Day Two Hundred and Fifty-five - Psych: Season 6, Episode 11, "REDRUM!"

I think it's pretty safe to say that today's pick is due purely to the influence of one dear friend and the fact that she was posting about the Dual Spires episode of Psych recently and both she and her Twin Peaks-obsessed partner were helping me out during Student Rush.

So, thank you for that, Melanie.

Onward to the review... in which James Roday and Dulé Hill (in their alter egos of Shawn and Gus) recreate moments of Stephen King's The Shining with the help of Louis Gossett, Jr. and Timothy Omundson (Lassiter). It seems that Lassie, feeling the need to become a more respectable adult at the prospect of his jailhouse girlfriend getting out of prison in the near future, has bought a condo that might just be haunted and it's up to Shawn and Gus to go all Ghostbusters on the place.

Of course, just like everything else in Psych, not all is as it seems.

It's great to see Lou Gossett again, even if he is looking a little haggard in his old age. He doesn't quite pull off the kooky caretaker role that Scatman Crothers did in the original Shining, but it's nice to have him guest in an ode to King's horror classic. To be honest, I almost didn't recognize him, he's changed that much over the years (I'm more used to him in his Officer and a Gentlemen/hollow-cheeked motif).

As for the episode, itself, for the most part it is so very, very fun. Sure, I could live without the silly engagement ring melodrama, especially since Juliet seems to be in earshot for part of it... so she probably has picked up a few hints as to what's going on, while not giving herself away... but all of the sendups to The Shining never fail at making me crack a smile, if not outright causing laughter. I especially liked the small details like the black and white stills that were direct homages to Jack in the Overlook's vintage photos.

Some of the references were a bit over the top, like the mirror sequence or Lassie attempting to hack through a door with his cavalry sword while Gus screams like Shelley Duvall, but they were still entertaining and their hammy nature is kind of the point. They're there to link to the material, not directly recreate the actual horror. It's fun and games, not scream and shout... well, for the audience, anyway.

I also really liked the small moments with recurring character Woodie (Kurt Fuller). The shuffleboard bit and the furry joke were quick, painless, and well worth the effort. His buddy-buddy relationship to Shawn and Gus make for another great foil that annoys Lassiter... which is always good in my book.

You know, now that I think about it, the only thing that really bugs me about the episode is the five-minute cameo by William Shatner (reprising his role as Juliet's father). It seems tacked on to the engagement ring melodrama and takes up such a small portion of the episode that I honestly can't understand its necessity other than for padding the episode's trailer ("Look who's guesting THIS week on Psych!"). More than a bit disappointing from that perspective... especially since nothing gets resolved.

Overall, I think that Psych will perpetually just be a guilty pleasure for me. It's cheesy reference humor that is cannily self-aware and fun, but not really all that high in the quality department. I mean, for film and television buffs like my friends and I, it's great stuff... but, objectively speaking, it'll never win any awards (aside from maybe a Peoples' Choice).

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Fifty-two - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, "I love you, Benedict, but you're no Ricardo Montalban"

Despite the tremendous job that JJ Abrams is doing rebooting the Star Trek franchise into summer movie blockbusters, I'm personally of the opinion that that classics remain so for a good reason.

While young Kirk and Spock are gallivanting around the galaxy, taking on klingons, gene warriors, and deus ex'd uber-cruisers in Abrams' version, the original crew were taking small, personal journeys with cosmic consequences that didn't have to rely on glitz and glamour, but were instead morality plays on duty, honor, revenge, and friendship.

Abrams tries, but it's mostly lost in the dramatic action set-pieces and grand CGI crashes. While the vistas are amazing, I still think the models and matte effects were better. Though arguments could be made either way concerning the acting.

Take The Wrath of Khan for example.

Yes, there are obvious plot holes and it's a slow starter, but the sheer charisma that Ricardo Montalban exudes makes up for his plastic supporting crew (only one of whom actually speaks), and his singular quest for vengence that ties back to his and Kirk's encounters back in The Original Series, makes for much more entertaining and satisfying resolutions than Into Darkness' denouement.

Still, I shouldn't compare them, really. They are two separate movies, after all... it's just that Abrams makes it so we have to.

Really, I'm not here blogging about 2013's Wrath, so I'll stop and return to the original.

I so very much love both the first and the third acts of this film. I have nothing against the second, where Kirk and the Enterprise tussle with Khan and the Reliant for the first time, but that Kobayashi Maru sequence of Kirstie Alley's and the post test scenes where Kirk ruminates on getting old and useless are just great... and that final speech of Khan's to the viewscreen, quoting Moby Dick? It's both iconic and delicious. The way Montalban chews on that scene, and every scene with pretty much no help from his supporting crew, makes me so happy.

Yes, the solutions are simple and obvious, with rational folks wondering why the heck Scotty didn't just go in and sacrifice himself earlier (considering he knew what the stakes where), but "the needs of the many" speech rings so much more true than Chris Pine's in 2013.

Gah! I'm doing it again.

I've waited forever to watch Wrath on Netflix. Not because Into Darkness was coming up and I needed to prepare for the eventuality of Cumberbatch's character... and, also, not because I wanted to compare both second entries of the respective series. No, the true reason I've delayed so long in watching Wrath is that I wanted the original Star Trek:The Motion Picture to make it on the stream so I could watch them in order.

It's been so long since I watched V'Ger assimilate Illia... and Decker commit the ultimate sacrifice.

So, I waited.

Until I couldn't wait any longer.

Wrath is still the best Star Trek movie for me, in any reality, though I do not have the disdain for the TNG Trek films that most do. Montalban makes the film and Spock's parting words always ring so much more true than any other platitude the many films have tried the bring across.

I truly wish Abrams films were smaller, more personal stories instead of the grand, sweeping epics of adventure that he has created... but I understand the necessity. No executives would fund them, I think, thanks to the need for franchises to be bloated money-grabbers for studios and their investors. All we can hope for are the non-franchise films to take up the slack. Films like Moon, Gravity, and the like.

Here's hoping.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~