If you somehow missed it…

Comments Off | Posted: July 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Shameless Self-Promotion, Star Trek

I started a Classic Star Trek blog over on Tumblr.

I have the nicest friends.

Comments Off | Posted: December 17th, 2010 | Filed under: Art Appreciation, Star Trek | Tags: ming doyle, Star Trek, vulcan

This was my holiday gift from Ming Doyle, artist on The Loneliest Astronauts and much, much more.

I got her the crummy 90s X-Men cartoon on DVD.

I won.

Star Trek and Mass Effect 2: It’s Probably Just Me That Notices These Things

Comments Off | Posted: December 14th, 2010 | Filed under: Star Trek, Verbal Masturbation, video games | Tags: mass effect 2, miranda lawson, nerding the fuck out, number one, Star Trek

From the Bioware site’s description of Miranda Lawson, who serves as your second in Mass Effect 2:

Born on Earth, Miranda comes from a wealthy background. However, underneath her opulent upbringing lies a woman who is calm, collected and driven to accomplish her mission, at any cost. She is quick to judge and values her assignments and goals over people. Miranda is also a powerful biotic as well as a tech specialist.

From the original Star Trek pitch document:

Never referred to as anything but “Number One”, this officer is female. Almost mysteriously female, in fact —- slim and dark in a Nile Valley way, age uncertain, one of those women who will always look the same between years twenty to fifty. An extraordinarily efficient officer, “Number One” enjoys playing it expressionless, cool -— is probably Robert April’s superior in detailed knowledge of the multiple equipment systems, departments and crew members aboard the vessel. When Captain April leaves the craft, “Number One” moves up to the acting commander.

From the Mass Effect Wiki entry (which is based on the game and licensed material):

Miranda [Lawson] was born in 2150. As she explains to Shepard, Miranda never had a mother, only a father who is extremely influential, wealthy, and ego-maniacal. Using a modified copy of his own genome, Miranda was genetically engineered to be a specimen of human perfection. Everything, from her intelligence, physical constitution, biotic abilities, to her appearance were designed before birth to be excellent

From Vulcan’s Glory, a licensed novel by Star Trek series writer D.C. Fontana:

In the four years she had served [Pike] as first officer, first on the old Yorktown and then on the new Enterprise, she had carried out her duties with a precision and perfection he had never seen in anyone else. In fact, perfect was exactly the adjective he applied to her at all times.

(And yes, I know, but I read it when I was 15 or so and it stuck in my head and it was cheap on the Kindle and hey, I occasionally read junk media tie-ins too.)

I also — and I can’t recall where, and I even went through several of the licensed comics along with DC’s Who’s Who In Star Trek — could swear that genetic engineering was added to Number One’s backstory at some point. It’s fascinating that these similarities seem so blatant to me, considering the efforts that the Mass Effect writing team have made to differentiate themselves from other franchises. Their physical appearance is, at least to me, very close and that’s particularly interesting as Miranda’s appearance is based on her voice actress, Yvonne Strahovski, who some of you might know from Chuck and Number One was, of course, played by Majel Barrett.

I’ll just shut up now. OK?

And then there was the time that Spock said he wanted to give robots a “hot-foot!”

Comments Off | Posted: December 13th, 2010 | Filed under: Star Trek

There’s Gonna Be Sex Tonight.

2 Comments | Posted: October 21st, 2010 | Filed under: Star Trek, There's Gonna Be Sex Tonight

We Have A Winner!

Comments Off | Posted: August 30th, 2010 | Filed under: Contests, Star Trek

Random.org provided the appropriately randomized integer and it turns out that Bart Jarmusch won Star Trek: The Original Series 365. In a pleasing coincidence, Bart chose “Arena” as his favorite episode of the original series, which is actually the first episode I remember seeing, for slightly unpleasant reasons; I had a fish bone stuck in my throat and I was sipping vinegar to make it bendy so it’d go one way or another and “Arena” was on so I distracted myself from the whole affair by watching Kirk make a fuck-off death cannon out of stone knives and bearskins.

Yes, this is what happens when you’re raised in the south.

ANYWAY, Congratulations to Bart! We’ll see if I can get back on track with these giveaways sometime soon, ok? In the meantime, you can always buy the book on Amazon.

WIN THIS BOOK: Star Trek: The Original Series 365

40 Comments | Posted: August 25th, 2010 | Filed under: Contests, Star Trek

The gang at Abrams figured I was an easy mark for some positive coverage of this book and sent me a copy of Star Trek: The Original Series 365, a nicely-designed look at the original series that covers each episode of the original Star Trek series while including behind-the-scenes information and a well-curated selection of photographs and stills, many of which I’d never seen before. It’s not nearly as gossipy as Inside Star Trek or as nitpicky as the many, many fan-written guides out there and is a better book for its choices. Block and Erdmann’s book is perfect for the casual fan that just wants a nice guide for the series and meaty enough for guys (read: losers) like me.

