“In The Cards” Foreshadows The Big Bang On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!

The Good: Humorous, Good character work, Intriguing plot
The Bad: Simplistic villain, Somewhat lame concept
The Basics: A simple barter story takes a turn for the interesting when a weird scientist seeks immortality and Kai Winn gets into dangerous negotiations with the Dominion.


Star Trek: Deep Space Nine tends to work best out of the Star Trek series' because it was not afraid to be serialized. It was an adult show that required an adult commitment to it week after week. As a result, entire seasons were used to build concepts and ideas and the result is a body of work that feels like it is moving at the pace of a series of current events. By this point in the series, near the end of the fifth season, the Dominion Threat has become a constant menace and it seems that war is inevitable. "In The Cards" is the penultimate episode of the fifth season and it alludes to the end with a series of events that seem somewhat mundane at first, but more significant in the near future.

When Weyoun, the Vorta ambassador from the Dominion, visits Deep Space Nine, his purpose appears to be negotiations with Bajor. He and Kai Winn discuss the possibility of a non-aggression pact. While they try to hammer out the details of such an agreement, Jake Sisko finds himself concerned about his father. Sisko has become increasingly depressed as the Dominion Menace weighs down on him. Jake sees an auction for a baseball card as the opportunity to cheer him up. When he loses the bid to a scientist interested in other items in the same lot, Jake engages in a series of trades with Dr. Giger for the card, but not before they arouse the suspicions of Weyoun.

"In The Cards" is a disarming, pleasant little episode that seems to fill a necessary gap in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is both a silly little story of bartering - which was done back in "Progress" (reviewed here!) and will be revisited in "Treachery, Faith, And The Great River" - and a chance to establish several important plot events. While the baseball card ultimately becomes unimportant to the series, the meeting of Jake Sisko and Weyoun is significant. Jake and Weyoun will interact over several of the upcoming episodes and as a result, seeing their first meeting here opens up the ability for straightforward interactions later on. As well, the non-aggression pact that Kai Winn is mulling over here comes into play in the season finale.

What doesn't make sense is the use of Kai Winn for the negotiations. First Minister Shakaar is the leader of Bajor and as a result, it is inappropriate for Winn to be engaged in any sort of negotiations on behalf of Bajor. Logistically, it is a problem that is significantly smaller than the lame concept of the a-plot. The whole "one character goes through a chain of bartering" plot is becoming a Hollywood standard and it is somewhat disappointing to see Star Trek: Deep Space Nine sink into such an overdone, pathetic plot. For what it is worth, "In The Cards" does it well by combining the overdone Hollywood plot with sensible character motivation, a quirky scientific plot and balancing it with a strong, compelling b-plot.

Ultimately, it is the characters that make "In The Cards" work. Dr. Giger, whose quest it to achieve immortality using a cellular recreation device, is one of the weirdest guest characters in any Star Trek series. His segments are funny and make the viewer smile. Nog's appearances for the bidding and bartering help flesh out his already interesting character, by reconnecting him with his Ferengi roots that he had appeared to abandon. Even Captain Sisko's brief appearances here are worthwhile; establishing Sisko as reluctant to see the place he has come to love threatened.

Even Jake Sisko is an interesting character in "In The Cards." He is genuinely trying to do something decent and his love for his father here seems much more mature and adult than the clingy, needy love he has in "The Visitor" (reviewed here!). It is a refreshing bit of character growth. Weyoun is established once again as shifty, devious and clever. His work in this episode seems to be to manipulate Winn and he does it quite well.

The episode's real strength is in the character growth of Kai Winn. Here she defers her judgment to Sisko and it's refreshing to see her attempt to trust the Emissary her faith holds in such high regard. Playing Winn, an essentially villainous character, off Weyoun, who comes across as a more likable adversary, is genius and the apparent justification for Winn handling political negotiations that should be outside her realm.

Winn is adeptly acted once again by Louise Fletcher and it is a pleasure to see her. She is eloquent and quietly menacing as Winn, a contrast to Jeffery Combs' slick and obviously devious Weyoun. Combs and Fletcher play off one another with expert acting grace and that makes the episode stronger than the simple bridge episode it might otherwise appear to be.

Part of the essential Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the introduction of the non-aggression pact idea and the meeting of Weyoun and Jake, "In The Cards" is too insular to be enjoyed by anyone but fans of Star Trek or a simple barter story. It is family friendly, but the intricacies and overall importance of the episode are lost out of context. Of course, I would argue that it is worth becoming a fan of the series to be able to enjoy such quality episodes when you finally get to them.

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


7/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Art Asylum May Have Done Him Better, But Security Chief Odo From Playmates Still Stands!

The Good: Good sculpt, Excellent coloring, Decent variety of accessories
The Bad: Accessory coloring, Few accessories actually fit his grip, Slight balance issues.
The Basics: A good Odo figure, the original Playmates Odo still tips over too easily for most fans to truly love this toy.


There are few characters whose action figures I had so anticipated like the way I did the first Odo figure. At the time, he was my favorite character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and when Playmates Toys announced their 1993 toy line-up, I was thrilled to see that Odo had not been neglected as part of some terrible oversight. Since then, Art Asylum has remade the Odo figure with greater articulation and detail, but still, I cannot part with my Security Chief Odo figure from Playmates.

Security Chief Odo was one of the non-StarFleet characters on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!). His backstory was simple: he was a shapeshifter, discovered by the Cardassians and studied by the Bajorans in a laboratory. When he became sentient, he left the lab and came to Terok Nor (Deep Space Nine), where he began to investigate cases for Gul Dukat. With the Federation administrative takeover of Deep Space Nine, Odo remained aboard as security chief, slowly using StarFleet resources to learn about his possible origins!

Basics

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1993 Collection of action figures contained nine figures and it focused on the primary command crew of space station Deep Space Nine, along with the alien bartender, Quark, and two other aliens. Odo was one of the non-StarFleet command crew figures and his tan and brown uniform helped set him apart from the predominantly black costumes of most of the others. Odo was actually very popular and the figure sold fairly well, despite the fact that Odo was comparatively a pegwarmer. Like the rest of the figures in this assortment, it features a SkyBox trading card exclusive to the action figure, which made it hunted by trading card collectors as well. Even so, sales of Odo were not the best.

The Odo figure is the shape-shifting Constable as he appeared almost every time he was on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Odo is outfitted in his Bajoran uniform and boots. The security chief has a thin build and a ghoulish face with haunting eyes set back in their sockets. The outfit is colored appropriately and Playmates even did well on the facial details.

Standing four and three-quarters inches tall, this is a decent likeness of Odo immortalized in plastic. The character is molded with his hands appearing ready to hold any of his accessories, each in a half-closed position. His legs have a very neutral stance, so this figure stands up and looks like he is ready to be displayed, as opposed to fighting or doing other action-oriented things. Odo has only fair balance off his stand and is actually one of the more problematic figures to get to stay on their stand. There is a decent level of uniform detailing, including the Bajoran communicator on Security Chief Odo's right breast. The figure's detailing only falls down at the hands, which do not have defined knuckles.

