24 February 2024

Broken Promises: Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 5, 6, & 7.

 

Sometimes we do not know what promises are made to us by a TV show or film...we just watch and wait for the story to unfold. Then there are the works that are planned to be a multi-stage story arc were Luke becomes a Jedi Knight and takes on Darth Vader, or the Master Chief defends the Earth from the Covenant, or Frodo and Sam are on the quest to destroy the One Ring. Often, TV shows embark on a single storyline that webs through the show's run and ties it together. We saw this with the Dominion War in DS9, the quest for Earth in both BSG shows, and the last great war with the Shadows in B5...and then there is Star Trek: Enterprise (ST: ENT) and the promises made by the show and the lack of delivery. 

What Star Trek: Enterprise Means to Me...
When I was three, my parents took me to see Star Trek: The Motionless Picture, and I was bored by the film (as I am still), but it was the repeated watching of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan that sold me on the entire franchise. From then on, I was a Trekkie and I bought the original DC Comic series (which is pretty good) and watched the films and reruns of The Original Series...then came Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 and was hooked. From 1987 to around 1996, I watched all Trek series and taped my favorites on VHS, and even bought some of the Playmates electronic starships to decorate my room and my first apartment (still have them!). A great deal changed for me during the end of DS9 and the later seasons of Voyager and I barely watched any of those shows until many years after...however, when ST:ENT was launched, it was to be their flagship show of the network. For me, when ST:ENT came out,  I was in a better place and I was an adult with a job, at university, married, with a child. To me, Voyager was horribly hit-or-miss, with more misses than hits and when I first watched Enterprise, I was fully hooked. To me, ST: ENT restored my hope for Trek and my passion for the franchise.
What Star Trek Enterprise means to me from then was that it is my favorite Trek TV show and the last bastion of real Trek and an end to what Trek had been. To put a point on it: I still watch it and I still love it and I still want an NX-01 baseball cap, and I wear a NX-01 patch pin on my scrubs at the hospital every day. There was a magic in the show and more human feel to the show, the characters. the stories, the technology, and the ship itself. The show took risks, developed interesting ideas, embodied the times that the show was made in (post-9/11 America), and had some of the best SFX in all of Trek. There was tons of hope and promise in the DNA of ST:ENT, especially when season four got rolling and then....it was cancelled without us fans getting the Romulan War and the final answered to the Temporal Cold War. They took it from me and I hated them for it. For seven goddamn years, UPN had funded the painful and expensive journey of the USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant and it was mostly a bad show with a beautiful ship and talented actors. Oddly, Voyager had the best series finale of all time in Trek...no show in Trek has been able to replicate that two-parter even close to Voyager. I deeply vexed me why the network and the fandom would support such a half-baked half-ass show as Voyager that suffers from the majority of its episodes being 100% terrible and not support Enterprise, where the vast majority of the episodes are great. Enterprise restored my love for Trek, but is cancellation made me separate myself from the fandom to this very day. 

The Promise Made by ST:ENT
When ST:ENT launched in 2001, it made very clear that the fictional year of the launch of the NX-01 Enterprise, United Earth's first Warp 5 vessel, was 2151. This is just ten years prior to the founding of the United Federation of Planets (UFP or the Federation) and just a few years before the start of the much discussed-and-never-seen Earth-Romulan War. According the limited information, the Romulan War would begin around 2156 and last to 2160. When Enterprise concluded its four season run, the fictional year was 2155. If there had been a 5th, 6th, and 7th seasons, which was the plan, we would have seen the unfolding of the Romulan War, the Founding of the Federation, and more character development of our heroes on the old NX-01. 
In addition, we would have seen an upgraded NX-01 to be fitted with the familiar bottom engineering section, as seen in the 3rd Season of Picard. These were the promises of Enterprise, and they were ones we never got to see due to the cancellation. Another promise of Enterprise is something I am going to mention a lot in this article: something different than what had come before. For much of Trek history up to the premier of Enterprise, the franchise was dominated by two elements: the Original Series and the Next Generation. Both had shaped what came after them and setup the universe they occupied. However, Enterprise was not as connected to TOS nor TNG given that the show was nearly100 years before the launch of the Constitution class. Enterprise promised to show us a galaxy before the Federation and to pick up some of the story elements from Star Trek: First Contact. This was a show that was to fill the gap between the first warp flight of Terra to The Cage. Hell, it abandoned the typical theme songs for something...different. But, it seems that fortune did not favor the bold this time. 

What Star Trek Enterprise Means to the Entire Franchise
For better or worse, ST:ENT represents the end of the classic (canon) Star Trek that has been around since the first pilot in 1966 aired and the beginning of the J.J. Abrams films (vomit) and the Modern Star Trek TV shows. Fans and the wider sci-fi community have debated which is better Classic Trek or Modern Trek. I firmly believe that for better or worse, ST:ENT would have been the end of the Trek we knew, due to franchise exhaustion either way. What ST:ENT means to the rest of the franchise, is it fills the beginning of the story of Starfleet, the foundation of the Federation, and the service of ships named "Enterprise" under the banner of Starfleet. 
This show also continued the storyline established in Star Trek: First Contact. It would have also explained and shown the history of two of the most important events in Trek history: The Romulan War and the founding of the Federation. That is the promise of Enterprise and the pain we fans of the show and Trek got when the show was cancelled.  In addition, Enterprise was the Trek show that, along with DS9, had the balls to do something different and there is not better example than the Xindi full-season storyline. Enterprise is like that member of the family that takes risks and does not fully fit into the family, but we love them anyways. 

