okay for real this time

Just wow again.

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uhhhhhh.........

Wow. Just wow.

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Uh....

Check out this screen from TOS06.cbz sent from Droid Comic Viewer http://bit.ly/3dlKI5

What, pray tell, is an 'impulsion'?

Regenerating the unfixible

So, we're supposed to believe that the Vulcans lost the Borg? As in forgot? When someone alive on Vulcan in 2153 would be alive in 2371, possibly? Yeah, I'm supposed to buy that the Vulcans forgot.

And then, we're supposed to be suckered in by the idea that Phlox could cure assimilation? While being assimilated? Because it was so slow there was time to do that?

For all that though, I'm most angered by Enterprise's habit of stealing firsts from TNG. Not cool. Don't steal from Picard, he doesn't deserve it.

What now?

Will The Waiting Game For J.J. Abrams Cause 'Star Trek 2' To Move From Summer ... - Indie Wire (blog)

They're right.

They really are.

The question: would it be so bad?

Let us review: Star Trek was originally set for summer of 2008. Late summer. Then Christmas of 2008. Then finally May 2009.

And what a May 2009.

It kept us talking. And now we're talking again. What other news would there be of the movie now?

Its in pre prduction. This is publicity. And its working. Which is good.

The thing is, he deserves it

Sun News : Shatner beams at gala

Hey, what's up, isntShatner something of a joke? RocketMan?

But more than that, he has done many things and he has made a name fo himself and he has no talent, just none at all. It's all ego and persistence. I mean, wow. Give the man a medal!

Oh, wait.

They did.

Its a little close to home

TrekToday » Blog Archive » Pine As Mud?

Any relation to Harry Mudd?

Look what the shutle crew did!

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/110515_tch_sts-134-trek.standard.jpg

You know you're a geek when

Star Trek night has to be scheduled around Doctor Who.

Who thinks these are good ideas?

Hollywood, that's who.

Who exactly decided putting NATALIE PORTMAN in the Thor movie was a good idea? Why not just cast Jeri Ryan in the next Trek movie?

And I'm pretty sure there was a Trek joke after the diner scene. Little one.

Also, Andy was very much looking forward to a very special gauntlet and it was nowhere to be found. I think he may have cried a bit and I do hate to see him sad.

So now it's 2am and I just saw Renee Russo in something for the first time since Lethal Weapon 4, which is the best I've done all day.

Star Trek Sucks

1. It's his middle name. His first name was Jackson. Look it up.
2-6. Kirk is an idiot. Picard has a ship full of kids. Do you have any idea how easy it is to maintain security on a space station with thousands of people? And then there was Voyager and Enterprise. The less said the better.
7-9. What's wrong with having the shows reflect the times they were made in? And why aren't we counting Voyager and Enterprise as a sign of their times?
10. Yeah, well, it was a good unitard.
11-12. Sulu is the Asian who liked swords. Chekov is the one that's made to look like he was in the Monkees.
13. Yes, well, I know. Why was Spock in the Toilet? So juvenile.
14. Bite me. It's cutting-edge fake science.
15. People who like languages?
16. God, I hope not, because I'd have to kill them.
17. That scenario never happened. And did you see Nemesis? They finally found a use for her before they shipped her off to the Titan.
18. He had a chin in Season 1!
19. Because they left that for Doctor Who.
20. On the contrary, Kirk battles a weight problem sporadically throughout the Original Series. And, well, not to put too fine a point on it, but look at Shatner in Undiscovered Country.
21. The Picard Maneuver! Make a dirty joke out of that, why don't you, lamebrains!
22. OMFG, how tired are all the Motion Picture jokes? It was 1979, just let it go already. There was never any saving it.
23. And another called Kesprit. If you squint, it says Armpit. Grow up.
24. It didn't work. See response to #20.
25-26. Comic relief.
27. What on Terra does that even mean?
28. In one episode.
29. And there was a ship in Classic Trek called the Fesarius. Deal.
30. This has nothing to do with Trek, but... Denny Crane.
31. Not true! What about Picard, reading Shakespeare all the time. Kirk read A Tale of Two Cities in TWOK. And then there were Janeway's holonovels... the less said about that the better.
32. But Tasha and Worf got a whole big console to do things with while Troi had... nothing!
33. How is that any worse than G.I. Joe?
34. He's Jimmy Doohan. That should be enough for you.
35. Is awesome.
36. So?
37. But when it works? Pure awesomeness. Plus, Scotty stored his atoms in one, which meant we got to see Jimmy Doohan again.
38. Fluffy! My nephew and I played catch with one today.
39. Let's start with hair and move on to chin later, huh?
40. Granted. For the first year, then he got cool.
41. Not really. Raise your hand if you predicted Tasha, Jadzia, or Data (in the absence of spoilers)
42. Yeah they are. And the Cybermen were barely a twinkle in America's eye, so do not give me that. Acutally the Borg came from the TNG ep "Conspiracy" and made a rather... significant departure from that story, one that is never fleshed out.
43. There were in your much-maligned Motion Picture. Just saying.
44. But don't you just want one?
45. Now we discuss the hair? Okay, fine, let's talk about the hair. Or better yet, let's skip the hair and move into the stupid things she did. At least she had the sense to cut the hair to keep it from falling in her face when she was almost getting blowed up.
46. It was fun. You seem to have learned snark. Where did you learn that? Trek.
47. I resemble that remark!
48. It's not 'Trekker', it's 'Trekkie'. Just shut up.
49. Bill Shatner can't even do that. Plenty of people can't. Some of us are blessed.
50-51. Riker/Troi - a lesson for the nerdiest of nerds that anything is possible given enough time.
52. See #23.
53. And I still say in Generations they should have done it once more for old time's sake. That would have kicked #20.
54-65. DS9 Season 6, Ep 22. "Valiant" Teaser: Humorous interlude in bar. Act One: Explanatory Scene. Act Two through Five: various battles, no "proton" torpedoes. All other segments missing.
For example.
66. See the breakfast scene in DS9 Season 4, Ep 22, "For the Cause". Bajoran Bread and Klingon Coffee.
67. Granted.
68. Neelix - much needed comic relief and consistency in an uncertain and otherwise usually humorless show.
69. I count two that survive.
70. Name one. The only one that comes to mind is Riker's mom. There was no crying, no mind-meld, and no scabies involved.
71. Dealt with in the novelization of Star Trek 3. And by the way, I cry every time.
72. DO NOT INSULT MAJEL BARRETT OR CAREL STRUYCKEN.
73. DO NOT INSULT RICHARD HERD, THE PEOPLE WHO PLAYED PICARD'S FAMILY, OR PRETTY MUCH ANYONE WHO IS IN THE FAMILY. IT PUTS THE FUN IN DISFUNCTION.
74-76. Tom/B'Elanna. Worf/Deanna. Worf/Jadzia. Chapel/Spock. Trip/T'Pol. That's all five major series. TAS was pretty ship-free.
77. Don't forget Odo, and what they tried to do with Seven.
78. When? Name 2.
79. When? Name 2.
80-86. How would we live without Shatner's "Rocket Man"?
87-88. Learn to spell Maneuver.
89. TNG Season 7 "Inheritance". For example. I could have even gotten really mean and cited "Menage a Troi", but...
90. Yeah, because you never learned Klingon, which, by the way, is fascinating.
91. Yeah, but she was there. And it was a start. Also the first interracial kiss on TV, which is, you know, pretty cool.
92. Tell me about it.
93. Klingon cloaking devices. Another excuse for awesome.
94. He was a starving college student and the show hadn't yet found it's own. The Prime Directive was invented after the fact and is an accepted part of the canon.
95-97. Let's not stop there. Why are we not discussing Seven of Nine?
98-100. One at a time: People were watching. People were not watching at 10 on a Friday. They didn't run out of ideas: Season 3's writers didn't have any ideas because they were a totally different production team. And if it was rubbish, why did it win all those awards?

eleven fifty nine

Why oh why would there be an episode about the new millennium (2001, not 2000) on Star Trek in May of 1999?