Odo's face is molded in an incredible likeness of the shapeshifter. The figure has subtle forehead lines and hair pulled tightly back. The proportions of his nose are slightly off - just like the character! - so there is an unsettling look to Constable Odo. As well, he has tiny blue eyes with white pupils and with his eyes sunken, Odo looks like he is staring constantly. It's weird to have an action figure that appears unsettling!

The paint job is as good as one could expect given the figure is based upon a character who is supposed to be more monotonal in his skin than most characters. The skin tones are white and lack any shading or subtlety. This does not look bad for Odo and Playmates even managed to get the figure's tight pink lips and monotonal hair looking good!

Accessories

Odo comes with five accessories, including the base, most of which were created specifically for this figure. Odo comes with a Bajoran PADD, Bajoran tricorder, Bucket sleeping chamber, Deep Space Nine desk monitor and the base. The Action base is a Bajoran Communicator symbol with a sticker that says "ODO" on it. On the end opposite the ball on the symbol, near where that sticker is, there is a peg which fits into the hole in either of Security Chief Odo's feet! When Constable Odo stands flatfooted on the stand, he is stable for balance and has a decent, neutral display appearance. The base, however, is not enough to support Security Chief Odo in more outlandish poses, so this is a problematically tippy figure.

The Bajoran PADD is a distinctive Bajoran instrument and one which Constable Odo was shown with many times in the series. The PADD has all of the appropriate buttons as well as a little sticker where the screen ought to be. This is essentially a small red plastic chip 5/8" long and under 3/8" wide. This only fits in Security Chief Odo's right hand and only then because it has an additional ridge along the bottom which adds volume to it.

The Bajoran tricorder is amazingly cast for so small an accessory. Just over 1/2" long and just under 3/8" wide, this small device is segmented into the two parts of a Bajoran tricorder and is in perfect scale to the Odo figure. Unfortunately, it has wonderful surface details, but terrible coloring details and a screen which is not distinctive. As well, it cannot fit into either of Odo's hands as his grip is too open for that.

Odo's bucket sleeping chamber is unique to the Security Chief Odo action figure. The liability of Odo's race is their need to revert to a gelatinous state every day and Odo dealt with this by having a bucket to become liquid in. The bucket is a cool accessory, looking just like the bucket from the show, save in entirely the wrong color.

The station desktop monitor is a pretty decent accessory for the Security Chief of Deep Space Nine. About an inch wide and deep and tall, the desktop monitor resembles an open laptop computer. In fact, where the monitor ought to be, there is a sticker with a schematic of space station Deep Space Nine. With the hands of the figure arranged just right, Odo may hold this with both hands, but it precludes using any other accessories with the figure. Sadly, it, too, was cast in an unrealistic red plastic.

This is the unfortunate aspect of all four of Odo's accessories; they are molded in a unrealistic red plastic which looks disappointing. Clearly Playmates went through some effort to sculpt the accessories realistically, but the coloring guts them of any sense of realism. Odo is over-accessorized and with the lame coloring of the accessories, it is the only serious drawback for the overall figure.

Even so, Playmates included a trading card unique to the figure from SkyBox which attracted trading card collectors to this figure in addition to toy collectors. The trading card has a shot of Odo with a black starfield behind him (this makes for a great card to get signed by actor Rene Auberjoinis, who played Odo all seven years!). The back has information on Odo which filled in some of his backstory and the trading card looks excellent.

Playability

Odo continued a generally high level quality from Playmates and he was quite good at the time, pleasing collectors and fans alike. Odo is appropriately stiff, but his balance issues make him less posable than he ought to be. Odo is endowed with twelve points of articulation: knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, shoulders, neck, and waist. All of the joints, save the elbows and knees, are simple swivel joints. As a result, the neck turns left to right, but the head cannot nod. Similarly, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate. Still, Playmates dealt with this limitation by having a swivel joint in the bicep, that allows everything below to turn and offers real decent poseability!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Odo may bend or extend at the elbows, which offers a greater amount of movement potential making him one of the more realistic Star Trek action figures to play with (for those who actually play with these toys!). On his base, Odo is still surprisingly unstable and this is one of the few Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures which consistently tips over.

Collectibility

Playmates seemed to gauge about the right amount of interest for the first wave of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, but with Odo appearing two to three per case, he was easier to find and ended up sticking around as one of the pegwarmers of the line. Still, trading card collectors helped buy these figures up because of the collectible card and fans are likely to find this figure a little harder to find now, mostly because Rene Auberjonois did a lot of conventions over the years and people bought these to get them autographed. Still, this is not the best investment figure and when Art Asylum made their sculpt of Odo, the value on this one depressed back down to its original price.

That said, at least Playmates tried to make the figures collectible. Each figure has an individual number on the bottom of his right foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them, though one has to seriously wonder how limited something should be considered when there are at least 25,500 figures out there (my Odo is #025008!).

Overview

The Odo figure is a good figure of a great character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he still tips over. Honestly, I probably keep this one more for nostalgia and to have an Odo in this scale than actually loving this figure.

For other Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures from the original 1993 collection, please check out my reviews of:
Commander Benjamin Sisko
Gul Dukat
Quark
Dr. Julian Bashir
Major Kira Nerys
Chief Miles O'Brien

6/10

For other toy reviews, please be sure to visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Another Mediocre Ella Fitzgerald Compilation, Flying Home At Least Offers Some Decent Tracks.

The Good: Ella Fitzgerald's amazing voice, Good swing jazz sound overall
The Bad: Compiled from other (some better) recordings, SHORT
The Basics: While Ella Fitzgerald compilations are fairly common, there are few truly worthwhile ones. Flying Home is one worth picking up, though.


There is something amusing to me as someone who began February as a complete novice to the works of Ella Fitzgerald to now be able to recognize some of the recordings from which some of the compilations pull their recordings of her works. The thing is, what is most available these days are compilation recordings of Ella Fitzgerald's works and while there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of recordings to pull from, it seems those who compile the works of Ella Fitzgerald for compact discs seem to pull from about the same fifty songs and too few of the compilations actually make decent use of the amount of space a compact disc actually has.

That said, Flying Home is a pretty weak "recommend" on my part; the songs on it are good, but the capacity for more is there. Moreover, the more I listen to the album, the more I hear how many tracks were simply lifted from Ella And Louis, an album that paired Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong to make something of a superalbum. So, for example, "Moonlight In Vermont" on this compilation is simply taken from that album and the nice thing is that it features Armstrong on his trumpet and his vocals come in to provide Ella Fitzgerald with someone to sing to and that works especially well for that song, which is meant to be a duet from the lyrics.

For those looking for a minimal compilation that has a generally decent mix of songs released on other albums, Flying Home fits the bill pretty well. It has twelve songs which take up only 43:30 on the disc, but they are presented with clear remastered sound that comes out beautifully. Of course, Ella Fitzgerald merely performs vocally on Flying Home. She was a jazz vocal performer who had an amazing voice, but did little on the creative end of her own music. As a result, Fitzgerald did not write, compose or produce any of the songs on this album. She also does not play any instruments on Flying Home, she simply provides her amazing voice.