Why was Star Trek: Enterprise Cancelled after Season 4 and the Cost of that Cancellation to Trek
To understand what happened to Star Trek Enterprise, we must understand the context of Trek during the time that Enterprise aired. Enterprise would take up the mantle of responsibility of the Trek franchise during a time of great change in the realm of Trek and TV as well in America. Today, Star Trek is more popular than ever with three shows and "Trek Twitter" being populated with comments, cosplays, and memes. However, that is not what it was like in 2001-2005. 
We have to remember that the Original Series aired for only three seasons and was gone and it was only through fan involvement and the syndication of Star Trek: TOS reruns that Paramount decided to give the green-light to a new Trek TV show for their planned 4th network or a full-length movie back in the late 1970's. For fans like me that were inducted into the Trek life and fandom at this time, it was the classic crew films, reruns of TOS, and the DC Comics that forged us...then came The Next Generation in 1987 and it changed the face of Trek forever. By the time that "Broken Bow" aired in September of 2001, kicking off the ST:ENT TV show run, Trek was in a unique position in its history. 
Between 1987 and 2001, there were three live-action TV shows aired, with some overlapping, films with the classic and TNG crew, video games, action figure, and all level of merchandising that finally allowed Trek to coming into its full Star Wars moment with the level of merch...more on Trek toys in a future article...and that lead to some franchise fatigue. Star Trek at that time had liberally mined the 24th century via three shows and tie-in products and when Voyager wrapped up in May of 2001, the fans were ready for maybe something different. Trek had fallen into a pattern and that pattern was getting worn out. While fans today pile on the praise for Voyager, it was not a good Trek show overall, especially when you watched during its first run. Wonderful cast, beautiful ship, and great production design...but there only about a dozen good episode in the entire series with the best series ending ever in all of Trek. However, with ST: VOY ending there was a decision to be made by the studio...where does Trek go for here? The tenth Trek film, Nemesis, is finishing production and the studio needing a new TV show and a vehicle for another film Trek franchise. 
At this time, I was on Trek message boards, and I saw the fan reaction and suggestions where Trek should go from there. Some wanted to see a Captain Riker TV show, much like ST: Lower Decks is exploring. Some desired to see a return to the time period of Kirk & Spock in the Original Series, and others really wanted to see a TV show set in the 23rd century with the adventures of Captain Sulu and the Excelsior. What is interesting, is that the fans I interacted with at that time did not discuss a show set shorty after the events of Star Trek: First Contact
At the time, prequels were still being made, but the terribly uneven and disappointing Star Wars Prequels had colored the view of this storytelling device in science fiction, and all of these factors led to the Trekkies not being onboard as much as they could have been for Enterprise when it came out in 2001. That is another element we have to remember, the pilot episode of Enterprise came out 15 days after the terrorist attacks in New York and the Pentagon. The full impact of the collective psychological trauma of those events and the War in Afghanistan had would manifest themselves during the 3rd Season of Enterprise with the Xindi story arch. 
Of course, all of these is just context to the real reason that Enterprise was unable to complete its 7-year plan: money. Like or not, TV is a business, and UPN had used its Trek TV shows to launch and maintain its network. Enterprise was expensive and if the ratings had been there along with the advertisement revenue, than Enterprise would have continued. Just look at Star Trek Discovery  has an example. That is terrible, like accidently shitting your pants after Taco Bell terrible and yet, it continues to be renewed by Paramount+, including a 5th season. 
However, its ratings are not good and the support among the fanbase is very mixed. As for Enterprise, the ratings had dipped year to year and fans believed that Enterprise would not return for season 3 let along 4. UPN itself was in deep trouble as well and just a year after the cancellation of Enterprise, UPN and the WB were combined to from the CW network. Another issues where discussed by Conner "Trip Tucker" Trineer: "The problem was that for the nights that we were on, usually your Major League Baseball team was also on UPN locally. So, we would get preempted by whatever local sports were happening. There were also entire regions – it didn’t even play in St. Louis, Scott [Bakula’s] home town. So, you had these pockets of where it wasn’t even on. And then [Paramount Television Chairman] Kerry McCluggage got fired, our real fan, really quick [December, 2001]. And then the new regime came in and it was probably as early as the second season when we were like “Huh?” I don’t think we got any lesser ratings than anyone else, but Next Generation. I think we all kind of sat in that same area."
This is another nail in the coffin of Enterprise, then there is the last one: fan support. The ratings were not there due to the MLB and franchise fatigue as mentioned above, but some fans just did not like the show. From the theme song, the setting, the ship itself; fans were mixed or down-right hateful to the show. In part of this was due to the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi storylines...of which, I liked actually, but most fans did not at the time and nor did the studio. When Enterprise got back on the road with season 4, the new concept of the episodes was solid and some of the best Enterprise episodes were forged.  And those Mirror Universe episodes were solid gold. 
In the last few years, the fans have softened their stance on Enterprise and with the rise of Modern Star Trek, some have looked at Enterprise as a missed opportunity to continue the correct canon. The death of Enterprise allowed for the rise of the stool sample that is Discovery. If Enterprise had been a ratings darling than the other part of the Enterprise destiny was to be fulfilled: movies. Yes, Enterprise was tagged to become a film franchise as well, much like TNG had done mostly unsuccessfully. With the merciful death of the TNG film franchise and the lack of a clear successor to take over the empire of Star Trek, the studio took a knee and then a few years later, we got the oddball J.J. Abrams Trek films beginning in 2009. 

