Tag: Star Trek

Two Days, Not Three

Today is Sunday. I went into this weekend expecting to have a three day weekend. My beloved bride had a medical thing scheduled for tomorrow (Monday) and it was my job to get her there and back so I took the day off from work.

Well… she’s not feeling well today and it was recommended that she reschedule the appointment. I could keep the day off but my staff at work is going to be super short handed tomorrow so I have decided to cancel the time off request and go to work.

That sucks.

Change of subject…

The Patrick Stewart Memorial Star Trek the Next Generation Rewatch is nearing the end of season one. I have watched this show all the way through multiple times, but it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen this stuff. I remember the first two seasons being rough. It often took Star Trek series’ a few seasons to figure themselves out and Next Generation was the template for that. There are only a couple of major plot points from season one that affect the overall course of the series. They meet Q in the pilot episode. That’s one. Another is in episode 22 and I watched that one today. Spoiler alert for a nearly 40 year old show but Security Chief Tasha Yar gets wacked in episode 22.

Back in 1987 when this episode aired it was unusual for a TV show to off a main character. These days, in the post-Game of Thrones and Walking Dead world, main character deaths are common. I found it pretty funny that Star Trek actually followed one of the character death tropes. In the first scene of the episode Tasha has a really nice character moment. She’s talking to Worf, the guy who by episodes end takes over her job, and he says something nice about her and she lights up like she’s the happiest she’s ever been in her life. If you see that in an episode today it is GUARANTEED that the character’s death is imminent.

As I approach the end of the first season how has the show lived up to my memories of it? I remember thinking Denise Crosby (Tasha) and Marina Sirtis (Councellor Troi) were… lets just say they weren’t the best actors. Now? Maybe I’m just more forgiving than I was 30 years ago or so but I thought they were both fine. I didn’t have a problem with either of them. I remember thinking that Brent Spiner (Commander Data) needed some time to figure out his character and I think now that was probably accurate. I remember everyone on Earth hating Wesley Crusher but I didn’t have a problem with him. Now? Same. I don’t really get what all the fuss was about. He was a kid. He acted like a kid. He was normal. I thought he was fine. The thing I did not remember was Lavar Burton (Geordi Laforge) is absolutely killing it in season one.

I think I have 3–4 episodes left in season one. After that, obviously, we move on to season two… also known as the dark ages… the black hole… the Doctor Pulaski year. Yikes!

Change of subject again…

I have been playing guitar since the mid-1980s. When I first started playing, Star Trek the Next Generation had not premired yet. That’s how long I’ve been playing. I like to think that I have developed a certain level of skill. I’m not saying I’m good or anything, I just feel that I can play well enough that I can get stuff done. Why then does all of my skill vanish down the crapper every time I put down an electric guitar and pick up an acoustic guitar. I just suck. I suck so bad.

I’m working on this National Solo Album Month thing. I have 10 songs in progress. I am putting acoustic guitars on all of them. Not necessarily playing all the way through each song, but at some point there is an acoustic guitar part in every song. I’ve finished those parts on eight of the 10 songs and my playing is just awful. Terrible. I have worked all of the parts out in MIDI before I even looked at a real guitar and on a few ocassions I’ve actually had to dumb down the part so that I could get through it. Damn, do I suck.

And that, friends and neighbors, is the state of my Sunday night. Here’s hoping that work is quiet tomorrow and I don’t regret not keeping my day off. Fingers crossed.

Bill

I spent my day off today on two endeavors. First, November is National Solo Album Month and I have been working on some new songs even though I might be the only person on the internet taking part this year. My social media searches have come up empty. Oh well. One song in 3/4, one in 7/8, and one in 5/8. Can I write a whole album worth of music without using 4/4 time?

My second endeavor has been honoring the memory of Sir Patrick Stewart by rewatching all of Star Trek The Next Generation. I’m only on season one episode 11 and season one (and two) are a pretty tough go. Eventually though it will start firing on all cylinders and that will be groovy. I’m thinking seven seasons of Next Gen followed by four movies (I think) and then three seasons of Star Trek Picard.

