Entry tags:
Spock
But at least he DID Live Long And Prosper. What a life.
Entry tags:
Dome Trek: TNG
DAD: Off to work, then?
ME: Yup! Dome shows today.
DAD: I don't know if I ever told you this, but when I was about eleven or twelve, we came down to visit Salt Lake City, and I got to go to the old planetarium.
ME: Did they have the dome running?
DAD: Oh, YEAH. Now, remember, this was the time when I was really into model rockets and had written a letter to NASA requesting information about spaceflight.* So then I get to this theater, and--you know how it feels like you're moving?
ME: I have to assure people they aren't actually moving in all my intros.
DAD: Well, it was like that. And it just--BLEW. ME. AWAY.
ME: No kidding! I always try to get that feeling for the kids in my shows!
DAD: They even let me take the remote that drove to different stars! I WAS LIKE CAPTAIN KIRK!
ME: That's cool! I wonder how they did that with the old projectors. It's all computers now.
DAD: It was absolutely AMAZING. ... Of course, it turned out later that day that my leg was septic from a scrape I had and I had to go to the hospital, so I could have just been delirious, but it was still life-changing.
ME: Hey, don't knock it. I am pretty sure most of the kids oohing and ahhing in my dome aren't battling blood infections.
DAD: Anyway, MY POINT IS, and now you're doing these shows. It's like I have a legacy.
ME: Oh, man, so I'm like Dome Trek: The Next Generation? I'm like Picard? I'LL TAKE IT.
*You'd think that NASA would've had some sort of ready-made information package available for kids at that point, what with the Space Race and how they were insisting to kids (well, boys) across the nation that they had to bone up on science and math and engineering in order to beat those darn commies into space, but apparently whoever got Dad's letter at NASA was taken totally by surprise that a kid actually WANTED any information. He got back a package consisting of a whole bunch of random rocket specs and technical information that seemed to be cobbled together from whatever copies they had lying around.
ME: Yup! Dome shows today.
DAD: I don't know if I ever told you this, but when I was about eleven or twelve, we came down to visit Salt Lake City, and I got to go to the old planetarium.
ME: Did they have the dome running?
DAD: Oh, YEAH. Now, remember, this was the time when I was really into model rockets and had written a letter to NASA requesting information about spaceflight.* So then I get to this theater, and--you know how it feels like you're moving?
ME: I have to assure people they aren't actually moving in all my intros.
DAD: Well, it was like that. And it just--BLEW. ME. AWAY.
ME: No kidding! I always try to get that feeling for the kids in my shows!
DAD: They even let me take the remote that drove to different stars! I WAS LIKE CAPTAIN KIRK!
ME: That's cool! I wonder how they did that with the old projectors. It's all computers now.
DAD: It was absolutely AMAZING. ... Of course, it turned out later that day that my leg was septic from a scrape I had and I had to go to the hospital, so I could have just been delirious, but it was still life-changing.
ME: Hey, don't knock it. I am pretty sure most of the kids oohing and ahhing in my dome aren't battling blood infections.
DAD: Anyway, MY POINT IS, and now you're doing these shows. It's like I have a legacy.
ME: Oh, man, so I'm like Dome Trek: The Next Generation? I'm like Picard? I'LL TAKE IT.
*You'd think that NASA would've had some sort of ready-made information package available for kids at that point, what with the Space Race and how they were insisting to kids (well, boys) across the nation that they had to bone up on science and math and engineering in order to beat those darn commies into space, but apparently whoever got Dad's letter at NASA was taken totally by surprise that a kid actually WANTED any information. He got back a package consisting of a whole bunch of random rocket specs and technical information that seemed to be cobbled together from whatever copies they had lying around.
Entry tags:
Newish
DAD: (telling me about a Daily Show sketch) Yeah, they were reading the reports from that Chinese rover on the moon. And they had your Star Trek guy in there!
ME: ... MY Star Trek guy?
DAD: He's pretty funny.
ME: Leonard Nimoy? George Takei?
DAD: No, the NEW captain!
ME: Chris Pine?
