Famous Animated Characters Exposed! I Know That Voice Is A Middling Documentary!

The Good: Cool idea, Well-directed
The Bad: Very basic idea beaten to death, Not complicated or in-depth
The Basics: I Know That Voice is a basic documentary that is like a facebook of voice actors, but little more than that.


Ever since I got involved with the woman who quickly became my wife, I have watched a lot of animated works. My wife loves Disney movies, Invader Zim and many other animated works that we’ve watched over and over and over again. So, she was very interested in the documentary I Know That Voice when we learned about it. I Know That Voice is an interesting concept for a documentary, but it is not one that lends to a very complicated analysis.

I Know That Voice is a concept that takes half the film before it actually hits. For the first half of the film, I Know That Voice - which is a documentary intended to explore the nature of the voiceover industry – is simply a collection of almost random comments from various performers who have recognizable roles in animated works, where the voice actors are put in front of the camera. The first half of I Know That Voice is made almost entirely unnecessary thanks to the existence and success of the IMDB. The Internet Movie Database features complete biographies of actors past and present and virtually every actor’s page on the site has pictures of the actor, along with their entire resume. So, the first half of I Know That Voice trades on a novelty that no longer exists for the die-hard fans who might love this documentary; they have already looked into their favorite voice actors and seen who the actors are behind the voices of their beloved characters.

All of that changes around the fifty minute mark on I Know That Voice. At that point, director Lawrence Shapiro shifts the movie to what the documentary originally promised; a discussion about the animation/voiceover industry. In the latter half of the movie, I Know That Voice finally starts to discuss the process of getting jobs in the Industry, what the industry is like and how it is changing.

To his credit, Shapiro gets an amazing cast of voiceover actors to discuss the industry in I Know That Voice. Instead of simply seeing the human faces behind the voices that people know and love, the pretty impressive collection of voice actors do open up about their experiences in the industry. The film meanders, though, between the exposing the actors to the audience, then to a general discussion of the process actors have in defining their characters’ voices, to getting the jobs to discussing ComicCon . . . I Know That Voice is less structured or revelatory than it is entertaining.

I Know That Voice is worth a watch for anyone who loves animation, but it’s a tough sell for rewatching or recommending because it is not conceptually complicated or well-structured. At best, it is a mildly-informative vocal facebook for the most important voice actors working in animation today.

For other documentaries, please check out my reviews of:
Done The Impossible: The Fans' Tale Of "Firefly" And "Serenity"
PoliWood
Craigslist Joe

5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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With So Little To Parody, The Starving Games Swings Wide And Misses.

The Good: One or two jokes
The Bad: Poor use of source material (after the first five minutes), No superlative acting, No real character development, Most of the humor falls painfully flat.
The Basics: The Starving Games is a dismal parody of The Hunger Games and other blockbusters released in the last year.


There are few films that let the viewer know exactly what they are in for from the movie poster itself. And yet, with The Starving Games, the latest parody film by the once-audacious, now tragically tired duo of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer whose last film Vampires Suck (reviewed here!) certainly lived up to its name, gives it away with the movie poster: the film is a turkey. The movie poster to The Starving Games makes a parody of the Mockingjay symbol from The Hunger Games with a turkey skewered on the arrow and it is utterly unsurprising that the film did not break into the Top Ten in its debut weekend.

Largely overlooked at the box office last weekend, The Starving Games is a parody of current cinema and pop culture, focusing primarily on The Hunger Games (reviewed here!) for its main plot. But, unlike Weird Al Yankovic, who seemed to realize that when pop music was largely usurped by hip-hop and rap that there was less that his talents were able to parody (whatwith his obsession largely being to parody the pretense and absurdity of pop-rock music) and he slowed producing new material, Seltzer and Friedberg once again churn out a work that seems to cram as many elements together as possible without nailing the real humor of a sophisticated parody. For sure, the pair hits the nail on the head with the initial monologue from President Snowballs about how the Starving Games themselves make little sense as an element of cultural control, but beyond that, The Starving Games is an amalgamation of irrelevant and often lame jokes – like Siri jokes and blowing up LMFAO.

