Star Trek

REVIEW: The Christmas TV Companion book [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

The Christmas TV Companion:
A Guide to Cult Classics, Strange Specials, & Outrageous Oddities
1701 Press, softcover
Release date: November 10, 2009
Author: Joanna Wilson

The Christmas TV CompanionI cover many subjects here on The Film Frontier. Beyond key ones like Star Trek, Star Wars, Superman, and Elvis Presley, I also give love to, among others, The Twilight Zone, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and Charles Schulz’ Peanuts gang from time-to-time. I like to think this is a rather eclectic combination not soon to be found anywhere else.

To some degree, however, all of these topics and more are covered in The Christmas TV Companion by Joanna Wilson. (Fair warning to Superman fans: the associated reference is just an “also appeared in” credit for Margot Kidder on one page.) The book’s main revelation to me is demonstrating a common thread among all of these topics I previously thought were so diverse: Christmas.

The Christmas TV Companion takes readers on a journey through some of pop-culture’s best and worst Christmas moments. Hold on tight for this ride from the traditional to the blasphemous and every point in between.

Core sections of the book are Macabre, Sci-Fi, Variety, Animation, and Dark. With dozens, perhaps hundreds of productions referenced, Wilson is obviously well-versed on her topic. When reading books like this, I fact check by looking at what the writer states about topics on which I am knowledgeable. Wilson’s Elvis, Star Trek, and Star Wars references are all correct – which leads me to trust her on the multitude of other topics covered.

While some shows warrant a line or two, 1978’s infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (is it possible to write the name of that special without including “infamous” in front?) merits five pages of coverage, including a photo of Harvey Korman and Bea Arthur from the show. The special was actually my first exposure to Star Wars, as a three-year-old. I remember very little of it, as I likely fell asleep – which is probably a good thing.

One of my favorite features of this book is the “Make Your Own Marathon” concept. We geeks have been doing this for years, and Wilson’s suggestions add new and creative elements to setting up such marathons. A Star Trek-themed marathon and an Elvis-themed marathon are among the several she provides. She also includes tips on creating your own based on a subject of your choice.

Fellow Trekkies, I can hear you asking, “The only Christmas scene was in Star Trek Generations. How can you have a Star Trek Christmas marathon?” I will not reveal all, but I will throw you a clue as to how these marathons of loose associations work: A certain Star Trek: The Next Generation actor has also appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Elvis marathon mentions the 1968 ELVIS television special, which aired during the holidays that year, as well as several other Christmas TV shows that have included Elvis in some fashion. An unfortunate omission was Perry White (Lane Smith)’s appearance as “Santa Elvis” in the 1994 “Season’s Greedings” episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Superman even pulls Santa Elvis’ sleigh to deliver toys to orphans. Written by series star Dean Cain, it is one of my favorite episodes of the series.

Very little else is left out, though, and the variety that serves as this book’s strength may also leave your head spinning at times. The Christmas TV Companion works best as a fun reference to thumb through, rather than something to read cover-to-cover. You probably want to keep this book near a computer or notepad, too, as you will find yourself wanting to seek out certain specials or look up more about some topics.

For instance, one of my favorite Christmas songs is “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” I had no idea until reading this book that the song’s original lyrics were actually quite depressing and changed at the last moment for its first appearance in the Judy Garland movie Meet Me In St. Louis. Curious about the original lyrics? You can find them here. You can bet I will start keeping an eye out for Carol for Another Christmas, Rod Serling’s take on A Christmas Carol that aired in 1964, too.

I must give credit to 1701 Press for including an index. A book like this demands one. A couple of recent Elvis books by other publishers lack indexes, and I was beginning to think they were going out of style.

If you are a Christmas special addict like me, you will be glad to know that Wilson’s current project (of which this book is actually derived) is a “comprehensive encyclopedia of Christmas on TV,” due out next year.

With about 135 pages of content outside of the thorough index, it would be easy to underestimate The Christmas TV Companion. Do not let this book’s seemingly short length fool you, though. Each page is full of information. Often Wilson even covers the margins with more trivia on the various productions, performers, or creative types mentioned. Whether by design or fortuitous accident, The Christmas TV Companion appears just small enough to make a perfect stocking stuffer.

The Christmas TV Companion goes on sale Tuesday. It is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Overall Experience: 9 (out of 10)

(1701 Press provided a review copy of this book free-of-charge.)

Elvis vs. Star Trek: There is no comparison (or maybe there is. . . .) [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

There is a middle ground between genius and insanity. . . .
That’s the signpost up ahead!
You’ve just crossed over into . . . The Film Frontier.

A blogger pal of mine, Thomas over at Elvis Today, is looking to widen his knowledge of Star Trek. He has collected a few DVDs in the past, but this year’s new film has given him the bug again.

