Celebrating 25 years of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered 25 years ago last week and its influence on pop culture and genre television cannot be underestimated. Looking back on it now, it's amazing to see how successful it was, sometimes beating even Monday Night Football in the ratings. And of course, it's influence on my life has been... immeasurable. This is my 20th year of being a fan and [raises glass] here's to 20 more!
Walter Koenig gets a star on the Walk of Fame
I don't know how much this stuff means to people but it's always a nice gesture and fans love taking photos of their favorite stars', uh, stars. (I may or may not have a picture of Pee-Wee Herman's star!) Anyway, the surviving cast members (sans Shatner) turned out to show their love and support for Walter Koenig who finally received his star. (I'm still getting used to seeing Koenig without his toupee.)
Leonard Nimoy greets the space shuttle Enterprise
Sadly, the space shuttle fleet was retired last year. The space shuttle Enterprise was actually a test orbiter and never made it into space. However, that hasn't stopped NASA from celebrating its accomplishments as she finds a new home at the (awesome) Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. Leonard Nimoy was on hand to welcome it as only a Vulcan could.
Could we build the Starship Enterprise?
With the aforementioned shuttle retirement, many Americans are asking, "Why can't we dream big anymore?" Well, one guy has a dream: he wants to build the Enterprise... for real: "Built in space, the ship would never visit the surface of any moon or planet, and so would never need to reach the high speeds necessary to escape surface gravity. The engines would be powered by nuclear reactors onboard the ship, and use argon rather than xenon for propellant, saving a few hundred billion dollars in cost."
Remembering William Windom and "The Doomsday Machine"
Character actor William Windom passed away last month and, among many other things, he played Commodore Decker in "The Doomsday Machine." This article pays tribute to both him and the episode, which is constantly ranked as one of Star Trek's best. "They say there's no devil, Jim, but there is. Right out of Hell, I saw it!"
Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Soran) regrets Captain Kirk's death
At this point, I think everyone involved with Star Trek Generations wishes they hadn't killed Captain Kirk - it would've saved them a lot of trouble and fan whining in subsequent years! The always-entertaining Malcolm McDowell speaks for many when he says Kirk deserved a better sendoff.
10 things you probably didn't know about Deep Space Nine
While TNG was my first, DS9 was probably the best of the modern day Treks. This piece points out some interesting trivia, including the fact that the original concept for the show had it take place on a planet... sort of a Fort Laramie in the future. Only later did the creators shift gears and set it in space.
Aircraft carriers in space
This fascinating article looks at how sci-fi (specifically Trek and Battlestar Galactica) has portrayed various elements of naval warfare. "Interestingly, the sci-fi authors of the 1950s were better at thinking it though. It was a time when everyone was talking about how a hydroponics section would be needed to provide food on a starship. Maybe nowadays you can say you have a magic power source, or nanotech to produce the materials you need."
25 comments:
ScottDS,
You missed something.
http://trekmovie.com/2012/10/01/watch-gangnam-style-parody-klingon-style-sung-almost-entirely-in-klingon/
I have seen the original and the one did by the Naval Cadets. I think this is the best one.
Joel -
I may or may not have missed that one on purpose!
But thanks for posting it for people who might be curious. :-)
Scott, Thanks for the links. William Windom was probably my favorite guest on the show. I thought that episode was fantastic and he did such a great job as the captain on the edge.
Andrew -
Your welcome (and feel free to check out the rest of them!) :-)
I haven't seen the episode in a long time - I think a re-watch is needed. And I looked up Windom's credits on the IMDb after he passed away - the man was in EVERYTHING! He guest starred in seemingly every TV show in the 60s and 70s!
Scott, I am checking them out as I get the chance throughout the day. :)
Of course. :-)
I'm at work right now and then it's off to school so I'll chime in when I can, too.
