JJC-3

"Drumhead" shows just what can happen in an environment when paranoia reigns. Ret. Adm. Nora Satie (Jean Simmons) is summoned to the Enterprise to head an investigation of sabotage/conspiracy aboard ship.

Simon Tarses (Spencer Garrett) is interrogated and reveals that he is 1/4 Vulcanian. However Satie's Betazoid assistant with her mind reading capability insists Tarses is hiding something. The inquisition resumes in an open courtroom where the proceedings had been private before and Tarses pleads the 5th Amendment to inquiries that he is 1/4 Romulan instead of Vulcanian and lied on his Starfleet Admission form, making his testimony "suspect." Tarses is indeed 1/4 Romulan but Capt Picard finds no other blemish in his record and is satisfied that Tarses is no threat, Satie thinks otherwise.

Meanwhile Picard finds out the explosion of the dilithium chamber was caused by a manufacturing defect in the hatch casing. This being the reason for the investigation. Picard tries to dissuade Satie from continuing the investigation but she flatly refuses indicating that she reports directly to Starfleet Command. Meanwhile Picard is now grilled by Satie and his career is put into question with Prime Directive violations, his Borg assimilation and Satie questions Picard's loyalty to Starfleet. When Lt. Cdr. Worf (Michael Dorn) rises to defend Picard, Satie points out the Worf's father was a Romulan Collaborator and the Worf himself has been discommendated by the Klingons which is then another mark against Picard. Witness to all this is head of Starfleet Security Adm. Thomas Henry (Earl Billings). When Picard's response is to quote Satie's father, a respected jurist, on the subject of the state placing limitations on a person's liberty. Satie furiously berates Picard for invoking her father's name in his own defense, stating that she has "brought down bigger men than you, Picard!" Admiral Henry leaves the room in the middle of the tirade, having recognized Satie's paranoia for what it was. The prosecution calls a recess, and leaves a disgraced Satie sitting alone in the courtroom.

The episode ends with Worf finding Picard in the observation lounge to inform the captain that Admiral Henry has ended the hearings and of Satie's departure from the Enterprise. Picard remarks that the human race thinks it has come so far, with the Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials all an unpleasant memory. Worf laments that he was initially eager to assist Satie in her witch-hunt because of how she presented her case. Picard speaks of the ever-present, but subtle, danger of those who would spread fear and suspicion in the name of righteousness and reminds him that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

Satie's breakdown at the end is reminiscent of Capt. Queeg's (Humphrey Bogart) meltdown in "The Caine Mutiny." In that movie it is brought out that paranoids walk a fine line between sanity and insanity. Saite is in the end just another Queeg or McCarthy or any other person who uses fear to gain an end. 10 of 10.

How Star Trek in all of its incarnations never won an Emmy for the show or episodes/actors itself is unbelievable. Certainly this is one episode worthy of a win amongst many others such as "The Measure of a Man"; "Yesterday's Enterprise"; "The Offspring"; "Sarek"; "The Best of Both Worlds Pts 1 & 2"; "Half a Life"; "Darmok"; "Unification Pts 1 & 2"; "Ethics"; "The Inner Light"; "Chain of Command Pts 1 & 2"; "Dark Page"; "The Pegasus" & "All Good Things..." And that is only "TNG."

Data is forced by Starfleet regulations despite his rank of Commander to take part in a refit that has been ordered by Maddox a cybernetic expert from Starfleet. Data questions Maddox's proposals and "decides" to retire his Command. However Maddox goes to the JAG Officer Louivois who prosecuted Picard in his Stargazer Trial where the end result left the two with bad feelings. Maddox goes to the JAG and gets he to see his side of the story and she then orders Data to the refit and voids his retirement request. Picard then intervenes and has Loiuvois call for a trial board where Picard will defend Data and Riker, by order of the JAG will prosecutor for Maddox & Starfleet. Riker does his diligent research and when he discovers Data's "off" switch he is initially proud that he found an important piece if evidence to help his case and quickly realizes the damage he will do to Data and turns sad at the prospect of using it. Meanwhile Picard & Guinan are talking about the case and how Starfleet decided that Data is a machine with no rights. Now able to build a race of Disposisable creatures to do the work that corporeal beings can not due to the danger involved. Guinan forces Picard to see that a race of Data's doing the dirty work that no one else is willing to do (as in slaves, illegals, etc.) is wrong and when the court reconvenes Picard uses he newly gained knowledge to gain Data a victory for self awareness and for self decision.

In the end Riker & Data meet up where Data asks Riker why he isn't at Data's victory party. Riker tells Data I came this close to winning. Yet Data reminds Riker that he was an unwilling participant by the courts order since if Riker refused to prosecute then the JAG would have ruled summarily that Data is a "toaster" send him to Maddox for an experimental refit. Data recognized that Riker was put in a "no win scenario." 11 of 10 actually

Two episodes in and the new Five-0 is most assuredly a different animal than its prior incarnation.

