TREK REVIEW: DIS 5-3 - "Jinaal"

After a cracking start to the season, the third episode of Discovery is a middling affair that suffers from trying to do too much at once. There are four main plotlines running through this, which is perfectly fine for a serialised story, but as Discovery is trying to manage that middle ground between serial and episodic adventures, none of it really gets the time it needs to thrive. 

The core story, the quest for the galactic puzzle pieces, brings us to Trill, a planet we were bound to go back to if only to resolve Adira and Gray's story. There's some deep Trill lore on offer here, with the zhian'tara ritual performed again - Jadzia Dax manifested all her past hosts using this on DS9, with Ezri using it to manifest her murderous past host Joran in the final season. Those weren't portrayed in the same way, and what we have here is closer to the original, with Jinaal, the first host of the Bix symbiont, taking control of Culber's body, while the rickety old lady its currently inhabiting just waits for permission to die.

Thanks to Wilson Cruz, this is by far the most successful part of the episode. He gives a great performance as Jinaal, tweaking everything about his persona: his vocal delivery, his walk, his overall demeanour all change, without ever being over the top. Jinaal is a lot of fun to be around, thoroughly enjoying the chance to go for a walk in the wilds after centuries of being a quiet voice in a succession of heads. This section of the quest really is contrived: those old scientists expected someone to find the previous clue, decipher it, find the right Trill who by rights was expected to be dead by now, seek out their new host, and then go on a perlious journey, survive a monster encounter and still be around for when said Trill reveals the next piece still, luckily, hiding under a rock. 

Still, it's fun, with Michael and Book making a good team as usual, always more enjoyable to be with when they're out causing trouble and getting into scrapes. It's always strangely reassuring to be back in a quarry standing in for an alien planet, and while the big, bug-like monsters are a little generic, watching the adventurers work out how to deal with them while trying to not get killed is entertaining.

Meanwhile, Adira and Gray have an awkward but mature conversation about their relationship, which basically means they break up. This is the least interesting part of the episode, in spite of Blu del Barrio's attempt to keep things engaging. Even the chemistry they shared with Ian Alexander isn't present anymore. Frankly, now that Gray's got his body back and isn't haunting his ex, he's not a very interesting character. Gray and Adira were once two parts of the same being, which was fascinating and gave the actors something to work. Now they're in a long-distance relationship and it's not working for them or the story.

Back on the ship, some more engaging relationship antics are going on with Saru and T'Rina, who have their first, very mild-mannered argument, when the Kelpien does the man thing and tries to protect his fiance's interests in the political arena. This rather overshadows his first assignment as ambassador, but Doug Jones and Tara Rosling keep the scenes working. T'Rina is proving to be a quietly awesome character; she should end up president of the whole Federation. I suspect we'll see something of the Vulcan purist threat in future (a 32nd century follow-up to the "logic extremists" of the 23rd, I suppose).

Finally, a fun but throwaway run of difficult introductions for the backbenchers and job-doers as new Number One, demoted Commander Rayner does the worst breaking-the-ice in workplace history. There are some entertaining titbits in the crew's 20-word party pieces, but mostly this is here to expand upon the friction between Rayner and Tilly. It works, but feels unnecessary to the story, using up time that might be more valuably spent elsewhere.

That kind of sums up the episode. It all works, just about, but the balance is off, and while it's a perfectly watchable instalment, it's a bit of a disappointment after two such strong opening episodes.

Nods, winks, promises and revelations:

• It turns out that Trill spots form a pattern that is unique to the individual, like human fingerprints or Saurian ridge scales.
• On the subject of Saurians, they are revealed to reproduce parthenogenically, with Linus having already laid several clutches. Perhaps he'll look up his descendants.
• It's said that it's unusual for a Trill symbiont to live 800 years, but not unheard of, with Bix having made it this far but being on its last legs (metaphorically speaking). That almost seems included just to rule out a new version of Dax, who would be 1273 by now (the Dax symbiont was born in 2018, fact fans). We can hope though.
• Starship watch: we glimpse the USS Locherer, named for the late cameraman JP Locherer who got a nod in the credits of "Red Directive." 
• The diplomatic conference includes a Selay, who previously appeared in the first season TNG episode "Lonely Among Us," as well as in a couple of cameos since. This one is quite redesigned since then, and is reddish instead of green.
• There's a second mention of the Breen Republic, so I'd not be at all surprised that those icy bastards turn up this season.
• Next, we're off to Tzenkethi space - could we finally, after all these years, find out what they actually look like?

