But, at the same time, the iconic starship captain has opened the way to high profile Hollywood career opportunities, exotic travel destinations and robust cultural exchanges that would not otherwise have been possible, Shatner told hundreds of listeners during a question and answer session held as part of the city’s two-day “Wizard World Comic-Con.”

The highly versatile pop-culture legend, known across generations, was the center of attention at the annual event. He appeared on Sat. January 28th. Other featured guests included Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, who played the “Incredible Hulk” in the 1970s and 1980s opposite the late Bill Bixby.

Instead of delivering a prepared talk filled with anecdotes about his career in entertainment, Shatner told attendees that he would rather take their questions and concentrate on their interests.

“Have you ever hated Captain Kirk?” one audience member asked. In response, “The Shat,” as he is commonly called now, described his romp down Bourbon Street the previous night.

“Last night we were having dinner, and the waiter comes up and says — what would you like? I said `oysters.” And he said — ‘Beam Me Up Scotty!!!’ — I mean come on.”

“On the other hand…,” he added. “I would not have been here ordering those oysters if it hadn’t been for Captain Kirk. It’s a two-edged sword. Imagine getting to do the things I’ve done as a result of playing the part of Captain Kirk.”

Getting angle or edge on Shatner in this kind of setting is a tall order; he’s battle-tested in this kind of setting. Another well-worn barb: “Have you really been where no man has been before?!”

The Shat: “It depends on the girl.”

“Wizard World” avoided playing up any single dominate theme as it blended Star Wars and Star Trek together with the larger comic book universe. To say the experience was “other-worldly” for someone who has never attended any convention of this sort, does not quite capture it.

The imagination, ingenuity and creativity that went into the costumes cannot be overstated; there were no half-measures. At times, it did feel like another planet.

Throughout the day, I encountered highly authentic versions of Batman, Superman, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Princess Leia (yes in the bikini), a few dragons, knights in armor, an Alien creature from the Sigourney Weaver films and superheroes and comic figures I didn’t know.

But no matter who was being interviewed the conversation flowed back to Shatner and his highly durable Hollywood career.

Let’s not forget his two “Twilight Zone” episodes, and his appearances on the “Columbo” television series, where he played the villain to Peter Falk’s detective. Shatner has also been recognized for his role as Denny Crane, the egotistical, bombastic lawyer on “Boston Legal” and for the “Priceline” commercials. (His character seemingly dies in bus explosion in the last one)

But invariably the fan base wants to know about Star Trek, its timeless appeal, and the enduring legacy of Captain Kirk. Here, Shatner has some definite insight. He wrote a book called “Get a Life” based on his famous Saturday Night Live skit from the 80s; the one where Star Trek fans are lampooned. In the book, Shatner explores who comes to Star Trek conventions and what accounts for the continued enthusiasm behind the television series. He found that fans all knew each other and had become an extended family of sorts.

“I discovered all of us are participating in a mythological ritual, we in this civilization have no mythology, so part of the need for a mythology is our participation in the mythology of Star Trek,” he said. “The need for heroes is supplied by the captains and the act of getting an
autograph or buying paraphernalia is participating in the ritual of the mythology.”

Standing a little outside of the mythology, I wore a suit and tie to meet Captain Kirk, that contrasted with costumes. This helped when it came time for questions in the convention center’s upstairs auditorium.

“Yes, you in the black,” he pointed, and I had my moment. Knowing the answer, I popped the question.

“Who would you say was the most formidable of all the Star Trek villains?”

“Ohhhhhhhhh…..ahhhh….” The Trekkers really liked that one.

“How would I say it in my old age?” He purrs and puffs and gingerly says – Kh..Kh.. khaaaan.

Then draws in a deep breath and screams….

“KHHHHHHAAAAANNNN”

Thunderous Applause.

“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” co-starring Ricardo Montalban is widely viewed as the standout in the movie series and with good reason. The storyline draws from Moby Dick and it would be the last time that classic tale of revenge and obsession would figure into Star Trek. The
television show: “Space Seed” the film is based on is also worth viewing.

“He really was [the best villain] wasn’t he? I mean those pecs alone were heroic. Never mind his abs, but his pecs. Women would kill for those pecs. And he was a wonderful gentlemen.”Apparently, Montalban was also a great friend and supporter of National Review
magazine. Right on!

Another key personality Shatner has encountered in his travels is conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Shatner had an interview program called “Raw Nerve” that includes a lengthy interview with El Rushbo where the two discuss health care policy and other topics. Shatner was full of praise.

“I got to talk with Rush Limbaugh and found out all kinds of wonderful things about Rush,” he said. “In fact… even brought to tears to his eyes as he remembered things from his past, and I thought what a neat guy.”

The Shat invited Limbaugh over to his home for Monday Night Football after the interview where the talk show host encountered one of Shatner’s liberal friends who was a bit put out. But it was clear from Shatner’s take on his interview with Rush that he’s open and receptive to
various viewpoints.

But there was one Star Trek co-star who did not make out so well during the Q & A.

When Shatner was asked to name his heroes audience member shouted out, “George Takei!” – That would be the actor who plays Hikaru Sulu in the original series. Apparently, Takei has an axe to grind with Shatner.

Comedy Center did a “Roast of William Shatner” involving many of his friends where he rides in on a horse to start the program.

“The line is in the air, everyone knows the line, and it’s just a matter of who they are going to give the line to,” Shatner explained. “Now George hates me, I don’t know why he hates me, and he’s also not funny. So they give him the line and he says “F… you,, and the horse you rode
in on,” and it’s not funny, and I roll the film back, and his face is contorted. That’s not a funny face. So yes, George, was at the Roast.”

The Star Trek universe appears to have come full circle now that the movie series has reverted back to the original crew of the Enterprise but with a new cast of actors. Shatner said he was very impressed the latest film directed by J.J. Abrams and with actor Chris Pine who plays the
young Captain Kirk. Shatner interviewed Pine as part of a documentary he did called “The Captains,” which includes all of actors who filled in the center seat in the different programs.

“He’s a lovely young man, who is really talented, and looks really good,” Shatner said of Pine. “He’s got the demeanor, the body and the voice. So along with being a good actor he’s got all the right equipment.”

Shatner told the crowd that JJ Abrams is moving ahead with the sequel.

The actor who started it all sees a wide-open future for Star Trek and for anyone with imagination and initiative.

