Tagged: blerd
Captain’s Log: Star Trek Renegades, Ummm.
Hmmmm…errrrr…ummmm…uhhh
That’s the best description I can give of my reaction to this trailer:
I’m not sure what I just watched.
Captain’s Log: Thanks for Uhura, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I imagine DS9 happened something like this:
There’s a meeting between the DS9 writers and the lightbulb goes off and someone says “I’ve got it! Let’s make him an intergalactic Martin Luther King, Jr.” Then, they call in Avery Brooks and he is full of ideas about how to bring nuance and depth to the character. The head writer interrupts him, Kanye-style, and hands him a VHS tape of the “I Have a Dream” speech, gives him the attaboy, and tells him to come back in a month.
I feel like I should talk about MLK, Jr. in June or really any other time than his designated day. Why? Because his contributions to our society and the world deserve more attention and investigation.
Most people know MLK, Jr. for his ubiquitous I Have a Dream speech in Washington. But, most people don’t know much about his inner life, his turmoil, and the very personal sacrifices he made during his journey. His writings and sermons from shortly before his death are definitely worth read.
This year, the celebration of his life and contributions will understandably be overshadowed by the second inauguration of the first black (and possibly Vulcan) president of the United States.
What does this have to do with Star Trek?
Captain’s Log: Ready for Captain Worf?
Photo credit: Memory Alpha
We’ve been hearing that Michael Dorn is trying to put together a Captain Worf series for a while. Is the world ready? I am. I would really like to see how Starfleet would handle a non-human captain. I have been trying to think back through all the captains and admirals in the various series and I can’t think of any non-humans. Correct me if I’ve missed someone.
It would be fascinating to see how Worf manages his allegiances to the Klingon Empire with his duties to Starfleet. And, as of the finish of Deep Space 9, Alexander is serving on a ship, Worf was solely responsible for bringing down Chancellor Gowron and replacing him with General Martok, and his human family is getting older– there’s lots to draw from for a script. I really hope they have him married to a Klingon woman because I always wanted to see where his relationship with K’Ehleyr would’ve gone. Klingon women are such rich and volatile characters.
The first thing they will have to deal with is what happened during an away mission on DS9 when Sisko announced: “This will go in your service record… and to be completely honest, you should know that they’ll probably never give you a command of your own after this.”
TulsaWorld has a good article on the effort. Check it out.
Is Garak Gonna Have To Cut A Mofo??? Oh, and Happy New Year.
First and foremost, Happy New Year! I hope that you are getting on well so far in 2013. If you didn’t make any resolutions yet, then go make some! It’s always New Years somewhere on one of the 1 billion planets in the Milky Way galaxy. I’d love for readers to share theirs, I’ll start:
1) Use up things that I have bought, donate them, or throw them out. I’m not up to Hoarders level, but my house is a graveyard for good deals and miracle products that haven’t lived up to the hype or failed to hold my interest. I could have the most epic garage sale EVER! I started purging things a bit before the new year and hope to continue over the next few weeks. I am terribly sentimental and I even threw away a birthday present that I never used; yes, I’m serious.
2) This one is more of a Part 2 to the aforementioned. Buying exercise dvds makes me feel like I have worked out. *hangs head in shame* Don’t tell Shaun T. I have them all: Power 90, Supreme 90, Walk Away the Pounds, The Firm, Pilates, Yoga, and a bunch of others. I figure if I do them all over the course of the next year, I will surely be fitter by the end. Sounds like a good idea, right?
Okay, enough about me.
Let’s all celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Deep Space 9. The first episode, Emissary, aired on January 3, 1993. I love nearly all things Star Trek, but I will admit that DS9 is my least favorite series. I just couldn’t get into Avery Brooks’ acting style. Every phrase is not an invitation to soliloquy, but he made it one anyway. Extreme overacting and, yes, I know he teaches acting; but it’s Trek not Shakespeare. There were a few bright spots (Episode: In The Pale Moonlight), but it was just generally too much. When I get down to doing the episode reviews, I will talk more about that. I am currently rewatching the series and I will admit to enjoying it much more than I did initially. Especially, Garak. I had totally forgotten that everyone’s favorite spy-turned-tailor had such a pivotal role in the series. Andrew Robinson was awesome in this role, especially when the show went off the rails and forgot about the Dominion War for about 10 episodes. Seriously tho, what the heck was going on in Season 7?
So, tell me, who was your favorite character in DS9?
