Happy First Contact Day!!

It is First Contact Day! The 50^th Pre-Anniversary of First Contact day! Yep, 50 years from now, the T’Plana Hath will be heading into Earth orbit after picking up a warp signature, just hours from landing in Montana. Zefram Cochrane will offer his hand to the strange visitor and then introduce them to the music of Roy Orbison…

We’ll be lucky to avoid them wiping us out for the good of the galaxy. I have a theory the Xindi attack was in fact entirely motivated by Zefram Cochrane trying to pass his CD’s to other races.

Anyway, I digress from the point I was vaguely considering making. Well, less of a point and more of a list! Yes, to commemorate this momentous pre-anniversary, I am listing my top 5 Vulcan moments in Trek! These are my personal top 5 moments, other opinions are available.

5. Sarek

I am a dude who got into Star Trek with The Next Generation. By the time Sarek rolled around I was already gaining some familiarity with the character and Vulcans, having got through the movies, though had yet to realise the full backstory from Journey to Babel. This episode always stuck out for me as particularly brilliant though. I think this was the first time I really understood that Vulcans do have emotions, they just control them. The concept of a Vulcan who is losing that control is brilliant. It’s almost horrifying to watch, the character has such gravity and dignity and it’s gradually crumbling. The final solution, for Picard to meld with him to give him emotional strength is also marvellous as it leads to the scene of Picard struggling with all of Sarek’s 200 years of repressed emotion. Which give Patrick Stewart the chance to let loose, which is awesome to see and underscores how much control a Vulcan must have to exert over a lifetime, which makes Sarek and Spock and all the Vulcans more impressive for managing it.

4. Kir’Shara

Ah Enterprise. For three series I persisted and struggled with you. Then season 4 arrived and wow, you got seriously awesome!

I’d never been too keen on Enterprise’s portrayal of Vulcans as a race. I liked Soval and T’Pol just fine, I just wasn’t keen on the idea of Vulcan as an overbearing, disapproving group holding us back from exploring space. I liked even less the idea that they were engaged in ongoing hostilities with the Andorians. I didn’t mind the hostilities as much as the way the Vulcan’s were dicks about it. They were, they were being dicks.

So this episode went a long way to redress that. In fact it was pretty momentous in terms of changing the status quo with Vulcan, as we pretty much have them go through a big old shift in philosophy. Yes, they’ve retained the basic idea of emotional control and logic, but from here they have to re-assess a lot of what they think they know about Surak’s teachings. As with so much of Enterprise’s fourth season, I would loved to have seen where this led in future years, but of course, that’s not possible now. Also, I really enjoy Robert Foxworth, I loved seeing him as a Vulcan/Romulan agent!

3. Innocence

I loved the character of Tuvok. I thought he was brilliant and tragically underused on Voyager. And when he was used, I felt they often failed to make good use of him. There seemed to be a lot to do with Tuvok losing emotional control through injury or some other thing or being injured.

But this episode Tuvok just got to be a Vulcan. Trapped on a planet alone apart from three scared children and a monster! Brilliant! Though I quite like the twist at the end that the children are actually really old people, the highlights for me are Tuvok’s interactions. He talks about his children and how Vulcan’s raise their young and his attempts to teach the 3 ‘kids’ Vulcan techniques to control their fears are all really brilliant.

2. Journey to Babel

I adore this episode! From the opening scene, when the Vulcan ambassador openly disses Spock and then Kirk offers Spock the chance to beam down to visit his parents and there’s the slightly awkward pause before Spock explains the Vulcan ambassador  and his wife ARE his parents, you know this is going to be good. What often happens in Trek is when an actor comes in to play a Vulcan, that stoicism coupled with that slight air of superior feeling that Vulcan’s seem to have means they come across as more Romulan than Vulcan. But Sarek comes across as perfect Vulcan while still having this air of disapproval and being a complete hard ass, but doesn’t end up feeling more like a sneering Romulan. Of course, Spock totally ups his game on the no emotion stakes by flatly refusing to donate blood for his father’s life saving operation as he needs to be in command of the ship. Throw in poor Amanda trapped in between the two most important people in her life for years of this conflict and now faced with losing one due to the others refusal to act… it’s marvellous. And leads to the payoff at the end, when in the face of Amanda’s emotional outburst, Spock asks why Sarek married her, the answer being, ‘it seemed logical’! You… you probably had to be there.

