Star Trek: Classic or Dud?

Never watched the original series much (wasn't alive at the time of the originals, don't recall seeing the reruns), but became a fan of the movies when they started. Fell into things fully when TNG began (watched from the first episode to the last) and still followed those films, though after starting with both Deep Space Nine and Voyager I gave them up fully in late 1995 and never looked back. Have a couple of the, ahem, 'technical manuals' around the place but that's about it -- the other books I've avoided. Have no costumes, have always avoided any kind of conventions general or specific, take cruel pleasure in laughing at Shatner's follies in the fifth movie, as should we all (the fake MST version is the only one to see, frankly).

Unsurprisingly, Picard is my fave (I was actually a Patrick Stewart fan already), but both Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew did excellent jobs in their Sisko and Janeway roles. Scott Bakula as Archer just scares me as a concept. TNG cast my favorite ensemble bunch, though I will give it up (oh yes) for George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, Terri Farrell, Alexander Siddiq, Rene Auberjonois, Ethan Phillips, Robert Beltran and Robert Picardo. Data ist rad. And so forth.

note: star trek: the motion picture looked awful. but all the ones after that were awesome. how much cooler would next generation have been if they had those burgundy uniforms? kirk looked like the motherfucker in EVERY MOVIE wearing that shit.

ned: you think picard is tougher than picard. what. the. fuck. did you see wrath of khan? did you see that shit? he fucking kicked khan's fucking vinyl-chested ass. 'oh, yeah, you have genesis, khan but you don't have me. if you want me, you're going to have to come down here. you're GOING to HAVE to COME DOWN HERE!!!@#@@!$#'. you can say ANYTHING ELSE about kirk vs. picard, picard is smarter and more civil and professional or whatever the fuck, but nobody in their right fucking mind would say that he's tougher than motherfucking kirk. i am actually literally angry about this, so i need to calm down now. christ, i'm such a trekkie.

I thought it was Riker who had the twin. ;-)

that riker transporter twin episode is some stupid shit though.

original series: chekov...maybe, but that's stretching it. he kicks ass in the movies, he's just sort of useless on the show. but the original cast (chekov being a second series addition) is flawless.

next generation: RIKER RIKER RIKER, troi, that doctor who replaced crusher for one year, yar, data (come on, admit it. he's a super-advanced andriod and he can't understand common phrases? he thinks a 'lemon' is a literal lemon for god's sake. i'm sure the writers kissed each other for how fucking cute that was. anyway mudd's women were way smarter). and WESLEY. geordie would get on my nerves if he were played by anyone but le var burton, but he's a childhood icon and can therefore do no wrong.

deep space nine: the only memorable character besides the captain (who is cool) is quark the ferengi (who is also cool). but the rest aren't even fleshed-out enough to annoy me. wait, no, the short-haired chick with the ridges on her nose aggravates the piss out of me. and the doctor, god.

voyager: it has an indian. and an asian guy. and a black vulcan. and the captain is a woman. only as annoying as that new ghostbusters cartoon where one of the ghostbusters was in a wheelchair. like, what the hell?

evidence that kirk is the best captain: all series after that have had kirk ripoffs that are nowhere as good as kirk because they are not as cool as the godly shatner. like riker, or that really forgettable womanizer guy from voyager. i mean, what the hell, don't you just want to punch riker in the face? does anyone not want to? anyone?

All-time favorite episode is "Charlie X," where the Enterprise picks up some teenaged human waif from a planet, who then runs around the ship melting off the faces through telekinesis (?) of various crew members whenever he's teased or horny. What teenager couldn't identify with that?

I remembered TNG being great when I was 12, but I watched a few of them more recently and they were AWFUL, even the later ones. I think I might have quite liked Deep Space Nine later on, when they started having season-long story arcs, but I never saw enough of them to make sense of what was going on.

How come most of the crew are American yet NONE of them are chronically obese? (except Scotty who's - ahem - ""Scottish"")

In the 60s it was a bizarre mix of US military 'might is right' fascism and Hippy-dippy, 'why can't all nations hold hands?' idealism (though still managing to be sexist ~ Uhura the Captains secretary and Yoaman Rand (is that right) the Captains bit of [onboard] fluff. AND THATS IT SISTERS!)

It should have ended there as it ran out of ideas and people stopped watching it. But OH NO, they had to bring it back in the 80s with over-long, plodding bore-a-thon 'Next Generation' episodes that tapped into the touchy-feely / inner-child / New-Age nonsense that was on the go at the time. I mean - Counsellor Troi = WHY? She even sits on the bridge next to the Captain!! the message is in the 25th Century a bloody social worker is one of the most important jobs on a space ship.

But it was all so clinical and corperate and soul-less, advocating Pro-conformity and how you should be a good citizen. And too much sanctimonious liberal finger-wagging for my liking.

And it starred Whoopi Goldberg.

And how come all the baddies end up as the Federation's (UGH!) freind, taking tokenistic jobs as Navigators etc?

And why was it always so fucking BORING?

Another Star Trek I had over the other incarnations -- BETTER BACKGROUND MUSIC! Esp. that duh-dum-duh-dum-DUH-DUM-duh-dum theme whenever Kirk's ass was in deep ship.

On the other hand, Troi's mother was AWESOME.

And the original ST's music was Varese-influenced, hey? Hmmmm ... never knew that! Maybe I should go over to that "Who Opened Your Ears" thread in ILM and change an answer or two of mine :-)

Troi's mom was cooler than Troi, not more attractive! Aigh, my eyes!

troi: not attractive.

crusher: nuh-uh.

troi's mom: uh.

that guy who was troi's mom's butler or something and was the guy who played lurch in the addams family movies: mrowr.

question: who liked first contact? it was like a next generation episode, only like, cool. plus, supercool supporting cast with alfre woodard and the farmer guy from babe.

someone start a star wars thread so i can bitch about how much that sucks except for empire strikes back.

hey i just remembered something else i liked in next generation, although it's from that bastard movie where kirk dies (falling off a walkway! the fuck? he's saved the universe like two hundred times and he falls of a walkway and dies? fuck). um anyway, i liked when data said 'shit'.

Andrew L has not mentioned his great expertness in this area, for some reason. I know about it because I very briefly worked under him on a Star Trek magazine!

Enterprise - trip is annoying but that vulcan's fit.

first series: like what i haf seen but haven't watched many episodes.

Next generation: only reached goodeness after the Borg came in the picture.

Deep space nine: deeply flawed (a space station in the middle of nowhere and they had to make a war to make it interesting so it had problems just like next generation) though I did watch most of it.

Voyager: the absolute fucking classic. They are stranded and haf to go back but they explore the other side of the quadrant which means all sorts of storylines, (this aspect is exploited to the full) and if that isn't enough then here are the words that settle this argument.

SEVEN OF NINE.

The woman of my dreams (Troi is an ugly witch compared to my seven). She's like Data (both trying to gain 'humanity') but she's a woman. And what a woman. Then the doctor who i think is rilly rilly funny too.

I was pissed off that my brother missed taping two episodes and I made him aware of that to say the least(only six were taped, I had to spend all night watching them on the day i got back from canada and it was time well spent though seven is breaking my heart trying to 'get' chakotay).

(Fun fact: The student services building at my school is called the William Shatner building & even has the Shatner Ballroom. Classic!)

DO YOU SEE!!?

heh. Alex (my brother's name) would never say 'improv' as he doesn't know what that is. or wants to know.

Good: Wrath Of Khan, The Voyage Home (time travel, whales), The Undiscovered Country (Peace with the Klingons), First Contact (The Borg hit Earth), hopefully Nemesis

Bad: Star Trek: the Motionless Picture, The Search For Spock, The Final Frontier (Crazy Vulcan searches for God), Generations (Malcom MacDowell froths, Kirk dies), Insurrections (not that terrible, just a double length TNG episode).

Having finally seen the trailer, my hopes for the film are now quite high.

ARGH. Now I'm massively disappointed as well!

So while I can see the intrinsic appeal of the attractiveness of the women in late STrek progs, I can't see it as a tribute to the imagination, skill and integrity of the programme makers.

There is hope left in this sad world.

Riker and Troi get married in the new movie...

And of course:

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~pg02/khan.png

"KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!"

http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~lthomas/nerd.jpg

Between the ages of 11 and 16 or so, I collected some 100+ of the novels, which I'm hoping to pick up out of storage from my parents' house for some between-semesters pulp reading. Because they were all from different authors, they ran the range of being shoot-em-up's, cheesy comedies, psychological thrillers, and really quite provocative sci-fi that just happened to have the Star Trek characters involved.

Hm, that actually would be a good way to get in some sharp ideas via a larger superstructure. Wonder if the Star Wars novels have said range. (I am not anxious to find out for myself.)

I remember it getting pretty good near the end, although I only caught episodes here and there.

re: Trek books, the best one that I've read was called Federation -- great writing, high concept and a TOS/TNG x-over.

