By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 19 seconds ago

Regardless of what reactionaries on YouTube might tell you, Star Trek has always been full of political commentary. Original Series episodes like “A Private Little War” served as a commentary on Vietnam, for example, while Deep Space Nine’s “Paradise Lost” demonstrated the dangers of trading national freedom for security. Furthermore, the entire Maquis storyline that set up Voyager is a scathing allegory for the ethical quandaries of colonization.

Every now and then, though, Star Trek shoots itself in the foot with a clunky metaphor that doesn’t quite land. For example, the writer of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Defector,” Ronald D. Moore, previously insisted that his story was a metaphor for real-life events. According to him, this story presents “the Cuban missile crisis at the Neutral Zone.” Unfortunately, this political analogy doesn’t land because it relies on a deep understanding of the Romulan War, which the franchise has always inexplicably refused to flesh out.

The Gang Stops A Romulan War

In “The Defector,” the Enterprise offers sanctuary to a Romulan who is fleeing out of the Neutral Zone, away from his own people. He provides intel to Captain Picard about the Romulans building a secret base inside the Neutral Zone, where they can make and hide starships. Picard is skeptical of these claims and hesitant to enter the Neutral Zone, but he does so after the Romulan is revealed to be a high-ranking admiral. Unfortunately, he is being played by his own people, and the Romulans try to ambush the Enterprise. However, Picard brought some cloaked Klingon ships to even the odds, and the stalemate was resolved without bloodshed. 

The episode was written by Ronald D. Moore, the rockstar Star Trek writer who later became showrunner of the highly acclaimed Battlestar Galactica reboot. As recorded in Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, he once described the events of this episode as “the Cuban missile crisis at the Neutral Zone.” This makes sense, of course, because America’s discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba nearly led to all-out nuclear war. The seemingly unprovoked presence of the Enterprise in the Neutral Zone, meanwhile, would have given the Romulans a chance to righteously strike back at the invading Federation.

The Man With The Plan

Why, then, do I think the key political analogy of “The Defector” falls apart? Mostly, because the franchise never gave us a detailed rundown of what happened during the Earth-Romulan War. This conflict is first mentioned in The Original Series, but without much detail. We got a handful of details in the later series Enterprise, which retroactively revealed that the “humiliating defeat at the Battle of Cheron” mentioned in “The Defector” is actually a reference to the final battle of this interstellar conflict.  However, Enterprise ended without getting to show the Earth-Romulan War, which, to this day, still remains largely shrouded in mystery. 

Why does the confusion about the Earth-Romulan War ruin the political analogy of “The Defector?” Without knowing much about this conflict or that the defecting Romulan is referencing its most decisive battle, everything falls apart. All we really see in this Next Generation episode is Romulans trying to set a trap for our heroes. It’s not really clear that this was an attempt to justify a second major conflict between these empires or that Picard’s quick thinking might very well have saved the Federation from the futuristic equivalent of a nuclear war.

Like America and the USSR, there is plenty of complex and bitter history between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire. Ronald D. Moore’s comparison to the Cuban Missile Crisis is quite apt. The discovery of the Enterprise in the Neutral Zone, like the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, would have been enough to trigger a destructive war between the two biggest powers in the galaxy. The story is complex and nuanced, but the payoff is far from satisfying, all because Star Trek has refused to give us details of the Earth-Romulan War for the last 60 years! 

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 19 seconds ago

If your Roman Empire is the Roman Empire, you’ve already seen Spartacus. Not the 1960 film with Kirk Douglas. The bloody, violent, sex-filled Starz series that took the world by storm in 2010 and proved the overlooked cable network was capable of hanging with Showtime and HBO. 

Now that it’s on Netflix, the award-winning, over-the-top pulp hit is going to be your next binge. That is, if you can get past the first three episodes. Even in 2010, they weren’t great, but after that, the series kicks into high gear, and for three seasons, multiple spin-offs, betrayals, murders, and lots of sex, it never lets up.

The Roman Empire Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

Spartacus, like most gladiator stories, starts off with the Romans betraying a man, kidnapping his wife, and forcing him to fight in the Colosseum as a gladiator. The unnamed Thracen (Andy Whitfield) is dubbed Spartacus by his owner Batiatus (The Mummy’s John Hannah), after the legendary Thracen king. With the promise he’ll be reunited with his wife, Spartacus fights in the gladiator pits for Batiatus, entertaining the Roman elite, including Batiatus’ wife, Lucretia (Lucy Lawless). It’s all going great for the Romans until Spartacus’ wife turns up dead, Batiatus is found responsible, and with nothing left to lose, Spartacus decides to “kill them all.” 

