Fandom

Star Trek Inspired

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6-0

Star Trek Turns 60

I was born three months after Star Trek premiered in 1966, and today they will celebrate their 60th birthday while mine is still a couple of months off. I don’t imagine that I watched the premiere or the original seasons live, but in my mind I watched it live. I have always had Star Trek in my life, or so it seems. As a child, I have a vague memory of the cartoons, I had Star Trek comic books and a photo-journal episode book for The Trouble with Tribbles that I still have in a box somewhere in my house. I read it over and over again until the cover fell off and some of the pages loosened and slipped away. I always put them back and one day I stopped reading its frail pages, wanting to keep it as intact as it remained, but also having memorized it I could read it in my mind.

As a post-teen/college graduate, I went to many sci-fi conventions, most especially ICON on Long Island, and one or two Creation Cons. I have a vague memory of seeing the big three, but my husband tells me we never did. I would swear though that I saw William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForrest Kelley in Manhattan. I picture it as if it was yesterday, but the mind is a tricky thing. I did see Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. George Takei at ICON. Did I see Walter Koenig? I’d have to check, it’s fuzzy, but I know I’ve seen Nichelle Nichols and Robin Curtis. Some next generation folks or rather DS9 – Nana Visitor, Alexandar el Siddig, Armin Shimmerman, Rene Auberjenois, writer Harlan Ellison, and others. We would watch Next Gen in my husband’s friend’s basement, eating chicken parm subs for dinner each week for each new episode. We continue that tradition when there is a new Star Trek – DS9, Enterprise, Picard. I don’t have fond memories of  Voyager – I was a new mother, and my infant son screamed through every episode – I hear ya; I feel the same way, kid.

Two hours north of the New York state capitol is a small town of Ticonderoga, known for its pencils and Revolutionary era fort. There is also a Star Trek Original Series Set Tour created from the original blueprints with the impetus and creative spirit of James Cawley. It is a must for any STar Trek fan. There is a sweet spot that I talk about where the corridors meet and form a ‘T’, and for a split second, a moment in time, you are on the Enterprise. You can’t see the overhanging set lights, you can’t see the behind the scenes areas, in that one space, you are on the Enterprise. It’s magical.

Sadly, I have not found any merch, no pins, stickers, or anything for my collections to celebrate the big 6-0!

How am I spending today?

Re-watching The Voyage Home in my home with a bucket of popcorn and a Diet Coke. How will you celebrate this once in a lifetime anniversary?

DS9 pin that I received for my birthday last December.
(c)2026

Randolph Mantooth (1945-2026)

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This is the link to the Hollywood Reporter obituary of Randolph Mantooth, who died on Thursday at the age of 80.

A sad day for those of us who grew up with him and Kevin Tighe who played Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto, respectively on the hit television show, Emergency!.

I still hum the music when I’m backing my car into the driveway.

When the show came out, there were only a handful of paramedics. The show was practically a public service announcement for recruitment. The profession was so unknown when Randy was told his role would be as a paramedic, his question was, “what the hell is a paramedic?”

Decades later, we all know how crucial those paramedics and EMTs are in an emergency and the show was integral in expanding that reach. Mantooth and Tighe continued to support the fire service and the LA Fire Museum over the years.

We introduced my oldest son, then three or four years old, to the show in reruns when he was obsessed with fire trucks and fire fighters. He dressed up as one for Halloween when he was four. He visited fire stations wherever we traveled including his uncle’s fire station on Long Island. He even went to college for fire protection/safety and became a volunteer fire fighter and an EMT during and after college. Emergency was a favorite show of his.

A few years ago, he was in California for a training session for his job, and he visited the Los Angeles Fire Museum, and got himself a Squad 51 t-shirt.

Part of the museum’s statement is below:

From Los Angeles County Fire Museum

Thank you Randy for your friendship!   You will be sorely missed. 

To Randy’s wife Kristen and Randy’s family.  We are here for you all and want to thank you for sharing Randy with us and the world. 
We are so very sorry for your loss. 

The Museum will be accepting condolence cards for the family.  If you would like to send a card please send to the Museum’s shop address at:

LA County Fire Museum
9834 Flora Vista St
Bellflower Calif 90706

KMG 365

Stranger? Things

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It’s been more than six weeks since the final, final chapter of Stranger Things, and I thought I’d think about the discourse surrounding the Stranger Things fandom at that time that’s been bordering on psychosis. According to people on the internet, January 8th was the day that the “real” series finale was supposed to drop – episode 9 because the New Year’s Eve finale didn’t give the fans what they wanted. I hate to break it down into a generational thing but kids today…

I mean dude can you be any more self involved and relishing of your main character syndrome? This show, the entire decade of five seasons was a true love letter to Gen X, those of us who grew up without the internet, dragging the ridiculously long telephone cord into a closet to talk, sneaking in after a showing of Rocky Horror and diner dessert.

Watching the discourse about continuity errors and plotholes that didn’t exist, the theory that the whole thing was a dream – been there, done that thank you very much Bobby Ewing; that it was a failed Dungeons & Dragons game or in someone’s head – again been there done that, thank you very much St. Elsewhere. We’ve lived through it all, and those of us who did, knew the Duffer Brothers wouldn’t do us dirty like that.

Google is free. It wasn’t available in the 80s, but it is available now. Please use it and stop driving those of us who were there crazy. We are becoming impatient with you. We are begging you – get some media literacy.