TREK REVIEW: DIS 5-1 & 5-2

5-1: RED DIRECTIVE 
5.2: UNDER THE TWIN MOONS

(SPOILERS WITHIN)

After two years, Star Trek: Discovery returns with its fifth and final season. We'd been promised something special with this run, with the showrunners intending to deliver something that even the naysayers of this divisive series would enjoy, and that was before it was decided it wouldn't be renewed. The double-episode season opener delivered on that promise, giving us a pair of episodes equally rich in action, mystery and heart.

"Red Directive" starts with an almost absurdly action-packed teaser that sees Burnham surfing on the hull of a starship, before jumping back to the events that lead up to this. I'm not sure Trek has done this before; it reminds me of classic episodes of The Outer Limits. It's a fun introduction, but borders on being too much; hasn't every season Discovery season opener had Burnham in freefall in space somehow? In a way, it's comforting: for all the promise of this being season doing something different, it's still full of OTT action setpieces, and Michael still has to place herself right in the centre of the action.

It isn't long before we learn of the Red Directive itself, seemingly 32nd century Starfleet's highest priority order, put in place for when it's absolutely imperative something doesn't fall into enemy hands. It was open knowledge that this season was going to have a quest element that revolved around some galactic mystery. However, I don't think anyone expected for it to act as a sequel to a sixth season episode of The Next Generation that'snow over thirty years old. "The Chase," while designed as a way to silence critics who couldn't suspend disbelief at a galaxy full of human-shaped aliens, was a fun episode that hinted at deep mysteries of the Star Trek universe. Sure, the science was wonky, but when isn't it on Trek? We already knew that no one writing for the franchise understands how evolution works.

It's a story that, in retrospect, is begging for further exploration. If anything, the chase across the galaxy was a bit lacklustre in the 24th century, and this longer, more action-packed version is far more entertaining. On the other hand, the original version had the Progenitors hiding clues in our very DNA; this time, they've scattered bits of a stone jigsaw puzzle across the galaxy, which isn't quite as fun from a sci-fi perspective. Still, it allows for lots of Indiana Jones-esque gallivanting across the place, exploring ruins and colourful locations and getting into scrapes. 

This means new planets - two in two episodes! Sometimes it feels like this series forgets what its name is. Q'Mau is a classic desert world with a hint of the Tatooine to it, while Lyrek, the world with the twin moons, is a proper, Republic Serial jungle adventure location, with haunted ruins and killer mechanisms, albeit a bit more on the high-tech side. Lyrek calls back to The Next Generation as well: while it mostly recalls the weaponry showground of Minos from season one's "The Arsenal of Freedom," it's actually a tombworld of the long-dead Promellians, whose abandoned ship caused trouble for the Enterprise in season three's "Booby Trap." It's a fun detail that the Romulan ship that kicks all this off is almost as old in the Discovery era as the Promellian ship was in The Next Generation.

There's plenty more callbacks but, unlike in Picard's final season, none of feels gratuitous. It all adds to the sense of a rich universe, full of history. Making an obscure, one-off Romulan character one of the greatest scientists in the universe is a nice touch, as is washing up a classic Romulan starship. There's also Fred, the delightful Soong-type android - sorry, synth - who's been knocking around since at least the 26th century. It's nice to see Data's family is still going strong in the far future (and we're bound to see more of Fred, just as soon as Culber and Stamets get him fixed up).

Which isn't too say there isn't plenty of new material here. Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis are great fun as dastardly duo Moll and L'ak, whose simple money-motivated approach makes for a nice contrast to the high-minded ideals of science and learning of the Federation team. Of course, Moll turns out to be Book's long-lost sort-of-stepsister, because everyone knows everyone in this universe, but this offers some promise for future tension, especally if she has links to the now-lost planet Kwejian. 

The other major new character, Callum Rennie's Captain Rayner, is a joy to watch. We may have lost our hero Shaw, but we get new grumpy, bullish officer to enjoy. However, Rayner is quite the opposite in command style, taking risks and considering the mission ahead of individual lives. We can only ask what other skeletons are in the closet if his poor decisions on Q'Mau were enough to get him forced into retirement, especially considering the sorts of breaches of protocol that Burnham, Tilly and the rest get up to on the reg. Of course, it's all an excuse to get him in place as Burnham's new Number One, in the most most predictable move of the two episodes (and one that makes a mockery of any kind of disciplinary system Starfleet has going on here). It's an interesting choice to make Rayner a Kellerun; so far, it's had no bearing on the story, but it's always gratifying when a one-off species isn't completely forgotten about. (The Kelleruns were one of two warring people's seen in the second season DS9 episode "Armegeddon Game," the one where O'Brien does take coffee in the afternoon.)