HOW ‘LIFE ON MARS’ LOST MY WIFE IN UNDER THREE EPISODES

Yesterday morning my pretty wife told me about this new television series she had just discovered on Netflix Streaming. “Life On Mars” was cancelled after 17 episodes, but because we’re both big fans of actors Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli, she decided to give it a go and was hooked after only two episodes.

That evening she was into episode three and as I walked through the room I heard the protagonist take a not-so veiled shot at Bush and the Iraq War. Some nonsense about how we get into wars on false pretenses.

It was gratuitous, heavy-handed, sanctimonious and a full-blown sucker punch.

Without missing a beat my wife picked up the remote, shut the show off, and streamed an episode of “Wagon Train.”

Dick move, Hollywood. We have choices now.

Grow up or die.

‘TOWER HEIST’ ARRIVES ON DVD FEB 21

Am I the only one surprised this wasn’t a hit? Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing it on DVD. Here’s some info on the special features:

Bonus features that appear on the both the Blu-ray™ and DVD versions include:

Two Alternate Endings – not seen in theatres! Hilarious Deleted & Alternate Scenes. Gag Reel.

Plotting Tower Heist—Following the structure of a classic caper movie in three acts, director Brett Ratner, producer Brian Grazer and the entire cast bring this heist film to a whole new level. Viewers will learn how the project started, as well as meet the screenwriters and cast.  This exclusive feature reveals the secrets of the set design, special effects and more, including what it took to create the iconic sequence involving Steve McQueen’s car!

Feature Commentary with director Brett Ratner, editor Mark Helfrich and co-writers Ted Griffin & Jeff Nathanson

The following features are exclusive to Blu-ray™:

Tower Heist Video Diary – Director Brett Ratner takes fans through the filmmaking process with these personal video production diaries from the set.

U-Control:

Picture-in-Picture – featuring pre-visualization and storyboard comparisons of some the film’s most exciting scenes.

The Music of Tower Heist

‘SURVIVOR’ PRODUCER INTRODUCES FIRST EVER SOCIALLY INTEGRATED BIBLE APP‏

Fascinating news from a press release:

Today, producer Mark Burnett, his wife Roma Downey, Zondervan and Glo Bible have announced the release of a new mobile app—Bible 360. Combining social media, animated maps and 360 degree virtual tours, Bible360 will allow you to view and share the Bible in a dynamic new way. Using this app, you will be able to easily share verses, maps and journal entries with your friends and family through Facebook, Twitter, email, and other social media platforms. Bible360 incorporates beautiful imagery to take your reading experience to a new level.

If you remember, Burnett also produced “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Obviously, he’s a brilliant producer, and how nice that he’s using his talents and weight to push such a worthy project.

Roma Downey, of course, is the fetching star of “Touched by An Angel.”

INTRODUCING ‘QUESTIONABLE TREK’: WITH ANDREW PRICE AND SCOTTDS

Two gentlemen who add much to the Big Hollywood community have started this series. Please take a look. Oh, and both are wrong. It goes a little something like this:

1. Star Trek II: One of the greatest sci-films ever.

2. Star Trek VI: Marvelous story and a touching send off.

3. Star Trek IV: Hilarious, heartwarming crowd pleaser all the way around.

4. Star Trek V: Underappreciated for its development of the characters and their relationships. Some of the best moments in the film series makes up for a somewhat uneven story — that rallies considerably in the second half.

5. Star Trek: First Contact: The crew from the original series were and are big screen stars. You can’t say the same for the “Next Generation” crew, but the Borg and a superb script win the day.

Other than “Star Trek: the Motion Picture,” which is downright boring, there isn’t a single “Trek” movie I dislike. “Nemesis” and “Star Trek III” are the slowest. “Insurrection” is the dumbest. If you catch me on the right day, “Generations” would rank in the top five.  This is another unfairly maligned entry. The themes at work surrounding the Nexus and the humanity given to the villain, Soran, have real depth.

Disagree? Well, maybe our friends are more in line with your misguided thinking. Have a look.

A LOOK BACK AT THE STYLES AND CELEBS OF THE 1960S

If you need any more proof of how smaller-than-life today’s celebrities are, click here to check out the Stylist’s website where they have compiled some memorable images of the people and styles of the 1960s.

—–

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Followed Iowa on Twitter. Watched ‘Sons of Anarchy’ on Streaming.

When I grew up, we had newspaper delivery once a day, a black and white TV, and four channels.

What a wondrous time to be alive.

—–

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

TRAILER FOR PARALLEL UNIVERSE ROMANCE ‘UPSIDE DOWN’

‘WORLD WAR Z’ IS BEING PLANNED AS A TRILOGY

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO ‘THE HUNGER GAMES’

MARVEL’S ‘THE AVENGERS’ DOING RESHOOTS THIS WEEK?

HOW MARVEL SMACKED DOWN THE IRS

SCREEN RANT’S (MASSIVE) 2012 MOVIE PREVIEW

POTENTIALLY BIG CASTING SPOILER FOR ‘SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL’

COOL IMAGE: A PAGE OF FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S NOTES FOR ‘THE GODFATHER’

ALCON PRODUCER ANDREW KOSOVE TALKS NEW ‘BLADE RUNNER’ AND ‘POINT BREAK’

READ AUDREY HEPBURN’S LETTER TO COMPOSER HENRY MANCINI

THE BEST STAR TREK VIRAL VIDEOS OF 2011

MORE CONCEPT ART TO REMIND US HOW BAD ‘SUPERMAN LIVES’ WOULD HAVE BEEN

100 GREATEST SIMPSONS MOVIE REFERENCES

CHRISTOPHER LEE’S SARUMAN IS ‘GOOD AND NOBLE’ IN ‘THE HOBBIT’

A LOOK BACK AT PETER FALK IN ‘GRIFFIN AND PHOENIX: A LOVE STORY’

REMINDER: DEMI MOORE GETS MORE BEAUTIFUL EVERY YEAR

TODD HAYNES TALKS ‘MILDRED PIERCE,’ OUR DVD PICK OF THE WEEK

10 GREAT LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIPS FROM SCI-FI AND FANTASY

HUGH JACKMAN, AARON SORKIN TEAMING FOR ‘HOUDINI’ MUSICAL

‘THREE COLORS’ TRILOGY: A HYMN TO EUROPEAN CINEMA

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Please send comments, suggestions and tips to jnolte@breitbart.com or Twitter @NolteNC.

