It's been well over a year since my last entry. A lot's happened. I've moved permanently to Los Angeles. We shot a car into space. Oh, and there was an election.
But none of that is what I'd like to focus on. I'm here (and perhaps you are, too) because of the stories we tell. I'll be posting about what I've watched, read, seen, or played recently. And along the way, I'll keep you posted about the stories I'm working on.
My largest accomplishment this past week has been completing Star Trek: The Next Generation. I say complete, but that's somewhat misleading. Max Temkin's 40 Hour Watch Guide took me through the essential episodes in the series. Since it was designed for syndication from the outset, the episodes are self-contained, with only a few exceptions. It's a type of TV that I hardly see anymore, and it's fantastic to watch. The myriad of tones displayed have a wide range, and after only a few episodes, one gets the sense that this is what it's like to live aboard an exploratory spaceship. You see the fantastic experiences, as well as the mundane operations. Some of my favorite episodes are when the Enterprise must deal with issues that arise within the socio-politics of the ship and the Federation, rather than encounters with new lifeforms. For these types of episodes, I highly recommend Measure of a Man (2.9), The Offspring (3.16), and The Drumhead (4.21). If you're looking for explorations of great sci-fi premises, you can't get better than I, Borg (5.23) which has one of my all time favorite Picard moments.
The finale, All Good Things (7.25), is better than three of the four movies made with this crew of the Enterprise. In the first episode of the series, Picard and the Enterprise is "put on trial" as representatives of humanity. All Good Things calls back to this, reminding Picard (and us) that "the trial never ends." I think that one of the themes this episode drives home is the way that we are not just shaped by all of our past experiences, but that we are all of our experiences, throughout time. And as Picard loses fewer and fewer steps between time jumps in the episode, to the point where he is completing lines across time jumps, one gets the sense of continued identity across time. (This theme apparently strikes a chord with me, as it's one of the same themes that comes up during the climax of one my all-time faves Speed Racer.)
With highly serialized storytelling all the rage these days, it was refreshing to watch something completely opposite of everything else I'm watching. (Another perk of this was that my girlfriend was able to watch episodes with me when she was around, but I never had to wait for her to move forward. She had already watched most of TNG, so the character familiarity did help.)
I could go on and on about TNG, and I'm curious to hear what everyone's favorite episodes are. Right now, I'm debating between three things:
1) Go back and watch TNG episodes I skipped over
2) Watch Voyager
3) Watch Deep Space Nine
I'll let you know what I decide.
In other space-related stories, I recently finished William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return, which is exactly what is sounds like: A retelling of Return of the Jedi in the style of a Shakespeare play. Written (translated?) by Ian Doescher, this is the third (sixth?) installment. An annual Christmas present from my girlfriend, I look forward to these every year and The Jedi Doth Return did not disappoint. Doescher doesn't simply rewrite dialogue, but thoughtfully imbues the story with all the trappings of Shakespearean theater. R2D2 has monologues, in English, that only the audience can hear, while everyone else simply hears his beeps and whistles. Yoda's particular way of speaking is translated here as haiku, separating him from everyone else. Stage directions are fun, particularly battles. (The way the battle on Hoth is portrayed in The Empire Striketh Back, with AT-AT's actually getting lines may have been the highlight of all the William Shakespeare's Star Wars I've read so far.)
Whenever I finish one of these I'm always struck by the thought of how little storytelling has changed over the centuries. I'm reminded that while Lucas was indeed borrowing from Shakespeare, Jung, Flash Gordon and plenty of other influences, those were simply guideposts to meaningful way in which stories function to humankind. Every so often, I rewatch the animated short The Power of Storytelling (narrated by Ian McKellen, accomplished Shakespearean actor) and I find myself questioning whatever I'm working on. Am I trying to entertain and reveal something about ourselves? On the page, think I'm usually just trying to entertain,in a broad sense of the word. I then find myself reflecting on what I've consumed recently, particularly if I wasn't really into it, and asking if it was not entertaining or if it was unrevealing? Or was it both?
Other Stories
In my Comic Club (like a book club, but with comics) we're reading Shadows of the Empire. I guess I'm on a Star Wars kick. I've finished the main six issue series, but we're diving deeper into the other releases, so I'll do full thoughts when all is finished. All I knew before this was the N64 game, which I played enough to memorize.
I'm slowly working my way through the Knightfall arc in Batman. My first intro to Bane was as Ivy's henchman in Batman & Robin, so now I totally get why everyone hated that treatment, and why Hardy's Bane in Dark Knight Rises was so welcomed. Beyond that fantastic voice of course.
My girlfriend and I finished Season 4 of The Americans. We've got Season 5 to finish before the final season begins on March 28. If you aren't watching The Americans you're missing out on basically everything.
I saw Maze Runner: Death Cure, and Black Panther last weekend. Go see Black Panther, skip Death Cure.
My Stories
I finally finished the treatment for the feature spec I'm working on. My broken finger has made typing tough, but the real obstacle was making this a priority for me. Things really clicked into gear when a few things happened. First, I found an outlining process that both works for me and I enjoy. I think both are crucial. I started using IndexCard 4 for the iPad. I got an iPad Pro recently, with an Apple Pencil, and it's so fun to move the index cards around. It's also super simple to stay focused on the scene and not get caught up in the whole story. After thinking through each scene, once I exported everything out into one document, it was much easier to shape into a readable treatment. The second thing that happened was that I got an email reminding me the Austin FilmFest Screenplay Competition Early Deadline was at the end of March. While I always had March 31st as a deadline, the screenplay competition gave me a visual finish line to cross. Besides being a great fest, Austin provides feedback with their submissions so I've always had my eye on it, but nothing I felt good about sending in. I feel good about this one. I'm awaiting feedback from some readers I trust on the treatment, but I'm going to pages tomorrow.
I have a couple of projects I'm toying with starting up, mostly related to my site here. Some video essays, some old projects I have in the can, but haven't edited yet, and maybe even a collaboration with a talented animator that's a good friend of mine. We'll see.
Other Stuff
- Been playing a lot of Pandemic on my iPad lately. I'm training for the Legacy Edition of the board game. I have my eye on potential teammates, but I want to make sure I'm up to par.
- Purchased realMyst on Steam forever ago. I had a night free to myself. Finally got to play it. I really dig the way in which time actually passes, but I kinda wish I had the original just for the nostalgia factor. I'm playing in Classic mode (point-and-click) rather than the WASD movement and mouse looking, but that's mainly because of my broken finger.
- Been enjoying The Coffee Roaster in Sherman Oaks. It's where I'm writing this now in fact. They're always roasting, so it smells great. Check it out if you're in the area.
- Broken Finger Status: Still broken.