The regulars and semi-regulars are all well-served. Doug Jones in particular gets some choice material, getting some heartfelt moments with both Burnham and his now fiance T'Rina, and some very fun stuff as "Action Saru" down on Lyrek. It's always good to see Tilly back, absolutely not setting up her new role as a lead on upcoming spin-off Starfleet Academy, no-sirree (and don't ask Mary Wiseman, whatever you do). Oded Fehr and David Cronenberg get to play to their strengths as Admiral Vance and Dr. Kovich, the latter who seems to have his own personal version of the Matrix on hand for super-secret mission briefings. 

Experience tells us that Discovery has a tendency to start a season well, before floundering in the middle and rushing the ending. Still, I remain optimistic that the final season will continue to deliver. A shorter, ten-episode season will hopefully fix some of the pacing issues that have affected the series in the past, and with another four pieces of the puzzle to find, more than half of the run should be taken up with missions to mysterious planets. Next stop: Trill.

Questions, references, observations:

• No one has any idea what L'ak's species is, and I can't help but wonder if that will be significant to the story later.
• We're convinced that President Rillak, with her mixed heritage, will somehow be instrumental to decoding whatever miraculous technology is finally recovered from the Progenitors.
• They've shelved the Spore Drive, much to Stamets's chargrin, in favour of the still mysterious Pathfinder Drive. Probably for the best: has everyone forgotten that they're not supposed to use the spore drive because it hurts the people on the mycelial plane?
• Starship watch: Rayner commands the USS Antares, another well-worn Starfleet name.
• Picard callback: the Romulan puzzlebox that kicks off the quest also had a role in that show's first season mystery.
• Why does Moll think that a Romulan ship would be beyond the Federation's jurisdiction? The Romulans are members now, since Ni'var rejoined.
• The sands of Q'Mau have "unknown radiative properties." That's got to come into play somehow later. I hope no one has space cancer.
• Three cheers for everyone's favourite future knick-knacks, the self-sealing stem bolts!

REVIEW - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

 This review contains some spoilers

Having relaunched the franchise again with Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan return with what might be described as an episode of the ongoing Ghostbusters series. In spite of some negative reviews, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has done well enough that it's likely we'll get a run of films, coming in every few years, continuing the paranormal exterminators' adventures. Kenan has said that he and Reitman have storylines ready to go for future movies. This, then, is basically the first regular episode after the pilot.

On the whole, I preferred Frozen Empire to Afterlife, for several reasons. First and foremost, this film was simply a lot of fun, something which seems so low on people's priorities for movies these days. Reitman and Kenan stated in interviews that they were going for the feel of an episode of The Real Ghostbusters, magnified for the big screen, and they absolutely achieve that. It's a funny, busy, silly adventure that still finds time for character work, like all the best episodes of RGB.

It massively helps that this film features a new villain, instead of the retread of the first film we got with Afterlife. Of course, it's understandable that a relaunch of the original continuity after decades would bring back the classic Big Bad for a rematch, but Afterlife reused some of those elements so slavishly it verged on a remake. Frozen Empire, on the other hand, gives us a brand new monster to threaten New York and the world.

Still, this film ostensibly ties in with the original's fortieth anniversary (although you'd have expected them to release it in June for that), and as such it has plenty of characters, ghosts and settings included as references to the past. While the Oklahoma setting of Afterlife was a breath of fresh air, it feels right that we're back in New York for this one (although excursions to other cities, state and even countries was par for the course on RGB). As with Afterlife, the bulk of the original's surviving core cast return. However, while in the previous film this was little more than a bunch of glorified cameos, here the characters feel more integrated into the story.

Winston and “Dr. Ray” benefit the most from this approach. Winston, now a hugely successful business, is now the owner of the firehouse and seemingly the Ghostbusters organisation itself, financing research and development while the new team get on with the everyday business of busting. Ray, on the other hand, is where he belongs, running his spooky little shop, helping out with research where he can and tenuously entering the 21^st century with a new YouTube series on allegedly haunted artefacts. Ernie Hudson is a class act as always, wile Dan Aykroyd basically just is Ray at this point.

Less well served are Venkman and Janine, who come across as a little shoehorned in, but at least they have a reason to be there. Venkman gets to do his somewhat dodgy parapsychologist schtick in the service of the mission, while Janine finally gets to suit up, itself a much deserved reason to include her. Annie Potts seems to be having a great time, but Bill Murray comes across as running on autopilot. The final actor to return from the original is William Atherton as the hated Walter Peck, rather brilliantly now mayor of New York and still determined to shut the Ghostbusters down. He's great in the scenes he has, but he's a bit underused here. Still, it's a nice way to tie events back to the beginning without just repeating things.

