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Castle: The Final Frontier

“May fortune guide your journey.”

From the opening shot of an alien spaceship racing towards us, we know that we are in for a fun episode of Castle. Considering the sci-fi street cred of some of the cast and crew involved in the show, it was only a matter of time before they took on ComicCon and the sci-fi world. Unlike so many shows who poke fun at the people who attend, this show was filled with allusions to various shows (see below) and treated the people who attend with respect and affection. The case itself was rather standard and nothing too exciting, but at least the killer was on screen for a while and hints were dropped as to whom it was.

The case did give the writers a chance to explore some of the stereotypes involved in canceled shows. Ed Quinn is simply hilarious as the actor who was popular at one time but whose career has faltered. He now just goes from con to con reliving past glory. He was appropriately smarmy and self-important. Likewise, Christina Moore was wonderful as the actress who was able to use a show as a jumping off point to launch her career and is now dismissive of the fans who made her popular in the first place. Of course, what was so great about this character is that she really hasn’t come all that far -- a serious actress she is clearly not.

We also got to see our team interact with the people at the convention, which led to some hilarious moments. Ryan not speaking Mersatonian and Esposito trying to maintain his cool around the women wearing nothing but leaves were classic. Castle running into Alexis and reacting as any father would, but then refusing to discuss it with her had me laughing out loud. I loved Beckett coming to Alexis‘ defense and the exchange about Castle wanting Beckett to dress just like that was wonderful. “That is confusing and disturbing.”

While I like Lanie and I think she adds a much needed female component to the show, I have a very soft spot in my heart for Perlmutter. His snarkiness towards Castle always makes me laugh and he tends to get the really weird cases (remember the zombies?). I love the fact that the weapon was a laser gun. That was a really fun element of the case.

My favorite part of the show, however, was the revelation that Beckett “was a sci-fi loving, costume-wearing geek.” The look of delight on Castle’s face and Beckett’s obvious discomfort were wonderful character beats. But, the scene where Beckett tells Castle why she was such a fan of the show is now one of my favorite Beckett moments of all time. The look on Castle’s face while he is listening and his agreement to not make fun just made my heart melt.

A really fun episode that made me laugh even the second time through. Three and a half out of four sci-fi loving geeks. Yes, all of us.

P.S. Apologies, again, for the tardiness of this review. Dealing with the aftermath of the storm has taken over my life a bit. I sincerely hope to be back on track this week. Thanks to all of you who have sent and posted notes of support. It helps.

Tidbits:

Let me begin by saying that I have only ever seen part of one episode of Star Trek. (Does admitting this now mean that I am off the team??) All I remember about it is that furry, stuffed animal looking things were multiplying. I thought it so silly that it turned me off all things Star Trekian (and all things sci-fi) until I was into my 40s. I am, therefore, counting on others to fill in the Trekian references. Cris and Marc -- this means you!

-- I may not be at all Trekkie, but even I know that the title of this episode is an allusion to that show.

-- Many of the actors in this episode have sci-fi credits; as does the director, Jonathan Frakes, and one of the executive producers, Rob Bowman.

-- Alexis and Castle used to attend the Con as Princess Leia and Darth Vader and Castle has a life size Boba Fett in his bathroom.

-- Captain Max Rennard is about as close as one can get to Captain Mal Reynolds and still be this side of copyright infringement.

-- At the crime scene, Beckett and Perlmutter were both wearing blue gloves.

-- The whole subplot around buying the rights to the show is another allusion to Firefly. Fillion had suggested at one point that he might buy the rights from Fox and the fan base went wild, immediately starting to help him raise money. Nothing ever came of it, as far as I know, but I have heard that there are webisodes based on the characters played by other actors.

-- Loved Benjamin Donnelly’s “Han Shot First” t-shirt.

-- The William Shatner song at the very end was the perfect coda.

Soundbites:

All of the soundbites this week reference another sci-fi show or an earlier episode of Castle.

Man on Bridge: “Creaver battleship closing fast.” “Lieutenant Chloe hasn’t teleported back from Ariel’s moon.”

Castle: “All right. Where do you want it?”
Beckett: “Could you sign my chest? Wow. That actually caught your attention”

Beckett: “There’s been a murder here.”
Castle: “Here at supernovacon?”
Beckett: “Mm-hmmm.”
Castle: “Shiny.”

