Recap: On the Genesis planet, Saavik and David find a naked Vulcan boy in a snowdrift. The boy is seemingly mindless and unable to speak; David says this is the regenerated form of Spock. Before they can beam up, however, the Grissom is destroyed by the arriving Bird of Prey. Saavik and David hear what's happening over the communicator, and ( Read more... )

Recap: Kirk and Sulu visit the hospitalized McCoy. Kirk explains the mind-meld situation to Bones while Sulu talks to an unfriendly guard, then the two of them take out the guards and escape with McCoy. On the Excelsior, Scotty has a run-in with the douchebag Captain Styles, then proceeds to the transporter room.

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Recap: Saavik and David beam down to the Genesis planet. They discover Spock's tube/coffin, covered in a colony of slug-like creatures; David says that these "evolved" from microbes that rode the tube over from Enterprise. They open Spock's tube to find it empty, except for his "burial robe". After a brief earthquake, the two of them hear a ( Read more... )

Recap: Aboard the Bird-of-Prey, Kruge and his officers Torg and Maltz watch the Genesis video stolen by Valkris. Kruge asks the opinion of his officers; Torg suggests that Genesis offers "great power, to control, dominate", which pleases Kruge. Maltz just says "They can make planets", which makes Kruge angrily dismiss Maltz. Kruge tells Torg ( Read more... )

George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows.

Back in high school I read a sci-fi anthology which included a novella called "Sandkings". It was disturbing as hell and I resolved never to read anything by this apparently depraved author again. Sixteen years later, I have broken my vow.

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Recap: The Enterprise pulls into Spacedock, a huge facility in Earth orbit. The bridge crew sees the new USS Excelsior, which is supposed to have transwarp drive; Scotty is skeptical of this. Suddenly, Chekov detects a lifeform reading in Spock's quarters, which were supposed to be sealed. Kirk heads down there to find the door ripped open, and ( Read more... )

Recap: This movie starts by briefly showing us Spock's death and funeral scenes from the last one. We hear Nimoy's "Space: the Final Frontier" from the last film and see Spock's burial... tube.... on the planet. ("Call for Mr. Spock." "Is it about his tube?") The credits roll, not featuring Leonard Nimoy's name (clever ruse, that).

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was supposed to be the last Star Trek film, but it became a surprise hit and Paramount decided to continue the franchise. In fact, this film was greenlit one day after Khan opened. However, Paramount faced a glaring problem: Spock, the second main character of Star Trek (and easily the most popular and recognizable ( Read more... )

Why is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan a better Star Trek motion picture than Star Trek: The Motion Picture? The reasons are many and varied.

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Khan didn't kill Kirk, but he did hit him where it hurt...right in the Vulcan.

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