TrekGeeks

Finally leaving Spacedock!

DCD1701 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:58:00 GMT

As the subtitle on the webpage states, there are two guys for this blog. My apologies for the delay in getting my inaugural blog posted. Life has been busy, but in a good way.

Where to begin??? Man, it seems like such a long time ago that I hated every single aspect of Star Trek. Couldn’t stand it, for many of the same reasons as RedShirt stated. When I was a kid, I wanted to watch anything BUT Star Trek. I remember vividly that my older brother was a big fan and he wanted to watch it, while I wanted to watch something stupid like the Brady Bunch or Gilligan’s island on Channel 56. Being the older brother, he got his way of course. I never fully understood why it was such an issue because we had several TVs in our house. Why didn’t I just go down to the playroom to watch Buddy Hinton make fun of Cindy’s lisp until Peter knocked his block off? Anyway, I remember being scared to death of the Gorn (and that was before he even had the ability to blink…ahh the Remastered Episodes) and whenever “Arena” was on I would hide behind the couch and peek out to see if the guy with the funny voice would be able to beat the lizard monster. Then I would see friggin’ Dr. Sevrin and his band of dolts singin’ “Headin out to Eden” and that reminded me why I thought the show was lame.

Jump ahead to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. My home town of Nashua NH used to have a run down, crappy movie theatre on Main Street called The Brandt Theatre. What a freakin HOLE!!! WICKED DIVE!! Probably would be condemned with today’s rules and regulations. Anyway, for some strange reason, The Brandt got the rights for ST:TMP instead of the much nicer General Cinemas at the mall. I think the night I went to see TMP was the only time there was ever a line wrapped around the building. They had big spotlights out front and it was quite the spectacle. That was when I started getting hooked by the Star Trek bug, and I haven’t looked back since!

For me, Star Trek is the ultimate escape. No matter what is going on in life, I can feel better by tuning out the world and watching a couple episodes of Star Trek. My favorite series is by far Deep Space Nine. If you are able to get past the first two seasons, I don’t think there is a better written series than DS9. Unlike Voyager, an episode doesn’t go on for 48 minutes and then get wrapped up in 30 seconds simply because the writers couldn’t figure out how to end a storyline. I loved how something trivial in Season 1 could have substantial consequences in Season 7. The continuity of DS9 made it so enjoyable for me, and the characters, conflict, passion and attention to detail made it my favorite series. Yes, season 7 had its flaws, from Worf/Ezri to Odo/Kira, but if you put aside the attempts of romance in the shows final season, I think it sparkled and gave one of the most memorable seasons in TV history.

Back in the early 2000’s I went through a very traumatic incident in my life. My own stupidity caused me to lose just about everything. I literally had the barrel of a gun in my mouth, ready to end it all, but thankfully I didn’t do the ultimate stupid act. Thinking back on those days, I remember times when I was at my lowest, in my house with all the blinds drawn, I would throw in a VCR cassette which has hours and hours of DS9 taped from Channel 50. The next think I knew, 6, 10, 12 hours had gone by and I didn’t know where the time went. It was spent in Gene Rodenberry’s universe, allowing me to forget my life for awhile and enjoy the 24th century. My life is better than it ever has been now, and I thank God everyday that I didn’t let myself pull that trigger. My road to recovery was helped by Star Trek and as silly as that may sound, it was one of the factors that literally saved my life. If Gene were alive today and I were to have the opportunity to meet him, I would shake his hand, explain it all to him and thank him for all that he has done.

I am proud to call myself a Trekker. I am proud to have built friendships because of that fact. How many people can get as excited as me when I pull my Enterprise putter out of my golfbag when I am playing a round of golf with my family or friends (I’ll have a pic of that beauty next post). Redshirt and I have been quoting lines back and forth for years now. All I can say is that “The Botany Bay was totally under the Enterprise, man!”

My Nokia N810 PADD

RedShirtWalking — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:06:00 GMT

Recently, I bought myself a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet and I absolutely love it. It's so convenient and much easier than schlepping around my old laptop.

Well, last night, I was sitting on the sofa thinking to myself, "I bet I could find a tricorder screen for it online to set as wallpaper."

That search didn't prove too successful, but then I Googled "N810 LCARS Theme" and I was able to turn my spiffy little handheld internet tablet into a TNG-style PADD using the LCARS design! Check it out...

This is the initial screen after you install the theme and restart the unit:

This is a second screen at start up, just before you get to the desktop:

This is the desktop itself. The LCARS menu to the left is functional, as are the icons across the top.