And Ella Fitzgerald has an amazing voice and Flying Home has a mix of songs that help to illustrate that fairly well. This album has some traditional jazz scatting of Fitzgerald’s on tracks like "Air Mail Special" and Flying Home which both illustrate an impressive vocal range and mastery of the scales. Fitzgerald's jazz scatting is actually a wonderful example of the performer's originality and her creative ability. While I might be dismayed that she did not have much creative control over most of her works, it is hard to deny that she does create when she explores with her voice through magical ascensions and descending scales in her quick "boop" and "bops" of jazz scatting.

When not creating aural utterances that are enchanting in their speed and tonal quality, Ella Fitzgerald is largely able to articulate beautifully, as she does through the fast parts of "How High The Moon." She sings deep and growling on "Basin Street Blues" and ascends the full three octaves of her range on the more melodic and ethereal "Angel Eyes." Those who compiled this album seemed to have a wonderful concept of how to mix Fitzgerald's lower moments and her higher ones.

Unfortunately, many of the songs are somewhat lyrically limited, which makes them harder to take seriously over multiple listens. It does not matter how well Ella Fitzgerald sings "A Foggy Day," for example, when its lines include "A foggy day, in London town / Had me low, had me down / I viewed the morning, with much alarm / British museum, had lost its charm / How long I wondered, / Could this thing last / But the age of miracles, hadn't past / For suddenly, I saw you there / And through foggy london town, / The sun was shining everywhere." I've tended to go lightly on some of the lyrics Fitzgerald sings because predictable rhyme schemes were not always so; someone had to use them first. Still, the singsong rhythm to this song is often troubling, especially when one listens to it over and over again.

Moreover, one has to assume that Fitzgerald is performing with a theatrical sense of irony on "Lullaby Of Birdland." Far from a lullaby, she presents it as an upbeat swing jazz song that has a toe-tapping rhythm. Unfortunately, this is distracting as she sings "And there's a weepy old willow / He really knows how to cry, / That's how I'd cry in my pillow / If you should tell me farewell and goodbye / Lullaby of birdland whisper low / Kiss me sweet, and we'll go / Flying high in birdland, high in the sky up above / All because were in love" ("Lullaby Of Birdland"). Instead of being sweet, soulful and sad as the lyrics connote, the song is strangely upbeat in a disconcerting and incongruent way.

One of the better songs, "Moonlight In Vermont" is a poetic duet presented between her and Louis Armstrong. The song resonates well when she sings "Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway / And travel each bend in the road" and he responds "People who meet, in this romantic setting / Are so hypnotized by the lovely. . ." ("Moonlight In Vermont"). In that case, even the slightly simplistic lyrics are able to be written off due to the amazing vocals. Fitzgerald dominates the upper registers and Armstrong enters with his smooth voice entering the lower tenor range to harmonize with her. It is quite extraordinary.

But largely, this is a fair, not indispensible, compilation for those who are enthusiastic about the works of Ella Fitzgerald. There is much to enjoy and if you find it when you need an Ella Fitzgerald fix, this is a good way to go. But for a permanent library of Ella Fitzgerald's works, this would be a tough sell, whatwith so many other great compilations out there.

The best track is "Air Mail Special" with its amazing jazz scatting, the low point is the murky and repetitive "April In Paris."

For other works by Ella Fitzgerald, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Ella And Louis
Ella At Duke's Place
Ella Fitzgerald With The Tommy Flanagan Trio
Shine
Ella And Louis Again
That Old Black Magic
Starlit Hour
Love And Kisses
Day Dream: Best Of The Duke Ellington Songbook
Oh, Lady, Be Good! The Best Of The Gershwin Songbook
Pure Ella

5.5/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing of all my music reviews!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Surprisingly Underwhelming Fruit Snack, Peeled Organic’s Cherry-Go-Round Is Just Dried Fruit!

The Good: Very nutritious, Decent shelf life for an organic product.
The Bad: Comparatively expensive, Not terribly flavorful.
The Basics: The Peeled Organics Cherry-Go-Round fruit snacks I had did not impress me, though they are exceptionally nutritious!


It has to be pretty obvious to my regular readers that I am on a health kick at the moment. I am getting fit and improving my health while my wife loses weight, so we can accomplish our goals together and live longer, happier lives. While I still crave a lot of things I am not supposed to have, I have been much better about eating things like fruit. My wife makes me shakes and I’ve been enjoying dried fruits, mostly from Peeled Organic.

Cherry-Go-Round was the first dried fruit from Peeled Organic that simply seemed like a dried fruit. It did not remind me of actual cherries, it reminded me of prunes and raisins and I was entirely underwhelmed. However, because I have been paying so much attention to nutrition of late, I could not entirely pan this dried fruit; after all, as part of getting heart-healthy, dietary fiber has become important to me. This has four grams of that and despite being unremarkable in most ways, that makes it fairly worthwhile to me!

Basics

Peeled Organic is a relatively new fruit snack company that is doing good work for both the environment and personal health. Using no preservatives, Peeled Organic strives to present the healthiest possible dried fruit to customers and, as the name suggests, does so using organic farming methods.

Cherry-Go-Round is just as the name implies; a bag of dehydrated organic cherries! The dehydrated fruit chunks are supple, not hard. They are also not covered in a coating of sugar, wax and/or preservatives. The Cherry-Go-Round fruit snacks comes in a 1.48 oz. stiff plastic bag that is not resealable.

Ease Of Preparation

Cherry-Go-Round fruit packs are simple to use. Simply open the bag and remove the fruit from it! There is no trick to eating Cherry-Go-Round; they are a snack that is ready to go from the bag to the mouth.

Taste

Opening the bag of Cherry-Go-Round fruit snacks, my nose was instantly overrun by a smell reminiscent of prunes. This was the first Peeled Organic fruit snack I can recall that actually smelled like a dried fruit. This smells entirely like prunes!

Cherry-Go-Round, like raisins, have very little flavor when they are first placed on the tongue. Instead, these burst to flavorful life when they are ruptured or chewed. Sweeter than raisins, Cherry-Go-Round fruit snacks have a slight tart kick that reminds us that they are dried cherries. These dried fruits taste more like raisins than anything else and those who were hoping for some form of luscious cherry flavor preserved through dehydration are likely to be underwhelmed by these. I know I was.

Cherry-Go-Round leaves no aftertaste in one’s mouth.

Nutrition

Cherry-Go-Round organic dried fruits are an all-natural snack, with no preservatives or added sugar. Given that the ingredient is organic cherries, there is nothing hiding in them that will surprise consumers. These have a shelf life of about nine months, so they are not bad for stocking up on if you eat a lot of fruit. The package we got on the last day of January (2012) expires on October 5, 2012 (or it would have had I not eaten them all up!).

Each 42 gram serving of Cherry-Go-Round has 130 calories, none of which come from fat. There are four grams of dietary fiber and 20% of your RDA of Vitamin C. Outside that, there are no significant nutrients in a serving, though there is 4% of one’s RDA of Iron. They are gluten free and were packaged in a facility that processes nuts, dairy, wheat and soy, so those with applicable allergies ought to keep that in mind. This bag of treats also is careful to note that it may contain core and stem fragments. Mine contained none of those undesirable things.

