Image (Credit): Anakin Skywalker from the Star Wars movies. (Lucasfilm Ltd.)
“The point I’m making is obvious when one considers other popular, compelling fictional protagonists who commit unspeakable evils; no serious person really thinks that Breaking Bad’s murderous drug dealer Walter White and The Sopranos’ even more murderous gangster Tony Soprano are great role models. Yet when it comes to Anakin, some large number of right-wing guys on X seem to earnestly think he had the right idea because they imagine that deep down, his politics matches theirs.”
-Quote from a Reason magazine article titled, “Anakin Skywalker Is a Great Character, Not a Great Role Model.” The bottom line is that the actions of a moody teenager with a light saber are not the best model for present-day mortals. I think the youth today would be better following in the steps of Luke Skywalker. If that doesn’t work for you, follow the original Yoda, or even Baby Yoda. We already have enough moody males making deals with the devil.
Image (Credit): Actor Patrick Stewart. (Eric Carter/Los Angeles Times)
This week’s image is in memory of Patrick Stewart, who died yesterday at the age of 86 at his home in Los Angeles.
Mr. Stewart will be remember for many of his roles, but his most iconic was his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the starship USS Enterprise. His talents brought the Star Trek series to a whole new level that has yet to be matched.
Born in Yorkshire, England, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, the same year that the first Star Trek series premiered on television. Little did he know then, but 21 years later he would find himself on the bridge of a starship exploring the galaxy. Even Shakespeare would be impressed with this career path, yet it was just as he wrote in Twelfth Night:
Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.
It was about truth and fairness and honesty and respect for others, no matter who they were or what strange alien creature they looked like…And if they needed help, Jean-Luc Picard and his crew, his team, were there to give it. So, yes, in a sense, we were ministers. And I have heard now so many times from individuals who have been honest enough and brave enough to tell me aspects of their life, of their health, of their mental health, and how it was all saved and improved by watching every week.”
George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, had this to say about Mr. Stewart:
Fans across the world mourn the passing of a true and irreplaceable legend…As Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart took the starship Enterprise to places it had never gone before, and he inspired a whole next generation of star-gazers who looked longingly ahead to a brighter future for all humanity.
You can read more on Mr. Stewart’s life and career at these sites:
Image (Credit): Scene from the film Dune: Part Three. (Warner Bros.)
The final trailer for Dune: Part Three is out. The film itself will be available on December 18th.
It is a long and revealing trailer at 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Combined with the earlier trailers, we now have a broad swath of the film available to us. This will be red meat for all of the fans that want to dissect and explain each frame and compare it to the books.
We still have two more months to prepare for this film and speculate about all of its content. I am fine waiting for the final product without clouding my mind with maybes. In the meantime, I plan to go back and watch the first two films again, and again.
Image (Credit): Walter Koenig playing Ensign Chekov about the USS Enterprise. (CBS)
Last Sunday Walter Koenig, well known for his character Ensign Pavel Chekov on the Star Trek television series, passed away at the age of 90.
Born in Chicago to a family of Russian heritage, Mr. Koenig carried of a Russian accent for years as the ensign on the USS Enterprise, representing a hopeful future at a time that the US and Soviet Union were stuck in a Cold War. He learned his accent from his father, who was an immigrant from the Soviet-bloc.
In addition to the original Star Trek series, Mr. Koenig played Chekov in seven Star Trek films that followed that series. With his passing, the only two of the original cast are still with us – William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk) and George Takei (Hikaru Sulu).
What I observed, and what so many fans have expressed over the years, was a man who genuinely loved the Star Trek community. At conventions, Walter was rarely content to remain behind a signing table. He preferred to be among the people who had kept Star Trek alive for so many decades. That kind of genuine connection is rare, and it will be remembered by everyone who came into contact with him.
You can read more on Mr. Koenig’s life and career at these sites:
Image (Credit): Tom Skerritt and Jodie Foster in the movie Contact. (Warner Bros.)
Actor Tom Skerritt passed away last week at the age of 93 from natural causes. While he will be remembered for his many roles in movies and television, his role as Arthur Koblenz Dallas, the captain of the Nostromo in the 1979 film Alien, as well as role as David Drumlin in the 1997 movie Contact, based on the 1985 Carl Sagan novel, is how many sci-fi fans will remember him.
In both films his character did not make it to the end of the show, but he was memorable nonetheless. In Contact, he represented an overbearing and skeptical government that is dragged into the reality of SETI. Even today, the federal government refuses to directly fund SETI.
I still remember this line from his character when he is talking to Jodie Foster’s character Dr. Ellie Arroway in Contact:
I know you must think this is all very unfair. Maybe that’s an understatement. What you don’t know is I agree. I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line, where the kind of idealism you showed at the hearing was rewarded, not taken advantage of. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world.
But it is Arroway’s reply that stays with me:
Funny, I’ve always believed that the world is what we make of it.
Mr. Skerritt did a lot with his talents to make the world a more interesting place. He will be missed.
You can read more on Mr. Skerritt’s life and career at these sites:
