Age – the final affront. These are the follicles of the toupee’ Enterprise. It’s 5 decade mission: to seek out new parts and new characterizations. To explore strange new doos. To boldly swim where no toupee’ has swum before - !
mOOn platOOn
7 regular features updated on odd days
SPECIAL – DOUBLE LENGTH 10th POST – NO EXTRA CHARGE!
The Bottom Line: This is a blog about mOOn platOOn, by Steve Games. Working in Hollywood but outside the bounds of studio controls, it’s a dream to create a movie – a TV series – a video game, books, interactive website and toys, and this is the beginning.
To Boldly Go Where No Split Infinitives – Or Split Hairs - Have Gone Before; mOOn platOOn Examines Captain Kirk’s Toupee`
By 2002 William Shatner was finished with Star Trek. Captain Kirk was dead, thanks to a lamely constructed scaffold (Star Trek 7: Generations).
But Bill Shatner was still very much alive. That he outlived his alter ego, an icon in television and in science fiction, is impressive. He outlived Kirk in more than Time. He has also outshone Kirk, by Denny Craning him, with a jab of T.J. Hooker thrown in. Today he stars in Boston Legal on ABC, in more episodes than he did in Star Trek the series.
Shatner also hosted Rescue 911 for years (ironically, right up until just before 9/11), and starred in some forgettable flicks. And for some inexplicable reason he does an infomercial show called Heartbeat Of America. Well, by “does,” I mean he tapes a canned introduction that appears at the start of each show. Very limited participation.
Anyway, back in 2002 I was associate producer for HOA and attended a meeting where Shatner was introduced to all of us. For years I’d heard about his bald reality. Legend has it that during the filming of an episode in the 60s, a fire broke out on the Paramount lot and everyone had to evacuate. Shatner came running out bald as an eagle, even then! Legend has it…
At the end of our meeting we all posed for a group picture. Shatner called us “a small but doughty crew.” I think he thought I was Sulu. As we assumed positions for the shot, Shatner stayed seated and I ended up right behind him. Thus, I was able to look directly down on the top of his head.
It looked absolutely real.
It Came From Out Of The Script
It’s the late 1980s, a secret battle of the Cold War. On the Moon, Ariel has been trained to use the USA space weapon and Oberon to assist her. She’s disobeyed Colonel Hamilton and he’s unhappy with her and the order they’re about to get. The USSR has just launched missiles at key western cities as the crisis climaxes. With only 5 shots worth of power, two have been wasted and two have knocked out missiles. But now only one shot is left…
INT. Forward Command Space Command Strategy Room.
MAJOR MUNOZ
Moon Platoon: we are to target the beam on Moscow. Repeat: target the beam on Moscow. Now! Vaminos!
EXT. Weapons Development.
OBERON
What? That’s crazy! Shoot Moscow with the beam?
HAMILTON
Washington wants us to shoot Moscow?
INT. Forward Command Space Command Strategy Room.
MAJOR MUNOZ
Do it, or New York’s dead in thirty seconds!
EXT. Weapons Development.
ARIEL
You got it?
OBERON
We’re on Moscow!
ARIEL
Okay … okay…
HAMILTON
Wait a minute -! [He approaches her, reaching out.]
ARIEL
Get back, Hamilton! [She stiff-arms Hamilton away.] And – now!
Hamilton grabs her arm aggressively. Oberon body-slams against him, knocking him away from the platform onto the lunar surface, stirring a dust cloud. Off balance, Hamilton cannot get up without help. Oberon stands by, letting him struggle.
Ariel discharges the weapon. High in space it fires, striking a series of mirrors before bathing the city of Moscow in a wide beam.
INT. Forward Command Space Command Strategy Room.
MAJOR MUNOZ
New York has twenty seconds -!
MONTAGE: In Moscow, electronics go wild. Pacemakers malfunction. Microwave ovens explode. Planes fall like meteors. Boats stop dead. Cars sputter to a halt. Radios and TVs go static. Sensitive skin blisters and pops. Popcorn spontaneously pops on grocery store shelves.
INT. Oval Office.
REAGAN
You see what we’re capable of doing to your capitol city?
In Moscow panic erupts as the citizenry rushes into the streets as if attacked by an army of ghosts.
INT. Oval Office.
REAGAN
We know that your missiles are capable of non-explosive self-destruction. Turn off those missiles heading for New York and Paris now, or we will destroy all of your cities from space! Now Mikhail. Save your people. Do it.
INT. Kremlin.
SOVIET GENERAL
I can’t explain it. Their weapon is unknown to me.
SOVIET ECONOMIST
[On headset] People are panicking everywhere!
