Friday, May 15, 2009

From Within - A Short Story

“From Within”

We landed safely.

According to the sensors, there was no major damage to the ship despite what it had just been through. Facing such a large force is never a simple affair. But this foe is week.

To retrieve the package we now had to face the enemy along with the internal defences of the colony.

-“Move out!” Shouted our captain as me and my crew mates sealed our combat helmets. Steam filled the cabin as the heavy doors of the APT opened. With a loud war cry we dove into enemy territory, guns blazing.

The idea behind their weapons was that they were supposed to shoot this gelatinous acidic matter with the purpose of melting us down for easier digestion. Unfortunately for them however, this matter’s chemical composition was completely useless against the alloys that make up our armour. Our skin was very sensitive to it but with our combat suits on, they could’ve been throwing half pounds of melted butter at us.

Their strength was in their numbers complemented by the power of their physical attacks. Those claws could rip through our armour, ironically like a red hot knife through butter, and they could secrete that gelatinous acid directly into our suit, melting us from within. Our goal was therefore to keep our distance and shoot them before they get to us.

-“Ok boys, listen up! Our mission is to retrieve a package of utmost importance. It is hidden somewhere in this colony and all we have to locate it is a beacon lodged inside. We can use our HUD to find it. We move as one team, firing at whatever moves in front of us and those in the back covering our collective ass. Simple enough?”

-“YES, SIR!”

And with that, we entered the beast.

The first thing I noticed was that it seemed like the entire structure was built with tunnels. After about thirty minutes of sneaking through tight corridors and hallways, we didn’t encounter any large room or cave. Only tunnels, filled with thousands of enemies.

They always attack in swarms of hundreds or sometimes even thousands. Our ammo can cut them down easily as their carapace is made up of that gelatinous crap, only hardened. Our bullets are heated arrowhead-shaped projectiles made up of the same alloys used in our suits. In these cramped quarters, the tunnels serve as bottlenecks and their large numbers is actually a weakness. We easily slaughtered thousands of them without suffering a single hit before reaching the first large chamber, apparently where the package was located.

A little girl.

She was about 4 years old, maybe five. Her fragile little body was lying peacefully on a metal table and some sort of steel tube was penetrating her belly.

From what we knew of the species, they reproduce by building a being from uncorrupted genetic material mixed with their own, then massively reproducing until all the individual of the previous generation are replaced. They seem to always use a young offspring of any species.

We could not allow that to happen to this child.

Our medic approached the table and examined the girl.
-“She is alive. I can feel her pulse but her body is too warm. Let’s get her out of here and put her in quarantine right away.”

His voice echoed loudly in the otherwise empty room. It was enormous, circular with the walls covered in hundreds of pods containing what appeared to be previous “victims” of other species. Our science officer would’ve kept us in here for days. Thankfully he stayed with the ship.

As our medic removed the tube from her belly the child awoke. She stayed silent and seemed very weak, pale. I wrapped her in a blanket and picked her up. She was my responsibility now as we made our way back to the ship.

The way was completely clear. We encountered no enemies.

We climbed on board the APT and everyone removed their helmets as soon as the door sealed shut.

The little girl in my arms was still very calm but she was now smiling.

As I put her down next to me I notice some dark smoke coming out of her mouth, eyes, ears and nose. She is still smiling but I need to hold her or she will fall off her seat, like a doll.

The medic sitting in front of me begins to scratch the back of his neck and he coughs. He looks at his hand and his fingernails are all bloody.

Suddenly, as the cabin fills with smoke, his flesh begins to slowly disappear, revealing muscles and bones with blood dripping on the cabin floor. As I begin to scratch the back of my neck, my crewmates begin to scream in agony, afflicted with the same condition.

I suddenly realize what is happening, as billions of enemies begin to eat my flesh.

The little girl falls to the floor, dead.

Slowly and painfully, I feel myself dropping next to her.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Star Trek - A Review

I absolutely LOVED Star Trek.

There. Review completed.

This is a film that I believe is very hard not to love. It is how a reboot should be made and I think that on some level, it is also how a sequel should be made.

