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All reviews by surfandsee
1 out of 1 users found this helpful  A Trekker Grows Up
Posted: 4/25/2008A review of Star Trek by surfandsee
Like many fortysomethings, I grew up watching this show. I remember being awed by the FX of the time, primitive as they were, and it captured my imagination (I still have drawings of the "Enterprise"I did on circa 1970 multicolored notebook paper). While I enjoyed watching Kirk, Spock, and McCoy I never really appreciated their camaraderie as a kid...later, into the movie franchise, I remained a fan, (I defend the first movie to this day, with one of cinema's most emotional, majestic and powerful launch scenes) but the original series fell to my wayside as an occasional "nah, saw that one" as I flipped through limitless channels. I liked some spinoffs (the underappreciated "Voyager" with the GREAT Kate Mulgrew) and disliked others ("Enterprise", a wasted opportunity and victim of saturation) but these last few years have been mainly about just getting by...family, work, mortgage, etc. Then, the other night, I stumbled onto the episode "Obsession". The show has remained the same, of course...but I had changed. Its story, heart, and characters just made me feel good, and I was amazed at how well it was done. I guess you could say after umpteen viewings I saw it for the first time. Thank you Mr. Roddenberry, wherever you are...your vision was before its time, and will surely go on to become, someday, a reality.
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0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Thanks, Kate...
Posted: 5/1/2008A review of Star Trek: Voyager by surfandsee
If I am fortunate enough to have this review published, and doubly fortunate to have Ms. Mulgrew herself read it, let me say thank you for bringing depth, respect, believability, and heart to the role of "Janeway". It seems like every writeup I see about "Voyager" is about how it didn't share some of the qualities of the regular "Treks"...I for one am grateful. Even behind Jeri Ryan's catsuit, this show had intelligence, demonstrated the best of our aspirations as a society (we'd like to someday actually practice what we espouse to those who disagree with us), and as the best of "Trek" has always done, made us THINK. If "Voyager" can be called a success, and it is, it can be attributed to you, Ms. Mulgrew. Thanks again.
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0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Like Mac and Cheese
Posted: 5/1/2008A review of The Golden Girls by surfandsee
This series will hopefully go on in syndication forever...this coming from a working class joe who just liked (and still do) seeing these familiar faces after my most challenging days. it wasn't too realistic to me, that they would always be dressed so nice all hours of the day, and how many charity talent shows could the characters participate in? But Blanche without fail can have me doubled over laughing, Dorothy with her double takes (watch them closely, she's a master at it) and Rose...is there a more loved gentle character in TV history? Sophia kept things from being too maudlin or saccharine...and man or woman, who could watch that last episode without a knot in your throat? Great job, ladies. Bea, Rue, Betty, Estelle....you deserved every single award.
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0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Couldnt be made today...
Posted: 6/29/2008A review of Little House on the Prairie by surfandsee
When "Little House" was brought to the small screen, even as a teenager I was skeptical. How could anyone come close to capturing what Mrs Wilder (and arguably heer daughter Rose) brought to life in the finest children's books ever written? The first few episodes I remembered watching "reluctantly" out of curiousity. I liked Melissa Gilbert immediately; ironically, I felt that the man who was responsible for bringing Wilder's stories to the late-TV generation was its one weakness--casting Michael Landon as "Pa". I know, I'll get a lot of disagreement over that because he was one of my favorite actors ever, too..."ol'"Little Joe." But it seems to me the actor playing Mr. French had more of "Pa" Ingalls authentic "look". Landon was too well spoken, well groomed, too glossy to be believable (to me). Still, the rest of the cast embodied their roles beautifully, and I am grateful to Michael Landon. As you can tell, the show got under my skin and became a nostalgic favorite. I admit ignorance in TV production, and Landon should also be lauded for fleshing out so much from the material into a dramatic series. I don't think the show could have been made today-- the celebrity culture and paparrazi would have corrupted any plausibility of the young actors in their roles and cynicism seems to reign today. "Little House" did its job very well, and earned its praise as a TV classic.
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0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Why I defend STTMP
Posted: 2/21/2009A review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by surfandsee
It missed the mark on an important level, I agree...character interaction we wanted to see from the original series was never given time or material to unfold. That said, I still consider this movie to be one of my top ten favorites of all time. Why see it, and more importantly, why would you spend money on it? Atmosphere (cold, sterile, elegant and remarkably timeless)...majesty (that ship, recognized worldwide, was cheered loudly by a 1979 audience many of which "didn't like Trek, but there was nothing else playing." The drydock sequence, to me, is still a beauty)...a Message, i.e., all the knowledge in the universe means nothing without simple feeling...so OK, there were no Ewoks, and Shatner's contempt for his character shows in every film, but I still take comfort in its score, its effects, and seeing old friends. If you still are unimpressed, you have to admit it does a great job of establishing a setting for the sequels to spring from. If not, well...save your dollar :)
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0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Great memories of the 70s
Posted: 5/1/2008A review of Wonder Woman by surfandsee
If I was only rating the show through rose-colored glasses (for younger viewers that means biased by sentiment) I would give it five stars for how much i enjoyed it, and how Lynda Carter IS Wonder Woman to millions...but the show could have used a bit more cash, some of the stunt scenes are (very noticeably) the same footage, and I would have loved seeing Wonder Woman set in WWII at least another season beyond the first. Those few imperfections aside, it had great thumping music, feel-good anticipation, and best of all, seeing the work of art that is Lynda twirl into that costume. One more recollection; at a nightclub recently on a slow night, the crowd was regulars, guys having a beer at the end of the workday, and this was redneck central...the barmaid was changing channels, nothing on...and for a second there was Lynda, thunderclapping into Wonder Woman, and the whole place erupted in cheers. Not just for her body...but that there can be no one else in that red, white and blue. The three seasons on DVD are well worth the price.
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0 out of 0 users found this helpful  Great show...just a couple of gripes
Posted: 5/1/2008A review of Battlestar Galactica by surfandsee
I remember well the original incarnation of BSG (see, I can initialize too at 43) and this new version-- it would certainly do it a disservice to call it a remake-- has taken some of the interesting concepts of that show and did some serious re-tooling. In some ways better (the new Centurions are amazing) and in some, worse (I still don't see how a ship can enter light speed from a standstill with no visible acceleration, and please, no explanations). Aside from that the SPFX and battle scenes are truly jaw-dropping. What is wrong with this show? It's beginning to weigh itself down with Godspeak and politics, and I see it having a negative effect when longtime normal characters now randomly become "skin jobs"...like Patrick Duffy's shower scene in Dallas, you just can't throw out every reference in the past in an effort to keep things fresh. If these decisions were made at the series' creation I'll stand corrected, but maybe the writers' strike adversely affected the story arc; I thought mid-last season was extraordinary...now it's who-bangs-Boltar next...and are we viewers the only ones that think Boltar talking to "himself" would look very odd to the point of having him committed long ago? No character ever seems to question him. One more thing-- Ms Sackhoff is AMAZING.
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