It's the new cast who continue to impress the most. While it's very much an ensemble film, McKenna Grace still stands out as the star. Phoebe Spengler is now fifteen, becoming more frustrated and confrontational with her family, particularly when they acquiesce to Peck's demands and bench her until she comes of age. (Peck, like in the original, isn't wrong in his judgments, but he goes about enforcing them in a destructive way.) Phoebe gets a wonderful storyline to herself in which she bonds with Melody, the ghost of a girl who burned to death years before. Emily Alyn Lynn has a real presence as the ghost, whose friendship (and hints of romance) with Phoebe aligns with her increasing isolation and advances the plot.

Finn Wolfhard gives a solid performance as Trevor, now eighteen and struggling to prove himself as an adult and a Ghostbuster. Logan Kim is pitch perfect as Podcast, now working with Ray at the Occult Bookstore and managing his online activities. Kim has grown up a lot between films and steals a lot of his scenes with his infectious humour. A little underused is Celeste O'Connor as Lucky Domingo, who at least gets some great busting scenes interning for Winston's team.

Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd gives the film an emotional centre as Callie Spengler and Gary Grooberson, now an honorary Spengler, now a running the Ghostbusters street team as a couple. Rudd has some sweet moments as he slowly learns how to become a father to Phoebe, although he does get saddled with some awkward exposition to bring audience members up to speed with developments from the previous film.

Some of the best material goes to entirely new characters. Surprisingly essential to the story after a seemingly throwaway introduction is Kumail Nanjiani as Nadeem, a dropout looking for a quick buck who turns out to have a powerful secret hidden even from him. Nanjiani gets some of the funniest moments of the movie,carrying what could have been a ridiculous character by just running with it. I was a little dubious of James Acaster's casting, knowing him purely as a stand-up comedian rather than an actor, but his curt inventor character Dr. Lars Pinfield is a joy. Plus, it's good to have a Brit in there at the heart of the Ghostbusters team, heading up research and development for the new generation. Stealing his scene is Patton Oswalt as the enthusiastic occult historian Dr. Hubert Wartzki, although he is in the film for only a brief time. Still, he manages to make a long run of exposition highly entertaining.

When it comes to the various ghosts and goblins, Frozen Empire serves fans well. For celebratory purposes, Slimer is back, still hanging around the firehouse after Ghostbusters II and now hiding out in the attic, while Eleanor Twitty, the library ghost, has a brief cameo. The latter is pointless but fun and over in seconds, while Slimer actually has some impact on events, with Trevor having a fun little sideplot dealing with attempts to catch the critter. Of all the classic ghosts, it's Slimer who really had to be there, especially as he was absent from Afterlife. Surprisingly, given that this film follow up on the post-credits danger signs on the containment unit from the previous film and everything eventually breaks free, we don't get a ton of cameos from ghosts from the classic films. We do, however, have a lot of little Mini-Pufts running around; they're fun, but the joke's wearing thin with those guys. Time to melt them down.

There are plenty of new spooks, courtesy of Winston's new spectral research facility. Pukey, a revolting little spud, is no doubt included to be the new kids' favourite, while the simply but effectively realised Possessor makes for fun and threat as it jumps between various objects which it brings to life. Starting out with a major bust, in this case the thrilling car chase after the wonderfully realised Sewer Dragon, kicks the main body of the film off nicely, and it's satisfying that both puppetry and CGI are utilised together here.

The Big Bad for the film, the great demon Garraka, is a suitably threatening creation, an inhumanly thin, ghoulish creature with impressive horns. He's a striking image, and his power, to freeze people using their own fear, is enjoyably nasty. However, while I'm pleased that the film has considerable build-up to his eventual appearance, once he's there he's dispensed with far too quickly. It almost feels like we're missing an act, giving the film a rushed ending which badly affects its overall pacing.

Afterlife notoriously and controversially brought back the late Egon Spengler as a ghost, there to help and reconnect with his family. Here we have Melody, and while her motives are complex, she's another ghost who is very human in her thoughts and actions, rather than the monstrous manifestations we usually see. The majority of entities in these films have been godlike things far beyond humanity, virtually mindless creatures that never were human, or the ghosts of humans whose evil has made them monstrous in their afterlife. There's a lot more room for exploration here, to see more traditional ghosts who are intelligent, self-aware and altogether human, and the questions that raises for the Ghostbusters and their treatment of spirits. There could be some dramatic consequences there, along with the fact that, while they're praised as heroes at the end, the Ghostbusters and their new ally Nadeem are responsible for everything bad that happens in this film.