Endearing characters masterfully played, excellent and compelling story that both link to the original material AND begins anew, jaw-dropping, gorgeous special effects, mindboggling sounds and music, it is even Oscar-contending material to some degree. A movie hasn’t come this close to perfection in years, if not decades.

Star Trek is an origin story from start to finish. It shows us how the original crew of the star ship Enterprise came together through an event that also changed the course of the timeline that all trekkers and trekkies have grown to know and love.

Like the tagline says, “forget all that you know”… to a certain point. This is still Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and Scotty we’re talking about.

I had some reservations about the casting when I first started reading about Abrams’ version of Star Trek. I didn’t know most of these actors, except for John Cho and Karl Urban. My fears, as they were, have been put to rest. I can’t see another film in this series without these actors and if they ever start another television series, I don’t think it could be successful without these same people.

Chris Pine as Kirk was perfect. He is cocky, impulsive, and charismatic. Pine plays Kirk very well. He gets a beating in Star Trek though. Talk about trial by fire. Wow. I used to be a Picard worshipper myself but after this my faith is shaken. Young Kirk makes an awesome Captain (thanks to some great writing of course).

Zach Quinto had some rather large shoes to fill. Leonard Nimoy IS Spock. But Quinto does an admirable job in the role, his physical resemblance to the character being a great help. I honestly had a problem in seeing someone other than Sylar on screen. Emotionless, with a few bouts of extreme aggressive behaviour…

Karl Urban seemed possessed by the ghost of Deforest Kelley. He was channelling the actors’ portrayal to near perfection, from the awesome control of the particular speech pattern of Bones (no small feat; Urban has a thick New-Zealand accent in real life) to the little eye twitch the character always had. He makes Robert Downey Jr’s performance in Tropic Thunder look like a bad theatre rehearsal. Every scene Urban is in, he steals it. I had chills.

ZoĆ« Seldana plays Uhura competently but since the character was never predominant in most episodes of the original show, here the material the actress is given mostly serves to flesh out the character. She is still the Uhura we know and love. She is tough, self-assured and extremely competent. In Star Trek she serves as the love interest of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-To-Avoid-A-Major-Spoiler and for support to Kirk when he needs it the most (so yeah, it’s not Kirk).

John Cho is pretty good as Sulu although maybe a bit underused. I have a feeling some of his scenes are going to be on the DVD as deleted ones. I wanted to see more of him, especially since he is in one of the more entertaining scenes in Star trek…

Anton Yelchin plays Chekov and the v/w + rolling R factor to hilarious effect. He plays the character with innocence and with a natural self-confidence. This works very well. He is a very effective comic-relief in the film.

Simon Pegg as Scotty? An Englishman as a Scott? What? He is Simon Pegg with a Scottish accent. If you like the actor you will probably love the character. A pretty good but surprising casting choice.

Rounding out the cast is Eric Bana as the main and forgettable villain Nero. His antics only serve as a pretext for the crew of the Enterprise to get together and work as a team. He’s violent and crazy but Bana is no Ricardo Montalban… We also have Wynona Rider, Rachel Nichols (totally hot, can’t wait to see her in GI Joe), Ben Cross as Sarek (Spock’s father) and… Well… Go see the movie…

Orci and Kurtzman have expertly managed to write a complex story that is understandable to the neophyte while keeping the same Star Trek feel and adding much more action and tense moment. I have a feeling this is what Nemesis tried to do but only achieved epic failure.

Star Trek is a reboot/prequel hybrid; much like Brian Singer’s Superman was a reboot/sequel (the latter failed miserably where the former will undoubtedly succeed). The way the plot is constructed, they managed to expand on the Star Trek universe while at the same time hitting a reset button but without completely wiping out what we have known and loved about this world for over forty years. In other words, if the film succeeds, the producers can take the franchise in another direction if they so wish. If it fails, it becomes a great addition to Gene Roddenberry’s legacy and the franchise can now rest in peace, knowing it didn’t end with Nemesis…

To the acting and the story add some of the best special effects ever seen in a Hollywood movie, sounds that will blow your mind from the hum of the Enterprise’s engines to the familiar but updated phaser fire noise and the great music, and we are presented with one if not the best work of American cinematography of the year so far.

It is well worth the high price of admission, including snacks. Go see it.

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9.5/10