http://www.btinternet.com/~bbkuk/tbshrine/mainmenu.htm

Ronan909: data's is funnier
SIMONTRIFE: i mean it was a lot funnier than when fucking ryker did it
SIMONTRIFE: yeah
SIMONTRIFE: so data like goes back to his room to cry
Ronan909: cos if someone did it to ryker he'd not be smiling in that fucking smug way
SIMONTRIFE: only he cant bcz he doesnt have the emotion chip
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: i really wd probably beat the shit out of him
Ronan909: he was in north and south too
SIMONTRIFE: THIS ONES FOR WORF
Ronan909: imagine the entire crew dancing to get low
SIMONTRIFE: 'number one'
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: haha
SIMONTRIFE: i can imagine like data doingthe running man
SIMONTRIFE: stop being so fucking SERIOUS
SIMONTRIFE: why is no one gay in the future
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: they have replicated the problem away thanks to ryker
SIMONTRIFE: the closest to gay wd be like ryker wd fall in love with some woman who turns out to be a shapeshifter
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: that would be hilarious
SIMONTRIFE: she shouldve turned into molten lava while rykers dick was in her
Ronan909: he's about to fuck her and then its like
SIMONTRIFE: dude that was an episode
SIMONTRIFE: except the lava
Ronan909: "ambassador tomalahawk, you ROMULAN SCUM"
SIMONTRIFE: her real form was this furry rat thing
Ronan909: "I was working undercover picard, i knew it was ambassador tomahawk"
SIMONTRIFE: haha
SIMONTRIFE: everyones a racist in the future
Ronan909: remember his son appeared or something
Ronan909: and it was a bug
SIMONTRIFE: i love the movie with kirk and the klingons
Ronan909: yeah
SIMONTRIFE: thats seriously my favorite movie of all time
Ronan909: kirk at least tried to sleep with women
SIMONTRIFE: its even better than wrath of khan
Ronan909: they made them assexual in the next gen cos they were so embarassed
SIMONTRIFE: kirk is fucking rugged
Ronan909: do you mean the one where kirk and co get framed
SIMONTRIFE: even when he was old he still was a pimp
SIMONTRIFE: yeah and sent to the ice planet!!
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: kirk actually fucks a shapeshifter in that too
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: shapeshifters are the modern day tranny
SIMONTRIFE: and bones is like rolling his eyes
SIMONTRIFE: 'here he goes again'
SIMONTRIFE: that movie is awesome
Ronan909: bones is kind of sexually dead
Ronan909: and just dead in every sense
SIMONTRIFE: it has the skank from sex in the city as spocks little vulcan girl
SIMONTRIFE: she overenunciates everything
SIMONTRIFE: well he is dead now
SIMONTRIFE: the actor
SIMONTRIFE: theres an old episode where he fucks a shapeshifter too
SIMONTRIFE: it turns out to be a monster that eats salt and has a vagina for a face
SIMONTRIFE: a vagina with teeth!
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: the old ones are all about weirdo mind control
Ronan909: and kind of eerie character warping
Ronan909: the new ones are like BIG MORAL ISSUES
SIMONTRIFE: kirk would make a good rapper
Ronan909: NO JOKES
SIMONTRIFE: i bet he refuses to go down on girls
SIMONTRIFE: bcz hes james t fucking kirk
Ronan909: warf would be a good rapper
Ronan909: it involves BITING
SIMONTRIFE: haha and in the klingon movie you learn at the klingon trial his middle name is TIBERIUS
SIMONTRIFE: 'i like earth bitches'
Ronan909: eastside boys featuring james tiberius kirk
SIMONTRIFE: lil kirk
Ronan909: "I Fuck All Races"
SIMONTRIFE: remember worfs son!!!
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: he was such a little shit
Ronan909: and his brother or cousin or whoever
Ronan909: who kept calling him a pussy for wearing his fancy earthman sash
Ronan909: in fairness they were right, that ship was full of twats
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: "perhaps i like twee anglophilia brother"
SIMONTRIFE: yeah remember like when worf goes back to the klingon home planet and theyre like 'wtf'
Ronan909: "but WESLEY CRUSHER, HE IS WHAT WE CALL A FOOL"
SIMONTRIFE: all the klingons cant believe hes hanging out with these total losers
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: ilxors as next generation
SIMONTRIFE: q was asexual though
Ronan909: so he said
Ronan909: he was actually quite cool
SIMONTRIFE: calum is like on the old star trek when theyd meet some god and he wd fuck with them but then in the end he'd just be a big baby
Ronan909: sense of humour
SIMONTRIFE: yeah anyone who makes picard so mad!!
SIMONTRIFE: 'STOP IT Q'
Ronan909: hahaha
SIMONTRIFE: i guess he is calumn
Ronan909: "Q I FEEL GREAT ANGER TOWARDS YOU"
SIMONTRIFE: 'Q I THINK WE SHOULD TALK THIS OVER'
Ronan909: "Q I AM FURIOUS, HAVE YOU EVER READ SARTRES"
SIMONTRIFE: kirk wouldve just kicked him in the teeth
SIMONTRIFE: he wouldve done that sideways kirk kicking thing where he lands on his ass
Ronan909: "q theres a line on jay z's the blueprint, it reads simply 'i will not lose ever FUCKER'"
SIMONTRIFE: the borg movie has a lot of hilarious stuff with picard talking abt herman melville
Ronan909: yeah haha
SIMONTRIFE: i guess literature just stopped!
Ronan909: he always shitted on about obvious contemporary literature
Ronan909: or culture
SIMONTRIFE: in the future nobody writes anything but self-help books
SIMONTRIFE: yeah i know
SIMONTRIFE: listening to bach
SIMONTRIFE: white supremicist
Ronan909: "in normandy, when they're bedding the horses, they are always sure to say why not my beautiful vicar"
SIMONTRIFE: hahaha
Ronan909: he is like captain MCDEPTH
SIMONTRIFE: remember when he gets trapped in the elevator and he sings frere jacques to the kids!!
Ronan909: i was just thinking of that
SIMONTRIFE: he wasnt even fucking french
SIMONTRIFE: he has a british accent!!
SIMONTRIFE: remember his vineyard
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: and geordie was so bored he was visiting his old boss
SIMONTRIFE: haha sometimes they wd drink wine on the enterprise
Ronan909: and play cards
SIMONTRIFE: theyre such 80s yuppies
Ronan909: ryker the jazz fan
Ronan909: GUINAN
SIMONTRIFE: they would have like those 80s cd players that are really huge
SIMONTRIFE: hahaha
SIMONTRIFE: 'captain i am detecting the prescence of whoopi goldberg in a stupid hat'
SIMONTRIFE: she looked like a fucking chess piece
Ronan909: picards voice is so funny
Ronan909: hahaha
SIMONTRIFE: they could play three dimensional chess with her!!
Ronan909: you know when he goes all slow and kind of contemplative
SIMONTRIFE: god they were always playing chess too
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: they played 3d chess in deep space nine
SIMONTRIFE: its funny to imagine teh rest of culture continued on without them but on the enterprise they just wanted everything to be old and european bcz they were white supremicists
SIMONTRIFE: like, everybody else in the galaxy is listening to get low 2450
SIMONTRIFE: theyre like a bunch of renaissance faire nerds
SIMONTRIFE: its a show abt a bunch of nerds who fly around in a spaceship
SIMONTRIFE: a bunch of rich white yuppie nerds
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: they just lamely stun them on that one
Ronan909: did they ever kill anyone
Ronan909: in the entire thing
SIMONTRIFE: maybe they like shot a cloud and then it gave birth
SIMONTRIFE: 'we're witnessing something very beautiful here...'
SIMONTRIFE: picard was like a shitty professor
SIMONTRIFE: he was always making the crew gather round to look at stuff they didnt care about
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: "have some malt whiskey lieutenant"
SIMONTRIFE: 'yemtemenos 8.... we finally made it'
Ronan909: hahaha
Ronan909: they were all rapt with interest though
SIMONTRIFE: haha they drank stupid yuppie wine
Ronan909: "captain i intend to take some rock samples for my studies"

SIMONTRIFE: they replicator was just one of the cardboard boxes of wine they sell at teh grocery store
SIMONTRIFE: they just put a piece of black plastic on it
Ronan909: "you do that lieutenant, WAIT, a cloud???? IN THIS GALAXY?"
SIMONTRIFE: i imagine them just going from cloud to cloud
SIMONTRIFE: uss retard
Ronan909: "cloud 9, i've heard of this one"

SIMONTRIFE: wtf was there mission anyway
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: "to eliminate clouds"
Ronan909: and take rock samples
SIMONTRIFE: 'hey... you...get offa my...'
SIMONTRIFE: to learn lessons from clouds
Ronan909: they just gave them a fake mission and threw wes crusher on board
SIMONTRIFE: to make the holodeck malfunction and almost kill everyone
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: to get rid of them all
SIMONTRIFE: it was secretly a reality show
Ronan909: cos they were the worst bunch of bores ever
Ronan909: they kept making faces when kirk or other federation cronies got lecherous or drunk or sexist.
SIMONTRIFE: 'what happens... when nine crew members stop being real... and start getting polite'
SIMONTRIFE: haha i know
SIMONTRIFE: they were like
Ronan909: you can see thats true cos they hate all the old federation guys
Ronan909: RAJON 5
Ronan909: what was with the dumb names of planets too
Ronan909: they sounded like washing up powders
Ronan909: LUSTRE 7
SIMONTRIFE: hard-on 12
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: BALDHEAD 1
Ronan909: captains log, supplemental
SIMONTRIFE: STRONGO 14
Ronan909: after rendez vousing with the venetian blinds on GETLOW 7
SIMONTRIFE: his captains logs were fucking useless too
SIMONTRIFE: always making shit jokes in them
Ronan909: we have found a primitive culture known as "fun"
SIMONTRIFE: or being really obscure
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: "the clouds have gone, for now, perhaps we were unable to understand them"
Ronan909: and then it got all wonder years
Ronan909: "we didnt realise it and neither did they but that day our crew and the moons of Raijilicus 4 were closer than ever.
SIMONTRIFE: 'i guess you could say we learned something from the rigelians... about ourselves'
SIMONTRIFE: or he would smugly mention another crewmember
Ronan909: this was truly a space miracle"

Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: my first cloud
SIMONTRIFE: captain, dr crushers brother has died on VIETNAM 7
Ronan909: "commander data meanwhile has not mastered the subtle art of bonhomie, but with my guidance, he shall continue to learn"

Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: they probably all sat around laughing at his captains logs
SIMONTRIFE: we sent you through that cloud to collection ion samples!!
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: "another cracker from jean luc"
SIMONTRIFE: 'look... hes crying!!'
SIMONTRIFE: god i know i sat around laughing at him
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: i want to see the one where he cries so bad now
Ronan909: there is so much mileage in mocking it though
Ronan909: what was his nephew called
SIMONTRIFE: 'he was.... so.... so... so YOUNG'
Ronan909: lilian
Ronan909: or florent
Ronan909: or something
SIMONTRIFE: he actually says that
Ronan909: lilian-florent
SIMONTRIFE: yeah something gay
SIMONTRIFE: omg dude how cd i forget this!!!
SIMONTRIFE: when he goes inside the ribbon that grants your wishes
Ronan909: hahaha
SIMONTRIFE: and his wish is to have a gay charles dickens christmas with his family!!!
Ronan909: and he's married to a victorian woman
Ronan909: hahahaha
SIMONTRIFE: what a loser
SIMONTRIFE: kirk is like chopping wood and getting back in bed with some green woman
SIMONTRIFE: picards is just little brats going 'pa-PA!'
SIMONTRIFE: 'faaaather...'
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: it would have been so cool if “relax” played and picard is in some brothel looking aroused and disgusted with himself all at once.
SIMONTRIFE: why is malcolm mcdowel in that
Ronan909: the intro and then picard is like "nooooooooo"
SIMONTRIFE: it really is a travesty
SIMONTRIFE: except when data says shit
Ronan909: THE NEXUS
SIMONTRIFE: hhaha
SIMONTRIFE: the enterprise is THE LEXUS
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: cruise control, faux leather seating
SIMONTRIFE: beige EVERYTHING
SIMONTRIFE: picard was like 'make it beige, number one'
Ronan909: its such a pathetic vision of depth
Ronan909: MAKE IT BEIGE, LIKE A FINE WINE
SIMONTRIFE: 'what color shd the spaceship be??' 'MAKE IT BEIGE'
SIMONTRIFE: like my shriveled old man hea
Ronan909: number one, i think you'll find the seats are plush leather
SIMONTRIFE: uss fleshtone
Ronan909: easy on the rear
Ronan909: uss pofaced
SIMONTRIFE: the old enterprise was cool
SIMONTRIFE: all grey and simple
SIMONTRIFE: the new one had like cup-holders everywhere
Ronan909: the bar in the new one is the worst
SIMONTRIFE: and stupid little ridges
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: it looks like the worst yuppie bar ever
Ronan909: MAKE IT BLAND NUMBER ONE
Ronan909: "aye aye sir"
SIMONTRIFE: they were such fucking yuppies
Ronan909: little did they know about warf and datas SEcrEt CrUnK parties in the holodeck
SIMONTRIFE: ;make it crunk'
SIMONTRIFE: worf probably listened to like tribal klingon music
Ronan909: "what in the name of fornicating clouds is going on here warf"