DAD: No, uh--
MOM: (helpfully) Picard!
ME: Oh, Patrick Stewart!
DAD: Yeah, they had him dressed up as the rover!
ME: 'The NEW captain'?
I guess Dad's a TOS guy all the way.
ME: ... MY Star Trek guy?
DAD: He's pretty funny.
ME: Leonard Nimoy? George Takei?
DAD: No, the NEW captain!
ME: Chris Pine?
DAD: No, uh--
MOM: (helpfully) Picard!
ME: Oh, Patrick Stewart!
DAD: Yeah, they had him dressed up as the rover!
ME: 'The NEW captain'?
I guess Dad's a TOS guy all the way.
Entry tags:
Entry tags:
Old News
Finally got around to seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness. Don't laugh. Sometimes things get in the way.
-I realize they're a dead horse at this point, but dammit I never get tired of redshirt jokes. Especially the one where (I think?) the nameless guys who had to take their red shirts off survived their away mission.
-I WANTED MORE KLINGONS.
-Dear Karl Urban: are you actually DeForest Kelley?
-I love that the soundtrack is still a raving fanboy. OMG EVERYBODY THIS IS A STAR TREK MOVIE AND I AM THE SOUNDTRACK! I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS I MIGHT JUST DIE
-Khan is still a lame villain. There, I said it.
-I realize they're a dead horse at this point, but dammit I never get tired of redshirt jokes. Especially the one where (I think?) the nameless guys who had to take their red shirts off survived their away mission.
-I WANTED MORE KLINGONS.
-Dear Karl Urban: are you actually DeForest Kelley?
-I love that the soundtrack is still a raving fanboy. OMG EVERYBODY THIS IS A STAR TREK MOVIE AND I AM THE SOUNDTRACK! I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS I MIGHT JUST DIE
-Khan is still a lame villain. There, I said it.
Entry tags:
A Thing That Has Bothered Me For Some Time Now
Why doesn't Worf's name follow Klingon phonology?
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Can't Embed, Alas!
This is pretty much exactly how I have been envisioning Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto hanging out together. And yes, it was a thing that I had previously envisioned. Shut up.
Bilbo ... Bilbo Baggins ... the bravest little hobbit of them all. Yeeeaaaah. ♥
Bilbo ... Bilbo Baggins ... the bravest little hobbit of them all. Yeeeaaaah. ♥
Entry tags:
He Can Spare A Catchphrase. He's Got Dozens.
My new catchphrase is going to be "I wanna CRY, that's so meaningful."
Shatner cracks me up because everything he does is all about HIM, no matter how much he tries to pretend it's not.* And yet despite his unbelievable ego, you just can't hate him. It's just who he is, like how lions are carnivorous or hippos are territorial. Shatner is egomaniacal and self-centered, and you can take it or leave it.
(I can't get over how WEIRD it must be to be a Star Trek character. I can see why they might be fascinated with it, too.)
*Favorite part in The Captains, other than the moment where he photobombs some con-goers: when he and Patrick Stewart are talking, and Shatner's spent an entire movie waffling on in some navel-gazing way about What It Means To Be Captain Kirk (who was totally the first captain) and his legacy and whatnot, and Patrick Stewart says in essence "I know if I died today I'd be remembered chiefly as Captain Picard. And that's totally fine."
Shatner cracks me up because everything he does is all about HIM, no matter how much he tries to pretend it's not.* And yet despite his unbelievable ego, you just can't hate him. It's just who he is, like how lions are carnivorous or hippos are territorial. Shatner is egomaniacal and self-centered, and you can take it or leave it.
(I can't get over how WEIRD it must be to be a Star Trek character. I can see why they might be fascinated with it, too.)
*Favorite part in The Captains, other than the moment where he photobombs some con-goers: when he and Patrick Stewart are talking, and Shatner's spent an entire movie waffling on in some navel-gazing way about What It Means To Be Captain Kirk (who was totally the first captain) and his legacy and whatnot, and Patrick Stewart says in essence "I know if I died today I'd be remembered chiefly as Captain Picard. And that's totally fine."
