Movie Musings: The Strange Journey of the Star Trek Films - Part 2

Part Two - The Next Generation and Beyond

Troi proves the seats are as comfy as they look.

In 1994, three years after Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country was release in theaters, Star Trek: The Next Generation released the season finale. Fans were heartbroken. But Paramount had launched its new series Deep Space Nine the year before. The hope was to get fans to enjoy the new show and get the cast from The Next Generation to start a whole new film franchise. It was a calculated move, but one that made sense looking at the scope of the franchise.

The first venture to the big screen for the new crew would be Star Trek: Generations also in 1994. The cast and crew from The Next Generation found themselves working double time to finish the television series and work on the feature film all at the same time. To entice fans of The Original Series back into the theaters, Captain Kirk would appear in the film and play a major role in the plot. To pull off this time traveling adventure the script went through many revisions. The result was a film that was very muddled from a story perspective. In the end, the movie was a financial success, proving that The Next Generation was popular enough to continue with films. But critical reception was mixed. No one loved the film, and many found much to dislike. But few felt it was as poor as The Final Frontier, so that is something to smile about.

No better way to start the morning. Spot of tea and
a Klingon babe who can crochet.

The next year Star Trek: Voyager arrived on television. Paramount was going all in with this era of Star Trek entertainment.  This was about the time where Star Trek reached its apex of popularity. Paramount moved forward confidently with Star Trek: First Contact, arriving in 1996. The movie used one of the most popular and dangerous enemies of the Star Trek universe, the Borg. It mirrored The Wrath of Khan in many ways, driving up the stakes, making the characters the focus and injecting plenty of action. The impressive budget allowed for some top notch visual effects. Most impressive of all was the commitment to tone. This is a dark gritty movie that keeps things tense and intriguing. Director Jonathan Frakes used his familiarity with the cast and crew to execute an impressive film. Fans loved every minute of it. Critics were also kind, and found a lot to like about the movie and the cast. It was a financial success coming close to the high point reached by The Voyage Home. Everyone seemed pleased with the film and was looking forward to more.

"She's trying to kill him. I just caught her."

More was on the way. In 1998, with Frakes once again at the helm, Star Trek: Insurrection arrived in theaters. This time the decision was made to make the film lighter and a bit more action heavy. First Contact was very dark, and the thought was that fans of the series would like a breather after that. Unfortunately several rewrites of the script ended up with something that felt like an extended episode of the television series. But the high budget and some gorgeous location shooting gave the movie a big screen presence.  Critical and fan response was mixed. For many this felt like a step back, lacking the impact to the characters and storylines they were seeing in the television series Deep Space Nine which was heading into its final season and raising tension and stakes to ridiculous levels. Insurrection felt tame in comparison. General audiences enjoyed it well enough, and the film was financially successful. But Paramount was beginning to suspect that they had oversaturated the market with Star Trek and decided to hold off on any further films for longer than usual.

Titanic, Star Trek style?

Deep Space Nine and Voyager ended in 1999 and 2001 respectively.  While both shows had their fans, the two series never grew into the pop culture force that The Original Series and The Next Generation did. Paramount didn’t feel comfortable trying to leverage either storyline into a full blown movie franchise. So they decided to craft a new series, one that took place before Captain Kirk’s time. Star Trek: Enterprise (or Enterprise as it was first called) arrived on screens in 2001. It was Paramount trying hard to bring in new fans to a new series they could call their own.

Troi just loves putting her feet up... on the phaser controls.

In 2002, after an extended delay Star Trek: Nemesis arrived in theaters. Paramount made no secret that this would be the last film for the crew of The Next Generation. They wanted to try to cultivate what they hoped would be a new, more popular series of adventures with the folks from Enterprise. Once again the focus of the film would be based on The Wrath of Khan template. Romulans were the enemies this time, and the focus on massive space battles at the end promised visual spectacle. They also tried to take the dark visuals of First Contact and give the film a more gritty look. The final result was a movie that didn’t appeal to anyone. Critics felt it was mediocre at best. Fans really disliked some of the plot points and the paint by numbers script. Even the cast wasn’t happy with this one. Much like The Final Frontier before it Nemesis was released during an insane year for sequels. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Die Another Day and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets all came out the same year. To many folks Star Trek looked old next to these newer franchises.  Nemesis was a critical and commercial failure and ended the film tenure of the Next Generation crew on a sour note.