Fury-ous

Things I would change about "Fury".

Kes would have come to Tuvok's birthday party.

Kes would not have rammed the ship.

A scene with Kes getting to meet Seven and Seven expressing a wish that Kes had stayed with the ship (that's called an apology, folks. look it up).

This episode not to have been made. That's not fair. This episode not to have had this plot or this title. Kes being in it is fine.

Doc/Kes interaction.

More Neelix/Kes interaction.

Kes happy.

Janeway/Chakotay shipper candy.

More than 56 days from the beginning - the Vidiians? Really? Knowing about their history? Already? I don't buy it. Change that.

Why would Tuvok see Naomi or any of the Borg, who Kes would not even know about? Why is there no continuity? And why is Kes so damn angry? She was always more levelheaded than she had a right to be, so why would she blame Voyager for her own choices? WHY? Change that.


Kes was also never violent, and always respected Janeway. An attack on Janeway would be OOC, right? Wrong according to Act 4. Change that.

Yeah, you know what else is just wrong? Janeway killing Kes.. Change that.

Thing A - Kes boards Voyager and goes back in time. Thing B - OldKes dies. Janeway tells YoungKes that ThingA will happen  because she learned to use her abilities. Outcome: Kes stops learning to use her abilities. Therefore Kes never leaves. So why do we get to Thing C - YoungKes makes a moving holomessage for OldKes? And how did they project it in Engineering? Change it.

So OldKes should remember that there's a recording waiting for her, right? Change that.

And as a side note, since when would Janeway forget Kes was coming? Change that.

Most insulting line ever: "You made the decision to leave Voyager." How did you not choke on it, Jennifer? Change that.

"Three years ago you travelled back in time." I count 5 and a half. Change that.

Why can't she stay? Why the hell can't she stay? I doubt Jennifer Lien would have turned down the work, and she certainly  would have made a splash as AngstyKes. Too bad for me, it didn't happen. And for Jennifer.

How would Kes have forgotten? She's not dumb. At some point when concocting that plan and remembering every freaking detail about her life 6 years ago (or 3 years if you listen to Scientist Who Cannot Count Kathryn Janeway) she might have remembered making a hologram to talk herself down if she went apeshit and tried to suck the warp core while planning to go apeshit and suck the warpcore, ya think?

They freaking send her home. After all the drama getting her off Ocampa, we send her freaking home.

Remember "The Gift"? Remember how she sent them 10 years closer to home? So she can get back to Ocampa... think, after blowing up Deck 11, she might be able to shave some more time off the journey?

All in all, I think I liked the goodbye from "The Gift" better.

Although I always wished Neelix could have said goodbye to her.

Now he has.

So there were many sad things about Enterprise.

Like water polo.

But there was this, in Season 1, that I had forgotten.

The clothes.

These are screencaps from Enterprise's Season 1 ep "Vox Sola".

And these are some screencaps of civillian clothes from TOS's first and second seasons.

Sam Cogley from "Court Marital"

People who end up dead in Operation: Annihilate!

Even Kirk's "casual" shirt, seen here in Season Two's "Journey to Babel".

Or even Sulu's outfit in Star Trek 3 and 4 bears some passing similarity.

I'm not saying it's a perfect match, or that "Vox Sola" never makes a mistake (the alarm signals bear a strong resemblance to those used in NextGen and Voyager, not Classic Trek, for example), but it is a start, and while not an exact match, it shouldn't be. Fashion changes, like fall colors and winter colors and styles evolving from one year to the next in ways no one reading this probably cares about. The most obvious similarites are to the first two screencaps but there is enough there to see how it could evolve, realisticaly.

But every time an alarm goes off, I hear Andy Dick.... "Beep beep beep beep?" And I sigh.

Some days are better than others

Enterprise: Cogenitor

Some days, it wasn't bad. Some days it was good. It was just like when Voyager ended and we were sad because there was no way to turn back the clock and make it as good as they suddenly were for the last four years.

There were bright spots.

It was so good. The only thing that would have made it better was that there is no mention of this species later. It's not like they could go back and edit, of course, but just pick a name you already used! But even after all that, it is a good example of the reason we have a Prime Directive - and a good example of the kinds of things that made them make the rule in the first place.

Obsessions are weird

For some unknown reason, at 3am I developed an obsession with Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

I don't know why.

I actually stumbled onto the fanfic, not the actual show, and I couldn't stop reading. And then I wanted to watch. And then I wanted to watch some more.

That was a long time ago, that first season.

I don't know what's up with me.

Good show.

Maybe it was seeing that commercial for the Return of Goran and Eames? Maybe.

Or not.

The first ep stars the husband from Medium as the bad guy, which I find awesome. Vincent D'Onofrio was so young and frigging skinny, it's amazing. He was a lot more shocking then, more of a surprise. Then he just developed his own brand of cool.

It's the head tilts. So good for aliens in MIB, so great when you're trying to be the new Sherlock Holmes.

Come to think of it, I think we learn more about Goran than Sherlock Holmes.

Okay, Microsoft, Admit it... The Enterprise was running LINUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it was.

You know how I can tell?

My iPod won't sync.

And then there's the nifty part wherein my Android phone will not sync with the computer, not even in Explorer, for cripes' sake, because you need the drivers. Where are the drivers, you may ask? I'll tell you where the drivers are, they're nowhere to be found.

So I tried to dual boot with Ubuntu because the only thing I would voluntarily do with Windows is watch Netflix on demand anyway and as soon as Netflix realizes that making it dependent on ActiveX and Windows is pointless and useless anyway, even that will go away, well guess who refuses to boot from the CD and USB drives? You heard me: REFUSES. Refuses!

Diediediediediediedie!

Windows 7 I kill you now!

It's not just that it's hard. Take the iPod thing, for example. You know what they don't have? Supported online forums. You know what that means? Genuis Bar. Now, don't get me wrong, my uncle works at a genuis bar. Maybe I'll just call him, because I can't see any pleasure in going to a Mac store full of ugly hardware and people who know nothing about computing to the point where they invest money in Computers for Dummies rather than trying to improve their lives and brains, and then that just leads to a whole rant about the Nightmare Before Windows 7 known as Vista, which is about the only thing that makes me like 7 these days. IT'S NOT VISTA.

If that's the nicest I can be, I should just reformat now, do myself a favor.

Diediediediediediediediediediediediediediediedie...................

As for the phone, WTF? You don't support ANDROID? I echatted with Samsung. It's true. No drivers. None at all. So I call their customer service line to get escalated until someone WRITES SOME DAMN DRIVERS and I find that they do exist. They're just hidden. Thank God I know my way around a keyboard or I never would have understood the instructions the woman I spoke to gave me, not to mention the crazy questions she asked (at one point she asked for the IMEI on my phone, which I cannot get while on the phone and I also does not exist on a CDMA phone, which mine is, and you know how you know that? By listening to the model number. Then she asked me which network it was on. You know how you tell? When the person says they have an Epic, which is on Sprint. That should be easy to remember, they only make 1 4G phone at Samsung, and it's the Epic, and it only works on Sprint!)

So I got the phone thing figured out, at least.

Positivity

I am watching Criminal Minds.

On ION.

ION's motto is 'positively entertaining'.

Criminal Minds is the least positive show...EVER.

More Things I Learned From TJ Hooker

People who smoke are killers.

Criminals who want to protect their identity take their cash payouts in well lit alleys with their heads hanging out of their red sports cars.