Ronan909: i can imagine warf as an industrial fan
Ronan909: front 242
SIMONTRIFE: 'it is too HARSH... for human ears... no melody... just rhythm'
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: insane clown posse
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: "its......too shit for human ears"

SIMONTRIFE: 'there is a lot of... sucking'
Ronan909: ha
Ronan909: there must be other characters
SIMONTRIFE: yeah we've hit the wall here
Ronan909: i am saving this without doubt
SIMONTRIFE: remember bajorans
SIMONTRIFE: nose ridges
Ronan909: horrible noses
SIMONTRIFE: yeah totally we have to make this into something
SIMONTRIFE: 'tasteful suburban bookstore, 1988'
SIMONTRIFE: 'macintosh computer, flying toasters screensaver'
SIMONTRIFE: 'magazine rack, macworld magazine'
Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: 'packaged biscotti, dry'
Ronan909: music, tepid indie
Ronan909: clothes, amusing v neck sweater
Ronan909: prejudices, multiple
SIMONTRIFE: music, tribal groove
SIMONTRIFE: music, moby, play
Ronan909: worf is like
Ronan909: place, klingon semen basement 2077
SIMONTRIFE: sting, new album
Ronan909: music, BEYOND HOLODECK COMPREHENSION
SIMONTRIFE: haha
Ronan909: sex, full blown, many clowns.
SIMONTRIFE: location, the very mild fetish club
Ronan909: klingon sex is unusual
SIMONTRIFE: sense of transgression from 'biting', third grade level
Ronan909: "it involves...........clowns"

SIMONTRIFE: self-satisfaction, high
SIMONTRIFE: 'klingon sex is... unusual... it doesnt... happen often... because i... live with my parents'
Ronan909: and ryker is like "get that clown back to calgon 7 immediately warf"
SIMONTRIFE: he would just smirk, 'nice little rimjob, worf' 'LITTLE Commander??'
Ronan909: worf got deanna in the end
SIMONTRIFE: in that same one he has to take the defense controls again and ryker goes 'sure you can remember what everything does?'
SIMONTRIFE: what a dick!
Ronan909: he pretended to be sensitive and care about clouds
SIMONTRIFE: haha she can predict his biting
SIMONTRIFE: 'ohhh'
Ronan909: the amount of her talking about other peoples thoughts you'd have to sit through
SIMONTRIFE: 'i sense... horniness... very much...'
SIMONTRIFE: ugh
SIMONTRIFE: worf had space-aids
SIMONTRIFE: didnt they have an aids episode?
Ronan909: did they
Ronan909: ryker disgusted by it
Ronan909: "FIRE PHOTON TORPEDOS, LETS KILL THIS VIRUS AND EVERYONE SUFFERING FROM IT"

SIMONTRIFE: thats a little too edgy
SIMONTRIFE: 'fucking faggots'
SIMONTRIFE: ryker was disgusted all the time
SIMONTRIFE: hes like a slaveowner
SIMONTRIFE: he was always either mocking someone lower than him or just grimacing in disgust
SIMONTRIFE: that dumb-ass smirk
Ronan909: yeah
Ronan909: and the beard
Ronan909: enson, clean my quarters
Ronan909: "and dont forget the underwear, hmph-haha"

SIMONTRIFE: he grew the beard to look manly

Ronan909: haha
SIMONTRIFE: brb!
Ronan909: no wonder wes had parted hair
SIMONTRIFE: i have to go!
SIMONTRIFE: its been fun
Ronan909: ok me too really
Ronan909: yes!
SIMONTRIFE: we will pick this up again
Ronan909: definitely.
SIMONTRIFE: more infantile star trek sex jokes
Ronan909: "have you ever read camus"
SIMONTRIFE: the final acceptance we are never getting laid again
Ronan909: haha
Ronan909: "theres a line on a beermat i read will"
SIMONTRIFE: making two hours worth of star trek sex jokes
Ronan909: its prob even worse than liking star trek
Ronan909: non ironically
SIMONTRIFE: yeah at least you can get star trek fangirls
SIMONTRIFE: like um
SIMONTRIFE: later ronan!!
Ronan909: see you!

Ryker in fact falls in love with a person from a gender-neutral species.

worf probably listened to like tribal klingon music

He actually listens to Klingon opera.

BEST PC EPISODE EVER

JD, yeah, me too... fuck.

God, I am such a nerd.

Looks like the combined effect of 'The Matrix' and reality TV has finally killed off Star Trek, which was something I used to think was one of those untouchable, uncancellable TV franchises.

This means that I not only believe in an alternate timeline for the original series, but that I also played a tactical simulator based on that timeline using counters and hexagons...

But that's The American Way! Even the earliest books on the first series point out the show is about America in the '60s, esp foreign policy. Kirk = LBJ + JFK's libido...

I was a Trekkie on the original's reruns between ages 10 and 14, including NY conventions (circa '76) where the cast attended, including Shatner and Nimoy. Saw maybe 3 episodes of TNG, did zip for me.

Wrath of Khan's Burger King uniforms: awsum!

The biggest problem was that Enterprise was never really Star Trek. Yeah, they reference some of the same things, but to do the prequel they really had to make it more like cowboys in space, which doesn't really touch what I found most attractive about Star Trek. I think they did it to themselves, really, and unfortunately once they came up with the idea that it was a "prequel", there's only so far they could go towards making it more like the other Star Treks we knew and loved, without confusing the timeline, so to speak.

I hope they come up with another Trek series along the lines of Deep Space Nine. Or maybe they could do it as a sitcom: the kinda-dumb Data prototype (from the end of the last movie) stumbles through the future! Laughs ensue!

Counsellor Trios ass and tits were ok, but that nose ruined all. Still I bet Riker would often chuckle with Warf about how if she had a abg over her head he'd do her, and then Warf would probaby say "Yeah, and her fore head isnt bumpy enough". There was an episode when the crew was all morphin ginto prehistoric froms of themselves and Warf came on to Trio by saying "GET OUT OF THAT BATH! " and biting her. Not very romantic, those Vulcans.
-- Mike Hanley (pennyson...), July 24th, 2001.

so classic

This article summed up a lot of my feelings pretty early on:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020325&s=minkowitz

also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBXal1GAA4A&NR

Reading Rainbow: "Behind the Scenes of Star Trek: TNG" (Orig. Aired 8/15/1988)

http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/articles/images/reading_rainbow_star_trek_tng/reading_rainbow_star_trek_tng_mainpage.jpg

http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/articles/images/reading_rainbow_star_trek_tng/reading_rainbow_star_trek_tng_28.jpg

http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/articles/images/reading_rainbow_star_trek_tng/reading_rainbow_star_trek_tng_34.jpg

this = most otm thing ever.

there was a time when 3 different series were being shown at 6pm on bbc2 every week, tue, wed and thu. hard to imagine now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5326738.stm

I wonder what Sulu and Chekov are singing in that pic.

Though I admit the language would be good for black metal.

"Hollywood, Calif. -- STAR TREK is getting a 21st century makeover. CBS Paramount Domestic Television is releasing digitally remastered episodes of the iconic 1960s sci-fi series, with all new special effects and music, to celebrate the groundbreaking series' 40th anniversary, it was announced today by John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television.

The new episodes also mark the first time in 16 years that the original STAR TREK series can be seen in broadcast syndication. The episodes will begin airing on the more than 200 stations that own the rights to the weekend broadcast syndication window starting Sept. 16 (check local listings for station and dates). All 79 episodes of the original STAR TREK series will eventually be remastered, with the first batch of episodes chosen from a list of STAR TREK fans' favorite shows.

STAR TREK redefined science-fiction and constantly pushed the envelope with concepts that were ahead of their time," Nogawski said. "By giving the series a digital upgrade using the best technology available today, it will continue to be a leader in cutting-edge television programming as we introduce the series to a new generation of viewers."

The most noticeable change will be redoing many of the special effects, created with 1960s technology, with 21st century computer-generated imagery (CGI). That includes:

• Space ship exteriors -- The space ship Enterprise, as well as other Starships, will be replaced with state of the art CGI-created ships. The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which now rests in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

• Show opening -- The Enterprise and planets seen in the main title sequence will be redone, giving them depth and dimension for the first time.

• Galaxy shots -- All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the window on the Enterprise's bridge, will be redone.

• Exteriors -- The battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures (notably the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers) will be updated.

• Background scenes -- Some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.

The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier…" monologue continues to open each episode.

The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition. Once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD."

(though Uhura >>>>> anyone on TNG)

Oh, and the originals aren't going anywhere, thankfully:

The original versions of the episodes will continue to be available on TV Land and G4, and the previously-released DVDs will continue to be available. The new versions will be seen only in broadcast syndication for at least the next year or so, and will air as they're completed. The new versions can't be shown on cable until all the episodes are done, as cable syndication deals are made in "strip" packages (meaning entire runs of episodes - complete seasons or entire series). The original film masters of all the episodes will be preserved.

!