More often than not when we have news out of Hollywood about life issues it is invariably a pro-abortion tale and in the case of scientific studies, it is usually some denizen of Tinseltown coming out forcefully for unethical fetal stem cell research. The destruction of life is de rigueur out there, unfortunately.

But not this time.

You might say that this celebrity has boldly gone where no Hollywooder has gone before. You also might wince at my horrible attempt at humor when you find out that we are here today to celebrate the efforts of Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr., the son of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”

You see, in October the son of the “Great Bird of the Galaxy” donated $5 million to stem cell research. But, unlike so many of the Hollywood persuasion, this gift is not earmarked for fetal stem cell research. It is instead going to a facility that specializes in adult stem cell research.

The generous donation from the Roddenberry Foundation was bestowed upon The Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, an independent research institute which is associated with the University of California, San Francisco.

As reported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Roddenberry gift will, “expand these existing areas of expertise among Gladstone scientists by creating the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine – named after Gene Roddenberry, who created ”Star Trek.’”

One of the respected scientists at Gladstone is Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D., who is pursuing research into reprogramming adult cells into embryonic stem cells.

Why is all this so notable? Because this is essentially a pro-life pursuit instead of one of those usual, liberal anti-life efforts. After all fetal stem cell research has proven ineffective in the many years it has been pursued — no advances in medicine have been credited to fetal stem cells in the last 20 years — but many of the far left are married to it regardless. Worse, fetal stem cell research is highly controversial as human embryos are necessarily destroyed in the effort. This raises ethical questions about human life being destroyed for the sake of science.

Some of you might remember the controversy that President George W. Bush wound up in when he allowed federal funds to be used for fetal stem cell research using stem cell lines created before August of 2001. In 2006 Bush successfully vetoed an effort to expand federal money for fetal stem cell research.

Unfortunately, sticking to his penchant for infanticide, in 2009 President Barack Obama reversed those federal limitations. It should be remembered that before he became a national figure, Obama was the only Illinois state Senator that favored the barbaric practice of partial birth abortions.

Sadly, Obama’s reversal of the Bush-era rule was one built on ideology and not real science. Even U.S. News reported that embryonic stem cell research is an obsolete field, and U.S. News is hardly a bastion of conservatism.

So, kudos to Eugene Roddenberry for putting his money where it will not only do some good but will do so ethically. Unlike the ideology drenched Obama administration, Mr. Roddenberry is interested in real science.

I think his father would be proud.

The Walking Dead, HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” Showtime’s “Homeland” and Fox’s “Terra Nova” could not be more different in concept, tone or execution, but what they have in common illustrates the biggest threat to Hollywood – and the solution to Hollywood’s problems.

The industry faces unprecedented technological challenges and dwindling audiences, but those alone won’t close down the Glitter Factory. Hackneyed plots, unquestioned political premises and disrespect for the audience will.  But great storytelling, fine acting and technical work – those can save it.

This is written as a fan, as someone who wants these shows to succeed, who wants the hundreds of people who are employed by them to keep working. Please note that spoilers will run free and without restraint throughout, flowing unhindered like stupid ideas from Ron Paul’s Fed-hole.

“Boardwalk Empire” is a near-great show, adult fare not only on account of the complex themes of loyalty and greed that it explores but also in the sense that it packs more female nudity per episode than a drunken Disney teen star’s hacked cellphone camera. 

“Empire” should be great, but it’s not because it falls into the same tiresome traps that we see again and again. As Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the boss of 1920s Atlantic City, Steve Buscemi is fantastic. I had my doubts at first that this slight, weird-looking guy could pull off a ruthless politico/crime boss. Interestingly, his physical weakness – he’s not a standard tough guy, and the one fight he gets into is pathetic rather than brutal – is overwhelmed by the icy ruthlessness lurking beneath his cynical, smart-ass exterior. Nothing sums it up better than when he personally pops his former protégé in the face with a .38 in the season finale – then coldly blows his brains out. I can’t say it enough; Buscemi is amazing.

There is a lot of amazing in “Empire;” the other actors are uniformly terrific (even when playing poorly conceived characters). The sets and costumes are fantastic as well; you are transported back in time. Great performances and great technical production are what set a show up for greatness. So why is Empire not quite great?

Two things, things we see again and again in modern Hollywood that act to drive away audiences that want to love the show wholeheartedly. The first is – once again, as Ben Shapiro has vividly illustrated and thoroughly documented– the creators simply cannot help but impose their own insular, anti-religious, west-of-Interstate 5 cultural vibe. And second, they’ve bought into the hackneyed conventional wisdom that what makes great drama is talky, sludgy, momentum-stalling domestic conflict.

Can we have just ONE SHOW without characters dealing with weird daddy issues?

Here’s the thing – we watch “Empire” to see how these guys weave their criminal web. But the interplay between Nucky and his mistress, or Nucky and his dad, or his mistress and her brother? No. One. Cares.

I don’t know where this comes from; I suspect they don’t think women will watch if the show focuses too much on things that are interesting. They haven’t met my Hot Wife; whenever the mistress comes on screen she gets up and goes into the kitchen until the next scene.

Does anybody remember anything about Mrs. Godfather? Case closed.

Oh, and Jimmy Darmody’s relationship with his mother – did you have to go there? Did he really have to have sex with his mom? Really? I get the Oedipus thing, but you know, just because you have the cable-TV freedom to create a plot line that mirrors Oedipus doesn’t mean that you have to do it.

And the last scene, where mistress (I keep calling her that because I forgot her name because I stop paying attention when that soul-crushingly dull character comes on screen) signs the key deed over to the church, had better lead into Nucky popping her in the noggin with a .38 in the season three premiere. The story requires it. Keeping the audience watching requires it. Guys, it’s all upside.

That brings us to the other problem – religion, as conceived by a bunch of Hollywood writers. Every religious character is either a fundamentalist lunatic/hypocrite or just a sucker and a hypocrite. The priest seems to be a money-grubbing exploiter of the mistress’s conception of God as some sort of sacred vending machine where you put some money in and get your wish granted.

The only ones who don’t get treated as utter slime are the black churchgoers, mostly because Hollywood liberals always depict African-Americans of faith as harmless, childlike believers while everyone else who professes a belief in God is insane, evil or both.

“Homeland” has similar strengths and weaknesses, but while the finale of “Empire” hefted the trend-line skyward (the character of Jimmy Darmody had pretty much gone as far as he could go when he went as far as he could go with his mother), the trend line for what seems to see itself as the “thinking man’s ‘24′” cratered in the finale. It started strong and plummeted, as thoroughly documented at Big Hollywood.