People are dumb enough to take candy from strangers.

No matter how upset you are, your makeup never gets smeared.

CPR is performed on the stomach.

Criminals are dumb enough to keep a written record of their crimes.

If a car hits something, it will explode.

Cheating always prospers as long as its not illegal.

Hooker cannot recognize that a man is tasting white powder out of a duffle bag, but he can recognize that the man holding the bag is in a picture he glanced at at the office when he sees the man from behind while wearing a baseball cap.

Mexico is a state. As in United.

So is San Diego.

'Lady Cop' is proper english and politically correct.

Criminals will get in a tug of war over the bag of loot while in a high speed car chase.

Oba Bonga

This is being written on my new computer, Oba Bonga.

She was named by my 6 year old nephew, for the record.

So right now, I am downloading Star Trek Online and Ubuntu at the same time, we are trying to find a monitor (which did not come with the CPU, although a keyboard and mouse did).

And I wait, and I watch Mission to Mars.

Jerry O'Connell doesn't get nearly enough credit as an actor. It's not his fault Crossing Jordan went to hell in a handbasket.

And I'm still thinking that maybe we need more talking computers. It's the way of the future, people. Star Trek taught us so. So far, I have learned from this movie that oxygen is for wimps. And there should be more talking computers. And when you get hit by a micrometeorite, sometimes bad things happen. Like Tim Robbins falling into the surface of Mars until he removes hims helmet and becomes a very convincing ice sculpture.

Well crap

I wish Voyager's seventh season had continued. And I wish it had been backdated the whole year before, and the year before that.

Especially as we get toward the end.

Things I learned from TJ Hooker

If you buy alcohol from the back of a van in front of a high school sance for $4 a bottle, it is stolen.

Fingerprints are for wusses.

Hair should be big. The bigger the better.

If you drink, you have a drinking problem. Unless your name is Hooker.

Coed football exists. It hilights the equality of the sexes. (On TJ Hooker, women wear skirts and man the desk.)

Stepping on silent alarms gets people killed or robbed harder, and should be avoided at all costs.

People who own stores have accents.

Crime is bad.

An airplane can take off any direction, even with Shatner hanging off the wing.

Do not have a bad attitude or the other bad guys will kill you.

Do not have a desire to help or the bad guys will kill you.

If you have an old friend, he's probably into something bad.

Sometimes there is a gorilla. Don't question the gorilla.

Composite artists are always accurate.

When you work for the bad guys, they are evil.

If you are a cop who is not Hooker, you will be dying soon.

Thieves steal a car to commit crime when they could just use their own.

Follow the Shiny Rocks

This week on Enterprise, "The Breach":

Interspecies conflict 101: how to handle situations delicately when there are racially based feelings in play.

Archer gets to be a jerk to Phlox.

Spelunking 101: How to fall off cliffs!

Travis breaks his leg and Trip tries to carry around bags of poop. And Malcolm is there too.

Theatricality

It is striking me anew how... theatrical the Klingons are. I mean, singing war songs, and that whole rigmarole over taking command at the beginning of "Soldiers of the Empire".... Criminy!

Fraud!

Some would say this was what Trek as it was meant to be, and in a way, it was. No heavy-handed preaching, except to have no result at all, no, just pure, wonderful, humdiggery and treachery, and all for the low, low price of Tom and Neelix being swindled.

Throw in a big dose of Type 3, and stir in one of the best cons ever to be shown in Trek, and what do we get?

Yessir, it's "Live Fast and Prosper", a.k.a one of the best episodes of Voyager's sixth season, a year notorious for missing sanity and plots that make no sense. Good times.

The Wonderful Thing about iTunes

The Wonderful thing about iTunes,
Is iTunes has Wonderful Things.

Their Treks were available for download,
their downloades can be used for playback,

and one can put them on their 16 gig micro SD card
and play them on their android phone.

And the most wonderful thing about iTunes is....

I have bought them all (that were available when I had money)!

Which means I now have time to work on some of the... erm ... other things the Trek actors did with their time.

Like T.J. Hooker.

There's quality entertainment for you.

Okaaaay, so there's the police politics, the "dancing"...

The writing....

The fact of its existence...

Lord help me.

So far its not so bad.

Why is Uhura green?

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What We Take For Granted

Want to know a few things?

The Doctor had to learn that humans were useful. That's why Nine was always calling Rose a Stupid Ape.

Part of him thought she was.

But really, he learned that lesson years ago - when the Tardis told him she was alive.

He didn't always know - but now we take it for granted.

Just Because We Let You Live Doesn't Mean You Get To Talk

Brannon, just bite me, okay?

Bite me.

Who says you get to talk?

Okay, i know, the magazine asked the question, but who says you get to talk about how Star Trek wasn't forward thinking?
I know that's out of context but have you forgotten, while on the unemployment line while waiting for Crazy Speilberg to hire you that maybe, just maybe, when you say something, you could get misquoted?

Or was it intentional?

If you can't have it nobody can't have it?

What are you, three? What more can we give you? We gave you a career you squandered away for some quick cash and a feeling of glory.

We gave you our trust.

We gave you the life we dreamed of having, and you let it burn.

And now this.

I don't care that they sied away from having a gay character on a syndicated program in the late 80s and early 90s. I dont care what you did on Voyager and Enterprise - or failed to do. That set of failiure is well documented. I kind of care that your writing credits do not extend to DS9, which therefore gives you no right to comment on DS9, especially if you plan to spread LIES OR MISINFORMATION like the idea that there were no same-sex relationships on DS9 - go to Memory Alpha, Brannon. Click the search bar. Type "Rejoined". Press enter. Read.

But don't get yourself quoted in a way that paints us as something we aren't. You're a writer. Act like one.

And also, before you go spouting off on attempts to include a homosexual couple on Trek, chat with David Gerrold about "Blood and Fire".

http://trekmovie.com/2011/01/24/brannon-braga-explains-why-no-gay-characters-on-star-trek-not-forward-thinking/

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Thank God I'm not That Paranoid

Watching Conspiracy Theory.


Just wow.

But it is fun to see Patrick Stewart be evil.

You know, the funny thing is, you never know what's gonna be worth it when it comes to movies until after it's all said and done and then you have to deal with Mel Gibson paired with Juila Roberts which doesn't even make sense in terms of casting.

Seriously, what is that? Program your people to buy a billion copies of Catcher in the Rye so you can always track them? Huh? Where does that make sense?

Fire

Doctor Who: 


The Firemaker

The cavemen continue to fight amongst themselves and Kal continues to try to convince the people that the Doctor and his buddies killed the Old Woman. The Doctor eventually convinces the people that Kal is the one who killed the Old Woman and gets them to drive Kal out. Not big on the Prime Directive in Doctor Who.

It's not long, however, before the Doctor manages to piss off Za and he drives them into the cave. Za's wife tells him how the Doctor's people decided to help him - but Za is determined to learn to make fire, and he is determined to learn from the "new tribe" - the Doctor and his companions.

Ian and Barbara are trying to learn to make fire so they can impress the locals.  Za comes in at the exact moment they manage to light the kindling. The people of the tribe want to kill them as a human sacrifice to learn to make fire. Za wants to learn to make fire, as he thinks from they are "the other side of the mountains". And that's when the fire starts.

The tribe is beginning to dissent and turn against Za. And someone sneaks in and strangles the guard - let me guess, Kal? Oh so obvious.

Kal jumps into the Cave of Skulls and sees the burning fire, then chases Za around a bit and there's a big dramatic fight. *yawn*. Za wins, gets the fire, and becomes the leader, then locks the "new tribe" in the Cave of Skulls again. They come up with a clever ruse and get back to the TARDIS and run away.

