It’s been fifty years since Star Trek began its spectacular eleven-season run on NBC. In its heyday, it was one of the most-watched shows on television, and the final episode in 1977 had the highest ratings of any TV show except for the 1974 Beverly Hillbillies finale. Star Trek spawned two spin-off series and a movie, but since the 1970s, Star Trek’s popularity has waned, and it does not get the attention it deserves. Let’s look back at this science fiction icon. Continue reading
star trek
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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.
One of my earliest memories is staying up late with my mom in our dining room building a model of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-A, in case you’re wondering). Well, to be precise, I was watching and she was building at my behest. Although I eventually grew out of building starships in favor of more social activities, about six years ago I found my way back into the hobbyist world. Now I do some things half-assed, but when it comes to making models, I’m serious business.
I’ve decided to share my knowledge, gained through grime, sweat, tears, and blood, in the hopes of inspiring others to take up this most noble of pursuits. This will be a multi-part series, covering tools, materials, techniques, and whatever else seems interesting.
Welcome to my world. I am… THE HOBBYIST. Continue reading
Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams was recently quoted blasting the movie’s tie-in video game, saying: Continue reading
Star Trek Into Darkness is the latest entry in what has been characterized as director JJ Abrams’ revival of Star Trek. Re-assembling the cast from the 2009 blockbuster, Abrams and writers Damon Lindelof, Robert Orci, and Alex Kurtzman attempt to weave a tale of adventure, romance, and revenge. Unfortunately, this attempt is not only an utter failure; it’s also an assault upon the senses, and an insult to human intelligence. Warning: spoilers follow. Continue reading
Both Man of Steel, the Superman movie franchise reboot, and Star Trek released their third and possibly final full-length trailers. As a die-hard fan of both Superman and Star Trek, I cannot help but notice that these trailers present very divergent understandings of their respective source material. I look at both these trailers and think that both are visual feasts, but only the Man of Steel trailer gets the essence of the source material, while JJ Abrams’s Star Trek Into Darkness trailer highlights action and adventure, but precious little else to distinguish it from any other large-scale space opera. Continue reading
Well, anyone other than George Lucas directing the new Star Wars: Episode VII is a better choice than George Lucas shooting Jar Jar Binks into space again, but how do we feel about J.J. Abrams? More importantly how do we feel that Ben Affleck was in contention and Joss Whedon was never, ever going to do it, ever, it seems? NOOOOOOOOO! Continue reading
The trailer for the new Star Trek movie, the punctuationally-challenged Star Trek Into Darkness, is here at last. GIRD YOUR NERD LOINS AND PREPARE TO ENGORGE WITH NERD RAGE! Gawk at British thespian Bandersnatch Crustypants! Groan at the BWAP! noise from Inception, which all trailers are legally required to use! Shriek at the Space-fu jumping around! Gabble with anger with your nerdquaintances over who the villain is! Gape at the explosions and spaceship crashes! Yell at all the yelling!
Actually, it doesn’t look too bad. But seriously, it’s time to retire the Inception BWAP! noise. Please. Continue reading
Back in 1999, when we were all partying like that’s what year it was, a scrappy little cartoon came out from artist Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons. Groening followed his smashing success of The Simpsons, a commentary on The Nuclear Family, by presenting us with his stylized version of the future. This future included talking toasters, walking soda machines, Horrible Gelatinous Blob, evil giant brains and even a few mad scientists. In this future Groening pokes fun at the basic, sometimes constant, frustrations of living on (and around) Earth while also making fun of it. This cartoon is called Futurama and it is wonderful. Continue reading
Hey. Remember Star Trek? Remember how that show introduced us all the concept of warp engines that were powered by antimatter? We just got closer to making that a reality. Continue reading