Month: July 2006

Back in 2004, J. Michael Straczynski and Bryce Zabel apparently wrote a treatment for an effective re-boot of the Star Trek universe. It’s not difficult to see why they wouldn’t have gotten the job if they’d actually decided to pitch the idea to Paramount — the proposed prequel nature of J.J. Abrams’ upcoming film version notwithstanding — but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.

Some excerpts:

If you need a holo-deck to make an interstellar starship on the bleeding edge of the unknown interesting, something is seriously amiss.

#

Now imagine a new Star Trek calling upon the talents of writers like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, Anne Rice, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne McCaffrey, and others.

#

We know that the Enterprise was once infested with tiny cute Tribbles piled three fight high in some places…but what if they came equipped with an agenda, an attitude…and teeth?

At Sci-Fi Weekly, Wil McCarthy discusses the physics of Superman:

For my money, the real centerpiece of Superman Returns is its villain, Lex Luthor. More compelling than a two-dimensional do-gooder, Lex is callous enough to cause the deaths of millions of innocent people without a twinge of remorse. And yet he doesn’t want to conquer the world. In fact, in a funny sort of way he wants to save it, or at least bring some cosmic drama to it. He’s smart enough to pull this off, too; it’s only the constant interference of an alien demigod that keeps him from succeeding. No wonder he’s bitter; if Kal-El’s spaceship had taken the long way around, crashing just 20 years later, Clark Kent would have grown up in Lexworld, defending a very different sort of truth and justice. No prime directive there, alas.

Via Backwards City.

With the countless re-imaginings of the Superman mythos, I’m surprised we haven’t seen this one. Or have we? I know there have been British Supermans and Russian socialist Supermans, but does anyone better versed in the DC comic-verse than I know if there’s been alternate-time Supermans similar to what McCarthy describes?

Superman Returns isn’t as bad as some of the bad reviews are making it out to be. But it’s also not that good either. Disappointing, I think, is the best word to describe the movie.

I think it’s unfair to lay the blame for that disappointment at the feet of star Brandon Routh, however, which some of the reviews appear to be doing. While I’m sure his passing resemblance to a young Christopher Reeve was a factor in the casting — maybe even a major factor — I also think Routh acquits himself admirably in the role, or at least as admirably as possible given the material. His Superman never really comes alive on screen, but I don’t think that’s the actor’s fault.

I think the problem lies more with Bryan Singer wanting to direct a story about Superman so much that he sort of forgot the story part along the way. This isn’t a Superman for a new age; and while the film is not without its moments, it really doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

The film has essentially three types of moments in it: moments when it’s emulating, if not outright impersonating, the 1978 Superman movie; moments when the film is caught up in the mechanics of its surprisingly lightweight plot; and moments, rarer and fewer than the other two, when it’s doing something different, when there’s obvious fun being had on the screen. There was only one moment, early on in what became a very long movie, where my heart actually began to race, when the film acted on what is maybe the most fundamental and important level for any action movie: excitement.

I tried to prolong that moment, but the thing is, that’s the movie’s job. There’s only so much heavy lifting that John Williams’ familiar theme music can do. I wouldn’t go as far to call the movie tedious, but it does consistently fail to excite.

So half the year is gone already. Here’s what I’ve read since January:

  1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  2. Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest
  3. As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
  4. In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
  5. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  6. Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
  7. The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach
  8. Tideland by Mitch Cullin
  9. Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
  10. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
  11. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
  12. Five Jade Disks by Chang Hsi-kuo
  13. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
  14. The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
  15. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
  16. Atonement by Ian McEwan
  17. Black Hole by Charles Burns
  18. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  19. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
  20. Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
  21. Air : Or, Have Not Have by Geoff Ryman
  22. The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford
  23. Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem
  24. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
  25. The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
  26. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

How about you? Any books you’d recommend?