(It’s a good question and I actually know the answer.)
A small portion of my video library.
I love movies. Always have. I’ve been buying them since home video became a thing.
First it was VHS movies. Then Laserdiscs. Then DVDs. Then Blu Rays. And now 4k Blu Rays.
My library consists of nearly 350 titles, mostly Blu Rays. Mostly movies but a significant number of TV titles.
Problem is I would not actually watch them. Yeah, I know.
A couple weeks ago I decided to watch all of the ones I had not actually watched.
So far I’ve watched “Alice, Sweet Alice” 1976 (GREAT movie), “The Beyond” 1981 (GREAT movie), all three of the original Evil Dead movies (all great).
Today I watched “Blood and Lace” 1971. It’s not great. It’s not even good.
Frankly, it’s bewildering.
I saw this movie in the theater when I was in high school. It was a midnight movie and I remember the theater being packed. A high school acquaintance had gushed about the movie as being gory. “There’s a hand that gets cut off and other stuff and YOU SEE IT ALL!” How could I say no to that?
So when the Blu Ray came out I had to buy it. I had to.
Watched it today and I just don’t understand this movie. It has the look of every other low budget drive-in movie from the 70’s except for a couple of things. There’s no nudity at all. None. That’s like a death sentence for an exploitation film from that time. It tries to fill that gaping hole with creepy sleaze, and it succeeds. There’s not a character in this movie who doesn’t make you want to take a LOOOONG shower after seeing them. This isn’t a fun movie. This is the sleaziest movie with zero nudity.
Just about this time last year I started looking at vacation options. We needed a real vacation. It had been nearly four years since our last real vacation.
We were thinking a cruise. I’d been on one in a previous life and enjoyed it quite a bit. My wife had never been on one.
The great thing about a cruise is once you pay for it the hardest thing you have to do is get on the ship. That isn’t that hard. Once you’re onboard the hardest questions are what to do, what to eat, and what to drink.
There’s always something going on the ship, lots of activities to keep you busy.
That’s how I discovered The Star Trek Cruise. I’m not going into detail about the cruise. Visit https://startrekthecruise.com/ for more information.
I’m a big Trek fan so I was sold. My wife likes Trek, but isn’t really a fan. But she said ok so we signed up.
Now we just had to wait for nearly a year.
The year passes and we arrive in Miami, FL on departure day. Getting to the cruise ship port was the worst part of the process. Once onboard everything was easy.
Expectations: Overall, I didn’t really know what to expect. We’re not really the type to frequent fan conventions. I expected there to be a lot of panels and interviews. I expected it to be a lot of fun.
I didn’t expect it to be inspiring.
The Unexpected: The celebrities who spoke spent most of their time talking about how they came to trek, how Trek’s overall philosophy has affected their lives, their relationships with fans and the other celebrities in their particular show.
There were very few silly fan questions. Frankly I can’t remember a single one. Time after time, a fan would come the mike, holding back tears, and recount how something in Trek, a story, a character, an episode, helped them through very dark times.
The actors shared their own dark experiences and told how their Trek family pulled together to get them through it.
Every actor who spoke had several things in common: They loved being part of such an open, accepting community, they loved working on such great shows. they loved the other actors on their show, and they loved the fans.
They all spoke of the great feeling of community just by being a part of the Star Trek Family.
Everyone who spoke, Famous or Fan, spoke of hope, of love, of connection, of family.
They spoke of how the completely fictional struggles of completely fictional characters had helped them with their all too real life struggles.
Again and again, my heart was broken listening to the pain an actor or fan had felt going through a dark time and how something or someone in Trek had somehow made the hardship just a little easier.
But the most important message of all Trek is inclusion. No one is excluded from the Trek family. This beautiful spirit is evident in the amazing spectrum of fans.
I expected to have a great time with other Trek fans and celebrities. And that certainly happened, far beyond what I could have hoped.
I didn’t expect to have my heart broken and healed again and again.
I didn’t expect to come away feeling uplifted, hopeful, and energized.
I’ve always loved Trek. But somehow I had forgotten the great message that no matter how dark the night, the dawn is just over the horizon. Great things are just around the bend.
