Norman Paperman
The Wino
And let's not forget the "red shirts on Star Trek get killed" nod.
Star Trek
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Thorn
Member
You guys are really impressing me with your knowledge! Grind, if the movie was done as well as it should have been, it shouldn't matter if you haven't seen prior episodes.
I haven't ever been in the vicinity where a convention was held, but was a true, die-hard Trek fan. During grad school I practically lived in the lab, except for Sunday mornings/early afternoons when a group of friends played pickup softball. Because of me, because Star Trek (reruns of course) aired at 10 a.m. on Sundays, we couldn't start to play until 11:15 or so when I could get to the park! I think it's important to remember the social climate and level of technology that existed when Gene Roddenberry began this series and what his forward thinking and insight into human nature brought not only to the program but to our society and our imaginations. It's almost overwhelming when you consider it!
I'm currently re-reading Heinlein's "The Past Through Tomorrow". Did you know that he wrote during the '40s of this country's having solar powered electricity, as its primary energy source, projected into the 1950s? He really was a tremendous visionary on many fronts, yet on others I still find myself a bit shocked at his lack of foresight on many social issues. Despite his great imagination in so many respects, he truly was a man of his own time in others.
I haven't ever been in the vicinity where a convention was held, but was a true, die-hard Trek fan. During grad school I practically lived in the lab, except for Sunday mornings/early afternoons when a group of friends played pickup softball. Because of me, because Star Trek (reruns of course) aired at 10 a.m. on Sundays, we couldn't start to play until 11:15 or so when I could get to the park! I think it's important to remember the social climate and level of technology that existed when Gene Roddenberry began this series and what his forward thinking and insight into human nature brought not only to the program but to our society and our imaginations. It's almost overwhelming when you consider it!
I'm currently re-reading Heinlein's "The Past Through Tomorrow". Did you know that he wrote during the '40s of this country's having solar powered electricity, as its primary energy source, projected into the 1950s? He really was a tremendous visionary on many fronts, yet on others I still find myself a bit shocked at his lack of foresight on many social issues. Despite his great imagination in so many respects, he truly was a man of his own time in others.
Admit it, you just don't like libertarians.
Thorn
Member
LOL! No, really, I was reading through, in wonder at his imagination, especially given the technological state at the time of the writing, then happened upon a couple of scenes in which he absolutely stereotyped both women and people of color, frozen in his own time. Given the terrific forward thinking of his other ideas, this was like being dumped with a bucket of cold water. Then again, look at the number of otherwise amazing future fiction works in which the author has people smoking aboard spaceships! For a while I'd wondered why I was getting cravings while reading Sci-Fi just after I quit smoking!
I know what you mean, especially people of color.LOL! No, really, I was reading through, in wonder at his imagination, especially given the technological state at the time of the writing, then happened upon a couple of scenes in which he absolutely stereotyped both women and people of color, frozen in his own time. Given the terrific forward thinking of his other ideas, this was like being dumped with a bucket of cold water. Then again, look at the number of otherwise amazing future fiction works in which the author has people smoking aboard spaceships! For a while I'd wondered why I was getting cravings while reading Sci-Fi just after I quit smoking!
LOL! No, really, I was reading through, in wonder at his imagination, especially given the technological state at the time of the writing, then happened upon a couple of scenes in which he absolutely stereotyped both women and people of color, frozen in his own time. Given the terrific forward thinking of his other ideas, this was like being dumped with a bucket of cold water. Then again, look at the number of otherwise amazing future fiction works in which the author has people smoking aboard spaceships! For a while I'd wondered why I was getting cravings while reading Sci-Fi just after I quit smoking!
Roddenberry was the same way, but with him I think there was more sexism than racism. Women joining Starfleet in order to serve coffee to the men doing the real jobs hundreds of years in the future? Sure. Only decades later that very notion is absurd.
It is weird though how some one can be so forward thinking and ahead of their time in someways, and so backwards in others.
Thorn
Member
Too true. Then again, he might have had a very hard time convincing a network to air a program that showed women in equivalent positions. If I recall, it was touch and go to air it at all. He did at least show a really eclectic approach in the makeup of the crew -- even though most of the accents were really bad. (e.g. Craig Ferguson says that Scottie's accent reeked of a bad Pakistani impression, not a Scotsman at all!)
I still appreciated what the show accomplished enough to overlook most of the fairly rampant sexism and those ludicrous papier mache rocks, etc. Somebody had to be first, and Roddenberry achieved more than many others, perhaps any others? might have done at the time.
I will repeat here, Checkov's accent was the absolute worst on the show. Occasionally Scotty had a flash that actually sounded Scottish. Checkov never sounded Russian, never.
Again, a dude with a "v" in his name and a language with no Ws would have no problem pronouncing Vs and certainly wouldn't use the "w" sound in replacement... Eugh!
Spock was always the dude I wanted to be. If Vulcan existed I would move there to study Logic.I agree. Plus, Spock has spawned at least a thousand of my sexual fantasies.
