For most of us here, there was one Star Trek or another going on in the background (or closer) of our lives. Inevitably, we ended up with a few Star Trek stories.
Here are some of mine.
Story No. 1: Four on the Floor, a deeply funny Canadian comedy troupe, years ago did a ST skit. The Away team assembled, Kirk asked some random guy, “who are you?” “I’m the expendable crew member, sir.” And the redshirts are immortalised. One of the troupe put on a big straw sombrero, leaned over and held two big toy baseball bats along his body and ran around the stage going wooooooooo. He was the Enterprise. It was hysterical. I dearly wish I could find a picture, but alas, not.
2: Once I heard an ex-military guy grumbling about how the bridge behaviour on ST was all wrong, bridge officers would never mutter mutter. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes and say “it’s not a documentary, bozo.” This is an ongoing complaint of mine when professionals criticise things relating to their specialty in various forms of entertainment. Look. Things have to be tweaked a bit for dramatic (or comedic) purposes. Call it poetic license, if you want, but stop making show-offy criticisms. We KNOW plague vectors don’t behave like that. Shut up and enjoy the drama.
3: In early STNG episodes, people started noticing that Picard was always pulling down the front of his shirt in an authoritative I’m-about-to-do-something-captainy way. The actor said, “well, that year they made the shirts too short, they only just barely covered our stomachs.”
4: A while back, at a friend’s wedding reception, George Takei also happened to be in the hotel for some other function. He was walking by and noticed what was going on (everyone was getting sat down, the head table was all there). He popped in, introduced himself (unnecessary, of course, but evidence of good manners) and wished them the best. Did I witness this choice bit of history? Nope. I was finishing my drink in the bar and hadn’t got to the dining room yet. One of my life’s great regrets.
5: This post was prompted by someone yesterday posting some ST sweatshirts for sale online. I sent the link to a friend who has two sons, suggesting them for Christmas presents. She wrote back wondering what colour… not red, that would be bad juju,… also red is for the commanders and there was no way she (a single mother) was going to jeopardise her authority.
Five stories, that’s not bad, I’m surprised. Now it’s your turn. What are your Star Trek stories?
Image: Wikimedia Commons
