The Wrath of John

So last night was cheesy fun. The Dryden theatre shows old movies. This month, each Thursday night they are showing one of the Star Trek movies, preceded by an original Star Trek episode. So last night it was "The Space Seed" followed by "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan". Now, I have probably seen Wrath of Khan like a hundred times. We pretty much wore out a VHS tape of it. I probably know every line of dialog (nerd alert). Seeing it on the big scene was fun though. I hadn't seen Space Seed a hundred times, and it was really a treat to see it in this way. The best part was the overacting by Khan, and how he quickly converts the lady McGivers to his side. And of course the stunt doubles in the fight scenes are just too much...never did they think that we might some day be watching this on a 20 foot screen! Hellooooo, that doesn't even look remotely like Kirk! Too funny. I was waiting for a lot of audience participation in the movie, aka Rocky Horror Picture Show. People shouting out lines or the like. Nope, everyone was pretty quiet, but the laughter at the absurd parts reminded everyone how melodramatic it all is. Most of the audience was middle-aged balding males (oh, come on, they would say the same about me!), but I was surprised that there were several kids. The one in front of me had a phaser he made out of legos (must be dad wouldn't let him play with his real one he probably has in a collection under glass). Some other kids down the aisle I could hear saying to Dad that they were scared when the landing party goes into the abandoned space station. Never realized that there were SCARY parts in that movie! But the biggest laugh (and some applause) of course came when Kirk shouts out his famous "Khaaaaaaaaan". Anyway, it was all good fun, and reminded me when I was 8 and couldn't get enough of this movie. Next week is The Search for Spock, preceded by Amok Time. As the announcer said before the movie, "We see Spock go through puberty way too many times."