The Doctor, it turns out, can't get them back to their own time with any precision. They end up on another planet, with a really high radiation...

If you were watching what we were watching last month, you would know this was where we met the Daleks.

The Good Old Days

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child

Talk about beginnings.

Talk about the way things start, when you have no idea what they will mean someday. Talk about how Star Trek came to be - about how they had no idea, just none, what it would become.

Then talk about a blue box, three years before. Talk about a school where a teacher named Barbara and another named Ian can't decide what to do with one of their students.

And so it begins.

It's the same, I am beginning to realize, as Star Trek. The same, but different, with different accents and a different message, but it's the same too. I am always amazed that when Roddenberry was creating Star Trek, on the other side of an ocean there was another beginning, just as importand and not remotely as well publicized but far crazier - and with a protagonist that  is far more sinister, oddly.

Doctor Who.

Kind of a stupid name, really, but what isn't a stupid name at some point? At what point was Star Trek a good name? When was Heroes about Heroes - other than when Claire wanted to be one? When was Alias ever just about fake identities?

There's so much that's not said in a name.

It begins, then with a cute little story about cavemen and obsessions. And that is when the TARDIS breaks, which is why it's always a police box. Now we know.

What's amazing is how different he is from David Tennant - I mean, I loved David Tennant. He was pretty. William Hartnell isn't pretty and he isn't particulary compassionate toward his companions - who he didn't even want along to begin with. But this Doctor knows love - he loves his granddaughter. He is angry, like 10. He is about as personable as 9. Thankfully, unlike 2, he does not play the recorder.

Really the first few shows are about the true beginning. They are about two teachers - Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright - who follow a rather mysterious student home one day and learn that she lives in a police box that is bigger on the inside. A big fight, lots of yelling and they wind up in the past battling cavemen with fire problems and locked in a cave full of skulls.

At least they're all locked up in a nice cave and someone lets them out, and then promptly gets conked on her head for her trouble by the head caveman, Za. The Doctor, contrary to plenty of fanfiction, is not a medical doctor, he says. Sure spent plenty of time healing Rose Tyler, the jeopardy-friendly blonde.

But that came later. Now there is just Susan, and Ian, and Barbara, and the Doctor, and they didn't know what they had. They didn't know they had the secret - if you kill it, just regenerate it. It will come back to you. It will always come back.

Easier than Star Trek, but with fewer rules.

wow.....

I recognize smeone in this frame!

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Unlikely

"What did we hit, a space wall?"

"Most unlikely..."

MOST UNLIKELY????
MOST UNLIKELY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I'll most their unlikely! Gaaah! Who do these idiots think they're kidding? What the #$%&^ is a space wall and why would they hit it? Maybe they can't detect it on the TV SPACE SCANNER.

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suffering

Suffering Sun Spots!

Lord preserve me. In vinegar, please.

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Finally, something that follows canon!

Totally without meaning to, and mostly book canon which isn't canon at all.

I'll take what I can get.

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Good fortune

How nice tat these two particularly insipid frames line up so perfectly as to take them in a single screenshot!

H bombs? Rockets? Voodoo? Who comes up with this boloney?

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What kind of pins are the voodoo pins?

Voodoo pins? Really? Are they 1 & 3/8th in with glass balls like at the sewing school?

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ugh.

A paper-mache eiffel tower.

Save me.

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Oh so virtual

Still trying to figure out what to do with the Voyager episode "Virtuoso". On one hand, the Doc really annoys me in it. On the other hand, it's also insulting on a personal level - sort of like when Shatner told me to "Get a life!". On yet another hand, I have different fingers. And then thereks the last hand...

The clown suit.

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I am pleased to report that the words "lteleportation beam" were not used in #7.

Neither was the word "sensor", when it really should have been. Still, it's a start.

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Good to know they can approach the speed of light.

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Faith

"You must have faith... that the universe will unfold as it should."
Spock, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

I wonder if they remembered this line when they wrote XI. Once again Spock commits the ultimate act of faith. He had said it, though. "This will by my final voyage on this ship as a member of her crew." He was done with that. And he meant it. Up until Vulcan was destroyed and the universe ended, he meant it.

Mirror-acuilous

When it's all over, and you have nothing left to lose, that's when bad Trek gets good. Look at the last 5 or so eps of Voyager. Look at the last 3 or so eps of Enterprise before TATV, which we will discuss later, make no mistake. Look at them!

It's like they stopped being afraid of what would happen and it all just worked. Magically. By the time they made In a Mirror, Darkly, I don't care what Manny says, we all knew the show was cancelled - barring a miracle. We didn't get one, at least not the way everyone was looking for.

The miracle came later, at least for me.

After cancellation, when there was no more to come, somehow it became easier. I actually remember thinking, "well, they can't fuck it up anymore." It was over, and over was better than under. Under the thumb, under control, underwritten and underacted. Underused, understood (too well), underappreciated at times, but definitely underperforming. Now it was over.

Over.

And that was the miracle, because then the under-ness was finished and it was what it was and I could deal with that. At first it was still too hard, but then three things happened. 1. Damon LIndelof made a very passionate statement explaining that you can't just take one piece and throw away the others. 2. I rewatched TNG's first season. Talk about crappy. 3. I wanted it to work. Now that it was done, I wanted to make it work, because if I hadn't, it would have all been for nothing and I couldn't take that. I couldn't take failiure.

Maybe that was the Kirk in me. But it worked, sort of.

There are some things that are inexcusable, but somehow I feel that it is my duty to find excuses, to make them fit. I have an obligation to put the world back together the way it should be, or, in the words of Angel, which is really very profound, "We live as if the world were as it should be. To show it what it can be."

Bound-aries

Okay, so I know Archer's been through a lot. But you know the best way to make first contact?

I can tell you what it's not.

It's not, hey, here's a ship that doesn't look very friendly to us because it's green, but even though green could be the Color of Alien Peace, let's go to Tactical Alert so they'll call us up and tell us to turn off our weapons!

GaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

sitcoms

Normally don't do sitcoms but Andrew and I just finished the last episode of Friends. Cried.

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Movie Posters

Kung Fu Panda 2: No.
Adjustment Bureau: sure, why not?
Hood to Coast: No.
Red riding Hood: Director of Twilight? Way to sabotage your own movie, genuises.
Cars 2: I'll take my nephew.
Thor: of course I'll read it first.
Unknown: unknown to me, but I love liam neeson.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4: Why do you torture me so?

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Oh for the love of God why?

Gold Key 5

1. They picked something up on the TV SPACE SCANNER. There is also a reference to intergalactic travel again, AND there is the added bonus of the sheer audacity of these complete quacks trying to expand on Trek lingo. And that's just the first frame on the first page. I've read this so much that the phrases 'space eyes' and 'ceruise course' don't make me want to throw up.

However, their shock at finding planets…in the galaxy? Yeah, now I have a problem as should any reasonable person who attended fifth grade. Their grasp on the implications of being able to travel between galaxies in context of speed is similarly shaky (it doesn't take five days to travel a billion km, people), not to mention that once again I seem to be fighting a battle about shock waves in space.

End of page one. On to page two, wherein Kirk decides that since the OPERATOR can't raise anyone on the SOS FREQUENCY the planets must be lifeless and they can safely blow one up. Spock calculates one is several galaxy milles closer to them *sigh* and they fly in for the kill with flames shooting out of their nacelles since otherwise they would have to outrun a shockwave in a vacuum in a craft capable of faster than light travel. For some reason, Kirk doubts the accuracy of his TV SPACE SCANNER and beams down a landing party. None of them are wearing red but I think they should be. They beam down without filter masks but bother to scan once they get there. and then they get zapped by some bulidings, which is the most Star Trekkian thing to happen thus far.

