Star Trek 50

Everyone is talking about Star Trek today. 50 years ago it aired on CBS and struggled for 3 years to find a foothold on Network television. The show was the embodiment of hope for a future in which we could, as the Vulcans say, Live Long and Prosper.

The show represented a vision of the future in which we set out to accomplish the fulfillment of of human aspiration: a truly democratic society, the healing of common and not so common ailments with the wave of a device, wireless communication, intergalactic communication, economics that benefit all in a society and not just industrialists and, most importantly, the Silver Age of mankind.

I say Silver because we've had our Golden Age, the Renaissance after the Dark Ages. The technological and sociological advances promised for the 23rd century will outshine anything that man accomplished during the Renaissance. Star Trek showed us the best of what would be available in technology, democracy but most importantly within ourselves. The future that we would hope for had a blueprint in Star Trek. And for three years, Network television  fed us the promise.

Everything comes at a price, and while the Original Series hints at the cost of Roddenberry's Utopia with episodes like Space Seed, the vast majority of conflict reflected in the episodes lies in the Us versus Them conflicts of the Neutral Zones. Earth v. Romulus, the Klingon Homeworld, Thalosians, and rogue Superbeings. While the writers were careful to use the episodes to teach us about our own conflicts between ethnic groups on Earth the reflections have been loopholes. Those loopholes let us forget that all of our conflict is Us versus Us. We are our own enemy.

It isn't until you reach the later novels of the Original Series, and the feature length films that we learn how it is we got to the 23rd Century. It is a dark path. The Eugenics program of the early 1900s in America is revived with the surgical precision the Human Genome Project allows, resulting in a new disparity among people. In addition to economics, ethnicity and spiritual beliefs the Eugenics Programs created disparity in degrees of humanity. This leads to the Eugenics War that left Khan in stasis until Kirk meets him, that Q references in the trial at the Encounter at Farpoint and again revisited with Nemesis in the Next Generation Movies and the rebooted Into Darkness. Eugenics Wars are the least of the worries of a future to come.

The Trial at Farpoint forces the Captain Picard to prove to Q that humanity deserves to be among the stars. In Q's lengthy indictment of Humans not only does he cite the Eugenics Wars, but also a period of drug fueled state endorsed slavery and, the near destruction of our entire species in World War Three. We look at the tech and the marvelous adventures, we drool over the freedom from oppressive industrialization and think "Wouldn't it be a wonderful place to live." We forget, until met with the Dreadnaught of Into Darkness, there is always going to be a dark side of human nature that we have to get to in order to reach the light.

We have the PADDs of the Next Generation, 3-d printing which is only a few degrees removed from the replicator on the Enterprise, the wireless technology that could be our first comm badges in the development of bluetooth technology, quadrotriticalli,  a newly released device that could be the prototype of the Universal Translator, and a race to develop the first functioning Medical Tricorder. We will have the technology ahead of Roddenberry's schedule. Will that be enough to circumvent the inevitable threat we pose to ourselves?

When you look at the political climate in America, the state of unrest throughout the religious world, and the rapid decline of species and ecosystem versatility, the industrialization of resources and the abuse of class systems for redistribution of natural resources it is a hard thing to trust in Roddenberry's prophecy. The Prophecy depends on our collective ability to see our danger to ourselves and act selflessly to overcome the darkest of our base behaviors to ensure the greatest numbers of survivors in the coming conflicts, rather than the tendency to sacrifice others for the benefit of a few. We've seen it in our history, The French Revolution, the Genocide of Indigenous North Americans, the Holocost, any colonization of a small government or economy by a larger. No one has ever accused humans of living Vulcan philosophy. We don't understand Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination so I'm not certain how we'd ever fully accept the good of the many outweighing the good of the few, or one.

I just finished watching First Contact, what I intended to be the first of a marathon for the Anniversary. First Contact is a stark reminder of things getting worse before they get better. World War III is the reason anyone felt like developing warp drive. It is true that we overcome in the end. The Borg do not succeed in their plans. We overcome the Borg but we never managed to overcome ourselves. We do not manage to overcome our own selfishness and destructive tendencies. When I look at the commentary on Twitter, or Facebook, regarding the state of affairs here and abroad, I wonder if we are even going to get to the point where anyone is able to survive a third world war.