Set in a similar world to The Hunger Games, where youth are pitted against one another in an annual bloodsport, Kantmiss Evershot is thrilled not to be selected for the 75th Annual Starving Games. However, when her younger sister, Petunia, is called and gives her the puppydog eyes, Kantmiss volunteers and leaves Dale behind. Peter Malarky volunteers, though Kantmiss does not remember who he is and he claims during the pre-show to have a crush on Marko, the Tribute from District 1. After an interminable wait on the discs in the arena waiting to be set loose, the Starving Games begin with exaggerated killing (like a girl being stabbed in the back, neck, and having her legs and torso cut off with a chainsaw clinging to Kantmiss for the backpack she snatches) and ridiculously over-the-top groin injuries.

The focus remains on Kantmiss as she flees the carnage from the other players and encounters VR trees, app-based obstacles and the obvious romantic references. As Kantmiss moves toward her inevitable victory, The Starving Games degenerates into a familiar barrage of body humor and gay jokes that are anything but funny, clever, or insightful.

The Starving Games once again proves the old adage that there’s a sucker born every minute. I refer not to the audience – who, by this time, has to know what they are getting with a Friedberg/Seltzer production – but rather to the financers. A number of people and corporations shelled out millions of dollars to produce The Starving Games, apparently ignorant of how un-funny the last several works from this duo have been. The fact that Apple, which usually tries to be associated with what is fresh and hip, allows so many of its products to be used on screen, makes it seem like the company has either entirely lost its edge or it was bamboozled by the producers of The Starving Games. In a similar fashion, the Angry Birds reference is momentarily cute, but the follow-up with the fruit-slicing just seems like a cheap chance to make a Kardashian joke.

Like most parody movies, The Starving Games is not about developing characters well, it is focused on satirizing an existing film (in this case with more nods at general pop culture because The Hunger Games has more conceptual flaws with the set-up, as opposed to inherent humor in the execution of the film). As a result, Kantmiss is not a character the viewer empathizes with or becomes invested in. We do not care if she lives or dies and she is frequently an accessory, a stage piece to make non-sequitor jokes, like one with a princess piñata that comes out of nowhere.

Actor Cody Christian is made up to appear as a thinly-veiled reference to Justin Bieber, but the joke – like his performance – does not land to adequately sell the character of Peter as a parody of Peeta from The Hunger Games. Actress Lauren Bowles illustrates that she was willing to do virtually anything considering how little her character was used in the sixth season of True Blood (reviewed here!) as she appears as Effoff. To her credit; the role of Effoff might have as much or more screentime as Elizabeth Banks’ Effie did in The Hunger Games. The absurd role is more humor than she has been allowed to show on True Blood, so the appeal to the actress to do The Starving Games is evident.

Unfortunately, the lead, Maiara Walsh, who plays Kantmiss, fails to land. There is no obvious acting flaw for her to pick on, unlike satirizing Kristen Stewart’s performance in Twilight, so she flails around never quite making Kantmiss interesting. As she belabors parodies of Avatar and Sherlock Holmes (the film, not the books), the viewer ends up feeling sorry for the actress and what she is forced to say and do for the paycheck more than we ever care about Kantmiss.

Ultimately, The Starving Games is what one has come to expect of an Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg production; an idea with limited potential, executed in the most mundane fashion possible, with a shotgun approach to humor. The Starving Games may safely be ignored by one and all.

For other parody movies, please check out my reviews of:
Date Movie
Dance Flick
Not Another Teen Movie

1/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Fizzle, Pop, Thud: Napoleon Dynamite Disappoints

The Good: Quirky, Offbeat, Well-acted
The Bad: Debilitatingly slow pace, All characters are losers, Plot
The Basics: Awkward and short-tempered socially maladjusted Napoleon Dynamite makes two friends and the audience fails to connect or care.