There are three different themes that are installed with this package. If you have an N810 and are a big Trek Geek, then this LCARS interface is for you.

I can't wait to show this off in Vegas at the Official Con next week!

=/\=

Final Mission to Vegas Prime

RedShirtWalking — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:39:00 GMT

Since my first visit in 2002, I figure I've been to Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton at least fifteen times.

Believe me, that's not an exaggeration at all. Each time I've gone to Vegas, I've gone to ST:TE at least twice and brought at least a dozen or more people to the attraction for their first time. (Each left loving it and wanting to come back again.)

I was really bummed out to learn that one of my favorite destinations was closing its doors for good, effective September 1st.

Well, next month, I've decided to make a final visit to The Experience to have one last Warp Core Breach and I'm doing it during the Official Star Trek Convention in just a couple of weeks.

Personally, I don't believe that Cedar Fair ever knew what to do with this property. Instead of dropping the price and advertising the heck out of it, they did the exact opposite: they pulled all ads--billboards, monorail car, print--and even wound up raising the price. (If you want more people to come through the door in an economy that's getting tougher, you lower the price some.) That was only part of the problem, though.

I think the Las Vegas Hilton deserves some of the blame as well. They didn't want to renew the lease because they thought that space wasn't as profitable as it could be. (See above paragraph.) Sure, they put a Monorail stop right at the entrance to the attraction, but that wasn't enough. To me, it seems like the Hilton decided it wanted to close the attraction after a decade so they could just do something else with the space. Considering that hotel isn't even on the famed Las Vegas Strip, one would think it would need all the draws it can get.

So, I've got an opportunity for one last hurrah at one of my favorite destinations and I'm taking the opportunity. Sure, there will be a thousand other Trek geeks there, but that will make the occasion even better. I'll also be making this last trip with one of my closest friends--the same friend who accompanied me on my first trip to The Experience back in 2002.

Star Trek: The Experience will be bustling with the kind people who have kept the franchise going for 41 years--what could be better? I'll have a chance to meet fellow Trekkies and Trekkers and have one last Warp Core Breach (pictured left).

I ask you, what could be better than that??

=/\=

Maiden Voyage

RedShirtWalking — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:39:00 GMT

I have my older brother to blame for my love of Star Trek. Truly, it was all his fault.

Back in the mid-1970s, I was in elementary school and my brother had already graduated from high school. Every night at 6:00pm there was a monumental clash of wills in our living room:

He wanted to watch Star Trek.
I wanted to watch The Six Million Dollar Man.

Back then, both shows were in syndication and popular at the dinner hour. There was only one television our house at the time, so that meant that only one of us was going to get to watch what they wanted. My older brother, John, always won. He subjected me to every single episode and, somewhere in those 79 hours, I became a die-hard fan.

I figure that we Star Trek fans have been pretty blessed: 5 live-action television series, 1 animated series, 10 movies with number 11 in the works, books, comic books, collectibles, video games, board games, live attractions, a themed restaurant and bar... What did Colonel Steve Austin get? That's right, you guessed it...nothing. He had 4 1/2 seasons. He's not even out on DVD yet due to licensing issues. (How are those bionics treating you now, Col. Austin? Hmmmmm??)

So, I guess it seems only natural that after all my years of watching, reading and collecting things Star Trek in nature, that now I would blog about the television series that I pretended to hate as a child.

These days, the only Trek I can't stand is Voyager. That's because, to me, it's just not Star Trek. It's got nothing to do with the fact that there's a female captain, trust me. That show just had dreadful writing and character development. I still haven't seen the last two seasons of Voyager. Every time I try, I shut it off in a fit of near apoplexy. Someday I'll make it through the whole thing. I'm sure it will be under duress as part of some secret CIA torture regimen, but I'll see it. Funny...waterboarding is illegal yet watching Voyager is well within the law. Go figure.

The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise...I love them all. Hell, I even love The Animated Series.

I've seen Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan so often that my friends and family won't watch it with me anymore. I quote EVERY...SINGLE...LINE. I've got an original 1982 lobby poster from the film matted and custom framed.

I've got a Klingon Bat'leth here in my home office.

I've got boxes upon boxes of Star Trek collectibles still in the original packaging.

I've got every hour of every series and movie on DVD and I repacked them in cases with custom DVD covers.

I won't claim to be the biggest Star Trek fan in the world or know everything there is to know. I just know that I've loved it since I was a child and my love of Star Trek is one of the many things that has defined me as a person.

Somewhere, my brother is looking down on me and smiling at the irony.

=/\=