You can't see the green alien babe dancing behind
the camera.

Paramount also miscalculated on the appeal of their new series Enterprise. Long time fans were turned off by the inconsistency within the Star Trek cannon. Others disliked the recycling of stories from previous series in the franchise. Had the saga run out of things to say? Others found the ramped up attempts at sex appeal and action to be too different from what had been established in the tone of The Next Generation series. Producers tried hard to turn things around in the third and fourth seasons, but ratings kept dropping. Enterprise ended its run in 2005 with a series finale that pretty much pissed everyone off.

Most science fiction fans wept a tear that day, figuring that Star Trek had taken its final voyage. Many of us were ready to move on. But Paramount wasn’t. Star Trek was a money making franchise, even if they never really understood it. They let some time pass and also decided that it was time to go back to basics. Star Trek’s most popular incarnation (and still the financial high point for the films) was the original series. If they could somehow leverage new stories in that universe, with familiar characters, they could bring Star Trek back to life.

The impact of Batman Begins as well as Casino Royale in 2008 must have convinced them that a reboot was not only possible, but the most likely way to get people back into theaters. They could recast with younger actors, get a popular director who knew his way around television series and big budget films. They went to J.J. Abrams, who had just made Mission Impossible III a success for Paramount, and asked him to reboot the franchise.

"Did you just die on the first Goomba?"

It was a bold move. But hey, Star Trek is all about being bold, right? The film started from the ground up, redesigning nearly everything to keep it visually familiar, but still new and fresh looking. Careful casting and a story that combined plenty of action and character interaction was penned. Big budget visual effects were brought in. And a key appearance by Leonard Nimoy as Spock would hook the old timers who were curious but cautious about the whole endeavor. And instead of a hard reboot which would alienate the more cannon obsessed fans, they used time travel to create an alternate time line. So now both storylines could exist in the same universe. Very clever. Perhaps the biggest change was the shift of focus to fun. Star Trek would be a film focused on providing a good time to the audience. No deep themes. No navel gazing or long conversations here. Just witty quips, plenty of action and excitement, and a cast that sparkled. It all worked wonderfully. Star Trek was a critical and financial success. Nostalgia for the old series was tapped into, but new viewers were also engaged with the fun characters and action. Yes, some hard core fans grumbled. This wasn’t their Trek. But nearly everyone else enjoyed the film for what it was. It lead to Star Trek being the most financially successful film in the franchise. Paramount was ready for more.

Run toward the red foliage, you'll blend right in.

Abrams stayed on board for the next film Star Trek into Darkness in 2013. Once again the decision was made to mimic Wrath of Khan, but more than just in story structure, but in full on story. The visual style was kept, but leaned more toward grey and black to give the movie a darker feel. Popular British actor Benedict Cumberbatch stepped into the role of Khan. Like the previous film, there is plenty of action and space adventure. But the story is much darker, with actual ties to current events. The script does take lines and moments from previous films and attempts to spin them in unexpected ways. But this ended up doing more harm than good. The tonal shift ended up disappointing those looking for a fun time (and would get it in Guardians of the Galaxy the next year). The script similarities and recasting of Khan would really vex other fans, who called it a mockery of some of the best of classic Trek. Critics generally seemed to enjoy the film. But there was a taint around it in general fandom that persists to this day. Financially the film did extremetly well, eventually surpassing the previous film overall.

"I don't see any booze. You said there was going to
be booze."

This guaranteed a sequel. Abrams left to work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the franchised shifted to Justin Lin. Star Trek Beyond was due in theaters in 2015, the 50^th anniversary of the franchise. Lin went back to the format of the 2009 film and focused on fun and action as the guiding force for the movie. He also had a script that tried to feel more tied to the spirit of The Original Series more than the previous two film had. There are plenty of references to the older series in the film, as well as nods to all kinds of Trek lore. Unfortunately the focus on big action and banter continued to rub some Trek fans the wrong way. Some viewers fun with the film, but felt it was too lightweight. Other felt that the series was hurtling further and further from the original vision of Star Trek, and felt Beyond was further evidence of Paramount not understanding the franchise beyond a money making machine. Critical response was mixed. But financially the film barely broke even. (and some estimate that it didn’t). It was a disappointment for all involved.

