblical book of Genesis to suggest what is going on with V'ger, perhaps I could also reference St. Paul's epistle of 1 Corinthians.  In chapter 13, verse 11, Paul suggests how a person's consciousness can be enhanced by dedicating one's life to loving others.  "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put childish things behind me."  And in verse 12: "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face."   

In A Scanner Darkly, Phillip K. Dick compares how a human views the world to how a computer scans its surroundings.  He also suggests that St. Paul would not have studied his appearance in a glass mirror, but rather in polished metal that was incapable of generating accurate reflections.  

Through uniting with someone else whose life at first seemed completely different (and even opposed) to its own, V'ger is reborn.  It is now ready to explore the universe again.  This time, it will gain a fuller understanding of everyone and everything it encounters.  Likewise, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy have each experienced transformation.  Before they lived separately, and devoted themselves to smaller, more individual tasks.  Now each can fully reengage with his former comrades and explore the universe again.  Perhaps colorist Marie Severin hints at the rebirth of the three in the above panel, where for an instant, the blackness of space is banished, and the U.S.S. Enterprise passes through a realm of light.

Sadly, Paramount Studios booted Gene Roddenberry out the door after the movie failed to bring in the projected revenue, and in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," Kirk has lost the enlightenment he previously gained.  All too often, Human existence seems like a journey into darkness, illuminated only by occasional moments of clarity.  It would have been interesting to see what a more enlightened Kirk, freed from the bonds and limitations of the past, could have accomplished.  But then, we would have missed out on Khan controlling Chekov's mind from vast distances with an insect that crawled into the Russian's ear, exploding planets, Kirk's handwringing over missing out on a relationship with a son he never knew existed, and a Genesis planet with an entire ecosystem that is created--in an instant--from the dispersed particles of a nebula.  And all that would have been too cool and exciting to have missed out on, right?

Dragon Dave

Related Internet Links
Bible Apps: 1 Corinthians 13
A meditation on allusions in P. K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly

Kirk and Spock as Parents

After Ilia vanishes from the bridge in the movie “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” she reappears aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.  Dr. McCoy determines that she is a probe, sent by V’ger, and this replica confirms that the beautiful Deltan navigator no longer lives.  Still, the probe possesses not only Ilia’s looks, but also many of the dead woman’s mannerisms.  As Commander Will Decker once had a relationship with Ilia, he gives her replica a tour of the Enterprise, hoping he can learn as much about V’ger through the probe as V’ger learns about the ship and its crew.

Spock is concerned that the Ilia replica is their sole source of information about this vast alien consciousness that is traveling toward Earth, so he steals a space suit and departs the ship.  He travels through vast chambers within V’ger, and amid the darkness, sees immense holographic images, including a planet, the Federation space station Epsilon 9 (which, like the Klingon ships, vanished amid powerful bursts of white energy), and a giant image of Ilia.

In Marvel Comics’ “Star Trek” Vol. 1, Issue #3, writer Marv Wolfman again diverges from Harold Livingston’s script.  In his version, Captain Kirk immediately learns of Spock’s unapproved jaunt, suits up, and pursues him.  

Unlike his half-Vulcan Science Officer, a crystalline swarm attacks Kirk, and must Spock delay his journey ahead of the ship. 

He jets over to Kirk, and banishes the attacking crystals with a few well-aimed phaser shots.  Kirk and Spock then journey together into V’ger. 

Instead of holographic images that illuminate the surrounding darkness, the men travel through lighted caverns.  Instead of projections powered by plasma energy, Spock deduces that V’ger’s memory is stored by highly efficient crystals, which have recorded everything they destroyed, from Ilia, to the Epsilon 9 space station, to the three Klingon ships that attacked the space cloud at the beginning of the film.  

Wolfman’s changes give us more interaction between the story’s two main protagonists, tell us more about how V’ger functions, and better link the Klingons’ disappearance to the overall plot.  By showing us caverns of light, he connects V'ger's destructive energy with its “memory,” as well as how this alien consciousness learns (or gains enlightenment).  People and things may be dead in a corporeal sense, but they remain very much alive to this vast alien entity.  Thus, Wolfman perpetuates the theme he began in Issue #1 (see last month's entry "Klingons and the Book of Genesis"), when he narrated: 

“In the beginning there was darkness.  

Then God said 'Let there be light.'  

...and the light was good.”

Of course, the humans, the Federation, and the Klingons disagree with V’ger’s assessment.  But then, V’ger cannot comprehend how its actions affect others.  As with a child, lecturing it will do no good.  Kirk and Spock must help this growing alien entity develop a more mature viewpoint, one that respects others’ rights and differences, and recognizes its responsibility as a steward of the universe.  Unfortunately, instead of having eighteen years in which to nurture their child, only a few hours remain before the cloud reaches Earth.  But then, whoever said that parenting was easy?