In order to help spread the good word, Abrams sent me a spare copy to give away. Want to get a chance to win it? From now until 11:59PM ET on Sunday, August 29, just leave a comment with your favorite episode that is not “City On The Edge Of Forever” or “The Trouble With Tribbles.” If you want, tell us why. I’ll use Random.org to pick a winner. Please note that you must use a valid email address when entering or I won’t be able to inform you of your winningness and because of the book’s weight, I won’t be shipping it outside of the United States.

There are maybe three people out there that get this. And they think I’m an idiot, too.

8 Comments | Posted: August 24th, 2010 | Filed under: "Funny", Star Trek

From the archives of Sterling Cooper Draper T’Vol

1 Comment | Posted: August 12th, 2010 | Filed under: "Funny", Star Trek

Ming Doyle drew me this portrait of Spock’s parents.

3 Comments | Posted: July 5th, 2010 | Filed under: Art Appreciation, Star Trek | Tags: amanda, ming doyle, sarek

The Star Trek nerd in me desperately wants to write a comic about Sarek and Amanda’s romance and Ming sending me stuff like this isn’t helping one bit.

I am frankly a little embarrassed it took me this long.

2 Comments | Posted: June 23rd, 2010 | Filed under: Star Trek

Some clever YouTube person did this.

2 Comments | Posted: June 21st, 2010 | Filed under: Star Trek

Thanks to Victoria and Luc for this one. They know what I like.

There’s Gonna Be Sex Tonight.

2 Comments | Posted: April 16th, 2010 | Filed under: Star Trek, There's Gonna Be Sex Tonight

Via retro_futurism.

Three excerpts from NIGHTFALL: a STAR TREK novel by Kevin Church

8 Comments | Posted: February 23rd, 2010 | Filed under: "Funny", Star Trek

About three things, I was absolutely positive. First: Sarek was a Vulcan. Second: There was a part of him — and i didn’t know how dominant that part might be — that found my kind utterly illogical and frustrating. And Third:, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him

Page 14:

As I examined them across the Vulcan Science Academy’s cafeteria, one of them looked up and met my gaze, this time with plain-spoken curiosity in an expression I could have sworn was unreadable to anyone else. As I looked swiftly away, it seemed to me that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.

“Which one is the boy with the straight, slate-colored hair?” I asked. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me, but without the disdain the other Vulcans had plainly written on their face — he had an ever-so-curious expression. I looked down again.

“That’s Sarek. He’s gorgeous, of course, but don’t waste your time. He doesn’t date. Apparently none of Terran girls are logical enough for him.” She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he’d turned her down.

I bit my lip to hide my smile. Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned back to the PADD he was holding and he was speaking to the Vulcan to his left, but I thought his eyebrow appeared lifted, as if he were smiling inside.

After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful — even the big, brawny one. It was unsettling to watch. The one named Sarek didn’t look at me again.

Page 120:

“It’s nightfall,” Sarek murmured, looking at the western horizon, obscured as it was by Mount Seleya. His voice was thoughtful, as if his mind were somewhere far away. I stared at him as he gazed unseeingly out of the hovercar’s windscreen.

I was still staring when his eyes suddenly shifted back to mine. His pupils had already dilated a bit in response to the rapidly-encroaching night.

“It’s the quietest time of day for Vulcans,” he said, answering the unspoken question in my eyes. “The easiest time to meditate and center ourselves. But also the most sobering in many ways… the end of another day, the return of the night. Darkness is so predictable on Earth, isn’t it? Your nights do not have dangers like the le-matya or dust storms along the Forge as the terminator crawls across the globe and the cool air collides with the warm ground.”

“I like the night. Without the dark, we’d never see the stars.” I frowned. “Not that you see them here much.”

His eyebrow went up slightly, and the mood abruptly lightened.

Page 257:

“Thank you. But there’s something else I feel should be mentioned.” Sarek didn’t frown, exactly. His mouth became a thinner line.

I waited patiently.

“He called you pretty,” he finally continued, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly. “That’s an understatement. You’re … very aesthetically pleasing at this moment.”

I laughed.

“You might be a little biased.”

“I do not believe that to be the case. Besides, I have excellent eyesight, like all of my people.”

We were twirling again, my feet on his as he held me close. “So are you going to explain the reason for all of this?” I wondered. He looked down at me, unreadable, and I glared meaningfully at the crepe paper.

He considered for a moment, and then changed direction, spinning me through the crowd to the back door of the gym. I caught a glimpse of T’pril and Stolok dancing, their heads cocked ever so slightly. Jessica waved, and I smiled back quickly. The slight Andorian Liari was there, too, looking blissfully happy in the arms of George Kirk; she didn’t look away from his eyes, a head above hers. T’lin and Soltar, T’pau, glaring toward us, with Tuval; I could name every face that spiraled past me. And then we were outdoors, in the still warm, yet dim light of a fading sunset on a world light-years from my native Earth.

“Nightfall.” I heard Sarek say quietly to himself.