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the golden problem

"We believe it best to let your civilization die out"? Did they even try to watch the show?

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A Thought

"Just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing."

President Ra-Ghoretti, Star Trek VI

Star Trek could stand to learn from itself.

The Arsenal of the Shampoo Bottles

We open with a quick briefing on the citizens of Minos, and on how the captain of the Drake, and also that Riker was offered command of the Drake, which will be important in many future times - inculding Nemesis. They get hailed by an automated recording and decide to go down and make sure that whatever killed the people on the planet isn't still on the planet.

Good idea. Really, top-notch decision making. Why not try scanning for power systems, maybe a clever robot or two? See if it reacts to them. If not, send Data. Why not? If it doesn't react to robots, it probably won't react to him either.

They do send Data. Along with Will and Tasha. Dramatic music plays and Picard looks worried. That's television, folks.

Anyway, they do beam down, and they realize in about two seconds that communications are being monitored. They find pieces of the Drake or what might be pieces of the Drake. They also find that the entire planet is overgrown - including demonstration models. Then the Bridge calls to report an energy buildup nearby, and suddenly Riker's friend Paul Rice from the Drake. But then they call Riker and tell him there are no life signs nearby. So he tells the guy that his mother sent him to look for him and that his ship is the Lollipop. Eventually Riker calls "Rice" on being a fake and gets frozen in stasis by a shampoo bottle glued to a L'Eggs egg. No, really, that's what it is.

So Picard decides he and Beverly need to beam down. Right now! Because that's a good idea. And leaves Geordi in charge. Because that's also a good idea. Bloody hell. Take Geordi with you. It's a force field. Meanwhile, Data has figured out what the hell happened but has to cut Riker out of the whatever with a phaser. And of course, there's energy readings, which mean there's another shampoo bottle headed their way, and this time it's shooting. Everyone starts running around and Picard and Crusher fall down a hole.

So let's recap. So far Crusher nor Picard has had anything to do but stand there, and now they're down a hole.

Anyway, Data and Yar destroy the shampoo bottle but their communicators don't work and they can't find Picard or Crusher because they're down a hole, Beverly has a broken arm and their communicators don't work, of course. Picard splints the arm but unlike Data and Yar can't even make a really stupid guess as to why the communicators aren't working. Beverly helpfully tells him, "I must keep concious."

Data wakes Riker up and Riker is fine, but they still haven't found the Captain. Geordi goes to beam them up but the shileds come on automatically and the ship gets attacked by a freaking shampoo bottle and the Chief Engineer of the Week calls to find out if they're breaking orbit because he has to know right now.

The CEOTW comes to the Bridge and demands that Geordi turn over command to him, which Geordi refuses to do. They pick up the object but, it vanishes and guess what can fire while cloaked! Geordi and CEOTW continue to hash it out and Geordi eventually orders him back to Engineering. Why the hell didn't they just start out with a Chief Engineer? For crying out loud.

Will, Data, and Tasha are under attack. Again. They destory it again. But it's harder this time, they all have to fire at it. It's adapted. Anyone else reminded of the Borg? Also they're all firing at it and my fiance yells, "Don't cross the beams!" Geek. They have 12 minutes until the next one comes along and yet another 20 minutes of show. Huh.

Picard and Bev are stuck underground. She just now is telling him that she has another wound on her leg that is still bleeding and they need a clotting agent. But Beverly recognizes some roots, which I, for the sake of my own sanity, have decided came there via interstellar commerce seeing as she grew up on a colony, not on Minos. Picard runs away to look for a way out, which what's he gonna do? Carry her? Leave her? Big sissy, he jsut doesn't want to deal with being alone with her.

The ship is under serious attack and Geordi calls CEOTW to the Bridge. Dun dun dunnnnnnn!

Geordi runs away and gives Logan command of the saucer section so he can go back and fight the flying shampoo bottle. Logan, BTW, is the artist formerly known as CEOTW. He takes some younger officers and tells them to go to the battle bridge, then goes to hide in the ready room for a minute, when Deanna comes in to counsel him. It's sweet, and I love the scene. Geordi is worried they'll get "blasted out of the sky" by the shampoo bottle. Deanna tells him he should be proud of how he's doing and that he should give some encouragement to his underlings.

They separate the saucer for the second time out of four. That could have happened more.

Picard can't find an exit from the cave and Beverly tells him if he finds an exit he should go. They do some sharing and Picard learns she was part of some colony that had some big disaster. Then he finds a viewscreen and is able to pull up the sales dude again. The projection tells Picard it's a demonstration.

Kirk would have blown the freaking thing up.

Data finds Picard and Beverly in the hole and decides to jump in, which he does. He scans Beverly and gives Picard a dramatic look.

Geordi gives the noobs a pep talk and then they jump in.

Another shampoo bottle is launched and Tasha and Will are in deep shit - and under attack.

And then Beverly yells, "Why don't you just shut it off!" So Picard decides to buy it and the whole thing just shuts down. Except for the Enterprise, which must have been out of signal range or something because they are still under attack, which is okay because they decide to fly into the atmosphere and hope it follows them, which it does and Geordi blows it out of the sky. Bye bye shampoo bottle. They lower shields in the atmosphere and beam everyone back.

Picard tells Geordi he's still in command until they get the saucer back. Fun times for Geordi, but Picard probably just wanted a shower before he had to go back to work.

The next episode they filmed was "Skin of Evil".

Gold Key 3

I think my favorite part was when they saved the day with a simple AMINO ACID. I checked. That chemical formula doesnt exist. And who actually thinks the amino acids would be a bitty molocule two letters long?

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How William Shatner ruined Everything

I was watching "How William Shatner Changed The World" today - the title says it all - and I was struck by how the script portrays the difference between DS9 and TNG. Basically, the ide is that DS9 on failed because of their negative take on technology and the utopian future.

A few counterarguments.

First, Roddenberry's "utopia" as concieved in classic trek is far from paradise for many Trekkies. Yes, we have eliminated poverty, disease, and war, but we still have criminals running amok, ecological disasters - and more planets to put them on - and it seems that every probe we put into space has woken up and now wants to kill us. Also, we have deadbeat dads - McCoy - and prejudice against aliens, we see evidence that religion - something that even science suggests we need - is taboo, and the Federation doesn't like to let people go, so they can't just leave and do their own thing.

Second problem : the assertion that TNG showed technology as benign, or helpful. Holodeck, anyone? TNG is a seven-year cautionary tale.

Third : DS9 is dark, you're right. But that doesn't make it contrary to the vision. Yes, it took us to an uncomfortable place, with the war and the religion. DS9 may be my favorite just because that utopian ideal is sustained throughout, but it is very clear that it is still a goal - the writers, without Gene, were free to admit they hadn't reached it yet.

Shatner's treatment of Voyager and Enterprise is so laughable I'm too tired to deal with it, except to say i's more of the same. Implying that Star Trek is dead, that Voyager and DS9 were faliures (I'll grant him Enterprise), and pretending Gene accomplished what he set out to do - it's silly.

But really not surprising in the slightest.

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Watching Fringe

Favorite word of the day: frankenrhino.

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On the fringes of sanity

One of my favorite things about Fringe is the way it moves. It's seamless, like a freaking river, which is something I don't normally say, not being prone to metaphorical thinking in any sense. But it does, and even Literal Me can see it.

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Expect the World to End any second

The LHC is blowing up stuff and making mini big bangs. Our days are numbered! The end is nigh! Just read the crazy captain's signs in Voyager's "Future's End, pt. 1" Never thought that would be useful.

Is Shatner Gay?

I know he's not, but I got your attention, didn't I?