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/twentieth_century_fox/borat/sacha_baron_cohen/boratcannes2.jpg

ON MY PLANET THERE IS PROBLEM

"CAPTAIN I HURT HERE."

I am loving how sleazy Ryker is. He manages to make the most everyday lines drip with sordid innuendo.

Here, was any of Enterprise any good? I watched the first one and was turned off by dreadful cheesy theme tune.

It's the best next thing to the original!

xpost

Oh, hell no.

> The theme tune to Enterprise is brilliant!!!

ibid.

please explain?

Oh, Wiki explains it better than me!

xp with fandango, who knows whereof he speaks

possibly my favorite tng episode!!! best part is when its just her and jean luc!

I think you need to watch it in order from the beginning. About the only thing that could get me to do this is a roomie with a box set

-- ledge (tomdotledge...), January 21st, 2007. (ledge)

also see TIME LOOP episode, EYES IN THE DARK episode, RECREATE FREAKY CHAIR episode

Just came across this in a, ahem, beverly crusher article on wikipedia:

Sub Rosa - Attends her grandmother's funeral and spends time in her haunted house, falling in love with a ghost.

Ok clearly there was good headfuck and bad headfuck.

The banality of episode summaries

Anyway, that means ENTERPRISE = ULTIMATES?

Oh: Wil Wheaton is blogging his way through TNG episodes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon#Change_in_appearance

Lispy, soft pedo-voice: "ooh, the best theason of all, that!"
"The borg ... the borg! And at the thame time, deirdre wath kidnapped. Coronation thtreet [shitty UK soap] fanth were crying about Deirdre and did you thee uth crying about Picard going to the Borg? No!"

Me: "Big crossover between Coronation Street fans and Trekkies then, is there?"

He tharthed on an angry reply then yelped "OH MY GOD! OH. MY. GOD. THAT CAN'T BE! IT IS! OH MY" and started jumping on the spot. At a Knight Rider all-seasons box set.

I was kinda embarrassed to buy Wrath of Khan, then.

^^^controversial but true

Kirby/Lee = OST is a nice analogy tho, I like that. For me it goes OST>>Wrath of Khan>>Star Trek VI>the better TNG episodes>all the other movies>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>everything else

I gather they were meant to be 20th century humans.

I've always felt there was this weird Ferengi = Bad space Jews/Vulcans = Good space Jews subtext goin on

oh neat, here's the campus newspaper bit about it. It happened 10 years ago next week.

The "multi Worf" episode is when he trips some quantum singularity whatsit and he travels through a whole buncha different quantum realities, one of which includes a reality where the Borg had killed Picard and overran the Alpha Quadrant and the Federation is almost dead!!!

RASCIST!

Love that one!

Yeah, that's a good one. Not as much impact as the constant shattering sane/insane episode but still.

i know that the following is kind of odd and/or dumb, but i am bored and it's bothered me for such a long time so here goes ...

... y'all remember that episode "the menagerie," where the talosian aliens kidnap captain christopher pike in order to use him and vina (the female survivor of the original exploratory mission that crashed on the aliens' planet) as breeding stock to repair and build equipment & thereby save the talosian race, right? obviously, we all can understand the mechanics of how all that would work when captain pike was still able-bodied (even though IRL vina was all fucked up and God only knows precisely WHERE the talosians stuck her genitalia when they "repaired" her or even if it was fully functional and whatever the truth wr2 all that pike was brainwashed so he'd think that he was schtupping some hottie instead of a deformed lump of flesh).

when the talosians allowed pike to return after HIS accident, however, when he was all deformed and everything from his torso downwards was confined to that wheelchair-box device -- presumably he WOULDN'T be able to actually mate with vina, right? i mean, HIS genitalia was stuck in that wheelchair-box thing and, even IF by some feat the talosians took a can opener & "let it all out" then the sheer weight of the wheelchair would crush vina when they were getting it on.

so presumably, the talosians' letting pike rejoin vina was just an act of mercy on their part -- since the aliens were fucked as a species anyway and they seemed to be fond of human beings (even as playthings), so why not?!? is this the correct interpretation?!?

I ask the ILX massive - does being a fan of Star Trek make you a "nerd"?

My wife was disputing her nerd status the other day and I was maintaining that anyone who likes Star Trek is de facto a nerd (myself included)

particularly anyone who owns multiple action figures/lego figurines of Captain Kirk, Khan, the Gorn, and Spock, among others

Wait, your wife owns those or you do?

well, TOS has finished on bbc2 (all aired after 1am, with no fanfare, why? was a time when bbc 2 would show three different ST series at 6pm on weekdays) and TNG has resumed. it's not great.

jsut caught 'inner light' episode of TNG. best episode ever?

Wait, your wife owns those or you do?

my wife purchased them/received them as gifts, altho techically since we're married I guess they count as "ours"

fwiw I have no doubts about the certainty of my nerd status

there was a captain named christopher pike? like the kids' horror author?

i don't think star trek fan makes you auto-nerd, but i'd wouldn't make a bet against it. my mom for example is a casual tng fan and is not a nerd, she will watch it if it's on tv, f'rex.

my wife goes well beyond "casual fan" - owns all the DVDs of TOS + the cartoons, plus deluxe editions of several of the movies (first movie, Khan, Star Trek VI), has numerous books written by castmembers, etc.

> there was a captain named christopher pike? like the kids' horror author?

was the captain in the pilot episode, pre kirk. footage was later recycled in another episode and, i think, the character came back later.

that "Menagerie" episode always scared/haunted me, what with those veins you could see pulsating under the surface of the Talosians' heads.

btw, I am not a nerd. I am in nerd rehab.

i think TNG is safely in mainstream/non-nerd territory - wasn't it one of the top 10 rated shows for much of its run? that's way better than, say, buffy ever did. TOS prob isn't even that nerdy anymore, i know lots of regular ppl who have fond memories of the early 80s movies, at least (cf jerry and george getting weepy over "wrath of khan" in that seinfeld episode).

dud = "real" SF fans' snobbery abt star trek. espec since lots of original series episodes were written by terrific classic writers - theodore sturgeon, james blish, h****n ellison, etc etc.

I've never met any of these "real" SF fans

also are you worried about Harlan googling himself and showing up here to harangue you or what?

jsut caught 'inner light' episode of TNG. best episode ever?

It's between that and "Yesterday's Enterprise" - both are miles better than "Best of Both Worlds"

there was a captain named christopher pike? like the kids' horror author?

i think that the author christopher pike named himself after ST's captain christopher pike.

The Menagerie is like an animated tumor at the back of my brain, informing every move I make as an adult. Well, almost.
I was so in love with Kirk as a 13-yr-old. I never watched the lated incarnations of the show.

larer, No, later.
I r drunk

pike's going to be a major character in the upcoming movie, yeah?

Easy job for the scriptwriter then.

Pike: BLEEP. BLEEP BLEEP. BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEEEEEP.

somewhat incredibly there was a slash fiction question on University Challenge last night, specifically the *very easiest* question about it imaginable.

no, this will be pike pre-accident. pre the events of the menagerie even.

NO SHIT

isn't the film abt Kirk in his Starfleet Academy days?

i think i read that somewhere.

7307 Takei, people!

ethan is the best on the star trek threads. :D

esp abt TNG

SIMONTRIFE: its funny to imagine teh rest of culture continued on without them but on the enterprise they just wanted everything to be old and european bcz they were white supremicists
SIMONTRIFE: like, everybody else in the galaxy is listening to get low 2450
SIMONTRIFE: theyre like a bunch of renaissance faire nerds
SIMONTRIFE: its a show abt a bunch of nerds who fly around in a spaceship
SIMONTRIFE: a bunch of rich white yuppie nerds

i still think this is a good theory

"rainbow that grants all your wishes" "frere jacques elevator" still make me laff alla time

I was laughing about them today and that's why I revived this.

Ronan909: they were all into such shit stuff aswell
Ronan909: on the holodeck
Ronan909: "i've recreated a 1924 jazz club with no one in it"
Ronan909: "i feel this is the best use of being able to simulate any event ever"

SO FUCKING CLASSIC! hahahahahaha

Still gold.

I can never see TNG now without thinking of that convo.

And porno Interactive Fiction, obv.

Ronan909: REG BARCLAY
SIMONTRIFE: honestly, is he like ten??
Ronan909: AKA *******

pretty sure this said "NED RAGGETT"

this thread is why ethan should never ever be banned, lol

pretty sure this said "NED RAGGETT"

Beautiful.

false alarm, it was 'graham'

None of you are real geeks. Listen: I.. played.. Star Fleet Battles.

This means that I not only believe in an alternate timeline for the original series, but that I also played a tactical simulator based on that timeline using counters and hexagons...

Been there. Done that. I can also trump it because I had a copy of Federation Space, which was the short-lived strategic macro-level version of Star Fleet Battles. Imagine the Dr. Strangelove war room or the Imperial War Museum map room only with Federation vs. Romulan vs. Tholian vs. etc.

Sold it for quite a bit of $$$ on eBay.

Okay, so you played sStar Fleet Battles, but did you play the rules set that took it into 3-D. If not, I win.

Actually, I lose for admitting to that. Forever.

Yes I did. I also played this game... A lot!

At least it provided some answers as to what would happen if a bunch of X-Wing fighters and the Millennium Falcon went up against the Enterprise (the X-Wings usually won)

Chris, when we're of retirement age, I still have my copy of Federation Space!

I also long for the day when I have enough time to play a full game of Days of Decision+World in Flames!!!

SIMONTRIFE: they borrowed their shoulder pads from vivian banks

Ronan909: the irish guy is so funny too
Ronan909: colm meaney
Ronan909: chief o brien
Ronan909: one of my friends gets called chief cos he looks like him
Ronan909: have you ever seen "the snapper"
Ronan909: he plays an Irish dad in it
Ronan909: whose daughter gets pregnant at 16
Ronan909: its so fucking funny
Ronan909: he has slippers and dodgy cardigans etc
Ronan909: his wife goes but what about the neighbours
Ronan909: and he flings a cup of tea and goes
Ronan909: "AH FUCK THE NEIGHBOURS"

virgin 1 is showing TNG but despite it being a bank holiday i don't think i can take encounter at farpoint again

i scored both parts of this at a thrift store for a buck apiece on VHS, but they've really, really worn out their welcome.

Season 3 of TNG is when the show really starts getting good anyway.

I was thinking this was the thread where I made the joke about Troi lezzing up with Worf's forehead, but I guess not.