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Supplemental
Picked up the Star Trek Countdown graphic novel at work the other day,* and pleased I was to discover that it's official canon that Nemesis Never Happened. It was an excellent handwave: two panels of "It's good to see you're not dead after all!" "Yeah, I get that a lot." And then they go on with explaining How Real Spock Got His ROFLcopter and Why Nero's Simple Mining Ship Is A God Damn Death Star.
This is the correct approach for Nemesis.**
It's also nice to see that the reboot was ushered in with a demonstration of the Worf Effect. Gotta love the fanservice in this franchise.
So, yeah, enjoyable graphic novel. Now, allow me to rant about supplemental materials in general!
Here is my thought: I like 'em a lot, but dammit they're supposed to be supplemental. I hate it when the answers to big gaping plot holes get buried in deleted scenes or the comics or whatever. Avatar would've been a better movie with that HOUR of cut stuff that explains pretty much everyone's motivation, the theatrical cut of Aliens leaves out some very useful information, and upon a rewatch I discovered that the theatrical cuts of LotR make NO GODDAMN SENSE. Aragorn has an actual character arc in the extended editions. Also, did you know there's an explanation for why the District 9 aliens have no idea how to pilot their own ship? Yeah, neither did I.*** Which, you know, would be nice to know in the movie itself.
I guess what I'm saying is, dangit, give me the infodumps. You can never have too much information, by god!
*God DAMN it's good working in a library.
**The most correct outlook is that none of the the TNG movies happened, on account of they were stupid. TNG's my favorite series, but the movies are not so much.
***Because they're the lowest caste of a eusocial society, is why. Apparently there was a big old epidemic on the ship that killed off all the smarter castes, and the ship itself limped to Earth on autopilot. Now they've got to start producing those smarter castes again.
This is the correct approach for Nemesis.**
It's also nice to see that the reboot was ushered in with a demonstration of the Worf Effect. Gotta love the fanservice in this franchise.
So, yeah, enjoyable graphic novel. Now, allow me to rant about supplemental materials in general!
Here is my thought: I like 'em a lot, but dammit they're supposed to be supplemental. I hate it when the answers to big gaping plot holes get buried in deleted scenes or the comics or whatever. Avatar would've been a better movie with that HOUR of cut stuff that explains pretty much everyone's motivation, the theatrical cut of Aliens leaves out some very useful information, and upon a rewatch I discovered that the theatrical cuts of LotR make NO GODDAMN SENSE. Aragorn has an actual character arc in the extended editions. Also, did you know there's an explanation for why the District 9 aliens have no idea how to pilot their own ship? Yeah, neither did I.*** Which, you know, would be nice to know in the movie itself.
I guess what I'm saying is, dangit, give me the infodumps. You can never have too much information, by god!
*God DAMN it's good working in a library.
**The most correct outlook is that none of the the TNG movies happened, on account of they were stupid. TNG's my favorite series, but the movies are not so much.
***Because they're the lowest caste of a eusocial society, is why. Apparently there was a big old epidemic on the ship that killed off all the smarter castes, and the ship itself limped to Earth on autopilot. Now they've got to start producing those smarter castes again.
Entry tags:
- antifandom,
- avatar - the good one,
- batman! batman! batman! batman!,
- blag,
- books are fun,
- fanspam,
- fluffy blue crush,
- heroes who aren't batman,
- it's been going around,
- my descent into madness,
- science fiction,
- star trekkin',
- star wars,
- tea dammit!,
- the giant idea eggbeater,
- twisted tastes,
- wasting time
Blog Game Part II!