Anyway, lately he's been all over Jimmy Kimmel, who I only really know as they guy everyone thinks my friend Chrissy Kimmel is related to, but anyway. Last time they were dancing a waltz (Shatner leading, of course) and now they're declaring "National Unfriend Day"

National UnFriend Day Announcement Featuring William Shatner

November 17 is National UnFriend Day! Celebrate!

Kimmel says Shatner's a fond acquaintance, but is he? IS HE? Lol.

First promotional "Image" of some kind - this is for Real, SPOILERS UP THE WAZOO, OR AT LEAST AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MOVIE COMES OUT, HOW BAD DO YOU THINK IT COULD BE ANYWAY? THEY AREN'T EVEN FILMING YET. HECK, THEY DON'T HAVE A COMPLETE SCRIPT, SO JUST CHILL, OKAY!

Well, anyway, someone leaked this picture. No one knows what it's from, where it is, or really much of anything other than it's not really from J.J. More likely it's merchandising of some kind.

That said, it makes it a little more real, and we all got cool new wallpaper.

Unstoppable

Chris Pine's new movie sounds awe-some! And he's in it with Den-zel! Yay yay yay!

And everyone's still talking about Star Trek in the interviews that are supposed to be about Unstoppable.

You can see the video here.

Also, he told Access Hollywood the leather pants were photoshop.

Thoughts on Wrongs Darker than Death or Night

It seems to me that it's a rather bold thing to insert - that Dukat was involved with Kira's mom. On the other hand, it does explain why he was always so interested in Kira... although when he was trying to pick her up, that was a little sick and wrong. Although does it really make him worse that Richard Gere's character in Autumn in New York?

Kira's response is also intriguing - she goes straight to Sisko and demands an orb trip. Really? Does she think she should get special priviliges just because she's the friend of the Emissary? Even though up until that one trip on the Defiant she wasn't even really that?

Nana's scenes with Sid are always fun during this time - they were married then. And it's nice to see a return of Old Crabby Kira. I missed her. She was fun.

When she goes to Sisko for help, and begs him for help, she's begging as the Emissary. It's interesting, usually they have a work relationship - she doesn't address him in that way. Kind of fun.

The interest Dukat takes in Meru is very in character - he heals her scar, takes an interest, just like always. He's repeating himself - just like always. Sigh.

Basically, Dukat's just a big perverted jerk.

technophobia

I know this is odd but i'm something of a luddite. Who runs linux. But still. For the first time ever i got a phone and paid money for it - very odd.

But dissapointing, even though I'd done research and everything. That cheap phone did not live up to expectations.

I replaced it. With a freaking Epic. This is an odd feeling. I,m used to the cheapest computer, the simplest fix.

Feels good though.

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On Shatner's Dancing, Quinto's Play, and that Damn Luke Freaking Skywalker

Okay, so if you go on Youtube, you can see William Shatner dance with Jimmy Kimmel if you care about such things. If you go to the New York Times, you can read what should be a review of a play speculate on Zach Quinto's sexual orientation, since he's all, you know, pro-gay-rights and stuff. LeVar Burton is the new Kevin Bacon. Some stuff from Doug Drexler because it's not his fault.  Yes, that is Apollo from "Who Mourns..." getting killed. There's some news about Avacrap if you care about that (from what I hear it's Fern Gully with blue people. Fern Gully is about as cool as The Land Before Time, which was pretty cool. Ask yourself this - do you give a flying rat's patootie about The Land Before Time 2-5million?). Super 8 got a date, so that's good if you care about what JJ's up to when he's not up to Star Trek, and Chris Pine might be playing The Flash, in addition to Jack Ryan (turns out Ben Affleck didn't kill him after all. Good to know.) and Kirk. Wow. Chris Pine is living the fanboy dream. George Lucas has regrown his brain and is denying there will be more Star Wars movies.

That's some of what's gone on this week.

Today at work, the guy sittting next to me said, "Aren't Star Trek and Star Wars the same thing?" I knew I had the right job when the entire room exploded.

Testing

123

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Yay it works.

Trying again....

Testing blogger by phone.

And here we go again

Now that they're writing again, the game is afoot and the guessing begins. Literally, the first actual plot rumor - not just, hey we're gonna have a plot someday but an actual rumor about something that is actually going to happen was posted at Trekmovie today. There's spoilers if you click the link.

Personally, I hope Gary Mitchell isn't bad in this incarnation, not just in the next movie, but at all. It would be nice to see something good come out of this, but the stuff we wished hadn't happened to Kirk - Gary and David dying, for example - maybe this time around he gets to have those things?

Just a thought.

The point needed to be made

I'm posting this here because of the Trek ref, but the point needed to be made.

Just wanted you to know:

Star Trek 2 has a story. Not Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, mind you, although that was a good movie. I mean the Star Trek 2, the one that will be keeping me up nights soon.

Finally, a Kirk who doesn't think we need to get a life.

Chris Pine's career is really taking off. I bet Shatner's jealous. I mean, he lived in a car after Trek, and here's the guy who replaced him about to be the next Jack Ryan! Bill Shatner never got  to be Jack Ryan!

It's not Chris's fault - he's just a guy. A guy who could stand to do some damn conventions, but a guy nonetheless. I"m not sure what he's trying to prove by wearing leather pants, though.

Stupid stasis episodes!

A few thoughts about "One"

Calling it a mutara-class nebula does not a good episdoe make.

I miss Jeri Taylor.

Seven of Nine is fun. More fun than we give her credit for.

I'm sure Matt Jeffries loved having shafts named after him?

It's amazing the computer worked at all by the time they got home.

David Wu's Klingons

I was time travelling this morning, and I rewatched David Wu's infamous "Klingons in the white house" speech.

Wow, just wow.

"They're Vulcans, but not really Vulcans, they're really Klingons, but not really Klingons because they've never been in battle."

Oh dear Lord, he makes us look like nutsy people.



I was also re-reading the stuff from 2006, rumoring a new Star Trek movie maybe produced by J.J. Abrams. We sure have come a long way since then, haven't we? Let's recap:

Someone else was president.

Enterprise had just been cancelled.

Nemesis was the last Star Trek movie.

The Countdown comic hadn't come out yet.

No one had heard of Star Trek Online.

Majel Barrett and Bob Justman were alive.

Bruce Greenwood was cool for being JFK, not Pike.

Pike was someone we didn't care about that much.

They hadn't tried to launch Doohan's ashes yet.

There was only one X-Files movie.

Just to name a few.

Finally, some SANITY

How many people did a cute little "What the hell?" when Uhura started kissing Spock in the turbolift last year? Only the ones who didn't know their Classic Trek! Let me let you people in on a little secret, again, because I'm sick of explaining this every month - she is all over him in the first, say, eight episodes.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

Now will everyone please believe me?

Warning: Cursing.

Enterprise Sucks! More Specifically, "The Council"

Nothing but love for Manny Coto. Talk about making the best of a bad situation.

Now for the death of a series: Season 3, the cancer that ate our show alive. Or something like that.

Don't get me wrong: I love my show. I love it a lot. But the fact remains, that the whole Xindi arc is Star Trek in a peripheral sort of way, but most of the individual episodes don't count. Roddenberry was very clear: There are four types of Star Trek episodes.

1. Police Action - the whole Xindi arc qualifies, but individual episodes often don't. Police action is when the ship is assigned to go somewhere and it encounters a planet that needs help in some way, like a cop on patrol finds a problem. They fix the problem. The end. Only in "The Council", they're not on routine patrol, they don't fix anything, and they don't find a problem either.

2. Character with a problem - more specifically defined as a one-time seen crew member on the ship, expanded to include semi-regular characters (Barclay) who may or may not be assigned to the ship (Lwaxana Troi). Yeah, in "The Council", Trip has a problem but he's part of the regualar cast - this doesn't qualify.