While Star Trek Beyond was in production, Paramout felt the financial success of Into Darkness meant it was time to start up a new television series based on Star Trek. The goal was create something new and exciting for their new online network, and Star Trek: Discovery got the green light. It seems to have had some changes in direction during production and trailers have received a mixed reaction. Visually it looks a lot like the J.J. Abrams films. But it is supposed to take place before the events of The Original Series. Sounds like Enterprise all over again, but I’m willing to give it a shot. We’ll see if Beyond’s financial performance impacts the series. Who knows, if the series does take off, we might have more Star Trek films in the future.

It takes a special kind of guy to fall
for a Borg Queen.

Anime Juke Box - No Need for Promises - The Vision of Escaflowne

Been a while since the old Anime Juke Box has spun some j-pop for you. I was going through some of my older anime soundtracks and ran into all three of the wonderful CDs for Vision of Escaflowne. The music was co-composed by wonder woman Yoko Kanno and her husband at the time Hajime Mizoguchi. The score is one of her most bombastic orchestral powerhouses, with amazing action cues, sweeping romance and gothic horror. It works well in the series and is always a treat to listen to.

But Kanno's skills go well beyond her ability to compose for orchestra. She almost always writes the opening and ending pop/rock songs for the anime series she works on. Vision of Escaflowne is no exception. She gets the series started with this cheerful number called No Need for Promises. Like most J-pop of the 90s it is perky, happy, and well produced. Kanno has a thing for using bagpipes in her 90s scores and songs, so you get an interlude with them here too.

Perhaps the biggest thing about this song is that Kanno got the voice actress playing the main role of Hitomi to sing the song. The actress's name is Maaya Sakamoto, and this song launched her successful singing career at the tender age of 16. Kanno and Sakamoto worked on many projects afterward, with Kanno even writing the songs for an entire album of Sakamoto's songs. Both women are still hard at work in the world of film and anime music to this day. So here is where it all began with No Need for Promises from Vision of Escaflowne, written by Yoko Kanno and sung by Maaya Sakamoto.

Werewolf (1996) - MST3K Review

Summary:

An archeological team lead by Noel (Richard Lynch) discovers the bones of a native American werewolf. After an sudden bout of fisticuffs, one of the diggers scratches himself on the bones and becomes a werewolf. Yuri (George Rivero), one of the other workers on the dig starts seeing dollar signs. He goes out of his way to create another werewolf in order to gain fame and fortune. 

This leads to him infecting Paul Niles (Fred Cavalli) a writer who is interested in giving money to the research. Now Paul is transforming all over the place, and the only one who can help him is Natalie Burke (Adrianna Miles) another archeologist involved with the dig. Can the combined forces of Joe Estevez, mutating hair pieces, a grubby looking grounds keeper, a woman with no pants and a champagne swilling security guard save the city of Flagstaff from an assault of bizarre accents and a rampaging Werewolf?

Review:

Beware the were-bat-dog-bear-wolf... um... thingie.

This movie really is a mess: poorly acted, poorly written and poorly directed, there really isn’t anything effective in the final product at all. But let’s take it apart and see what we have.

The story is constructed very badly, with a good 15 to 20 minutes of the film not even involving the main character Paul, which you could argue is a good thing, but I digress. Instead time is used to set up the dig, discovery of the bones, establishing our scientists and the legend of the native American lycanthrope. Viewers begin to think that maybe Yuri is our leading man, which is alarming because he is a real jerk.

No this is not one of the cheap werewolf effects, it is
only Sam the groundskeeper.

When Paul shows up in Werewolf it seems like he’s in a wacky sitcom, arriving at a new home, and meeting the bizarre groundskeeper Sam (R.C. Bates) who is channelling his inner "old coot" right from the first second you see him. You begin to wonder if you’re watching a totally different film, one about the hi-larous adventures of a young writer and his off the wall friends in beautiful downtown Flagstaff. Finally Paul interacts with the scientific trio during a party scene (that seems to come out of no where) and the stories connect in a barely coherent way.

