Rewatching the Star Trek movies! After the life and death seriousness of the previous movie, it’s time for the franchise to let its hair down and have some fun in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Here’s what happens: Kirk and company return to Earth to face trial for stealing and then blowing up the Enterprise in the previous movie. Except a giant alien probe has made it to Earth first, threatening the entire planet if it doesn’t get an answer. Spock and Uhura are quick to deduce that humpback whales are the key to answering the probe’s call and saving the Earth. But all the humpbacks are extinct, so prepare for time warp…
Captains Courageous: In the previous movie, Kirk risked everything on a leap of faith to bring back Spock. This time, it’s another leap of faith. McCoy goes on quite a rant about how much of a longshot Kirk’s time travel plan is, but Kirk insists it’s the only way.
Ol’ pointy ears: We spent two movies with Spock having accepted his human half, which felt like genuine character development for him. But now he’s rebooted (so to speak) back to hard logic mode. It makes for some fun humor, but what is the character arc here? Spock is so single-minded at first that he can’t answer “How do you feel?” Later, when the mission is in trouble, Kirk calls Spock out his non-emotions, reminding Spock that he’s half-human and asking if he feels anything about that. This comes to a head during the trip back to the present (future?) where Spock must do the illogical thing and make a guess on how to get home. His humanity and imperfections are what save the day.
Welcome aboard: Catherine Hicks, as whale expert Gillian, is fun and flirty with Kirk. But I’m more interested in all the ancillary Starfleet characters seen at the opening of the movie. The great John Shuck hams it up as a blustery Klingon, Brock Peters is a commanding presence in his recurring role as Admiral Cartwright, plus we’ve got an unnamed Federation President, and an unnamed female starship captain years before Rachel Garrett and good ol’ Janeway. (What’s with all these unnamed characters in Trek’s supposedly rock-solid continuity?)
Continuity café: The movie doesn’t tell us what the probe is, where it came from. To get all that background, you had to read the follow-up novel, Star Trek: Probe (1992) by Margaret Wander Bonanno. I would go ahead and spoil it, but… I find the book unreadable. I’ve tried to get through it several times, but I never made it to the end. God Emperor of Dune was less obtuse.
What you leave behind: I like that the movie is light and funny (even if the circus music-style score is trying too hard to be wacky). But, like The Motion Picture, it makes you work to find the character arcs. This movie is beloved and considered a Trek classic, but I wonder if there could’ve been an even better version, that more successfully married its humorous side with its dramatic side.
Rewatching the Star Trek movies! While Spock’s death in the previous film is moving, everyone doubted he was really dead. Hence 1984’s The Search for Spock.
Here’s what happens: The Enterprise returns to a Federation space station following the events of the last film. But McCoy’s strange behavior and a message from Spock’s father has Kirk and the crew stealing their own ship to return to the Genesis planet to find what really became of Spock. A Klingon ship is also headed straight for Genesis, with murderous intent.
Captains courageous: There’s a great scene early on where the head of Starfleet denies permission for the Enterprise to return to Genesis, saying Kirk’s plan is based on nothing but Vulcan mysticism. Here we have the famously atheist Trek franchise going down a spiritual route. Everything Kirk does is based on faith – faith that Spock and McCoy can be saved, and faith that innate humanity can win out over the hard logic of the “needs of many vs. needs of few” thing.
Ol’ pointy ears: Does Spock have a character arc in this movie? Kinda. He spends most of the movie as a blank. He has returned as viewers predicted, so the suspense becomes in what way has he returned, and will he be the same? The movie’s final scene has Spock remembering who he is. Can we view this as a mirror to him accepting his human side in The Motion Picture, or am I reaching?
Welcome aboard: Christopher Lloyd hams it up delightfully as the evil Captain Kruge. But what is this bizarre scene at the beginning of the film where he confronts the mystery woman Valkris? She’s a Klingon agent delivering the Genesis info to him, and he kills her for looking at it without his permission. The dialogue suggests that the two may have been lovers, but the tie-in fiction disputes that, with a backstory about how they agreed to her death ahead of time, so that her dying with honor (does she?) will restore her family’s high status in the Klingon Empire.
Continuity café: McCoy goes to a bar aboard the starbase, and there’s a lot of fun alien/sci-fi gags. This includes an appearance by Tribbles. What to make of this? Does this mean Tribbles have been successfully domesticated by humans at this point, or are they about to overrun this station like they did in the classic series? Was this before or after the Klingons raided the Tribble homeworld and killed them all? Or are they not Tribbles at all, but the fake Tribbles you can buy at conventions? (Not that I’ve ever bought one…)
What you leave behind: Bringing someone back from the dead happens a lot in sci-fi/fantasy, because it’s something you can do there that you can’t do in, say, a romcom set in a small-town bookstore. I’ve been of the mind that if your story absolutely must bring a character back from the dead, it should be really hard. In this film, Kirk makes huge, life-changing sacrifices in pursuit of Spock. This speaks to the story’s theme of acting on faith. Good movie, lots to think on.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Here’s FF #7, the second half of an extended flashback that… Oh, I just can’t.