1.Amok Time

My number one moment with the Vulcans! The pon farr thing is kind of ridiculous if you think about it, but it’s one of the big things now in Star Trek lore, Vulcan’s absolutely have to mate every seven years… OR THEY DIE!!!
There’s a lot of big moments in this episode, our first real glimpse of Vulcan, our first encounter with other Vulcans and a pretty awesome fight and a crazy crazy Spock. It establishes that for a race steeped in logic, the Vulcans have a penchant for needless ceremony and ritual. It also seems odd that when everyone thinks Spock has killed Kirk in ritual combat, everyone is pretty ok about it. That seemed odd, admittedly 20 minutes of outcry would be rendered pointless at the final reveal, which is still very effective for Spock’s emotional slip when he sees his friend is ok. It’s one of those episodes where if you look deeply at it there’s a bunch of stuff that is actually stupid. But it doesn’t matter because it all works and you’re swept into this story where every moment is just brilliant. Who cares that needless gongs are necessary for a people steeped in logic, that Spock’s mother didn’t bother coming to his wedding/fight, that the deadly mating urge can also be cured by a punch up, altogether these things are brilliant because this episode is just brilliant. See, I can't even make that coherent an argument for why this episode ranks number 1 in my list of 5 great Vulcan episodes, it’s just so brilliant I am reduced to babbling and gushing about how much I love it.

I’m going to go watch it again this weekend. Actually, I think I need to watch this episode every seven weeks…OR I MIGHT DIE!!

(But I’ll probably be ok if I can have a fight instead)

Star Trek Trailer Analysis

Yay, it’s Star Trek Trailer time! It’s always exciting to get these little teasers, the promise of exciting things to see in a few months.

Of course once the trailer is release, the internet is filled with people analysing it frame by frame, picking out each word and shot and speculating what it could mean. Myself, I like to be surprised, so I’m not overthinking this one. I’m just going to sit back and be pleasantly excited about a film I will most likely enjoy.

But this film… ok there’s a lot of rumour and speculation. And actually it’s kinda fun to read how people can take the same moment and declare it 100% without a doubt confirms that this will happen, while other people take the same moment and declare it confirms a different theory. As far as I can make out, there are 2 popular theories and rather than deriving conclusions from the trailer, people are using their theory to interpret the trailer. They seem to hinge upon who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing, on the assumption (which has been stated by producers to be true) that he’s a character we’ve seen in the Original Series before.

So with that in mind, I’m dreaming up my own outlandish theories and forcing the trailer to fit into them!

Theory 1: Benedict Cumberbatch is …HARRY MUDD!!

Hey, everyone is so excited about this mystery villain from Trek’s past, well Harry is a pretty well known one. Yes, it would on the surface appear to be a drastic re-imagining of Mudd’s character. But bear in mind this movie will be taking place a lot earlier in the Trek timeline, maybe before Harry discovered Bolian Snickers Pie?

My ridiculous justifications

Well, let’s say while trawling the spacelanes for old women he can beautify up with illegal drugs and pimp out (see Mudd’s Women) Harry stumbles upon some sort of weapon or power and in revenge for perceived slights when he’s been arrested in the past, Mudd decides to remake the Earth in his image…Mud! You see, this is obvious, as there’s the scene where the Enterprise makes it’s splashdown into…water!. To make mud, you need to mix dirt and water! So either  Mudd crashes the Enterprise into the sea to splash mud around, or has an underwater mudbase. Carol Marcus is the pretty young scientist who’s developed an amazing new wash powder that can be used against mud (and Mudd) while also having a romantic subplot with Kirk. The crew must travel to the alien world that is the source of Mudd’s new mud powers and then back to earth for the big splashdown showdown!

I think it’s pretty plausible! More plausible than my theory that Cumberbatch is playing Edith Keeler anyway…

Theory 2: The main villain is GOD!

It’s the return of one of classic Trek’s favourite theme! An awesome powerful being presents itself as a god until being taken down by good old human ingenuity.

