Father’s Day 2009

Tomorrow is Father’s Day, but I’ll be doing my “Top 10 TV Dads” today. (Actually, it’s 11, but I combined two of them, since I admire them for the same reason).

1. Ed Conner (Roseanne) and Martin Crane (Frasier): Both lied to their kids to protect their mother’s reputation, thereby placing their own reputation on the line. Ed did not tell his son Dan about his mom’s long mental illness, taking Dan’s put-downs when Dan blamed him. And Martin told his sons he had an affair, when actually their mom Hester was the one who cheated on him! Martin knew they were closer to their late mother than to him, so he wanted to protect her memory.

2. Jack Arnold (Wonder Years): I once read in TV Guide that Jack Arnold was probably the most realistic dad on television. He was moody. He hated his job. He wasn’t always the most communicative person in the world. But we learn in the course of the series that Jack had his own hopes and dreams, which he fulfilled when he started a hardware store. And there was an especially tender moment between him and his son Kevin. After Winnie had dumped Kevin, Jack gave him a big hug and told him that thing’s wouldn’t get easier, but he’d make it. But Jack could also be tough. After Kevin falsely told his friends that he’d slept with Winnie, he informed his dad about it, expecting Jack’s sympathy as a fellow male. Instead, Jack replied, “Get on your bike and apologize to her right now.” “But what if she doesn’t forgive me?,” Kevin asked. “I wouldn’t,” Jack said.

3. President Jed Bartlett (West Wing): Jed was always closer to his daughters Zoe and Liz than to his other daughter, Eleanor, a medical student who took more after her mother. Eleanor usually avoided the limelight as the President’s daughter, until she told a newspaper that her father would never fire the Surgeon General, her godmother, who had recently promoted the legalization of marijuana. Jed was upset with his daughter, and he reflected on their tense relationship. “Why does she hate me so much?,” he asked the Surgeon General. Later in the conversation, he remarked, “She said I’d never fire the Surgeon General. That’s probably the nicest thing she’s ever said about me.”

When he came face-to-face with his own favoritism to his other daughters, he made an effort to reconcile with Eleanor. He joked with her about her medical studies, and he said, “You know, I don’t want you to be something you’re not. I just wish you visited every once in a while.” He let her know that he loved her and that she was welcome.

4. Maude’s father (Maude): There was an episode in which Maude talks to a therapist, and she tells him about her life growing up. She has bad memories about her father, claiming that he never did anything for her. Suddenly, she remembers that he once waited in the rain so he could give his daughter her prom dress (or something like that). “How could I forget that?,” Maude lamented.

5. Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith Show): One episode that comes to mind is the one in which Opie’s date to a party dumps him for someone else. Opie had a crush on this girl for a long time, and he’s reluctant to go to the party. But Andy tells Opie (in his usual folksy manner) what he did when he was younger and a girl did the same thing to him: he went to the party and had a good time. Andy was helping his son with his own life experience.

6. Cliff Huxtable (Cosby Show): I always liked the way he used humor when he lectured his kids. Even his kids got a kick out of his lectures, although he was joking at their expense! And they got new ways of looking at their situation.

7. Ward Cleaver (Leave It to Beaver): he was loving, wise, fair, and he dressed like a million bucks! There are two daddy moments that come to my mind. In one episode, little Beaver is kissed by an attractive neighbor lady, and Eddie Haskell tells Beaver that the lady’s husband will want to kill him for that. When the lady and her husband visit the Cleaver’s, Beaver defiantly says that he won’t go down to say “hi” to them. Ward at first commands Beaver to go, but, once he sees the intensity of Beaver’s defiance, he says, “Beaver, I’m not going to make you do something you don’t want to do!” He tries to get to the bottom of why Beaver won’t go down.

In another episode, Beaver tells his dad that he didn’t think parents made mistakes. Ward assures his son that parents are learning just like everyone else.