I like to watch TNG with my pissed mates when BBC2 show it on a Friday night at about half two in the morning. Essential post-spoonies viewing.

the bravo listings promise that at midnight

Picard is in love but won't admit it, so Q transforms him into Robin Hood and an old flame into Maid Marian, and sends them both to Sherwood Forest.

fuck this show

That's a good episode!

mind you the opposition is

The Cult of Hamish Macbeth

Hamish Macbeth was a different kind of policeman, a laid-back local bobby policing a small Scottish village, but the viewing figures regularly topped 10 million.

no it is not a good episode

All the Q episodes are great, obvs.

I've really enjoyed all the Q eps I've caught. The one where he became human was good.

You could tack "fuck this show" at the end of practically any Star Trek epsidoe summary and it would be wholly appropriate, regardless of how good the episode is.

ditto for hamish macbeth

I've really enjoyed all the Q eps I've caught. The one where he became human was good.

-- chap, Monday, 24 March 2008

I really felt for him, lol. A++ episode.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Has Died

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0632213/

Aw man, fuck. One of my dork friends freshman year helped escort her around Panama City, FL in the early 90s for a fan event. Said she was a hilarious dirty old lady who told great stories.

When they finally create true voice synthesis for talking computers, I hope they use tapes of her.

RIP.

Oh no! RIP

supercool they got her voice in for the new one though

By ROBERT JABLON Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES—Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry who nurtured the legacy of the seminal science fiction TV series after his death, has died. She was 76.

Roddenberry died of leukemia Thursday morning at her home in Bel-Air, said Sean Rossall, a family spokesman.

At Roddenberry's side were family friends and her son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr.

Roddenberry was involved in the "Star Trek" universe for more than four decades. She played the dark-haired Number One in the original pilot but metamorphosed into the blond, miniskirted Nurse Christine Chapel in the original 1966-69 show. She had smaller roles in all five of its television successors and many of the "Star Trek" movie incarnations, although she had little actual involvement in the productions.

She frequently was the voice of the ship's computer, and about two weeks ago she completed the same role for the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie "Star Trek," Rossall said.

Roddenberry also helped keep the franchise alive by inspiring fans and attended a major "Star Trek" convention each year, Rossall said.

"I think 'Star Trek' will always be her legacy," Rossall said.

"Star Trek" and its successors often focused on political and philosophical issues of the day. Roddenberry and her husband, who died in 1991, believed in creating "thoughtful entertainment" and were proud of the show and the passionate devotion of its fans, Rossall said.

"My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that 'Star Trek' fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away," her son said in a statement on the official Roddenberry Web site.

Born Majel Lee Hudec on Feb. 23, 1932, in Cleveland, Ohio, Roddenberry began taking acting classes as a child. She had some stage roles and then in the late 1950s and 1960s had bit parts in a few movies and small roles in TV series, including "Leave It to Beaver" and "Bonanza."

She met her husband in 1964 during a guest role for a Marine Corps drama he produced called "The Lieutenant." That same year, she was cast in the pilot for the "Star Trek" series as the no-nonsense second-in-command. The pilot did not appeal to NBC executives and a second pilot was made, although portions of the original later showed up in a two-part episode called "The Menagerie."

The couple married in Japan in 1969 after "Star Trek" was canceled. After her husband's death, Roddenberry continued her involvement with the "Star Trek" franchise.

She also was the executive producer for two other TV science fiction series, "Andromeda" and "Earth: Final Conflict."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090127/ap_on_en_tv/people_roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry, wife to spend eternity in space

LOS ANGELES – The creator of "Star Trek" and his wife will spend eternity together in space. Celestis Inc., a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights," said Monday that it will ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry into space next year.

The couple's cremated remains will be sealed into specially made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-launched spacecraft will carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from fans. The Roddenberrys' remains — and the spacecraft — will travel ever deeper into space and will not return to earth, company spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said.

After Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, his wife commissioned Celestis to launch a part of his remains into space in 1997. She died Dec. 18, 2008.

SIMONTRIFE: its funny to imagine teh rest of culture continued on without them but on the enterprise they just wanted everything to be old and european bcz they were white supremicists
SIMONTRIFE: like, everybody else in the galaxy is listening to get low 2450
SIMONTRIFE: theyre like a bunch of renaissance faire nerds
SIMONTRIFE: its a show abt a bunch of nerds who fly around in a spaceship
SIMONTRIFE: a bunch of rich white yuppie nerds

still loling at this

Maybe Star Trek IV was a documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5e1vfaST2I

i am watching this weird round table discssion thing featurinf whoopie goldberg (host), shatner, nimoy, patrick stewart & johnathan frakes.

is that on the undiscovered country bounus disc? worth watching? have been mildly curious about this. seems like there's a good potential for lolz.

just watched this the other day:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296753/

pretty boring until shatner starts talking about how he couldn't possibly understand how anyone else on the cast could have a problem with him. then he speculates that it could be because the love these minor players get at conventions has blown up their egos! nimoy even backs him up on this!

crazy person:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTr5SGuS7F8&feature=channel_page

Mind Meld is hilarious - I lol's at Nimoy's confessions about his "drinking problem"

I find Shatner rather charming for an egomaniac with a persecution complex.

egomaniacs usually are pretty charming!

oh, he's definitely charming. totally perfect for the kirk role.

really funny that the person "interviewing" him in the video I posted is his daughter.

and it's pretty obvious that a lot of this stuff is done with a wink to the audience but mind meld seemed to really hammer home the idea that shatner has a (being generous here...) pretty underdeveloped sense of empathy.

'I lol's at Nimoy's confessions about his "drinking problem"'
I thought his alcoholism was real! It's not some kind of Borat thing is it?

yeah, that part came off as pretty legit to me, actually.

is it weird that none of the major ST characters, old or TNG, are supposed to be married or have boyfriends or girlfriends?

They have each other.

Troi and Riker get married at the beginning of Star Trek Nemesis.

The Doctor and Picard get it on at one point, don't they?

Troi and Worf got hitched.

Troi and Worf had a relationship, but they only got married in an alternate timeline. Damn I sound like such a nerd...

Doctor from DS9 was married to Kira from DS9. His uncles include a Saudi King and Malcolm McDowell.
I outnerd you!

One of the officers on the new Enterprise at the beginning of "Generations" is Sulu's daughter.

Which implies a wife or girlfriend of some kind at some point.

Also, James Kirk - Carol Marcus.

The ensign who dies from radiation exposure in ST2 is Scotty's nephew.

Also, David is Kirk and Carol's son.

Kirk's brother (played by Shatner wearing a false moustache) is in one episode of TOS.

The Doctor and Picard get it on at one point, don't they?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/08/article-1160453-03CA5921000005DC-980_468x459.jpg

Also Worf has a son, Alex, by that Klingon ambassador who gets killed by Duras.

Torres and Paris have a baby in Voyager.

Sisko has a son, lost his wife during the space battle with BorgPicard.

Even Q has a son.

Seven of 9 was married to Chicago Republican whose sex scandal paved the way for Obama to take his vacated position and later, the White House.

Gene Roddenberry's boldest vision.

Oh and in ST:TMP Decker and Ilea were dating before the events of the movie, and at the end of the film they merge with the probe to become a non-corporeal being.

Spock has a hippie girlfriend on planet shrooms, but Kirk slaps him so he breaks it off.
Chekov has a hippie girlfriend in a crazy Christian cult, but she eats acid and dies.

Bones' old girlfriend turns out to be the salt vampire

And plays Erin Gray to Spock's Glenn Ford.

Scotty hooked up w/girls on several occasions on TOS including that one episode with the lights that take over people's bodies.

Nurse Chapel on TOS had an ex-fiance who they found building robots to take over the galaxy.

The ex-fiance, of course, turned out to be a robot copy of himself.

Ha ha girlfriends have higher mortality rates than red shirts.
Even Khan had a girlfriend (dead)

is it weird that none of the major ST characters, old or TNG, are supposed to be married or have boyfriends or girlfriends?

Maybe this is true for the OG series, but in TNG pretty much all the main characters have paired up with each other at one time or another: Picard and Crusher, Troi and Riker, Troi and Worf, Data and Tasha Yar... I think Geordi was the only main character who never paired up with another crew member... Or did he?

Geordi was a real ladies man - he seemed to go on dates more often then the rest of the crew combined.

Of course he'd always blow it by taking the girl out to some super cheesy holodeck island that he'd spent hours programming.

But he married a german hologram!

In the alternate timeline of TNG series finale All Good Things..., La Forge has by 2395 married Leah Brahms and had three children (Alandra, Brett, and Sydney) with her. He had left Starfleet and became a novelist. However, these events may never happen because of the divergence of the time line at the episode's end.

wow did not know that

Maybe this is true for the OG series

it is not true at all for the OG series. Kirk has more girlfriends than he can count, Spock has a couple trysts (including one arranged marriage), Bones has exes, Scotty and Chekov pursue romances, etc. Uhura's the only lonely one iirc

Star Trek: the land where black ppl can't get laid

The Spock arranged marriage episode is funny, because his wife to be dumps him for some other guy.
Doesn't Uhura avoid relationships because she was engaged to another Starfleet officer who was killed on a mission, or something?

I think Dan is more OTM... white America can't handle the black sexing

(fwiw I don't think Sulu ever gets a girl either)

Doesn't she lock a cadet in the closet for her pleasure?

lol Uhura didn't even have a canonical first name until the 2009 movie, she certainly wasn't going to have any canonical tail

Bones falls in love with Joan Collins

Uhura airs out her canonical tail in Star Trek V

V is so unwatchable I don't feel guilty for not remembering

Scotty and Uhura are under the influence of Sybok's mind meld therapy lose-your-inhibitions thing, so does that really count?

No, Uhura gets auntie-naked as a distraction

I remember reading that Kirk and Uhura kissing in an episode of the original series was the first ever interracial kiss on American television. Though they covered it by having Kirk and Uhura be under alien mind control or something when they did the deed.

Yes. It was the "Plato's Stepchildren" episode, I believe.