Altogether, Frozen Empire is good fun, and while it can't hold a candle to the original, it's a step up from Afterlife. Where it works best is in its original elements, and this is where the franchise needs to go next. While the old guard are better used here, this really should stand as the final handover to the new generation. The inclusion of the classic crew, the Spenglers and the new characters leaves this film (ghost)busting at the seams. The next film really needs to let the past go for good, focusing entirely on the modern team and more new ghosts for them to face. Let's really evoke The Real Ghostbusters and bring is some truly weird stuff.

Spoiler-y elements lifted straight from The Real Ghostbusters:

• The possessed Ecto-1 and a haunted stone lion both appear in the first RGB season.

• The possessed pizza brings to mind the pizza monster in the title sequence for the Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters iteration.

• Phoebe temporarily leaving her body is not unlike the times her father was discorporalised/forced from his body in RGB.

• Even the Mini-Pufts originated in The Return of Mr. Stay Puft, a comicbook collection from 1990.

REVIEW: The Black Archive - Midnight by Philip Purser-Hallard

Obverse Books' Black Archive range is something of a marvel. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to find a book's worth of material to say about each and every Doctor Who story, but here we are, at the 69^th volume. Philip Purser-Hallard (The Pendragon Protocol, The Vanishing Man, Of the City of the Saved...) delivers his fourth entry in the series with Midnight, analysing the 2008 episode widely considered one of modern Who's finest hours (or at least, one of its finest 43 minutes). It's even more impressive to create an engaging full-length piece on a single episode, although that this is even possible shows the depth of many of Doctor Who's 21^st century episodes. Midnight itself is an episode that is crying out for a dissection like this, so it's surprising it's taken so long for the range to reach it.

In spite of episode's simple storyline and production, a consequence of the need to produce an episode cheaply and quickly before season four's big finale, it's a narrative filled with questions and room for exploration. Purser-Hallard delves into the traditions of the script, both televisual and theatrical, drawing fascinating parallels with productions both within the series (such as The Edge of Destruction) and without (Arthur Miller's The Crucible). Purser-Hallard analyses the social commentary within the episode, delving into each character's background, taking them apart to show remarkable depth for what, at first glance, may seem like sketched-in characters. He notes that the script's author, Russell T. Davies, picks out easily recognisable archetypes to populate his story, but that this adds depth and complexity without the need to spell everything about the characters out. Some of the analysis of the character names seems to be taking things a little far, though, seeing parallels that unlikely to be deliberate. Similarly, the seemingly counter-intuitive name for the planet and story, Midnight, was probably chosen for no deeper reason than it sounded cool.

Purser-Hallard takes a very writerly perspective on the episode, viewing it in context with the traditions of storytelling. As well as more contemporary forms of story, he adroitly links Midnight, with its nameless horror that steals the very voice of the protagonist, to fairytales and folklore. Even then, he brings it bang up to date by comparing it with the most recent Doctor Who episode, The Church on Ruby Road, with its own take on fairytale monsters. From a fan perspective, some of the most interesting parts of the book deal with the fiction itself. After all, with the possible exception of Listen, Midnight features the most obscure and unknowable monster of any Doctor Who story, simply asking for an essay discussing just who or what it is. Equally intriguing is the later section dealing with the Doctor's character in this episode, one which takes him to task for his many flaws; again, Purser-Hallard's essay reflects the story itself while also looking at it through the lens of the most recent Doctor Who episodes, in which David Tennant returned as an older, more refined version of his Doctor.

As effective as the main essays are, the part that was most informative for me was the appendix, which details the three stage productions of Midnight. This was news to me, and it was fascinating to read the differences between the productions in their approaches to performance and casting, backed up by interviews with some of the creatives involved. Altogether, a very strong entry to the Black Archive, giving the reader plenty to think about next time they watch this acclaimed episode.

Television Heaven update

Here are all my Television Heaven articles and reviews since the last quarter of 2023 up to January 2024. Gradually picking up the pace as I slowly get back in the swing of the writing thing. We have modern and vintage telly from across the decades, beginning with the charming teen superhero series Ms. Marvel within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Perhaps the best show on television right now, never mind that it's aimed at five-year-olds: Bluey. A surprise release late last year of the pre-Python comedy series The Complete and Utter History of Britain. More up-to-date is the comedy-drama that's swept the awards lately, Only Murders in the Building. For Hallowe'en I took a look back at the Steven Moffat's take on Stevenson's classic, BBC serial Jekyll. Most recently, I polished off my teaspoons and revisited a gem from my childhood, T-Bag. And finally, I brought my overview of 21st century Doctor Who right up to date.