8. John Camden (7th Heaven): John wasn’t the best father to his kids Eric and Julie, but he thought he was doing the right thing. A colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, he ran his household like it was the armed services. He was tough and gruff, and he didn’t help Eric get through college, thinking Eric would build character by paying his own way. When Julie drank heavily, John remarked that her alcoholism was a result of her “poor character.”

But he and his wife become close to an orphan boy, George, and they adopt him. John resolves not to make the same mistakes with him that he made with Eric and Julie.

9. Tom Baldwin (The 4400): I can’t really pin-point why I like Joel Gretsch as a father, especially when he was so terrible at it in Stephen Spielberg’s Taken! In the 4400, he and his son are not particularly close, but he still cares about his son’s well-being and is always willing to listen when his son has something to tell him.

10. Noah Bennett (Heroes): Noah is a cold employee of the Company, which searches for mutants in order to keep track of them, sometimes killing them. But he has a soft spot for his adopted daughter, Claire, who is herself a mutant. He was reluctant to adopt her at first, since he wasn’t sure that he’d make a good father. But he turned out to be an excellent dad: one who cared for his daughter’s safety above all else, listened to his daughter’s concerns, etc. Although Claire was mad at her dad on a number of occasions, she always respected his authority, at least to his face. This, even though he wasn’t her biological father!

Have a happy Father’s Day tomorrow!

Star Trek: Spoilers Included

I just came back from Star Trek. It’s definitely a must-see on the big screen, and I just can’t get the soundtrack out of my head!

The movie had some discontinuity with the original series, and a lot of that is because of the element of time travel: a Romulan named Nero went back in time to destroy Vulcan and other planets, as an act of revenge against Ambassador Spock for failing to save Romulus. But could Nero’s presence in the past account for all of the discontinuities? For example, the Spock-Uhura romance. Remember the Star Trek episode with the flowers, the one in which we learn that Spock couldn’t have a romance in his younger years because he was so emotionally detached? Then how come he was so passionate with Uhura? Maybe it’s because she accepted him for who he was!

The acting was superb. Chris Pine did not imitate William Shatner’s Kirk until the very end, but it was still enjoyable to see him evolve from a reckless, cocky kid into a leader with gravitas. Maybe I’ll use his “Don’t you want to at least know my name before you totally reject me?” line he used on Uhura.

Zachary Quinto was good as Spock. (And there was another Heroes actor in the movie: the cop from Heroes who reads minds did the voice of Jim Kirk’s drunken stepfather.) From the previews, I thought Spock would be much more emotional and volatile, but actually he was just like the Spock we have all come to know and love: logical, cool, etc. He only blew up when he was defending his human mother, Amanda. Speaking of which, I just loved the Vulcan “trash-talking” when Spock was a kid. “I presume that you have some new insults for me today,” Spock says to three Vulcan bullies. “Affirmative,” their leader responds.

I always wondered why Spock’s dad married Amanda, when he looked at humans with such disdain (as did most Vulcans). On this movie, his eventual response was that he loved her, but he initially said, “I am the Vulcan ambassador to earth, so it is logical that I marry a human so I can know the type of people I’m dealing with” (my paraphrase–I doubt Sarek ended his sentence with a preposition!)

Something I liked from this scene was where Sarek told Spock that Vulcans are actually worse than humans in terms of emotional volatility, which is why they especially must pursue logic to arrive at serenity. That was a good counter-weight to the usual Vulcan self-righteousness and disdain for humans.

Scotty and Chekhov were all right. Scotty’s Scottish accent was underdone, and Chekhov’s Russian one was overdone. Plus, the Chekhov on the movie seemed a lot more dominant than the one in the original series. But I liked the part when he was racing to get Kirk and Sulu transported to the Enterprise. And Simon Pegg actually looks like James Doohan!

The one who gets my award is Karl Urban as Leonard McCoy! He obviously was imitating Deforest Kelley’s mannerisms from the original series, but not in a way that appeared inauthentic. He was far from being a caricature. He magnified the older McCoy’s sarcasm, and he was a lot more high-strung than the Deforest Kelley depiction. But my opinion is that McCoy calmed down with age.