I went into Napoleon Dynamite ready for a great time. I love movies about quirky characters and I was ready to watch a film with a triumph of an underdog. I tend to like those types of tales. Unfortunately, after the first few minutes of Napoleon Dynamite, I was left feeling like this movie was going somewhere that was neither funny, nor intriguing, nor truly geeky, nor - alas - even entertaining.

I have always had quirky friends. This movie is not about offbeat individuals or quirky, interesting characters. These are the losers the eccentrics won't have anything to do with. They boast excessively about things like their martial arts abilities and have no social skills (not social graces, but just the ability to interact with other human beings) and watching this movie becomes painful.

The movie starts with outsider high school student Napoleon Dynamite, living out in the Midwest with his grandmother and older, loser brother. When Grandma goes off and hurts herself, Napoleon's weird, stuck-in-the-past uncle comes to mind him. This comes at a horrible time for Napoleon as he begins interacting with girls, most notably Deb and Summer and Uncle Rico's interference complicates Napoleon's life. Against all odds, Napoleon makes a friend in new student Pedro and they work together, with Deb, to have Pedro run for class president.

There is something sad about this movie and not in an empathetic way, more like a pathetic way. Napoleon is just so awkward that he is difficult to watch, especially considering I've known so many people like Napoleon throughout the years. They are fun to be around, in limited quantities, because they are just so unique and incredible. However, they are also so out of touch with the world and what is actually happening in it that it is almost impossible to spend lots of time with them without feeling like they are just crazy.

And Napoleon has a short temper to him that makes him wear thinner even quicker. Instead of simply being awkward, whenever anyone shows any interest in him or his activities, he yells at them and snipes and is quick to push them away. Take the first scene of the movie; a little boy asks the protagonist what he plans to do on the bus today and he disgustedly tells him he'll do whatever he damn pleases. The kid seemed genuinely curious and interested and Napoleon pushes him away and discourages any attempts by anyone to care about him.

The character problems aside, the movie is off-paced, becoming boring quickly. Because the characters are so unlikable, we don't much care about them. So, we don't care when Napoleon goes to the dance or starts to plug Pedro for President. In fact, we care more about the arrival of Napoleon's older brother's (Kip) internet girlfriend LaFawnduh than we do about Napoleon by the middle of the movie.

On the other hand, the acting is pretty wonderful. Jon Heder is believable and wonderfully awkward as Napoleon Dynamite. He lends his gangly frame and loose body language to the part in an utterly convincing way that makes us thoroughly believe he is an ostracized teenager.

The supporting cast works amazingly with Heder. Deb is portrayed by Tina Majorino and she is subtle and quiet in a way that makes her seem a strangely likely partner to Napoleon. She conveys more with the movement of her eyes than many actors can with a soliloquy. Efren Ramirez and Aaron Ruell round out the supporting cast nicely as Pedro and Kip, creating awkward sidekicks to Heder's Napoleon that remind us constantly that the chronically awkward tend to travel in packs. Both Ramirez and Ruell play more subtle to Heder's manic making them excellent foils to the protagonist.

But, in the end, I found myself utterly disappointed with this movie. I had heard wonderful things and instead I found the familiar combined with negative traits that shied me away from empathy or sympathy. A superior collection of outsider tales may be found in Freaks And Geeks (reviewed here!), which has an awesome DVD collection that is more worthy of one's time, attention, and hard-earned dollars.

For other coming-of-age flicks, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Charlie Bartlett
Waiting . . .
American Beauty

3/10

For other film reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2005 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Bolt Is A Fun Action Adventure Animated Film That Has Some Real Moments!

The Good: Decent premise, Moments of clever dialogue, Good sense of emotion
The Bad: Very predictable plot format, Disney sidekick conceit
The Basics: Bolt is enjoyable, but not as substantial as some other, more unpredictably character-driven Disney animated films.