Still some things never make any sense. How does the native American werewolf work? Lots of shots are given to the full moon, but the movie happens over the course of several days – is it always full? Paul just seems to transform whenever the mood strikes him. He attacks randomly, and not for food or defending himself, just because he’s bored or something. He claims to be out of control at one point, and yet Sam and Natalie are able to calm him. Just what’s going on here?

Paul suddenly realizes that the blinds are out acting him.

Combined the unclear script you’ve got unclear direction and bad acting on top of it. Werewolf doesn't stand a chance. Based on the way the story is constructed, it seems like the audience is supposed to feel bad for Paul at the end of the film, but no effort was made to make us care about him. The most we know  is that he’s a writer who is never seen writing. Yuri is a jerk because… um, he’s a jerk. And then there’s Natalie, who is one of the least convincing scientists I’ve seen since Denise Richards in The World is Not Enough. Some scenes attempt to create tension and suspense but only serve to make things a lot sillier.

Adding to the haphazard nature of the script is the thoroughly bad and inconsistent werewolf effects. At times the werewolf is only a hairy man. Sometimes he’s more of the Lon Chaney Jr. Wolf Man variety. Then other times he’s a bat headed looking puppet. And then you’ve got the bear suit with a sorry looking wolf mask on top of it. All of these are used without any reason or rhyme, it just seems to fall on how the director wanted the thing to look at that moment. The scenes are then jumbled during the editing creating entire scenes where the werewolf looks completely different over a three minute sequence. For a movie called Werewolf you expect something a little more consistent.

Yuri holds the head while Noel makes the mouth work.

The three leads deliver various bad performances. The best is George Rivero as Yuri. He’s a real jerk from the first scene you see him in. He rants and raves and growls. The first scene he is in involves him getting into a fight for basically no reason. This "character trait" is repeated throughout the movie. In many ways he’s more intimidating and unpredictable than the actual werewolf (something the director really could have worked with). Unfortunately there is his hair, which seems to change in just about every scene he’s in. Was it a series of wigs or just bad continuity? We’ll never know, but it’s very distracting. Then you have his accent, which is pretty thick at times and ends up making his lines hard to follow.

Fred Cavalli as Paul has a slightly less noticeable accent, but his acting is less convincing. He is bland. You never believe that he is much peril because he seems pretty nonchalant about the whole thing.  I would think transforming into a flesh tearing monster would be at least a little frightening. But what do I know? Without that element we never connect with Paul and you just end up wondering how goofy his werewolf effect is going to look in the next shot.

"Rack 'em" "Why do people always say 'rack' around me?"

I’ve saved the best for last. No way to sidestep around this. Adriana Miles as Natalie is really bad. Her accent is thick, her performance is wooden. Her chief assists are under the tight shirts she wears. As a scientist she’s completely unconvincing. You really get the feeling that half the time she doesn't know what she is saying, doesn't really follow the script - or maybe just doesn't care and is there to pick up a paycheck.  As a woman who’s grasp of English is very slight, she’s very convincing. I understand she spends most of the love scene topless and I think that is the real reason she was hired. But with the MST3K version of Werewolf, we get an edited love scene, so we just have to make due with her performance. Lucky us!

Not even the power of an Estevez can save this movie!

Supporting cast is surprisingly good. Joe Estevez does his best with a very small part as the digger Joel. He reacts with real horror to what is going on in the film (must have seen the finished product). Sure he had a juicer role in Soultaker but it's nice to see him in this one. Richard Lynch is a veteran of low budget films and television, and he knows how to actually bring some seriousness to his parts. His scenes of explaining the legends of the werewolf actually contain the best acting in the film. Too bad they stuck in him some truly stupid looking outfits. Then there’s the completely random role of Sam the groundskeeper. Bates looks like Castro, talks like Yosemite Sam and is a breath of fresh air in the stale film. His character serves no purpose other than comic relief, and even if he isn’t that funny, he goes for the part with gusto.

Looked at as a whole, Werwolf doesn’t scare, doesn’t thrill and really doesn’t make sense. It sounds like a perfect candidate for Mike and the bots.