We have the same strengths here, particularly acting. Claire Danes is astonishingly good as the mentally unbalanced CIA analyst who is quickly losing it. Even when her character’s actions are ridiculous, and when the screenplays let her down, she owns it. The other actors are likewise terrific, even Damian Lewis as the Marine turned terrorist. Plus, Morena Baccarin is there for those who enjoy attractive, dark-haired, vaguely Latin women who take their clothes off, a demographic otherwise known as “men.”

But once again we see the same problems – a focus on plot elements that no one cares about, and a multicultural vacuity straight out of the lib-left play book. “Homeland’s” home life is death; whenever Lewis’ TV family comes on screen the show grinds to a complete halt as feelings are shared and more feelings are shared.

Stop sharing feelings. It’s terrible. This is a show about hunting terrorists. Hunt terrorists and leave the hugging to Lifetime movies.

But the worst part is the moral relativism that manifests itself in ginning up sympathy for the terrorists by the hoariest, lamest tropes imaginable. Surprise! The Vice-President is secretly a war criminal whose evil antics brought this terrorist plot on. Gee, we’ve never seen a Hollywood product ever make out America to be the villain! What a radical new direction to take the story; never saw that coming!

Let’s keep breaking exciting new ground. How about next we have a romantic comedy where the lovers fight because of a misunderstanding then reunite for a happy ending?

Let me help out the producers and writers a bit. Americans are the unambiguous good guys in this war. The jihadis are the bad guys. There is no grey area. We did not “bring it on ourselves,” and we have not only a moral right but a moral obligation to hunt them and their scumbag buddies down anywhere they hide. An American who consorts or sympathizes with them for any reason is a traitor who deserves to be hanged and his corpse tossed in a fetid swamp. Jihadis’ views, ideas, beliefs and grievances merit no respect and have no importance except to the extent that understanding their sick, idiotic ideology allows us to more effectively destroy them.

Any questions? You guys have ten minutes into the season two premiere to “wow” me by showing that you’ve learned your lesson or I flip the channel. Dismissed.

“The Walking Dead’s” problems are well documented – once again, it focuses on boring peripheral feelingsy nonsense at the expense of zombie action, and its ideology is drawn straight from a seminar titled Hollywood Liberal Shibboleths 101. But the last, bleak, hopeless moments of the mid-season finale (whatever that means) provides some hope that TWD might reanimate when the show returns in February.

Until the last two minutes, the season had been a fiasco. The entire scenario had the survivors hunting for some stupid kid who didn’t listen and ran off into the zombie forest. Instead of letting Darwin do his job, these people spent every episode looking for her. Shane, the alleged “bad guy” who in reality is the only one who’s not a complete half-wit, became my hero. He was a bad-ass who packed heat when everyone else got wussy about guns (there’s this utterly bizarre gun control vibe running through the show), took on the dirty jobs, exhibited some rare tactical common sense and scored with all the hot women. I’m all aboard Team Shane.

When some fatbody who stupidly wounded a kid became a liability when running from zombies to bring back some medicine to save said kid, Shane’s innovative solution was to kneecap him so he could bring the stuff back while the zombies were occupied turning Mr. Chunky into a tubby smorgasbord. This was supposed to be some giant moral conundrum. Pffft. Hey, if either the kid or the dumb-ass who accidentally shot the kid has to die, I vote for the dumb-ass. And if he wasn’t man enough to choose to make the last stand so Shane could escape, then I have no problem with Shane volunteering him.

But the redemptive highlight was the final scene where the survivors are clearing out a barn full of zombies belonging to a religious nut (because, again, if you are religious you have to be a nut). After they smoke all the zombies, one more stumbles out, the little girl they had been hunting all half-season. Awesome. Then the hero pops her in the forehead. Nice.

You gotta have some guts to spend weeks having your characters hunt for a cute little girl then have her turn out to be a zombie and then have the hero cap her. That’s quality storytelling. So I’m moderately psyched about the rest of the season. Keep up the momentum.

Finally, “Terra Nova,” the time travel dinosaur show on regular TV, started weak with a lot of feelings and way too few dinosaurs. However, it’s gotten better, though the limitations of free TV take away any kind of edge. Older kids can certainly watch it, which is not really a selling point in my book. It is what it is. But there still aren’t enough dinosaurs.

There is lots of running around, explosions, and a lot less talk of feelings – though there’s at least a hug or two per show. The actors are finding their characters; Stephen Lang as the commander is awesome. The (as usual) daddy issues-centric mythology storyline makes little sense, but there are some intriguing hints about the show’s future direction.

Here’s the problem – once again, the same old Hollywood cultural premises and assumptions seem to prevail. Like “Star Trek” (many of the creative types worked on past “Trek” programs), the society in “Terra Nova” is militarized with a clear rank hierarchy. The thing is, such a structure (when applied to a society as a whole instead of just the military itself) is known as “fascism.” Sure, it’s a smiley face fascism, but it’s fascism – just a more militaristic socialism with spiffy uniforms.

The major means of production are all owned collectively and controlled by the government. Sure, there are a few small businesses – a bar, a trader – but those are on the fringe and treated as at least disreputable if not corrupt. Note also that the human villains are all puppets of – wait for it – a giant corporation from the future. The commander tosses people into jail at will; his whim is all the “due process” anyone is allowed. It’s a dictatorship – a benevolent one, but a dictatorship nonetheless.

And the show seems to think this is all okay. It’s kind of a liberal’s perfect world – no power bases outside government control, businesses marginalized (or, if outside their control, evil enemies) and no inconvenient dissent allowed. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman probably eats it up.

Also, as with “Star Trek,” there is no religion – none at all. It never comes up. Clearly, the producers don’t seem to see this as a bug – in fact, in their minds it’s probably a feature. But the scene where the military buries a dead soldier in a non-religious ritual uncomfortably evokes the Nazis’ neo-pagan rites. When leftists (of which Nazis are merely a better dressed subspecies – yeah, I know you leftists hate to hear the ugly truth) succeed in driving out God, they try to fill the people’s spiritual void with the State. Let me be clear; I am not saying “Terra Nova” is some kind of a Nazi show. What I am saying is that the show has a lot of room to explore some of the issues that the show’s scenario raises about democracy, capitalism and religion.