GORBACHEV
Abort missiles. Repeat: abort missiles!
Over the Atlantic, a missile falls just short of the New York skyline, the twin towers boldly standing guard.
Over Paris, an incoming missile dismantles over the city, pieces falling in ever-smaller chunks everywhere, including a few bolts by the Eiffel Tower.
And in space, the fearsome weapon fired from the Moon reaches critical heat and silently explodes in an array of debris.
If I Were Casting Now
The part of Oberon, lead character, who evolves from a dissatisfied bureaucrat into an action-adventure secret astronaut: Giovanni Ribisi (Boiler Room)
mOOn platOOn Byproducts
mOOn platOOn Playing Cards
cards characters
2……….Uncle Roy
3……….Shellie
4……….Gorbachev
5……….Storkie
6……….Eli
7……….Zodia
8…….…Richard Nixon
9...……..Major Munoz
10……...Mr. McVey
Jack……Colonel Hamilton
Queen….Ariel
King……Oberon
Ace…….Ronald Reagan
mOOn platOOn Issues
In mOOn platOOn, Ariel and Oberon directly disobey their superior officer. And while they are civilians, they are still obligated to follow the chain of command in the situation of the lunar military base. Captain Kirk went against his superiors repeatedly, and usually was rewarded for it.
When is going against authority acceptable? Doesn’t that endanger everyone in the end?
Other Projects By Steve Games
GodTech
A science fiction novel
Several lab technicians discover that God exists in three distinct forms. It seems this happens because God, just like the Universe, is evolving and changing constantly. Apparently God actually BECAME everything before he WAS everything, but now he IS everything anyway. The three forms of God – all found through links in the subatomic world – become scientifically defined in 2033.
Before ethical committees and political debates can gain momentum, GalaxyCorp develops a technique using mass-manufactured devices called GodTechs for directly linking people to God. Once the network is activated – the day after the big sale begins - the link should – in theory - allow people to “tag” into the Almighty.
While no one is certain what this means, advertising suggests that we’ll “Tap into Heaven,” and “Pull energy from Heaven,” and even tugs on the sentimentality of the elderly with a “Stairway To Heaven” built at last. “…And she’s buying a stairway to Heaven…” A new service springs up providing “Direct Prayer” that God “Cannot Ignore.”
The prelude to the sale of GodTechs are riots outside the stores where they are making their premieres. Consumers cram themselves into dense mobs around the entrances. Protesters warn of the dangers of playing God. The rich buy their way to the front of the line. Extra security of all types are utilized. And those far outside of any chance to obtain a GodTech, or too jaded to care, dismiss the oncoming phenomenon as “just another gimmick.”
When the dust settles the switch is thrown, the network activated, and the Haves start experimenting, while the Have Nots try in vain to ignore them.
There is no ignoring them, for Man has brought about his own Rapture.
The 1st Level takes them into a meditative state of universal sensation, close to what tradition might call “Nirvana.” This is connecting with the Omnifarious, That which is made of everything, and That which makes up everything. This is where most users stay, for they are satisfied yet still connected to the world they loved, though annoying to the Have Nots. They sit for long meditations and take long, slow walks. Small talk annoys them.
The 2nd level takes them into a super-observation mode where they can focus on any point in the universe and learn anything past, present or future. This is connecting with the Omnipresent and Omniscient, Who is everywhere, aware of everything, but not yet omnipotent. More than half of the remaining “ascendants” stay here, happy to be cosmic voyeurs who know it all. Many foresee their own doom and accept it unquestioningly. The endless questions followed by limitless answers keep them occupied.
The 3rd level takes them into absolute Godhood with the ability to change the world with but a thought. This is connecting with That which is Everything, is Everywhere, is all-knowing and all-powerful. These ascendants change the world, often at odds with opposing powers of equal influence. These thousands of 3rd Level Gods go to war, fighting to remake or preserve their realities.
Needless to say, this changes the world radically. Those who cannot obtain GodTech are left in a nightmare, their world at the whim of a thousand Gods. But even GodTech wears out. Year after year, more people are left with worthless GodTech. And the manufacturers stopped making them when they left for level 3.
If you haven’t gone to the 3rd Level and built yourself a permanent platform – your own Heaven – you’re doomed to the Hell on Earth when your GodTech expires. And if you’re in that Heaven before your GodTech goes dead?
You’re God.
The Cast In Hollywood
Cooling down - clear blue skies - sunny, breezy, cool in the shade - PERFECT summer day.
Participants can get involved by going to www.paypal.com and sending to stevegames1@yahoo.com through their system.
