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jingram-9
Reviews
Symphony of Swing (1939)
See a real swing band in action...
Here is one of the Warner Bros. "Vitaphone" series of musical short films intended to be viewed at the movie theater in conjunction with newsreels. Artie Shaw was the subject of three of these shorts, 1938 and 1939. This was when Artie Shaw's band was it's swinging best, with Tony Pastor blowing the sax and singing, and Helen Forrest the girl singer. In this film, Buddy Rich is on drums. Artie junked this band later in 1939, and ran off to Mexico for a break, but his "Begin The Beguine" band of 1938 and 1939 is generally considered one of the best in all of swingdom. It is this reviewer's opinion that Artie Shaw really was the best. He concentrated on the solid and left the corny and ricky-tick stuff alone. Get this little 10 minute video, and see a real swing band in action!
Star Trek: New Voyages: To Serve All My Days (2006)
A slick, professional production
I've been watching Star Trek since walking several blocks in order to see the first televised episode, "Man Trap", on a color T.V. way back in 1966. I've watched the other versions of Star Trek come and go over the years, but the original series has been far and away the best of it all, motion pictures included.
Thus, upon discovery of the "New Voyages", for me it's been a breath of fresh air. I thoroughly enjoy these fan productions, and best I can tell, "New Voyages" are easily the best of them. I thought the earlier "New Voyages" episode, "In Harm's Way", was outstanding, and I feel the exact same way about "To Serve All My Days".
The production, for a fan film, is utterly fantastic. The quality of the Windows Media acts that I downloaded were superb, from the crisp video, special effects, and soundtrack, to the amazing attention to detail with respect to canon and continuity from the original series. But let's clear up one thing right off...nobody is going to replace William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, etc., and to their credit, this "New Voyages" crew doesn't attempt to. These versions of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy stand on their own. Another big plus is bringing in so many people from the original series' run. This episode was penned by none other than D.C. Fontana, and Walter Koenig reprises his role as Chekov. My only complaint would be that the new crew needs to develop some un-forced camaraderie as the original cast did, but as these episodes progress, that appears to be happening. The acting in this episode is a definite step forward from "In Harm's Way".
As a Star Trek fan, this episode was a thrill to watch, and without giving away spoilers, the way young Andy Bray evolves into an older Walter Koenig was, to me, very nicely done.
At last, we get to see the last 2 years of the 5-year mission. I now look forward eagerly to the next episode, bringing in George Takei as Sulu!