Director Charles Haas', COLD HANDS, WARM HEART,
is a fairly interesting tale, dealing with the potential hazards of
space travel.
Astronaut Jeff Barton (William Shatner) takes part in a historic voyage
orbiting Venus. When he returns to Earth, he is cold all the time, and
craves ever warmer levels of heat.
Some of the dialogue in the script, written by Dan Ullman, is pretty
hip for it's time. Returning from his historic Venus orbital journey,
Shatner's astronaut is given a ticker tape parade, and an increase in
military rank. When a media guy asks him how it feels to be a general,
Shatner replies, "I'll summarize it in two words: way out."
Unfortunately, other dialogue passages are quite goofy. During a romantic
scene with his wife (Geraldine Brooks) Shatner has to deliver hokey,
planetary/mush lines like, "You're the only world I can discover
over and over again," and ,"You're the best of all possible
worlds." Beam me up, Scotty!
The episode's alien is a weird Venusian creature with long arms, floating
"hair", and glowing eyes. The alien was Designed and Photographed
by Project Unlimited, Inc. The scenes in which the alien appears are
my favorite in the film.
Even at this early stage in his career, (two years before "Star
Trek"), Shatner tends to over emote, exaggerating facial expressions
and physical movements. Director Haas seems to have been unable, or
unwilling, to rein in Shatner's tendency to overdo things a bit.
A welcome realistic touch in the episode is the Space Agency's battle
to get money out of Congress, for a proposed Mars Mission. Writer Ullman's
Teleplay, written three decades ago, astutely predicted the difficulty
in getting funding for advanced space programs.
Director of Photography, Conrad Hall, delivers creative screen visuals.
Striking, is a shot of a shivering Shatner, wrapped in a blanket, photographed
through the fireplace.
Oddly enough, the proposed manned Mars mission Shatner is planning to
head is called, "Project Vulcan". "Star Trek" fans
may get a chuckle out of this. It would be logical.
The music, by Dominic Frontiere, is your standard ominous/creepy score.
The weird music sounds a bit forced.
COLD HANDS, WARM HEART should be fairly watchable for most Sci-Fi viewers.
Fans of Shatner, and/or odd aliens should enjoy themselves. BACK
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