Storage/Clean-up

Kept in their bag, Cherry-Go-Round will remain fresh for almost a year and as long as the bag is sealed, one suspects they will last that long anyway. Because I only got enough to review, I am not worried about keeping these fresh! They come in, they go right back out!

Cleanup is simple as well. Cherry-Go-Round dried fruits are a dry food and thus leave no mess behind. Simply toss out the plastic bag and cleanup is done! I would, naturally, be happier if there was a way to recycle these plastic bags.

Overall

Cherry-Go-Round is a fruit snack that is solidly below average on taste, but more than makes up for it through the nutritional benefits. They do not taste bad, they just do not impress me with being very flavorful, either.

For other Peeled Organic fruit snack reviews, check out my reviews of:
Apple-2-The-Core
Pine-4-Pineapple
Apricot-a-lot

5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Eh, On The Action-Adventure Front: Mr. And Mrs. Smith Fizzles.

The Good: Everything looks good
The Bad: Lack of convincing characters or acting, Predictable plot twists
The Basics: Unfit for consumption by clever individuals, Mr. And Mrs. Smith is simply another Hollywood action-adventure with nothing truly to recommend it.


Sometimes we sit down to watch a movie with the hope, the barest hope, that it will not be as terrible as we suspect it can be. Mr. And Mrs. Smith, if you want the short answer, is just as terrible as you might expect of a big-budget Hollywood, action adventure movie staring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Unlike the far better Jersey Girl, which suffered because of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's relationship off-camera, this piece of cinematic garbage apparently benefited from Jolie and Pitt's off-camera whatever.

John Smith and Jane Smith are bored with their marriage and in counseling to work on their problems. There, they recount what led them to counseling; they both learned that the other was lying to them about the same thing, in fact. Both John and Jane are hired assassins working for different companies. When one of Jane's missions is blown by John, he becomes her target and the two set out destroying just about everything in order to get to one another.

Along the way, they learn how much of their relationship was built on lies and how much genuine feeling they have for one another. And it all resolves itself in a feel-good Hallmark movie-of-the-week type way.

It's just crap. Save yourself the time and money. Better yet, watch a decent action adventure, one with brains. Spend a little more and get the first season of Alias on DVD. That's a vastly better use of your time and money. And I can say that without even knowing you. You can do better than this.

The best thing about Mr. And Mrs. Smith is that it looks good. The people are unnaturally attractive, their hair doesn't get messed up or singed off when giant explosions go off near them, and the explosions themselves look great on the DVD. This is a movie where things look good and Doug Liman, the director, hopes that will be enough.

He's wrong. First off, Simon Kinberg, the writer of this movie, should be forced to turn in his WGA card and spend the next five years selling ice cream. There was not a line of redeeming dialogue in this entire movie. The characters are utterly flat and it makes no sense whatsoever that they would spend minute after minute recounting all of the lies between them and then conclude that they should be together. This is stupid even for Hollywood fare.

The acting is all-around terrible as well. Brad Pitt supports the notion that he is simply good looking and can't act. There is none of his brilliance from 12 Monkeys (reviewed here!), none of his humor or charm from his guest appearance on Friends, nothing but a guy in a suit playing a part Keeanu Reeves could have covered just as insightfully. Angelina Jolie and Vince Vaughn (Pitt's sidekick and best friend in the movie) are dull and cringeworthy unfunny, respectively. Vaughn's appearances on screen are enough to make the viewer grab the remote to fast forward through his banal, predictable jokes and phrases.

The plot is predictable and all of the reversals that are executed, we've seen before in better works. I should try to say more that's bad about this film, but that's it. That's all there is. You have a terrible script with an inane plot, lousy dialogue delivered by actors who either can't or aren't performing and you have a lousy movie. This is it.

For other works with Michelle Monaghan, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Source Code
Mission: Impossible III
Constantine

2.5/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for a complete, organized list of my movie reviews!

© 2012, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Mediocre Casino In The Poconos, Mount Airy Underwhelms.

The Good: Some good games, Lax security
The Bad: Smoky atmosphere, Lack of flash, Location
The Basics: Underwhelming in every way, Mount Airy Casino is nestled in the Pocono Mountains and is very easy to pass by.


My wife and I hit a lot of casinos when we travel (she is SO looking forward to Las Vegas later this year!) and as such, it might seem like no big deal when she looks at me blankly when I name a casino we went to and asks "Which one is that?" The truth is, though, there has only been a single casino she has reacted that way to and while I was initially considering Mount Airy Casino Resort an "average" casino, I took my wife's reaction as something of an omen that this was the appropriate time to downgrade this casino.

Moreover, the fundamental problem with Mount Airy is not anything that it does, but rather what it doesn't do. Mount Airy is a remarkably indistinct casino with no flash, no gimmicks, no substance. The casino is entirely forgettable and I, for my money, want a casino that leaves me both with memories of the time I had there and enthusiastic about returning. Mount Airy was only memorable to my wife and I because when we visited, she was under twenty-one and she was not proofed getting into the casino. Otherwise, the games, atmosphere and entire experience was unremarkable and that is the death knell of a casino experience. Moreover, because there is nothing around Mount Airy, this is a long way out of one's way for such an indistinct casino experience.

Mount Airy Casino: came in with $5.00, left with $15.00.

Location

Mount Airy is a small casino located at Woodland Road in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania. We came across signs for Mount Airy while traveling back from New York City through Pennsylvania. This is fairly easy to find simply from roadside signs along Interstate 84 - a major east/west route running through Pennsylvania. Woodland Road is off PA-611; Mapquest and yahoo directions are quite precise with the above address.

Mount Airy has a large parking area near the casino and it was about eighty percent when we went through, which was interesting considering it was a Thursday morning. Given that this is the only building around for about a mile, it is the main attraction in this area.

Size/Atmosphere/"Atmosphere"

Mount Airy Casino is a small casino in Eastern Pennsylvania and it looks small on the outside, but has an intriguing shape with very high ceilings to make it feel bigger inside. All of the ceilings are very high, all of the carpets are clean and the place feels like one massive hotel lobby or a very generic casino. To get to the main gaming floor, one needs to go up some stairs, pass by a security officer. Once inside, we were underwhelmed because of the lack of dazzle, gimmick or flash. There is little sense of style here, just the cold, hard reality of coming to game, despite the walls being colored fairly neutral earth tones.

The casino is spaced and dressed up like any number of other casinos, evoking a general memory of a hotel lobby. The main gaming floor is huge and actually is spaced and arranged for ease of movement, with some limits. Banks of video slots are fairly regular and have pretty decent stretches before one runs into a perpendicular bank which forces one to either stop and gamble or turn. Mount Airy had a fair selection of many of the video slots that it had.

The high ceilings should help dissipate the cigarette and cigar smoke that is prevalent in the casino, but there was still a pretty significant amount of cigarettes and cigar smoke around the establishment and a large number of people there were smoking, but it was not oppressive. For those who are sensitive to smoky environments, this casino has annoyingly little in the way of separations for nonsmokers. Indeed, the whole casino is one large gaming floor. The problematic aspect here is that there are no clear delineations between the smoking and nonsmoking areas.