I don’t think anyone can replace the actors from the original series, but the actors on this movie are lovable in their own way. I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel with them in it. And I will definitely get Star Trek when it comes out on DVD!

Heroes: What’s the Company’s Agenda?

I’m still going through Season 1 of Heroes, and I plan to watch the last episode of the season today. What I don’t understand is this: You know that Company that Mr. Bennett (a.k.a., “horn-rimmed glasses”) used to work for, the one that’s owned by Mafia boss Mr. Linderman (who strikes me as too sophisticated to be a Mafia boss, to be honest with you)? What exactly is its agenda?

In the episode “Company Man,” I get the impression that the Company is trying to get rid of the dangerous mutants: those who can pose a real danger to the people around them. It tried to kill Claire’s real mom because she had “firestarter” abilities. That’s why the Company doesn’t like its workers to become too attached to the mutants: the workers may have to kill them if they turn out to have a dangerous ability!

Okay, so the Company is concerned about dangerous mutants, right? So you’d expect it not to like a mutant who can blow up New York City with his radioactive hands, right? Not so fast, for the owner of the Company, Mr. Linderman, actually wants New York to go up in flames at the hands of a dangerous mutant! For him, that sort of disaster would make the world a better place, as people come together in response to the catastrophe. So Mr. Linderman actually desires for a dangerous mutant to succeed.

So is the Company for dangerous mutants, or against them?

Heroes: Bitter and Jaded Misanthropes

I’m still watching Season 1 of Heroes, and I’ve noticed a tension that crops up now and again. It’s between being jaded and bitter in isolation, and loving and being loved within a community.

Peter Petrelli has encountered a bitter figure who’s able to become invisible. I’ll call him “Invisible Man.” Invisible Man uses his power to steal from others, and, although he’s quite misanthropic, he cares for his birds. Invisible Man is trying to train Peter to use his powers. Basically, Peter is able to imitate the power of whatever mutant he happens to be around. If Peter’s around someone who can paint the future, then Peter can paint the future. If he’s around someone who can regenerate her wounded body, then Peter can regenerate his wounded body. You get the picture.

Invisible Man is teaching Peter to recover the abilities that he’s imitated in the past, even when Peter is not around those particular mutants. He tells Peter that he needs to have no associations with other people: he must be on his own, with no attachments. Peter learns, however, that he regains an ability when he thinks about the mutant who possesses it. For example, Peter was able to regenerate his wounded body after falling down a building when he thought about Claire, a cheerleader with that ability. He remembered how Claire is a sweet and nice person. “You told me that I need to detach myself from others,” Peter tells Invisible Man. “But, actually, I draw on my abilities when I attach myself to others–by thinking about them.”

In a later episode, Hiro’s partner has ditched him to help out a babe in Las Vegas (or so Hiro thinks). The babe locks Hiro in a closet, and he is busted out by a man who wants to catch the babe and take whatever she’s stolen. I’ll call him “Bald Guy.” Bald Guy talks about how he hates having partners, since they’ll stab you in the back. When Hiro says that his partner is an exception, Bald Guy reminds Hiro that his partner has ditched him to go with some babe. Hiro then rescues his partner is a crossfire, but he concludes that he must bear the burden of his mission alone. And so he says to Stan Lee!

Both Invisible Man and Bald Guy have had bitter experiences with other people. Invisible Man doesn’t explicitly say that, but there has to be some reason that he’s misanthropic and steals. He doesn’t fit into a community, and so he doesn’t see himself as entitled to a community. And Bald Guy has had some pretty bad partners in his past!

Peter Petrelli and Hiro, however, have had good experiences with people, so they have a more positive view of attachments, people, and community.

Personally, I identify more with Invisible Man and Bald Guy, which is why I don’t get all warm and fuzzy on the inside whenever I hear the word “community.” I admire seeing community on television–as when I watch Desperate Housewives or Stephen King’s It–but I usually don’t think of community as something that is possible for me, so I don’t get enthusiastic about it in the realm of real life.