Castle: “So, who is our victim? Did Doc Ock finally catch up with Spiderman?”
Beckett: “Think more TV starship.”
Castle: “Oh! Borg attack.”
Beckett: “Uh uh.”
Castle: “Cylon skinjob? Please say Number Six.”

Castle: “I’m sorry. How is Nebula-9 worthy of all this? I mean, they were canceled over a decade ago after twelve episodes, which was twelve episodes too many.”
Beckett: “I thought you would be a fan.”
Castle: “I’m a fan of good sci-fi: Star Trek, Battlestar, that Joss Whedon show.”

Henry: “Isn’t it frakin’ awesome?”
Beckett: “It’s frakin’ something.”

Castle: “I’ll tell you what. I’ll forgive you your terrible taste if you try on that Nebula-9 costume for me.”
Beckett: “In your dreams.”
Castle: “Look at my life. My dreams come true.”

Castle: “Zap, said the lady. You are so busted.”

Esposito: “As you wish.”

Ryan: “No, no. Swords and sorcery, that’s more my thing, like ‘Lord of the Rings.’”
Esposito: “Yeah. I could probably see you as an elf… or a hobbit.”

Castle: “I’m beginning to mutate like the Hulk, or the Thing, or worse, the Leader. What would happen to my hair?”
Beckett: “I prefer Dr. Manhattan. The blue skin… brings out your blue eyes.”

Davis: “She made the show popular again. They were talking about rebooting the series, maybe even doing a movie.”

Captain Max: “I’ve been waiting ten years to do that, bitch. Nobody takes over my ship.” The look on Beckett’s face is lovely.

ChrisB is a freelance writer who spends more time than she ought in front of a television screen or with a book in her hand.

16 comments:

  1. I do not envy you the writing of this review! So many references, so little time.

    I'm not a big sci-fi fan (I've seen less Star Trek than you, ChrisB!) but I do ADORE Firefly and loved all the shout outs. Bravo to Castle for not taking itself too seriously and being willing to break the fourth wall occasionally. Well, maybe not break it, but put a window in it.

    I seriously had a nerdgasm when Castle said 'Shiny.' And then 'That Joss Whedon show.' The show hasn't been shy about making references to its main character's former life as a space cowboy pirate and I love it. Anyone remember that episode where Castle spoke Chinese and said he learned it from a show he used to watch? Classic.

    ChrisB, I like Perlmutter too. I almost wish Lanie had a different job on the show so we could have both of them all the time.

    This is definitely one of my favorite Castle episodes ever.

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  2. Glad you're safe and wow that's a great review. Loved this episode and all the refernces to sci-fi new and old. Geek!Beckett was adorable. Great Shatner song at the end. Most fun Star Trek parody since Galaxy Quest. Which was a very fun and geektastic movie.
    Anna

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  3. WHOAHHHHH ! A gigantic fun watching this !!!

    a) Nathan Stark, no beard, in Space !!! In your face Eureka !!! You too, Mister Fargo !

    b) J Frakes' cameo, priceless

    c) Castle's imitation of Kirk '66, priceless #2 and ON THE NOSE !

    d) Armin Shimerman, oh mega cool.

    e) "Laser guns don't kill, people do". Priceless # 3 (and have I not heard that one on another plane of Existence ??????)

    f) Castle's imitation of Picard needs more practice, but a B+ for the effort. Plus this episodes gets an A+++, big time.

    g) William Shatner's song to end this ep ? Oh my. Priceless # 4

    h) I had a little Galaxy Quest vibe in the middle...

    i) Come on Castle, Alexis was "wearing" false boobs.

    Please re read the very sentence that I wrote !

    ChrisB, you are FORGIVEN ! Unfortunately, you're going to need to liberate yourself from everyting for the next 4 months and watch EVERY episode of ALL the STrek incarnations. THEN, we'll talk.....

    ***

    Hé la Folle Espagnole !!! L'autre Chris a parlé de nous ! POuah !

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  4. Sunbunny,

    agreeing with you.

    This was the #1 of my top five of the series.

    Hum, too bad we didn't see a polar boar somewhere....oh heck.

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  5. I'll come back later with more details... but one thing you need to know ChrisB: the "#1 Fan" of Castle right at the beginning? Asking for an autograph? That was my favourite "#1" himself: Jonathan Frakes a.k.a. Commander Riker, first officer of Picard's Enterprise, and oh yes director of this episode!