Okay, everyone! Meme time wrapup. Y’all asked me questions, and now I provide the answers in the Mystery Characters Doing Stuff Meme! The players were:
1. Bilbo Baggins
2. Toph Bei Fong
3. Pilot
4.Pyanfar Chanur
5. Hank McCoy/Beast
6. Granny Weatherwax
7. Donald Duck
8. Digger-Of-Unnecessarily-Convoluted-Tunnels
9. Data
10. Old Spice Guy
11. Daja Kisubo
12. Keladry of Mindelan
13. Lando Calrissian
14. Uncle General Iroh
15. The Joker
Put them all together, and ( hijinks ensue! )
1. Bilbo Baggins
2. Toph Bei Fong
3. Pilot
4.Pyanfar Chanur
5. Hank McCoy/Beast
6. Granny Weatherwax
7. Donald Duck
8. Digger-Of-Unnecessarily-Convoluted-Tunnels
9. Data
10. Old Spice Guy
11. Daja Kisubo
12. Keladry of Mindelan
13. Lando Calrissian
14. Uncle General Iroh
15. The Joker
Put them all together, and ( hijinks ensue! )
Entry tags:
The PseudoKlingon I Could Do Without
Have finally gotten around to watching Farscape, which I was waiting on simply because I knew it would suck me in. It is far too obviously my kind of shit—which as we have previously discussed, include crazy space adventures, blue people, and aliens. The Jim Henson Creature Shop aesthetic is gravy.
Due to a tangle of synapses in my head, this show has acquired the nickname Jim Henson’s Star Trek Babies. Aside from the more obvious reasons, partly this is because I am starting to suspect that Chris Pine got confused and watched this instead of Star Trek for his inspiration. Seriously, toss in a few stupid 90’s pop culture references and Baby Kirk turns into Baby Crichton.
Also, in the continuing saga of My Crushes Are Not The Same Your Crushes, I am totally in love with Pilot. I always wind up zooming in on the Mild-Mannered Nerd Character, even if he also happens to be the Giant Goat-Faced Cockroach Character. Plus, I want to introduce him to Gypsy. I think those two would get along very well. ("Do you have a big dumb squarehead spouting pop culture references all over your ship, too?" "Oh, let me TELL you.")
My point is, BRB CRAZY SPACE ADVENTURE TIME. See you on the other side of this series.
Due to a tangle of synapses in my head, this show has acquired the nickname Jim Henson’s Star Trek Babies. Aside from the more obvious reasons, partly this is because I am starting to suspect that Chris Pine got confused and watched this instead of Star Trek for his inspiration. Seriously, toss in a few stupid 90’s pop culture references and Baby Kirk turns into Baby Crichton.
Also, in the continuing saga of My Crushes Are Not The Same Your Crushes, I am totally in love with Pilot. I always wind up zooming in on the Mild-Mannered Nerd Character, even if he also happens to be the Giant Goat-Faced Cockroach Character. Plus, I want to introduce him to Gypsy. I think those two would get along very well. ("Do you have a big dumb squarehead spouting pop culture references all over your ship, too?" "Oh, let me TELL you.")
My point is, BRB CRAZY SPACE ADVENTURE TIME. See you on the other side of this series.
Entry tags:
I Need A Chief O'Brien Icon
Streamin' Law'n'Order: CI on my compy whilst I type, and wound up watching an episode with Colm Meaney playing a creepy pervy judge. The case's twists and turns lead to Vincent D'Onofrio mumbling about the judge's lack of flexibility with arthritis in one arm and a torn rotator cuff in the other.
"Probably all that kayaking he does with Bashir in the holosuites," I thought.
Then I realized what my brain had just done and banged my head against my desk a couple of times.*
Seriously, guys: CSI: DS9. Think about it.
*Advantages of a lap desk: You don't have to bend down to bang your head against it. You can just pick it up and slam it against your head. Plus, there's a pillow on the other side so you can cushion your bruised skull afterward!
"Probably all that kayaking he does with Bashir in the holosuites," I thought.
Then I realized what my brain had just done and banged my head against my desk a couple of times.*
Seriously, guys: CSI: DS9. Think about it.
*Advantages of a lap desk: You don't have to bend down to bang your head against it. You can just pick it up and slam it against your head. Plus, there's a pillow on the other side so you can cushion your bruised skull afterward!