Recap: Two issues ago, the conflict between four recently-discovered lost civilizations was complicated by four evil versions of Reed from alternate universes, and then complicated further by the appearance of the flying Inhuman city of Attilan with Black Bolt on the throne. Then we got an entire issue of a flashback how Black Bolt recently died, another flashback about the Kree Supreme Intelligence learning that an Inhuman will be his eventual demise, and yet another flashback of Black Bolt returning to life.
This issue begins still in flashback, located “within the fault,” in deep space, where Black Bolt is under attack by tentacles (wa-hey!). This goes on for a bit until Black Bolt is rescued by the Inhumans’ teleporting dog Lockjaw. On the Kree homeworld of Hala, we’re reminded that the Inhumans recently took that throne, with Medusa ruling in Black Bolt’s place. The Kree all kneel in awe of Black Bolt’s strength and might.
Then there’s some politicking where a Kree regent argues against sending aid from the strong core planets to the weaker and impoverished planets on the fringes of Kree space, saying that this is simply not how the Kree operate. Black Bolt leaves Ronan the Accuser in charge to deal with this matter, as the Inhumans must return to Earth immediately. The Kree all argue against this, saying they gave Black Bolt rulership over the Kree for a reason. The regent asks him what changed and he actually speaks, saying, “I am awake!” His super-powered voice wreaks destruction in the throne room and killing the regent.
Medusa further explains that the Inhumans must leave because this is a summoning. She gives Crystal the option to join them or to stay with her new husband. She chooses to stay, revealing the husband is… Ronan the Accuser?!? Okay, then.
Cut to one thousand years earlier, when the Kree Supreme Intelligence is still freaking out over his own eventual death. He says he has come up with a stratagem to change his fate, and says that it will require something unexpected, a “Supremor seed.” This seed appears in the form of a glowing spikey thing, and it’s given to that era’s (era’s) accuser for protection.
Then we flash forward/flash back to one month earlier, cutting to the moon. Black Bolt and the Inhuman royal family return to Attilan, where they meet the Universal Inhumans, made up of various aliens among these are four queens, from the Badoon, the Centaurians, the Kymellians, and even the Dire Wraiths. These four, along with Medusa, are the five brides mentioned in a prophecy in the previous issue. The captions tell us that the prophecy claims the chosen one has a voice that can shake entire worlds, and will speak one word, “War.”
To be continued?
Fantastic fifth wheel: Crystal and Ronan the Accuser are married?!? This was news to me. Turned out the blessed event happened in the Secret Invasion: Inhumans miniseries. The Inhumans allied themselves with Kree to help fight off the Skrulls. It seemed like an arranged marriage at the time, but by this issue Crystal shows some genuine affection for her new alien husband. This began Crystal’s new position as Inhuman ambassador to Earth, which the Marvel Wiki says still holds.
Medusa is able to interpret a lot of Black Bolt’s intent after seeing him just wave his hand. It’s established by now that the two of them are that in sync.
Trivia time: The names of some of Black Bolt’s new brides are familiar, or are they? The Centaurian is Oola Udonta, whom the Marvel Wiki says “may be” related to Yondu Udonta from Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Kymellian is Onomi Whitemane, with no note whatsoever whether she is related to Aelfyre Whitemane from Power Pack.
Fantastic or frightful? Everybody keeps telling me they love Jonathan Hickman’s take on this series, and that he’s one of the all-time best. But I just can’t with this guy. These last two issues have been unreadable, with the main story screeching to a halt for a two-month long info dump. A few weeks back, I praised Hickman for finally starting to tie a bunch of plot threads together, but I don’t feel that way anymore.
Rewatching the Star Trek movies! Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) is considered one of the high marks – if not the high mark – of the entire franchise. But what does it say about our characters?
Here’s what happens: When a Starfleet ship accidentally discovers the villain Khan (from the original series), events are set in motion where Khan seeks vengeance against Kirk by weaponizing a miraculous new technology.
Captains courageous: Kirk is still an admiral, back on Earth, where he’s teaching a group of trainees. His crew and the trainees board the Enterprise for a three-week inspection (how does that work?) This business of training recruits has Kirk reckoning with getting older and wondering if his good days are behind him. Spock is on hand to remind him that the captain’s chair is where Kirk is meant to be.
Ol’ pointy ears: Spock spent the last movie accepting his half-human emotional side as part of himself. By now he’s circled back around to full-on logic, introducing the “needs of few vs. needs of many” theme that will carry this through the next two movies. But then, the finale of the movie is about Spock making a sacrifice that goes against the “few vs. many” logic. This makes him – dare I say it – human.
Welcome aboard: All the fan blogs love to point out that new character Lt. Saavik is not just Vulcan, but part Vulcan/part Romulan. The movie doesn’t say this, however. I did a little reading, and allegedly Saavik was created as a new version of Spock for the never-made Star Trek II TV series of the mid-70s. Her Romulan background was written out of Wrath of Khan, apparently because it was an unnecessary detail that didn’t add much to the character. Follow-up novels and comics did more with Saavik, and there’s where her Romulan-ness was made canon.
Continuity café: To get this story to work, a number of details from the original series’ Space Seed have been rewritten and/or ignored. Most fans shrug this stuff off as either the passage of time or extrapolating by filling in gaps unseen in the old episode. Imagine that – Trek fans actually suspending their disbelief for once.