What Would have Season 5, 6, and 7 have been like?
With Enterprise being cancelled far into Season 4, we know that the showrunners were planning out some ideas if UPN would allow Enterprise to come back for a 5th season. The ideas for what would have come after the fifth year of journeys of Archer and his crew is much more muddy. So, there is what we know and can assume about the unfinished run of Enterprise.
  • During an interview with the former showrunner of Enterprise, Manny Coto, stated that we would
    have seen the "origins of the Federation" and "whispers of the Romulan war" in the fifth season, which would have run from 2005 to 2006. 
  • The NX-01 would have been upgraded with the lower engineering section with other NX class starships being upgraded as well. 
  • We could have see the disappear of the NX-02 Columbia in 2156 during an Romulan attack on a transport convey as was laid out in 2008 novel Star Trek Destiny: the Gods of Night. Of course, the book was created three years after the end of Enterprise, and it is highly unlikely that if the series had continued that these books would have been written in the same way. 
  • It is likely though, that the end of the series would have been similar to some of the events seen in "These are the Voyages..." were Cpt. Archer is giving the speech during the founding of the Federation. It is unlikely that the same Holodeck trick would have been used. There has been some talk by those involved with Enterprise that the story presented in "These are the Voyages..." was always planned...but I call bullshit on that. 
  • There was discussions of having Alice Krige back to play the Borg Queen and reveal her origin story as a human medical tech that was abducted by the Borg and made into their Queen
  • The NX-01 would be visiting some interesting places if the series had continued: Denobula, the cloud city of Stratos, Tellar Prime, and the site of the first Starbase.
  • We would have seen more Starfleet ships and more of the NX class, including the NX-03 Challenger and the four other of the NX class that were named for NASA Space Shuttles and maybe the Soviet Space Shuttle Buran or the Orion space craft. The Orion is more official than my idea of the Buran being used. 
  • Manny Coto was interested in setting about four episodes of one of the  Enterprise seasons
    completely in the Mirror Universe to explore the rein of Empress Soto. This was backed up Brandon Braga stated that they thought about setting all of the 5th season in the Mirror Universe. Ugh. This would have been hard for the actors and taking too much of a good thing. The Mirror Universe should be in small doses...after all, look what Discovery did to it. 
  • Our favorite Andorian, Shran, was to be a full member of the cast and been an advisor to the NX-01 in season five. 
  • There was attempts to bring William Shatner as a special guest star, but he proved too expensive and the backup concept was to have Leonard Nimoy play Spock looking back with young Vulcans about T'Pol and the NX-01. 
  • Speaking of T'Pol, they were thinking of recycling the concept of her being Half-Romulan from the original concept of Lt. Saavik being half-Vulcan (originally, ST: III TSFS would have been about Romulans and not Klingons). I am glad they would have never done this for many reasons. 
  • One of the best ideas, and one I wished had been developed was introducing the feline hostile alien race of Kzinit. These alien killer kitties from outer space where seeing in the Star Trek Animated Series and even in Lower Decks, and they were burrowed from author Larry Niven. There was even a concept of Kzinit warship developed as well, but Manny Coto has stated that the episode, called "Kilkenny Cats" was not under development. Pity. The Kzinit are not the only feline race in Trek, the Caitian are Federation members and have been in ST: IV Voyage Home and in the animated series. For the record, Caitian and the Kzinit are related in a way similar to Vulcans and Romulans.  
So...There would have been Enterprise Movies?! The Mystery of ST: The Beginning
When Enterprise actors Dominic Keating  & Conner Trinner founded their podcast, they mentioned that the plan by the studio was to transition ST: ENT to the big screen and for NX-01 crew to pick up the mantle from the TNG crew and I was shocked to hear and made to wonder on what the Enterprise films would have been like. According to some information I found the following information the Enterprise Reddit page along with entry on Memory Alpha. It seems that  the film was to be titled: Star Trek: The Beginning and there was a write-up of the proposed 11th Star Trek film by Band of Brothers writer & producer Erik Jendresen. This film would have been set during the Romulan War and not centered around Cpt. Archer and the crew of NX-01, but a member of Cpt. Kirk's family named Tiberius Chase. He is sent on a mission to go behind Romulan lines and sabotage their war effort after the Romulans launched a deadly attack on Earth and disabling the NX-02 Columbia while she was in space dock. There was mention that Chase was not a member of Starfleet, but the United Earth Stellar Navy, and his family are members of Terra Prime. Honestly, the story seems not in line with canon nor what we fans would want from a Enterprise film project.  
Oddly, the cast of Enterprise would not really be in the picture at all and only Commander Shran would be the only familiar face. I am not sure about this and it seems to be a rumor given the statements made by actors involved with the series. During the Mission Chicago Con in 2016, Connor Trinneer on a panel discussion made this statement: "We weren’t walking into a pilot, we were walking into a series. We had that luxury. So that was a little intimidating. We knew we were in it together. And we knew we were going to be together for well…" Then Anthony Montgomery added: "It was supposed to be seven years. We signed for seven years. They told us we were doing movies, because they didn’t do movies with DS9. They didn’t do movies with Voyager. So they told me that the fans love Star Trek and you guys are going be here for at least seven years, and you’re going to be doing movies and everything. And you guys know how that all turns out". 
So what could have been done with the Enterprise film franchise? Possibly show the major battles of the Romulan War, the end of the Romulan War, or even Trip getting pregnant again, it is very hard to say. But, what needs to be said is that Trek is more at home on the smaller screen rather than the big screen, Trek had a harder time building a film franchise worth much of a damn than Star Wars did. Some concepts work better on the television rather than in the theater. This is the same for Stargate as well. Honestly, only a few of the movies of Star Trek are worth a damn and Trek should likely stay on television...but, I would like to see a ST: SNW movie! 

The Legacy of Enterprise
Star Trek Enterprise has a complex and divisive  history in the overall story of Trek and given this, its legacy among the fandom is normally of two narratives. Some fans blame Enterprise as the show that ended of one of the most successful eras of Trek. In addition, they also blame Enterprise for beginning the era of "New Trek" as well. Then there are others that see Enterprise as I do, a bold take on Trek and a show that broke the mold of the 24th century shows that are grown stale after the run of Voyager. The quality of the writing, acting, and special effects. Today, the legacy of Enterprise is better than has been in many years and it seems that ST:ENT is finally getting some respect and it is about damn time. For much of the time that Enterprise existed on-air, it fought for its place in the wider Trek universe and to win over the fans. It got even worse after its cancellation, with legions of Trekkies saying that the legacy of Enterprise was as a doomed show that killed that era of Trek off...and then that changed. It seemed that Trekkies came to finally watch Enterprise during the pandemic lockdown and they liked it, especially given how bad Picard and Discovery have been. Enterprise finally has been seen as the series that filled in the gap of our understanding of how Starfleet was formed and where the history of Starfleet and ships named "Enterprise" got their start. 
It is also the series that allowed use to see something different than the 23rd or 24th centuries and it is the show that allowed to see the founding of the Federation in 2161. Also, fans experienced the quality of the writing, the production, and just how good and bold the series was. Part of this legacy has been experience by when Enterprise actors Dominic Keating  & Conner Trinner when they appeared at the Cons and how many more people engaged with them over just a few years ago. Part of the legacy of Enterprise is being carried on with Dominic and Conner via their podcast: The Shuttlepod Show. Through their podcast, they have discussions about Enterprise with people involved in the show and the wider world of Trek. As a long time fan of Enterprise, it is wonderful to see people care about this show that was so maligned during its run and for the wider Trek community to give this show a legacy that is just more than "the show that killed proper Star Trek TV". 