3. Copying Earth's history - expanded to include future history (things that happened for Star Trek but not for us, yet) even if you count Time Travel, "The Council" still doesn't count.

4. Alien Aliens - pretty self explanatory. Aliens that are so weird they defy our sense of normality. Includes gas creatures, different moralities, and Ian Troi. Does not include the Xindi council, since none of them are that strange to us. I suppose they could include the Sphere builders though - except they don't really let us see enough of them to tell.

How to be Mean: A Deep Space Nine Story

My favorite thing about "Progress" is not just what it shows us about ourselves, but all the ways in which it heralds things to come - in DS9, there are no easy answers.

Emergence: AKA "Oh, crap, we have to write a whole 'nother ep to fill the last season?!?!?!"

Data is continuing his study of Shakespeare.

He's gotten good.

Again, I say, Season 7 is all about reminding us of all the things we're gonna miss. Picard is coaching him, too, which is extra awesome since Patrick got Knighted earlier this year. That was cool. He explains how Shakespeare enjoyed mixing opposites.

And that's when the steam engine comes through.

And they're on the tracks and have to jump into the ditch, because, once again, the command "Computer, End Program" does not work.

Yeah.

I will say this: so far, the train is new. That Holodeck's a frigging deathtrap.

Credits.

When they leave the holodeck, Picard is injured and the train was the Orient Express. Picard gets to ask the very interesting question: "I know about the Orient Express, but what was it doing on Prospero's Island?"

Good question. Technobabble ensues and they shut down the holodecks while Picard goes to Sickbay to get patched up and flirt with Beverly. We're gonna miss their flirting, right? I know I do.

They're looking for colony sites after weathering a Technobabble storm. I have a feeling the Technobabble storm is going to be important someday. Someday is today, when the ship randomly moves into warp. Warp 7.3, and no one knows why. They're polluting subspace! Suddenly they drop out of warp, right when they were about to shut down the core. Again, no one knows why.

Geordi and Data look into it, and we're gonna miss their crazy theories. They find that the ship was about to be randomly destroyed by some Technobabble they can't detect when they went to warp for no reason. Now, wait a minute. If it's deadly and they can detect it, why aren't the sensors set up to-

Never mind. Series is almost over, you know.

Anyway, none of the crew saw it, but it's in the sensor log, and if they had stayed where they were for another two seconds, they would have blown up.

Commercial.

Georid and Data crawl into a Jeffires Tube. *sob*, last Jeffries Tube! (I think. I don't remember them in Preemptive Strike or All Good Things) Anyway, Data says maybe the sensors triggered a safety device, and then the ship moved, but wouldn't the Chief Engineer and Science Officer know about that? Whatever. Geordi says there's no direct link between the two systems. They open a panel and there's a direct link between the systems that shouldn't be there, and it's protecting itself with a forcefield.

They find a lot more of the "nodes". It turns out the Technobabble storm made them somehow and that they can't really control the ship very well with them in there. They can't get rid of them easily. They intersect in the holodeck, so they decide to go into the holodeck and look around.

The holodeck is on, and several programs are on at once. Data, Will, and Worf wind up on the Orient Express with a knight making paper dolls, a couple of cowboys, and a bunch of people doing a puzzle - a puzzle that looks like the nodes.

The conductor comes in and asks for tickets, which of course they don't have. When they go to turn off the power he gets... snippy. The engineer comes in and tells him to leave them alone, then gets shot by a gangster from Chicago.

At the same time, Geordi's console blows out.

The conductor pulls a bell rope....

And then they go to warp again, and they can't get out of warp this time.

The gangster takes a golden brick from the body of the engineer, and the conductor insists they leave. Data realizes the safeties are off, so they leave.

For now.

Data has realized the ship is alive. Sigh. Riker pretends he's shocked, but for all of us who saw "Conspiracy," we know that the computer is not only intelligent, it can get bored.

Commercial.

Data calls it a "neural matrix", and says it is an "emergent property". Basically the computer woke up. He also recognized this with the "exocomps" for the record. The holodeck is the computer's imagination. Troi wants to go have a look.

Worf and Data go with her. Now a flapper is trying to give the knight something to drink. Deanna has a poke around, with Worf trying to help her. The gangster is playing cards with someone who's tied up. He tells Troi he's taking the brick to "Keystone city". "It's where everything begins." They follow him through the city when he gets off, and Data tries to get at the Holodeck's power grid. Troi follows the gangster and Worf follows her, because they were dating then. A car tries to run Data down, but he ducks, then goes back to work in the middle of the street.

The gangster goes to a wall with an empty space. "What are you doing here?" asks Troi. "Laying the foundation." Yeah, whatever the hell that means. He puts the brick in the wall and now it looks like any other brick.

Suddenly the cargo bay depressurized, and the transporter is running in there.

Something on the floor is glowing that looks a lot like the nodes. Geordi gets a rare close-up with dramatic music.

Commercial.

Data, meanwhile, encountered a minor difficulty and is currently holding the car that's trying to run him down by the fender. LOL. I don't think we even knew what LOL meant when this came out. LOL. He depolarizes the power grid...

The replicator and transporters are making the thing in the cargo bay, and then there's a slight incident where the ship starts shaking like there's no tomorrow, they almost lose structural integrity, and Troi gets clobbered by falling bricks. Worf gets to be protective.

Geordi and Data decide to get together and compare notes.

Deanna thinks the computer is building something - the something in the cargo bay, perchance? The characters represent systems in the ship, and they can't reason with a weapons system. And it's like a baby. She wants to try some more, despite getting clobbered by bricks. Picard tells her not to hinder.

This time they bring tickets. The conductor says the engine is running out and Worf gets to shovel coal. One of the characters says there is a resturant where they're going (Vertiform City) where you can eat all you want anytime. Huh.

Worf starts shoveling coal, and warp power gets back to normal. They're heading to a white dwarf star. The ship uses a tractor beam to collect vertion particles from the star, and send them into cargo bay 5. It makes the object grow faster, and it starts generating it's own energy. Then it stops absorbing, because the star has run out of particles.

The conductor slams on the brakes.

Commercial.

The ship is mostly offline. The object was about to become it's own lifeform when they ran out of vertion particles. Systems are back online and they start moving again.

The train is now going to New Vertiform City.

They head for another white dwarf, but at the cost of life support. They have to find a new source of particles and Data has to get control of the train. The characters on the train don't like it.

Geordi has a plan to make the particles, that's fine, but the train people are not having it. They finally let Data back to the engine room, and he tells them he knows a shorter route. Lol, Data negotiating with the computer's subconcious. He slows the train to impulse and they blow up a modified torpedo which creates the particles they need. The cargo bay thing grows up, the nodes deactivate, and they realize the whole point of the nodes was to reproduce in the cargo bay.

The thing grows up and flies away.

The train people celebrate, then vanish.

Data invites Picard to watch him play in The Tempest - Miranda's first encounter with humans. And then he asks Picard why he let the object form, and Picard says it came from them, the crew, and that if they've been honorable then the sum of those experiences would be honorable as well.

In closing I have to say that this is one of Season 7's few episodes that does not wrap up the last six years, and as such is one of my faves. It also would have been neat had they found this instead of B4, not that I really mind.

And one other thing - How often have we thought some day that computer would wake up? Really? And then it does. Good job.

A friend forwarded this to me and I just had to send it on.

WHY PARENTS DRINK



A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished

to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he

saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to

"Dad."With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope with trembling

hands and read the letter.



Dear Dad:



It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope

with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.

I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew

you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight

motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is 25 years older than I am.

But it's not only the passion... Dad, she's pregnant. Stacy said that we

will be very happy. She owns a traile r in the woods and has a stack of

firewood for the whole winter! We share a dream of having many more

children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't

really

hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live

nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science

will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don't worry, Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm

sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.