WTF is this?
What you leave behind: What can I say about this movie that hasn’t been said. It’s big, bold entertainment, one that’s enjoyed by both Trek hardcores and casual viewers alike. As far as character development goes, it’s more of a reset after The Motion Picture rather than a continuation. But that’s okay, because this one establishes key themes for the characters moving forward.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Is Black Bolt your favorite Marvel character? He’d better be, because FF #5 all about him.
Recap: Four evil alternate universe versions of Reed, of the interdimensional Council of Reeds, are running around on Earth, plotting to bring about war between four recently-discovered lost civilizations. As the Reeds enact their plan in an underground city – one of the four – Attilan, home city of the Inhumans, appeared in the sky over Earth, with an angry Black Bolt sitting on the throne.
The issue begins with yet another recap of what the Inhumans have been up to lately, which has been a lot. In the War of Kings crossover, Black Bolt took over the Kree empire only to die in battle against Vulcan, ruler of the alien Shi’ar empire. A space-time bomb had gone off, and Black Bolt was believed dead in the explosion. Cut to “weeks ago,” where Medusa is ruling the Kree in Black Bolt’s place. Crystal spies on the proceedings from the sidelines, telling the teleporting dog Lockjaw to keep on eye on things. An unnamed Kree scholar tells Ronan the Accuser (yes, he’s here as well) that it’s time to “release the seed.”
Just as we’re starting to follow this plot, we then cut again to “thousands of years ago,” on the Kree home world of Hala. Two scientists meet with the Kree Supreme Intelligence. The scientists have experimented with “metagenesis” allowing them to create a weapon from any living being (!). The Supreme Intelligence uploads the data into itself, with a lot of talk about “cosmic awareness” and “genetic prophecy.” One of the scientists says there are thousands of minds of geniuses contained in the upload, but one lone voice speaking on behalf of religion is an outlier called the “divine chimera.” This is the individual who will eventually be the downfall of the Supreme Intelligence. He has a symbol, which looks like Black Bolt’s famous antenna.
As the upload nears completion, the Supreme Intelligence orders the scientists killed, which that era’s (era’s) accuser does. The Supreme Intelligence orders a “cleansing,” after which we see the Kree accusers travelling from planet to planet, ordering huge slaughters to prevent this “chimera” from being born. The caption states that “five and one” survived – five queens for one king. This is a reference to Black Bolts queens from alternate universes who saw him die in War of Kings.
On the final page, we see Black Bolt emerge from space-time, still alive, with the caption stating that “fate cannot be avoided.”
To be continued!
Fantastic fifth wheel: Medusa is negotiating among the blue-skinned Kree and the other breeds of Kree, acknowledging (somewhat uncomfortably) all the different types of Kree there are.
It’s fun to see Crystal cast in a sneaky spy-like role, operating in the shadows.
Trivia time: This issue is setting up the big rematch between Black Bolt and the Kree Supreme Intelligence, right? Wrong! The Supreme Intelligence was killed by Wraith in the Annihilation: Conquest miniseries. Black Bolt’s return will go down a different route.
Fantastic or frightful? Heaven help any comic book fans who picked up this issue hoping for “It’s clobberin’ time” and instead getting this stuff. And yes, fans love far-out cosmic Marvel, but this issue is a far cry from the likes of Jim Starlin. Instead, it’s the first of two issues explaining how Black Bolt came back from the dead, and all in flashback with the main FF story on the backburner. Everybody loves Jonathan Hickman’s run on FF, but after reading this, all I can do is ask, “Why?”
Rewatching the Star Trek movies! What’s the point of blogging about Trek when every bit of trivia minutiae has already been explored at length? I’m rewatching these in terms of characters, and hopefully sorting out the characters’ arcs over the course of these movies. Beyond that, we’ll just see what we see. Up first, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
Here’s what happens: An alien cloud of sorts approaches Earth, forcing the crew of the Enterprise to reunite and head back into action. As the Enterprise gets closer and closer to the cloud, things get stranger and stranger.
Captains courageous: Kirk is Admiral Kirk now, serving as “head of Starfleet operations,” whatever that means. His main motivation in this film is not just to solve the mystery within the cloud, but to get back in command of the Enterprise. This puts him in conflict with the current captain, Decker. While there is tension between Kirk and Decker, Decker ends up having a lot of other business to deal with.
I find it amusing that, only a minute after the story’s big finale, Kirk just sits down in the captain’s chair and sets course for unexplored space. Shouldn’t Starfleet be informed about this epic event that just occurred?
Ol’ pointy ears: This story would seem to be a big turning point for Spock. We catch up with him as he’s rejected by his fellow Vulcans for not properly purging all emotion from himself. By the end of the film, there’s the famous shot of Spock shedding a tear after everything he’s seen. This suggests that Spock has accepted his half-human, more emotional side. Spock still has some ups and downs to go through before these movies conclude, however.