Could Star Trek: Enterprise come back or even should it?
There has been some chatter about the possibility of Enterprise being taken out of cold storage and thawed out for some sort of continuation...but should it be honestly considered? I firmly believe that the time for Enterprise is gone and given that the show aired some 19 years ago...bring it back would be impossible for a live-action show. Simply put, the window for the actors as closed...they could not play their characters as they were in 2005 and recasting the NX-01 crew is pure heresy. However, that does not rule out the possibility of an animated Enterprise series finishing off their story. But, should this resurrection of a television series that went off the air nearly 20 years ago even be seriously considered? No. The time for Enterprise has passed and the endeavor to bring back the NX-01 is just too difficult of a task. We should let it stay in the past. Besides the animated path, there could be a way include some Enterprise into a guest appearance in ST: SNW or even ST: LOW. 

Next Time on FWS...
In the next installment of Guns from the Future, FWS will be diving into the SOCOM program that give birth to one of the most celebrated and lushed after military handguns: the H&K Mk. 23 .45ACP SOCOM. Not only will be exploring and explaining the handgun itself, but the other entry into the Offensive Handgun Weapons System Program, the Colt OHWS along with the OHWS Program. 

 


05 January 2024

FWS Top 10: Forgotten Military SF Video Games (Vol. 10)


Here we are my brothers and sisters of FWS: the end of the Forgotten MSF Video Games Top 10 lists. It has been years on this journey. For the last of this series of Top 10s, we have some interesting picks that span all of the gaming generations and some that I played and some I did not...but wanted to. As we close out this series, I am left with a feeling of what will appear on lists like this in the future. What current military science fiction games will be lost to the sands of time and someone like me will look back on to explore and explain in the future? Only time will tell, but the sands of time should bury deeply the horror that was HALO 5: Guardians!

1. Dreadnought/HMS Carnage (Ocean Software/Infograms UK 1995-1998)
Quite recently, I was watching a video on the YouTube about the cancelled games for the nearly mythical Sega Saturn system and this one entry popped up via the trailer for this aborted 1998 game. Immediately, this games that goes by two names, reminded me of the 1988 Victoria steampunk Games Designers' Workshop RPG called Space: 1889. While this aborted game is NOT related to the GDW Space: 1889 property, the game and concept is likely influence by that RPG's setting of an Victoria-era European powers on the red planet. 
Developed by Ocean Software interior team worked on this project the course of 4 years to be a hybrid shooter and light strategy game where your soldier could take to the skies or the ground with all manner of vehicles and even on foot to wage on the red planet. The early demo of the game made the rounds and even won some awards. This caused press coverage and excitement for the title. During the development, the game was titled "HMS Carnage", however, that would change due to merge between Ocean Software and Infograms, now the game was under the "Dreadnought" title by the new owners and that company itself had renamed Ocean to Infograms UK. While the game had four years of work on it, Infograms cancelled Dreadnought due to their belief that the game would sell below targeted sale numbers. If the game had could out in the late 1990's, it would have been released on the PlayStation, N64, Sega Saturn, and PC market via the CD-ROM format. I was unable to find how complete the game was at the time of cancellation.  

2. Varuna's Forces (Accent Media 1995)
In another 1990's cancelled game, we have Accent Media's Varuna's Force for the ATARI Jaguar CD add-on (that made it look like a toilet), the Dreamcast, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and the 3DO. The concept was of a military science fiction game that was a hybrid of both on-rails shooter, FOS, and limited strategy elements wrapped in mid-1990s FMV sequences that starred actor Michael Clarke Duncan. You played as the commander of an 8-member Marine Attack unit of the United Coalition of Planets and the team, "Varuna's Force" was tasked with various missions for the UCP. After the mission briefing, you would take control of the weapons systems of the Marine tactical transport vehicle during orbital insertion phase to defend the craft from incoming missiles and intercepting attack craft. After safety getting down to the surface, the first-person shooter/strategy element would take over and from one of the articles I read, it would have played similar to the Space Hulk games that came out at around the same time. This game sounds very promising and I likely would have bought this from my original PS1 back in the day. However, the game was cancelled when several of the consoles slated to have the port of the game died or were dying, like the very expensive 3DO and the cursed ATARI Jaguar CD. Still, it should have come out for the other systems so that we could have enjoyed that special 90's video game favor and vibe with solid military Sci-Fi elements that a cool mission types with some fleshed out world building elements. If I am being honest, the few surviving FMV sequences are a little over the top for current tastes.      

3. Inferno (Ocean Software 1994-1995)
For clarity, this is a sequel to a 1992 title called Epic, a space combat game for the PC market and this 1994 sequel is a continuation of the story. You are a Terran space fighter pilot character and at the beginning of the game, you are abdicated by the enemy alien race: the Raxxons. After escaping the Raxxons, you vow venagence upon the aliens and embark on a holy quest to regain your humanity that the aliens took from you via space dogfights. Released in 1994 for MS-DOS PC computer, this was time of good solid space combat simulation games, like X-Wing and the titanic Wing Commander. I'd never heard of either Epic or Inferno until this article, I wonder why? Both games in the franchise seem highly rated, but they are barely mentioned. I guess from the amount of solid space shooters on the market, these titles got pushed out. 

4. STARFIGHTER (AKA: Starfighter 3000 (Krisalis Software 1994 & 1996)
Originally, this slot would have been held by an entry on the PS1 Final DOOM title, however, when looking for images for the Varuna's Forces entry, I saw this Saturn box-art, and I never heard of  Starfighter and so, here we are. This game resembles another space combat title from around the same time: Cybermorph. That title was also on another failed home console: the ATARI Jaguar. Developed by Krisalis Software for 3DO, PS1, Sega Saturn, and PC (later in 1996). Titled Starfighter 3000 in Japan, the game has you as a space fighter pilot working for FEDNET in the year of 3037 and the ship you are assigned to is on a mission to weed out colonial warlords that have taken the weakness of the previous administrations over the Federation to take power. Your mission is to break the warlords hold on these Federation worlds and bring them back into the fold. Now, the game has an interesting history. The original game, called Starfighter 3000 was released by a UK studio in 1994 for the Acorn Archimedes, a UK home computer that was up against the Amiga. In 1995, the game was upgraded for a port to the 3DO system, which some reviewers believe to be the best version of the game. It was again ported to the Saturn, DOS machines, Macs, and PS1 in 1996. Oddly, the originally British team that programmed the game, who took their name from FEDNET in the game, did not work on the home console ports of Starfighter. One of the elements that confuses the story of this game is the name change. On the Japanese Saturn game boxes, it is called Starfighter 3000 and on the American Saturn released, the game drops the "3000" part of the name. 

