Why I Love Star Trek, Essay #7: Glenda Kenyon

Why I love Star Trek
By Glenda Kenyon

My trek upbringing is one that starts from the beginning of the series.  I was not there from the beginning, but I’m a third generation trekkie.  The universe is a family heirloom.  It’s something I inherited, unknowingly, and have embraced.  So to understand why I love this fantastic sci-fi world, I should introduce you my grandfather.

Bishop King had proudly served in the Korean War as a communications officer. From what I’m told it was difficult.  He served honorably, and was a smart enough man for the job, but he wasn’t treated as an equal.  That’s to be expected when you were serving in the army as a black man in the 1950s.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Release Date: November 26, 1986
Directed by Leonard Nimoy

Introduction

After a second strong box office performance in a row, Paramount again green-lit a Trek sequel. This film takes up the story of our stalwart crew on Vulcan, following on the heels of their resurrection of Spock on Mount Seleya. Now, the crew must atone for their insubordination, and face stern justice upon their return to Earth. They are waylaid, however, by a mysterious probe that is heading for Earth (Earth seems to have the worst luck with mysterious probes), and disrupting all life along its path. The probe is looking for the intelligent whales it visited far in Earth's dim prehistory. The problem: these whales are extinct, hunted to death by human avarice. Kirk, faced yet again with a no-win scenario, pulls a rabbit out his TOS hat - time travel via gravitational slingshot in order to find some whales in the past.

I think our convention limo driver has made an error...

TNG Giveaway!

To celebrate the beginning of our TNG reviews and podcasts (starting November 7!), we're hosting our first GIVEAWAY!!


Up on the prize podium  for this giveaway is a mint, still-in-the-box Deanna Troi action figure, from Playmates. She comes equipped with a sassy green Starfleet tote, a computer terminal and PADD, presumably for setting her counseling appointments, and a tricorder, just in case she needs to sense something besides deception. She is wearing her classic gray cameltoe ensemble. Mee-ow!

Giveaways can be entered in any of four ways:

1. By linking to the giveaway (on your blog or other website)
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3. By "liking" us on Facebook
4. By following us on Google Friend Connect

Please leave a separate comment for each thing you do (and include the link to your blog or website or your username for Twitter/Facebook/Google Friend Connect). You can also leave a comment to say that you've already been following us via these means (a separate comment for each one if you want to enter multiple times. The winning comment will be chosen by random number generator  You may enter the contest through Friday, November 5, at 11:59PM Central Standard Time. The winner will be announced on Saturday, November 6.

We will ship worldwide, so everyone should enter!

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Release Date: June 1, 1984

Director: Leonard Nimoy

Introduction

After the surprise success of Star Trek II, this installment was given an instant green light by Paramount. Bennet and Nimoy had left a deliberate opening at the end of II to bring Spock back ("Remember..."), and it was deemed appropriate to make this film all about his return. Nimoy parlayed this unique negotiating power into his feature directorial debut. Star Trek III picks up essentially immediately after the conclusion of the previous film, with the crew and vessel licking their collective wounds, limping back home. It is upon arrival there that Kirk discovers his blunder - Spock's father Sarek demands that his son's body be brought home to Vulcan for a proper burial and that his katra, which has been deposited in the person of Dr. McCoy, be brought along with it. Kirk, out of devotion to his fallen comrade, risks his career to go back to the now forbidden Genesis planet, which has become the center of galactic controversy, representing the ultimate power to create and destroy.  What they discover there, however, gives them a shocking new purpose - Spock's body, regenerated by the Genesis planet, might just be reunited with his katra - if only they can survive the murderous designs of the Klingon Commander, Kruge... what will the crew have to sacrifice this time?

Hey, at least it didn't get wrecked the first time Troi got behind the wheel...

Further Convention Awesomeness

While we were at the convention, we met a fellow trekkie who had what is arguably one of the most nifty Star Trek gizmos ever. He had a PADD. Here's a pic.

He made it himself from a kit and the image is his own design. Here's a close-up.