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"To Thine Own Self"
Aha! Another episode of TNG I haven’t seen before—and goddamn, it’s one of the episodes that fills me with glee! I flippin’ love it when the Space!People make first contact with some pre-industrial society in TNG, because of instead of the “WE COME IN PEACE SHOOT TO KILL” philosophy of Captain Kirk and whoever they put in charge of The Future in Avatar and the CDF of Old Man’s War*, you get to watch a much more hopeful view of people who really do care about treating people with civility.**
Quite apart from the optimistic idea that maybe at some point we actually learn from past mistakes, it makes for a lot more interesting plotlines and character interactions. Us vs. Them gets kind of old after a while.
It’s why I’ve said that I’d love to just see Avatar be a documentary—I am the sort of person who barely needs a plot if the universe itself is interesting enough. I could spend hours on a pointless virtual tour of Pandora. There are also a million other plot possibilities I can think of that would be more in-depth and engaging, although there would be fewer opportunities for huge explosions. (Off the top of my head: lost wanderer human falls in with Na’vi, humans and Na’vi band together to save Pandora or Earth from some outside threat, humans decide to save Pandora from some outside threat while remaining unknown to the natives, aliens do that for humans,*** Na’vi and humans establish trade, etc., etc..) I’d take any of those as a totally interesting alternative.
Plus, in this one you get to see Data being helpless and stripped of affectation and showing he’s innocent and empirical, and then a mob beats the shit out of him. And there's a crazy medieval Alchemist Lady! What more could you ask for?
Yet Another Universal Translator Discussion Question: In this episode, Data gets Classic Hollywood Amnesia and forgets who he is and what the Federation is, but he remembers Science. So he staggers into some preindustrial society and spouts technobabble at them—but he does it in their language, and they don’t seem to have science words. So is he just making words up? Tossing in English (or Klingon or something) words? Using these people’s words in strange new ways analogous to some weird linguistic algorithm? Or what?
*Still an excellent book, and I’m led to expect that as I read more I’ll find that they question their tendency to shoot all the aliens.
**I know people have just remarked upon Stephen Hawking’s pessimistic predictions about aliens, but he’s been saying it would go badly since at least A Brief History of Time. (Damn, that’s a good book.) But I do hope some aliens would be nicer than that.
***Mostly just because that’s my one real beef with the Prime Directive. It pisses me right the hell off when the Federation starts waffling on about how sad it is that they’ve just found a planet that’s about to get destroyed and they can’t be assed just to knock the asteroid out of the way while not making any contact with the people. Dude, it’s a stroke of luck you came along when you did. Just save the fuckers.
Quite apart from the optimistic idea that maybe at some point we actually learn from past mistakes, it makes for a lot more interesting plotlines and character interactions. Us vs. Them gets kind of old after a while.
It’s why I’ve said that I’d love to just see Avatar be a documentary—I am the sort of person who barely needs a plot if the universe itself is interesting enough. I could spend hours on a pointless virtual tour of Pandora. There are also a million other plot possibilities I can think of that would be more in-depth and engaging, although there would be fewer opportunities for huge explosions. (Off the top of my head: lost wanderer human falls in with Na’vi, humans and Na’vi band together to save Pandora or Earth from some outside threat, humans decide to save Pandora from some outside threat while remaining unknown to the natives, aliens do that for humans,*** Na’vi and humans establish trade, etc., etc..) I’d take any of those as a totally interesting alternative.
Plus, in this one you get to see Data being helpless and stripped of affectation and showing he’s innocent and empirical, and then a mob beats the shit out of him. And there's a crazy medieval Alchemist Lady! What more could you ask for?
Yet Another Universal Translator Discussion Question: In this episode, Data gets Classic Hollywood Amnesia and forgets who he is and what the Federation is, but he remembers Science. So he staggers into some preindustrial society and spouts technobabble at them—but he does it in their language, and they don’t seem to have science words. So is he just making words up? Tossing in English (or Klingon or something) words? Using these people’s words in strange new ways analogous to some weird linguistic algorithm? Or what?
*Still an excellent book, and I’m led to expect that as I read more I’ll find that they question their tendency to shoot all the aliens.