I am always looking for content, and this sparked an idea. What better way to acclimate an Elvis expert like Thomas to Star Trek than to relate them to each other? I am not sure how this is going to work out, but I am going to give it a shot.

I suppose Star Trek experts that are looking to expand their knowledge of Elvis could use these same comparisons in reverse. We here at The Film Frontier want to go green, so that makes this a dual-use post.

You have to be very careful when reading a post like this, or you might strip your gears!

  • Star Trek: The Original Series–The Complete Seasons 1-3 is to Star Trek as ELVIS: The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll-The Complete 50s Masters is to Elvis.
  • Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman is to Star Trek as Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture is to Star Trek as Paradise, Hawaiian Style is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is to Star Trek as Elvis: That’s The Way It Is is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is to Star Trek as “Are You Laughing Tonight?” is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 1 & 2 and Star Trek: Insurrection are to Star Trek as “C-O-N-F-I-D-ENCE” and “A Dog’s Life” are to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 3-7 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are to Star Trek as ELVIS: Command Performances-The Essential 60s Masters II is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise are to Star Trek as lousy imitators are to Elvis.
  • Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda is to Star Trek as Elvis Day By Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: Remastered is to Star Trek as Elvis vs. JXL: A Little Less Conversation is to Elvis.
  • The 2009 Star Trek film is to Star Trek as ELVIS (’68 Comeback Special) is to Elvis.With apologies to the great Rod Serling for stealing and mangling his words at the top.

How To Spend An Extra Day [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

“The only thing worse than watching a bad movie is being in one.”
–Elvis Presley

Finally, February is over and spring is almost here.

Though I’m no fan of February, it does have one redeeming factor: Leap Day. I spent part of 2008’s extra day watching Superman Returns. February 29 is Superman’s kinda-sorta birthday, after all. It has been nearly a year since I last watched this movie, and I continue to be impressed by it. I hope that both Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh will return for a sequel within the next two or three years. I have seen rumors on both sides, but no confirmation either way.

I also watched some Star Trek episodes on Leap Day. No real connection there, I just felt like watching. I watched the original versions of “The Apple,” “Mirror, Mirror,” and “The Deadly Years.” Turns out that “The Apple” is also this weekend’s episode of Star Trek: Remastered. This is not an episode I could watch twice in the same weekend, though.

No Star Wars on Friday, but I did sneak in an Elvis movie – Harum Scarum. Definitely not one of his best, but interesting to me as an Elvis fan since I  had not watched it in a long time.

When I was a kid, the local UHF syndicated station seemed to show Elvis movie marathons nearly every Saturday afternoon. Coming from a family of Elvis fans, I spent a lot of time watching them. I will not lie to you and tell you that Elvis made the best movies, but most of them do have a quirky fun about them. He had a real gift for comedy that a lot of the mainstream really does not know about. Check out Viva Las Vegas, for instance.

Elvis made 31 scripted movies, but some of them seemed to turn up on those Saturday afternoons more often than others. Harum Scarum and Easy Come, Easy Go, for instance received a lot more airplay back then than, say, Jailhouse Rock or Change of Habit.

When the UHF station was not playing Elvis movies, it filled Saturday afternoons with Godzilla and other monster movies instead. I watched a lot of those, too. My favorite of these was Godzilla vs. King Kong-mostly because of the epic nature of such a bout. Elvis never made any monster movies, but it sure would have been cool to see him take down Godzilla with a karate chop and then nurse the beast’s wounds with a song in Elvis vs. Godzilla. You know, maybe I watched too much TV as a kid.

Hey, I wonder if Quantum Leap fans use Leap Day to celebrate their franchise? There’s even an Elvis connection to Quantum Leap. The last episode before the series finale featured Sam leaping into the body of none other than Elvis Presley, on the brink of being discovered. Though filled with inaccuracies regarding Elvis, it is still a fun episode.

One neat bit of trivia is that when Sam looks in the mirror to see the face of the body into which he has leaped, Elvis is portrayed by Michael St. Gerard – who had also played him on the short-lived ABC television series Elvis. He also appeared as Elvis in the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire. St. Gerard actually looks enough like Elvis that my local paper once accidentally put a small picture of him next to an article about the real Elvis, with the caption: “Presley.”

Due to an unforeseen circumstance, I had the day off on Leap Day this year, though I probably would have requested it off anyway. It only seems fair that Leap Day should be a worldwide holiday for everyone.

Does your employer or school really deserve an extra day of your life? It is the perfect day to catch up on time, life, and movies.

We will start the Leap Day Holiday movement right here on The Film Frontier. We will all work really hard on it – every four years or so.