I can’t believe I need to explain that there was a world of experiences before you were born, before streaming, before reboots, so here’s a rundown that even my kids got:

  • Godzilla came out in 1958. Black and white. In Japanese. Dubbed.
  • Mission: Impossible was a very popular television show in the late 60s, mid 70s. Peter Graves, Steven Hill, Leonard Nimoy – yes, Mr. Spock.
  • Big Brother has been a thing since 1948 and George Orwell’s 1984. We read this in high school, and if you didn’t, please read it now.
  • It’s 10pm, do you know where your children are? Yes, we were never home.
  • Skateboards were totally a thing.
  • Yes, suburban moms went to the pool, worshiped the sun with oil and reflectors, and flirted shamelessly with the jacked up lifeguards.
  • My parents’ house cost $48,000 in New York, on Long Island. Yes, Mike’s family could afford that house.
  • Steve could be a coach/sex ed teacher easily without college. My friend substituted in his small town with a high school diploma. A coach was hired for his coaching skill and given a class, usually health or whatever was considered sex-ed at that time. Hell, I taught biological reproduction as a substitute with a high school diploma in 1987!
  • We played D&D in school and in our parents’ basements. However in my case we did not use little figures – it was all books and papers, graph paper, and homemade maps.
  • We lived on TV dinners and Tang.
  • We called the corner store a luncheonette. There was a counter and real glasses for milkshakes and egg creams. It was right next to Kenny’s. When Kenny retired form the drug store, we still called it Kenny’s. Same with the deli. Hell, it’s a baby furniture store now, and I still call it Kenny’s!

And another thing do you think if it weren’t actually the finale that the Duffer Brothers and Netflix would have paid Prince’s estate for the use of not one, but two songs?! He licenses nothing – this was a big deal.,

Take your theories and write some fan fiction.

In the immortal words of Ferris, it’s over. Go home.

Mental Health Monday – Coping Tool: Supernatural

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As I mentioned yesterday, Supernatural is my go-to for mindless background, white-noise when I want sound, but not anything to concentrate on.

I’m reminded of this more this week as Supernatural celebrates its 20th anniversary and I celebrate just over a decade in recovery through depression and anxiety. Mental health wellness is a continuum rather than a cure, and having our coping tools to help us through the rough patches is one of the keys.

We survive.

What are some of your go-to’s for coping?

Happy 20th Birthday, Supernatural!

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Photo of T-shirt. (c)2025

On Saturday, the fandom celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of Supernatural. The show ended its run five years ago, and its popularity has only grown with meet & greets, conventions, and the fans following the actors on to new projects, continuing to buy the merch and donating to worthy causes through Stands and Random Acts!

I had toyed with the idea of posting a reflection on Saturday, the day of the anniversary, but I also thought I would actually approach the anniversary the way I approached my watching of the original series: late.

I did not come to the fandom when it premiered in 2005, but during its hiatus on its way to the second half of its seventh season. I had a lot of catching up to do, and I made it, just barely when the show returned with the second half, and I’ve been with them ever since.

I brought my teenage daughter along for the ride and that has also been an exciting dimension to this fandom as well.

I’ve written before how I’ve never been big on horror, and Supernatural felt like horror, so I avoided it. Luckily for me, my friend wrote up a trigger list for each episode so I could go in with my eyes open and make the choices as I went along. I’ve seen every episode except Bugs and I don’t plan on seeing that one even now.

I was also in the middle of a new diagnosis of severe depression, and Supernatural was really one of the things that kept me in a solid place as we adjusted medication, found a therapist, and began writing as therapy. Supernatural was a big part of that recovery, and continued to be a go-to when I need something in the background to keep my mind still. I’ll talk more about this later today when I publish today’s Mental Health Monday, coming this afternoon.

The Pilot episode gives a good introduction to the characters and their journey; however, my first episode was The French Mistake with breaks all of the fourth walls, and really pulled me into the fandom before it pulled me into the series. If you’re already familiar with the actors and their characters, The French Mistake is a fun episode that still moves the story forward.

So, happy birthday Supernatural! Twenty years since the premiere is a milestone, as is the fifteen years on the air! Let’s go: we’ve got work to do.

Graham Greene (1952-2025)

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They all hurt, but this one hurts.

Graham Greene has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. It may hit a bit harder today because of my research into St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a fellow member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, although she was Mohawk (and Algonquin) and he was Oneida.

Credit to Matthew Tsang/Getty Images. (c)2021

Graham Greene Obiturary from The Wrap by Drew Taylor

May I?

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As I mengtioned on Thursday, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. There’s also May Day, and May the Fourth, and Cinco de Mayo. Plus college graduations, Memorial Day, and the “official” start of summer.

Today is three spcial days that should be acknowleged and observed, each with their own reverences.

Continue reading

Election Connection – 41 Days

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Geeks and Nerds for Harris

Watch the Fundraiser for Democracy, hosted by Lynda Carter, featuring Brad Meltzer, Mark Hamill, Jon Cryer, the casts of The Boys, Supernatural, and Star Trek, and other geeks and nerds who want this American experiment to continue.

I would recommend watching as much as you like, but please watch Mark Sheppard (the sci-fi king!) and Jim Beaver, from Supernatural as they express what many are feeling as only they can, as an immigrant and a veteran, respectively. They both gave a beautiful tribute to this country and freedom.

DONATE TO KAMALA HARRIS AND TIM WALZ HERE