Part of the fun of the holidays for me is in giving my wife gifts I know she will like. Because so many of the movies she loves are from Disney, I picked up many Disney movies for her in the last year. The thing is, when I had money to do that, I bulked up on the gifts for her. So, when I planned out her gifts, I wrapped up many of them and put on each one the holiday or event it was intended for. Today when my wife was unwrapping gifts, one of them was a Disney film I had forgotten all about. It was Bolt and it became the first DVD or Blu-Ray I bought my wife for the holiday that she wanted to see. So, we spent some time this afternoon watching Bolt and I have to say I enjoyed it!

Bolt begins as an engaging-enough animated film that becomes less distinctive as the movie goes on. While it bursts right into the plotline in a way that is uncharacteristic of Disney movies, it promises something uncommon. Unfortunately, at the moments that Bolt could truly, fully commit to being a powerful, adult film disguised as an animated movie, it cops out and reverts to being a very predictable, surprisingly obvious Disney kid's movie. That made the movie less satisfying for me as one who loves adult films.

Bolt is a puppy when he comes to live with Penny. Five years later, he is a super-powered dog that helps Penny in her unending quest to find her father again. Bolt is fast, strong and smart and with Penny, he takes on an entire international criminal syndicate. At least, that is what Bolt believes. Actually, Bolt works on a television show, unbeknownst to him. When the network comes in and demands the show retain its important demographic by becoming more depressing and real, the producers of the series feature a cliffhanger episode where Penny is abducted. Penny tries to reassure Bolt, but because the producers need Bolt to believe in the reality of the show, she is forbidden from seeing him after the episode wraps and reassuring him.

Bolt, desperate to find Penny, breaks out of his trailer and begins his search for her. Bolt gets mailed off to New York City where he encounters Mittens, a cat running a protection racket. Out in the real world, Bolt begins to fear what it means that he has lost his powers. Together with Mittens and a bubble-ball ensnared hamster, Rhino, Bolt learns to beg and works to get back to Hollywood and his beloved friend Penny!

The road trip movie is hardly a new thing for a Disney animated film. They do that type of character journey on about half of their films and Bolt offers nothing truly new. Bolt is an uncharacteristic action-adventure film with minimal comedy at the outset. What comedy there is in Bolt is slapstick, usually Bolt running into doors, windows and the like. That humor gets repetitive and seems specifically designed to get back the children that are mortgaged by the direct, action, drama aspects that lead the film.

The other big Disney conceit comes in the form of Muffin and Rhino. Disney movies seldom have the character developing on their own. Instead, they need sounding boards and that dependence upon these stock characters is troubling. In Bolt, while Muffin is interesting, Rhino quickly comes across as a very basic, generic sidekick. His lines are not terribly funny, though he is performed as a manic, over-the-top, sidekick who is responsible more for catchphrases than character growth.

Bolt is performed by a surprisingly limited cast for a Disney film. John Travolta takes the voicing of Bolt like a champ, though the musical number during the closing credits did not exactly help to sustain his post-Pulp Fiction comeback. Miley Cyrus voices Penny without real distinction, so it is hard to see why Disney tapped her for the project other than the fact she was probably already on the lot when the movie was being produced. Malcolm McDowell and Diedrich Bader provide distinctive vocals as Dr. Calico and one of the cats, but other major roles, like Mittens and Rhino are voiced by the comparative unknowns, Susie Essman and Mark Walton, respectively.

On DVD, Bolt comes with behind-the-scenes featurettes and some decent additional cartoons, like the one where Rhino is added to the television show that Bolt is a part of! The bonus features are cute and informative, making the DVD a worthwhile buy. Despite the Disney conceits and the sacrifice of the more adult moments that open the film, Bolt is very entertaining and worth picking up.

For other Disney animated films, please visit my reviews of:
Tangled
Toy Story 3
A Christmas Carol
Up
WALL-E
The Incredibles
Monsters, Inc.
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
Lady And The Tramp
The Sword In The Stone
Sleeping Beauty
Fantasia

7/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Very Funny, Office Space Deserves Its Role As A Cult Classic Workplace Comedy!