News From The Frontier: Get Smart trailer; Star Trek and Twilight Zone episodes online; Elvis & Star Wars [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

Good morning, folks. It’s catch-up time, so I have a lot of news for you today.

Get Smart movie news roundup
Now that Paramount has moved Star Trek to 2009, the movie I’m most excited about this year is the revitalization of Get Smart, starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. I have been watching the original Get Smart on DVD to get ready. The new preview trailer released last week by Warner Brothers looks fantastic. Check it out on the official Get Smart movie site. Get Smart hits theaters on June 20.

SCI FI Wire has a number of interesting articles on Get Smart. Carell wisely decided not to imitate the legendary Don Adams while portraying the character. “There’s no way to improve upon what he did,” said Carell, who says he instead tried to evoke the spirit of the character.

“Honestly, for me the catch phrases were the toughest part, because it’s hard to say them or think of them in any other way than the way that Don Adams did them. So, again, I tried not to do an impersonation of him, but I tried to sort of let them come out of the situation and not feel like they should stick out in any way,” he said.

This is actually not the first time Carell has tackled a character from a legendary 1960s television series. In 2005’s Bewitched, he appeared as Uncle Arthur to counsel Will Ferrell. Uncle Arthur was made famous by Paul Lynde on the television version of Bewitched. Carell’s Bewitched cameo was a slightly different situation than his Get Smart role, though. In Bewitched, he really is supposed to be the exact same fictional incarnation of Uncle Arthur portrayed by Lynde. Even stock footage of Lynde is shown earlier in the movie. The Get Smart movie, on the other hand, is a total restart of the franchise.

Within a couple weeks of the release of Get Smart to theaters, Warner Brothers will also release a direct-to-DVD movie, Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control. The spinoff film stars Masi Oka (Heroes) and Nate Torrence (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), who also have supporting roles in Get Smart.

CBS releases Star Trek and The Twilight Zone for free online viewing in the US
Every episode of all three seasons of the original Star Trek is now available over at CBS.com for free viewing by those in the United States. These are unaltered versions of the shows, not the versions shown in syndication for Star Trek: Remastered. The first two seasons of the original The Twilight Zone, which lasted five seasons, are also available online.

· CBS.com: Star Trek video episodes
· CBS.com: The Twilight Zone video episodes

Elvis & Star Wars
Don’t worry, I’m not going to start covering “Elvis Trooper” here. However, there are some legitimate connections between Elvis Presley and Star Wars. As a member of both fanbases, I’ve observed a lot of this stuff first-hand over the years. Thomas over at the Elvis Today blog compiles some of them in his article “Elvis, Star Wars style.”

When I visited Graceland in 1990, one of the things mentioned on the tour was that on the last night of his life, Elvis tried to obtain a copy of Star Wars to show his daughter, Lisa Marie, but none were available. Elvis and Star Wars will always share 1977, which really had two huge entertainment headlines–one was the launch of the legendary Star Wars in May and the other was the loss of the legendary Elvis Presley in August. Both stories have had rippling effects all the way to the present.

In 1968, Steve Binder directed ELVIS, a Christmas special that became the most-watched show of the year and revitalized Elvis’ career. Today, it is known as ELVIS: ’68 Comeback Special. When I watch this special, sometimes I think about how only a decade later, Elvis would be gone and Binder would be directing another Christmas special – 1978’s infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. In a unique way, Binder was there for the best of Elvis and the worst of Star Wars.

In June 1977, just six weeks before his death, Elvis was filmed for another television special, Elvis In Concert. The director of that special, which did not air until about six weeks after Elvis’ death, was Dwight Hemion. Hemion, who passed away just over a month ago, teamed up with Binder the next year for that very same Star Wars Holiday Special, for which he served as Executive Producer. Like the Star Wars Holiday Special, the complete version of Elvis In Concert is not officially available for purchase.

I stumbled across the top-notch Elvis Today blog while looking up info about another Elvis project, This Is Elvis. I watched the 1981 theatrical cut of this rockumentary for the first time in years the other day. Elvis Today is an extremely well-written blog. I was so thrilled to find it that I actually went back and read all 90 or so of its entries. I’ve not done this for any other blog out there, including the myriad of ones available for Star Trek (there are some Elvis connections there, too; I’ll also save them for another day).

In one posting, Thomas sums up what it feels like to be an Elvis fan better than anything else I’ve ever read:

“On the highway I put the fourth CD from the Today, Tomorrow & Forever box set in the car stereo and there was ‘See See Rider’ from February 1970 blasting through the speakers. It’s hard to explain what I felt, but I remember thinking ‘Man, I’m gonna listen to Elvis and his music until the very day I die.'”

That makes two of us.

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And that’s about all the time we have for this installment of News From The Frontier. Have a great day, everyone.