MST3K Review:

And then the werewolf savagely kills Bob Villa!

By this time in the show’s run, Mystery Science Theater hadn’t tackled too many werewolf films. There was Mad Monster back in Season 1, and I Was a Teeneage Werewolf in Season Eight. But other than those they hadn’t really been delving into the lycanthrope scene. Well it seemed right to jump from a Puma Man to a Werewolf, because – well give equal time to all animals. On top of that, this is the most recent movie they had done up to this point, with Werewolf being released in 1996, and this show first airing in 1998. It ended up becoming one of the funniest episodes of season nine.

Werewolf, or warwelf, or vilvulf or who the hell knows!

There’s a lot to like about his episode. The riffing is spot on, with all kinds of things providing laughs and sources for running jokes. Yuri’s constantly changing hair provokes the bots to figure out who he’s trying to look like in this scene. 

The transformation scenes in Werewolf are a random mess of the victim flopping around interspersed with shots of the full moon and the werewolf skeleton found at the opening of the film. Mike and the bots start wonder about lunar cycles in Flagstaff (where the movie is supposed to take place). The film takes place over several days (and possibly weeks). Yet there is always a full moon. No some werewolf mythologies don't tie into the moon at all, but the director keeps showing it, as if it has some significance. The constant cutting to the bones, with the skull's jaws flapped open leads Tom to sing Ave Maria every time it is on the screen.

The werewolf driving the car cracks me up every time.
And then the boys riff on it, and it is even funnier.

But it is poor Natalie who just opens the door for all kinds of comedic lines. Her bad line readings, thick accent and pointless actions are the real goldmine for the show and they run with it. Her line, “Diss ees obsoluely fusscinating,” becomes a running joke in the film and crops up when you least expect it. Added to that is that not a single of our foreign friends can pronounce the word “werewolf” correctly or the same from scene to scene.

There are a few slow spots here and there, mostly because Werewolf is so aimless and there is a lot of reuse of random footage (the moon again, the bones again, Paul flopping around on his bed again), that they begin to run out of creative lines for the redundant scenes. Aside from that, it’s a very good riffing session.

They actually nail the 1950 girl group ballad style, even
dressed like this.

The host segments aren’t bad either. It starts with Mike channeling James Lipton from Inside the actors studio and then attempting to escape from the Satellite of love via a very long ladder – it doesn’t work out so well. Then they run through what famous siblings they would want in their werewolf film (inspired by Joe Estevez). The third segment has Mike and bots dressed as a 50’s girl group and singing about their main squeeze who happens to be a werewolf. When Mike stumbles on Crow while leaving the theater, he begins to transform into a were-crow: silliness ensues. The last segment has the Crow, Were-crow and Tom (now turning into a Were-Mike) chatting with Pearl as she attempts to create her own werewolf. But Bobo botches it all by brining a cute cocker spaniel instead of a wolf. I’d love to see a were-cocker!

Werewolf is one of my favorite episodes of season nine. I give it four full moons out of five. Just hope I don’t turn into a wurwelf, or werewulf, or warwilf – or however you say it.

This episode is available in the MST3K 20th Anniversary box set.

And now, the many hair styles of Yuri...

Yuri Mark 1 - Ernest Scientist hair

Yuri Mark 2 - Puffed up Prick hair

Yuri Mark 3 - Dr. Chad Feelgood hair

Yuri Mark 4 - Sleek and Sneaky hair

Yuri Mark 5 - Agressive Pool Player hair

Yuri Mark Dead - Now my hair can be free in the wild

Escape from L.A. (1996)

Introduction:

I knew plenty of people who wanted to see Snake Plissken return to the big screen. Escape from New York was such a fun blast of action adventure it seems like it would be a no brainer to return to the character. It took over a decade to finally get everyone back on board and put Snake into a new city, with new dangers and a new objective. The only problem was, “new” wasn’t really on the agenda.

Summary:

Before you can say “Doh!”, the President of the United States (Cliff Robertson) loses the key to his doomsday weapon, a ring of satellites that can destroy all technology in any specific area he chooses. All because his daughter Utopia (A.J. Langer) falls head of heels for revolutionary Cuervo Jones (George Corraface) and steals the key and heads into Los Angeles. And wouldn’t you know it, L.A. is now an isolated island (thanks to an earthquake) and deportation location for undesirables.