And that is a good thing cause the old format would not play very well in this fast paced hi tech internet era.

The early interplay between the four characters promises to have a lot of exploration for back stories. Already McGarret & Williams have the great interplay of so many TV classic duos like Spock & Bones McCoy & Kramden & Norton just to name two.

All in all this promises to be a fast paced show with the usual modern day cop show formats but with that great Hawai'i backdrop! All in all a worthy 21st century follow up to an all time TV classic!

Alfred Hitchcock is arguably if not the greatest director of all time, certainly one of the top two or three! And Cary Grant by AFI's own poll is the second greatest actor of all time. So how could neither of them or both of them win an Oscar for this movie! NBNW is a two plus hour thrill ride from the moment of Thornhill's abduction to the cut away as the train enters the tunnel at the end! NBNW keeps you attention without all of the dumbing down of the post Star Wars era that permeates the cinema today. (See the original Rollerball vs the remake for proof of this remark!) Hitch is the master at so many cinematic techniques that the so called greats use today, and Grant is still copied for his suave and distinguished on screen presence.

NBNW is the highlight of Hitch's career to that point and the ultimate Grant role! And to point out the errors in this film is just sour grapes cause every film of today has its errors, most also lack the quality of a Hitchcock/Grant film!

3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- Marooned (light maroon), 27 October 2006 Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

Go watch another 24 hours of S T A R W A R T S T E D G!

There isn't anything more pure than a good science fiction story or movie. Its just the thing, you know, for good storytelling.

That's because it is explicitly abstract and we have learned how to accept the abstractions, to scurry the goofy elements into hidy holes, just like we do when seeing romantic movies. That allows the filmmaker greater latitude to impose cinematic expressions, or to bend the story to those streams which exploit the visual imagination.

That's why I think Star Trek in all its incarnations is a beast that eats souls, that dulls the mind of whole generations. Its a curse, every element through and through excepting only the score. I saw this only because someone else dragged me to it, and I find it ever so much worse than I recall. That's only in part because the effects are extremely hokey by today's standards.

This is essentially a movie about two spaceships fighting, led by two men who pretend to be complex. Ahab and Lear are enlisted in the attempt to add weight to these characters. Its beside the point that the effects are ghastly, and the acting is among the worst ever seen.

Its because of how the thing was conceived, the decisions about abstractions that were made.

Those decisions were made in the sixties and to support a TeeVee show, about 40 minutes with 20 minutes of obnoxious ads. That means the characters are cartoons and the stories are so simpleminded and the moral so accessible that any dummy would "get it."

So we have simple morality plays in the TeeVee show that were grafted onto the chickenwire skeleton. Yes, they dealt with social injustice and should get credit for it. But they dealt with it in such a superficial buzzword brevity that we are now paying for it, with many folks thinking that life really is described in Spock parables. And we have the American political tradition based on similar simples parables.

That's carried over to the films, all of them. The fans would have it no other way, and even if they would have allowed some maturity or depth anywhere in the vicinity, you're still be stuck with the same actors, characters and "spaceship escapes" setup.

I watch a lot of 50's science fiction and marvel that we took much of it seriously at the time. All these Trek films have now moved into a similar zone of campiness.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Shatner has HIS acting style. It is not overacting as much as you are overreacting.

WATCH OUT FOR SPOILERS ---- SPOILERS BELOW -------- SPOILERS

As far as the episode. Another great Trek message episode.

"Computer" is about man as much as the computer.

SPOILERS!!!!!!

Spock realizes this when he tells Kirk basically that computers make great servants but on a ship your loyalty is to a man (the captain), not to a machine.

Wesley realizes this when Kirk keeps the Enterprise powered down at the end after the M-5 has been deactivated.(I'm going to take a chance the M-5 isn't laying a trap.) Where the M-5 would fire on a ship if it saw one in that way.

A computer can only go as far as its programming, a man uses his life experience to make decisions.

Trek would deal with the man vs machine concept many times in its future but this first foray is still one of the better ones.

Measure of a Man on TNG is the best of course.

From "DwightFry" Well, I'm afraid I've found the lemon.