5. Pariah (Brainbox Games, HIP Games and Digital Extremes 2005)
If you had an original Xbox console and/or visited a Gamestop store between 2005-2008, than you have seen this Xbox shooter title starting back at you with those lifeless eyes and that huge gun that looks like a overgrown FN P90. "Pariah" is another word for "outcast" and this 2005 game was an outcasted to the cheap game section for OG Xbox titles. Set 30 years after a war against an alien race called "the Shroud", Earth is largely abandoned and humanity, under "the Alliance" lives on off-world colonies. The game centers around a marooned Alliance medic named Mason and his special female patient named Karina that is encased in cryo due to her being a host for a deadly virus. The two are the only survivors of a crash on the cursed Earth and they are make their way to an Alliance base while battling Shroud enemies along the way that are still on Earth. This was an attempted at a HALO clone, but it failed horribly due to a lack of doing that HALO does well. Lack of story, lack of good characters, lack of good guns, and nothing is compelling. Pariah is basically a lost OG Xbox title because of how poorly received it was on release and time has not been able to save the title either. This could have been a good title if it had a better story and better gameplay mechanics. 

6. Total & Solar Eclipse (Crystal Dynamics 1994/1997)
Coming int the packed space flight/combat market in 1994 was this entry from Crystal Dynamics: Total Eclipse. This game was a launch title for the Sony PlayStation under the name Total Eclipse Turbo, but was just Solar Eclipse for the 3DO release. Unlike other similar titles of the time, Total Eclipse has your starfighter engage the alien enemy on the surface of worlds rather than in space. Your goal is to destory the alien superweapon that threats to push the Terran sun into a nova. Upon release, the critics were not kind to the game and even one reviewer called the game the worst of the launch titles for the PlayStation. Despite this, there was a sequel called Solar Eclipse released in 1997. Then there is the interesting element behind the story of these forgotten spacefighter games. The sequel to the 1994 game was not to be a sequel at all, but a different game that was to be titled "Titan". However, it as believed by studio that Titan would be more successful as a sequel to Total Eclipse and thus, Titan was retitled and tied to the first game. However, in the Japanese and European markets, the 1997 game was called "Titan Wars" and not tied to Total Eclipse. Both of the Eclipse games disappeared from the common gamer consciousness due to their appearance on two dead consoles and not getting good reviews against similar and more well known titles.  

7. Fracture (LusasArts/Day1 Studios 2008)
This entry was suggested by a FWS reader! Thank you! This was not a title I was familiar with until I started the researching this article, which is odd, considering that Fracture was a LucasArts title released 4 years before the fall of LucasArts in 2008 to the mouse. Developed by Day 1 Studios for the PS3, Xbox 360 platforms, Facture is a future shooter game, the player can alter the terrain via cool sounding weapons like the "tectonic" and "subsonic"  grenades. While this sounds cool, it should be noted that as one reviewer pointed out when the game was released that the majority of the game does not take place on land that can be effected by the terrain altering weapon systems. Great. While having some inventive elements, Facture got average scores from reviewers and this new property that LucasArts was attempting to develop died due to poor sales just one game into this attempted franchise.   

8. Starflight (Binary Systems 1986)
In the records of video games that give us Mass Effect, we have this space exploration/RPG title for 1980's home computers: Starflight by Binary Systems. In the year of 4620, you are at the helm of a starship on a mission to explore the galaxy with trading missions, mining, combat, and diplomacy all in cards for the player. Sounds like the template from the writers room for Star Trek. When researching this game, it is amazing how large and complex this title was for 1980's computer hardware. It is claimed in the Wikipedia entry that there were 270 star systems, over 800 worlds, with trading possibilities to upgrade your ship along with crew for your explorer class vessel. One element of the gameplay that it not really seen in other space exploration titles is that gravity is a factor in the game and planet's with gravity over 8g can crush your starship. This causes the player to task the science officer to scan the world for the gravity rating prior atmospheric entry. Released on various computer hardware at the time, including the Apple and ATARI ST computers, and there was a 1991 release for the Mega-Drive/Genesis Sega home consoles. While the game is highly praised to this day, especially by the folks at BioWare that developed Mass Effect, I didn't know about this game's existance until the gather of games for this article. This is likely due to the age of the title and the computers that Starflight was designed to run on. 

9. MechAssault II: Lone Wolf (DAY 1 Studios 2004)
Being a massive fan of the FASA Battletech games, I was excited when a console-based mecha-based combat game was released on the original Xbox. For the most part, the 2002 MechAssault by Day 1 Studios was a big success and a game that I still own for my beloved OG Xbox. Given the success of the first game, a sequel was in order and in 2004 Day 1 Studios would release MechaAssault II: Lone Wolf. Unlike the original title, here your mech pilot operates other vehicle on the 31st century battlefield along with the ability to hack into crewed mecha in order to pirate them and turn them against their former masters. Despite the good magazine coverage for the game by publications like Game Informer, the game was not as successful as the original title nor as well loved by the fandom. This could have been one of the reasons behind the lack of a 3rd game in the series. According to what little we know, the 3rd game would have centered around the invading clans that left the Inner Sphere hundreds of years ago. I personally think that the sequel title loomed in the shadow of the original 2002 game and given that own both titles, I never thought the sequel measured up, especially given the lack of focus on mech-based combat. 

10. Metroid II: The Return of Samus (Nintendo 1991)
Confession time: I did not chose a NES in 1987 for my big Christmas present...I picked the ATARI 7800. Oh dear god. I wished I had picked the NES now, but it allowed to see another side of gaming during the NES era. However, instead of picking the ATARI Lynx, I did chose wisely and asked for a Gameboy for Christmas of 1991. For my Gameboy, I got several games including this treasure: Metroid II: the Return of Samus. I had always wanted to play the original NES Metroid, but lacked the NES to do so. So, I was not going to miss out on the sequel title on the handheld and I was grateful I played it. Metroid II is a classic and a damn good game on the Gameboy. Metroid II was released in November of 1991, about two years after the original Gameboy hardware was released and 5 years after the original game came out on the NES. Some in the retro community have called this game superior to the original, but for some Metroid fans, this game would be lost fora time if they did not have access to the GameBoy hardware and the game. It was playable on the GameBoy color, 3DS, and now is accessible via the Switch Online database. To me, the box-art for the original GameBoy is one of the best in the Metroid series along with that era of gaming. I due feel like this game was forgotten by newer generations of gamers due to its release on the original GameBoy, however, Metroid sites and entry kept the game from totally forgotten until the later releases. 