Nice work Scott and nice change of pace on the Trek articles! :D
I'd love to see us build an Enterprise, but I doubt we ever will. It sounds like future spaceships will be kind of small and dull. In fact, I think we're more likely to build a Borg ship than an Enterprise because in space you don't need a particular shape.
ScyFy -
I've always felt that about the Borg ship - in a way, the design is kinda perfect, and it also fits the singular hive mind of the race that constructed it.
If we do design an interstellar vessel, I doubt it'll look like the Enterprise. On TV, function can follow form, but in the real world, form follows function, and "How does it photograph?" will be the last thing on anyone's mind!
But I find it somewhat reassuring that people are at least thinking about this stuff. :-)
I can't help but laugh at the 20-30 year timeline to build a starship. That's the same line NASA uses, close enough to think we will see it in a lifetime. But far enough away to not happen.
If these guys were serious, we could build a starship today. A lot of research was done, the basic concept worked. But sadly politics is why it will never happen. After all you can't detonate nuclear weapons in space. Look up Project Orion, it was a fantastic concept. Parts of it are still classified.
all fun links! In particular, I enjoyed the comment by the Droog about JTK. On another sadder note, the loss of William Windom escaped me, and what a loss. He was a wonderful actor, known for much more than his excellent guest star role on theOST.
Max -
I haven't done much reading on the subject but I agree - politics and bureaucracy will only get in the way.
Could we really do it today?
Jed -
Yeah, McDowell has had a lot of fun at Kirk's expense over the years and I'm sure on his tombstone it'll say, "Loved Beethoven and ultraviolence... and killed Captain Kirk"!
But like I've said before, the creators could've saved themselves a lot of trouble and heartache if they simply let Kirk live.
BTW -
For those that didn't already, please check out my links from last Wednesday - some good stuff there! :-)
I saw some diagram somewhere about the apparent size of the Enterprise. I think it was like half a mile in length or thereabouts. I don't see us building that any time soon.
On the other hand, scientists say they may have found a way to make a real warp drive. So you never know.
T-Rav -
I can't find it at the moment but someone (either Andrew Probert or Rick Sternbach - both illustrators who worked on the show) did a scale rendering of the Enterprise-D superimposed over the entire Paramount lot. I can't find it at the moment but needless to say, it was big!
Here you go Scott.
http://pat.suwalski.net/film/st-stages/
NASA cannot do what we were doing when I was born(1967). The primary reason is bureaucracy. The other reason, NASA is NOT in the business of exploring space. They are a government jobs program, when I found this out it really bummed me out.
As an aside, I saw the image of Koenig getting his Hollywood star and I was shocked how old he looks! I still think of him as a young man, but he's 73 and he looks way older than that!
Andrew -
I know! I always thought of him as "the young one," too, and I think he only started going without the toupee in the last year or two - it's amazing what a difference it makes.
Max -
Thanks! That's just what I was looking for.
Hopefully, some enterprising (groan!) folks in the private sector will pick up where NASA left off - it's already starting now. The future might be far away but it can be a bright one if we want it hard enough. I wish I had more money - I'd love to be able to support these people.
Scott, It was amazing seeing him... shocking really. He even looked older than the old guys.
Hey, Herbert Jefferson, Jr (the original Battlestar Galactica's Boomer) was also at the Koenig event, too. Neat!
Jason, I have not seen him since the show was cancelled! I always expected to see more of him, but he seems to have been ignored by Hollywood.
Herb actually had a small role as a reporter in Apollo 13. Other than that, I've never seen him in anything else.
Andrew and Jason -
I can't say I'm familiar with Mr. Jefferson's work, or lack thereof.
But on a sad sci-fi note, actor Michael O'Hare passed away. He played Cmdr. Jeffrey Sinclair in the first season of Babylon 5. He died of a heart attack - he was 60.
He was a bit wooden (and I never quite believed him as a romantic lead) but given enough time, I think he would've settled in quite nicely.
Scott, That is sad. I liked "Sinclair" a lot and he didn't seem that old.
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