Autumn Art

 

 The first Randy Awards ends with the announcement of the Bronze, Silver and Gold winning Episodes.  Each of these achieved something exceptional in the cannon of the first season.

The BRONZE winner is "A Quality of Mercy."  Written by Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman.  It is the final episode of the first season, airing on July 7, 2022.  It is the first to profoundly embrace a premise from The Original Series with essential fidelity of design toward a new outcome.  A plot twist that encompasses elements from not only Star Trek: TOS, but also Star Trek: Discovery to great effect.  The introduction of Capt. James T. Kirk is also done in a unique and exciting way.

The SILVER winner is "Momento Mori."  Written by Davy Perez and Beau DeMayo.  The fourth episode of the first season, it first aired on May 26, 2022.  The major accomplishment of this episode is to introduce to Star Trek: SNW's nemesis.  TOS had the Klingons and Romulans; Next Gen had the Borg, Voyager had many from the Kazon and Vidiians to the Borg...  Etc.  Star Trek has always presented a universe filled is US verses THEM.  And the Gorn are the new THEM in ST:SNW.  This episode established their vicious nature, and the Humanities clever superiority.  Great special effects, some pivotal character development and real suspense.  

The GOLD winner comes as NO surprise.  Spock Amok wins as often does the comedic episodes ever since "The Trouble With Tribbles".  Drawing from another one of ST:TOS's finest episodes "Amok Time," this takes the Vulcan courtship ritual to a new delight, while weaving into it three other sub-plots in a seam less, aesthetic masterpiece.  Written by Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman, it first aired on June 2, 2022.  As the mid-season episode of the first season, it also firmly established this iteration of Star Trek as something truly special.

And with that I turn my attentions toward Season Two...

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category IX

 In conceptualizing the Randy Awards, I wanted to create something that was both familiar and unique.  In other words like the series, itself.  The ninth award falls fully under the heading of unique.  It is not "The Best Episode" GOLD award, though winning it doesn't exclude you from also striking Gold there.  I am calling it the Most Ambitious Concept Episode Award.  It weaves together other awards I'm not giving like "best writing"; but a well written episode is not the same as an ambitious one.  It most certainly includes multiple plot lines, often interwoven, inter-connected, and/or interdependent.  It can but doesn't have to reference previous episodes and or foreshadow ones yet to come.  There ought to be a combined sense of challenge for multiple other disciplines like props, make-up, costume, special effects...  It also ought to drive multiple character profiles forward by exposing past actions that explain (at least partially allude to) current character norms while offering up critical character interactions that deepen relationships; perhaps even introduce character interactions that become the basis for future conflict or growth.

Simply put, this is the episode that I walked away from feeling the most "Wow" factor, the one I have watched again the most, or the one that every time I watch it--I see something new.

For season one this honor goes to "Spock Amok," written by Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman.  It aired for the first time on June 2, 2022.  This is the 4th Randy Award of the night for this episode.

Theatre J: An Enemy of the People

 2 Ibsen's in 7 days!?  It's a crash course in this father of the modern play.  And "modern" might very well be the fly in the ointment here.

The play of the day was "An Enemy of the People," first produced in 1882, and written by the aforementioned Henrik Ibsen.  It was the story of a family torn apart (Which I'm beginning to think is a recyclable introduction for most of his plays) by wealth built upon an unfortunate premise.  One that modern science has come to reveal.  The truth, if spoken, will decimate the new wealth in the town.  Left unspoken the promise of disease, suffering and death await like a ticking time bomb.  Who will win out, the whistle-blower with science on his side, or greedy landed gentry with all manner of investments to lose.  As fate would have it, the scientist who feels morally compelled to tell all is the little brother of town's wealthy and greedy mayor.

Written nearly 150 years ago in Norwegian, by definition, every English version is at the least a translation, and otherwise some form of a "New Version".  in 1950, a year off his rave reviews of "A Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller tackled creating a new version of An Enemy of the People.  And here we have Amy Herzog's new take on the play.  Herzog is no slouch, she has an impressive resume; however, I don't feel like she was able to do much more than create a sort of loud cliche.  The original was so controversial that it continued to face censorship and outright bans across Europe some 25 years after its debut.  It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to see this version twice.

The use of multimedia was most of the time a huge distraction, and was the floor to ceiling translucent plastic curtain that pulled shut and open for no discernible reason through the play.  The single set was meant to evoke a spa or high school locker room, or gas station bathroom...your guess is as good as mine.  The props were chaotic and the ad lib-ing at times banal.  The lead actor was always on the verge of blowing a gasket in a desperate attempt to salvage things, and his sidekick, one of the most awarded and talented local actors in the DMV delivered his lines with all of the conviction of someone looking to the end and not wanting to miss his supper.

The central idea of Scientists recognizing an environmental crisis and trying to stop it, only to be attacked at every turn by the ruling class/government is a familiar concept.  So it is not enough to just have this conceit on your side.  It matters that you have something new to say about it.  If all you have was written in 1882, then upgrading the duds and digs is a piss poor reason to even bother.