Welcome aboard: Decker and hot alien babe Ilia reconcile with their romantic past. Their background is only hinted at, but it drives the emotional stakes of the plot. This is further complicated once Ilia is possessed (reprogrammed?) by the intelligence inside the cloud. Actress Persis Khambatta is a striking figure as Ilia, one of the movie’s most well-remembered visuals.
Continuity café: Who is that caveman-looking crewman who expresses concerns to Kirk at one point? He’s an unnamed Rhaandarite. According to the exhaustingly thorough Memory Alpha, the Rhaandarites are a long-lived yet childlike alien species who were regulars among the Federation. One writer described them as being Trek’s equivalent of “rednecks.” Make of that what you will. (UPDATE: The Marvel Comics adaptation of the movie gave this character a name. He’s “Mr. Amaar.”)
What you leave behind: A lot of people dislike this movie for how slow-paced and (let’s face it) dry it is. But I do enjoy the far-out spectacle of it all. As for character, I recently read through a collection of James Blish’s adaptations of the original series episodes. In those, I was struck with how Kirk is less of a gun totin’ cowboy, and more of a humanist figure. He responds to all the strangeness the Enterprise comes across by standing up for his natural humanity. That’s much the same Kirk of The Motion Picture. The gigantic world-ending threat is resolved via matters of the heart.
Re-reading Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale! Make that Re-re-reading it.
After finishing the final scene for my last post, I felt frustrated in that it felt like Paulina had become the main character all of a sudden, and I hadn’t followed her character as closely. So I’ve read the entire play AGAIN, this time focusing on Paulina and what her deal is.
In act 2, Antigonus has a jokey line saying that if the wonderful and amazing Hermoine is not chaste, then he cannot trust any woman to be honest, not even his wife. This wife is not mentioned by name, so the audience isn’t given anything to think that this will become an important character. Paulina doesn’t appear on stage until act 2 scene 2, where she shows up at the jail demanding to know what’s become of Hermoine. The scene’s opening exchange is between her and a jailer, where Paulina does the “Do know who you’re talking to?” game, insisting that she’s someone important that everyone knows. The servant woman Emilia informs Paulina that Hermoine has given birth to a baby girl while in jail. Paulina insists that she’s the one who must inform Leontes the king about this, because only she is “honey-mouthed” enough to deliver the bad news. She also convinces the jailer to let her take the baby away with her. This shows Paulina has a take-charge attitude. She out-talks everyone and manipulates events in her favor. This seemingly expository scene is also Paulina taking the first steps to setting up the play’s finale.
In act 2 scene 3, we get some interaction between Paulina and Antigonus, and we establish her position, where she describes herself as both physician and counselor to the king. She’s also clearly the boss in her marriage with Antigonus. When Paulina shows the baby to Leontes, he dismisses her, calling her a spy and a traitor. If she’s manipulating events behind the scenes, then could that be unintentionally true? Leontes, who has fallen deep into madness by this point, wants the baby put to death by fire (!). When Paulina argues against this, he suggests putting her to death as well. Paulina stands up to the mad king by calling him weak, and she turns the traitor insult back on him. It’s the unnamed lord, however, that convinces Leontes to change his ways, and orders the baby to be taken into the wilderness instead.
Act 3 scene 2 is Hermoine’s trial. At the height of the drama, she swoons and faints. The stage notes specify that Paulina joins the servants who carry Hermoine off stage. She has to back-to-back speeches announcing Hermoine’s death, that are loaded with insults hurled at Leontes. It’s after these two speeches that Leontes has his abrupt change of heart, and is now overwhelmed with grief over what he’s done and how he’s behaved. There’s also a detail of how Hermoine and young Prince Mamillus are to be buried in one grave. Can we interpret all this as Hermoine not dying, and Paulina secreting her away when off stage? And now the still-alive Hermoine is hiding away at Paulina’s museum-like home? I can see how you might make that case.
We don’t see Paulina again for a while, as the action shifts to Bohemia, where her husband is killed… by a bear! Then there’s the sixteen-year time jump, where we get all the romantic ups and downs with Perdita and wackiness with Antigonus (the king of thieves!). As a bunch of those characters decide to return to Sicilia, we finally return to Paullina in act 5. She’s encouraging Leontes not to remarry. She says this is because no women could be as great as Hermoine, but she also refers to Hermoine as the one Leontes “killed.” If Paulina has a living Hermoine hidden away somewhere, then this is part of her long game, hopeful to set up the big reunion someday. But she says she believes the baby died when the bear got Antigonus. So, is she hiding Hermione just keep Hermoine safe from Leontes, or does Paulina have an end game? Hard to say.
When a servant announces that Florizell has arrived in Sicilia, Paulina cries out Hermoine’s name, saying the present has become better than the sorrowful past. Remembering all that business with Oracle of Delphi earlier in the play, Paulina and the other characters see this as possible fulfilment of the prophesy considering the king’s long-lost heir. Then the big reunion happens mostly off-stage, and there’s fleeing mentions of a statue of Hermoine at Paulina’s house, with all the characters heading there to see it. That takes us to the final scene where Paulina shows everyone the statue of Hermoine. Either the statue magically transforms from stone into a still alive Hermoine, or it’s all a show and Hermoine is playing at being a statue to fake everyone out. However you read it, it appears that Hermoine manipulated things to get this statue business to happen.
