Unification

The new video

Welcome to Star Trekking, my attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.

I know you’ve seen it.

I don’t get it.

What is happening? Why? What is the point of this? What does Gary Mitchell have to do with it? Is this all taking place in heaven? Is Saavik dead? Are they all in the Nexus? How did Gary get there? Did Saavik and Spock have a kid and now that is canon and oh by the way the kid and Saavik are dead? Did Gary Mitchell rise from the grave and then bend the universe with his mind? Is Gary finally the god he wanted to be? And if so why does he care about the fate of Kirk 40 years later? And what about Yeoman Colt? Is she still in a Talosian cage? Is she having some weird fever dream induced by the Keeper? Who are all the other dingalings standing in that field? Are they Antonia and her extended family? Why didn’t the three Kirks point at each other since they were clearly having a Spider-Man moment?

Is the final sunrise telling us that this whole thing is a prequel or sequel to 2001?

I don’t have any answers.

Do you?

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Maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe I’m just dense. Somebody bring me the Teacher.

A child could do it. A child could do it!

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Happy holidays.

Neil

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Star Trekking is written and edited by Neil Shurley, except where noted.

Star Trekking logo art by James H. Dargie.

Amazon Affiliate links included to help offset some of the costs of assimilation.

The Lost Time Travel Episode

Spock and Bones in the Wild West

Welcome to Star Trekking, my attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.

Remember that time Spock and Bones time traveled back to the 1870s and found themselves in all sorts of Wild West frontier trouble?

This was a new one to me. And as Neil S. Bulk replied when I shared this pic with him, “HOW DID WE NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?”

Some quick research on his part also uncovered the delicious fact that one of the episode’s writers was John D.F. Black.

Insert 1,771,561 exclamation points here.

Black was one of the original contributors to the original series, and a somewhat controversial figure. Check out his entry on Memory Alpha. He also cowrote the screenplay for Shaft. Can you dig it?

Anyway, I found this little snippet of Spock and McCoy’s missing adventure.

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And speaking of time travel, this year marks the fortieth anniversary of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock so that also means that I have definitely owned this glass and this magazine for forty years. Ay yi yi.

Which means that forty years ago I definitely ate at Taco Bell several times.

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When Enterprise arrived I immediately hated the theme song. And I wasn’t 100% sure about the show as a whole, but I gave it a chance. Unfortunately, the show aired in the very early years of my marriage and we had lives to live and I didn’t yet have the nerve to force my wife to watch Star Trek. I only ended up seeing maybe a dozen episodes of the whole run.

But I remember liking Bakula and had fond memories of Quantum Leap and when this came across my timeline this morning, I found myself watching a whole episode of Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer’s podcast - their interview with Scott Bakula.

It’s really a lovely conversation, and Scott tells some great stories about his long career. I especially loved his Dean Stockwell stories, his career origin story, and the Enterprise talk. I also really loved some details at the end about how Keating got in contact with Bakula. Let’s just say the Enterprise crew don’t seem to have a group chat.

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You guys I am having a really hard time not shelling out $700 for this giant Enterprise model that is too big to fit anywhere in my house. If you want to send contributions toward my Neil Deserves An Enterprise fund, please feel free to PayPal me your spare cash.

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Returning to Star Trek III here’s a cover of that film’s greatest track.

Just call me Mr. Adventure.

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Join the search.

Neil

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Star Trekking is written and edited by Neil Shurley, except where noted.

Star Trekking logo art by James H. Dargie.

Amazon Affiliate links included to help offset some of the costs of assimilation.

Good grief!

Is this the lowest point in Star Trek fandom?

Welcome to Star Trekking, my attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.

There’s an old rule in journalism.

If your headline asks a question, the answer is always “No.”

And so it is with my headline question “Is this the lowest point in Star Trek fandom?”

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you may remember the art of Lee Sargent.

For a recap, I invite you to check out this early post, in which I interview Lee and also tell the story of the time I embarrassed myself on national television thanks to Star Trek.

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Meanwhile back in today’s issue, I want to alert you to Lee’s latest project. His first entry will immediately give you the concept.

Yes, Lee has begun a new series of Trek-inspired drawings using the look and feel of Peanuts.

So far there are only three. Here is the third.