It’s a simple story, but it’s effective. The gladiator rebellion leads to some of the most satisfying deaths you’ll ever see on screen, and since it was on Starz, there’s no sugarcoating the bloody violence that hits the streets of ancient Rome. Spartacus: Blood and Sand is only the beginning, but it’s not the beginning, as Starz turned the series into a franchise with a prequel (Spartacus: Gods of the Arena) and more recently, a sequel series exploring an alternate timeline (Spartacus: House of Ashur). 

Behind The Scenes Tragedy Changed Everything

When the star of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Andy Whitfield, revealed he had lymphoma following the filming of the first season, Starz did what no other studio would do and decided to rework all of their plans to support him. Pivoting to the prequel, Gods of the Arena, featuring Batiatus, Lucretia, and Crixius (Arrow’s Manu Bennett), they wanted to give Whitfield time to beat cancer and come back. Sadly, he passed away 18 months after his diagnosis, leading to Spartacus being recast with Liam McIntyre. 

The show went on for two more seasons, dubbed Vengeance and War of the Damned, both of which include more of what made the first season so great: blood, sex, pulpy action, and ridiculous campy dialogue. This is not a high-brow Shakespearean take on the Roman Empire, which means you’re either going to love it, or hate it. There is no middle ground when it comes to Spartacus. 

There’s Nothing Like Spartacus

Spartacus takes a little bit to get going, and in those initial three episodes, you’ll see some of the worst greenscreen effects imaginable. The initial battle between the Thracians and the Getae looks like it takes place on the set of a community theater. But stick with it; the reward is a series that ends up finding its way, and Rome has never looked better than in War of the Damned.

The entire series is currently streaming on Netflix, and yes, it is uncensored, which means all the nudity (both male and female) is uncut. If you binge Spartacus and still need more, House of Ashur recently wrapped up its first season, and there’s more on the way. 

By TeeJay Small
| Published 1 hour ago

If you’re a fan of violent horror films, you’ve probably seen your fair share of simulated blood and gore. From shootouts, to monster flicks, to brutal car crashes with glass streaming across the dashboard, it can be difficult to shock modern audiences.

Even still, 2015’s Bone Tomahawk is one of the most jaw-droppingly violent movies I’ve ever encountered, offering some truly horrific visual effects, gripping performances, and a terrifying ending that will keep you awake for days.

Squirting And Screaming

Bone Tomahawk was written and directed by brutalist filmmaker and certified sicko S. Craig Zahler. Despite being his directorial debut, and working with a shoestring budget, Zahler managed to drum up tremendous support for his script, courting the likes of Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, and David Arquette in the leading roles. The film centers on a small-town sheriff and his gang of cowboys as they attempt to rescue a group of civilians from a clan of bloodthirsty cannibals.

As the gunslingers venture forth into no-man’s land, they realize that they’re being hunted by the cannibal tribe, known only as the Troglodytes. Against the advice of everyone, from the local anthropologist to members of other local native tribes, the gang attempts to save the hostages, only to be dismantled in increasingly horrific ways. As the narrative of Bone Tomahawk progresses, the main characters are scalped, tortured, and dragged through the desert squirting blood and screaming. Most of the horror unfolds in broad daylight, too, which gives the film a very unique and visually interesting palette compared to other horror slashers.

So Beyond Violent, We Can’t Even Show It Here

There’s genuinely no way for me to oversell how violent this movie is. It’s more like a snuff film than a traditional western, making it a perfect watch for the horror fan that feels like they’ve seen it all. After Bone Tomahawk released, it quickly gained status as a cult classic, paving the way for S. Craig Zahler to helm additional ultra-violent outings such as Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete.

Personally, I’ve always been a big fan of the Western genre, though many old school Westerns are too corny and straightforward for modern viewing. Bone Tomahawk takes the idea of a Western and turns it on its head, giving you a shocking change of pace that makes the film feel unlike anything else. Today, the film has a near-perfect 91 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and no official rating from the MPAA. That’s probably for the best, because I don’t even know how you’d begin to rate something like this.

If you’re interested in checking out Bone Tomahawk today, and you don’t have a particularly weak stomach, be sure to give this one a spin on Hulu. Afterwards, be sure to watch something less gruesome to wind down, like Kill Bill, or a World War II documentary.