Shouts to Garak, he’ll cut a b*tch. He’s Star Trek’s version of Omar from the Wire.
Source: Memory Alpha.
For the Girl Who Has Everything, Vulcan earrings
Listen, if you ever want to get me something, buy me jewelry. It lasts forever and I’ll never forget who gave it to me. These earrings melted my little geek heart. Christmas has passed, but Valentine’s Day is coming up, fellas.
Created by jewelry designer, Raja Gondkar.
Are we thiiiis close to a Universal Translator?
So, I think Google will probably become Skynet, but, until the machines become self-aware, I’m enjoying all its neat innovations. Especially, Google Translate. Hasn’t all of Trekdom been hoping for a universal translator? I’m currently learning Vietnamese for no other reason other than I want to be able to converse with people. When I don’t know a phrase, I just speak to my phone with the app open and, boom, it automatically translates it to spoken Vietnamese and shows the spelling! It does this for at least 50 languages. Every time I use it, I am amazed at how far the tech has come. You remember how thick translation dictionaries are? Now, it’s at your fingertips. Maybe we can get Klingon added…..
Check it out in the Play store.
Captain’s Log: Update- Benedict Cumberbatch is not Khan…
So, anytime I mention the name, Benedict Cumberbatch, people say, “Daaaaamn!” It’s such an impressive name. You better be good at whatever you do with a name like that. The word on the street is that he’s just that, so I’m looking forward to seeing him in this film.
Anyways, he debunked the rumor that he is going to play Khan in the May 17, 2013 film Star Trek Into the Darkness. I’m fine with that; I honestly don’t think anyone could deliver as iconic a performance as Ricardo Montalban did in the original. Cumberbatch will play a character named John Harrison, no backstory on the character yet.
Update: There’s the scene in which Spock makes the vulcan salute to someone on the other side of a glass. This is an obvious sendup to Wrath of Khan, but I actually think that it is the villain on the other side of the glass. Whether Spock and the villain develop some sort of friendship during the movie or had some sort of prior relationship, I don’t know yet. We’ll see.
Photo Credit: NY Daily News.
Captain’s Log: Leonard Nimoy Being His Marvelous Self!
In honor of the Hobbit coming out with the 9-minute short of Star Trek, I thought I would share this with all of you. Yes, that is, indeed, Leonard Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. AND, it has the Bangles in it! I’m surprised this mashup didn’t give rise to the discovery of the Higg’s boson or something. Check it!
Captain’s Log: Awesomely Ridiculous!
Tell me that this is not the funniest thing you have seen in a long while. We love Klingons for their irascibility. Google that.
This is a mashup that some genius put together from an interactive board game. Shouts to Everything Is Terrible for taking the time to do this.
Captain’s Log:The New Star Trek Trailer Is Up!!!!
So, I held my breath for 1.06 minutes while the official trailer was playing! Squeee! I’m so excited, but I must calm down because we have a few months to go yet. I have been hearing that Benedict Cumberbatch is a great actor and the bee’s knees over in the UK, so I am excited to see him as the villain in this movie. It appears that he has some sort of augmented strength or other ability and some very big weapons. Some people think he will play Gary Mitchell and some think that he will be playing Khan. I can’t tell yet, but I’m leaning toward Mitchell. Who knows, he may be a completely new character.
I’ve seen some other critical reviews of the trailer that are concerned that the new Star Trek movie will be action-heavy and villain-focused. That is precisely why I enjoyed TOS and TNG and disliked DS9 and Voyager’s later seasons. I want action and a complex villain that I can dissect! There was no reasoning with Nero (Eric Bana) in the first film; he was relentless and that was his strength. Come to think of it, maybe Eric Bana should have been Bane in TKDR instead of Tom Hardy.
Chris Pine just doesn’t age–you know, I think he has done a very good job as a young Kirk. I wasn’t convinced at first.
Oh and the future doesn’t look very diverse in J.J. Abrams view. I counted 3 brown faces after watching again; Uhura, Sulu, and a screaming unnamed extra. Reading the Star Trek wiki, I just learned that J.J. Abrams was concerned about casting a Korean person as Sulu (a Japanese person), but George Takei gave him the go ahead. I wish someone would have asked me about casting Zoe Saldana as Uhura. I still think that casting was pretty wrong, but she has done an alright job in the role. Kerry Washington would have been truer to form, but oh well.
Alas, here’s hoping that the actual movie is a bit more diverse. J.J., I hope you’re listening. You have a real opportunity here.
Black Trekkie 