Audiences are generally distrusting of “rip offs.”  I, for one, can’t stand Family Guy.  I find it derivative of The Simpsons in a nauseating way and have never seen an episode that rivals the craft that made The Simpsons great at its height.

But surely we can tell the difference between stealing and retelling.  A retelling is a conscious act.  Did Peter Jackson steal from the 1933 King Kong when he had his Kong make his last stand on top of the Empire State Building?  Of course not.  We expected as much.

Why then do people seem so shocked that Star Trek: Into Darkness retells key moments from Wrath of Khan?

The beauty of the ‘reboot’ idea from Star Trek (2009) was that the plot begged for Abrams and co. to re-imagine and re-invent signature stories involving the old cast with the new cast.  Why get so surprised that they chose to re-imagine Khan?

Some are suggesting that it lacks originality.  The most egregious sin is that this story lacks the high concepts that make Trek science fiction.  The consensus amongst superfans seems to be that this is just an action flick with an iconic scene or two from Khan thrown into it.

There is the genuinely intriguing notion of the Federation as a military organization in the wake of the destruction of Vulcan.  That’s a high enough concept.

Mainly, however, the high concept of this film is still following from the last film.  It asks one of the key questions raised by time travel: if the course of time is altered irrevocably will all things change in accordance with that alteration or will fate remain what it originally was to be?

Star Trek suggests that Kirk was always meant to be the captain of the Enterprise–that time would find a way to make it so.  It also suggested that he and Spock were meant to find one another.

Into Darkness asks: to what extent was this crew always meant to become a family?  Kirk could be captain, perhaps.  But could he be the father?

We see a number of fathers dealing with the issue of sacrifice and family: the man Khan convinces to help carry out the terrorist attack does so to save his daughter’s life.  Khan fights to maintain his family.  Marcus must deal with the question of sacrificing his daughter.  Pike constantly sticks his neck out for Kirk.

Would Kirk do so for his family?  The answer is obviously yes, but the filmmakers borrowed the mythology of Khan to answer the question.  The sacrifice of Spock for the crew is now Kirk’s sacrifice, and this suggests once again that the time shift has once again course-corrected.  The moment that passes between Kirk and Spock–the giving of one life for the other–is a holy moment that the universe needs enacted.  The role-reversal suggests that it never mattered who was on either side of the glass.  When both timelines are lined up together, the poisoned side of the glass and the safe side of the glass are now one in the same.  For this film, it was Kirk who had to prove something: that he understood the sacrifices required not just to run a ship but to safeguard a family.

It is not a “rip off” or an “unoriginal device” thrown in for fan service.  The filmmakers were clearly trying to make a comment through this reinventing.  You may not like the comment, or you may disagree with it, but to suggest that the scene is there because they thought it was something fans would like to see is nonsensical.  I think Abrams knows that few things he does pleases the hardcore fans.

By and large, I try to get my daily tasks done as efficiently as possible so that I have more time each day to write, but when “Writer’s Boredom” sets in, I find myself more enamored with the daily tasks that I know to be (ultimately) busy work.  I’ll spend more time on them because I want to avoid staring at my writing doc for five seconds before the pull to procrastinate online wins me over.

Here are a few tips I’ve found to end the boredom:

1) Write a great scene:

I know…easier said than done–but bear with me.  I find that the boredom usually sets in when I have too much plotted out in what I’m currently writing and the scenes I know I have to finish are overly procedural (all buildup and no payoff).  They are scenes that build to something and the something is where my interest lies.  At that point, the way to cure the boredom is just to write the something–the big scene, the event, the point of highest drama.

You might find that after writing it, you don’t need quite as much buildup as you originally thought would be necessary, which is an added perk.

2) Write an in-world short story:

Sometimes you and your story need a break from one another.  It happens.  When this happens with me, I often feel so guilty about not wanting to work on what I need to work on that I don’t work on anything.

In this case, it’s best to stay within the world of your story but avoid the main plot line.  I can justify not writing the primary story by knowing that this side story will help flesh out the backstory of the main story.

Write something completely out of left field.  Take a side character and tell a unique story about his mother-in-law.  Tell the story of a key setting in your story.  Invent an entirely new character and put him in a thematically related but wholly unique situation to the one in your main work.

All of these options will give you something new to flirt with in your writing but will also build up your knowledge about the world you are writing about in your primary story.

3) Spoil Yourself in order to Guilt Yourself:

Okay–you can’t avoid it.  You have to write what you planned.  You can no longer wait.  You can’t afford to write a short story and waste your time.  You’ve already written the juiciest bits.   You just need to suck it up and do it–but that monstrous black hole of disinterest is still consuming your every decision.

Then reward yourself.

For me, this means food.  Let’s say I’ve been good for a long time and have been avoiding something sinful.  Go for that sinful something.  I once bought a 10 inch cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory and my only rule was that I could have a bite as long as I was writing. Do the Kevin McCallister and order a whole cheese pizza just for you.  Get some cheeseburgers (yes, I’m speaking in the plural), Chinese, whatever you crave.

Or, if you prefer, buy a bottle of wine or liquor–the one you can’t afford.

Buy yourself a new toy for your desk.  A fountain pen.  A tablet?

Drive to a nice hotel nearby and get a great room.