The Good: Funny, Decent acting, Interesting characters
The Bad: Light on DVD bonus features, Light on character development
The Basics: Office Space is an enjoyable film and is worth watching, but is more of a novelty that is unlikely to hold up over many, many viewings.


With my recently losing another office job - this time because of August downsizing, apparently - my wife thought it was time we took in Office Space together. I, honestly, had been wary of it. After all, there are so many cult classic films that have not lived up for me. Monty Python And The Holy Grail and The Nightmare Before Christmas (reviewed here!) were quoted to me so extensively before I ever saw either that I was bored watching them (the "Monty Python" work is one I have gone back to and been able to appreciate) and some movies, like Garden State I find myself on the opposite side of public opinion in thinking they just weren't that good. Knowing Office Space was such a revered movie, I was hesitant to watch it on the chance that it ended up as yet another cult classic that disappointed me.

Fortunately, the movie lived up to most of the hype surrounding it. It is funny, the characters are quirky and there is enough of a plot to make it more than just a collection of catch phrases strung together to fill the ninety minutes the film is supposed to be. Office Space is on the short end of the spectrum, but it is easy to see why it captured the attention of so many people over the years.

Peter Gibbons hates his job working for Initech where he is rewriting software for the Y2K changeover when he isn't busy zoning out at his desk. He is tired of management coming down on him for the occasional human error and when his girlfriend leaves him after she takes him to an occupational hypnotherapist who dies during the session, Peter shrugs it off. In fact, as a result of the hypnosis, he stops stressing work and asks the waitress he has had a crush on, Joanna, out on a date. When Initech brings in a pair of consultants to trim the fat, Peter is able to be completely honest with them, which puts his boss, Bill, in a bad light.

But Peter's honest comes with a price: the Bobs want to promote him, but they also want to fire most of his friends. So, Peter goes to Michael Bolton and Samir and convinces them to pull the computer scam from Superman 3 in order to get money from the company. But when the half-pennies they swipe from transaction fees are put together, the check is much bigger than they suspected and they find themselves in new levels of trouble.

Office Space wonderfully attacks capitalism and pits human free will against the forces that keep us in our places. Arguably, it makes the more practical point that it is important for each of us to find the right place to work, but the resolution makes the case that with enough money any one of us could find true happiness. Or maybe the point is that most people will be able to complain about anything, regardless of how much money they have. Either way, the idea that finding the right fit with employment so that one does not hate their lives is important and a theme of Office Space. It's one of the reasons I am happy to have a blog: it's one of the ways I enjoy writing and find joy in this life. I suppose for characters like Peter, they have to go through a process to learn these things.

The film balances the workplace story well with the budding relationship between Peter and Joanna. While the romantic relationship is a little predictable for the plot progression, it works to make Peter seem less isolated in the world at a time when he is supposed to be coming into his own. That works nicely. Similarly, the scenes wherein Joanna struggles at her workplace for getting unclear directions from her supervisor makes her seem viable in her own right.

Office Space has a magnificent cast, but more than that, it uses the cast remarkably well. Jennifer Aniston steals her scenes as Joanna and Ron Livingston holds the movie together as Peter. In fact, for the first time in a work with him that I can recall, I saw Livingston as a viable performer in his own right. Historically, I have seen him on screen and his performance has reminded me of Kyle MacLachlan. Here, Livingston is distinct in his own right and he carries the mellow quality that Peter needs after he is hypnotized remarkably well.

The cast is rounded out by Gary Cole, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Diedrich Bader, John C. McGinley and Richard Riehl, who all give great supporting performances to make Office Space a viable microcosm. The strange office world and equally strange real life outside it play well because of these actors with their individual idiosyncrasies. No one has more quirks than Stephen Root's Milton. The mumbling, pushed-around worker is the iconic role of Office Space and Root has a way of making the character pitiable and likable, later channeling much of this part for his role in True Blood Season One (reviewed here!).

