I have a think-piece in the magazine this week in which I think thoughts about Star Trek. Kind of a mental shake-down in preparation for the reboot. Fun fact: this marks the very first time Ro Laren's name has appeared in Time magazine.
In the piece I invoke the TNG episode "Cause and Effect," which is my all-time favorite Star Trek episode. I just re-watched it on YouTube -- see below. Totally holds up. Just listen to Riker say "Decompress the main shuttle bay -- the explosive reaction may kick us out of the way" four times in one episode. Each time he gives it a slightly different emphasis. That man is a professional.
Though Crusher's lonely-widow lifestyle is hella depressing.
I'm guessing that Beverly was the Ellen Tigh of TNG.
Church
Apr. 24, 2009 13:01:pm
at 13:01:pm
Glad I'm not the only fan of this episode. Of course I tend to love the "Groundhog Day" style episodes (see: Stargate SG-1) for some odd reason.
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I'm a bit hesitant to see J.J.'s take on the original series, but I may see it anyway because I loved Alias and Lost. It's definitely tearing me apart.
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Oh, and hooray for the Ensign.
gmiverson
Apr. 24, 2009 13:28:pm
at 13:28:pm
Wait wait wait Church, you've been giving Grossman crap for not watching BSG, but you've never watched TNG? Nerd card please.
yogi
Apr. 24, 2009 13:59:pm
at 13:59:pm
Stop the presses. What's this nugget buried in the article?
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"The new Battlestar Galactica was a triumph."
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Either you've been fibbing to us about watching or you just declared something you didn't watch a triumph. Sir, I declare shennigans.
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And on a random note, I love the Cause & Effect episode of TNG, too, but I think my all time favorite Trek may be a somewhat similar time travel DS9 episode where Sisko gets unstuck in time after a warp core accident, and he keeps randomly showing up in his son's future for just a few minutes at a time over the years. The son ultimately ruins his entire life trying to save Sisko. Anyone know the name of that episode? I'd like to find and watch it again, but am too lazy to do all the research.
Kemper
Apr. 24, 2009 14:10:pm
at 14:10:pm
Well done! Articulates my feelings well, as well. Well, we'll do well to wait; Trek could well be an infinite well of anti-Orwellian Wellisan fantasy. Trek crap just wells up out of Paramount, yet it bodes well that even the bad ones are well-off. But this well cooked version could equally well push Trek down the stairwell to a well-deserved oblivion, and I'd be welcome to a well-made farewell to the series. But as Shakespeare says, all's... OK, I may well not be well.
dennitzio
Apr. 24, 2009 14:13:pm
at 14:13:pm
Trials and Tribble-ations is the best DS9 episode. It's a scientifically proven fact.
gmiverson
Apr. 24, 2009 14:30:pm
at 14:30:pm
I've only actually seen this episode one time. I had a terrible migrane the night it first aired on my local UHF station, and was pretty much screaming for death by the time it was over. Despite the fact that I'm pretty much done with Trek, I was tempted to give this ep another try but - I'm not making this up - I've got another migrane today. Seriously. Damn the luck.
republibotthreepointoh
Apr. 24, 2009 15:30:pm
at 15:30:pm
Hmm... I f33l stupid now. I watch3d this on th3 3mb3dd3d clips wh3n it was on my Star Tr3k Alt3rnate R3aliti3s Coll3ctiv3 th3 whol3 tim3.
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By th3 way, do you think Data might hav3 acc3ss to my wi-fi conn3ction? I s33m to notic3 an unusual numb3r of thr33s.
tereglith
Apr. 24, 2009 20:57:pm
at 20:57:pm
Oh Lev, I almost feel bad for you considering the constant BSG badgering, but then you keep doing this to yourself. I mean, that first clip has "Co Producer, Ronald D Moore" right in the freeze frame. You're really forcing our collective hand here.
anon76
Apr. 24, 2009 21:50:pm
at 21:50:pm
@yogi: Why would you think that? I'm just imagining what was going on offscreen.