And that it could use more dinosaurs.

These four shows all have weaknesses, mostly stemming from taking their eyes off of what makes them interesting and focusing on hackneyed domestic drama that someone somehow decided was necessary to appeal to women. If I were a woman, I’d be insulted. As a man, I’m just annoyed. Further, they all, to some extent, embrace cultural and political premises that many if not most Americans reject – especially with regard to religion.

But there’s good news too. All of the shows are entertaining. All of them have good production values, and all offer fine performances. Hollywood has the talent to do great work. A little focus on the story, a little open-mindedness toward the views and ideas of others (by which I mean Americans who don’t live in the 310 area code) and it can consistently do so.

Again, we conservatives don’t want Hollywood to fall short. We want it to succeed. And if it chooses to do so, it can. So, less talking about feelings and more stuff about the mob, more killing terrorists, more zombies and more Tyrannosaurus Rexes.

The “Star Trek” legend and “T.J. Hooker” star hit a pretty rough patch a while back. He was getting older, and his curious way with a line reading left him open … for … mockery.

Instead, he went to work. And, at 80, he’s not close to slowing down. Shatner’s next gig takes him to Broadway and then, later in 2012, across the country.

“Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It” will let the actor share his unique ride through the entertainment realm. Shatner could have rested on his “Star Trek” laurels decades ago and kept lining his wallet with convention appearances. But as those who read his most recent autobiography, “Up Till Now,” can attest, there’s no quit in the actor. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Now, understand that it gives me no pleasure to report that Terra Nova is off to a crappy start.  None.  Anyone living in California knows lots of people who work in the Industry, from crew to talent, who rely on production to feed their families.  We want shows to be great, to be hits, to run for years.  And none of them got up and said “I want to take an interesting idea and turn it into a hackneyed, tedious death march.” Well, maybe the writers and producers did – the vicissitudes of chance do not account for how they managed to hit every tiresome cliché and make every bad choice available every time.

The conceit of Terra Nova is that a bunch of people from 2189 are sent back in time from a polluted, fascist Earth 85 million years to restart human civilization.  They face all sorts of ferocious dinosaurs, which is cool, and that have all sorts of bitchin’ guns, which is also cool.  Steven Spielberg is involved with it, and once upon a time he made movies I actually liked.  Fox is spending a fortune on it.  It should be kinda interesting and kinda fun.

But no.

No, the premiere was a ponderous nightmare composed of the same cookie-cutter, lazy choices that have been wrecking such shows and movies for years.  Like the mega-disappointing Walking Dead, which somehow made a zombie apocalypse boring, Terra Nova has somehow done the same for another cool idea – this one being carnivorous dinosaurs. 

Terra Nova has done a lot of things wrong, though it did do a few things right.  But the premiere’s meh ratings, despite months of hype, showed that the creators better get a grip before the show joins its main attractions in extinction.  Here are some key takeaways from the endless two-hour premiere:

1. Enough of the Manufactured Family Drama:   Surprise – our hero has a family, and they spend all of their time talking about their feelings toward one another.  The father, played by Jason Mara, was in prison because the family had an extra kid and he only rejoins the family (after the world’s simplest maximum security prison breakout) as they step back in time.  So he has issues.  With his wife.  And his teen son.  And his teen daughter.  And his other daughter.  And they talk about them.  All the time.  Then they hug.  It all makes me want to projectile vomit.

Now, screenwriters, I know they teach you at screenwriting seminars that you have to create a rooting interest for the audience.  Okay, here, rooting for them to win the gunfights with the rampaging velociraptors is plenty interesting.  Interminable discussions of emotions followed by cuddling, not so much.

Why …. why …  does every show seem to have to focus on bizarre daddy issues?  I want an exciting, interesting entertainment experience, not to sit there watching you work out your personal psychodrama.  Just show me a tyrannosaurus biting a tank.

Remember 2005’s War of the Worlds?  It sounded great on paper.  You got aliens and Spielberg and special effects…it should have been awesome.  And what did we get?  We get this idiotic domestic drama with Tom Cruise arguing with a couple of urchins as they drive around the Eastern Seaboard.  Sure, he beat on Tim Robbins, which was cool, but otherwise it was like Are We There Yet? with an older, duller Maverick taking the Ice Cube role. 

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And I bet Cube would have spent less time bickering with the shorties and more time going upside some alien head.  Yeah, now that would have been the mierda.

Look.  There’s this stupid notion floating around out there in Tinseltown, promulgated by self-appointed script gurus and enforced by Hollywood suits whose only flair for creativity is within the realm of their personal debaucheries, that the focus of every story needs to be a loving family that fights then hugs.  Give me a freaking break.  That’s the same thinking that turned Super 8 into Super Suck.

Someone needs to dare to speak truth to hackery and say, “How about the story focus on something cool, like running from dinosaurs, without taking momentum-halting stops to work through abandonment issues every time something interesting is about to go down?”  Which leads us to the next point:

2. Can the Characters Not Be Idiots?  Characters doing dumb things, like going for a naked swim while Hatchet Boy is running around the abandoned summer camp, has been a cliché for decades.  In Terra Nova, it’s even more frustrating because it usually revolves around the same insane need to stop the story  every two minutes in order for a couple characters to hash out their stupid feelings. 

Someone is missing and needs to be found before darkness falls and the dinos come out to dine…what do you do?  Do you grab your rifle and join other trained warriors, moving quickly to locate and rescue the lost people, or do you get into a lengthy argument with your wife who isn’t a trained warrior but wants to come along anyway because…well, I don’t know…because fighting off carnivorous reptiles isn’t hard enough without bringing along some unarmed civilian to slow you down. 

Oh, and when you do find an injured person in the middle of nowhere, do you: A) Secure the wounded person, load her in a vehicle, and move out before the monsters come back or B) spend some time out in the open in the dark, lizard-filled forest discussing your feelings.  Well, if the answer was “A”, it would be Terra Awesome.

3. The Concept Is More Interesting Than Any Character:  Sorry folks, but I know that your gurus tell you character is everything, but this isn’t freaking Ingmar Bergman.  I’m not tuning in to delve deep into the psyche of… geez, I watched two hours of that show and already forgot the main character’s name.  Whatev.  I don’t care about the characters.  The concept is cool; if I want a character study, I’ll seek out a story that doesn’t involve time travel to the Jurassic Age.  You feel me?

