My Star Trek Year

Cardassians Comedy & Captain's Chairs

Episode One - Garak gets busted for a DUI and is caught on tape assaulting the officer and blaming his troubles on Klingon bloodwine. The Cardassians are accused of using photon torpedoes on paparazzi who are trying to snap photos of them at the Playboy Mansion...

More of the Episode Guide to Keeping Up With the Cardassians at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

Thinking about building or buying a Star Trek captain's chair? As the New York Times noted recently, you're not alone. To buy a replica at Amazon (for the low, low price of $2,717.01) click here.

Image: Diamond Select

My Star Trek Year (And Then Some)

If you're not calendarically (?) challenged you've probably figured out that the "year" referenced in the name of this site has come to an end. I haven't achieved my goal of watching every Star Trek episode during 2008 (all 700+ of them). I've only managed to take in just under 400 so far, thank you for asking. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the original game plan was to watch all Star Trek episodes (and movies) in 2008 and cap things off with a viewing of the new Star Trek movie. That was originally slated for a December release. The last I heard, the new movie is premiering in May, so I'll keep this project going until then. Rather than go with something awkward - like my Star Trek 16 Months, or whatnot - the name will remain the same. 

Image: Andrews McMeel

Shatner Bio, Raw Nerve, Captain's Log

Given the recent dearth of Star Trek episodes that I haven't seen yet, here's some other Trek-related TV stuff. 

Would Shatner have been the subject of a BIO special if he had never been Captain Kirk? We'll never know, but though this episode touches on many of his other projects, Star Trek still remains the focus. 

Raw Nerve is yet another of those Shatner projects - one of his latest. Airing on BIO, it presents Shatner as a talk show host, of sorts, who does a relatively in-depth interview with one guest per show. In the case of the sole episode I saw, it was Tim Allen.

Captain's Log is also hosted by Shatner, who joins an assortment of other TOS principals to muse upon the significance and importance of the show. A rather ho-hum exercise. 

Image: BIO Channel

(viewed 11/29 - 12/04/2008)

YouTube - DJ Spock

It's DJ Spock on the wheels of steel. Yes, it's frivolous time-wasting courtesy of YouTube, but only about a minute's worth.

MSTY Progress Report: 10.27.2008

With about two months left in 2008 - My Star Trek Year - it's become apparent that I'm not going to make my goal. That, of course, being to watch all 730-odd episodes of the five Star Trek series and all of the Star Trek movies in the course of one year. 

Not that I'm giving up, mind you. It's just that the "year" is obviously going to have to stretch farther than one actual calendar year. The biggest problem with the project right now is availability. Thanks to my DVR and TV Land, Spike and the SciFi Channel, I managed to track down most episodes of The Original Series, Voyager and Enterprise. SciFi also showed a batch of The Next Generation episodes, but that source has dwindled a bit.

I still have to watch all of Deep Space Nine, probably at least three fourths of TNG and a few scattered episodes of Voyager and Enterprise. Which is an attainable goal if I avail myself of the services of NetFlix. Which is what I'll most likely end up doing. But, given the fact that this is a spare-time, mostly for fun, type of project, I haven't been able to commit to adding one more logistical challenge to my life lately. 

My revised goal is for My Star Trek Year to stretch out a bit. If needed, I'll go all the way to May 2009. This, as Star Trek fans surely know, is the projected premiere date for the new movie. So it'll really be more like My Star Trek Year and a Half. Which sounds really dumb, so I'll stick with the current name. 

Stay tuned.

Image: Donruss Trading Cards

TV - Star Trek Tech

What Star Trek gadgets are doable? Of the ones that are not completely farfetched, how close are we to achieving them? Lawrence Krauss (The Physics of Star Trek) hosts, and various smarty-pants types weigh in, along with a few behind the scenes Star Trek people and a smattering of series actors. 

(viewed 07/29/2008)

14 Borg Catchphrases That Didn't Make The Cut

14 Borg Catchphrases That Didn't Make The Cut
By William I. Lengeman III

14. I'm not just the president of the Cybernetic Implant Club, I'm also a client.
13. If this cube's a rockin', don't come a knockin'.
12. Hey, hey, we're the Borg.
11. We are the Borg. Lower your shields and show us your tits.
10. I'd like to teach the world to sing.
9. Assimilation - it does a body good.
8. Strength is irrelevant. U can't touch this.
7. I wish this cube was going to Hardees.
6. Gas, grass or assimilation - nobody rides for free.
5. This is your brain. This is your brain on nanoprobes.
4. No fat chicks.
3. Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?
2. Resistance is probably not gonna get you anywhere, but go ahead and give it a shot if it'll make you feel better. Just don't say we didn't warn you.
1. Prepare to be tickled.

More Offbeat Star Trek Links

Klingon Happy Meal Ad
Star Trek Star Charts Index
Star Trek: The Continuing Mission
The Collective: Weird Trek
The Computers of Star Trek
The History of Poisoning in the Future: Lessons from Star Trek
Star Trek Writing Standards

Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon

Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon
Michael Jindra
Sociology of Religion (Spring, 1994)

Is Star Trek fandom essentially a religion? That's the issue author Michael Jindra set out to explore in a 1994 article that appeared in the journal, Sociology of Religion.

Jindra's writing is more accessible than most of this hoity-toity intellectual type stuff. However, this article isn't likely to be of much interest to Star Trek fans, since much of it is devoted to explaining what fandom is.

Jindra concludes that "ST fandom does not seem to fit the more restrictive, substantive definition of religion that posits belief in a deity or in the supernatural," but says that it does "have some commonalties with broader definitions of religion that come under the rubric 'quasi-religions,' such as Alcoholics Anonymous and New Age groups."

The author goes on to say that "ST fandom has strong elements of a 'civil religion,'" which is described as "a 'generalizing' of religious belief necessary to have an integrated society, as a counter to 'pluralizing' trends that divide society."

Read Jindra's article here.

Offbeat Star Trek Links

Here are a few offbeat Star Trek items I've run across recently.

Klingon Language Institute
Nazis On Star Trek
Phaser Remote Control
Star Trek Funerary Products
Star Trek Neckties
TOS Stars Sing

Colbert Report - Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy Interview
The Colbert Report
Comedy Central

"Can I call you Len?"

Colbert "rips" Nimoy for The Full Body Project, his book of photographs of heavy women. Serious geeks will surely notice that "Len" closes the segment with a Vulcan greeting.

(viewed 02/14/2008)