[personal] Doing stuff with Star Trek and Labyrinth

Yesterday, among other things, I went with Team E— to a free showing of Labyrinth (1986) [ imdb ] at McMenamin's Bagdad Theater and Pub. It was fun to watch, both because I can remember how much I liked the movie when it first came out, and I can now see how dreadful that movie is at many layers. As I said afterwards, it is very much a product of its times. I also realized somewhere in the middle of the movie that I'd gotten my recollection of the film mixed up with Legend (1985) [ imdb ].

I then hied myself over to Cathedral Park out in St. John's. Ellen Eades had organized a trip to see the last production of this year's version of Trek In the Park. I met her there along with good friends davidlevine and kateyule. This year's episode was "Journey to Babel" [ imdb ]. It was fascinating to see Star Trek acted on a bare stage set with minimalist props. Everything came down to costuming, dialog and action. It was clever as hell, and quite funny.

I was also fascinated by the whole idea that a couple of thousand people could watch and understand something done on such a bare set with so few external cues. If you weren't familiar with the television series, this would have made very little sense at all. David made a comment about it being Shakespeare for our time. I don't know about that, but it was an amazing communal experience and most entertaining.

Next year they're doing "The Trouble With Tribbles" [ imdb ]. Based on the brief preview, I am thinking this will be something not to be missed.