Now, the concept is not just dinosaurs.  The idea of starting a civilization over could be really interesting if they started exploring issues like how society was organized, whether they would try communal living or a market, dictatorship versus democracy.  The focus on feelings overwhelmed most of it, but there were interesting hints at how this new society was forming.  Contributions seem to be made according from the ability of the colonist, while resources appear to be distributed according to his needs.  We call that communism; Hollywood people called that “Awesome…for you peasants.”

I wonder if the producers will have the guts to confront the failure of non-market economics in a way that the super-lame – and overtly fascist/socialist Star Trek: The Next Generation (Yeah, I went there Trekboys) – never did.  Probably not – Terra Nova’s executive producer Brannon Braga is a Star Trek alum.  So we’ll probably hear lots about a wonderful new world without greed or capitalism or stuff.   It’ll be a paradise, just like the pilgrims (whose name the series appropriates for the colonists) experienced in New England prior to introducing free enterprise.  Communism worked really well there, just like it has everywhere it’s been attempted.  At least, that’s what Chet the Unicorn told me.

4. There Are Hints of a Mythology Which Must Be Ruthlessly Suppressed:  Ever since Chris Carter’s The X-Files started the trend by weaving its detailed, incoherent, stupid back story into its episodes, every sci-fi/fantasy show on TV now has to have some elaborate and pointless mythology.  Mythology episodes are always death – you can tell a terrible X-File episode because it starts off with some portentous Scully monologue and inevitably ends up raising more questions and bile than it answers. 

Please don’t think we need that here.  You have man-eating dinos.  You don’t need an all-encompassing conspiracy by powerful forces that come together in a terrifying effort to occupy the imaginations of lonely 35-year old virgins with nothing better to do than think about TV shows.

5. There Are Some Good Things:  There are some things that deserve praise.  First, Stephen Lang as the dictator of the place is pretty awesome.  And his character is not what you expect – though he is on the cusp not only of a mythology plot line but one that involves his lost son.  Don’t.  Go.  There.

The dinosaurs are pretty cool, as are the rest of the special effects.  They’re not perfect, but who cares?  The set design and props are really good.  It would be nice, though, if those neat-o guns seemed to have any effect on the dinosaurs.  The characters get all Scarface on the  lizards, firing off long bursts of rounds that have about as much effect as a multi-billion Obama stimulus package.

And the politics do not (yet) make me sick.  I was busy complaining to my Hot Wife, so I missed what somebody told me was the shot showing that 2189 money had Obama’s face on the bills – that’s amusing.  I just wonder who gets his mug on the higher denomination, him or Jimmy Carter?

It’s so far not as eco-stupid as I expected.  The producers mention that “we” somehow ruined the planet, but they don’t mention or attribute it to the global warming scam, which was nice since I grilled some really tasty cheeseburgers right before and it would have been a shame to puke them up. 

Also, the fascist government that arrests people who have too many kids cannot be considered right wing – in fact, famed Chinese family planning fan and liberal fave Thomas Friedman would have approved.  So, at least for now, there was no liberal sucker punch. 

Perhaps Terra Nova will improve.  I hope so.  No one wants to see a show fail.  It certainly could be interesting.  For the viewers, it’s a cool concept and might be a fun diversion.  For the many folks on and off camera, it’s their livelihood.  This is not just a beat down for the sake of beating down an easy target.  This is a plea… to give us a fresh, exciting program that doesn’t spout the same hopeless clichés that have wrecked so many other movies and shows.  So, guys, get it together and cut the mierda.

ABOUT THAT ‘ANGEL HEART” SYMBOLISM

Yesterday, in the “Last Night’s Screening” section, I mentioned that after a dozen screenings I might have finally figured out what director Alan Parker was trying to tell us with the returning symbolism of that slow-turning fan.

WARNING: If you haven’t seen “Angel Heart” I’m about to spoil it completely — which, I promise you, would be a real shame.

In the story’s linear timeline, our first glimpse of the fan is seen in a shot outside a New York hotel room during the sacrifice of a sailor. If you remember, this was the ritual Johnny Favourite performed in the hopes of getting out of his contract for his soul with Satan. He ate the sailor’s heart and then stole his identity before becoming our intrepid P.I. Harry Angel. It’s also important to remember that Lisa Bone’s character informs us that Johnny (and therefore Harry) is/was the most truly evil person her mother had ever come across.

Unless I missed something, we only see the fan turn when Harry Angel is or is about to commit a murder off-screen. In other words, while Harry Angel suffers a blackout, evil Johnny Favourite returns to heinously murder those putting Harry on the trail of discovering who he really is.

Essentially, the fan tells us the evil in our protagonist is at work.

My two cents.

Man, I love talking  movies!

RON HOWARD ASKS: WHAT IF YOU ONLY HAD SUPERPOWERS FOR ONE DAY?

Concept, concept, concept. When I was failing in Hollywood I would spend hours, days, weeks, trying to come up with a million dollar concept — something simple that would sell based only on the idea. And just when you think there aren’t any ideas left, someone comes up with:

“The film centers on a man who has superpowers only one day a year.”

Genius.

All that remains now is the harder part: executing the concept.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Watched Obama’s awful speech. You can read my thoughts and those of the other BIG editors here. Afterwards, it was the Packers season opener. I’m not a football but I love the Packers because they bring my wife so much pleasure (we’re going to next week’s Panther game) and I love the NFL because they really are the last true pop cultural institution practicing the all-important art of sincere patriotism.

The importance of the nation’s most popular league passing along these American traditions cannot be overstated. And there’s also something of a vicious circle at work here. Patriotism is one of the reasons the NFL is so popular and NFL helps to make patriotism popular.

God bless the NFL.

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QUICK HITS

YES, YOU’RE OLD: ‘STAR TREK’ CELEBRATES 45 YEARS

‘BEETLEJUICE’ BACK FROM THE DEAD?

INTERESTED IN ‘X-FILES 3′?

CHRIS TUCKER RETURNS … QUITE POSSIBLY MAYBE.

LUCASFILM’S NEW SINGAPORE FACILITY LOOKS LIKE A SANDCRAWLER

“MONOPLY” MOVIE MOVES FORWARD. NO WORD ON “GO FISH”

STEVEN SODERBERGH FILMS FROM WORST TO BEST

“JEDI’ AND WHERE IT ALL STARTED TO GO WRONG…

…“PHANTOM MENACE” GETS OFF TO AWFUL START

...”CLONES” AN EXERCISE IN HOW NOT TO WRITE A LOVE STORY

WHY WE LOVE ABOUT FILM/TV ENGINEERS, TECHIES, AND GEEKS

INSIDE DAVID LYNCH’S PARIS NIGHTCLUB

LIVE IN LOS ANGELES? WANT TO SEE “1941″ ON THE BIG SCREEN?