Addition to the Blog list

It's been a long time since I have added anything to the blog list. But then, it has been a long time since I have found anything so fascinating. I did not know that Simon Pegg has a blog. Nor did I know that Simon Pegg was such a fantastic thinker and writer of his thoughts. I read one article in which he had to address some trolling that happened in one of those ridiculous clickbait articles. And I was absolutely spell bound. The footnotes (yeah, there's foot notes) were as entertaining as the main article.

Visit with Peggster. He's as entertaining as Uncle Wil.

Old Tradition Set Aside

Normally I would regret the laying aside of any deeply rooted tradition, especially one involving Sir Patrick Stewart. However, since the tradition started with a busted flat, empty social life and a desperate need to be by myself for the holidays and none of those things are exactly the conditions of my life at this time, I think I can cut myself some slack.

I had a cute little 2nd story apartment in the house I grew up in when the tradition started. It started out as a way for me to calm my nerves before I had to deal with the chaos of holiday schedules and the lectures that invariably came with family gatherings. Positioned on the camel back loveseat, surrounded by Victorian trappings of my choosing, with a plate of soft gingerbread cookies & lemon curd (thank you Michelle Ward for that flavor combo!) and some tea in one of Grama Ada's depression era cups, I settled in to listen to Patrick Stewart bring the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol to life while bathed in the glow of tree lights.

Good Afternoon!

Of course we all know the story of his one man play, performed yearly in London and how when it hit America during his tenure as Jean-Luc Picard on the Enterprise his fan base exploded with joy. I'd read the articles, seen the snippets on the talk shows, and that was all there was. This was pre-Internet kids. Literally about 4 years before Al Gore invented it. (What a rube!) There was no instant posting to YouTube, Facebook, Reddit etcetera. With the clamor behind these news items the capitalist wheel began to turn in an attempt to spread the joy & accumulate new wealth.

There was talk about making it a book on tape. Sold! Except it took a lot of years to materialize. When I was doing my paper route I had the lady who owned the Book-on-Tape store hunting for it for almost 4 years. And she did finally track it down. I bought that sucker right away. In the meantime Hallmark or TNT channel put it into production with Richard E. Grant and Dominic West in supporting roles. It was a truly amazing production and my favorite of all of them. And not just because the Captain is in it. It's an English Story and I think the first production I'd ever seen with a British cast. It wasn't just that though.... there was actually magic happening during that production and you could see it in the quality of the performances and the set design. I don't think anyone will ever make a better production.

When it was finally offered on DVD I snagged that right away too. And my tradition went from listening to watching.

Over the years I've changed as my circumstance changes. My reaction to the production (truly only a once a year viewing) has changed. When I began I rooted for the transformation. Dominic West is the perfect person to deliver Nephew Fred's lines because he is just naturally kind with a strength that other Fred's have lacked. Most people cast him as a skinny rail of a man to emphasize his relationship to Scrooge perhaps? But Dominic West is tall, broad, almost barrel, chested with a Bull in a China shop physique and the assuredness and self possession not to actually break things. He is physically modeled closer to the Ghost of Christmas Past. You connect him more to the natural affability of the specter and less to the misery Scrooge. And it works. As a viewer, I felt Fred's assertions that Christmas does much good for body and soul were the truest homily I had ever heard in my life. That was when I was content.

Over time I noticed that as life got more complicated and plans were upended, circumstances waned and all the things that I did to help myself were thwarted, that I aligned more with Scrooge. Could people not see the trappings leading them into the kind of poverty that Scrooge feared? Could no one see that while money is a necessary evil the emphasis should not be on evil but on necessary? As in worry less about damning your eternal soul because you want to live in a warm house and worry about how to keep your money long enough to own and heat that house.

Oh I hated Scrooge for his callous belief in work houses and asylums and the confident belief that those who can not take care of themselves should go there. There is a reason many people would rather die than go to one of those institutions..... institutionalized crime, it's insidious what can be done to another in the name of Christian charity. And yet, without knowing the conditions of the things that Scrooge supported he insists if one does not want to take the proffered help then one should die and decrease the surplus population. Indeed.