^^^episode is Plato's Stepchildren and it is TEH AWESOME one of my favorite episodes. yes it is the first interracial "kiss" but its more like interracial lip-brushing

i know they all have like HOOK-UPS, but isnt it weird that not ONE of the main characters is in a LTR for the main run of the show? it's like a ship of singles!!

why would anyone who's off galivanting around in deep space be in a LTR?

it's like they boldly choose to not be monogamous

really... "I love ya babe, be back in 5 years! Hopefully I won't have space crabs..."

wasn't there a tng episode where some alien force caused them all to get it on?

haha kirk is officiating a non-denom. wedding, then the ship gets attacked, and then at the end of the episode the only guy who dies is the groom, so kirk has to go tell the bride, and possibly schtup her. this is what happens if you get married in deep space.

Yeah, that's the episode where Tasha Yar finds out Data is "fully equipped", if you get my drift... I don't think the others had sex it in it though, they just went wild in other ways.

(x-post)

why would anyone who's off galivanting around in deep space be in a LTR?

― Valid point, imaginary rude person (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:01 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u know people in the like, army and navy and stuff are frequently married!!

you're kinda implying that our beloved characters might not represent federation society as a whole and might be a gang of socially-maladjusted misfits

Why else do we love them so.

USS ILXOR NCC 5308

That's why Enterprise seems to have much more odd and dangerous missions than any other Federation ship... They've hand-picked a ship full of maladjusted permanent bachelor(ette)s they can send to on deadly missions, knowing no one will miss them back home.

(xpost) ...to boldly zing where no-one has zinged before!

Thread of missing Charlie X.

How else could they get away with just drinking synthehol?

That's why Enterprise seems to have much more odd and dangerous missions than any other Federation ship... They've hand-picked a ship full of maladjusted permanent bachelor(ette)s they can send to on deadly missions, knowing no one will miss them back home.

This would make Star Trek a far, far more interesting series.

Big Brother In Space

anyway, they're always talking about all the families onboard the enterprise, it's not like nobody who works on the ship is married!!

Chief Miles had wifey and a kid. Or did they just appear when he went to DS9?

anyway, they're always talking about all the families onboard the enterprise, it's not like nobody who works on the ship is married!!

this is more of a TNG thing, I don't think this is ever mentioned in the OS

It SO is mentioned in the original series.

Kirk talks about the CREW a lot, but families...? We never see any children

nah the chief married that asian chick on tng

> Troi and Worf had a relationship, but they only got married in an alternate timeline.

Worf marries J Dax in DS9. then she dies and he has a thing with Ezri Dax.

O'Brien is also married (keiko?) in DS9. (Xpost?)

this is more of a TNG thing, I don't think this is ever mentioned in the OS

― Valid point, imaginary rude person (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:40 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ok then TNG!

Ha ha, this is one of the things that I always get a laugh out of with TNG. They're soooooo pleased with themselves that they cart their families around in their big expensive parenting lab, unlike the savage races that break up families for space travel.... BUT they're perfectly willing to put their families in the most RIDICULOUS danger imaginable every week. Implosion, warp core failure, time travel, saucer separation, various battles, etc.

O'Brien and Kieko have a baby while they're still on the Enterprise in TNG. Kieko gives birth during the episode where the ship gets hit by a quantum filament (or whatever the heck it is), and Worf is the midwife.

I love late-period Worf.

Ezri Dax was fiiiiiiiine.

Meantime:

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/buzz-log-r2-d2-star-trek.html

Oh my gosh guys Riker drawings. Kate Beaton's are cracking me up:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kts84l4t5a1qzfxk0o1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1259692039&Signature=cxSZhqHXxvae911RzR0arJgokwY%3D

Edward Gorey's Star Trek

awesome

Ryan North is clearly not a great draftsman but his "Season One" Riker is spot on

http://1.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kts5bidlxP1qzfxk0o1_400.jpg

Yes – that jaw. What a great drawing.

Uhura's the only lonely one iirc

But what about this classic moment:

http://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/nakedtime/sulu_uhrua.jpg

Swashbuckling Sulu: I'll protect you, fair maiden!
Uhuru: Sorry...neither!

Best line ever!

What if Star Trek was an ITC production in the mid-70s?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRGqT31WZg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=414TmP12WAU

Turns out the story about Star Trek showing the first kiss between a black and white actor on American television isn't true after all... Nancy Sinatra had already kissed Sammy Davis Jr. on TV in 1967, a year before "Plato's Stepchildren" aired:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movin%27_With_Nancy

I don't think Sammy-Nancy was a "hot" kiss

http://twitter.com/TheRealNimoy/status/12536477742

LOL

Crazy Nimoy! Zoe Saldana didn't exist even on a cellular level back then.

1973 star trek convention:

http://www.youtube.com/user/beyondspock

One-upping that:

http://www.badassdigest.com/2011/05/08/from-the-pre-history-of-fandom-1971-star-trek-fan-film

And then of course:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20061024-71.html

i can't even believe this question was ever asked. anyone who doesn't like Star Trek, even in a secret way, can fuck off and die.

i remember having the trek/wars argument when i was in school and saying star wars. i was so fucking wrong. wrath of khan and search for spock alone > star wars.

absolutely.

star wars has become such a joyless industry to me

well so did ST there until the reboot.

Enterprise had its moments, i thought.

yeah but I could just ignore things like Enterprise (space Bush!) - the OST DVDs were not replaced/scarred with CGI additions, etc.

right. TNG is still my fave, but that's because i grew up with it.

Star Trek just seems like so much more of a flexible and accomodating sort of universe to explore and work with - Star Wars has become so claustrophobic/autistic, always treading over the same water, endlessly filling in and fiddling with details of a single, heavily revered story arc, the self-referentialism is suffocating.

true. i can't imagine star wars ever getting rebooted with Simon Pegg as Han Solo. Although I would prefer that to the prequel movies.

the OST DVDs were not replaced/scarred with CGI additions, etc

Actually, didn't they do exactly this? I remember Paramount came out with new CGI for the old episodes a couple years ago. Maybe the DVDs have both versions?

yeah, I've seen the eps with added CGI late night on tv a few times. from what I've seen, it was done fairly tastefully.

the blu-ray discs allow you to pick either version.

dig this shot:

http://www.marcwade.com/startrek/remastered/tos-050/planetscape/Ep50_planetscape.jpg

of course, the crummy effects are half the fun, so I opt for my old dvds if I have the option.

i can't even believe this question was ever asked. anyone who doesn't like Star Trek, even in a secret way, can fuck off and die.

― it is his "enigmatic signifier" (the table is the table), Monday, 9 May 2011 20:20 (2 hours ago)

^

my point was you can still get the actual aired versions of the OST episodes - they are readily available.

we didn't talk about the recent *amazing* film much on here. was there a seperate thread devoted to it?

aha Young Kirk n Spock + Lost = new Star Trek movie

God that movie was great.

it was good. in order to be great it would have needed a better villain.

it was better than it had any reason to be. as in, it was like the third or fourth best star trek movie and there are like,, 200 of them.

paramount showed way more respect to the original episodes with those CGI updates than lucas did to his own films -- all the ones i've seen have been tasteful and non-distracting.

any consensus on what the best TNG seasons are? i kind of want to watch it again but don't really want to slog through those early episodes again.

my favorite stuff is actually fairly early on - the arc with the Federation conspiracy/cosmic earwig infestation, Q's stories. the Data/Lore stuff is pretty good. Seems like reruns are on all the time, but it's always the boring "office in space" type shit. series was definitely on for too long.

hmm.. i like the first four the best, for the same sorts of reasons.

the arc with the Federation conspiracy/cosmic earwig infestation

shit yeah

^ should run that every halloween

lol I guess that was only 2 episodes at the end of season 1

"it was like the third or fourth best star trek movie and there are like,, 200 of them."

if you're going by star trek parody movies that were surprisingly better than most star trek movies,
there's lots! Galaxy Quest, Futurama, hm.. well I guess that's it.

yeah, so bummed that they never went back to it. strange in that it's the only star trek storyline i know of where you get the idea that the federation is a complex, political and morally questionable organization. stealth smack down on roddenberry's midcentury utopian idealism.

x-post there

yeah, those eps were dope. was also super-disappointed that they never really touched on the conspiracy stuff again.

season 3/4 was the sweet spot for me iirc.

also always have time for the crystalline entity.

Seasons 3-5 are TNG at its best IMO. I do agree it went on for too long though - the last season was extremely bland (and often plain bad).

The Conspiracy bugs should definitely have made a comeback, but producers decided not to, simply because fans thought it too icky. The "Section 31" episodes of DS9 did a pretty similar thing for the Federation.

they did bring the conspiracy back, kind of. the borg were originally supposed to be those space maggots

thanks, alan

the borg were originally supposed to be those space maggots

that so? missed that. not quite the same thing tho...

to be honest I'm glad they didn't go that route. i like bughunting and I like star trek,
but I don't think i would like star trek: bughunter very much. it'd be like that time
they turned picard into jack sparrow.

I've never heard about the borg thing either. not really that similar outside of the gross out factor, right?

speaking of trek stuff that didn't get enough play - always hated how the gorn bridge gets mentioned a couple times in "arena" but never actually makes an appearance. give these guys a spinoff imo.

and np, contenderizer.

this will have to do for now:

http://edpratherart.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/11-gorn-bridge-colored-pencil-on-black-paper2.jpg?w=346&h=450
http://edpratherart.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/12-thine-enemy-captain-colored-pencil-on-black-paper1.jpg?w=346&h=450

I would frame that beautiful fan art.

oh man, i'm totally going to watch some TNG and get stoned tonight.

but I don't think i would like star trek: bughunter very much

Would watch the shit out of Star Trek: Bughunter

Seasons 3-5 are TNG at its best IMO

this

http://gornshop.com/

What makes me continually want to cry is that I'll (probably) never be able to watch TNG in a cleaned-up, 16:9 aspect ratio format due to the way the FX were somehow boiled down onto video in some kind of hard-coded 4:3 format. They can't actually reformat for 16:9 because the FX are printed over the top somehow. I don't think there's any non-FX masters or anything they could eventually work up from.

Once, while rendered borderline autistic through cannabis and improperly prescribed antidepressant medication, I spent weeks trying to make the "perfect" rips of the standard TNG DVDs, but there's really nothing you can do and the show was just shot like a piece of shit. Frustrating. With DS9 they finally bought some good cameras or something.

I don't know. I figure there's good enough computers now that they could probably figure all that shit out somehow.

Kind of sad that the things I'm more worried about not seeing before I die are Star Trek-related and not things like proportional representation or reformed cannabis legislation. Oh well.

http://brentwindsor.co.uk/proportions/proportions.gif

i watched TNG religiously when it was on but I absolutely can't be bothered with it now, I doubt I could sit through an episode.