Like the Thasian’s powered up Charlie X and Q gave Riker Q powers, some powerful race grabs Benedict Cumberbatch and powers him up, unleashing his rampaging powers upon humanity. As the Enterprise crew finds a way to defeat him, Kirk also has to give an impassioned speech to this powerful race about leaving humanity to find its own destiny. Or possibly the gift of amazing powers makes Cumberbatch’s character think he is God? Something like that.

It would be very classic Trek to do a story like this. I don’t know how well it would fit in the new re-imagined super realistic style Trek we’re getting these days. And to be honest, the advanced being/godlike powers thing works better in episodes and tends to fail dismally in movie treks.

Theory 3: Benedict Cumberbatch is Darth Sidious.

Wait, getting confused….

Theory 3: Benedict Cumberbatch plays…Flint!

Actually this could work out. Flint, if you don’t remember (or aren’t a massive nerd, but to be honest I doubt you’ll have got this far if not) was an immortal human who built himself a robot wife, but needed Kirk to teach the robot wife to love. Maybe in this timeline, Flint has been upset by something and is all up for vengeful rampage against humanity! Somehow Carol Marcus is drawn in, maybe Flint has been posing as her professor/mentor? Y’know, before the vengeful madness. Hopefully he’ll build an army of robot wives to devastate planets?!

Actually, it’s funny, but Flint actually could be a viable candidate, except he wasn’t that memorable a character from TOS and also wasn’t really a bad guy in the way that this movie seems to have one. But it’s an alternate universe and he could have been changed by events since the Kelvin was destroyed in some way so it’s not completely impossible. Just unlikely.

Theory 4: Benedict Cumberbatch is Kor! Or Koloth! Or Kang! Or Kruge!

Look, I just really want some Klingons! It’s been years since we’ve had any new Klingon wackiness! With their singing and their fighting and their drinking! I want to see warriors charging through Enterprise corridors with their bat’leths, I want to see Kirk go toe to toe with a smug arrogant Klingon captain who revels in the idea of a glorious battle. Yes, I know this isn’t happening, but if we all just close our eyes and wish really really hard…

Ha, did I just make you wish for Klingons?!

More fatherhood examples

Back to my search for a decent father example for nerds! I’m expanding my search beyond just sci-fi, I think I’ll incorporate fantasy a little bit. Just to give myself more options really…

Doctor Who. Ok, I never really thought this would yield much in the way of results. The Doctor? Well, he must be a father as he has a granddaughter (unless you subscribe to the Looms idea from Lungbarrow, which never really seemed right to me) but obviously we never see him parenting. We do see him abandon his granddaughter on an alien (to her) world that’s just been devastated by a Dalek occupation. Pretty harsh. Not many other fathers to choose from after that. Until Brian Williams! Ok, he’s pretty good! Changes lightbulbs, waters the plants and offers useful advice for items to keep on your person or add to the Christmas list. Brilliant! That’s two good dads I have found!

Feeling pretty inspired by a second success so soon, I return to my quest with renewed vigor. In fact, I’m a little overconfident now, cocky even.

So it’s a logical progression from Doctor Who, to look at Torchwood. Jack is a father while working for Torchwood, which has necessitated special provision for his daughter to have name changes and remain hidden. And at the end of Children of Earth… oh. But then there’s Rhys! Good old Rhys! He’s ok? Well, I can’t find anything obviously bad in his parenting, I’d have more issues with Gwen and the staggering amount of guns she keeps around the house.

Ok, well Torchwood was always going to be a long shot, with its adult themes and action packed episodes. What about finding something that features a lot more characters and a lot more detail? Something that really delves into the minutiae of the lives of the races within it’s world? Surely in something like that, we’d find more room to detail family life and fathering? Yes, I mean Lord of the Rings!

Why would I choose this mighty epic for my search? A mix of the  overconfidence I mentioned and the staggering amount of material available from Tolkien detailing his world and it’s inhabitants. So, characters who are fathers…

Elrond. Well, I guess he’s pretty ok. His main fathering role tends to be grimly disapproving of his daughters choice in men, then taking the man she loves and encouraging him to go off into a massive war. Over-protective maybe, but a sight better than Denethor, the guy who openly favours one son and tried to set the other on fire. Otherwise, there’s Bilbo’s fatherly relationship with Frodo, that culminates in him handing Frodo the most dangerous bit of jewellery you could get, along with the responsibility to take it to Mordor and chuck it in a volcano. While being pursued by that Gollum fellow he once robbed.