So the powers that be grab Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) to go on a covert mission to retrieve the key, and kill Utopia, who has really disappointed her father. What follows in an action packed romp through L.A. as Snake meets new allies and enemies. Is Map to the Stars Eddie (Steve Buscemi) going to betray him? Will Taslima (Valeria Golino) end up as his girl? Is that really Bruce Campbell under all that make up as the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills? Keep an eye out for appearances by Pam Grier, Peter Fonda and Stacy Keach as our anti-hero attempts to Escape From L.A.

Good Points:

• Kurt Russell is still the ultimate bad ass
• The movie keeps it’s pace moving and it’s tone light
• Contains some solid action scenes

Bad Points:

• The plot and structure are nearly identical to the original film
• The satirical tone of the film will annoy some viewers
• Seems a bit tame compared to the original

Overall:

You’ve got to approach this movie with the knowledge that it is pretty much a satire of Escape from New York. The edginess, darkness and gritty feel of the previous film are replaced by a wink and nod from the creative team. Everything here is over the top, the action, the humor, and the fact that the movie is pretty much a rehash of the previous film. It’s all part of the joke. You’ll either find this amusing, or kind of stale. Once you realize this, the movie is a blast of pure entertainment. It adds some social commentary to the mix and presents us with a bad ass Snake Plissken again. I’m still on the fence. I would have liked a bit more of an edge in the film, but I can’t say I wasn’t entertained.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 4

Script: 3

Music: 4

Direction: 3

Entertainment: 3

Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Introduction:

Although people like to complain how Hollywood has no new ideas these days, the problem was actually alive and well back in the 1990s. That was the decade that brought us films based on Saturday Night Live characters and The Beverly Hillbillies movie. But there was some good that came out of it. Tom Cruise wanted an action vehicle to star in and he picked the old 60s espionage series Mission: Impossible. It started a film franchise, but does the first film hold up?

Summary:

It was just an ordinary impossible mission for Jim Phelps (Jon Voight instead of Peter Graves in the role) and his crew. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is Phelps right hand man and leading the team in the field. But before you can say double-cross, everyone on the team is killed and Ethan is the prime suspect. With the rest of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) hunting him down, Ethan turns to a set of disavowed agents to help clear his name.

The cat and mouse game begins, as Ethan goes underground recruiting his new team, while dealing with an arms dealer, breaking into the IMF headquarters and getting in and out of all kinds of scrapes. Can Ethan trust anyone on his ragtag crew, or is this one Mission: Impossible that he won’t survive? The impressive cast includes: Emmanuelle Beart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave and Emiio Estevez.

Good Points:

• A twisty story just made to build suspense
• Solid casting helps the whole thing flow
• De Palmas visual style is a perfect fit

Bad Points:

• For some folks the story is a bit too twisty
• Those looking for action will be disappointed
• I didn’t need to see Jon Voight’s cheeks vibrating across my screen

Overall:

One of the many spy films of the 1990s, but one that holds up well to repeat watching. DePalma’s sure handed direction keeps the movie suspenseful and exciting. You can’t turn your brain off if you want to follow the plot, but it’s not nearly as complicated as some folks complained. Cruise makes the character of Hunt compelling and watchable. It’s easy to see why this launched a franchise.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review. 

Mission: Impossible Reviews

• Mission: Impossible
• Mission: Impossible 2
• Mission: Impossible 3
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
• Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Tenchi Muyo: Tenchi in Love (1996)

Introduction:

With the huge success of the television incarnation of Tenchi Universe, AIC and Pioneer knew that they had to bring Tenchi and the gals to the big screen. They figured they’d stick with the television continuity (and ignore the open end of the second series of the OAV). This movie would be bigger than the television series, include some new family members and include all the main characters for a huge blast of animated fun. And since it was a space opera, might as well grab the one storyline they hadn’t done yet – time travel!