“UNTOUCHABLES” REDUX?

WHAT THE FILM INDUSTRY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW 

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CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY, SEPT 9

FMC:

8pm EST: THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (1989) –Michelle Pfeiffer is the feisty sexy singer who joins a brother (Jeff & Beau Bridges) twin-piano act and sparks changes in the brothers’ act and relationship. Noted for Michelle Pfeiffer’s sultry rendition of “Making Whoopee” atop a piano. Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, Jennifer Tilly. Director: Steve Kloves

This was the beginning of a life-long love affair with Michelle Pfieffer that has thus far survived two decades and three restraining orders. It’s also when I started to sit up and take real notice of just how good of an actor Jeff Bridges is.

Engaging adult dramas are hard to come by these days, which is why the movie gods created home video. Far from a perfect film, but still well-acted and worth your time. The music’s better than you might expect (the stars do their own singing) and the story and characters have a surprisingly self-aware sense of humor about themselves.

And nobody smokes a cigarette like Jeff Bridges. Each puff is its own performance. Watch. You’ll see what I mean.

–Please send tips/suggestions/requests to jnolte@breitbart.com

–Please thank ScottDS for today’s awesome quick hits…

–WEREN’T WE JUST TALKING ABOUT MICHAEL RAPAPORT?–

Big Hollywood’s own Carl Kozlowski co-hosts a weekly (Thursdays 6-8pm PST) podcast called “GrandTheft Audio.” Tonight their special guest is actor Michael Rapaport.  Tune in here. And Sunday you can see the show live. More info here.

–DISNEY EXEC: “A GOOD SCRIPT IS UTTER BULL***T”–

In today’s Variety, Disney Exec Andy Hendrickson argues that moviegoers are only interested in spectacle and not story, and used the top 12 box office champs of all time to back up his claim.

You can argue as to whether or not that’s correct, but at the very least someone is telling the truth about the inexcusable crap studios are delivering these days.  But even if he’s right about moviegoer tastes, why not spectacle AND story? It’s not as though they’re mutually exclusive.

Hollywood can point to the Top 12 all they want, and no doubt that piece of junk “Avatar” is right at the top. But after the spectacle wears off, what does Hollywood have? After the technology is everywhere and no longer “spectacle” and all the “ooh” and “ahh” is removed, who’s going to return to James Cameron’s lame-o, Pocahontas-lite again?

Again, for argument’s sake, I’m not going to get into whether or not Hendrickson is correct about what audiences want today. But you would think these filmmakers would have a little pride in their work and would realize that the reason DeMille’s  ”Ten Commandments,”  Wyler’s “Ben-Hur,” Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago,” and all those terrific WWII epics such as “The Great Escape” and “The Guns of Navarone,” still attract audiences is solely due to the brilliance of their storytelling.

In so many words, what Hendrickson is saying is that no one gives a damn. Well, we already knew that, but if you look at the home video numbers, those chickens are coming home to roost in a big way.

–USA TODAY: “GEORGE LOPEZ EXITS WITH GRACE AND HUMOR.”–

Just as long as he exits.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Boiler Room (2000): It’s like a college play with twenty-somethings bringing together the best of Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” and David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” both of which are referenced in writer/director Ben Younger’s under-appreciated morality tale.  Giovani Ribisi plays Seth, a college drop-out who runs an illegal gambling operation that services bored college kids with too much money out of a cheap apartment. An old friend brings over a co-worker (the underrated Nicky Katt), a ridiculously wealthy stock broker who sees potential in Seth and offers him a job at his small firm.

From here, the story really sizzles because it takes you inside the world of a high-pressure brokerage firm and shows you how all the gears turn.  ”Don’t pitch the bitch,” young men making too much money, and the oddity of selling stocks Wall Street doesn’t, eventually adds up to a dilemma for Seth now that he’s in love with the firm’s secretary (Nia Long) and all that easy money.

The real star of the film, however , is Ron Rifkin, who plays Seth’s father — a sitting federal judge who stands to lose everything if the scandalous and illegal activities his estranged son engages in are ever discovered. Rifkin is simply superb in every scene and the complicated relationship between father and son is what drives the emotional center of the story and, eventually, the plot itself, all to great effect.

Though no “Wall Street” or “Glengarry,” “Boiler Room” is still an engaging film — well paced, structured, and acted — with Ben Affleck doing a pretty good Alec Baldwin impersonation.  

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TODAY’S QUICK HITS

FASCINATING GQ INTERVIEW/PROFILE OF JERRY LEWIS

FRANK CAPRA HONORED WITH U.S. POSTAGE STAMP      

PETER BOGDONOVICH ON “THE SEARCHERS”

HEAVEN HELP ME, I CAN’T UN-SEE THIS.

“STAR TREK” TO RETURN TO TV AS ANIMATED SERIES … AGAIN?

FALL MOVIE PREVIEW, UHM, PREVIEW

RIDDLER RUMORS SUROUND “DARK KNIGHT RISES.”

PLEASE, LORD, MAKE IT STOP.

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CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 12, 2011

TCM:

1:30 AM EST:  Since You Went Away (1944) —   A mother and wife struggle to cope while her husband is off serving in World War II. Dir: John Cromwell Cast:  Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten. BW-177 mins, TV-G, CC.

Oh, how I love this movie.

Wonderful cast, wonderful story, and the Golden Age of Hollywood at its best with big stars, watchable melodrama, and a patriotic streak a mile wide.

Producer David O. Selznick, who would forever be haunted with trying to reproduce his 1939 phenomenon “Gone With the Wind,” tried again here with this deeply moving story of the women left behind to cope during WWII. Obviously, he didn’t (and never would) quite succeed in that, but what you still have is one terrific and moving story that’s well worth every single one of its 177 minutes.

P.S. A fun game to play with every Claudette Colbert film is to try and imagine all the pre-production planning and effort that went into ensuring the right side of her face is never photographed — something she adamantly refused to allow in any of her pictures. Sets were built with this in mind. Tomorrow is Claudette Colbert day on TCM, so if you take a drink every time you see the right side of the Oscar-winner’s beautifully unique face, you’ll be sober as a judge.