24 December 2023

Happy Holidays for FWS!


As 2023 ends and we look to the soon-to-be-eventful year of 2024, I want to wish everyone a peaceful season of holiday celebration. I hope that 2024 will be one of peace...but I am not holding my breath on that one. As we close the year, I thinking back to what 2023 had been and want it wasn't. It has been the year I got new job that seems to a real gift and one that returned me to the medical field. It was the year I lost my gallbladder, but gained more medical bills. Fun. It is the year that I had to give up DESTINY and turn to Skyrim, to save me the endless grind of the game. It was the year that I had to have major pool work done (don't ever get a fucking pool!) It was the year that I started work on the FWS podcast project. On that subject, I will be throwing up a tester of the podcast and see what if you think it is worth moving forward. After much work on the podcast project, here is what I think the future of FWS is: hybrid. Some of our articles cannot work as an audio-only media and some articles can work as both. My plan is to continue some articles as text and some as audio. I might try to have an audio resources page where I have a podcast and you check out images on the site as reference materials. I am hope to post the first teaser of the FWS Podcast before the end of January '24. I hope for all you out there that 2024 is a good year for you and yours. I hope for peace and I hope for sane minds to overcome ones filled with fear and evil. We deserve a better world than what we have.

Stay Frosty and drink some Eggnog! See you space marines in 2024!


10 December 2023

FWS News Feed: I was a guest on the JURS Podcast for the TERMINATOR Franchise show!

 

Recently, I have been a guest a few times on the JURS podcast and the most recent was the show about the TERMINATOR franchise with a number of other talented guests. Check out to hear my bad Arnold impression and how much I hate the majority of TERMINATOR films! I was also recently a guest on for a show about B5! Stay tuned for that one! 

LINKS:

@youtube 

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCIyMawFPgvOpOUhKcQo4eQQ

@iHeartRadio

https://www.iheart.com/.../269-the-jacked-up-review-show.../

@Podbean

https://jackedupreviewshow.podbean.com

@Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/7Eg8w0DNympD6SQXSj1X3M

@getvurbl

https://vurbl.com/station/AlDDoblc4Oa/

@ApplePodcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/.../the-jacked-up.../id1494236218

RadioPublic:

https://radiopublic.com/the-jacked-up-review-show-We4VjE

Overcast:

https://overcast.fm/itu.../the-jacked-up-review-show-podcast

03 December 2023

Military Sci-Fi Oddities: The DESTINY Franchise

A Long Time Ago in the 90s, in a gaming landscape far, far away was this little software company that established itself with a clone of Pong, Just eleven years later, this little Washington-based software company would released one of the most successful, celebrated, and beloved video games of all time: HALO: Combat Evolved. After selling over 6 million copies, the HALO franchise was born and it would be a juggernaut that rose to generating sales of 5 Billion dollars. In 2010, the last Bungie made HALO game would be released: Reach and after that, Bungie became all about the new IP: Destiny, while HALO was spun off to a new gaming studio: 343 Industries. From the September 2014 of Destiny (D1) to the current release of the Season 20 expansion called Lightfall for Destiny 2 (D2), many of fans and critics have regarded Destiny as an oddity, and as a former massive fan and weekly player of Destiny 2, I thought FWS should look into the oddity that is the Destiny franchise. 

My History with Destiny
I barely knew that Bungie existed until the November 2001 release of HALO: Combat Evolved on the OG Xbox, but once the gaming community got their hands on the game and the console, the magic happened. I came to HALO about 2 years after release after a home robbery left me without my PS2. I bought an Xbox and a copy of HALO: CE and became part of the faithful. Now, given that the HALO series were some of my favorite games, I was very excited by news of Bungie working on their next property and for years, some little bits of information flowed out until the first trailers and that banging live-action trailer with the Gods of Rock (Led-Zeppelin) pumping my excitement in total fangirl mode. 
I would buy the original Destiny in 2016 and then bought the Taken King expansion a little later. And damn! I did love me some original Destiny, but I wished the story and the single-player campaign had been much better. HALO it was not. I played D1 for nine months until I bought other  Xbox One games and I came to the original game here and there. When D2 came out, I was disappointed by the destruction of the tower and the direction taken. So, I decided not to get onto D2. Then, it became free-to-play (sort of) and I downloaded the game around 2021...and it took over my life and sank production on FWS to a crawl. 
But, it was a short road from enjoyment to pain with no safe word to protect you from that line between spicy and trauma. Soon, the endless lifeless grind was too much and the paywalls were too much. When the Lightfall expansion hit, I was done with the abuse, fueling me to finally buy Skyrim. Thus, finally allowing to get clean and sober from D2 and move onward. Presently, my relationship with D2 is mostly over. I get one once and a great while on Tuesday to check out if there is anything worth my Bright Dust, and most of the time I jump off and rejoin Aela the Huntress on a quest. To me, Destiny is nearly a dead game and a franchise with little future. 

The Oddities of the Destiny Franchise

1. There is a story...if you want it
While the story of Bungie's other two big franchise: HALO and Marathon, were layered into the game itself giving us gamers a world to fight for and within...and that sort of exists within Destiny. While D1 introduces us new lights to the world after the Collapse and the Last City, there is some much more that is given to us via these lame "Grimoire Cards". If you want to fully understand the universe of Destiny than you have to read those entries into the lore or watch several YouTube channels devoted to exploring the history of Destiny. However, if you don't want it that shit and just want to get down to PvE and PvP action than the story is just a few cutscenes. This is a sad element of Destiny and it undercuts the vast amount of work that creators did to forge the world that your Guardian fights for the light within. This lack of involvement and accessibility to the story of Destiny was a major disappointment to the fans of HALO and it creates a lack of identity for the game. 