Summary:

It was just another day at the Masaki house until Tenchi (Matt Miller) started to disappear right in front of Ryoko (Petrea Burchard) and Princess Ayeka’s (Jennifer Darling) eyes! Washu (Kate T. Voigt) uses her super scientific powers to determine that some event in the past is being changed and unless they stop it, Tenchi will cease to exist.

Galaxy Police detectives Kiyone (Sherry Lynn – in a duel role!) and Mihoshi (Ellen Gerstell) know that the incredibly powerful and dangerous entity Kain (Michael Scott Ryan) has escaped from Galaxy Police headquarters and disappeared. The gang travels back to 1970 to intercept Kain, and stop him from killing Tenchi’s mother Achika (Grace Zandarski) and thus destroying the future before it begins!

Good Points:

• The movie does some great things with visual scope during the climax
• All the main characters play a key role in the plot
• Turns Achika into an interesting character

Bad Points:

• Borrows very obviously from two popular time travel films
• Has serious pacing problems
• Doesn’t do anything new with the existing characters

Overall:

There is a lot of potential in this story to do some interesting things, but the movie goes exactly where you expect it. There are some funny moments, some cool action scenes but not much else to hang onto. Part of the problem is the pacing, which includes some odd jumping around in the narrative and repetition. It’s a case of playing it too safe, and the result is a movie that has its moments, but never makes a big impression.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 5

Acting: 4

Script: 2

Music: 3

Direction: 2

Entertainment: 3

Total:  3

In Depth Review

Trying to prove that Tenchi isn't dense?

When it comes to the Tenchi movies, Tenchi in Love is usually considered the best of the three. I’ve never understood that. For me, it was the weakest, with a plot that was so familiar and a villain that was so two dimensional that I was never invested in the threat. So this time when I sat down to watch the movie, I was going to open my mind up and see if this time the whole thing clicked.

I could never fault the animation or the sound. The first half of the film, spent around the Misaki household and at the school in 1970 doesn’t do too much to impress visually. Even the character animation looks a little inconsistent, and closer to what we’d seen in Tenchi Universe. But Kain’s escape and the destruction of the Galaxy Police headquarters is impressive. Even more impressive is the final scenes in Tokyo and Kain’s confrontation in an alternate dimension. Both sequences have a lot more detail in the backgrounds and include plenty of motion and action. The Tokyo scenes are most impressive adding a bit of realism to the world Tenchi (and standing in sharp contrast to the backgrounds created for the Tenchi in Tokyo television series in 1997).

Tokyo Tower plays a key role in the film.

Sound effects are typical stuff, with a bit more power behind them given the bigger budget. The scenes in Tokyo include lots of hustle and bustle, and the battles with Kain include some powerful sound effects. As s side note, when this DVD came out in the late ‘90s it was a huge deal – because it was the first anime DVD with THX mastering. It does have some nice bass in it, especially at the end when Kiyone fires her giant gun.

The music was composed and performed by Christopher Franke of Tangerine Dream fame. As such the music is very electronic. It has some nice moments, mostly during the romantic scenes between Tenchi’s parents, or the nostalgic scenes during the epilogue. But his work during the action scenes and the material based around Kain just doesn’t work for me. It lacks power and intensity. Compared to the work in the second Tenchi film, Daughter of Darkness, Ko Otani’s score is much more intense and interesting. The end credits song isn’t too bad, with music written by Franke and sung as a duet in English and by the voice actress for Achika in Japanese.

The English voice cast had been performing in the roles for so long that they easily jump into them and nail them. At the time this was one of the longest performing English dub casts in anime (probably surpassed only by Ranma ½), and they are all professionals. Even actress Grace Zandarski had performed in the OAV series of Tenchi’s grandmother, so she was familiar with the series. All in all it’s a solid vocal performance balancing the humor and the drama really well.

Kain emerges from the depths.

Where the film falls apart for me is the story and direction. The basic plot of traveling back in time to save the present and future is as old as science fiction itself. In fact, if the Tenchi series didn’t tackle it, I would have been surprised. But to actually have the same plot from Terminator 2 which was still pretty fresh in everyone’s mind only five years later seems like too obvious a borrowing. Then they add the whole thing of Tenchi helping his parents meet and fall in love while trying to avoid direct contact with them – and you’ve got your Back to the Future thrown in for good measure.