I have watched all of these episodes before, multiple times, so why then do I have absolutely no memory of Counsellor Troi calling Commander Riker “Bill”? She’s done it twice. Why don’t I remember that? Everyone in the show calls him Will, but she’s calling him Bill? Crazy!

Unacceptable

Nope. This is completely unacceptable. I refuse to believe it. I refuse to accept it. I just plain refuse.

Patrick Stewart has passed away.

Thanks but no thanks. I refuse to live in a world that does not have Patrick Stewart in it. No. Losing Walter Koenig the other day was bad enough. My Star Trek loving soul cannot handle losing Jean Luc Picard as well. Enough already.

I refuse to accept this.

Walter Koenig

The Star Trek universe lost another actor today. Walter Koenig passed away at age 90. Of course, he was not an original member of the cast. His character, Pavel Chekov, doesn’t show up on the Starship Enterprise until the second season. That of course lead to a famous continuity error. Chekov does not meet Kahn when Kahn first shows up in the season one episode titled Space Seed. In the movie The Wrath of Kahn though, Kahn says he recognizes him and that he never forgets a face. I read a social media post today explaining that Koenig told a story of how he solved that continuity puzzle. Chekov was there during Space Seed, he was just locked in the bathroom most of time. That makes perfect sense to me.

The only other story involving Walter Koenig that I know of doesn’t exactly involve him. It involved a party at his house. Harlan Ellison (who wrote the best episode of Star Trek, City on the Edge of Forever… well… he wrote it then someone else rewrote it and massively dumbed it down and hacked it to bits, but whatever) was a friend of Koenig’s and while at a party at the Koenig house he got an idea for one of his better stories. He over heard someone ask someone else how Jeff was doing and the response was, “Jeff is fine. He’s always fine.” Ellison misheard this (on purpose?) as “Jeff is five. He’s always five.” That lead to a story called Jefty is Five about a boy who stops aging at five years old. He also based the character of Jefty on Koenig’s son.

I heard one more great story today. It was actually on the post where I first heard that he passed. Fellow Star Trek actor George Takei posted that Koenig was gone. He mentioned that when Takei married his husband in 2008, Koenig stood as Best Man for both of them. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I found that wonderful. What does it say about you as a person when both of them wanted you to be their Best Man.

Rest in peace Walter Koenig. Our Ensign Chekov. Traveling at warp speed, looking for those nuclear wessles.

Random Thoughts

A few random thoughts on this random Wednesday evening.

I believe there are 38 days left until my wife and I see Rush again. Cleveland. The first US city that broke Rush. The city whose response lead to them signing their first real record deal. 38 days to go.

I learned something about life on the third day post-double tooth extractions. Singing hurts. I didn’t have any pain on the day of the procedure. I didn’t have any pain on the day after. I felt a little confident on the third day and tried to record some vocal tracks for the 50 songs in 90 days challenge. Ouch, bro. Ouch. Having said that, they did tell me to expect day four to be the peak of pain and discomfort so maybe I’m just following the plan.

I’m not doing a liquid diet but I am doing a mostly liquid diet. I’m just playing it safe. I bought a chocolate protein shake mix. The label says to mix it with cold water. Its okay with water, but it is 100 times better when mixed with skim milk. Unfortunately, the mix doesn’t really… mix… with milk. Probably 3/4 of it mixes okay but the rest… lets just say that the protein shake is a smidge on the chunky side.

Did I like the third season of House of the Dragon? I was fully on team Black after season two, but in season three the Blacks were kinda dicks and now I don’t know who I’m rooting for. Weird. At least I’ll have time to figure it out before season four comes out… two freakin’ years from now.

We are three episodes in to the new season of Star Trek Strange New Worlds and I am loving it. The first episode was a great time travel story. The second was a great full blown haunted house horror story that was creepy as fuck. The third episode was basically The hangover and featured David Foley from The Kids in the Hall, confirming that Kids and Star Trek are in the same universe… as if there was ever any doubt. Episode four comes out tomorrow and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Okay… that’s the state of Robert’s world tonight. It’s 8:36pm and this old fart is ready for bed. G’night, all!

