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The Royal Scandal
The Royal Scandal (2001 TV Movie)
3/10
Awful, just awful
8 September 2008
The awful applies to Sherlock Holmes himself - Matt Frewer criminally miscast. He plays annoying with great facility, but even with his quirks Sherlock Holmes is usually at least likable. Three stars given only for the very nice production, and the contrast of Kenneth Welsh as Watson, showing what a serviceable actor can do. Otherwise a very amateurish job of acting by all concerned, having all the earmarks of a vanity project done by, oh, say an ambitious billionaire wanting to play Sherlock, or for Star Trek TNG fans, a self indulgent crew member acting out his fantasies on the holodeck.

Very disappointing, unwatchable except for the fact that I could not find my remote control, and a somewhat interesting plot that kept me from looking harder for the remote control. Still, I did not watch to the end, so take that into consideration.
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Trouble in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
10/10
sparkling diamond of a film
14 March 2007
Please read the other reviews for the full measure of this treasure - I will just string together my observations:

Amazingly deft display of international sophistication for such an early film - who knew? Pre-code comedy of adult realities, without a hint of exploitive sensationalism.

Herbert Marshall as a romantic lead, every bit as good as, say, Cary Grant or Ronald Coleman - at absolute top of form, like everyone in the cast. Again, who knew? Miriam Hopkins, just stunning. Pure chemistry with Marshall.

Kay Francis, new to me, but gorgeous and utterly believable.

And all the supporting players - C. Aubrey Smith, Edward Everett Horton, Charlie Ruggles, even Robert Grieg, the butler (as also in The Lady Eve, a film of similar polish) - each familiar from many other films, but scarcely if ever seen in better form.

I truly do not understand why this film is not better known to me and everyone. I had to see it in a film class, and was frankly expecting much worse considering it was made scarcely three or four years into the "talkie" era. This is a polished many faceted gem, criminally under-circulated. It makes you wonder what Hollywood might have accomplished without an over-restrictive Production Code.

I see DVD became available only in 2003? This is a MUST SEE!
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The Doomsday Machine
Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967)
Season 2, Episode 6
10/10
Star Trek Remastered!
20 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know if spoiler warning applies, but just in case...

I recall watching this episode in original run at age 10. It was not my favorite - the drama was a little too intense for a kid, a little scary to see an adult going to pieces emotionally.

But I certainly remember the machine. The lack of sophistication actually made it seem more alien in my opinion. It was not a fancy effect, no bells and whistles - not recognizable as a ship or even an intelligent creation. At any rate, effective enough to instill fear of the unknown in this ten year old.

Watching the re-runs over the years, I grew to appreciate the truly outstanding performance of William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker. This brilliant actor improved the ensemble as a whole, adding another layer of much appreciated complexity to a fight with a machine. He was not just another cardboard cutout bad guy for our heroes to knock over - his wounded agonized voice cut away at the concept that everything always turns out okay, the good guys always win.

Anyway, last week I saw the episode again. Being an old fan, of course I knew what to expect. But this was different! The more I watched, the more I realized that something had happened - something wonderful! The scenes were brighter and clearer than I had remembered in years - everything looked like it had been filmed yesterday. And then the EFFECTS! I was almost in a daze - everything was so much better than I had remembered! The doomsday machine was incredibly enhanced - and the views in space of the star ships in action were far superior than anything in my memory. I had seen no announcements about a "redone" Star Trek, so it was a surprise to me.

I did some research, and discovered the remastering project currently underway at the latest owner of the franchise, CBS Television/Paramount (search @ startrek.com for info). Let me tell you, I view this type of thing with a very jaundiced eye after George Lucas' "improvements" to his original Star Wars films, so in a way I was glad not to know before hand. In fact, I had seen a shoddy CGI enhancement of this very episode made about ten years ago, and it was definitely not an improvement.

Well worry not, the work the CBS team has done is OUTSTANDING. It is an improvement in every way, and I am certain even Gene Roddenberry would agree. The enhancements are seamless and unintrusive, to the point where I was not quite sure what had been done, but I knew I was seeing new things. They have re-done other episodes also, but this episode is their tour de force (so far), because of all the space effects they had to play with.

The team on this project claimed they were doing it with the fans in mind, and that fact is in abundant evidence. Congratulations CBS Digital! To any other Star Trek fans, old or young, see the newly remastered episodes, they are worth seeing again, I promise.
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