Once Is Curiosity, Twice is Perversion...

The end of Star Trek....at least a pause

2005-05-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Another matter that has saddened me lately is the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise. Since I was 12 years old, there has been some incarnation of Star Trek cranking out new episodes weekly. My mother introduced me to the original Star Trek series, which was hard for me to get into with its very outdated sets and attitudes (particularly towards women). When Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted, I quickly became a fan. I remember participating in a letter writing campaign, which eventually succeeded in convincing producers to return the Enterprise-D's original chief medical officer, Dr. Beverly Crusher, instead of continuing with her lackluster replacement, Dr. Katherine Pulaski.

Then came Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which I relished throughout my college years. This show was a dramatic departure from anything I had become accustomed to with TNG. Initially, I had my reservations about the direction this show was headed, but my concerns were soon laid to rest. DS9 followed the wise premise that people are really layers of complexity, mixed shades of gray. The stories followed the characters dealing with "ends justify the means" scenarios. Several of the franchise's finest episodes were produced during DS9's seven year run, among them "In the Pale Moonlight" and "Far Beyond the Stars".

Unfortunately, DS9's successor to the spotlight was the poorly executed Star Trek: Voyager. Here was an amazing concept: a Starfleet vessel flung to the farthest edge of the galaxy with no obvious easy path home. In theory, this show would have been about survival against insurmountable odds....a Starfleet crew tested in ways no other had ever been. Alas, it fell flat on its face. First problem: the Voyager was stranded in the farthest edge of the Milky Way (theoretically, filled with some bizarre never-before-seen aliens) but all we saw week after week were humanoids with a funny bump or line or spots on their forehead. Second problem: the ship should have been forced to re-tool, re-wire, re-do everything and anything to keep it running for the journey home without the possibility of Federation supplies. When the Voyager made it home at the end of the seventh season, it looked like it just came off the factory line: shiny, polished, not a blemish on it. It should have been patched, banged up, scorched, whole decks uninhabitable. It became a pleasure cruise through the Delta Quadrant. Totally betraying its premise. Granted, there were some stellar episodes (very few and far between), but overall, the fact that it failed to live up to its own premise condemns this Star Trek series to failure.

Now, back to the present, and the focus of this post.....Star Trek: Enterprise. Another Star Trek show with a lot of awesome potential. Unfortunately, the same folks that were in charge of the disaster that was Star Trek: Voyager were responsible for the early years of Enterprise. The first few episodes of the premiere season offered a fresh take on Star Trek. Here was the very first human crew to venture out to encounter new lifeforms and civilizations. In theory, these characters and their dilemmas should be more relatable to audiences of the 21st century. Unfortunately, the series was soon besieged with re-hashed stories lines that were easy for even the most casual viewer to recognize as a re-tailored TNG or Voyager script. When the ratings took a serious plunge in the second season, the producers re-grouped and conducted an experiment (which had not been done since the glory days of DS9): have a year long serialized story arc. This story arch of the Xindi conflict in the third season was an obvious allegory to the current War on Terror. Although not the pinnacle of Star Trek stories, this was a welcome improvement over the previous two seasons. And that brings me to season four, which would become the last season of Enteprise....the year that new executive producer and head of the writing room, Manny Coto, took over. Manny Coto, an unabashed fan of the Kirk years, decided to write stories that connected the show better to the overall Star Trek landscape. What did we get? Stories about Vulcan reformation, the Eugenics Wars, ancestors of TNG characters, Section 31 seen previously on DS9, the Mirror Universe, unresolved Klingon questions.....everything to wet a fan's appetite. Sadly, this great transformation of an ailing Trek incarnation was too late to save it from extinction.

Last weekend, I watched the conclusion of a two part story arc, basically depicting how while humanity as a whole is trying to elevate itself intellectually, there are still those among us that need to f*$k s*%t up. Like Jerry Falwell pissing all over the Teletubbies and Spongebob, Star Trek created a wonderful, though underdeveloped, villain to embody the worst of humanity. This was a fitting sendoff for the crew of Enterprise. Still, the original influences of Star Trek (Rick Berman and Brannon Braga): Enterprise (during the crappy years) usurped the reigns from Manny Coto, and wrote the stand alone series finale, which has got to be the most horribly written hour of Star Trek television ever! And to make matters worse, they had to drag the TNG crew down with them. Riker and Troi are basically re-creating the final mission of the Enterprise NX-01 in the holodeck of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D. The scenes with Riker and Troi are fine, since TNG was a fine series and it brings back memories. The parts of the episode focused on Captain Archer and his crew are absolutely horrendous. The story that Rick and Brannon wrote is the biggest "F--- you!" to the fans, that I won't even dignify it with further commentary.