2. The Amount of Loot/Gear/Weapons/Fashion in this Game
There are no games that I've ever played that has the amount of items for your character's personal armory, transport, and drip. D2 has a rumored nearly a thousand guns in the game with millions of combinations of perks for those weapons. Not to mention the number of shaders, ghost shells, sparrow vehicles, jump ships, and transmat beam-in effects. You could spend hours upon hours grinding for those wanted items or spending real money for an awesome bunny ghost shell ( I totally did this). Why is this odd? While games similar to Destiny have loot, guns, gear, and fashion...I've seen anything like this and it seems to consume the community with D2 being mostly a fashion game for that important drip for your Guardian. It also leads to the dreaded God Roll Fever...more on that down below.

3. The Dancing Guardians
In the marketing for the game as well as a major interactivity feature of the game is the ability for our Guardian warriors to dance and dance like there is no tomorrow. From NPC speech elements and other little pieces, we know that the dancing Guardians is an actually a canon element of their personality. It is so odd on much dancing and just down right odd behavior is present in the Guardians themselves. I wish there was more explored about the Guardians identity and culture in the game...but that would mean there would actually be a game there and not a cash grab by Bungie. After all, story is so HALO. 








4. Are We Space Zombies?!
We were dead. Our body was laying among the rusting car and the bones scattered outside of the Cosmodrome in Old Russia. While never said, it is assumed we were part of those attempting to gain access to the ships trying to escape off-world during the Collapse. Or we were protecting those attempting to escape by holding the line against the Darkness forces. When our Ghost found our dusty bones and began the process of our first resurrection, we may have been in the dirt for centuries. From that moment when we lived again, we were a space warrior that used the light of the Traveler to fight the darkness, eat Ramen, and dance like there is no tomorrow. But...who were we before we were a space zombie warrior of the light? Shockingly, Bungie never developed official lore for these questions of who we were before we met our end at that road in old Russia. This could have allowed for system similar to how we pick the background of our Shepard in Mass Effect.  It is odd to think that this idea was not expanded on by Bungie and it is also odd to think that our Guardians maybe a form of space zombie...? 

5. The Ships that go nowhere...
In some games, your ship is an important part of your identity, travel, strategy, and ability to fight as we seen in Mass Effect, Starfield, and even in Outer Worlds...but not in Destiny. The jumpships in both Destiny games are just a fashion piece that is only seen in orbit of a world or during transit to a world. Sure, you can pay or win many ships and apply shapers to the jumpships in D2, but you never see the inside, you cannot customize it, you cannot access your vault while in the ship (yet). It is a ship that goes no where and does little for the game. If you wanted to, you could just use the first jumpship given to you and that would be fine, which is so odd considering how important most spaceships are to most space-based games, but oddly in Destiny franchise, they are nothing more an computer wallpapers.  

6. The Failure of the Destiny Merchandise
When Destiny launched, companies saw the ability to jump onto a Bungie franchise on the ground floor and maybe reap the success and sweet sweet cold hard cash of HALO. Companies like McFarlane and Mega Bloks jumped with their own lines of merchandise and even Bungie had Destiny  themed items...but it all failed. While HALO enjoyed much success in the work of merchandising, Destiny oddly did not due to the story being hidden and the look of our Guardians are highly customizable. The toys of our Guardians are not what we see when we log into the game. I celebrate that those toy makers attempted to bring the world of Destiny to a playable scale or that we had plastic display pieces of some characters in the game. Also, I give Mega Bloks praise for bring an actual plastic Xur figure to the line. Bloody legends. The entire Destiny toyline just seems off somehow like other current video game toylines and yes, Lego Mario, I'm looking at you.  

7. People are Always There...
One of the odd things for me was the fact that there were real live human beings in the gaming environment at all times despite the fact I did not have Xbox Live. In the middle of my campaign mission, there were other Guardians dancing, being weird, and flashing emotes at one another. This is something I got used to, but it was an oddity for me that I was in a living world of other Guardians that did interact with me, even if I did not have Xbox Live, unlike when I am playing Skyrim. 




8. It All Takes Place in Our Solar System
Nearly all science fiction, ranging from literature to video games depict active spacefaring civilization that travel among the stars. Much more rare is those works that show a spacefaring civilization that are just contained to their homeworld solar system. One can consider the government of the 12 Colonies for BSG and the 'verse from Firefly, and the entire Destiny franchise. As I said, this very rare and odd. It is shocking that all of the action in the game and the entire Golden Age of humanity is isolated to the Terran system. Now, there were attempts just before the collapse to send humanity to exo-solar destinations like Kepler-186 and even the Andromeda galaxy via the Exodus Program...but we do not play within those environments. 