In her rewrite, Herzog took the liberty of removing one character completely, and placing the lionshare of her lines and plot points in the hands of her daughter--a character of lesser import in the original.  This leads me to wonder what else was lost.  Because the character development for the supporting roles that was present in last weekend's production of "The Wild Duck" were nowhere to be found here.  This left performances in the supporting roles flat, at times even bizarre.  A huge chunk of the second act found the audience roped in to participate by swinging holiday noise-makers and cat-calling actions of actors on the stage.  And this is pretty much where I said, enough and began imagining what I was going to cook for supper myself!

I applaud Theatre J for taking chances, I just wish there had been someone in the room with a few more guardrails.  

Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Joey Collins) and Mayor Peter Stockmann (Ed Gero)

[L-R] Background: Aslaksen (Dylan Arredondo) and Billing (Jeremy Crawford); Foreground: Mayor Peter Stockmann, Hovstad (Aaron Bliden), and Dr. Thomas Stockmann (on table)

[L-R]: Petra Stockmann (Reese Cowley), Captain Horster (Nicholas Yenson--yellow cap), Dr. Thomas Stockmann, and Hovstad.

Dr. Thomas Stockmann and his daughter, Petra

Running was a recurring theme in the production.  Joey Collins as Dr. Thomas Stockmann ran on a treadmill on stage throughout the entire intermission.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category VIII

 The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was particularly insular when it comes to featured guest actors.  So many episodes focused on the main cast and building relationships within the core, that even those stories that didn't feature everyone, only used supporting actors.  In contemplating what it takes to qualify for this category, I only identified 5 actors for consideration.  This doesn't mean that the awards aren't deserving; however, I would say this--recipients in future seasons will have had much more to work with as actors on their road to qualifying.  

One of the other absolutely wonderful aspects of Strange New Worlds comes from the fact that it was filmed in Canada.  This gives us an opportunity to discover some truly wonderful actors who are Canadian, and who otherwise don't get much U.S. air time.  Here's a fun fact for you, as well.  Did you know that both William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk) and James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott) were both born in Canada?

And a final thought.  I've included actors in this category who had recurring roles in this season or subsequent seasons.  I'm giving serious consideration to breaking them out into a category of their own for future seasons.  

Like Best Supporting Actor, this category also comes with a Gold, Silver and Bronze recipient in descending order.

BRONZE goes to Actor Jesse James Keitel for their portrayal of Dr. Aspen, the duplicitous Pirate Captain in the episode "Serene Squall".  This is the second Randy Award for this episode.

SILVER goes to Actor Bruce Horak for his portrayal of Chief Engineer Hemmer in the episode "All Those Who Wander."  Hemmer was a recurring role in season one.

GOLD goes to Actor Gia Sandhu for her portrayal of T'Pring in the episode "Spock Amok".  This is the third Randy Award for "Spock Amok." T'Pring is a recurring role in multiple seasons.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category VII

 We have made our way through the evening's celebrations and it is time to announce the winner of the seventh category: Best Costume Design.  A tried and true area of artistic excellence, season one of Strange New Worlds provided a range of possible candidates with one episode standing out for the sheer extravagance of the fare.  However, I did not select "The Elysian Kingdom" with its capes and gowns, pantaloons and crowns.  

In fact, of all the awards I am bestowing, this one was the easiest.  It has two very different and distinct designs.  One was the new EV-suites which in this case debuted on the bodies of Spock, La'an Noonien-Singh, Lt. George Samuel Kirk, and Cadet Nyota Uhura on her first away mission.  They are elegant and action oriented with a slightly understated sex appeal.  They are a far cry for those flimsy, "bird cage" helmeted space suites worn by the original Capt. Kirk and others in "The Tholean Web" over half a century ago.

But the costume I completely fell in love with were the cloaks worn by the Deleb.  These folks wear such sophisticated clothing that there's got to be a wonderful anthropological explanation.  Just me having this sort of idea about a costume, speaks profoundly to its unique qualities.  The Children of the Comet was written by Henry Alonso Myers and Sarah Tarkoff.  It first aired on May 22, 2022.   This is the second award for Children of the Comet.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category VI

 The next two awards move even further into the realm of standard fare.  Award VI of the "Randy's" is for Make-Up Design.  Even with other amazing SciFi programs, none have explored in such depth the creation of the "Alien" race.  Or, perhaps, more to the point: Created MORE Alien races!  From the very first pilot where we met our very first Vulcan, the idea that there are other humanoid species in the universe feels imminently more like thanks to Mr. Spock.  

Another keystone of Star Trek through the years is that as our ability to create more complex and functional prosthetics has evolved, so have the appearance of particular Alien races.  One needs only to review the cavalcade of Klingons to establish this premise! But Aliens are more than fake foreheads, cheeks and chins!

In considering this award I went with the episode Spock Amok, it's second win of the evening, and in so doing acknowledge the Rongovians.  Portrayed by Ron Kennell (Vasso) and Carlyle J. Williams (Brax), I do not doubt that the process of recreating their "zebra" stripes was no less an arduous and long-suffering endeavor.  Unlike synthetic molds that can be replicated over and over and over again.  These designs had to be reapplied each day.  It is clear from the variation in the patterns from scene to scene, that while the make-up crew had a pattern to follow, getting it the same was not a thing.  In spite of this, I recognize their efforts.  It's clearly not as easy as one might imagine.

Best Make-Up to Spock Amok, written by Henry Alonso Myers and Rabin Wasserman.  It first aired on June 2, 2022.