12/21/2008 - Star Wars Vs. Star Trek - DMP Edition HQ

These Star Wars/Star Trek videos never get old. This one is actually more in a humorous vein and addresses the technological divide between the two universes. While Star Wars tech is decidedly less advanced than that of Star Trek, Star Wars has a little trick up its sleeve:

9/6/2008 - Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Believe it or not, not all geeks are created equal. There is no clearer illustration of this expression than the dichotomy between Star Trek and Star Wars fans. Star Trek appeals more to the fan of traditional science fiction. With more talk and less action, it has always been more of a thinking man's show. Constrained by a TV budget, there was always a limit in the number of scope of action sequences show in an episode. On the other hand, the Star Wars movies would have unlimited budgets after the first one in 1977. Having more of an action/fantasy element, Star Wars has a wider appeal, although the more hardcore fans are more cultish in nature. Although George Lucas tried to shoehorn in a more scientific explanation for "The Force", longtime fans pretty much rejected it in favor of the previous magical or even religious connotation. The Star Trek/Wars camps are naturally at odds with each other and one side often treats the other with derision or disrespect. The two sides may never fully come together, but I'm sure fans of both will appreciate this next video:

3/6/2008 - Star Trek XI The Wrath Of Kirk

All genre mediums have their fictional rivalries: Superman vs. Hulk, Robocop vs. Terminator, Alien vs. Predator, Jackie Chan vs. Bruce Lee, etc. Perhaps one of the most famous rivalries though has to be of the two most prominent Star Trek captains of the Enterprise: James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. It would seem that their character traits would put them at odds right away: Kirk being the gung-ho adventurist, with his emotions on his sleeve; Picard being the classical strategist, playing with the Marquess of Queensbury rules. Now, that may be oversimplifying them quite a bit, but it was obvious that the creators of Star Trek: The Next Generation wanted to have a figurehead that was markedly different than Capt. Kirk.

With two such iconic figures in a franchise with legions of fans... passionate fans... a meeting between the two seemed inevitable. And indeed they did meet, in the 1994 movie, Star Trek: Generations. Instead of a duel to the death between the two captains, though, all we got was a sort of lame team-up against Malcolm McDowell. Sure they butted heads a little on philosophy, but come on! The fans wanted more. They wanted to see who was the better captain. Of course it would be up to the fans to attempt to answer that question, and that's what this fan trailer is all about:

1/27/2008 - Star Trek Movie Mistakes Part 1

Feature films that were adapted from a TV series using the same cast have largely been successful. There's a built-in audience and fanbase for the TV shows who have watched them for free for many years. They are usually eager to see either the continuation of the storyline or just want that big-screen experience. The most recent example of this was The Simpsons Movie which did extremely well in the box-office.

One of the longest-running franchises that has had TV to movie crossovers is Star Trek. Originally intended to be a five-year or more series, the original Star Trek television show only lasted two years, but got such a huge following that it led to the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While it only did respectably at the box-office, its follow-up, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was a huge hit, and brought many new fans to the series because it was such a great movie (one of my personal favorites). In fact, its success led the producers to develop a new Star Trek series on TV, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Its run on the air would be in parallel to the continuation of the stories of the old generation on the big-screen.

The writers of these stories of the big-screen and small really do make an attempt not to contradict each other in terms of continuity, but with so many storylines and throwaway technical jargon, it would have been impossible to be consistent. After all, nobody can claim to know every line of dialog to every Star Trek story or would have the time to research them while writing the plot. They would also use different writers for the feature films than the television show(s). Of course, the hardcore fans of the series would pick up on little inconsistencies between the TV shows and the movies. And in the case of Star Trek, these hardcore fans are nerds (I use that term lovingly). So what mistakes have they come up with? Well, watch and see...

8/3/2007 - Worst Fight Scene Ever

The original Star Trek series that ran in the sixties had some pretty good special effects for the time... although now, they all are so hokey that they are being remade using today's visual technology. Still, those old effects at least allowed those who watched them to suspend some disbelief and enjoy a good space opera.

There were some scenes, though, that made you disbelieve what you were seeing, and not in a good way. This fight scene between Kirk and an alien monster is one of them. The choreography sucks, the camera work sucks, the alien costume sucks, and even the normally cool James Kirk character comes across as lame. Look at how slow the alien swings its fists! How could you not avoid that? I know that William Shatner never gets embarrassed about his past work, but surely this has to make him wince.

6/10/2007 - Every Star Wars Fan's Worst Nightmare

The title to this video pretty much says it all. This was a prank pulled at the Star Wars Celebration IV convention in Los Angeles where they were celebrating the 30th anniversary since the release of Episode IV. You can bet that all the hardcore Star Wars geeks were out there, all dressed as their favorite Jedi or Sith. For someone to go out there dressed as Captain Kirk in a Jar Jar mask is the equivalent to a KKK member going to a NAACP rally... but uglier...