As for the "atmosphere" of the Mount Airy, this is a casino trading on the gambling, not much more. The workers on the casino floor all wore suits and pantsuits. Women are in no way exploited in this environment and the servers wore tasteful tuxedo shirts and slacks. The floor staff blended right in with the gamblers.

Gaming Options/Player's Club

I have a very simple gambling philosophy: I sit down at a slot machine with $5.00. I work it up to $10 or down to zero. I know my limits: I can afford to lose $5.00. So, when I am above that, I'll usually work it up or whittle it down to the next even $5.00. Have a strategy, know your limits: the Mount Airy Casino worked quite well for me. I arrived, signed up for the player's club card and was smirked at when I asked if there were any freebies for signing up. There were not. I played my five dollars, got up quickly and let my partner play with some of it (the security here was not the most vigilant) and we left ahead after about an hour of underwhelming play. I found games I enjoyed playing, so this was a pretty easy casino for us to get in and get out of.

Having had pretty extensive experience with the video slot machines, I know what I like. I tend to enjoy the slots that are more girly themed or video game-like. Mount Airy had a surprisingly light selection of video slot machines and ultimately, all I ended up playing was "Crystal Enchantment." Some of the new games they were highlighting included Deal Or No Deal, Gold Fish and Blazin' 7's. This casino had a remarkably standard collection of video slots, with games Mystic Mermaid, Enchanted Unicorn, Cleopatra, Reel Gems, Clara T, Wheel Of Fortune and Reel Money and several others. There were no unique or extraordinary games in the lineup here and my partner cannot even recall what she ended up playing during our time there.

For those who might be into games of chance and card games instead of the fun and controlled reinforcement of video slot machines, there are electronic table games, which I do not trust. There are no actual card games or roulette wheels at this casino.

There is a player's club at the Mount Airy, which is the Mount Airy Players Club. Simply present a driver's license at the player's club center and get a card. Points here are accrued based upon bets placed and time spent through some mystery formula. By the time we left, we did not have much in the way of points and I saw nowhere to cash them in outside the buffet.

Entertainment Options

The Mount Airy Casino is quite light on entertainment. While we were there the only things advertised in the way of entertainment was a forthcoming concert by James Darren. As a fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I think that's cool, but objectively, this is not the most exciting place for entertainment. They currently have a car giveaway contest going on.

Dining Options

We arrived at Mount Airy in the morning and the buffet was the only option we saw. The buffet carried a pretty steep $19.99 price tag which was not discounted at all for lunch. We decided to pass on that and eat elsewhere, though people who were eating there seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Shopping Options

Unlike Las Vegas casinos, Mount Airy Casino is not trading so much on shopping. We did not see anywhere to shop, though it appears there is a resort - with golfing - attached and one supposes there are shopping options there.

Overall

Mount Airy Casino is bland and suffers mightily from being boring and out of the way. There is not great reason to make a detour for this casino. It is not bad, but there is nothing to recommend it, either.

For other casino reviews, please check out my takes on:
Palace Station Casino
Soaring Eagle Casino
Finger Lakes Casino

4/10

For other travel reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Close Enough To A Perfect First Season: NYPD Blue Season 1

The Good: Great acting, Wonderful character arcs, Nice stories, Effects
The Bad: Minor sense of repetition
The Basics: The 15th Precinct of New York City deals day in and day out with criminals while the detectives work on relating to one another in the complete first season of NYPD Blue.


Note: This was originally written when the show actually made its debut on DVD. I liked the tone and my snarky comments on ABC, so I have kept most of the original text unchanged. Enjoy!

NYPD Blue has finally started trickling onto DVD. It's about time. Actually, it's the perfect time for the series to be put into this medium: it's the ten year anniversary of the show's start and the current season is doing amazing work when it isn't being pre-empted for whatever current idiotic "reality" show ABC decides to put on. In the rush to get series' out on DVD, studios and networks are putting a premium on current popularity, as opposed to genuine quality. With the advent of NYPD Blue on DVD, Fox is reminding the patrons of this fantastic medium that the real treasure of DVD is capturing forever truly great works.

NYPD Blue tells the story of the 15th Precinct's detective squad. Opening with a drunk officer's vendetta against a notorious gangster, the series becomes more and more complicated in the first season. Detective John Kelly works at bringing down the Mob while his ex-wife finishes divorce proceedings against him. Andy Sipowicz, shot in the pilot, must overcome his hatreds as well as work on staying sober, a task made more difficult by a burgeoning relationship between himself and an ADA. The lieutenant at the 15th Squad is plagued by Sipowicz and his racism as well as the vague threats of other cops looking to bring him down. There is a uniform cop named Licalsi whose ties to organized crime put her in direct conflict with her love for John Kelly. The crew is rounded out by a junior detective named Martinez who is paired with an exceptionally nervous detective named Medavoy. Their pairing keeps life interesting for both of them and through all of their myriad personal problems, the officers of the 15th Squad catch a successive file of rapes, murders, and robberies.

With 22 episodes, the NYPD Blue Complete First Season DVD set is a value at the $55 you're likely to spend on it (It’s cheaper now!). It's worth it, though. The six disc set has commentaries on six episodes, an hour long behind-the-scenes featurette and other exclusives like one on relationships in the first season of NYPD Blue. Between the quality of the episodes and the bonus features, this is a must for any fan of NYPD Blue.

But more than that, it is an opportunity to get into something that is truly extraordinary. NYPD Blue tells stories of the basic human need for justice through the results of that going too far. For example, David Schwimmer plays a resident of Kelly's former apartment building who was mugged in the building and as a result, he buys a gun and becomes a vigilante. The obsession he exhibits seems very realistic. This is a series known for nudity, strong language and radical camera movements, but it is truly, on the most important levels, all about people.

The people in the first season of NYPD Blue are:

Detective John Kelly, a brooding professional with a knack for interrogation, he has an instinct toward protecting women and a sincere desire to help other people. Kelly's marriage fell apart because of his vigilance toward the job and his new relationship with Licalsi is complicated by his personal need to see right and wrong set apart. He's a tortured soul mentored by Sipowicz. A typical problem Kelly faces in the first season is like "Personal Foul" where a friend of his inadvertently kills another friend in a fight on the basketball court.

Andy Sipowicz is a drunk whose life turns around when he is nearly killed by gangster Alphonse Giadello and then finds himself pursued by ADA Sylvia Costas. Sipowicz is a boss-hating racist who finds being dry a challenge and his need to do his work is complicated by a mean streak he has in his soul.

Lt. Fancy runs the squad and in the first season, he finds himself forced to defend his role as a minority in a position of power. He is tough and fair and ultimately wants nothing more than to have every crime committed solved by his detectives.

James Martinez, a young officer whose joining the 15th Squad is a huge learning experience. He's fast and agile and close with his family, a condition which is complicated by his brother, who is a drug user in a lot of trouble.