**I know people have just remarked upon Stephen Hawking’s pessimistic predictions about aliens, but he’s been saying it would go badly since at least A Brief History of Time. (Damn, that’s a good book.) But I do hope some aliens would be nicer than that.
***Mostly just because that’s my one real beef with the Prime Directive. It pisses me right the hell off when the Federation starts waffling on about how sad it is that they’ve just found a planet that’s about to get destroyed and they can’t be assed just to knock the asteroid out of the way while not making any contact with the people. Dude, it’s a stroke of luck you came along when you did. Just save the fuckers.
Entry tags:
Star Trek Observation
You know, as I wander through TNG again, I’m starting to realize that one of the reasons Lore annoys me so much is that he is way more uncanny valley than Data.
I’m not sure what this says about Brent Spiner as an actor, that he is a world champion at conveying weird android emotions,* but can’t for the life of him do believable human emotions, but I am just glad he found his niche.
Or maybe he just played Lore as the galaxy's most irritating villain on purpose. Is it too late to add him to the list of characters I'd slap several times?
*This would be Data’s default state, not some broken emotion chip. I maintain that Data’s claim that he doesn’t have emotions is a big old lie, except the reason he insists on it is that he really believes he doesn’t. He obviously has his own weird android emotions, but he has no idea what they are so he doesn’t recognize them.
I’m not sure what this says about Brent Spiner as an actor, that he is a world champion at conveying weird android emotions,* but can’t for the life of him do believable human emotions, but I am just glad he found his niche.
Or maybe he just played Lore as the galaxy's most irritating villain on purpose. Is it too late to add him to the list of characters I'd slap several times?
*This would be Data’s default state, not some broken emotion chip. I maintain that Data’s claim that he doesn’t have emotions is a big old lie, except the reason he insists on it is that he really believes he doesn’t. He obviously has his own weird android emotions, but he has no idea what they are so he doesn’t recognize them.
Entry tags:
Fandom Meme Round Two
More fandom stuff!
1. The character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer
6. The character I would shag anytime
7. The character I'd want to be like
8. The character I'd slap
9. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise
11. Favorite character
12. My five favorite characters
13. My five least favorite characters
14. Which character I am most like
15. My deep, dark fandom secret
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
igntethestars inquires after Star Trek. ( There sure is a lot to choose from! )
renshai gave me my pick of Tamora Pierce universes. ( I went with Circle/Emelan cuz it’s HARDER. )
ellenmillion wants me to do Torn World. I will have to wait on that until I’ve gotten more of a feel for everyone, but it will happen!
1. The character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer
6. The character I would shag anytime
7. The character I'd want to be like
8. The character I'd slap
9. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise
11. Favorite character
12. My five favorite characters
13. My five least favorite characters
14. Which character I am most like
15. My deep, dark fandom secret
igntethestars inquires after Star Trek. ( There sure is a lot to choose from! )renshai gave me my pick of Tamora Pierce universes. ( I went with Circle/Emelan cuz it’s HARDER. )ellenmillion wants me to do Torn World. I will have to wait on that until I’ve gotten more of a feel for everyone, but it will happen!Entry tags:
Today's Deep Thought
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, but I have this long-standing theory that English is the Borg of languages.
“We are English. We will add you semantic and syntactic distinctiveness to our own. Your phonology will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Makes an eerie amount of sense, doesn’t it?
“We are English. We will add you semantic and syntactic distinctiveness to our own. Your phonology will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Makes an eerie amount of sense, doesn’t it?
Entry tags:
Doctors Without Personal Borders
Trekspammin’ got me looking for “Worst Job In Starfleet,” and goddamn if it hasn't fallen off the internet.
I was so depressed I had to watch my favorite scene from the original series, barring pretty much the entirety of “Amok Time” (the “OMGYAY” moment alone ...). And now I share it with you:
And people wonder what made TOS so damn great.
I was so depressed I had to watch my favorite scene from the original series, barring pretty much the entirety of “Amok Time” (the “OMGYAY” moment alone ...). And now I share it with you:
And people wonder what made TOS so damn great.