God that movie was great.

Outta yr mind

As an OST fan (early in its syndication run), I was never interested in the other series when they came around. And I don't even want to see JJ Abrams' second film for free.

I thought the new movie was okay, but not as a Star Trek movie. To me ST was always about this sci-fi pacifism and utopianism; the best TNG and original series TV episodes are the ones where they solve problems with their minds and/or trough negotiation, not with space battles. That's what makes ST different from Star Wars. But the new movie was basically just a big, fight scene heavy space opera spiced with a bit of sci-fi quasi-science. It was pretty good as such, but it didn't feel like a proper Star Trek story. The characters were more like action heroes than the sort of intelligent problem-solvers they were in the series.

the first season of TNG is unbearably bad aside from a couple eps (though the first season did give us the "rape gangs of turkana IV"). roddenberry seriously hamstrung the show in the early seasons with his lunkheaded decree that there be no interpersonal conflict between the crew - there was no place for it in his utopian future. i grew up on TNG and it was greatly loved by me as a kid, but revisiting it and TOS as an adult it's clear that the original series is way better. there's no character dynamic in TNG as interesting as kirk-mccoy-spock - the humanist themes really feel so much more lively when they're being expressed by characters who violently disagree w/each other. all that cheesy 80s new age stuff in TNG - it's part of the charm in a way, but it's also clearly a tepid replacement for human drama.

i mostly agree with tuomas re: the 09 Star Trek movie - i enjoyed it but it was more of an action movie than a Trek movie, though I give it credit for at least being a really good action movie (most of the TNG movies were just incredibly bad action movies). the villain WAS weak but I chalked that up to origin story syndrome - they're saving the best villains for the second installment. i also thought they underutilized mccoy, who's supposed to be kirk's one true confidant and a vital counter-point to spock's beep boop ice-cold logic.

there's no character dynamic in TNG as interesting as kirk-mccoy-spock

how about riker-riker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck-VIA1GUCY

nb all trek fans should immediately watch all clips on that page

this is my favorite tng edit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk7eyqY4bbQ

roddenberry seriously hamstrung the show in the early seasons with his lunkheaded decree that there be no interpersonal conflict between the crew

yeah, it's odd to realize that roddenberry in some ways wasn't such a great influence on his own shows -- he had very little role in 'wrath of khan' because he was (kinda rightly) blamed for the boringness of the first movie, which also has pretty much no conflict or character interest going on.

TNG tried to do a spock and mccoy kind of conflict with that awful doctor who replaced crusher for a while, didn't they?

"that awful doctor" was in two of TOS series, once as love interest, once as the enemy

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Diana_Muldaur

yeah, so bummed that they never went back to it. strange in that it's the only star trek storyline i know of where you get the idea that the federation is a complex, political and morally questionable organization. stealth smack down on roddenberry's midcentury utopian idealism.

I love DS9 in part because they really get into the idea that the Federation isn't uniformly awesome, and even though the main characters remain Federation stans, they do allow characters to express some pretty OTM criticisms of it as a political entity.

Also, yes, the bugs-into-Borg as main bad enemy of TNG is confirmed on Memory Alpha. I love the Borg. They are way creepier to me than parasitic worms are.

OST & TNG are about equal in my estimation, most of the movies are fun & watchable, the other series I will probably never see.

To me ST was always about this sci-fi pacifism

You did notice that Jim Kirk interfered imperially in alien socities ALL THE FRIGGIN' TIME? And sometimes violently. He was like the Teddy Roosevelt of the cosmos.

prime directive is some massive bullshit anyway.

naw naw, prime directive is cool. it's capital punishment for visiting throbbing headvein planet that is wack.

did they ever revisit that planet in any of the other ST shows?

not that i know of. missed opportunities...

did they ever revisit that planet in any of the other ST shows?

No. Wish they did...

x-post

Back when Star Trek: Voyager was still taking unsolicited scripts I had a great idea as to whether the Prime Directive was applicable in reverse - would Star Fleet (or at least Voyager) allow itself to use tech so far ahead that it could violate the Prime Directive (especially once they used it to return to Federation Space).

Never got further than a plot outline, but it's one thing ST (in whatever show) never satisfactorily addressed. "Where No One Has Gone Before" sorta does it, but it's first season TNG and, well, you know...

i remembered that episode being kinda cool but just looked it up and hey, what do you know, it's a 'wesley saves the ship' episode.

I thought the new movie was okay, but not as a Star Trek movie. To me ST was always about this sci-fi pacifism and utopianism; the best TNG and original series TV episodes are the ones where they solve problems with their minds and/or trough negotiation, not with space battles.

perhaps, but most of the trek movies have been action-adventures that were light on the actual sci-fi stuff (except as plot devices).

the only truly science fictional trek movie was the first one, and people seem to hate that one.

also morbz has a point about TOS--for every episode where conflict was solved by understanding a rock monster's feelings or whatever there are another 3 episodes where Kirk & co totally violate the prime directive to kick some klingon ass.

In 2011, de Lancie will appear in Torchwood: Miracle Day, the fourth season of the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood (episodes of which were written by Jane Espenson and John Shiban).[3]

watched the squire of gothos last night.. great ep.

xpost -- If he actually appeared as Q...

Meanwhile, one of my favorite MST3K moments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26zkCWPLEZg

I think the moment Mike first appeared in mirror form and cackled maniacally the group of people I was watching it with went into 'it can't be' shock. Then he delivered "Your agonizer, please" and we were pretty much gone for the rest of the episode.

throbbing headvein planet

perhaps, but most of the trek movies have been action-adventures that were light on the actual sci-fi stuff (except as plot devices).

Well yeah, that's why I prefer the series (mostly TNG) to the movies. But to me, the new ST movie felt even more action oriented than the previous films. Also, it had some stupid attempts to make the series more "youthful", like the opening scene with the Beastie Boys, the green-skinned alien babe, the "extreme sports" scene with skydiving and swords, etc. I'd prefer ST to be ponderous and a bit suffy, not "cool".

"suffy" = "stuffy"

The Red Letter Media reviews of the TNG movies are as good as the ones they did for the prequels.

yeah i was gonna link to those - they're really good, especially if you're a trek fan

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-trek/

xxxx-post to Tuomas

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the square, "stuffy" side of Trek! I kinda like how perversely dedicated TNG was to its anti-septic future at times!

...But even TNG had the borg to throw down with.

I was kinda disappointed when they introduced the "borg queen" character in First Contact. Kind of defeats the point of the Borg, no?

i remember ebert gettin a mad borg queen bone @ that movie

Yeah, the Borg queen thing was pretty stupid, especially if (as it was implied) she was the queen of all Borg and killing her stopped all of them. I guess Hollywood movies need to have one identifiable big baddie, having a race of anonymous baddies just isn't enough. (See also: the way that one Orc was promoted to the role of an "end-of-the-movie baddie" in the first LotR movie.) Also, her being the queen of all Borg made the victory in First Contact "cleaner": instead of defeating one Borg ship they defeated the whole race.

If you want to have an insect metaphor, it would've made more sense if each Borg ship had its own queen, and killing the queen only incapacitates that one ship.

the "extreme sports" scene with skydiving and swords, etc. I'd prefer ST to be ponderous and a bit suffy

thought this scene was pretty fun and dug the in-jokes. nod to sulu's inner swashbcukler in "the naked time" and red shirt guy bites the dust immediately!

whoops. just meant to quote the skydiving bit.

Good call Tuomas. I never liked the fact that Picard had been a bit borgy at one point, made them seem less scary and sinister in the sense that you could escape them. Queen Borg comes across as suppressed and horny. A very weird combination.

Alan N. otm re: skydiving. Tuomas OTM re: the Beastie Boys tho

yeah, beastie boys scene is kind of indefensible.

I am no defender but watching that scene in the cinema was pretty awesome.

I am rereading the Ebert review on first contact & he keeps calling them "Borgs." I thought the plural of Borg was Borg? What does the Federation style manual say on this?

not a star trek expert at all but clearly it should be "borg", as in the monolithic freakiness of "THE BORG"

hello!

ebert being inattentive to that pleasure in a positive review is frankly a black mark, but he earns back my goodwill in the nemesis review where he says "life is too short to sit through 10 movies in which the power is shifted around on these shields".

(that's the same review where he calls star trek "kind of terrific, once" which i think is a really touching, measured way to praise it while still declaring yourself Done with it)

anyway i thought the abrams star trek was fun--driving home from the theatre, i pretended my dashboard gauges measured cooler things--and the only way in which it was an ideological break from the last few TNG movies was that it wasn't directed and acted like a playstation cutscene, but it and the original series have different pretensions. the complaint about it being "youthful" sounds odd but is actually totally otm because half the weird lovable brink-of-camp atmosphere of the old movies comes from all the performers being puffy.

I feel more charitable towards abrams trek despite its utter non-trekiness mainly due to the utter
non-trekiness of the spinoffs from DS9 onward, but got to disagree with the Borg queen-hate.

Yes, there's a lot of narrative putty to make her stick but if you've ever been in a student group with
no discernible leader, you'd have to agree that the borg as dictatorship is far more believable than a bunch of dudes arguing over the fonts on the dorm party flyers.

we beg to differ

BOOM

3 of 12 thinks we should make potstickers for the bake sale
4 of 8 hearts potstickers!
3 of 5 hates potstickers!
5 of 8 is allergic to gluten
3 of 12 wonders if potstickers are gluten-free
3 of 5 ate all the potstickers

That's what a queen-less borg would be like.

i ate all the potstickers

They eat all our potstickers... and we fall back. The line must be drawn HERE!

don't think the idea with the borg was that they voted

i was okay with the queen as like an avatar or whatever of the collective consciousness, or maybe i wasn't, i haven't seen it in forever.

although i guess if you were a race with a single collective consciousness like a million-headed hydra that could never be defeated why would you combine it all into one chick someone could shoot, so yeah

Re-watching the new Star Trek film and a few thoughts--

-They half-ass the time travel stuff, kinda stupid.
-Agree with Tuomas that it feels more like an action-sf film than a true Trek film.
-love young McCoy and Spock.

It's a very enjoyable movie, but I think if we keep along these lines we'll end up with a franchise of X-Men 3's.

it's no squire of gothos.

I thought the idea of the Borg was that they were programmed with a basic set of instructions and precepts and axioms and what not so that they would all come to the same "right" conclusion on what to do in any given situation. Also that their trials and errors would be recorded and go into improving the heuristics of this code.

