Star Trek

[canuck31003]

Let's see, what's another great TNG episode.... I actually I'll have to go with a sequence of episodes.

First is the introduction of the Borg - they have to one of the greatest sci-fi villains. Picard tells Q that the Federation is ready to face whatever is out there. Oops. Q sends the Enterprise to the far cosmos where they meet the Borg - a biological/machine hybrid-hive mind that "assimilate" everything they come in contact with. Anywhoo, Picard admits to Q that he was wrong, and Q sends them back home. But the Borg now know of the existence of the Federation....

And in what has to be some of the all-time top TNG episodes, The Best of Both Worlds, Part I and II, the 3rd season finale and 4th season premiere, respectively. The Borg finally arrive in Federation space.

"Resistance is futile" -- Locutus of Borg.

Edit. Oh yeah, the ep Family, following Best of Both Worlds II, was pretty darned good, too. Picard deals with trauma of being assimilated by the Borg.

Edit2. Aaaargh. Once I start going down memory lane a lot more wonderful episodes come to mind. One of them, Drumhead, is about an explosion, a spy, and the witch hunt that follows. At the end, Picard talks to Worf about the subtle, continual danger of people who spread fear and suspicion in the name of righteousness, and that we have to be continually vigilant against that threat. The path of limited freedom, I think he said. A particularly apt lesson in the current times, I think.

[TransWarpDrive]

Sounds like what JJ Abrams and Co. are doing now...

Yes, so I have heard, but could you show me something where either him, one of his crew, or Paramount specifically calls it a reboot or a reimagining or something similar? I've seen it called such in a lot of places, but never straight from the horse's mouth. It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I'd like to be sure that isn't just an assumption on the part of the fandom. I've checked what Abrams and his bunch have said, and they refuse to come straight out and call it that.

Well, perhaps they didn't call it a "reboot," per se. What I meant was that Abrams & Co. are trying to revitalize the franchise by going back to the period of the Original Series, and doing a story that hopefully recaptures its spirit. Of course, they had to cast all new actors to play Kirk, Spock, and the rest due to old age and death taking their toll on the original performers. From what I've seen of the production stills, the new players each bear a close resemblance to their OS predecessors - especially the young man playing Spock, as well as the lady cast as Uhura. Leonard Nimoy's wife even commented on how the resemblance between her husband and Zachary Quinto was "uncanny."
It remains to be seen how well these actors can portray the "Classic Trek" characters - they've got some mighty big shoes to fill...

[Mr Birthday]

Well, perhaps they didn't call it a "reboot," per se. What I meant was that Abrams & Co. are trying to revitalize the franchise by going back to the period of the Original Series, and doing a story that hopefully recaptures its spirit. Of course, they had to cast all new actors to play Kirk, Spock, and the rest due to old age and death taking their toll on the original performers. From what I've seen of the production stills, the new players each bear a close resemblance to their OS predecessors - especially the young man playing Spock, as well as the lady cast as Uhura. Leonard Nimoy's wife even commented on how the resemblance between her husband and Zachary Quinto was "uncanny."
It remains to be seen how well these actors can portray the "Classic Trek" characters - they've got some mighty big shoes to fill...

TWD, I hope I don't sound condescending or anything like that, but given what Abrams has actually said about the project, it doesn't sound like it's a reboot at all. Just a new OS-era story with new actors, through it might retcon some things. That is very different from what JMS and Zabel proposed.

[Rob]

Well, SciFi's going to be airing "Fan Favorites" of TNG on Mondays. Enterprise is being pushed to Tuesdays in the interim...

Here's the TNG schedule through June (Mondays, 7-11 PM)
6/2:
The Naked Now
The Big Goodbye
The Arsenal of Freedom
Skin of Evil

6/9:
Elementary, Dear Data
The Measure of a Man
Time Squared
Q Who?

6/16:
Deja Q
A Matter of Perspective
Yesterday's Enterprise
Sarek

6/23:
The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1
The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2
Family
Brothers

6/30:
First Contact
Galaxy's Child
Qpid
The Drumhead

[TransWarpDrive]

Well, perhaps they didn't call it a "reboot," per se. What I meant was that Abrams & Co. are trying to revitalize the franchise by going back to the period of the Original Series, and doing a story that hopefully recaptures its spirit. Of course, they had to cast all new actors to play Kirk, Spock, and the rest due to old age and death taking their toll on the original performers. From what I've seen of the production stills, the new players each bear a close resemblance to their OS predecessors - especially the young man playing Spock, as well as the lady cast as Uhura. Leonard Nimoy's wife even commented on how the resemblance between her husband and Zachary Quinto was "uncanny."
It remains to be seen how well these actors can portray the "Classic Trek" characters - they've got some mighty big shoes to fill...