@anon76: I know. It's like that's why he chose it.
Church
Apr. 24, 2009 22:23:pm
at 22:23:pm
@Kemper: You were referring to a time-travel DS9 episode known as "The Visitor". It was the third show in the fourth season, and one of DS9's finest most emotional hours, in terms of story and acting. Cirroc Lofton and Avery Brooks were at their best. It's sad to remember that despite averting the time travel incident, Jake's worst fear would still be realized by the series finale, at the end of season 7.
Nice nod to Battlestar, by allowing Ron's name on the first Youtube screencap. But it's Brannon Braga who deserves the recognition for writing Cause and Effect. It was his idea to write a time travel story without having to deal with the screwed up timeline concept. For all the bad rap he gets as the guy who helped kill Star Trek, he still proves to be a terrific screenwriter and producer, even to this day. He's been doing an admirable job this season, on 24, alongside former Enterprise producer Manny Coto.
eduardojencarelli
Apr. 25, 2009 00:46:am
at 00:46:am
"It's like one of Philip K. Dick's epistemological passion plays..." -- funny you should say that, Lev. In fact there's a PKD story with exactly that plot:
A Little Something for Us Tempunauts .
korydg
Apr. 25, 2009 03:29:am
at 03:29:am
@Church: Crusher wasn't the Ellen Tigh of TNG. She was devoted, not a Cylon, not adulterous, not complacent, needy vacillator. But off screen Church, well then it very well may be. I tend to agree with your posts and the ones I don't agree with, I consider none the less. Church I can't wait for the last season of BSG to come out of DVD, I am switching internet providers and catch up online.
Lev, either your brilliant or asking for more criticism, I believe it to be the former. No show is one person (specifically one producer). I think eduardojencarelli makes the fine point that great script and story ideas don't come from one man.
Nice, Philip K Dick story reference, I am still a late comer to PKD's work so when I first saw Cause and Effect I never knew the possible references.
DS9, unfortunately I was never really a fan. At the beginning of the series, DS9 seemed too much like Babylon 5; I preferred the Original, TNG, some of the later Voyager. But I think I will pick up the series after learning it improved near the end. Make it so, so say we all.
lostepic
Apr. 25, 2009 05:57:am
at 05:57:am
Addendum, I too am wary of Abrams vision of Star Trek, but I will still see it and I hope that it is like the LOTR. Love the books, love the films, and I separate the two, books better but I see the films in a different light. I hope it ends up like that. I will say this I am tired of time travel as a means to tell a story. Every series exhausted the theme, all thinking they had a twist on the concept. Hearing that Abrams movie is sitting on a time travel/parallel universes, leaves me flustered.
"Jacks! No help for the Klingon." Worf's face. Priceless.
Question, in a world (earth that is) with out money, what are they betting?
The ensign, she looks awfully a lot like the Vulcan traitor in Star Trek VI undiscovered country. If it is her I wouldn't be surprised, it happened a lot actors playing different roles on different series or previous series.
lostepic
Apr. 25, 2009 06:09:am
at 06:09:am
Not to get to meta here, but this has got to be the most hard-core nerdiest discussion ever on Nerd World. You need to write more Star Trek/Philip K Dick/Star Wars blog entries! I can almost see Comic Book Guy chiming in. However, I did have to look up who Ronald D Moore is.
dennitzio
Apr. 25, 2009 20:36:pm
at 20:36:pm
Dennitzio: Yeah but all we'd get from Comic Book Guy is: Worst. Post. Ever. Probably because he didn't write it first.
gmiverson
Apr. 25, 2009 20:54:pm
at 20:54:pm
"You need to write more Star Trek/Philip K Dick/Star Wars blog entries! "
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So say we all.