Laura Michaels, the estranged wife of John Kelly is on a quest to find direction in her life. She leaves working for the city, quits the subsequent law firm and ends up in the DAs office. As John and Licalsi get closer and closer, she has more complications in her dealings with the 15th.

Officer Licalsi is a uniform cop whose ties to organized crime put her in an awkward position when she makes a worse decision, killing an important mobster. Licalsi spends the season searching for redemption from Kelly and trying to escape the ties to the mob. She's a deeply conflicted character who knows what she wants, but not how to get it.

NYPD Blue undergoes a reasonable transition in the first season, progressing from a cop show very focused on procedure and the methods of detective work into a series focused on the individuals and their struggles. It is a sensible development as the characters do detective work all the way through, but it would quickly get tiring to see the entire process that follows each crime every time.

The hallmark of this series, what separates it from all of the other television shows out there is that NYPD Blue is exceptionally well-written and well acted. The writing is tight and every episode has a freshness to it, despite the fact that it is a repetition of crime and discovery. Each episode has a sense of newness to it and the threads of other stories going throughout the entire season lends a nice serialized sense to the series. It's an adult series and adults can commit to watching episode after episode to see how things develop and NYPD Blue does that exceptionally well.

The acting, then, caps off an already amazing show and the casting department and the various directors of the first season episodes have a strong sense of how to use each of the actors to their best ability. While James McDaniel does a fantastic job as Lt. Fancy, he is relegated to more of a supporting role in the first season and thus does not have the opportunity to dominate the way some of the other actors do. Sheri Stringfield is in the same position as Kelly's ex-wife. Because she is around mostly to reflect off Kelly, she never gets the chance to present her character as terribly vital or necessary. The three actors who steal their thunder are Amy Brenneman, David Caruso and Dennis Franz.

Brenneman leaps onto the screen as Licalsi, a fairly young cop who has connections. Brenneman, as seen in the first season of NYPD Blue, has a versatile look that is ultimately very practical and makes it easy for the viewer to believe that she is an officer. She doesn't have a Hollywood beauty to her and it goes a long way to making her intense expressive eyes more of an asset. Brenneman says much throughout the season using undertones in her voice and subtle body language and she creates quite vividly a conflicted character.

David Caruso makes his presence instantly felt on the screen as John Kelly. Caruso has wonderful facial expressions and a voice that modulates with an exceptional amount of expression. As a result, his performances are consistently great. Caruso makes the series very easy to watch at the beginning and for those who are fans of the show, it is somewhat surprising to go back to see how much Caruso dominated the episodes.

But the thunder of the acting in NYPD Blue is in Dennis Franz. His portrayal of the drunk, racist and angry Sipowicz is outstanding. The way we know Franz is such a great actor is that he is completely different from his character. Unlike Sipowicz, in every interview, every public performance, Franz is seen smiling and he has great charisma. He is generous to his fans and gracious at every award ceremony he's been filmed at. In short, he's nothing like Sipowicz, but he makes Sipowicz utterly believable. That's great acting.

If you've never seen NYPD Blue, this is a great chance to get into it at the beginning. There are minor flaws in the first season, a line or two here or there that just doesn't come off, but the truth is, it's a 22 episode single story and it is pulled off as near to perfect as any series has ever done for the first season.

For other reviews of police-related programs, please be sure to visit:
Homicide: Life On The Street
In The Heat Of The Night
Crash

9.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to check out my Television Review Index Page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sensibility Takes A Back Seat To Style With "The Trouble With Tribbles" Star TrekCCG Expansion!

The Good: Some great and intriguing images, Great use of material, Powerful cards for players, No significant rule changes.
The Bad: Game continues to get more complicated and less playable, "Tribbles" side deck is lame
The Basics: Despite having a truly lame sidedeck that still annoy players, collectors will like the value of these cards, despite the fact that not all of them are available in boosters!


When Decipher began making the Star Trek CCG with the Star Trek: The Next Generation time frame and characters, it did not surprise many people when the trading card company, SkyBox, popped up with an original Star Trek game called Star Trek: The Card Game (reviewed here!) and given the popularity of Decipher's game at the time, it was no surprise that it quickly went belly up. When it did, fans of the Star Trek CCG began to wonder when characters and situations from Star Trek would enter the game. With "The Trouble With Tribbles" expansion, players got their wish.

Focusing primarily on the events surrounding "The Trouble With Tribbles" and its Star Trek: Deep Space Nine sequel "Trials And Tribble-ations," this set offers collectors and players the first opportunity to have Decipher gaming cards of classic Star Trek characters like Kirk, Spock and McCoy, as well ships like the original NCC-1701 Enterprise!

Basics/Set Composition

The Star Trek Customizable Card Game "The Trouble With Tribbles" set was the ninth full expansion set of cards sold in boxes created by Decipher to continue the Customizable Card Game. Players saw the game as a strategy game that is like a Role-playing game with cards. The players got to use characters, vessels, and scenarios are all already conceived by others. The original concept was to find a way to make play socially acceptable for an older audience and it generally worked. Collectors saw this as another thing to collect to show their love of Star Trek and while the cards have very different images from the trading card releases, many collectors were turned off by how small the images were and how much space on each card was given to game-related text.

"The Trouble With Tribbles" is a 141 card set focusing on characters, ships, alien races and scenarios presented involving Star Trek, specifically the experiences of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise when they docked at Deep Space Station K-7 and discovered Klingon treachery afoot! The set consists of 40 common cards, 44 uncommon cards, 54 rare, bonus rare and rare plus, 2 Starter Deck Premiums, and one Ultra Rare cards with the most popular characters and scenarios being given rare status and the background supernumeraries filling out the more common cards. This set offers a new opportunity for fans and collectors to collect some of the most interesting and significant recurring characters in the franchise and it offers the opportunity to get ships and significant personnel from both Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The 141 card set features 1 Artifact (cards featuring unique devices, in this case the Orb Of Time), 8 Dilemmas (cards featuring challenges the crews faced), 1 Doorway (cards representing passages, like the the Storage Compartment Door),58 Equipment (cards featuring generic, mass produced devices in the Star Trek universe, like a communicator or VR Headset used by the Vorta), 6 Events (cards featuring long-standing challenges or concepts in the overall Star Trek universe, like the Organian Peace Treaty), 1 Facilities (cards that illustrate originating locations of major races, in this case, K-7), 10 Incidents (cards that feature extended challenges to personnel, like the existence of the Tribble bomb), 5 Interrupts (cards featuring phenomenon that quickly turn events, like a suicidal attack), 1 Mission (cards featuring basic plots from the series', these are used to create the "board" for the game), 4 Objectives (long-standing goals for players which establish alternate goals of the game, joining the Council Of Warriors), 56 Personnel (2 Bajoran, 2 Borg, 2 Cardassian, 5 Dominion, 20 Federation, 3 Ferengi, 8 Klingon, 9 Non-Aligned, and 5 Romulan characters mostly from Star Trek), 1 Q-Dilemma, 14 Ship cards (1 Bajoran, 2 Cardassian, 3 Dominion, 3 Federation, 1 Ferengi, 2 Klingon, 1 Non-Aligned and 1 Romulan), 1 Sites (locations on the Deep Space Nine space station), 4 Tactics (cards representing ship weapon's fire), 1 Time Location (cards representing the special places and times, like Sherman's Peak in the 23rd Century), 18 Tribbles (cards representing Tribbles multiplying) and 4 Trouble (cards representing places the Tribbles muck up or ways to dispose of Tribbles cards). This set introduces the original Star Trek crew as well as the Tribble sidedeck, which offered an intriguing alternate time location and its appearance did not alter gameplay significantly.