I thought The Winter’s Tale was about one man’s jealousy sinking two kingdoms into darkness, and two young lovers bringing light back to it all. Now I wonder if The Winter’s Tale is about one woman seeing her kingdom fall apart, and enacting a years-long scheme to restore it all. Many scholars say Shakespeare’s plays are better seen performed rather than read, and I think that’s especially true of The Winter’s Tale. What this story is and what it’s trying to say is so ambiguous that it’s really up to each production’s director and actors to decide just what The Winter’s Tale is.
Next: I have other ideas for more Shakespeare stuff for this blog, but I’ll take a little break first. Coming up next, something with a little more… space.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. In FF #5, writer Jonathan Hickman continues tying things together and connecting all the dots with everything he’s set up.
Recap: The Fantastic Four is now the Future Foundation, with around twenty members, most of them genius kids. Spider-Man is on the team, too, taking over for Johnny after Johnny’s (not real) death. Also, the team is dealing with four ancient cities recently discovered. Also-also, Valeria let four members of the Council of Reeds out into Earth. She thought this would help, not counting on how the Reeds from alternate universes don’t have our Reed’s ethics or morals. With the help of Dr. Doom, who is also now a member of the Future Foundation thanks to Valeria, Reed has assembled a group of villains to devise a plan on how to defeat the other Reeds – defeating himself, in other words.
This issue begins with the Foundation and the villains working in the lab with the magic conch shell that Sue uses to communicate with and teleport to Old Atlantis, one of the four lost cities. It works, except Reed announces that the Peak, the center of Old Atlantis, has vanished. Cut to the Peak at 15 minutes earlier, Sue, Spider-Man and Alex Power are surprised to see what looks like Reed alongside the Mole Man, who is attacking the city. Sue is quick to deduce this Reed is not her husband, only for him to whip out a high-tech gun and shoot her.
Spider-Man swings off to rescue Sue, leaving Alex Power alone against the Mole Man’s horde of monsters. He does well at first, using his gravity powers to create valleys and then walls of ice separating himself from the army. One gets through, however, inuring Alex’s arm.
After getting an injured Sue out of danger, Spidey swings back to Alex and joins the fight. But they’re too late, as the Mole Man’s weapons destroy the dome surrounding the Peak. The Mole Man and the evil Reed fire up some underground machines, and the Peak disappears into a crater. Sue manages to save the FF’s ship in a force field. She says she’ll get Namor to relocate survivors, and then she’ll head home for answers.
In New York, Ben has gone to Alicia’s apartment for a talk. He admits he feels guilty about Johnny’s death. She tells him he has to accept that Johnny’s gone. She tells him she loves him, and that Johnny would want him to be happy. She promises him that things will get better, and that he has nothing to be afraid of.
Later, Reed treats Alex’s broken arm. He encourages Alex to learn from this experience, but he also praises Alex’s effort during the battle, calling him “fantastic.” She has a minor concussion and will pull through. She says that when Reed learned about an evil Reed, he wasn’t surprised. She wants to know why, and why all the villains are in their house right now. Reed breaks down and says, “I’ve done something terrible.”
At the city of the High Evolutionary, another of the four lost cities. They’re building another giant machine, repeating “We have the solution” twice. One Reed and the Mole Man negotiate with the evolved Moloids who live there. They agree to fix things to they evolved Moloids will be able to breed on their own (wa-hey!) and to “abandon assimilation.” The evolved Moloids’ leader agrees to this in exchange for closing the doors of the city and allowing no Moloid refugees within. This pleases the Mole Man.
A shadow is cast overhead. It’s the city of Attilan, on the move, having flown down from the moon. (It can do that?) The issue ends with Black Bolt on his throne, looking very angry.
To be continued!
Unstable molecule: There’s mention of two other evil alternate universe Reeds we’ve met before, the Dark Raider and the Brute.
Fade out: All it takes is one look into the other Reed’s eyes. That’s enough for Sue to deduce this isn’t her version of Reed.
Clobberin’ time: Ben prefers his tea with Splenda artificial sweetener rather than real sugar. Make of that what you will.
Fantastic fifth wheel: Spider-Man uses his webs to create a cast for Alex’s arm. Later, he’s the one who reports to Reed how the mission at the Peak went.
Four and a half: There’s a funny bit where Franklin and the other kids aim their toy suction cup guns at the visiting villains.
Our gal Val: Valeria joins everyone in Reed’s lab, but she doesn’t say a word this time.
Foundational: Alex Powers has gotten considerably stronger in his gravity controlling abilities since his Power Pack days. He used to just make he and his siblings float around, or pin enemies to the ground. But in this issue, he’s causing mass destruction out in the ice.
There’s a two-panel exchange where Doom takes notice of Bentley-23. All Doom has to say about the kid is, “Hmmm.”
Trivia time: Yes, the city of Attilan can take off and fly around on its own. Fantastic Four once spent an entire issue depicting how difficult this was, but since then it’s moved locations a bunch of times, and spent some time just flying around as an aerial city.
Fantastic or frightful? I don’t know how many readers even remembered the situation at the High Evolutionary’s city, much less were invested in it. The highlight of the issue is the action with Alex Power, who gets some character development and gets to be the hero as well.
Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. In FF #4, we have a meeting of the minds and a city under attack.
Where were we? The Fantastic Four is now the Future Foundation, with close to twenty members, most of them genius kids in Reed’s makeshift school. Also, Spider-Man has joined the team following Johnny’s death (he’s not really dead). Dr. Doom made a deal with Valeria to join the team in exchange for Reed restoring Doom’s intellect to full strength. Valeria also recently released four members of the Council of Reeds (alternate universe versions of Reed who don’t have Reed’s morals) into Earth. The FF is also still dealing with four lost civilizations they recently discovered, along with a prophecy about a war among those four cities. To deal with the four evil Reeds, the FF have recruited some of their most intelligent enemies to plan a counter-strategy… how to defeat Reed Richards. Got all that?
We begin with sitcom-ish scene a Sue and Spider-Man make sandwiches for the kids. Spidey asks Sue why she’s not concerned, because they’re doing this while Reed is meeting with Dr. Doom, the Mad Thinker, the Wizard, Diablo, the High Evolutionary, and some A.I.M. guys. She says she’s not worried because, “I’ve beaten every one of them.” She goes all Batman saying she’s not afraid of them, but they should be afraid of her. An alarm goes off, but we don’t see what that’s about because we cut to…
The meeting. In addition to Reed and the all the villains, Valeria, Nathaniel Richards, and even the Watcher are there. Reed chides Valeria for letting the four other Reeds into the Earth, while the villains chide Reed for never having been so fearful. Diablo suggests exploited the other Reeds’ weaknesses, namely their versions of Sue and the kids. The Mad Thinker says the Reeds would expect that, and that the Reeds’ true weakness is something they’ve overlooked. The Wizard retells the myth of King Solomon and the two mothers (why?) until Reed interrupts, saying, “You don’t understand.” Reed says, “They are not me,” emphasizing that the other Reeds do not have families or loved ones, only their cause.
Ben stands guard outside the room, along with Bently-23. Ben says he’s prepared for the inevitable, ready for a fight when the villains get out of hand. Bently likes that the villains are there, saying “This is really turning into my kind of place.” Ben walks off, saying he’s going to take a few days off. Bently and some of the other kids then hear that alarm go off. Sue, Spidey, and a bunch of the others respond to the alarm, which is coming from Sue’s bedroom. The alarm is a message from Old Atlantis, one of the lost cities recently discovered, having been sealed off from the Earth since ancient times. The message is that creatures called Chordai and Mala are leading a revolution. As acting regent, Sue says she’s on her way. Sue heads off to Old Atlantis, bringing Spider-Man and Alex Power with her as backup.
Back in the meeting, there’s more talk about the other Reeds are more ruthless than our Reed, with the villains expressing admiration for them. Dr. Doom calls them “perfect Reeds.” Nathaniel says the other Reeds are acting out of desperation, violating whatever code it is that they do live by. Reed concludes that they must be building a machine. Doom says this machine is the Reeds’ weakness, and he gets Valeria to admit she knows its location. The machine is Sol’s Anvil, briefly seen last issue. Then things finally tie together (sort of) as Valeria admits that part of the machine are found in the four lost cities, on the moon, in the Negative Zone, in the High Evolutionary’s underground city, and… Old Atlantis.
Inside Old Atlantis’ main structure, the Peak, Sue learns the Chordai and Mala are amphibius, attacking the city from the air-breathing side. We see these creatures as some kind of shell-wearing tentacled things, who unleash huge energy blasts upon the Peak. Sue, Spider-Man, and Alex join the fight outside the Peak, which also include humanoid Orc-like monsters. These are smiling all through the fight, saying, “He is coming.”
The ground collapses into a huge sinkhole, and the Mole Man emerges. He’s brought his army of Moloids and several of his giant subterranean monsters. There’s also a mysterious hooded man alongside the Mole Man. It’s not a mystery for long, as he pulls the back to hood to reveal he’s one of the alternate Reeds. Sue looks at him with shock, asking “Reed?”
To be continued!
Unstable molecule: Reed’s love for his family is what initially separated him from the rest of the Council of Reeds, revealing them to be not-so-nice. This issue revisits those themes.
Fade out: The conch shell in Reed and Sue’s bedroom is a communication device linked to Old Atlantis. Why’d she chose the bedroom for that? I can’t say.
Clobberin’ time: Ben’s walking out, especially when on guard duty, seems a little out of character, but we’ve seen that he’s been in a dark place since Johnny’s death.
Fantastic fifth wheel: Spider-Man jokes around with Sue about how the FF kids like having the crusts cut off their sandwiches. But then he admits that he, too, cuts the crusts off.
Four and a half: Franklin joins Bentley-23, Leech, and Artie running around shooting suction cup guns at each other. One gets stuck to Ben.
Our gal Val: After spending so long sneaking around behind the scenes and doing her own thing, Valeria sees consequences to her actions. She thought she was doing the right thing, but even her genius couldn’t have predicted this crisis. Now she’s in a place to have to set things right.