Love, Your son Jeff

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at
Tommy's house. Just wanted to remind you that there
are worse things in life than a report card. That is
in my center desk drawer.
> Call me when it's safe to come home.

Terra Prime

Well, they finally found it.

This is awesome.

If we had no moon

Rebuttal to the 15 Things I totally knew about Star Trek

The 15 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek

1.NASA's First Space Shuttle was named the Enterprise. Knew It! What self-respecting fan doesn't?

2.The Original Pilot had a woman first officer - Knew it! Problem: The second part of the statement where the series was recast for a man. NOT TRUE! To paraphrase the Great Bird, "I could either keep the woman or keep the Martian, so I married the woman and kept Spock. I couldn't really have done it the other way around, I mean, Leonard's cute, but..." Just for the record, silly fact sheet creator, Spock (the new first officer) was in that same pilot with the woman first officer, which makes it less a "recast" and more a "redistribution".

3.First Interracial Kiss - Knew it! Yes, we're all very proud, good job. But it you watch the episode, it doesn't really so much show the kiss, it's more of an implied kiss, and they only used it because when they shot it the other way, where he just bent her out of frame and then looked up, Bill Shater crossed his eyes to ruin the shot.

4.Diverse Crew - knew it! It was 1966, so I'm pretty sure everyone else did too.

5.Redshirt deaths - Knew it! And everyone who ever watched Generations on VHS does too, because the video version of William Shatner's Star Trek Memories is previewed on there, and Koenig talks about it.

6.Meaning of Uniform Colors - Knew it! Probably not everyone else does though, although, again, the people who watched Generations on VHS probably do, since they bothered to watch Generations  on VHS, and usually non-Trekkies eventually ask someone if they're at all curious or care, which if they didn't they won't read this fact sheet.

7. Majel Roddenberry was in 6 series and 11 movies - Knew it! about 10 of the movies anyway, but she wasn't actually in 2009 Trek due to her untimely death. And by the way, you know what a good factoid might have been? There were actually six series, not five!

8.Vulcan salute invented by Leonard Nimoy? Check. Priestly Blessing? Knew it! It's in his autobiography. I'm giving them a pass on this one - I don't think the general public has read I Am Spock, even though you should, it's really good (if a little self-serving).

9. Zachary Quinto had to glue his fingers together - Heard it, but don't believe it, at least by the end of the shoot. Zach is left-handed, and Spock is right handed, so give the guy a break. Bill Shatner can't do it at all - if you zoom in really close when watching him in Star Trek III, you can see where his fingers are tied together with fishing line. Just for the record, our store manager can't do it either.

10.Xenolinguistics was a class at Lake Tahoe Community College. Knew it! Klingon is a real language would be a good side note here.

11.Star Trek fans are called Trekkies/Trekkers - Knew it! And you know what? So does everyone else, except the woman in the elevator who saw my dad at the 2007 Las Vegas con, wearing his "Proud Parent of A Trekkie" t-shirt (I made it for him) and asked if his son was a boy scout.

12.Shatner's Kidney stone sold on ebay - Knew it, but I think most people block that information out. I did try to convince my sister-in-law to sell hers on ebay. I figured with some creative wording we could get at least $100.

13.Vulcans on the census - Didn't know it. Not surprised. Why is anyone?

14.ILM did effects on Star Trek films - Knew it! And, I think, on some of the shows, which is not mentioned. Star Trek 2009 is the most priated film last year? Didn't know it. Not at all surprised. Kind of proud, though.

15.To Boldly Go... stolen?!?!?!!?!?!!? - Knew it. Splitting an infinitive is not grammatically incorrect. I stumbled on an article about that yesterday. Literally.

Do You Remember?

I was watching Search for Spock with a friend, and I realized that the TWOK tie-ins are all well and good, but when YoungKirk finds OldSpock in the cave in Star Trek 2009, and OldSpock says "I have been, and always shall be, your friend," he's not talking about the day he sacrificed himself to save a boatload of proverbial babies, but the day Kirk made the same choice he was being forced to make - the day Kirk brought him back from the dead.

Let's face it, the battle was lost the minute David Marcus died. Kirk was literally in a puddle on the floor and no one not no one would have blamed him if he refused to lose anything else at that point. Saavik was very clear, in an unclear way, that Spock wasn't alive, mentally, and there was no way to know what it was, exactly, that McCoy had. His son had just died and his ship was disabled, and no one would have blamed him if they had just found a nice safe place to hide and tried to take the ship back while making repairs, then turned tail and run. They would have survived too, because they always did. Kruge was going to kill Saavik and he was going to kill Spock, not that Spock would have really understood what was happening, that's if the ground didn't collapse under them before he got around to it.

Kirk was called to make a choice: when the whole world falls apart, and you can choose to take only one thing with you, what do you choose?

He chose to go to Spock and trust the rest to sort it out.

Flash forward to 2009, in the ice cave.

Spock has lost everything. His life's work died with Romulus. His family, as far as he knows, died on Vulcan. And then one man wanders through his life, and he has a choice. He can use this one man as an opportunity to go back and try fight Nero himself. Or...

Or he can choose to finally repay the man who chose him in the same situation.

"I have been, and always will be, your friend."

Kirk was right. Spock did the same for him.

Found while stumbling

This is very weird/cool if you've seen Cloverfield more than once. For the rest of you - why do they use the word "ill" so much?

Gold Key Comics

Wow, is all I have to say. Spock doesn't go on landing parties, the words "up periscope" are used, and why is it that they seem to think that the words "asteroid" and "planet" should be interchangeable?

But seriously, folks. I think I figured this out. It was 1967, they hadn't even invented the Star Trek canon, and they probably just didn't realize it was that important. So, while I can understand, in theory, that they didn't mean any harm...

If Spock uses one more Robin-like exclamation, I will end his pointy existence.

Relevance

It's always amazing to me that TNG is so relevant today. Many of the more politically inclined episodes showcase issues that we are still with us. My fiance and I were watching "The Outcast" this morning, and he was like, "Wow. This is just every gay rights issue in a nutshell."

And I was like, "I know."

Planet of Death

Just read what I think was the first ever Star Trek comic, published by Gold Key for 12 cents God only Knows When.

We've come a way since then.

Spoilers.












Just for instance, now we don't like to kill whole ecosystems like Kirk does at the end of this charming little number, and Kirk certainly didn't run around shouting, "Galloping Galaxies!"

On the flip side, some of it was startlingly familiar - Spock saying how they needed to be exactly precise on some measurement against all odds or so-and-so would die horribly and actually managing to pull it off, Kirk's nonsensical, sentence-free logs, and pretty much all of McCoy's character are pretty much straight out of early Season 1.

But possibly the biggest blast from the past (and most annoying) was when they were exploring another galaxy (presumably after Gary Mitchell was done with them) and finding no signs of life.

Ah, the days when canon was nothing and we were carefree and innocent.

Dark Knight Comparisons

It has been noted many a time this summer that Star Trek would like to do with it's sequel something like The Dark Knight (hopefully without death-inducing nightmares) and go deeper this time. They are looking to the bar set by Christopher Nolan.

Well, duh! I mean, who doesn't want to hit that bar these days. Dark Knight changed everything for a lot of people, and it did it in such a way that no serious geek franchise will ever be the same. I'm not quite sure that was for the best, but it was an amazing movie. The question is not "Can Star Trek do that?" - it's "Should Star Trek do that?" Batman is about the inner conflict and guilt of a man with serious control issues in an environment where laws don't really apply. Star Trek is about making good science fiction and mainstreaming the idea of a hopeful utopian universe. You can like both, but they don't play in the same schoolyard.

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