Playability

At its most basic level, this is a board game where one constructs the board and pieces out of a selection of cards. The starting purpose of the game is to get 100 points, points most often are derived from completing missions by thwarting dilemmas using the unique attributes of your ship and crew. The "The Trouble With Tribbles" set continues the game with the thirteen types of cards introduced and revised with the "Deep Space Nine" expansion set. "The Trouble With Tribbles" set also utilizes the the two new card types introduced in "Blaze Of Glory" (reviewed here!): the Incident cards and Tactic cards. The basic idea is to assemble a sixty card deck (for beginners), lay out the board (spaceline) and play against an opponent.

"The Trouble With Tribbles" adds the Tribbles and Trouble cards, which create an entire sidegame for the Star Trek CCG. Most layers adamantly refuse to play this sidedeck because it is distracting from the primary game and often comes across to more mature players as less strategy oriented. Moreover, if one person introduces a Tribbles side-deck and the opposing player does not have one, the side game often disrupts the primary game to the point of distraction. In this way, "The Trouble With Tribbles" expansion lessens the playability.

This is a very complex customizable card game, but it represents a level of gaming sophistication designed to appeal to younger adults and actually challenge them, which is a decent idea given the thematic complexity of the Star Trek universe. The problem, of course, is that most people who would be most stimulated by this game do not have the time or effort/interest to learn to play it. As a result, the mid-teens that basically run the CCG players world seem to have had mixed impressions about this game.

Anyone who has played the initial game will have no problem incorporating the new cards into their deck, outside the wholly separate "Tribbles" and "Trouble" cards. Outside that, "The Trouble With Tribbles" is a fan favorite because it offers a lot of options, including a whole new time period and enhancements to the 24th century decks, like the addition of the Breen to the Dominion affiliation! But because of the temporal requirements, there are some difficulties with playability (solved in future expansions as more characters are added). So, for example, there is only one 23rd century Klingon ship, and only 8 23rd Century Klingon characters to staff it with, making it very difficult to play a 23rd Century Klingon deck (it's even harder as a 23rd Century Romulan!).

Rule Changes

The basic rules for the Star Trek CCG were revised in the "Deep Space Nine" expansion and are covered in my review here!

There is an entire rule book that comes in the starter decks and is basically the same as the rulebook to the "Deep Space Nine" expansion but it also adds the rules for the Tactic cards and the Tribbles side game, which becomes a side game with the introduction of the Storage Compartment Door. When that card is played, the side deck comes into play that forces Tribbles to multiply and a side game commences involving escalating the number of Tribbles or trying to eradicate them. The rules make it clear, but no more appealing than it initially seems.

The only other significant rule is the use of the staffing icon for the 23rd Century, which basically dictates that unless other cards alter it, crews from the 23rd Century (Star Trek) may not mix with crews from the 24th Century (Star Trek: The Next Generation, etc.).

Highlights

Players, collectors and fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek will appreciate the image quality of the characters and scenarios from episodes featuring the "Trials and Tribble-ations" arc because it allows so many great cards to be played. "The Trouble With Tribbles" is a wonderful set for anyone who likes the Deep Space Nine or original Star Trek crews as this offers all the main cast from Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the personnel cards as well as some very significant guest characters. Even Quark appears as his female alter-ego "Lumba!" Dominion fans will like Weyoun's Warship and the introduction of the Breen, making them virtually invincible!

But with popular choices like Captain Kirk, Lt. Dax and Odo and Worf as traders, it's hard to say what the true highlight of the set is. In fact, this whole set seems like highlights, as it even includes a cool Borg character - Third of Five (better known as Hugh from "I, Borg," reviewed here!). The common wisdom would be that it is the Ultra Rare, the Dr. McCoy card featuring the good doctor; the set was released shortly after DeForest Kelley's death, so this was a great tribute at the time. It's a cool card, to be sure, but I'm not sure it's the true high point of the set.

For my money, I'd go with the Kira card. As the final arc of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine began, Kira found herself impressed with the mission to aid the Cardassians in defeating the Dominion and had to appear as a StarFleet officer to do that. The Kira card is a tri-Affiliate card! With a great image of Nana Visitor as Kira, the card works in Cardassian, Bajoran or Federation decks. It's a pretty powerful and underrated card.

Collectibility

"The Trouble With Tribbles" is a challenging set for collectors because of the Ultra Rare Dr. McCoy card, which averaged one in every six-box case. It's a tough card to find and it is usually the one that prevents collectors from assembling a complete set. In addition to the tough chase of the Ultra Rare, the fact that most of the best cards (in terms of the rare ships and personnel) are actually "Rare +" cards, which are each about a third more rare than the standard rares. As a result, and with thirty-three of the fifty-four Rares actually being Rare Plus cards, what could have been a two-box (save the Ultra Rare) set becomes a three to four box set with a lot left over.

As well, collectors cannot even assemble a master set from booster boxes alone! Instead, they have to collect the two Starter Decks to get one Premium card out of each deck - a card of Lt. Sisko in one and Captain Koloth in the other! This may infuriate collectors, though the starter decks are inexpensive enough when one is able to find them.

While Decipher did not overproduce the "The Trouble With Tribbles" product, much of the set was dumped as collectors simply tore through cases looking for the Ultra Rares (they still average a healthy $30 - $50 in the secondary market!). The cards come in packs of 9 cards that feature one rare (or rare plus or the Ultra Rare!), three uncommon and five common cards. Some of the packs feature one of the three Bonus Rare cards which replace one of the uncommons. This means that even with a box of thirty packs collectors should be able to assemble even 2 - 3 common sets and often one uncommon set. A full master set takes about six boxes (plus the two starter decks, which are sold separately) and that would leave collectors with a lot to sell off!

"The Trouble With Tribbles" cards were never reprinted or re-released in any other forms (save one card as a foil boxtopper in the "Reflections" set). Because of the very popular subject matter and the difficulty in completing sets, this continues to be one of the best Star Trek CCG expansions.

Overview

This set has some wonderful images, and it is a rare thing to have a set so wonderfully focused that offers two entire command crews, which makes it a highly prized set for collectors and players alike. Players will enjoy the chance to branch out with their favorite characters with different affiliations, despite the problematic side deck with the Tribbles that was pretty quickly cast aside, collectors will enjoy the images that cannot be found anywhere else and investors will be generally pleased that this is one of the more solid Star Trek CCG investments, despite having to track down multiple boxes to assemble a full set!

If it were not for the lame side deck side game, this would have been an excellent release that would have been well above average.