TWD, I hope I don't sound condescending or anything like that, but given what Abrams has actually said about the project, it doesn't sound like it's a reboot at all. Just a new OS-era story with new actors, through it might retcon some things. That is very different from what JMS and Zabel proposed.

Since I really don't know what JMS and Zabel proposed, I can't compare them with Abrams and his project. But you're right; it's not a reboot. Thus I cheerfully admit my error. And don't worry - you don't sound condescending.

[Mr Birthday]

Since I really don't know what JMS and Zabel proposed

You don't know what they proposed? TWD, I included a link to the PDF of their proposal in my first post in this thread. So read up, man. Now, since I've never really watched Dark Skies, I can't comment on Zabel's involvement, but as for JMS... what can I say? The creator of Babylon Five wanting to do a Trek reboot? Too bad Paramount didn't act on the idea.

And don't worry - you don't sound condescending.

Well, that's good to know.

[canuck31003]

Another great TNG episode is Chain of Command (two episodes, if I remember correctly). Picard is captured and tortured by Cardassians.

A few key scenes stick out for me. The first, I liked Captain Jellico. He did things differently, but he was competent and knew what he was doing. He got no respect. For shame, Riker!

The second needs a little background. Picard's torturer tries to break Picard by making Picard say there are five lights, when in reality there are only four. This goes on for days/weeks(?) and finally Picard is at his limit. Mr. Torture asks Picard again how many lights there are and this time Picard is silent... will he or won't he? Just when I think Picard is going to speak, another Cardassian barges in the room, demanding Picard's release (as part of a peace/cease-fire agreement with the Federation). Picard turns to Mr. Torturer and hoarsly shouts, "There are... FOUR lights!". Powerful.

The third and last scene made me sit up and think. Picard is back in command of Enterprise, talking privately to Counselor Troi about his ordeal. He relates to Troi the whole "how many lights" thing, and she responds, to paraphrase, "But, you didn't break, you said there were four lights."

Picard: "Yes, but standing there... I actually saw... five lights." Fade-to-black. Wow.

[Rob]

One thing I haven't done in a long, long time, that I used to do a lot, is come up with my own starship designs.

A lot of them would be based on existing canon and non-canon designs, but a couple were fairly original (or, at least, I thought so).

One I did in high school was a slightly larger variation of a movie-era Constitution-class, which I named the U.S.S. Vindicator (after Heather Hudson of Alpha Flight). I imagined myself as captain, but never actually wrote down any such Mary-Sue fic, just the designs of the ship itself. (Can't remember the registry number I gave it, but it would've been somewhere in the 2000s...)

About ten years ago, I began working on an expanded version of the Danube-class runabout, which I dubbed the St. Lawrence Project. The concept was a larger runabout, designed for extended missions, which could also be converted for VIP transport (useful in a situation such as the Dominion War, where starships aren't readily available to serve as transports). I came up with a four-person crew for the prototype, consisting of two humans, a Betazoid, and an Andorian.

Two stories that I came very close to committing to paper, though, did involve a lot of design work. One was a scenario in which the U.S.S. Defiant NCC-1764 was found in the 24th century (this was years before "In A Mirror, Darkly"), and survivors were actually found aboard, having utilized an experimental cryogenic escape pod system (freeze 'em until they're rescued, conserving life-support energy, at least in theory). The designs here were in the cryo-pod systems, which went through several revisions.

The second one dealt with a "what-if" scenario, in which a Starfleet officer thought to have been killed off years ago, was not actually the real officer, but an alien who'd taken her place, and due to the alien's abilities, had even managed to duplicate her memories as well as her physical being (right down to the cellular structure), thus being able to fool everybody until "her" untimely death. The real officer had been left behind on a civilian vessel that was sabotaged; she was knocked out, and the alien had decided to take her place to try to help save some of the crew and passengers. The rest, along with the officer, crash-landed on a distant planet, and they ended up having to make new lives for themselves. The challenge was in creating the ship, and I went through so many different designs, I ended up giving up because I just couldn't be satisfied with any of them for the story needs.

I *might* still have a few of my sketches somewhere, but I have so much stuff in storage boxes, and some of it I believe actually ended up in my sister's storage unit.

[canuck31003]

Wow, too bad you don't have those sketches on hand to post. My Star Trek fandomness was limited to reading fan fiction. I've always wanted to go to a convention but the location/timing was always off.

[Rob]

I went to a number of conventions in the late 80s and early 90s. Most of them were held in Dearborn back in the day, but there was one event featuring Shatner and Nimoy together (the 25th anniversary tour) that was held out at the Palace of Auburn Hills. I do actually have an autographed photo of Jimmy Doohan - that's put away as well, but I'm tempted to go dig that out...

I haven't been to a Star Trek con in a long time, though, and I don't think they even come around here anymore... but then, I've got Youmacon (the anime convention) each year now, so I can still get my fix of crazy, and without Klingons! (I just have to watch out for tackle-glompers, though.)