Ultimately, Office Space is funny and it makes good points on the importance of finding a job one can live with, but there is little to it outside that message. Mike Judge does an admirable job writing and directing the film, but virtually all of the salient points were in the trailer and the film does not have much to it beyond those points. Still, the film is worth watching.

For other movies set in a workplace, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Horrible Bosses
Glengarry Glen Ross
Cedar Rapids

7/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The Best Of The Friedberg/Seltzer Parodies, Vampires Suck Still . . . Well, Sucks.

The Good: Casting, Moments of performance
The Bad: Not funny, Not clever, Off-point bits flop hard.
The Basics: Another lame flick that starts as a parody of vampire movies, Vampires Suck quickly becomes tedious and a general lampoon of pop culture that fails to amuse.


August is a pretty dismal time for movies. I know that doesn't sound terribly professional, but it is very hard to stay in a professional voice when one has finished watching Vampires Suck, the latest parody movie from Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the creative team that brought us Epic Movie and Disaster Movie (among others). In their current bit of cinematic pointlessness, the duo targets the Twilight Saga as the primary source material.

Becca Crane is the new girl in town and she begins to fall for Edward Sullen, the hot boy in school who also turns out to be a vampire. Becca, meanwhile, begins to be attracted to Jacob, who can't seem to keep his shirt on. As Becca tries to decide which one she wants more, she is hunted by a trio of vampires who want her dead.

The plot follows generally with the plots of Twilight and New Moon, with the Sullens going crazy when Becca gets a paper cut. Becca spends her time with Jacob while Edward makes moves to kill himself.

Vampires Suck quickly devolves, like many of the Friedberg/Seltzer productions into a series of slapstick jokes that have nothing to do with the source material they are attempting to criticize. The points they want to make – like Edward's hair being ridiculous or Bella Swan (in Twilight, parodied as Becca Crane) being a melodramatic parody of a young woman as opposed to being a vital character – are pretty much one-note jokes and once they hit, the writers still have to fill up the rest of the ninety minutes (like the last few parodies by the team, they fail to make this a full 90 minute work, though the "unrated" version which is hardly more risque has made up the balance). As a result, the movie turns into gags featuring several other sources. While Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the allusion to Wolf might fit a general theme for the vampire parody movie, the parodies of Lady Gaga, Alice In Wonderland and current popular teen-themed television shows like The Jersey Shore do not.

Instead, the movie degenerates into a series of jokes that are notable mostly for the fact that they are not funny. Like most movies oriented toward the teen demographic – Vampires Suck was released as a PG-13 film with the “Unrated” version dropping on DVD – the humor is oriented toward jokes that make fun of body functions (the vampire strength jokes get old fast and are replaced with fart gags and slapstick humor that involves more posturing than anything else) and jokes at the expense of other people (homosexuals take the brunt of many of the jokes, though teen girls are lampooned pretty consistently as well). Most of the humor is simply not funny and sitting through the movie becomes an exercise in pointlessness: it does not get better as it goes on.

At the moments Friedberg and Seltzer (who also directed the movie) seem most creative, they manage to lift from superior works. So, for example, in a moment when Becca cuts herself, we see a vampire's view of her. This has a hamburger replace her face. This would be clever if Spike in Buffy The Vampire Slayer hadn't made the comment in an early episode about how people were walking around like little happy meals for vampires. The audience that is smart enough to appreciate the joke does not need it as a visual gag.

Of course, Vampires Suck is not intended for a smart audience, it's lowest common denominator humor and it barely registers as humor after the first ten minutes. I laughed a grand total of three times (the best moments are in the trailer).

As for the usual fronts, the plot is a loose parody of the Twilight Saga with random jokes about pop culture thrown in to fill in everything not in the trailer. The characters do not develop or grow. As for the acting, the best is Jenn Proske. Proske captures Kristen Stewart's awkward acting and deliveries and it becomes painful to watch her after a while. While it is initially funny, after a time Proske just comes across as a half-rate version of Stewart. Still, she shines compared to Matt Lantern and Chris Riggi whose talents in this movie are not at all apparent. In fact, the only actor whose performance actually stands out is Charlie Webber. Webber plays James, a parody of Cam Gigadent's character by the same name in Twilight and he looks and moves just like him, which makes his absurd lines work at times.

