star trek

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

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

A Deserted Island

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I was watching The Shuttlepod Show, hosted by Star Trek alums, Connor Trineer and Dominic Keating. It’s a conversational show where they invite and talk to a guest for an hour or so, usually also a Star Trek alum. I’ve seen several, and enjoyed them. There is insight into the actors, behind the scenes, and the world of Star Trek, past, present, and future.
Recently, they had on Star Trek: Voyager’s Garrett Wang, and in a segment I had never seen before, Connor Trineer asked him a desert/deserted island question about what he’d bring with him.

There were six categories, although for books, you’re already given the religious text of your choice and the complete works of Shakespeare. I thought this was a great thought experiment as well as a terrific writing prompt, and so I share it with you, with credit and thanks given to Connor for the inspiration.

What one ____(1-6)______ would you bring with you on the desert island to occupy your time, for all time?

1. Book
2. Food
3. Author
4. Composer/Musician
5. Dessert
6. Plus a bonus item

Be creative, have fun, and happy Star Trek Day.

A Few of My Favorite Things – Pins

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After reading Madeleine Albright’s book about her pin collection, and spending the rest of the day on Thursday photographing a few of my pins to post here in the next few weeks, I thought I would share a couple of my favorites. Favorites come and go, and they’re not all here, but these…these are special.

Some of my favorite things: Clockwise: Gold Butterfly with Rainbow Stones. This was my mother’s. I think I probably gave it to her, and then got her entire butterfly pin collection when she died. This one is just bright and beautiful like she was. Blue stone Celtic pin. This was a birthday present from my college roommate when I joined her in England for three weeks of traveling. I think she gave it to me when I first arrived. I believe we were on the shuttle train going from the airport to wherever she was taking me. I remember it came in a bright red envelope. Star Trek 50th Anniversary Pin. One of my Gishwhes friends procured this for me at a convention and sent it after I begged for it to commemorate not only Star Trek, but my 50th birthday as well. Hard Rock Cafe pin from Manilla Philippines. My husband got this when he was in the Philippines for a work trip. It has two butterflies, which I love, and it’s green – my favorite color. It is one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. Safety pin in pink and purple with a Mom charm made for me for Mother’s Day by my daughter. I think this was in kindergarten. The initial “K” that I received from my class as a student teacher. (c)2017

These are my two most recent pins. On the left is a Christmas tree which I found at Cracker Barrel, and really thought it would look great on my jacket for Christmas. On the right is a family piece that belonged to my mother-in-law’s sister. My daughter was given some of her jewelry to look through and keep, and she thought that I would like this one because green is my favorite color. (c)2017

The Fall TV Season Returns!

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Warning for minor spoilers from both last season and shows that have already aired this season.​ Continue reading

Fandom Merchandise and Where to Find It

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​As I look at my Christmas gifts, and my recent birthday gifts before that, I am struck, but not terribly surprised by how much relates to the variety of fandoms and pop culture things I am involved in. Many of these things have stayed with me since my teen years, to the point that I no longer participate, but they still hold an important place in my heart. The one example that comes to mind was my getting a new messenger bag: ThinkGeek’s Bag of Holding. It’s so glorious that I’ll be writing a separate review of it. My son was a little annoyed that I would be getting it – it was a little expensive, but with the thirty percent discount that was offered, it was well worth it. He was still a little annoyed and exclaimed, “You don’t even like Dungeons & Dragons!” I think I may have snorted. I was momentarily speechless.

I don’t like Dungeons & Dragons?! Do you even know me?! I had been playing Dungeons & Dragons since high school. In our school cafeteria, we would use the half-pint milk container as a six-sided die. Every weekend in college, we’d get together in the blue room to play. Dave, our DM (dungeon master) would not let us have any alcohol. We got stupid. We were probably the only group on a Saturday night not drunk. We would play all weekend, talking time only to sleep before the next night’s game.

I met my college roommate in a study hall through a conversation about character sheets.

My oldest son used my original books when he and his friends played Dungeons & Dragons.

Not a fan?! Harumph!

Glancing at The Walking Dead trivia box, the Hufflepuff necklace, the Supernatural zipper bag, the Star Trek 50th anniversary gold ornament with sound, I saw just how many fandom things there are, and I also realized how difficult it was to get some of them.