9. Farming for the God Roll!
If you are part of the Destiny 2 addiction...I mean...player base than you know about the addiction to the farming and grinding for the God Roll of a weapon or armor. I mean, damn Guardians be grinding harder than strippers on a Tuesday lunch for those fives and the Guardians, man, they love the Grind! Or do they? That is the horror of the weapons and armor in the game: the unholy amount of perks that alter a base weapon into trash or treasure. Adding to the misery, is that the "god roll" for a certain weapon or armor piece is subjective based on player style, build, what has been nerfed & buffed by the devs, and the game mode that the piece will be used in. 
There is no end to the addiction either. Players get on YouTube and LightGG every Xur Friday and Reset Tuesday to see if a God Roll piece of armor or gun is being sold or if one of the activities has a god roll weapon to farm or grind for. Hours of blood, sweat, tears, and Mountain Dew are committed to these holy quests. But, the grind...she breaks you and then you leave the life behind because it just too much. It is odd how something that is might to engage Guardians in playing the game is also the thing that breaks them from playing it. So, let us talk plainly about the abusive God Roll Meta of D2 and why you should be very careful of falling for the cycle of farming for the "god roll" gun. Within the D2 community there is a question that cuts through the entire player base like the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon: what is the God Roll for X Weapon?  
While there are many other shooter-based video games that have weapons and YouTube channels devoted to exploring and explaining them like RAINBOW 6, COD, HALO, and Counter-Strike...but there is nothing like the amount of guns and their vast variety in the two Destiny games. It has been estimated that there 600 base guns that occupy over a dozen categories with each gun (mostly) having five perk slots that further randomizes the rolls for each guns. It is estimated that each gun that has random roll perks can have over 5,000 variations. This means that there are millions of weapons in the Destiny games. Some of the perks work beautifully together to the degree that they are labeled an "God Roll" for both PvE and PvP environments. These God Rolls for a weapon in D2 are subjective and the weapon and  subject to nerfs and buffs to the perks themselves based on what the lords of Bungie decide. One season, that Funnelweb is a murder machine and then the next season is a water pistol of cold piss. Some exotic weapons do not have much in the way of perk choice, like my beloved murder machine, the Gravition Lance. 
This abuse and addictive God Roll Meta is one of the reasons for the high grind associated with D2. If you want that God Roll Firefright that Aztescross is rolling in the video and it is not being sold by the vendors in the Tower, then Guardian, you are grinding to focus those engrams and play those missions to hope to Cthulhu that the broken D2 servers gift you with that mystical God Roll...and then it sucks. Pushing this God Roll narrative (and addiction) is the D2 content creators. If they love a gun, for one reason or another, it will be seen through the gaming environments, as players bought or farm for that specific gun so that they can dominate. This pushes players to grind even harder for that one gun that could alter their gaming experience and transform them into the hunters and not the hunted to make Daddy Shaxx proud.
However, my dear Guardians, the mythical God Roll of a certain weapon should be take with caution. Your play style, build, and skill level can make a trash gun into a destroyer of souls or an amazing god roll weapons could be like wet pasta and everyone is take turns on you in the Crucible. Been there my fellow Guardians with the goddamn Suros Regime. For example, some months ago, there was a Cantana-57 hand cannon being sold by Banshee-44 that was called the God Roll for the gun by the entire D2 community. So, I got it and took into the Crucible. Not one fucking kill with the goddamn thing. Not one. So, I switched to my old trusty Survivor's Epitaph and made the other team rethink coming near my Huntress. Test your weapons and see what you like and what are good to you because one Guardian's God Roll is another's breakdown for Legendary Shards. Rant over. Oh, Sunsetting weapons is goddamn bullshit. Rant over...again. 

10. It is the Destiny that Bungie wants you to see...
I came to D2 very late due not wanting to play a game that wiped out the Tower and altered the world I loved so much in D1...then the game became free to play (Ha!) and I jumped in expecting to play the Red War campaign. I was wrong. Dead wrong. There is a limit to what all players of D2 can engage with and past content is not one of them. It is so odd that D2 is only the game that Bungie wants you to see and experience. You cannot play the Red War anymore, and for new lights joining the game, the only way to experience this is via old YouTube playthrough videos. That is odd and lame. Locked down from D2 players is the Red War campaign, Warmind, Curse of Osiris, and Forsaken. With the Final Shape (or Sale) coming out, Bungie put into place a system where you can play some pieces of older campaigns...but it is still not the full package and not as open to Free-to-Play Guardians (like me!). Destiny as a whole as issues with player engagement with their world and this lockdown of older content does not help. 

11. It is Running the HALO engine in 2023!
One of the major complains about Destiny in general is that game is still using the engine developed by Bungie for the original HALO game way back in 2001. This is often cited by fans and critics of the game for issues with stability and connection. The odd thing about this theory is that is it both correct and wrong at the same time. Destiny today runs on a modified engine developed by Bungie for HALO: Combat Evolved: The Blam! Engine. When work began on Destiny in 2008, portions of the game were tested in the Blam! Engine modified for HALO: Reach (my 2nd favorite HALO game). When it came time to actually program vanilla Destiny, the Blam! Engine was again modified into the Tiger Engine. This was named after some early concept art of the game that featured space tigers, who were going to be part of the original game in a early build. There was also going to be another playable race in Destiny that were a species of space tigers, but this was cut early on. We will see what the future holds for the Tiger Engine with Destiny.

12. The Much Rumored Death and Resurrection of Destiny
Since the first release of vanilla Destiny 1, there have been those that said that Destiny is a dead game and even I will say it here on this article. Over the course of the Destiny franchise decade-long existence, there have been lows and there have been highs. Some of these lows nearly killed the game, but like our Guardians, Bungie is able to resurrect the game. It is odd to be on the sidelines, mostly, and reading the amount of the chatter on the death of a game. There is an underline toxic hate for the game and the studio that few other developers have within their own community. If we look at the other Bungie franchise, HALO, for comparisons; it is blinding the difference. The core HALO games made by Bunge were all celebrated and not sad by the community to be the death of the franchise. It wasn't until 343 Studios took on the HALO mantle of responsibility that hole was dug by fans for the beloved franchise. While HALO 4 was okay and even good in some parts, HALO 5 was the kill shot and the entire franchise never recovered from that war crime and I don't think it will. HALO Infinite was a dead game on release and has never captured the magic of the original core HALO games. For Destiny, it was such a bad start that the foundations were never in place, unlike HALO. Where HALO could weather some bad storms until Hurricane HALO 5 knocked down the house and washed it out to sea, Destiny was always shaky and unstable. 

13. Will there be a Destiny 3?
With the dark and depressing news leaking out of Bungie HQ since October, the community has been wondering if the only way to save the game at large is to finally develop Destiny 3 after "The Final Shape ". Part of this reason for the need of D3 rests with the Light and Darkness storyline coming to its final end with The Final Shape. After all, there is alot of concern with what will Bungie do with Destiny after we kick The Witness in the balls? While this seems to be the most logically course of action for the game developer, it will likely not be the course that they will sail and that is odd...very odd. Destiny 2 is played out and the limping model of seasonal content is lame that does not increase player involvement and nor does the amount of paywalls within the game. To me, if D2 is the only answer for the future of this gaming franchise, that a Ghost could not resurrect it again. Without a fresh start with a 3rd game, Destiny is a dead game that some Guardians will interact with and many other will move on as many already have.  According to everyone with some measure of inside knowledge of Bungie, they are not working on a 3rd game. How is that player count Bungie? Yeah...

My Own Future with the Destiny Universe
The night before publishing this article, I jumped onto Destiny 2 for "The Season of the Wish" (I think Bungie titled that because they are wishing for answer to how to save Destiny) and I was rewarded with an experience that left me wanting something better. I do love Skyrim (first playthrough currently underway), but I miss the combat of Destiny. But I do not find D2 is just not worth it anymore and that makes me sad to another game that I loved go the way of HALO. I will not be playing The Final Shape and I will see how it ends via YouTube. I will see all of you on the streets of Whiterun.