Never Mind the Happy: An Evening with Marc Shaiman and Bette Midler

One of the most popular and long-running science-fiction franchises is also oft-cited by scientists, from JPL astrophysicists to NASA astronauts, as an inspiration for their chosen fields. This fourth installment in the Star Trek filmic universe finds key players from the original series—William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and George Takei—reprising their iconic roles. On planet Earth in the year 1986, the crew recruits a humpback whale to communicate with a malevolent alien probe. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, who was given even more creative input than on his previous The Search for Spock, the film received Oscar nominations for Donald Peterman’s cinematography, as well as for its sound, sound effects editing, and Leonard Rosenman’s unconventional score.

I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath. —David Lynch

Writer-director Lynch confronts the concept of suburban Americana through the wholesome Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) and his unwitting descent into the nocturnal underworld of nightclubs, unspeakable violence, and seedy criminals. Dennis Hopper reignited his career with his turn as psychopath Frank Booth, whose twisted relationship with lounge singer Dorothy Vallens—a captivating Isabella Rossellini, playing against type—becomes an obsession for Jeffrey, to the distress of his chaste girlfriend, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern). A profound and disturbing opus—Lynch’s fourth feature, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Director—reveals society's seamy side, a topic that fascinated Lynch throughout his career.