Ultimately, though, Vampires Suck is another movie not worth watching, not even on DVD. The parody book New Moan is marginally funnier than this. That might have been repetitive and lampooned Stephanie Meyer’s writing style, but it at least stayed focused. Parents: despite not having much in the way of offensive language, there is nothing redeeming about letting your kids see Vampires Suck. And adults, you should know better.

For other films with Ken Jeong, please check out my reviews of:
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
The Hangover, Part II
Despicable Me
Furry Vengeance
Couples Retreat
The Hangover
Step Brothers

1.5/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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A Guilty Pleasure With Aliens On Star Trek The Next Generation, "The Emissary" Lives Up!

The Good: Acting, Character, Sense of Humor, COSTUMES, Special effects, Plot
The Bad: Nitpicks, minor melodrama moments
The Basics: A great episode, "The Emissary" features Worf and his first love interest in the series. A welcome development.


In a sequence that is, no doubt, intended to be funny in "The Dauphin" (reviewed here!), an earlier second season Star Trek The Next Generation episode, Worf reveals that Klingon mating begins with yelling, then throwing heavy objects at the male. Michael Dorn, who plays Worf, delivers the lines well, but it seems contrived in that episode and the humor falls flat. Enter "The Emissary," where Worf has the chance to illustrate and, in the process, create something much more meaningful.

"The Emissary" finds the Enterprise picking up a small high warp tube that contains a lifeform. That lifeform happens to be Klingon Special Emissary K'Ehleyr. K'Ehleyr is a unique individual (at least until Star Trek: Voyager came along later and tried to capitalize on her popularity with a similar character): half human, half Klingon. As well, it seems she and Worf have a bit of a history. The stoic and conservative Worf fell in love with K'Ehleyr and wanted to be married with her. K'Ehleyr is not the marrying type and they parted ways. Enter K'Ehleyr now, years later, for a dangerous mission. It seems some Klingons were put in suspended animation at the height of Klingon/Federation discord and a ship full of angry Klingons is about to awaken and go on a killing spree. K'Ehleyr's job is to safeguard Federation lives at any cost.

"The Emissary" is probably not a perfect episode. It's a wonderful piece of work and because I have, for years, been blown away by Suzie Plakson's performance as K'Ehleyr. She creates a character that is vibrant, exciting and original. Suzie appeared earlier in the season as the Vulcan Dr. Selar in "The Schizoid Man" (reviewed here!). As a credit to her acting ability she creates distinctly different characters. K'Ehleyr is a character that has depth and backstory and she steals every scene she's in.

The plot works well. The reason for that is that it effectively balances a Worf love story with an interesting tale that has real menace to it. The writers used a plausible technique for allowing hostile Klingons to be utilized with the Klingon sleeper ship. And given the state of Klingon intelligence, there's a legitimate question of how and where the T'Ong will materialize.

Michael Dorn, as well, gives a great acting performance. Here he's given the chance to give range to Worf, who has had a tendency to be underused in the series thus far. Dorn uses more than just his voice here; his talent is revealed in facial expressions, eye movements and subtle body language, especially in the love scene.

"The Emissary" is basically a chance to reveal the sensitive, emotive side to Worf and it works as that. Worf is a character that has always had intrigue and layers. Given the opportunity to see his attempt to love and grow in that way, it's a welcome thing.

This is an episode that is essential to the fan of Klingons or Star Trek The Next Generation. But for people who are not fans of Star Trek? I don't know how much this episode would have to offer, save the easy eye candy of Suzie Plakson as the wonderful K'Ehleyr. Well, for a change, that's enough. Fortunately, this episode backs up the sight with substance.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the sophomore season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other Star Trek episode, season and film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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