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The Post Office, Part 1

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Starting at the top, clockwise: Lapel pin of America Responds stamp, Ornament commemorating 100 Years of Letters to Santa through the US Postal Service, America Responds stamp sheet, Harvey Milk stamp sheet, plastic mailbox to hold stamps or Valentine’s. (c)2016

Starting at the Top, clockwise: Baseball Sluggers, Sunday Funnies, Star Wars, Disney Magic, Super Heroes Chapter Two, Animals, Super Heroes Chapter One, Disney Romance, Star Trek. (c)2016

Star Trek 50, Pop Culture, And Us

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This is me, probably in 1991, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Star Trek at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC at their special Star Trek exhibit. I am sitting in Captain Kirk's actual captain's chair.

Thursday’s milestone birthday of the beginnings of Star Trek reminds me of the influence pop culture has on all our lives. Star Trek simultaneously showed us the future as well as holding a mirror up to ourselves and our society of the time. I’m not sure that was recognized as much at that time. Like many things, we don’t realize its value until it’s gone. Another lesson of Star Trek is to aim high and keep trying. The pilot was rejected as too cerebral, and they came back as cowboys in space while keeping its special-ness. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a not-very-good-movie, but they forged ahead and the second one is remembered by everyone, reuniting the original guest star Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonian Singh. The original show was cancelled after seventy-nine episodes, but has been and continues to be well-loved on the convention circuit and in movies, spawning spin-offs, fan fiction, and is known for its very cerebral fans.

In the reboot/non-reboot, Kelvin timeline, the first thing that fans said were how well the new cast held up visually and in temperament to the original cast. I recently saw Star Trek Beyond without knowing it was co-written by Simon Pegg and I loved the references to original moments of Star Trek from McCoy’s claims to be a doctor to the subtle looks between him and Mr. Spock and the underlying respect each has for the other despite McCoy reaching past his unconscious bias of the green-blooded, unemotional Vulcan, something prevalent [racial bias] in the world of the 1960s, sadly as much as it is today. Star Trek speaks a universal language that we understand regardless of our native spoken language.

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Stardate: 1-9-6-6-2-0-1-6.9.8

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Space…
The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise;
It’s five year mission:
To explore strange new worlds,
To seek out new life and new civilizations,
To boldly go…
Where no man has gone before.

These iconic words from Gene Roddenberry, brought to life by William Shatner have withstood the test of time.

Fifty years ago today, Star Trek began what would be its fifty-year and ongoing mission. Roddenberry’s vision for the future is still some way off, but I just saw a video on the realities of transparent aluminum, most of us use communicators in some fashion or another, and having a Black woman superior to us in the workplace is more common than 1966, although we could do better.

In 1966, it was somewhat controversial to have such a mixed race crew, let alone the actors who played them. While Jim Kirk was born in Iowa, Williams Shatner hails from Canada. He is still a Canadian citizen, and not a naturalized American. He, Leonard Nimoy, and Walter Koenig are all Jewish. Sulu and George Takei are Japanese. Nichelle Nichols was a Black woman. She and Shatner hold the first for an interracial kiss on television. Pavel Checkov’s character was a breakthrough especially during the space race of the 50s and the 60s. The idea of working with the Russians was nearly impossible to imagine then. And of course, Jimmy Doohan’s Scotty gave homage to the many Scotsmen and women who led the industrial revolution and got the engines running.

Even in today’s Kelvin timeline, not reboot (according to Mike and Denise Okuda), there is an homage given to the original cast as well as bringing the story into the 21st century for us moviegoers.

I’ve watched every iteration of Star Trek including reading the comic books, every new series (Deep Space Nine is my favorite after the original series), every movie, every animation. Wasn’t there a Star Trek meets Scooby Doo or am I imagining that? Somewhere in the depths of my basement boxes is a photojournal of Trouble with Tribbles that I had once memorized. I learned Klingon as a young adult, and went to conventions so long ago that there were no charges for photos or autographs.

Reflecting on 50 years of science fiction, watching it intersect with science fact, sitting in the captain’s chair at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and forging our own new worlds through our own inspiration to write and world-build.

Star Trek is many things to many people. I have been a fan my whole life, and will continue to be into the next half century and beyond.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek!
And many more to come.
The stories yet to be told are out there, and I for one, can’t wait.

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US Postal Stamps, issued 2016