Call It Speculation
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Call It Speculation |
| Creator: | Guinn Berger |
| Date(s): | 1983 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Call It Speculation is a 1983 essay by Guinn Berger.
The topic is the two Star Trek movies that had been released Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, and speculation about The Search for Spock, which had not been released yet.
The essay was published in It Takes Time on Impulse #1.
Excerpts
Just what are we apt to see when the time arrives and we've lined up and paid our bucks, to sit there in the darkened theater and watch it all happen in living color on the big screen? Perhaps it would be a good idea to begin with what I, for one, expected from the first two Star Trek movies and what we actually got.
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was for me both a truimph and a deep disappointment. What a thrill to know that even Paramount Studios, which hold the rights to Star Trek, could not kill it. Fandom had kept it alive and nurtured it through all the years, and at last, at last, our loyalty had born fruit .... And yet— it grew so very dull right after the excellent beginning. It seemed more like a fannish Mary Sue than professional Trek, getting bogged down in goopy romance and special effects. Where were the brillantly drawn characters, the great themes in (as Harve Bennett puts it) "a pop-culture format" ?
Which brings us to "The Wrath of Khan." Now there we had something more like it ! The scope was big; you qan't get much bigger than a device which will take any old spaceborne matter you happen to have hanging around and create a star and a planet with hot and cold running wildlife! And the characters were impressive; I don't think I'm likely to forget the fanatic gleam in Khan's eyes, or the agony in young Joachim's when he realized that the man he had loved, enough to swear eternal allegiance, had gone utterly mad. He had, in fact, become a Captain Ahab chasing his revenge across the galaxy.
Of course, disappointingly, Uhura was still opening hailing frequencies —sort of— and Scotty seemed chiefly there to protest that the doubletalk generators would stand nae more. Was Sulu even there? I can't remember if he had any lines. Still, there was fine interplay between the Big Three and the newest Regular, Saavic, I had expected very little on that face, prejudging as I was by the bad experience of Lt. Mary Sue Ilia. (Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)
Oh, but was I wrong! So gladly did I change my closed little mind, which doubted sincerely whether it would be a Good Thing to try grooming somebody young and strange to join the exhalted group of Star Trek Regulars, that now I eagerly look forward to the complex Lt. Saavic's participation in future adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
... Which brings us to the upcoming work, "In Search of Spock." (Cringe — whimper — oh Please somebody, change that title ! ! !) Dunno about you, freinds, but I want to see Spock back again. I keep seeing the very un-Vulcan tear in Saavic's eye, and hearing the break in Kirk's voice as he offered tribute to his good friend. As a pretty wise wizard once said, "A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." I just don't see a great heart such as Soock's being allowed to stay dead forever — not in a fictional universe anyhow, wherein fondest dreams can come true; can be made to come true. I want to see ever growing wisedom from Kirk, the kind that comes out of long experience rather than boyish hunches and incredible good luck. Saavic should continue to be groomed for command, and be given responsibility for the admiral's well being/safety off ship — thus giving her ample opportunity to gain valuable experience and watch closely how a commander — commands.
I would like to see the rest of our faithful Regulars get their chance in the spotlight, for which they've waited so long. Where is Uhura's story? What did Sulu do before going into space? We know that Chekov once loved a hippie-dippie Academy drop-out, and that Scotty developed a 'thing' once for a girl half his age, but is there nothing more? Is it too much to expect that Harve Bennett will research these comfortably familiar characters and show us a side of them we've never seen? Maybe; at least for one movie that's probably asking alot. So here's hoping that "In Search of Spock" is an unmitigated success (maybe with a different title, though), bringing in enough money to make it simply un-THINK-able not to do another. And another. And another. And another. .. .