Church
Apr. 25, 2009 23:17:pm
at 23:17:pm
Cool, so that's the USS Bozeman episode. Might not mean much to you lot, but Bozeman happens to be my home town, as it is to Mr. Braga, and the hailing the USS Bozeman clip is run incessantly as station ID for one of the local radio stations. Braga also gave a shout out to the home town in Star Trek: First Contact, as Bozeman was the location for the first Human-Vulcan encounter. And knowing that? Well, knowing that is one of the things that gives me (take notes Mr. Grossman): Nerd Cred. Stick that in your high-and-mighty PKD pipe and smoke it!
anon76
Apr. 27, 2009 07:26:am
at 07:26:am
@ eduardojencarelli - Thanks for the episode title.
Kemper
Apr. 27, 2009 09:15:am
at 09:15:am
Here's the deal: My experiences with Trek probably paralel most of you out there with religion: Brought up in it, love it, excited by it, hit college and then start to question things - fundamentally stupid-seeming things, like why no one ever thought to take a camera along on an Away Team, or even include one in a communicator, or the flagrant immorality of the prime directive - and you start to wander away. By the time you get out of college it's got little to do with your life, and no particular relevance beyond nostalgia and a feeling of safety, so you continue to try it out now and again, but it feels passionless and empty, and you realize that you've just lost the faith. For me, that happened between the 3rd season of DS9 and the 2nd season of Voyager. I just could not force myself to give a frack about Trek, and though it lingered for a decade or so after that, I never watched it.
And now they've got this paralell-universe reboot thing with these great previews, and how dare they do that? How dare they make me question my atheism on the subject? How dare they make me feel all squiggly inside? How dare they make Trek look like something that wouldn't make me yawn?
I'm still not going to see it, though. I've got principles.
republibotthreepointoh
Apr. 27, 2009 09:53:am
at 09:53:am
@republibotthreepointoh: As I said before I will still see Abrams Star trek but I vehemently disagree with the use of an ad that flashed several scenes before you and then in big words say "This is not your Fathers Star Trek". Now they just alienated their fan base. With out the fan base the movie would flop. If everyone who even likes Star Trek on any level didn't see the movie no one would but the critics. I was just talking to my friends the other day, when wolverine comes out on the same day as Star Trek and for the life of me I couldn't remember, but responded "if they do I would rather see star trek and wait until the next week to see wolverine." Friends' response, "that's because you're a star trek geek. No you're just a geek"
Agreed with the DS9 and Voyager. Enterprise had great potential but never seemed to get off the ground for me. I still saw Nemesis in the theater despite the reviews. I love Picard's character that much.
lostepic
Apr. 28, 2009 05:32:am
at 05:32:am
@RB3.0: I hear you, but after seeing the last trailer (the McCoy one) I'm ready for an old-time revival, myself.
Church
Apr. 28, 2009 13:08:pm
at 13:08:pm
@lostepic: Isn't "This is not your Father's Star Trek" just a play on the Oldsmobile commercial with Nimoy and daugher "This is not your Father's Oldsmobile"? I think that rather than a play away from the fan-base it's a hyper-meta-coded play to the most hardcore (nerdcore?).
anon76
Apr. 28, 2009 15:53:pm
at 15:53:pm
@anon76: One can only hope that you are right. When I heard from Abrams very lips that his intent for his Star Trek was to bring new fans and revitalize the franchise, I thought well that's great and all so long as you don't drastically change the roots of the series. Then I saw the TV spot. I hope your right that it's a "hyper-meta-coded play" to the "nerdcore", Abrams and co. are nerds themselves that I think they would do such a obscure reference. But one would think they would have Nimoy say it so it harkens back to the commercial. Frankly, I never saw the commercial, nor was aware of the line. And considering the line "This is not your Father's Oldsmobile" has little reference to any other Star Trek references I find it hard to believe that Abrams and Co. were making a obscure reference of a line that is not necessarily synonymous with Star Trek lore.
lostepic
Apr. 29, 2009 05:44:am
at 05:44:am