ENTERPRISE:

So, A new Star Trek series. How is it? Not bad. A bunch of good stuff, and some poor stuff as well. You can tell the producers really wanted to remake the original series. You got the Kirk, Spock McCoy trio replicated. You got more sex and violence and even a swearing captain! The touchy-feely Next Generation is miles away from this series. Unfortunately, they hammer that point home in very poor style with a boring, 10min gunfight, a completely awkward "sexy" decontamination scene, and a laughable "AAAAAASSSSSSS" from the captain. On the good side the series looks amazing. Great visual effects, great ship interiors. The technology isn't the "magic" of the previous series, and I love how the Enterprise isn't the most powerful ship in the show. I was digging it in the second episode when the Enterprise's torpedoes bounced off an enemies shield. That's more like it.

My biggest disappointment is that the producers would like you forget the original series. Continuity and design wise the original Star Trek never happened. That's too bad. Star Trek: TOS (the original series) is the foundation. You shouldn't put it in a closet. There's a lot of charm in those '60s set designs and costumes. It would have been incredible if they had attempted to bridge the gap, a la DS9's tribble episode. Mobile Suit Gundam, another long running sci-fi series had a similar problem. The 1979 original series was regarded as having poor production values, goofy designs and cheesy concessions to the toymakers. In '89 a new series, "Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket" redesigned the whole world, making it slicker and more realistic. People were supposed to forget the way the original series looked. For a few years they did, but it didn't last. There was too much love and respect for the original. New productions now hew close to the design style of the original Gundam series. Gundam: 08th MS Team did a masterful job of taking the goofy original designs and giving them a little dose of realism. Now it's 0080 that's the marginalized series, looking out of place in the continuity. The producers of Enterprise, instead of starting from a blank sheet and then adding little token TOS touchs--should have started with the original series' design style and gradually updated that. It would have married TOS closer into the Star Trek family instead of pushing it further away. Ultimately, I think what they are doing is bad for the Star Trek franchise.

Now I have some comments on the Enterprise ship design. You can already tell that I wish it would have been closer to the original series design style. Many fans are complaining that it's only a recycled "Akira"-class ship. My number one complaint--based on strictly artist conventions is that it's too flat. In an effort to look sleek and cool ship designs in Star Trek have been getting flatter and flatter but they went way too far in this instance, especially for a "Hero" ship. By being so flat, you limit the number of interesting, dynamic angles the ship can be seen from. It isn't as recognizable from many angles as well. A good ship design should be recognized instantly from any angle in silhouette. And the more dynamic and interesting shapes various viewing angles afford, the better. This new Enterprise only looks good from a few points. Startling bad mecha design. I wonder who's to blame?

Before I finish up, I have just a few more comments. The Vulcans really come off looking bad. I dare say they will be the real victims of this series. From the first two episodes I've seen there's some interesting things going on and it is visually stunning. There seems to been a blatant "Humans are the best" thread going through Enterprise. I hope it stops quickly because I can't put up with 7years of that. And please, ditch that opening as soon as possible.

ROBOTS FOR THE KIDS:

Robots seem to be replacing Dinosaurs as the latest kid obsession. Many new robot toylines and T.V. shows are appearing. Even hard-core classic toymaker Tonka is making toy trucks that transform into robots. Let's take a look at some new robot shows aimed at kids and see if they hold any interest for those whose age has more than one digit.

Medabots:

Take Pokemon and replace the animals with robots, cheaper animation, and less charm and you have Medabots. Pretty dull stuff, visually and storywise. The merchandising is a bit blatant as well. Don't bother with this one.

Heavy Gear:

A big disappointment. Kids shows work so much better when you start with a simple world and childlike concept, then layer complexities over that to add depth--instead of taking a more mature setting and watering it down to feed to children. Unfortunately that's right where Heavy Gear sits. It doesn't help that Heavy Gear itself borrows heavily from Votoms, one the most serious, realistically portrayed robot war stories ever. Even without the baggage of knowing where the concept came from Heavy Gear is weak. The CG from Mainframe is a step backwards. The characters and stories are your subpar. Just stay away.

Cubix:

A CG animated kid's show with robots. Refreshingly absent from this series are the gladiator combats which, with the success of Pokemon seem to invade every show with a toy tie-in. Instead the battling occurs because "solex" gets into robots and makes them crazy. It's a fun sort of fantasy world where robots are everywhere from the soda machines to the gas pumps. Childish, yes, but it doesn't pretend to be anything more. The computer graphics in Cubix are very good for a TV series, that alone makes this one worth a look or two.

Transformers- Robots in Disguise:

Back in North America as a cell animated series, the Transformers bring a lot of nostalgia with them. Those who grew up with the Transformers in the 80's will likely get a grin watching cars morph back into robots. There's a number of improvements that make these Transformers fun to watch. For one, the robots are drawn very true to the toys. Since many of the cars transformed into poor looking robots with car doors and bumpers hanging off of them, that's what you get to see animated, robots with car doors hanging off them--very fun. There's also a cute little hologram that helps them out, a much better mascot than bumblebee and spike were. And then there's Skybite. As comic relief this shark/robot trumps Grimlock with his naiveté and by composing Haikus while looking like some robot freakshow with big sharp teeth. A worthy successor.