I don't really see anything hard to believe about a self-learning, self-adjusting hive mind other than one has never actually existed before (sci-fi!) whereas totalitarian dictatorships are well known by most everyone and existed in history and currently exist (sci-fi???).

So, in conclusion - fuck the Borg queen. On all levels. ;)

Squire of Gothos William Campbell just died btw

(my dad knew him as a youth in Newark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QER_yqTcmjM

^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dULOjT9GYdQ&feature=player_embedded

The other day, for no reason at all, I started thinking about that DS9 episode where it's revealed Ben Sisko was actually a crazy man in an asylum in the fifties(driven mad by RACISM!), scribbling stories about a space station on the walls of his cell. I really liked this at the time, it retrospectively adds an extra layer of PKD-style weirdness to the whole show. But I'm not surprised they didn't develop it any further, as I think if they went down that path it would be like pulling on the string that unravels the entire Trek universe. I mean, where do you stop with something like that? Is he writing ALL of it, even fucking Voyager?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lHgbbM9pu4

They went back to it at the beginning of S7. It's not that DS9 exists in Benny Russel's head. The first set of Benny Russell flashbacks are just visions the wormhole aliens sent Sisko bc they are not linear and they speak in metaphors, etc. When they revisit it in season 7, it's the evil worm hole aliens who send the vision to try to keep The Sisko from doing what he needs to do to defeat them and reopen the wormhole. Also it gives Avery Brooks a chance to chew the living hell out of the scenery. But there's no suggestion that they intended the DS9 universe to be a product of another character's imagination a la Bob Newhart was dreaming/Lost was in purgatory, etc.

I liked how Armin Shimmerman played a Communist (or so it is implied) in that dream-50s ep - of course he usually plays a Ferangi.

As a kid, I was completely terrified by the episode where Riker is in an insane asylum. I've avoided it ever since.

Ha, I loved that one!

"But there's no suggestion that they intended the DS9 universe to be a product of another character's imagination a la Bob Newhart was dreaming/Lost was in purgatory, etc."

I read somewhere they were about to put in an endcap scene where he looks in the window and sees his true reflection as Benny, suggesting exactly that! But they backed out at the last second.

'I thought the idea of the Borg was that they were programmed with a basic set of instructions and precepts and axioms and what not so that they would all come to the same "right" conclusion on what to do in any given situation.'

That wasn't the Borg; that was RoboCop! And even then four directives were too much to handle.

The reflection scene was included in the first Benny episode.

but then... that means... ....

The whole episode was ambiguous and open to interpretation. There was a lot of blurring of what was reality and what was vision, so it could be interpreted any which was you wish.

Is DS9 worth watching all the way through? I gave up on it somewhere in the 2nd season in its initial run.

somewhere after 2nd season it turned into a war opera, and it wasn't terrible, but some of the producer guys later did the battlestar galactica reboot and 24, and they kind of recycled a lot of the material from DS9 in it, so if you've seen the new BSG or Kiefer fighting terrorists, that's kind of what DS9 was. Fine enough as religious war epic, but religious war epic doesn't exactly embody Trek very well.

not to say that the spirit of Trek was totally absent -- there was a sub-arc about the Ferengi turning from a society of Reagan Capitalists to Al Gore-ian Socially Responsible Entrepreneurs.

lol nice. I've watched some BSG (S1) & enjoyed it, but not sure that I want to see the same themes played out at a Trekian pace.

Yeah, BSG did war and politics much better, building on what was done in DS9. Still, DS9 ended up being my favorite ST series, even it does feel pretty dated now (though you can say that for pretty much all the ST series).

DS9 is all the dark, murky stuff that Star Trek tried not to wallow in...thats why I love it. The opening face-off between Sisko & Picard never stops being awesome no matter how many times I see it, and I think sets the tone for the whole series.

Was it really Picard, or Locutus? (I don't know why I'm challenging anyone on this because I've never seen the early seasons of DS9.)

it was Picard.

DS9 is all the dark, murky stuff that Star Trek tried not to wallow in...thats why I love it. The opening face-off between Sisko & Picard never stops being awesome no matter how many times I see it, and I think sets the tone for the whole series.

OTM

IIRC it was Picard shortly after he was unBorged, so he was really pissed off. Or maybe Sisko was pissed off bc Picard had something to do with the decision that led to Jennifer's death? Or both.

Benjamin Sisko is one of my favorite TV characters. I love him so.

Sisko is the shit. Love him.

TS:
Sisko with hair, without goatee
vs.
Sisko with hair, with goatee
vs.
Sisko with no hair, with goatee

no hair, goatee

sisko with fangs, sisko with glasses are the top siskos. but most of the time it's a pretty dull role.
weyoun, dukat have way more opportunities to ham it up.

buffy tvs also did an episode where buffy might be in a mental institution. at the end of the episode it turns out she really was insane and that the rest of the series was the illusion. then they never mentioned it again.

that was hysterical. they did it just to piss off fanboys I think.

Well then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXWEM4gZhg4

Bet that's not as good the Nimoy/Bad Brains video.

as good as

Youtube user kickslashspock

Sisko was one serious over-enunciator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS4L8owZinw

Jeri Ryan interviewed on the latest Nerdist podcast

just laughed hard at the end of "the return of the archons", when kirk talks a civilization-controlling computer into self-destructing, peers at the smoking husk, turns to the confused and frightened guards (newly liberated from the hypnosis they were born into), says "well, you're on your own now; hope you're up to it", and beams up.

earlier in the episode, while kirk is planning the coup, spock broaches the awkward subject of the prime directive and gets snapped at.

Shatner has a TV special (he directed!) where he interviews the other ST captains. Would like to see it just for Patrick Stewart's panic.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/arts/television/william-shatner-in-the-captains-review.html

would watch the shit out of that, although it's too bad he doesn't appear to interview them on his specially designed honesty couch.

oh, man. that looks great. picard in his 70s and looking good!

watched some hour long interview between shatner and nimoy a year or two ago. netflix had on dvd at the time and it was called trek talk or something dumb like that. LOADS of batshit stuff but my fave part was when they were talking about how they fell out with some of the cast. guessing that was just shatner, not aware of any nimoy beefs.

anyway, shatner's theory was that these "minor" characters - who were never the focus of the show bc they weren't part of the big three (kirk, spock, bones, duh) - had their egos inflated by fans at conventions. they no longer recognized their place, essentially. yeah, that must be it, shatner!!!

Hearing the engineer’s story, Mr. Shatner says, has cured him of his long-standing embarrassment about playing Capt. James T. Kirk.

so embarrassed was William Shatner that he did it for 3 tv seasons, 1 animated spin-off, 7 films, at least 2 computer games i can think of etc etc

It's so sad people remember Star Trek and not his serious acting work.

Nimoy had quite a rocky relationship w/ Roddenberry, it seems.

for best non-Kirk Shat role, I'd have to take Corman's The Intruder over Twilight Zone. (never saw Boston Legal... or The Brothers Karamazov!)

shatner is supposed to have pushed for rewrites to keep the secondary parts small, no? uhura in particular (big surprise i guess) gets a line like once every four episodes.

harlan ellison published his original version of 'the city on the edge of forever' which i picked up a while ago, mostly for the 100+ page preface wherein ellison recounts every beef he had with just about everyone involved with star trek; i've only skim read it for now but came across an episode where supposedly shatner went to see ellison ostensibly for social reasons but really to check out the script and count the number of his lines vs those of nimoy

george takei was pretty scathing about shatner in his book, too.

Yeah I read one of Shatner, Roddenberry, or Takei as a kid. Highly suspect it was Takei because my parents were more prone to buying me books written by non-whites. (I have some great jazz bios we could do on ilm.) I really, really strongly remember reading a book that talked shit about Shatner. Also it could have been Shatner's own book and maybe my interpretive skills were stronger as akid than I thought.

Well yeah, I think just about EVERYONE except nimoy hated shatner. Guy seems insane!

Damn, I don't think I was ready to see all the white in Avery Brooks's goatee. :(

The Sisco ages.

just laughed hard at the end of "the return of the archons", when kirk talks a civilization-controlling computer into self-destructing

Also it could have been Shatner's own book and maybe my interpretive skills were stronger as akid than I thought.

Shatner's two Trek autobios are largely comprised of his ghostwriter interviewing the other actors at length about what a dick Shatner was, and then interviewing Shatner reacting in ruminative surprise at their resentments

Whenever there's a website login checkbox for "Remember Me", I mentally hear/say Spock's "Remember" from The Wrath of Khan.

Avery Brooks, styling it up at conventions:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/AveryBrooksAtConvention_crop.jpg/524px-AveryBrooksAtConvention_crop.jpg

If they ever want to make another Blade movie where Blade's dad shows up (like Connery/Ford in Last Crusade), then they know who to call.

If any of you enjoy Star Trek novels, I highly recommend the Destiny Trilogy.

Two seasons of Star Trek all at once:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS8OGMbj1kg

Amazing how many of those are close ups on someone going "whuh?"

this is like some acid flashback shit

In the future we will watch every television show this way.

/banaka

whoa

(gonna treat it as a bingo card drinking game - take a shot if I get a full row/column of the crew all beaming up/down / being shaken out of their seats / Shatner being shirtless)

It's awesome at the end when the theme tune kicks in, just slightly out of sync, 56 times simultaneously.

At about 2:35, in the bottom row, you see the Enterprise pass seamlessly from one pane to another!

this is amazing

the end credits part, specifically.

also dug the pre-end credits bit where you can watch 56 corny jokes being made at once.

like when Joan Collins' death destroys Captain Kirk?

hah, that was actually the only example of a trek episode ending with something other than a corny joke that I could think of but I'm sure there are others

"let's get the hell out of here"

"forget.... forget..."

I got 3 of the photobook graphic novel things when they were around. I assume that mint copies would be worth something these days. anybody know?
Though these have sat on a shelf for about 30 years so are probably a bit yellowed

& maybe they were very heavily mass produced, just seen the prices Amazon has for them

the gold key ones? i think the guide to use is overstreet in terms of what you can expect to pay for one, but i'm not sure it will reflect how much you can get for it.

Fucking hell, I watched about ten minutes of the 56 episode Star Trek blipvert at full screen and I feel like I inherited Roky Erickson's brain.

deleted goddamn

So Leonard Nimoy posted this to his FB last night:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/601232_433501863336665_925751118_n.jpg