Star Trek 2 The FORBIDDEN Planet

In 1956, a science fiction movie that made a Robot named Robby a household name, called  The  Forbidden Planet , (which is now considered the Grandfather of today's modern Sci-Fi cinema) was first released on April 1st, and it was no joke. In the film,  the United Planets Cruiser C57-D travels to the planet Altair IV, 16 light-years from Earth, to discover the fate of an expedition sent 20 years earlier.  Sounds a lot like A Star Trek episode, doesn't it?  And that's because it was one of the inspirations for the series. Now I could go on and compare "The Cage", Star Trek's pilot episode to the movie, however I feel that ground has been covered many times before. Besides, I'd rather discuss how and what  the "The Cage" and the BBC series "the Prisoner" have in common with each other.  However, very few people ever really discuss how many times the planet  Altair has been referenced in the world of Star Trek , so I thought I'd take a moment to shed some light on the subject (if you will pardon the pun).
                During the Original series, in the year  2267- an Interplanetary conflict between Altair III and VI ends. The Starship Enterprise ordered to attend inauguration of the new president, but the visit is  postponed when Spock diverted the ship to Vulcan because he was in "Pon farr" in the Episode "Amok Time". Also note, this planet, Altair VI, was mentioned in the audio transmissions of the Kobayashi Maru training simulation sequence in "Wrath of Khan"!
                    Apparently, almost a Century later, Altair III is still a hostile place to be, because it is mentioned in the 1st "Next Gen" Episode pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint", that Will Riker would not his Captain, of the Starship Hood (NCC-42296, which was an Excelsior Class Starship ) to transport to the surface because it was considered to dangerous and high risk.
                    Again, this Episode was written by Gene Roddenberry, and the Hood was also the ship that was transporting Retired Admiral Doctor McCoy (now at the age of 137) to the Enterprise D in the year 2364.
                    Also note, "Altair Water" was a Beverage favored by Spock.

                    Also,  according to it's web site, Altair 4 itself was mentioned in "Star Trek -Deep Space Nine". Here is another thought. I was just amazed by how close the Captain's name of J.J. Adams in "Forbidden Planet" was to the Director of the New Star Trek movie, J.J. Abrams, of Bad Robot productions, who is now going to helm Star Wars Episode VII. And guess what,  the Scientist in "Forbidden Planet" said that there was a "Force" there, and "dark, unseen, invisible Force".  I believe that is what he called it. I could be wrong, it's been some time since I watched the movie. But I was just wondering if maybe, maybe this is where Lucas got the idea for the name "The Force"? in Star Wars.

 

The Guardian Stargate

Ok here is my problem with this, "the greatest of all Trek episodes", "City on the Edge"       Now I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I hate plot devices. I really hate the ones     that don't really work well in reverse. Let me explain. This "Guardian" is a lot like "The  Nexus" is "Trek VII: Generations." Yeah, Talking alien time machine is way cooler, but it   suffers from the same problem that made that movie bad. ? How do our hero's come  home? This "thing" should work like a Transporter platform, or better yet - A Stargate !  Ok, It can transport "us" across the galaxy to another planet @ another time.                ( Assuming that it can create a wormhole and "aim" the "other" "exit end" at that point  in space/time) but there is no Stargate at that other end. So once there, where on  Earth do our hero's go to step back into the "Guardian Stargate" once they fix history.  ???? They should have been stuck there on/in 1930's Earth, because a Stargate just  wasn't there for them to step back into to get back.  Just like once Kirk and Picard   went into the Nexus, how would they get out? They wouldn't be able to do it on their  own just by wishing it. Now, had they been Transported away...................