Let's be honest: This is not a really bad movie. But only because of Cagney. His performance is a real tour-de-force, with him getting back to his roots as a dancer. We get to see the man we think of as Cody Jarrett and Tom Powers, doing funny clown routines, dancing, impersonating an old woman, and showing his warmer side. However, this is both good and bad, as Cagney does a great Cagney, but he never becomes the person he is supposed to be, that is, the legendary Lon Chaney. Apart from the the true facts of Chaney's life being ignored (a common thing in biopics), the terrible script, surprisingly Oscar-nominated, is standard soap opera at its worst, with too much melodrama and too little of what made Chaney great. "We get no insight on how he prepared his makeup, or on how painful to wear it frequently was." Given that, it's surprising a Chaney biopic was ever green-lighted, as his life, unlike that of so many movie stars, was mostly secretive to public opinion, and the few interesting anecdotes of him are not in the movie (Creighton being born half dead, and Lon getting him into icy water to revive him). And, even worse, a person that watches this movie without having seen any of Chaney's films, will dismiss these as phony and corny, and the makeups silly and badly done. The reconstructions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera look like cheap Halloween masks made by a kid, which is in itself an insult to Chaney's meticulous makeup, and evidences only that short, broad Cagney didn't look like tall, thin Chaney the slightest, not even under heavy makeup (or masked, or whatever). Cagney is only Cagney, he's the Man of a Single Face, and a very recognizable one. If you're gonna make the mistake of casting a big star to play a well-known figure (another common biopic error, that way you only see the star and not the character), at least cast a big star who resembles said figure. Casting Cagney as Chaney is like casting Danny De Vito as James Stewart.

We DO get an insight as to his use of makeup and the pain it caused him. His instant creation of the Lascar's makeup is proof of that. And his portrayal of the deformed man in "The Miracle" and Quasimodo in "Hunchback" are proof of the pain. As far as the makeup is concerned they do not look cheap unless you try to compare them to current day makeup. And as far as Cagney being too short to play Chaney Lon was 5 ft 8 in and Cagney was 5 ft 7 in, not much of a difference at all.

Again if you are going to review at least get your facts straight!!!!! 10 of 10 for Jimmy and the movie -10 of 10 for DwightFry's poor critique!

Because anyone with even a small thinking brain will realize that Casablanca is one of the all time greats. This diatribe is directed at those CHILDREN who would try to compare todays movies (?) to Casablanca as well at the actors.

To MARKS16 from London England: There was no plot to hold the viewers attention. Are you an idiot or what. There were several sub plots and the main plot which was Lazlo's needing to escape to America to evade the Nazi's and continue his resistance work. How could you miss that unless you were too busy with you game boy or your computer to notice.

To MAITREG from Minnesota: Anything this silly would be laughed out of the theater and to video in a week. Maybe for you brainless moronic children who can't sit through 15 seconds of a movie unless there is an explosion or a sex scene.

TO FLAVIA DIETRICH from Brazil: Bogie unattractive???? you must be blind. And nothing is convincing???? Open up your eyes and ears and watch it again!!!

To SELFPARODY from the USA: It was not a story about WW2, it was a story about people in a time of crisis, and how they handled themselves during that crisis. You are a real dolt!!

To AVALEN1: ??????????????????? What are you babbling about. 60 plus years later and this flop of a movie is still finding new audiences. Will your childish 2 fast 2 furious be finding new audiences in 60 years??

To PLSJ from the USA: Next time you watch this movie you should turn off your IPod and your Game Boy and your computer and watch it with 100% of your attention.

To JAMES P. McDONALD of California: If you do not feel any emotion when you watch this film then you must not have any. I feel sorry for you.

To ALEX-506 from Toronto: Any capable actor could have communicated Rick's cynicism???? Who??? Tommy Hanks??? NO! Tommy Cruise??? NO!! Vin Diesel??? NO!!!! A-Hnold???? NO!!!! Oh wait there is ONE who could BOGART himself!

To THEFAN from Detroit: And what cinematic classic do YOU fawn over?? Animal House??? Star Wars???? 2 fast 2 furious???? You are an idiot for sure!

To PAUL ARTHUR from London: Casablanca not serious, you need to go back to watching Benny Hill then!!!!

To BETTY BULLOCK from AUTRALIA????? Fight Club??? American Beauty???? Mulholland Drive???? WRETCH!!!!!! 3 garbage pail movies. ANY movie that requires a nude scene to rope you in is no great at all!!!!! Anyone can strip naked to get the guys and the lezzos into the theater.

To SPUD-48 from Idaho: The reason for the "No Questions" was to protect Ilsa from the Nazi's since if they knew she had a relationship with Lazlo they would try to use her to get to him!! Do you now understand??? Rick does not hide the letters while the spotlight is on him, he waits until it is moved and then slips them under the lid of the piano. The Nazi's can not arrest Lazlo in Morocco because they have no authority to do so. Only Capt. Renault can make that arrest, and he is content in knowing that Lazlo and Isla will never get out of Casablanca, and only does a reversal of sorts when Rick tricks them all into thinking HE will be going to Lisbon with Ilsa and leave Lazlo to rot in Casablanca. Renault basically switches sides when he lets Ilsa and Lazlo board the plane. That choice is cemented when he tells his deputies to "round up the usual suspects" after Rick shoots Strasser!