Dragon Dave 

Spock Wrestles With His Emotions

Marvel Comics' Star Trek Vol. 1, Issue 1

At the beginning of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” we find Spock on Vulcan.  There, by spending years alone in the desert, he has striven to cast aside all emotion and achieve Kolinahr.  But then he senses a strange consciousness from space, and he cannot resist its call.  When he stands before the Vulcan elders, they judge him incapable of achieving pure logic, and tell him that his destiny lies elsewhere.  Thus he travels to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Enterprise, which is traveling to meet the entity known as V’ger.  There, his well-meaning human friends cannot resist telling him how happy they are to see him.  When she notices how much their enthusiasm shakes him, Uhura cannot help but explain, “It’s how we all feel, Mr. Spock.”

Summoned to the Officers’ Lounge, Kirk must plead with Spock to even sit down.  Spock clearly doesn’t want to be there; he is a man on a mission.  He must make contact with V’ger, and attempt to reason with the entity before it destroys Earth.  Dr. McCoy, whose role involves as much psychologist as physician, tells him, “Mr. Spock, you haven’t changed.  You’re just as warm and sociable as ever.”  Mr. Spock responds, “Nor have you, Doctor, as your predilection for irrelevancy demonstrates.”

Marvel Comics' Star Trek Vol. 1 Issue 2

In Marvel Comics’ “Star Trek” Issue 1, writer Marv Wolfman makes a slight change to the scene on Vulcan, with the elder telling Spock that they have also sensed V’ger’s messages.  But he makes wholesale changes to the exchange in the Enterprise Officers’ Lounge.  Particularly startling is Dr. McCoy’s statement that their dedication to logic has cost the Vulcan culture all art, music, and poetry.  This prompts me to ask two questions: 1) Did Wolfman miss all the times Mr. Spock played the Vulcan lute in the TV series? and 2) When did Dr. McCoy become a great lover of poetry?

“Oh nurse Christine,

you are my dream...”

or

"Scalpels are red, 

vials are blue..."

Um, right.  Back to the blog.  

Have you ever knelt in prayer, sat down to meditate, or attempted to concentrate on a problem or task, and found yourself unable to block out distractions?  Even if you were completely alone, with no sounds or sights intruding on your privacy, did you have trouble concentrating?  This is what I believe Spock sought in Kolinahr: not to divorce himself from everything that gives life meaning and reduce himself to the level of a machine, but the ability to focus on his priorities, to fix his mind on the task he decided was most important, and do so without being distracted by those around him, swayed by how he felt, or lured away by the other thoughts and tasks that compete for his attention.

To me, Kolinahr seems like something all of us should strive to achieve.  But before you head out into the desert, be sure to pack some sunscreen.  I’m told the light from Vulcan’s twin suns can be quite intense. 

Dragon Dave

Greg Bear: Star Trek Corona Part 2

Captain Kirk, T'Prylla, and Mr. Spock,
thankfully not a romantic triangle.

Yesterday, I discussed Greg Bear’s approach to writing for popular media franchises.  Then I launched into a discussion of Corona, his lone contribution to the Star Trek universe.  I also rued my ability to finish discussing this entertaining novel, and yearned for a Transporter Emergency Recovery (or TEREC) machine of my very own.  If I owned one, I could make several clones of myself, and get far more writing done each day.  But as I haven’t been able to acquire my own TEREC machine (mainly because they’re not yet publicly available), I’ll have to accept my limitations, and finish yesterday’s post today.

Come on, Apple Computer!  I don’t need a smarter phone; I need a TEREC.  Get your priorities straight!

All the issues listed yesterday are sufficient to make Corona an interesting and entertaining novel.  But Bear adds one more strand that sets his novel above the norm.  The lead scientist T’Prylla and her family heading the mission are outcasts.  They were exiled not because they were not sufficiently devoted to Logic, but because of their decision-making process.  Imagine the residents of an ancient Greek city gathered one day for a debate, and voted as to whether Plato or Aristotle’s philosophical approach to life was the most sound.  The winners--the majority--then drive the rest of their community, the followers of “an inadequate philosophy,” out of the city.  That is essentially what has happened to T’Prylla and her family. 