    Also, I read an interview with him a week ago and he was asked if it was coincidence he ended up directing this episode and he said no, the producers shuffled around the episode order to make sure HE directed this one. Very appropriate!

    Will be back tomorrow with more. Need to rewatch it first, it's been a week and I've seen too many other shows in between. :p

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  6. Loved this episode. Laughing through much of it. The case was fine, but wasn't really watching it for that. Yeah, a working phaser! :D Just a great episode all the way to the end.

    Wonder if Castle went back to that weapon designer to get a double-bladed lightsaber.

    Also was I seeing things or was there a person dressed up as Lone Vengeance in that bar scene where Esposito and Ryan go to figure out who the victim's secret boyfriend is. It occurs right when the two of them split up after their conversation.

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  7. Matthew -- what a great catch! I had to go watch it again, and there Lone Vengeance was. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is one of those episodes you need to go through frame by frame to catch everything! I love that you could tell how much fun everyone had making this episode.

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  9. *sigh*

    ChrisB, we had so much in common going for us, not just our initials... and now you go and say that about Star Trek?! *double sigh*

    Oh well, this post was so-well written -and you caught so many of the geeky references- we'll just have to forgive you. As long as you follow Celticmarc's instructions and sit down for a year-long Star Trek marathon. We might be able to at least tip you off as to which episodes to avoid to make it a bit shorter... ;o)

    CelticMarc put up a good list (Castle's Picard imitation definitely needs work!), supplemented by others, but no one has mentioned my favourite Alpha (Erin Way, short and blond) as the best friend whose hubby had a thing for the murder victim!

    My favourites were seeing Jonathan Frakes and Quark I mean Armin Shimmerman. And I totally think Castle went back for that double-bladed lightsaber!

    But the best moment had to be Becket's confession of being a costume-wearing, scifi-loving geek! :o)

    Although discovering Ryan is a Fantasy fan (and potential Hobbit) was good fun too!

    Ahhhhhh! The whole thing was just... FABULOUS!!! :o)

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  10. @Marc: j'ai vu! La classe!!! :o)

    Mais t'es mieux organisé que moi... pas eu l'occase de le revoir et faire une liste... je te fait confiance d'avoir tout choppé. ;o)

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  11. Dis donc, ma folle espagnole préférée (j'ai plein de folles au bureau) (ou la la), si tu veux t'amuser, tu iras lire mes commentaires sur les épisodes de Lost a partir, plus ou moins, du milieux de la 1re saison, et ce, jusqu’à la fin. Et plus la série avançait, plus la longueur de mes commentaires également. Et, le summum ma fille, mon discours hyper dithyrambique de la finale AVANT de l'avoir visionné (au complet). Folie furieuse (dans le sens positif).

    You may, or may not, have read some of them, but I took notes during EVERY episode before commenting on Billie's posts.

    And I bought the ENTIRE DVD set of Buffy, because it's her fave. One day, I'll go through it.

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  12. PRESQUE TOUT choppé hein.

    NOT sure I caught everything.

    Hey ! You like shoutouts ??? I strongly recommend "The Middleman". Epic, funny and a lot of brilliant moments. More or less 14-15 ep's.

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  13. Cris and Marc -- I knew I could count on you two. Thanks! Maybe someday, I'll give Star Trek a try, but there's too many shows higher up the list right now.

    Merci les deux de toute votre aide. Ma francaise est fille d"ecole, mais j'essaye,

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  14. Loved this episode so much. I think it's my favorite of the entire series!

    The actor (that Captain Max Rennard) remind me so much of Tim Allen's character in the vastly underrated Galaxy Quest that I'm extremely sure it was a shout out to that movie as well.

    I started squealing at Jonathan Frakes' cameo, went higher in pitch at the "Shiny!" and went to the pitch that only dogs could hear at "That Joss Whedon show."

    Loved, loved, loved this episode.

    Kat

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  15. ChrisB

    Mais tu te débrouilles très bien ! Bravo LOL

    Kathy

    A HAAAA !!!! You saw it too (Galaxy Quest)

    ReplyDelete
  16. The quoted catch phrase is also very reminescent of the Hunger Games.

    ReplyDelete

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