–Please send tips/suggestions/requests to jnolte@breitbart.com

 

–J.J. Abrams Moves Towards Directing ‘Star Trek 2′–

Upon first viewing in a theatre, I wasn’t a big fan of Abrams’ reboot;  my review said so, and I caught a lot of hell for it. Watching it again on DVD a few months later, I have to admit I enjoyed the film a little more but not as much as others. For starters, Eric Bana’s villain stunk and the third act was something of a mess — especially the climax, which lacked the emotion necessary to make it something epic.

But for the most part the reboot was an enjoyable romp, perfect for television and now that Abrams and his writers have come up with this alternative universe to drop our beloved characters into (a brilliant idea), it should be interesting to see where they go.

–IMAX BLAMES BAD FILMS FOR DRAMATIC 2Q EARNINGS DECLINE–
 

I consider this to be an important headline because no one working in any part of Hollywood ever ever EVER blames anything on the “quality” of films. They’ll blame bad box office or home video revenue on piracy, new technology, mother nature and the economy — but never on the incontrovertible fact that the quality of motion pictures has declined something awful over the past decade.

The only problem is that the story doesn’t fit the headline.

Oh well.

–’COWBOYS AND ALIENS’ OPENS TOMORROW–

For the first time in a long time, I’m drawn to see something in the theatre and will try to catch a matinee tomorrow. I like Daniel Craig,  love director Jon Favreau, the title is awesome, the trailer even better, Westerns rule, and maybe — just maybe — after 15 disastrous years that culminated in the dreadfully embarrassing Indiana Jones IV, Harrison Ford will go back to being Harrison Ford again.

For whatever reason, I get the sense that Favreau also missed the real Ford, the Ford we both grew up with, the Ford who would’ve never had his chest waxed to save the stupid rain forest — and is going to use “Cowboys & Aliens” to do something about it.

A man can dream, right?  

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TODAY’S QUICK HITS

TRYING TO CARE. FAILING.

IN CASE YOU CARE: “G.I. JOE 2″ TO OPEN JUNE 29, 2012

NEVER PRETTY WHAT CELEBS SAY FOR A LITTLE ATTENTION

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: $200 MILLION TURD: ‘BATTLESHIP’ OPENS WITH BROOKLYN DECKER’S BOOBS, GOES DOWNHILL FROM THERE 

10 TOP SUMMER SUPERHEROES OF ALL TIME

WHY ARE REALITY PAWNSHOP SHOWS SO POPULAR?

ALEX TREBEK CHASES AND TAKES DOWN BURGLAR

HARRISON FORD TALKS ‘COWBOYS & ALIENS’

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CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY JULY 29, 2011

TCM:         

10:00 AM EST:  Keeper Of The Flame (1942) –  A reporter digs into the secret life of a recently deceased political hero. Dir: George Cukor Cast:  Spencer Tracy , Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf. BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC.

One of Tracy and Hepburn’s lesser known entries but one of their most fascinating, thanks to the elegant direction of George Cukor, Oscar-winning Cinematographer William Daniels’ moody black and white photography and a splendid score.

Dark, gothic, a tad melodramatic, extremely well-acted, and working with a number of complicated and mature themes, even without the famous screen couple’s presence, you still have a fascinating and original film in your hands.

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Please send tips/suggestions/requests to jnolte@breitbart.com

Leonard Nimoy has called for a two state solution for which, in deference, several notables (amongst them Israelis), have called.  Nimoy does make a telling statement about the whole idea of two separate states.

“In fact, there is an end in sight. It’s known as the two-state solution – a secure, democratic Israel as the Jewish State alongside an independent Palestinian state.”

He does deserve some credit for seeing Israel as a Jewish state but, if you notice, there is only one democratic state mentioned here. It isn’t expected that another Muslim Arab state will be democratic. As a matter of fact, as always, Israel is expected to remain multicultural andrespect the rights of all its inhabitants, yet the proposed Arab state would, like all the other Arab states, not be open to Jews. Not that many Jews would like to live in an Arab state, considering the centuries of slaughter and pillage that have been the lot of Dhimmi Jews in Arab lands.

This is pretty par for the course, but what is even more egregious is his call for the division of Jerusalem.

“Their plan includes a Palestinian state alongside Israel with agreed-upon land swaps. The Palestinian-populated areas of Jerusalem would become the capital of Palestine; the Jewish-populated areas the capital of Israel.”

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the demographics of Jerusalem would see this as being very “Pie in the Sky.” Without discussing the merits of the argument, the city is a patchwork of neighborhoods, with communities which are impossible to separate without a mass transfer of population. In the eyes of the world, this means kicking Jews out of their homes. There is also the historical precedent set by the last time parts of Jerusalem were under Arab control, between 1948 and 1967, when Jewish holy sites were used as places to corral animal and the headstones from Jewish graves as flooring in bathrooms. Lest one think this is a relic of a bygone era, recall what happened to the Synagogues left behind following the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif in the Gaza strip.

“Peace Now’s activities and programs… keep peace on the world’s agenda… Like those Israelis who issued the peace plan, the members of Peace Now have their boots on the ground. “

Peace Now keeps one thing on its agenda, and that is the expulsion of Jews from their ancestral homes in Judea and Samaria. They have no other platform except returning Israel to its 1949 borders, otherwise known as the Auschwitz borders. The group has never called for any change to the maximalist demands of the Arabs, nor acknowledged the plain facts that the entire Arab-Israeli conflict is based on the desire of the Arabs to return the Jews to the degraded state they were in when they were under Muslim rule, where they could be beaten, robbed or killed with impunity.

Bringing his extensive resume to the forefront, Nimoy then compares the situation to an episode of Star Trek. “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” in which the two remaining survivors of a planet continue their battle fifty thousand years after every other inhabitant on the world has died in the war. This would be a strong political statement, were it not hopelessly naïve.

Israel and the Jewish nation have two options: fight for survival or return to the time when they were at the never tender mercies of the nations that lorded over them. The Muslim Arabs, following the precepts laid down by the Koran, were historically amongst the worst oppressors of the Jews. This is something worth fighting to prevent, even if it lasts for fifty thousand years. Giving in to evil does not bring peace, it only brings more evil.

The bottom line is there is no solution to the conflict in Israel as long as the Arabs demand everything and still see themselves as the rightful rulers, not so much of the land, but of the infidels who reside upon it.