Meanwhile, human reporter Rowena Mason has accompanied the crew on this rescue mission.  She hails from the planet Yalbo, which has a small number of inhabitants.  She isn’t comfortable with the idea of leaving home.  Nor does she feel good about mixing with other species, such as Andorians or Vulcans, or even half-Vulcans like Mr. Spock.  But she works for the Federation News Service, and they needed her on this mission, so she couldn’t say "No."  The U.S.S. Enterprise’s rescue mission won’t change prejudices back on Yalbo, or for that matter on the planet Vulcan, but through Rowena's experience of working with Mr. Spock, and the exiled Vulcan scientists such as T’Prylla, her worldview starts to expand, and she begins to understand the benefits of accepting others for who they are, as equals, and the benefit of interacting directly with them.

Greg Bear’s scientific speculation sometimes overtakes my ability to follow, and readers with greater knowledge of such fields will thus find even more to enjoy in this classic Star Trek novel.  But there’s so much going on in this novel that any fan should find a sufficient number of interesting storylines, and the challenges the various characters face, to make reading this novel a pleasurable and rewarding experience.  Unfortunately, Pocket Books has published hundreds (if not thousands) of Star Trek novels, and Corona is one that is currently out of print, so you won’t find it in a new bookstore.  But there are older copies out there that you can find in a used bookstore, or at your local library.  If you read Corona, and enjoy it like I did, perhaps you might discuss it with your friends on the Internet?  Just like the radiation of those infant stars, the staff at Pocket Books could notice all the interest being generated, and decide to bring the novel back into print.  Perhaps, were they to do so, they might even send some unexpected royalties Greg Bear’s way.  That’d be an awfully nice thing to happen, to someone as open and giving to the Science Fiction community as he is.

So, you ask, does writing this book review mean that I'm a Greg Bear fan?  You bet!

Dragon Dave

Greg Bear: Star Trek Corona Part 1

Cover art courtesy of the great
Boris Vallejo

Greg Bear has written novels in other people’s universes, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Halo.  At first, this seemed rather strange to me.  As he has built a successful career with his imaginative Hard Science Fiction stories, he can no doubt commands large advances and royalties.  On the other hand, books written in media franchises typically pay an author a smaller advance, and little or no royalties.  When I met him at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego in 2011, I asked him why he would solicit or accept such a work-for-hire project.  He responded that he does this because he’s a fan of these franchises, and writing a novel gave him the opportunity to explore them in greater detail.  

In the case of Star Trek, his love of the franchise is evident before one even starts his novel Corona.  In the Acknowledgements, Greg Bear mentions that he contributed illustrations for the original edition of Bjo Trimble and Dorothy Jones Hedyt’s Star Trek Concordance.  “Does this make me a trekkie?” he asks.  “You bet.”

In Corona, a team of Vulcan scientists becomes stranded on a distant outpost when the infant stars they are studying give off radiation that interferes with their ability to send and receive messages.  By the time the Federation receives their distress signal, ten years have passed, and they are presumed dead.  Nonetheless, the U.S.S. Enterprise is directed to investigate, and rescue any survivors they may find.  This turns out to be a fortunate coincidence.  The ship’s sickbay has just been upgraded with a Transporter Emergency Recovery (or TEREC) unit.  By comparing a person's originally transmitted body pattern with his or her present one, Doctor McCoy can repair injuries and cure a person's illness.  (Needless to say, Bear wrote this novel years before Star Trek: The Next Generation explored the concept further).  This TEREC unit could prove useful, as the infant stars’ radiation has damaged some of the Vulcan scientists who were in cryogenic suspension, and can no longer be revived successfully.  But Dr. McCoy’s ability to use the device may be limited, as it comes with protocols and safeguards that could limit the use of TEREC in this particular case. 

How much power and judgment should be allowed starship captains and their crews is one of the themes Bear concentrates on in Corona.  Unconstrained use of TEREC could allow Dr. McCoy to make unlimited copies of a given individual, as with cloning.  Alternatively, he could use TEREC to improve everyone aboard the Enterprise, cure all their bodily deficiencies, supercharge their muscles, brains, or immune systems, or even return their bodies to an earlier period of their lives (and by doing so repeatedly, grant them immortality).  Meanwhile, an observer aboard the Enterprise is comparing Kirk’s actions and decisions to computer recommendations.  Kirk’s judgment has often saved the ship, but no man is infallible.  Computers can sort through an infinite number of options quickly, and perhaps make a more informed choice.  So with this mission, the future of command is being determined, and Kirk, as the Defendant, represents all his fellow starship captains.

I’ve got more to say about Greg Bear’s novel, but time marches relentlessly on.  So with reluctance, I must sign off for today with the promise that this post will conclude tomorrow.  If only I had a TEREC machine, and could constantly rejuvenate myself, and enhance my brain’s functioning, so I could write more, better and faster! 

Maybe I'll telephone Dr. Rudy Wells, and order up a bionic brain.

Dragon Dave 

Boris Vallejo: a short biography