Actually, mentioning Denethor reminds me of John Noble, so Fringe. Walter! Yeah, um, that… that’s quite a mess right there. The guy replaces his dead son with an alternate reality duplicate, whom he nearly drowns by setting his portal up on an iced over lake!

My previous enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat. Actually it’s been brutally beaten out of me by a thuggish gang of disappointment. Wearily, I turn to the next item…

Harry Potter. Well… oh! Arthur Weasley! He’s ok! Lotsa kids, fun house, good choice of mother, government job, they all go to school, no turning evil! We have another! Brilliant!  And isn’t it odd, he’s played by the same actor who plays Brian Williams?! (Hey who’s playing Pa Kent in the new Superman movie? It’s not… no, it’s not.) It is only Arthur though, Remus didn’t want to have a child, Malfoy got his family indentured to Voldemort, Seamus’s dad couldn’t handle his wife being a witch, can’t think of any others...

I’m reaching now, but Lost in Space? Ok, well the dad there gets his family lost in space! The idiot!

Red Dwarf? Well, as seen in an episode of the recent new series, Lister does try to do his best for his son. But being as his son is himself, I think he’s done plenty of damage right there.

Ok, it’s a sad fact in TV and movies for these sorts of genres, extended sequences or stories of a dad just being a dad are not going to come up a lot. It’s always going to be more entertaining to have a space battle or a sword fight. Still, there’s some pretty bad fathers out there! And my search was mainly focussed on ‘the good guys’! Imagine if I did this with the villains?

Fatherhood in Sci-fi

Having been a father for nigh on 10 months now and discussing the impending fatherhood of a friend, I’ve come to the realisation that there are not many good dad’s in sci-fi.
You see, often when I’m faced with a new challenge in my life, I like to look to my idols in the science fiction world to see how they handle it. For instance, when cooking for myself was becoming in issue as I advanced through my teens, Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine was a brilliant example. I always carry a screwdriver and make sure to leave my droids outside of bars. So naturally, when my wife was expecting, I turned to my normal array of science fiction TV and film for advice.

Oh dear…

So I began with Star Trek. There’s actually no fathers at all there, except for Kirk, who stayed away from his son until forced to meet him when Khan stole the Genesis device. Ok, no help there.

Ok, The Next Generation must be more help? Picard, no children, hates kids. Riker? Had an imaginary son and mainly tried to teach him the trombone. Worf? Oh, right, packs the kid off to his grandparents or if he can’t get away with that, pretty much leaves it to Troi. Data? Built his own daughter and has no emotions. Oh and had her working in a bar!

Let’s move on to DS9! Sisko! Brilliant! Sisko seems on the surface to be a good example. Until you factor in he’s dragged Jake to a backwater run down space station where the only schooling opportunity is a class of mixed ages run by a botanist?! No disrespect to botanists or their field, but he’s not getting a well-rounded education there. Plus it shuts down after a year! After being blown up! Still Sisko persists with keeping his son, now without any school, wandering around an increasingly dangerous space station as the area degenerates into a war zone. Finally, Sisko conceives a second child and promptly ups and leaves to be a prophet and live in a wormhole, abandoning both children. I guess there’s O’Brien, but… well his wife and kids are so annoying, I can’t. I just can’t!

Voyager has one father, Tuvok, who’s probably great, but we never get to see any actual parenting. And again, Enterprise has no active father. I think Phlox has children, but they’re not seen.

Forget Trek then, let’s move onto other areas…

How about Star Wars? Hm, actually, I don’t need to think too hard about this one do I? Me and my son would be happier not chopping limbs off…

It’s not going well so far is it? What about the Buffyverse? Well, Buffy’s dad left his family, her surrogate father, Giles, well I guess he’s pretty ok, but there was the time he drugged her so she lost her Slayer powers and locked her in a house with a vampire. And Angel? Well, he managed to lose his son in a hell dimension with his worst enemy.