This will be the first time since I was 12, that there will be no new episodes of Star Trek being produced for television. Star Trek inspired me to go into science, that a brighter future could be created through scientific innovation. Now, my original source of inspiration has met its demise or is hopefully only in hibernation for a while. It leaves me in a melancholy mood. With all the anti-science anti-intellectual rhetoric being circulated in recent years, I hope that something will step up to the plate to be a positive role model for science and technology....something that will continue to paint a hopeful future for humanity. Star Trek has left a void. To quote Mr. Spock from the Original Series: "Nature abhors a vacuum".

WOW! Two posts in the same day....I'm in the writing mood for sure! Given that I'm high on coffee and I have been interrupted a total of 9 times in the course of writing these two posts, I doubt that my writing is very coherent (for which I apologize). All the same, my intentions are good. With any luck, someone can extrapolate some meaning out of my rants.

Until later....

Spoiled children....

2005-05-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

So, today I'm going to get a little political. Far be it from me to recklessly break rules of etiquette and discuss politics in mixed company! For all to know, I'm a registered Democrat....a very very moderate Democrat. In fact, if it wasn't for its constant pandering to the extremists of the religious right, I would likely be a Republican. There are several issues for which I think the Republicans have the right (no pun) approach. The major stumbling block has always been the religious right wing of the GOP.

For clarification, I was raised a Catholic, which means I should be an atheist by now. By some miracle, I continue to hold onto a glimmer of faith. I think that Jesus Christ was one of the most influential, charismatic, compassionate, and intelligent men to ever live. I sincerely believe that a great many of his most extreme and vocal followers are some of the most despicable men that have ever lived.

Now, that they believe they have a political "mandate", these right wing extremists are trying to push the Republican majority in Congress to eliminate one of the most fundamental checks and balances in the Senate: the filibuster. This is why I chose to post my commentary on this today, since this matter is quickly approaching a showdown in Congress. I believe it is the height of hypocrisy for the Republicans, who filibustered so many of former President Clinton's judicial nominees, to now turn around and suggest that it is unfair for the Democratic minority to do the same to President Bush's judicial nominees. The Family Research Council (a seriously conservative group) were on record on the radio back during Clinton's second term saying that the filibuster is the best thing ever when they blocked Clinton's appointee for the position of ambassador to Luxembourg because he was homosexual. Now, the FRC is saying the filibuster is actually "unconstitutional". They extolled it when it served their purposes, but now that their opponents are using it, it is a bad thing. If Senate Majority Leader Frist succeeds in passing the "nuclear option" (as the end to filibustering has been called), I guarantee he, along with a number of other Republicans will seek to strike it down should the Democrats regain majority control in future elections.

The Democrats have passed over 200 of President Bush's judicial nominees. They have only blocked 10...7 of which, Bush has re-nominated. The President and the Republican Majority are demanding that they all deserve to pass. It sounds like a bunch of spoiled children....they got a lot, but no, they want it all. And make no mistake, this really has nothing to do with the current list of extremist judges that Bush wants passed. This is all about a potential Supreme Court vacancy certain to occur during Bush's second term. This is the litmus test to see if he can fill that seat with a more-than-conservative judge. If Frist succeeds with the "nuclear option", there will be nothing stopping Bush.

At least recent polls suggest that the majority of Americans are not in favor of the change in Senate rules. If the Frist does pass the "nuclear option", I hope that the political fallout will see Democratic victories sweeping through the midterm elections in 2006.

Honestly, what happened to all the moderate Republicans? What happened to all the moderate Democrats for that matter either? I believe that the majority of Americans are like me, somewhere in the middle. Yet, our leaders seem to be pushing for policy that panders to the farthest wings of either party. Such actions are not healthy for the future of America. In fact, this actions are doing nothing less than polarizing and eventually tearing this country apart. Our leaders are so busy emphasizing the major differences between Democrats and Republicans, that they're overlooking the larger number of similarities.....similarities that can unite a nation instead of dividing it.

I worry for the future. I worry about such abuses of power. I worry about right wing extremists inflicting wicked hateful policies on the public.....and the assured incitation to uprising that would follow. Most of all, I worry about those Americans that fail to see what they're elected leaders are doing...or worse, those Americans that don't care. History is about to come bite us all in the ass.

This is a start....

2005-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

I can't say that I have ever really been a computer geek....well, maybe that's not entirely true. I do recall being quite computer savvy with the old Commodore 64 back in the day...then, this whole DOS thing happened, and I fell out of the loop. Anyone remember having to load a video game with load"*",8,1 ??? So, since the DOS and Windows revolution, I have not been a real computer whiz...sure, I can operate a computer, but I cannot program and cannot design my own webpage.

Still, the internet has evolved to be "THE" communications medium of the 21st century, and I figured that I should get on the boat before it leaves the harbor. This is my attempt to immerse myself in the continually burgeoning interent community. Share my thoughts, teach what I know, perhaps help others learn something from my own experiences.

And so here is my first "weblog"....ooooh, ahhh, so thrilling, eh? Well, more about me and this blog to come shortly....