Of course, all of this costs money, and we writers don’t always have much.  In that case, consider this an option of last resort.  As they say, you have to spend money to make money.  If you’ve spent your last penny on motivation then you just might find yourself feeling guilty enough to actual start that writing.

Tip: Start with myth not story

I already see it: they have to bring Vader back.  Luke has to be an Obi-Wan like figure.  It should be about Han and Leia’s children.

What makes Star Wars great is the mythic qualities.  A boy coming of age by redeeming the evils of his father set against a backdrop of a new society coming into being by ending the evils of a previous generation’s government.

The mythology of the prequels was already set by default.  It had to be the opposite: a boy falling into evil, a society falling from democracy to fascism.

There is no natural mythology for Star Wars 7-9 to draw upon.  If Abrams wants this new trilogy to be what the old one was then he and his writers have to find a simple human story that follows naturally after Luke’s story and can be told across three films.

I don’t know what that story is or could be, but what makes this more exciting than the prequels is that the right story is out there and we do not already know it.  They just have to find it.

I was skeptical of the choice to use Zimmer/James Newton Howard for Nolan’s Batman trilogy when Danny Elfman’s theme from the Burton movies seemed so iconic.

I now far prefer the music from Nolan’s films.

Having said that, Danny Elfman is not John Williams, and I’m not sure anything could ever compete with his Superman theme.  I will, however, wait until I see this music in the context of the film before offering a final judgement.

Each week I will attempt to award one character with the “Move of the Week” title and punish one character with the “Pawn of the Week” title.  Though I’ve read the books, I will choose these awards as a viewer of the show (who assumes no knowledge of future episodes/plot events).

Move of the Week: The Tyrells Get Sansa to Talk

I think this is the clear winner.  Careful viewers could see that Margaery was up to something with last week’s show of compassion for the poor.  The meeting between the future Queen, the Queen of Thorns, and Sansa was tense and heartbreaking, allowing us to see Sansa finally reveal what she has long known about “her Joffrey.”  That the Tyrells’ expected Sansa’s answer and were clearly only seeking confirmation shows that they are no fools, and are moving to ensure that their family isn’t ‘Starked.’  Subsequently, the knowledge of Joffrey’s monstrousness enabled Margaery to diffuse a potentially troublesome situation by appealing to his monstrous nature–likely attracting him to her even more than she had before.  Renly may have been into “perversions” that do not beget children, but Joffrey’s perversions seem truly perverse.  Nothing like getting off to the possibility of killing something–par for the course for the little bastard.

Pawn of the Week: Joffrey has to start listening to Mommy.

Given the audience’s natural displeasure at pretty much anything Cersei and Joffrey do, it felt weird for me to hear Cersei complaining about Margaery only to think: she’s absolutely right.    And she is.  As this week’s Move of the Week winner, Margaery is positioning herself as a much brighter and gentler Queen than her predecessor, and as such, can easily become the Princess Di of Westeros: beloved by the populace, viewed as a problem by the crown.  That Joffrey has no inclination of his future wife’s cunning is testament to his own arrogance; that he refuses to listen to his mother on the subject shows exactly what kind of monster Cersei’s created–one that thinks he deserves what’s been given to him all his life.  He doesn’t and every time he ignores Mommy on the subject of the Tyrells’ schemes, he gets one step away from the Iron Throne and one step closer to being just another pawn in the Tyrells’ game.

Here’s my question to fantasy fans…is A Song of Ice and Fire different from all the rest?  Don’t get me wrong.  I adore the story and the characters, and while I have some issues with Martin’s writing style, I consider it to be top notch work.  However, I get the sense that we are elevating Martin’s epic to a Tolkienesque level by suggesting that his brand of fantasy is unique or darker or better written.  Is it really?  Many people are down on fantasy for its repetitiveness and unoriginality; so many novels seem like Tolkien ripoffs that many would assume that there aren’t any other titles worthy of the HBO treatment as GoT is.  I don’t think I’d say GoT is the first non-Tolkien epic fantasy to be truly ‘unique.’ 

And while I’ve always known A Song of Ice and Fire was well-regarded by the reading community, I’d never have thought it would strike the chord it has in the general public.

Are there other post-Tolkien fantasy series that would make great television shows?  Would they garner the same audience?  I want to see if we as a readership can come to a real consensus on this.  Because if we treat GoT as something that’s unique (a cut above the rest) then good for HBO for finding something worth promoting, but if we decide that GoT is just one of many equally worthy fantasy series, then GoT should be the beginning of a fantasy television renaissance, and the voice of fans should help that process along…

What fantasy series would be as critically/publicly acclaimed as GoT  if adapted to the small screen?  What are your thoughts?  Post below:

Not only do you get a fantasy of leprechauns and gold and fiddling that makes as much sense as any true Celtic folktale…

…you also get a young Sean Connery singing his heart out:

And there’s also the Banshee. Long before Peter Jackson’s ringwraiths, this was the scariest wraith on film from my childhood:

The whole film’s on YouTube.  It did have a lot to do with getting Connery the role of a lifetime as James Bond, so at least give it credit for that.  So, if you haven’t seen it yet, spend part of your St. Patrick’s Day getting acquainted with iton YouTube!