Batman! Right, ok his Dad was shot and killed in front of him, causing severe emotional trauma. But Alfred was like his second father from then? And he’s… pretty much let Bruce’s trauma overwhelm him to the point he dresses like a bat and risks his life nightly fighting crime. Bruce’s own son is encouraged to follow the same path while fighting his upbringing as a cold blooded killer with a superiority complex. Not to mention Batman’s taken on three other kids and encouraged them all to wallow in their pain and grief to such an extent that they also feel the need to embark on a suicidal quest for justice while wearing silly costumes. I hate to say it, but Batman sucks! As a dad at least.

Superman? Sure, his biological father put his newborn child in an experimental rocket and blasted him into space, which I think is grounds for a referral to Social Services, but what about Jonathan Kent? He’s good right? Actually, he is! There’s pretty much no problem with Pa Kent! Except DC keep insisting on retconning Superman’s history to kill the poor guy off earlier and earlier.

Right, we have one good father! Surely, I can find more? Otherwise I’ll have to raise my child using my own judgement and common sense! My search continues…

Some thoughts on Disney buying Star Wars

So, there’s going to be a new Star Wars Trilogy. The 3^rd trilogy, making a trilogy of trilogy’s you might say. And it’s going to be made by Disney. This is pretty huge news and understandably causing some mixed reactions amongst Star Wars fans.

I’m thinking this is probably a good thing. There, I said it. But wait! I have reasons!

The first reason! I actually quite liked the prequels. Yes, they were caught up in quite a political storyline, but like many stories, they’re a product of their time and we’re in an age where everything is politicised to some degree. It might not be the most entertaining thing to watch in a movie of course, but we are now several years on and new movies will have new writers and reflect their take on our times.

Which neatly brings me onto new writers. No Lucas! Imagine! Given how everyone complained he’d ruined Star Wars with the prequels, surely this is a good thing? Though I don’t think he ruined anything, I do think new movies will benefit from new writers and directors. Joss Whedon’s name has already been thrown into the mix and I do think he’d have a pretty interesting take on Star Wars. But there’s a huge number of skilled writers out there in Hollywood who could bring some fresh new thinking to Star Wars.

If you’re a fan of The Clone Wars series, then you’ll see how well Star Wars is still working. Different writers, new story ideas and a wide array of characters, it’s a pretty good series.

It’s Disney! Disney are pretty hot on making kids films. Ok, not always successfully, but sometimes successfully, And Star Wars films are films for kids. The sense of awe and wonder of alien worlds, old Jedi Knights and the youngster who finds his way into a whole new world of the Force and an important role in a galaxy-wide battle for freedom. That’s perfect for Disney.

Ok, I’m saying a lot about new writers and new stories, a new take on Star Wars. However, you also need to maintain a certain respect for the original source. I think Disney can do that. The recent Muppets film I think stands as a brilliant example of making a new relevant film that maintains a good respect for the original series. Actually, the Muppets is pretty much an hour and a half love letter to The Muppet Show. I think we’re at a point now where the writers and directors around now are the ones who grew up with Star Wars and will come in respectful of the original trilogy.

Actually, you know what’s also good about Disney buying Star Wars? Crossovers! Next time there’s a Toy Story movie, we should see Harrison Ford voicing a Han Solo figure! I’m actually really excited about this idea!

Most of all, Star Wars is a pretty defining set of movies for a child to see. Regardless of the opinions of guys in their 30’s and 40’s who will staunchly resist anything different to that original trilogy, kids in the next 10 years are going to love this new set of Disney made Star Wars movies. And that’s good, it’s their childhood and they deserve to have those movies made in their day. 2015 means my little boy will be 3 or 4, just about old enough to sit through a movie. So this will be his trilogy and I’ll be able to take him to see brand new Star Wars. Regardless of whether I like them or not, he probably will and to me that makes this news good.

Monday

Another week, back at work for a Monday morning. I was hit by inspiration today. I have another Star Trek group next week and was wondering what to do for my introduction for my chosen episode. Having gone into video intro’s I want to keep doing something along those lines. And today it hit me, Big Brother! Brilliant! I shall take a selection of my sci-fi toys and make an episode of Big Brother with them! And at some point they will discuss trivia from the episode I have chosen! Genius! MLF is onboard with this, she will do some voices for me. It’s an excellent idea!

My stag do is at the end of this week, and so my brother, who is also serving in Best Man capacity was due to send a text out to everyone finalising the times. I was hit by a moment of hilarity as I came up with a classic prank!

