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jopower1
Reviews
Star Trek: Amok Time (1967)
The T'Pring - Arlene Martel Surprise
I've been thoroughly enjoying reruns of The Outer Limits recently. All the ones I'd missed as a kid, 1st run. "The Demon With The Glass Hand" (1964) starred Robert Culp (Trent) and Marlene Martel (Consuelo Biros). It's one of the very best of TOL b&w series and I was completely taken by Arlene's fine work as the simple, likely Hispanic, cleaning woman. She's given good material that allows her emotion, dignity and decision; unusual for that TV era for a Hispanic part (including today?). It's a good script for Culp as well and a modern movie on the same script would be a great thing... if modern writers suppressed their mania to make everything explode and replace real looking people with tall skinny models (q.v.: the recent Star Trek movies by Wheeden where ALL the main cast are the same 5'10" and could be from the same frat house. PLEASE go back to making your good stuff, like Firefly, Joss!).
Anyways, I decided to look up Arlene Martel today of IMBD and, to my very happy surprise, find she's not only enjoyed a long career as character actress in some of my fave TV shows (The Fugitive, Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes, etc), but she played one of my fave ST-TOS roles of all time as T'Pring. I had no idea it was the same lady as in TOL. Yes, there could've been more lines, but she got some great ones. In the "Why choose Staan over me..." scene, she's utterly perfectly logical, her delivery a 10.
An even bigger surprise for me... same age as my dad! Unfortunately, Arlene died in 2014. A loss to all of us.
I strongly suggest followers of great TV character actors keep Arlene in mind as you enjoy classic re-runs. Her fine delivery matches her honest good looks in every case I've seen.
Dead Like Me (2003)
TV execs blow it again!
As fans of dark comedy and smart TV, we're having a hard time. I've been enjoying Dead Like Me since the 1st episode... only to find Colorado again is catching the show late in both senses. It came out in 2003 and it's 2009 before I even hear of it. DLM is on at 11:30 pm as they fursure gotta hide it from them humor-less, god-fearin' mid-westerners at prime time (and if the production has shut down who cares if they should try and call down the wrath of g** for talking' about such blasphemous things ;^D ).
Sorry, brain dead couch potatoes, there're few explosions and mayhem in Dead Like Me, but much subtle thought about what MIGHT happen at THE moment (and it helps if you see the series in order... so much for ADD viewers). Like a few shows we've enjoyed, but the execs didn't have brain cells for, DLM got high ratings (which were suppressed; see Wikipedia) and there's even a movie some years later. Sound familiar? If not let me drop a few names in this line: Star Trek: OEM, Star Trek: Enterprise, Firefly, Journeyman, Life on Mars... (at least LoM had a good out, I'll give 'em that).
This is so consistent as to be a crime. It's also why broadcast (yes... and cable) are often so dismally dull. "If it has a brain, it's down the drain" (or on PBS) we used to say in the 70's. "T-G for Lost!" I said in 2004, hoping that the mold was finally broken for bad TV. A few good outside-the-box shows appeared... only to be axed far too quickly, as Dead Like Me was. Yep, execs, you went back to making 55 IQ "smack-down" comedies about minorities and the down and out. I'm hoping for a a few well placed meteors, or should I say re-entering MIR toilet seats, to find you before it's too late for civilization.