Foundational: The FF’s two Atlantean members, Vii and Wu, finally get a character moment as they help repair the FF’s aquarium, noting that the repairs will make the fish “more tart.” They’re predators, apparently.
Dragon Man is put in charge of the FF while Sue, Spidey, and (apparently) Ben are away.
Artie has seemingly had a growth spurt, now drawn at the same height as Leech, Franklin, and Bentley.
Trivia time: The Mole Man is of course joined by Giganto, the monster from the famous Fantastic Four #1 cover. The other monsters are, to date, unidentified.
The Marvel Wiki states that the Mala and Chordai first appeared in issue $576, as lost tribes of Old Atlantis. I don’t have time today to go back through the issues, so I’ll take the Wiki’s word for it this time.
In the Marvel Universe, King Solomon is not just a Bible story, but a living character. He was a former Sorcerer Supreme, and he was briefly brought back to life in the 1940s to use his magic powers to fight evil. Also, remember Solomon’s Frogs from the Black Panther issues? Same guy!
Fantastic or frightful? Exciting to see Jonathan Hickman start tying up all these threads he’s started, yet I feel like I’ve said that a couple of times now. Still, this issue keeps moving, with suspense among the villains and some action at Old Atlantis. I liked this one, and I’m hoping it’s a swing in the right direction.
Re-reading Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale! Here’s where we get into why so many consider the a “problem play.” Act 5 scene 3 is the big dramatic ending, yet it’s ambiguous and it happens so fast.\
All the main characters come onto the stage, and Paulina, in a roundabout way, welcomes everyone to her home. Remember that The Winter’s Tale was created for Blackfriars, an indoor theater, which allowed Shakespeare to do things like changes in location. So we’re in a place we haven’t been before, and Shakespeare felt it was important we know that because the dialogue emphasizes this. It’s odd that two kings are visiting this woman’s house. I guess we can assume all their soldiers and bodyguards and whoever else are stationed outside.
Is this where Paulina lives?
Based on the dialogue, Paulina’s house is one big art gallery. Leontes talks about walking through many “singularities” before reaching this room. My books’ footnotes say this means priceless works of art. But, if we’re imagining The Winter’s Tale retold as far-out epic fantasy (as I have been, on occasion) then this could mean something outrageous like portals into other worlds in place of paintings. Anyway, Leontes reminds everyone (and the audience) that they’ve gathered there because Perdita wants to see the statue of her mother Hermoine.
Drawing back the curtain.
Paulina says the statue is as peerless as Hermoine herself was. She warns everyone to prepare themselves for how lifelike the statue is. Then we get the stage direction. In all my books, it’s written as “[She draws a curtain to reveal] Hermoine (like a statue).” My Pelican edition, however, has this stage direction: “[Paulina reveals] Hermoine [standing] like a statue.” I cannot say whether the brackets and parenthesis are a modern addition, but someone must have put them there for a reason. Like the “pursued by a bear” direction, here is Shakespeare getting specific with the stage directions. In the excellent documentary series Shakespeare: The King’s Man, host James Shapiro spends a lot of time on this, alleging that these are the most detailed stage directions among Shakespeare’s plays.
The gang’s all here.
But anyway, Paulina reveals the statue of Hermoine. To us the audience, this is the actress playing Hermoine returning to the stage, but what is happening in the fiction of this scene? Aside from the bear, the statue of Hermoine is the definitive image of the play. Leontes is in awe of the statue’s realism, with an odd line about how she is “not so much wrinkled.” Is he saying she hasn’t aged, or is he acknowledging the passage of time? Who can say?
So lifelike.
Perdita says she will kneel and pray before the statue, adding, “Do not say ‘tis superstition.” There’s a lot behind this phrase, as churches in England at the time were getting all snippy at each other, arguing that parishioners who kneel and pray in front of statues were committing idolatry. Perdita’s line is either a joke poking fun at this, or it’s a way of depoliticizing this issue, as if to tell the audience to relax about it.
What if it was this superstition?
While Perdita kneels and prays, Paulina says the statue is “newly fixed,” meaning that it either was recently made or recently put in this place. She also says, “the color’s not dry.” This is a reference to how all those ancient marble statues from Greek and Rome were originally painted with vibrant colors. My Folger edition alleges that this practice was also done to statues in Shakespeare’s day. What’s odd is that a lot of the artwork you see for The Winter’s Tale shows Hermoine as an all-white statue, as if carved from marble. I suppose some sort of visual is needed to get across the idea that she is a statue, whether through makeup and costume, or lighting and/or special effects. But everyone’s going to carry on about how lifelike she looks. How far you go in making Hermoine look like a statue versus merely looking alive again is up to each production.
Newly fixed.
Then there’s another specific stage direction, telling us that Leontes is crying. Camillo encourages him to let it all out, how sixteen years of sorrow led up to this moment. Polixenes admits to being the cause of Leontes’ pain, offering to take away Leontes’ grief if he can. But then, Polixenes refers to himself as “he” not “I” during this speech, so perhaps there’s some double-speak going on. “He” could also mean Leontes, suggesting that Leontes has himself to blame for his actions.
Heart of stone.