Haiku for You #259

Star Trek points out that,
I’m an emotional wreck.
Thank you, Strange New Worlds.

Season three of Star Trek Strange New Worlds wrapped up today and for the second time this season I found myself balling my stupid dumb eyes out like a little 23rd century baby.

April 1st

Oh shit… it’s April Fools Day. Never have I ever had less interest in playing along with this bullshit. The fascist states of america is already filled to bursting with fools and idiots and pure, unadulterated evil. Why anyone would think fake stories on the internet is entertaining during times like these… I just don’t get it.

Change of subject. The Red Sox are off today. We will be spared the slaughter and the constant strike outs. In five games thus far this season the team has struck out 123644258686134 times with about 86358629357 being Devers alone. Unfortunately, the Bruins are not off tonight. They will be annihilated by the Capitals. Times are tough in Boston sports-land these days. Why not? Times are tough everywhere.

Change of subject again. When was the original Star Trek given the Star Wars Special Edition treatment? After finally getting through Star Trek the Animated Series the other day, I decided to watch the original show all the way through. I’m through the two pilots and up to episode five now. I just watched Sulu take on the bridge with a sword while the Irish guy sings badly over the ship’s PA. I’m a little put off by most, if not all, of the exterior shots of the Enterprise being replaced by CGI. When did that happen? It doesn’t affect the episodes at all, but I still kinda don’t like it. I want my 1960’s models back. I want the pure form of the show back, even if it is less impressive and cheesy looking.

Change of subject again, again. Sticking with television, what is the deal with the month of April? We have the start of new seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale, Andor, The Last of Us, and Doctor Who. We’ll also see the last two episodes of Yellowjackets this month. This feels like collusion. This feels like the television industry conspiring to keep me from sleeping for the foreseeable future.

Again with the change of subjects again, again. I did not participate in the RPM Challenge’s Record Every Month thing. I wanted to. I was going to. I just didn’t. I’m thinking of maybe compensating for my failure by trying to do an April album in a month instead. Write and record 35 minutes worth of new music before the month ends. Will I be able to muster up the motivation? Probably not, but let’s give it a shot, eh?

Okay. Time to go and get ready for work. Welcome to April. Stay away from those damn April Fools jokes. It’s going to be a long and painful day on the ol’ internets. Good luck, everyone.

Now What?

It finally happened today. After over a year’s worth of effort the Great X-Files Rewatch Adventure finally came to an end.

I finished season 11. 11 seasons and two movies and the rewatch is complete.

Now what?

Part of me wants to go back to Star Trek. Jen and I started watching Voyager. I already rewatched Deep Space Nine. the original series and The Next Generation have both been rewatched numerous times in the past. Do I want to rewatch one of those again? Maybe. I don’t know. Enterprise? I don’t know. I was really not liking that show in the last year or so. Maybe I should give it another try?

Maybe I’ll poke around Netflix looking for some science fiction and if I don’t find anything that jumps out at me I’ll give Enterprise another look.

I’ll let you know.

Spoiler Free Review of Last Night’s Doctor Who

A new episode of Doctor Who, entitled Rogue, was released last night on Disney+ (for those of us in the ol’ U.S.of.A.) and as soon as I finished watching it I posted something on Threads about it. Something like a very short spoiler free review. Allow me to share an excerpt:

…that popping sound you’re hearing? That’s the sound of homophobic brains exploding, all over the world.

heh heh heh

Sorry. I just find bigotry to be so ridiculous that I have to make fun of it when I can.

Also, Doctor Who may suffer from the most toxic fan base in the entire entertainment industry. I used to think Star Trek fans were bad, then Star Wars came back and the toxicity made Star Trek look like cute cuddly kitties. Then I started watching Doctor Who and the level of toxicity spewing from the show’s “fans” made Star Wars look like a picnic in the park on a sunny summer’s day.

I am not going to say that I am looking forward to the hate vomit that this week’s episode is sure to produce, but I am looking forward to being able to use the response to the episode to block a whole ton of scumbags on social media. That’s what I call a bright side!