I didn’t know what time he’d be texting, so I had to move fast. I managed to contact 3 of my attendees before the text came around. I asked them to respond to my brother’s text asking which Doctor Who costumes other people were making, the implication being that I’d got them all to agree to come dressed as a different doctor! I have not mentioned the important part of this, which is that my brother is not a nerd! Not at all! So the idea of spending the day in the company of 7 gorwn men dressed as various Doctors is not one that would appeal to him!

I had later confirmation that at least 2 of my 3 co-prankers had had a response, and then I got the text from my brother! He is not happy! He called me a sneaky russian and warned he would make things worse later in the stag do! I sent him one back saying ‘Wait till you see your costume K9!’

I will tell him soon it is a classic prank. I may even say ‘bazinga’.

I had a conversation with MLF regarding strippers later on. She raised a point that I hadn’t considered and is now going to cause me considerable concern. Lap dances. See, my brother/bestman has promised me a strip club visit. This is mean. I am a nerd, I’m terrible at talking to women as it is, and the idea of a strange naked lady dancing around me is horrifying! It’s massively embarassing. But I’m ok with it for the traditional stag do type thing etc. But lap dances... well those are a bit different. I will have to speak to him about making sure there isn’t a lap dance on the cards, as for me that crosses a line. The no touching rule in strip clubs, I think should work both ways, at least for me. Maybe I’m being an old fuddy duddy, but I just don’t think it’s appropriate. I kind of hope I am being a fuddy duddy, because that is an awesome phrase and I feel like I was kind of serious there so I need to say some funny words or something!

Sunday!

Sunday, ah Sunday, living up to it’s name with some sunshine. Though it could also have been called, wind-day’ as there was some breezy behaviour. In fact, one of my tomato plants suffered at the hands of the fast moving air currents that plagues us this day and some of the stalk has snapped. Hopefully it’ll be ok, it didn’t snap all the way through and I’ve tied it up to support it. Some tiny green tomatoes have formed upon the plant now, so it’d be a terrible shame if it got trashed.

Wait, what? Have I just chattered about tomatoes? This isn’t a gardening blog, it’s a nerd blog! So what have I done that’s more nerdy??

Well, we had our photographer’s free pre-wedding shoot in the morning. My Lovely Fiance also timed her makeup trial at the venue for this morning so we went there and I waited with a coffee while she had her trial before the shoot.

Firstly, £2.30 for coffee! It’s an outrage! I got two small cups out of that! However, the wi-fi is good there, and also actually free, so I was able to sit at the windy terrace bar with an overpriced coffee and my EEE. The wind kept blowing the door shut behind me, which was annoying to begin with, until on of the staff charged out in a panic as one of the outside tables was blowing away. Ah, slapstick!!

When we had the shoot itself, we were led all across the grounds of our wedding venue to get some shots. It’s a really nice place with lots of interesting spots. MLF is not a keen photography subject, but apparently I am brilliant! The photographer kept insisting I was a good subject and I infer from that I should probably consider modelling. This sounds good to me, I imagine lots of people would enjoy looking at my face in magazines and on billboards. They’d probably like to look at more than just my face, but I’m not up for doing gratuitous nudity. I’d need a good reason. Like large amounts of money.

Actually I should follow that up, get the modelling started.

Or maybe concentrate on losing a bit more weight first.

Hm, that’s still not very nerdy is it? Ooh, I helped MLF update her iPhone! To OS4 or whatever they call it. It took some time, we had to install a new itunes first. (Hey Apple, if itunes is so good, why do you keep doing new ones?? Maybe you should get it right the first time! Like I did in my photoshoot!) Anyway, after a lengthy download and letting the machine restart, reload, and refresh the phone about 80 times, it was all done. The update took a backup of the phone which it then restored after. But not the emails apparently. Clearly apple feel that while you’ll want to keep your precious memories in photos and the songs you’ve bought, you won’t have any important emails in you inbox!

But the new features are pretty cool. The camera is now zoomable, while the quality isn’t great when zoomed in, it’s still useful. The icons can now all be rearranged into small sections to neaten things up. And besterest of all, all the photos now have a corresponding location pin on a map so you can see where they were taken. Even on previously taken pictures, which is a little unnerving that the iphone has been tracking your movements since you got it. It’s like a little nosy old woman in your pocket!