After seeing Leontes overwhelmed with emotion, Paulina wants to draw back the curtain and cover up Hermoine. Leontes urges her not to. This becomes a runner through the next part of the scene, as they repeat this exchange a couple of times in a row. What is Paulina up to? She brought everyone here to show off the statue, but now she wants to separate it from them all. I wonder if she’s toying them, because next she gives them a choice. Leave now, she says, or stay and behold more wonders. Paulina says she can make the statue move. She tells Leontes to “awake your faith” and the says that anyone who believes this is “unlawful business” should depart. No one does.
Living Statue!
Then we’re in full-on magic/fantasy mode, as Paulina commands the statue to descend and “be stone no more.” We get yet another specific stage direction with “Hermoine descends,” and more marveling from the other characters upon seeing the statue come to life. There’s more magic talk as Paulina says, “Her actions shall be as holy as my spell is lawful.” That’s straight out of Dungeons and Dragons right there.
Living statue?
Leontes touches Hermoine and says, “She’s warm.” They embrace, with the other characters describing the affectionate intimacy of their embrace. Paulina has a comment about how anyone would laugh if they heard this story but did not see it. (A reminder that this is a comedy, perhaps?) Paulina wonders why Hermoine doesn’t speak, and she commands Hermoine to do so. She brings Perdita to Hermoine’s attention, saying the long-lost princess has been found.
She lives! Or does she?
I’ve found a lot of people online who are debating whether Hermoine actually speaks or not during this finale. But she does. All my books have her delivering the speech that follows. She speaks only to Perdita, wanting to know where Perdita has been and what her life has been like. Hermoine said the Oracle gave her hope that Perdita was alive. Flipping back to act 3 scene 2, this references the part of the Oracle’s statement that, “The king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found.” Hermoine concludes by saying that she “preserved” herself in the hopes that she’d someday be reunited with Perdita.
Preserved, or persevered?
Okay, so what is happening here? Is this actual fantasy magic, in that Paulina somehow turned Hermoine into stone, hid her away, and then returned her to life at this moment? The text would seem to suggest that, but unlike A Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest, magic has only been hinted at and not depicted on stage up to this point. In my research, I’ve found that some believe Hermoine faked her death and has been hiding with Paulina for sixteen years, and this “statue” business is some sort of ruse they’ve concocted for this moment. But, what purpose would that serve? Is this so Hermoine can assess their reactions to seeing her before she fully reveals herself? As with everything in this final scene, it’s wide open to interpretation, and it depends on how directors and actors choose to play it.
All for show?
Paulina says there will be plenty of time for Perdita to answer Hermoine’s questions. She calls everyone “precious winners all,” and tells them to go forth and share their exultation with the world. She calls herself a “turtle,” meaning a turtle dove, as she plans to fly off and find a perch where she will spend the rest of her days lamenting her lost husband. (That would be Antigonus, who was… pursued by a bear!). Why a turtle dove? They allegedly mate for life (is that true?) and they’re traditionally seen as a symbol of long-lasting romance in marriage – hench “two turtle doves” in The Twelve Days of Christmas. But Paulina is a lone turtle dove, a sad image.
Very Shakespearian.
Leontes gives the play’s final speech. He recalls the comment from act 5 scene 1 about him not remarrying without Paulina’s direction, and now he makes similar promise to her, that he’ll find a man for her to marry. Some believe this means that there’s a romance between Leontes and Paulina in the works, but Leontes thanks her for returning Hermoine to him. Is Hermoine’s worldless embrace enough to communicate that she and Leontes are a couple again? It seems that is the intent, but I don’t know. Leontes says he won’t have to search far for a good man for her, and he offers her Camillo’s hand in marriage. As king, he can just do that. And I suppose this makes up for all of Camillo’s living in exile for sixteen years.
Statuesque.
Leontes addresses Hermoine, who still doesn’t speak to him, saying he forgives her and Antigonus. Although he encourages the two of them to look upon each other, which is maybe a little odd. He reintroduces Hermoine to Perdita and Florizell (who has been in this scene the whole time but hasn’t spoken), telling her that her son-in-law is also heir to a king. He uses the phrase “troth-plight” to describe young lovers’ engagement, and I wonder if that also has some double meaning. He asks Paulina to lead them away from there, where everyone can tell their stories and answer each other’s questions. He breaks the fourth wall a bit, saying each one can “answer to his part performed.” Acknowledging that it’s all been a play. Shakespeare does this a lot in his plays, where the final speech reflects back to the story that just unfolded. Twelfth Night and the already-mentioned Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Mother and daughter.
And that concludes The Winter’s Tale. My final thought is… dang it. DANG IT. Because reading this final scene, all I can think is, “I need to read this again.” Paulina emerges in these few pages as a main character, perhaps even the master manipulator behind it all. This means closer study of her journey through play is warranted. There’s also Leontes and Hermoine. Has Leontes truly had a change of heart? Are they truly reconciled? In my reading, most tend to summarize this as a happy-sad ending. Everyone is reunited, but they still have all the losses they’ve experienced. Is that enough?
This was supposed to be a fun and exciting trip through one Shakespeare’s most unusual works, but I’m left wondering about this ending. Clearly, The Winter’s Tale is over, but I’m not yet done with The Winter’s Tale.
macmcentire 