This set culls material from Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, most notably the episodes:
"The Trouble With Tribbles"
"Trials And Tribble-ations"

This set was preceded by "Rules Of Acquisition" (reviewed here!!) and followed by the Star Trek CCG supplement "Enhanced Premiere" and full expansion "Reflections," reviewed here!

This is a set of gaming cards I proudly sell in my online store. Check out my current inventory by clicking here!

8/10

For other card reviews, please visit my Card Review Index Page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Starting The Modern Batman Cinematic Saga Off Well, Batman Still Ages Poorly.

The Good: Moments of humor, Moments of action, Moments of performance, General character elements
The Bad: Not as intense as it ought to be for the character.
The Basics: While ambitious, fun and good, Batman did not age nearly as well as some of the other cinematic superhero films.


Last night, as part of our pre-Oscars celebration, my wife and I decided to order a pizza. Unwilling to break our diet for a random pizza and snacks, but unwilling to wait for the actual Oscars to begin, we decided to watch a movie neither of us had seen in years: Batman. I recall seeing Batman theatrically, but I remember having much more personal and enjoyable memories of seeing Batman Returns (reviewed here!). My wife and I have become so used to watching Heath Ledger’s performance of the Joker in The Dark Knight (reviewed here!), that we thought it would be enjoyable to watch Batman together and make an event out of watching the supposedly-great film right before watching the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Ultimately, we were glad we did; both of us were disappointed when The Artist won Best Picture.

But we were also not as taken with Batman as we expected to be. For sure, it is a cool, fun, all-around decent movie. But Batman is hardly flawless and there are some real detractions to the movie that once dazzled us. My wife, for example, found herself laughing at how cheesy many of the miniature shots and special effects were (though she still jumped when Vicki Vale opened the Joker’s gift box! She was preoccupied with the ridiculous sense of style, which it was hard to blame her about; the 1980s were not the most impressive from a fashion sense. But what I found interesting about watching Batman now was how it lacked a certain intensity that I have come to expect from both the film-franchise and the result of reading many graphic novels in which Bruce Wayne’s Batman is an integral character.

Gotham City is dark and plagued by crime, but the criminals in the city are running scared. Their fear and caution comes from the rumors that criminals are being stalked at night by a giant creature who may be a large bat creature. While they attribute supernatural qualities to him, he is a man with advanced technology – like body armor and grappling guns – who has the will to fight evildoers and an understanding of psychology to keep some on the streets to spread fear. The Gotham City police force and newly-elected District Attorney Harvey Dent officially deny the existence of Batman, though the police force is corrupted by officers on the mob’s payroll. One mobster, Jack Napier, is sleeping with the wife of the lead mobster and Grissom decides to have Jack snuffed out.

While hosting a charity event to raise money for Gotham City’s bicentennial celebration festival, billionaire Bruce Wayne, who is hounded by reporter Alexander Knox and photographer Vicki Vale, is alerted that the police commissioner has been called away. Converging at Axis Chemicals, the police corner Napier’s squad and in a desperate battle, Batman drops Napier into a vat of chemicals. The Joker is thus born. Sewn back together, his face twisted into a constant smile, Napier as the Joker begins cleaning up loose ends from his prior life, essentially taking control of the mob. As Bruce Wayne falls in love with Vicki Vale, the Joker begins a killing spree involving chemical tampering of health and beauty products. When the Joker discovers (and covets) Vicki Vale, Batman must stop the villain once and for all!

Batman is fun, there is no denying that. But Batman is also a lot more cluttered than I recall it being and by that I mean there are a lot of unnecessary elements in Batman that fill the movie up without adding anything truly significant. Perhaps I am just jaded; Gotham City is dirty, on the verge of bankrupt and under the fist of local mobs. But it has a vigilante, who is not excessively cruel and an engaged media and political machine that seems ot be making an effort. The whole festival plot seems thrown in as a plot point, as opposed to an actual organic event. Of course, it becomes the backdrop for the film’s climax, but it seems somehow more contrived than I remember it being as a kid.

What really stuck out for me about Batman, though, was how Bruce Wayne had a strange lack of intensity. I like Michael Keaton. I like Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman - Batman Returns is in my permanent collection and remains my favorite Christmas movie of all time (seriously!). But in Batman, he does not seem all that intense. Instead, Bruce Wayne is characterized as an absent-minded billionaire who is motivated by a strong sense of loss. In Batman, Michael Keaton captures the loss well when Bruce Wayne is shown mourning the anniversary of his parents’ murder. But there is a strange disconnect then with his ruthless efficiency in trying to clean up Gotham City’s streets. Perhaps that is part of the problem; while Batman is characterized as a vigilante, he does not seem ruthless. At several opportunities, Batman flees to keep his identity safe as opposed to actually stopping criminals. In other words, I think of Batman as something of an absolutist, almost like Rorschach from Watchmen (reviewed here!). This incarnation of Batman lacks the full intensity of the character. He is flighty as opposed to determined, cautious as opposed to confident and expresses loss and hurt more than Bruce Wayne ever seems to in the comic books. While that might make him a more human character, which I like in my movies, it makes his place as Batman a little more uncertain. In other words, this version of Bruce Wayne seems less like he would actually dress up and go out as a vigilante than the Christian Bale or Val Kilmer versions of Batman.

So, Batman ends up being a much more compelling story about the Joker. Jack Napier is smart, which works out nicely because it explains how – even in his demented Joker state – he could create the complicated killing mechanism that he does. He is played with great intensity by Jack Nicholson, who proves to be far more than thhe sum of the catch-phrase lines and make-up. In fact, the only problem with Nicholson’s execution of the Joker comes when he is playing Jack Napier. As Napier, Nicholson has the chance to show the character before the accident, before he was turned into anything inhuman. Unfortunately, Nicholson misses the opportunity. In scenes where Jack Napier and his mistress, Grissom’s wife (or girlfriend) Alicia, interact before the accident, Nicholson never seems passionate or happy. The viewer is compelled to believe that Napier will risk everything for one woman, but he never seems all that into her.

Outside that, Nicholson’s performance, like that of Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale), Robert Wuhl (Knox), Michael Gough (Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s butler) and Billy Dee Williams, who plays Harvey Dent with enough presence to figure that he was trying to set up the role for one of the sequels where he could play Dent as Two-Face. Obviously, that never materialized, but Williams has a memorable outing at Harvey Dent. The extras in Batman, though, do rob the film of any real consideration that Batman possesses perfect acting. There are unfortunate bit roles where the lesser-known actors seem especially lifeless or problematically unreal. Tracey Walter, who plays Bob the goon (there was even an action figure made of the character!), stood out for me as a guy who never seemed to be truly comfortable on camera in the movie.

On DVD, Batman comes in a two-disc edition with enough bonus features to thrill fans (and even address some of my issues with the movie!). While I kept considering Batman about a 7/10, the deluxe edition DVD set truly does give viewers enough to really fall in love with the experience of making the movie. With detailed looks at the minitatures and props, the DVD and Blu-Ray version of Batman is well worth watching, if not adding to one’s permanent collection.

For other live-action DC superhero films, please check out my reviews of:
Superman Returns
Batman Begins
Green Lantern
Jonah Hex
Catwoman

7.5/10

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