And being one of the surplus for so long in recent years, while I hated the callousness, I appreciated the sentiment and longed for the release that only the afterlife could bring. And so as I moved closer to thinking like Scrooge I found myself cringing at that wonderfully bubbly laugh. That laugh was the thing that I looked forward to most from the end of the production when I fist saw it. But I have changed.

With that change, it seems the only clear barometer for the progression is my reaction to A Christmas Carol. In that sense I am sad that I never found time for it this year. But a little relieved at the same time. I only barely came away with a handful of cookies to share, trees up (outside) and a lighted undecorated tree up inside before the season ended. I've lived without structure and the responsibility of home dwelling for long enough that I seem to have forgotten how to plan accordingly. So it is okay that this year did not have too many things going on at Christmas.

I exchanged one British tradition for another.... I spent the holidays with The Doctor and his message of hope and childlike wonder. And I prefer that, I think, to the war within me to cheer or condemn Scrooge. Perhaps next year we will add that back into the mix. Perhaps next year there will be a host of new traditions to enjoy....

Who knows?

an Illustration of Misbegotten Vanity

We live in a society where it is perfectly acceptable to say who you are. And to say it loud and proud. There is only one problem with this new age of self-advertising: some of us have absolutely nothing to be proud of. Please, be aware that your vanity plate, like your username on a website, says almost as much about you as your table manners on a first date. And a vanity plate makes you far more memorable than the average alpha-numeric scramble you get from the DMV. Take heed that what you are advertising is NOT your ignorance or casual disregard for personal safety.
 To illustrate:



This morning I was on my way into work. I drive a busy street to get to the quiet residential short cut. On this busy street I entered the left turn lane and assessed the traffic. A speeding fire truck was headed my way. The intersection I was stopped at is home to one of several metro fire houses. But there was no real way of knowing if it was headed home or moving onward to another fire house. The distance between it and the car that had just gone passed me was not enough to safely allow me to turn without causing distress for the engine driver regardless of where he was going. So I waited.

The car in the left turn lane behind me DID NOT! He cut the fire truck off and sped down the 25 MPH street trying to beat the light at the main thoroughfare. Stunned. Angered. And more furious than fast, I sped only a little to catch up to him. He missed the light and was sitting stopped behind another car. I got right up behind him, pen in hand ready to take down the license plate.

It was a vanity plate. Figures.

It read KHAAAN. No it doesn't.

KHAAAN. Yes it does.

Really? Really?!?!?!?!?!

No. NO. NO. NO. NO!!!!!!!!

Get out of my fan-verse you horrible hot-rodding fool!!!!!!!!!

You aren't Captain Kirk!!!!!!!!!!

That isn't the Enterprise!!!!!!!!!!

And if Karma really is a bitch the next stunt you pull like that will see your car stall in mid turn.


How hard is he going to be to remember? Not.

Of course perhaps it is not his fault. Perhaps he went to the Benedict Cumberbatch Driving School.*






*Now before you all decide to lynch me, let me point out that Ben himself is the harshest critic of his own driving skills based on his recent Top Gear "Star in the Reasonably Priced Car" segment.

First Words on Into Darkness

I've seen it twice. I loved it both times. And a more complete commentary is in the works. Right now I feel a pressing need to say something to Mr. Cumberbatch.

Sweetie, (can I call you that even if you've not played The Doctor on TV? hmm... )
It is my personal and considered* opinion that your "nude" scene was cut in deference to Mr. Pine. As Cumberbitches must out number Pinenuts at least 6-1 and your performance overshadowed that of the entire cast, the inclusion of your "nude" scene would have been his utter undoing.

I mean, my God man, you've worn nothing but a bed sheet and a snarky smile in a reasonable facsimile of Buckingham Palace as Holmes. How could you not have been "buff enough" as Harrison? No. It was to save Mr. Pine's honor and numbers that the scene was cut.

By the by.... where did you hide that ashtray? ;)

Looking forward to the next series of Sherlock,
Sincerely,
a Cumberbitch




*it is a considered opinion because I have spent a good deal of time considering it.