This is as far as I will go in this diatribe. I am sure the remaining 50 pages of commentary have more childish remarks like the ones I have taken to task above. They are all idiots too!

With all of the garbage that is out there today, everything that Chicago did is better than the all of the claptrap of the 1990's or 2000's! All this is is another worthless list from the MTV networks! Any list with no inclusion from me! Is no list at all! But then what do you expect from MTV! Chicago is one of the greatest bands of all time! And for them to be included here is a travesty of justice! This entire list can be occupied by every freaking rap/hip-hop song ever just to start! Then you can include each and every new wave & punk song ever! Then you can included about 97 3/4% of all disco songs ever, not done by the Bee Gees! Then you can include every Britney Spears song and all songs by every Britney wannabe!

That about sums it up for "Lost In Space". Typical 60's mind numbing claptrap.

Look at the shows that abounded during the time of "lis".

Gilligan's Island, Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, My Mother the Car, Time Tunnel. God the list of trash shows goes on and on!

"LIS" was just another of the 60's shows that you turned your brain off for an hour or half hour as the case may have been.

And for those of you who consider "LIS" to be better than "Star Trek", take a look at the longevity of "Trek" vs the inactivity of "LIS".

That tells the whole story!

Live long and prosper!

It was not Emerils fault that the show bombed.

The Thomasons would not let Emeril "play" Emeril as himself.

There were no "bams", no "kick it up a notches".

They forced him to play a toned down version of himself.

Then cast a bunch of actors around him to liven the show up.

Sure Emeril is no Sir Laurence Oliver, but neither is Tom Hanks.

Emeril was handicapped by not being allowed to be himself.

Emeril can still buy and sell any of you out there who have knocked his effort.

I went to one of the tapings of the show in California and in my opinion did as good of a job as was possible given the circumstances.

At least HE tried, can any of you dopes say say the same!

I don't know, for a guy in his early 70's who has been royally and unfairly panned for his entire career, William Shatner as Denny Crane may be the absolute highlight of his long career! What a role and what a show. My ultimate benchmark as to how good a show is how fast I am back to that show during the commercial breaks. Didn't miss one second of Boston Legal so I guess that tells you that I liked it a lot. Of course the "Shat Man" drew me in but the overall show got me hooked. Well worth the late hour on Sundays. Rene Auberjonois ( of DS 9 fame) was an added surprise.

Not counting Lucy's own I Love Lucy, Desilu had the 2 best shows of the 60's "Mission" & "Star Trek". Both shows in their own style kept you coming back for more each week. When Lucille Ball sold Desilu to Paramount in the 60's there could not have been anyone in the Paramount board room who could have envisioned the amount of money they would make from these 2 TV icons. Certainly the steal of the century for Paramount. Now if Paramount would only release "Mission" on DVD, that would make it complete. And as an aside to the reviewer who stated that Greg Morris was the only actor to be on the show from start to end, Peter Lupus was also on from start to end.

TJ Hooker is/was one of the all time great cop shows. Adam 12 was boring in the extreme as was Dragnet. Hooker is a cop who refuses a promotion so he can continue to do the job that he is best suited for. A street cop who cares. Reed & Malloy and Friday & whoever looked like they could not wait for their shift to end each week. Sure it had the "super hero" feel to it, but you must remember that this was the TV cop format at the time. And the show has a great cast as well. Not like today, who really needs to see Dennis Franz's naked butt, not I that is for sure.

I have seen Mr. Stewart do his one man show of "A Christmas Carol" on the Broadway stage twice, and was waiting with great anticipation this performance as aired on TNT. I was not let down. Mr Stewart is by and far the greatest actor to grace the small and big screen in the second half of the 20th Century, and his performance as Scrooge was one of his best. I hope he keeps putting out the same top quality performances both on the screen and on the Broadway stage for many years to come.

I have seen Mr. Stewart do his one man show of "A Christmas Carol" on the Broadway stage twice, and was waiting with great anticipation this performance as aired on TNT. I was not let down. Mr Stewart is by and far the greatest actor to grace the small and big screen in the second half of the 20th Century, and his performance as Scrooge was one of his best. I hope he keeps putting out the same top quality performances both on the screen and on the Broadway stage for many years to come.

I am really sick and tired of any and all of you people who hate Star Trek. All you narrow minded people just don't get what ST is all about, or if you do you are so bigoted that you see ST as a threat to your way of life. ST is more that just a Sci-Fi show, almost every episode since the first one has some underlying message about today's injustices. But people expect ST to be true to all of scientific realities, (No warp drive, no transporter, no sound in space, etc, ad nausem), as if shows like "ER" and other dramas are 100% realistic. And they use this as the basis for thier dislike. ST may not be the most popular show on TV, (or is Neilsen fixing the ratings?), but it is the best show on TV.