The detail is really cool, and the best part was that it was made with a thin metal casing, so it felt lightweight, but had the right heft. It didn't feel like a plastic toy. My specific comments was we need to find the kit he used, make a hundred of them, then find some cutting tools and some iPads and make it work for real. Anyone looking for an early Christmas gift for me? This would rock.

Thanks, fellow convention-goer, for emailing us this pictures so we can share them.

Holodeck Halloween Party Costume Contest

Startrek.com is hosting a costume contest on their Facebook page. If you like my homemade TOS dress (and tricorder bag), please "like" my photo. The one with the most 'likes' will be featured on the StarTrek.com homepage!

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Release Date: June 4, 1982

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Introduction

Although it did well at the box office, Paramount was disappointed with the critical and financial performance of The Motion Picture. Many millions were spent on development (mostly for the aborted Phase II television show), and many fans and critics felt the movie was plodding and talky. Nonetheless, it performed well enough to warrant a second go. When Roddenberry delivered a story treatment involving Klingons, time travel, and the Kennedy assassination, Paramount "kicked him upstairs" and turned over the reins to producer Harve Bennett with two directives: make it cheaper, make it better. And as much as this might smart for a fan of Roddenberry, it's hard to argue with results. Bennett immersed himself in TOS research, looking for the key elements missing from TMP: dramatic conflict, and a good villain. Eventually, he settled on Khan, the wily genetically engineered antagonist from "Space Seed." He hired director Nicholas Meyer (who had previously directed "Time After Time" starring Malcolm McDowell), rookie composer James Horner, pulled Ricardo Montalban off of Fantasy Island, created a former flame and estranged son for Kirk, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The face that launched a thousand Shatner imitations...

Hello To All Our New Convention-Going Friends...

If you are visiting this page because we met you at the convention, welcome!

We'd love for you to check out some of the nifty features of our blog. You'll notice along the right a list of quick links to our reviews, some key articles, and types of essays. Check them out! TOS Season One is a good place to start. What would be even better, is if you disagree with a review of ours, you could submit your own dissent! Leave us a comment or send an email to the Treknobabble email address.


Check out "Why I love Star Trek," in which the blog creators and our friends wax rhapsodic on why Trek is so great! We'd love for our new friends to contribute and let us know what Trek means to them. Contact us to contribute an essay!


You will also see links to friend us on Facebook, follow us as a Google "Friend Connect," and follow our Twitter feed. So if you're into that sort of thing, knock yourself out! We will be announcing a giveaway  contest very soon, so keep checking for the details!

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Release Date: December 7, 1979
Director: Robert Wise


Introduction

The Star Trek franchise makes its return from limbo in a big way - as a tent-pole blockbuster motion picture, in the tradition of Star Wars. After kicking around for several years as a potential new TV series, many of the concepts developed in the mid-seventies were incorporated into the Motion Picture. We are introduced to Captain Willard Decker, Lieutenant Ilia, and the refit starship Enterprise. Admiral James T. Kirk marshals these forces, attempts to reunite his former crew, and elbows his way back into command as a dire threat faces the Earth - a seemingly omnipotent energy cloud is wending its way towards Earth, engulfing everything in its path. Eventually, the crew discovers that an ancient Earth space probe is at the cloud's heart - will they be able to discover its purpose and reason effectively enough with the probe's intelligence in order to save Earth from the same fate as countless ships and starbases?

And will we ever find out what those snazzy belt buckles are for?

TAS Recap

So we've come to the end of the Animated Series. How does it stack up to the rest of The Original Series? Let's find out with some good old fashioned nerdy analysis.

Somebody replaced Chekov with a sexy nurse...

Kevin's Thoughts

In the balance, and the numbers will bear me out on this point in a moment, but TAS was weaker than TOS. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like here, but on the balance, it falls short in a few places. Part of the problem in rating this series is how to fairly compare it to other material. Writing a good and engaging story remains the same largely, but being restricted to voice alone to express a complex emotion is a different challenge than choosing the appropriate facial expression. As for production values, it's largely as expensive to draw an interesting background as a boring one, so a lot more focus goes into the design choices without any allowance for "they did what they could with their budget."