None of this is given enough of a twist to make it not seem like a direct rip off of the two other films. Tenchi in Love could have created some other potential issues with time and space, even stuck to the whole idea of saving the parents to save himself. But what little changes are made, just aren’t enough to keep the viewer from thinking this story was thrown together.

Tenchi faces his nemesis.

Then there are the moments that don’t make any sense other than to force some comedy into the proceedings. Tenchi goes back in time with Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi, Kiyone, Sasami and Ryo-oki. Only Washu stays behind to mess with her machines and prepare to pull them back into the present. I can see sending Tenchi back, and even Ryoko (who’s combat skills would be needed against Kain) and Ayeka (who has some powers of her own). But Mihoshi is a walking disaster (this the television version of Mihoshi who is 8 times dumber than the OAV version). Kiyone is a good choice, because she’s an excellent detective. Sasami? She’s um, cute and all, but why did she go back. Ryo Oki? Again, no reason to send the cabbit back either.

Nope the only reason is so that we can have wacky hijinks as Mihoshi attempts to blend into the Japanese school as a teacher.  Really? Kiyone would think that was a good idea? Mihoshi is an idiot, how the hell is she supposed to teach a class and blend. They have Kiyone go undercover as the janitor. WHAT? Have Kiyone play teacher and Mihoshi mop the halls. She can’t screw that up… oh wait, yes she can.

Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko doubt the veracity of your claim.

Sasami, Ryo Oki and even Tenchi end up getting sidelined during the time travel, popping up  to remind us that Tench is going to disappear if they don’t’ find Kain. Ryoko and Ayeka get the best material, pretending to be students and interacting with Tenchi’s parents, and bickering among themselves naturally. These scenes at the school just never clicked in the humor department because it all seems forced and ridiculous.

Pacing in the first half is also a mess. The movie starts with Kains escape, a huge action scene perfect to get Tenchi in Love off to an explosive start. But after that, there are flash forwards to the past (I know, writing it now makes no sense), then back to the current time line. Then you get people remembering things that happened only ten minutes ago and wasting valuable story momentum (I’m thinking this was to keep the budget down). I can’t tell if the script just wasn’t fleshed out or the director wasn’t sure how to keep the whole thing moving in the middle, but it’s a muddled mess.

But once Washu provides the details of when Kain will attack and the best plan to defeat him, the movie gets on track and all the characters get to help out. The second half of the movie is worth seeing and has the best animated sequences to boot. I also like the inclusion of the under cover Galaxy Police agent who acts as a red herring for the first portion of the film. A little more could have been done with him (and his relationship with Kiyone and Mihoshi – who he seems awfully dismissive of). In the end he doesn’t do much to help against Kain, but what we do get seems to have a cool idea never fully fleshed out.

Tenchi's parents in high school.

In the end, I like Achika as a character. Her character development and the early romance between her and Nobuyuki (Tenchi’s dad) is the saving grace of the first half. Her interaction with Ayeka and Ryoko makes for some of the best comedic moments. And Tenchi’s ability to see his mother, who died when he was very young, is touching.

This element comes into play in the finale, when Achika takes on Kain by herself, using all her energy and Jurai powers (she is related by blood to the royal family of Planet Jurai) to save Nobuyuki and a son she doesn’t know yet. Tenchi realizes that because of this whole time travel adventure – his mother’s life was shortened to protect him. It’s a bittersweet victory, something that the series never really delved into, and does well here.

Even after near death, nothing really changes.

For me the whole thing boils down to an entertaining movie, but one that could have been so much better if just a little more time had been spent on the script and the planning of scenes. It really feels like the idea of going back in time appealed to the creators, and the second half of the story was fully fleshed out. But when it came time to build up to that second half, no one could come up with material that would work. Tenchi in Love is really uneven, but still manages to entertain the audience and give us a little insight into Tenchi’s family. Why it is called Tenchi in Love? I still have no idea. Tenchi in Pain would be a better name (after all the groaning he does when he almost disappears) Worth checking out if you really enjoyed the series or Tenchi Universe a lot and need more. But kind of skippable otherwise. It was followed by a direct sequel, Tenchi Forever in America or Tenchi Muyo in Love 2 in Japan.