Does such an attitude turn away others? Perhaps, but being nice doesn’t always bring a reward. We may talk about community, but, by and large, people are only interested in themselves and their friends.

But I don’t want my misanthropic attitude to degenerate into utter selfishness, which, in some sense, is what happens to Invisible Man and Bald Guy. Invisible Man steals, and Bald Guy wants to get whatever the babe has (either as part of his law enforcement job, or to get some money for himself). It’s easy for an alienated person to develop an attitude that does not care about others.

At the same time, there is always some hope. Invisible Man, after all, is training Peter to use his abilities more effectively, so a selfish person can try to make selfless decisions. Maybe Invisible Man practiced doing so by caring for his pigeons!

Heroes So Far

I’ve been watching Season 1 of Heroes, and I think I’m falling in love with the series! What’s ironic is that I didn’t like it the very first time that I saw it, when it was first on NBC.

So why the change? Here are some reasons.

1. When I first saw Heroes, I had missed the pilot, so I was clueless about much of what was going on. Who was that bald professor in India who keeps popping up, and what was his significance? To be honest, I thought he was still alive. But, actually, the whole point of the pilot was that somebody killed him because he (the professor) was researching people with special abilities. Also, the pilot allowed me to see why the guy with the horn-rimmed glasses was so important: he was in the Indian professor’s office soon after he died.

2. When I first saw Heroes, I didn’t know if the guy with the horn-rimmed glasses was a good guy or a bad guy. He was Claire’s step-father, and Claire had special abilities, and I wasn’t sure if he was a danger to her. Now, I can watch the show with the assurance that he is a good father and admire him accordingly.

The same goes for Nicole’s ex-husband, the escaped convict. I was never really sure if he was a danger to Nicole and their son. Now, I have assurance that he is a loving father who is trying to be a true hero with his abilities. I really liked the tender “daddy moments” between him and his son, as they talked about comic books and monsters. And, as with Claire’s dad, I can admire him as I watch the series, whatever his imperfections.

3. One of my favorite movies is M. Night Shamaylan’s Lady in the Water. I don’t care if it won a bunch of Golden Raspberry Awards–I still like it! On that movie was a little boy who could decode the voice of God by reading cereal boxes. The actor who played that little boy is Nicole’s son in Heroes. I didn’t have that positive association when I first watched the show, but now I do. It’s like being in a high school cafeteria and seeing someone you know.

4. Whenever Hiro and his friend talked, I got annoyed. It’s kind of like the Sun and Jin episodes of Lost. I have to stop doing my homework so I can read the dialogue. And I rarely know when it’s coming, so I end up missing part of it. I still have that annoyance, but at least now I can rewind the DVD to see the dialogue again. And I’m getting to really like Hiro, since he’s so cute and sweet. He wants to be a superhero–with a sword!

5. In a lot of cases, I only come to appreciate a book or a movie the second time around. That’s the way I am with C.S. Lewis. What he said in Mere Christianity appeared utterly irrelevant to me the first time that I read it, but I began to see its gems of wisdom when I read it again four years later. That’s how it is with Heroes.

6. I don’t like fads. When Heroes was first on, I got so sick of hearing “Save the cheerleader, save the world”–over and over again, on commercials, in conversations, etc. Now, three years after Season 1, nobody says that anymore, so I can watch the series without that annoyance.

7. I’m superstitious about the number 6, so I’ll add a number 7, even though it’s technically not a “why I didn’t like Heroes then but like it now” sort of statement. I somewhat like the politician on the series, the one who can fly. He’s definitely not interested in being a superhero. He just wants to be Congressman! He clearly has a shallow, selfish side that is obsessed about his image, yet he is caring too. It’s interesting to watch him wrestle with the implications of his abilities. He’s the last person you’d expect to be a freak, but he is one!

I have a lot of catching up to do on Heroes!