I was able to see all of these early because Lee posts them first to his Patreon page, and I am a long-time patron. I encourage you to join me in supporting Lee’s art. It always brings me joy. And you can join for as little as one US dollar a month.

So to answer my headline question, Is this the low point for Star Trek fandom, I have to answer with a resounding NO. Lee Sargent’s new Peanuts series is in fact a high point, further proof that Trek fans are some of the most creative people on the planet.

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So…this book is out in the world now.

Have you read it?

Certainly it can’t be as definitive as Mark A. Altman’s two volume masterpiece. By the way, volume one is only $3 US American dollars in Kindle version right now. There’s never been a greater bargain.

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Another new book is this guide - a collection of reviews.

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And it’s never too early to plan for next year.

Insert your own cat lady joke here.

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Oh, and this book asks the question “are we heading for the utopian Federation future?”

I think we all know the answer to that one.

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I am now going to put this photo here just so I can use it as the misleading header image for this post.

As Bugs Bunny would say:

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Despite a depressing lack of evidence, I am still hanging on to the Great Bird’s promise that the human adventure is just beginning.

Neil

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Star Trekking is written and edited by Neil Shurley, except where noted.

Star Trekking logo art by James H. Dargie.

Amazon Affiliate links included to help offset some of the costs of assimilation.

To Starve A Fleaver

And other great love songs

Welcome to Star Trekking, my attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.

There’s an old saying: “Feed a cold and starve a fever.” I think I remember old commercials that tried to teach the controversy - is it starve a cold and feed a fever or feed a cold and starve a fever?

I have never questioned which saying is correct because I know which saying is correct. Because I owned 45 rpm records (complete with storybook).

Yes, the story was titled To Starve A Fleaver, so whenever I have wondered which way the old saying is supposed to go, I just remember this title.

Of course, it was also released in TMP style.

In either uniform, I have not actually listened to it since approximately 1980.

Thankfully, the internet makes it so I don’t have to go digging through my stack of 45s.

The other story I know I owned was Passage to Mouav and, if I remember correctly, it featured Lt. M’Ress.

All this to say I am currently sick. But don’t worry, I will follow the advice of this commercial.

Even though I am under the weather, the human adventure is just beginning.

Neil

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Star Trekking is written and edited by Neil Shurley, except where noted.

Star Trekking logo art by James H. Dargie.

Amazon Affiliate links included to help offset some of the costs of assimilation.

The Spock of Theseus

Quantum perturbations

Welcome to Star Trekking, my attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.

You know the ship of Theseus, right?

Art by pastillustrator, via tvtropes

Today I was listening to a podcast and the idea of transporters came up. I think we’ve all considered the basic idea/nightmare of how the transporter works. By breaking you into your constituent atoms and then reassembling you, are you still the same person? Is there a continuation of consciousness? Do you die and then wake up as a whole new you with the exact same memories? (I remember that being a very specific point early in John Scalzi’s excellent novel Old Man’s War. Which reminds me, have you read Redshirts? Maybe we should do a book club sometime, and read/discuss that novel.)

Well I seem to have lost my train of thought here.

To get back to it, I ask you: after scattering your atoms many times, are you still the same person? Is the Spock we meet in The Cage the same Spock we meet in Where No Man Has Gone Before? Isn’t every transporter-created doppelgänger barely different from the “original” person in that they are essentially brand new beings? I guess I need to go back to college and have this discussion late at night after a few romulan ales.

Here’s something else I thought of. There is no such thing as perfection, so even if there is a continuation of consciousness and you are the same person stepping into the transporter and arriving on the planet, won’t there be just enough slippage or errors or quantum fluctuations to ensure that an atom sometimes reassembles out of place? And then that atom’s new position will have repercussions a few more transports down the line and eventually maybe it’ll become cancer? Should all our heroes be riddled with tumors due to their frequent transporter habits?

Okay maybe not.

But let’s definitely table the whole Tuvix discussion.

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And now a word from our sponsors

And remember, kids, don’t do drugs!

I kind of think that PSA was a prequel to this.

Maybe you need some psychic advice.

We’re all getting older.

Time to start your music collection.

Unfortunately, this song is not on those albums.

Would you like to play a game?

Now you’ll know which hair tonic to buy.

And once you’re looking your best, go attend this lecture by the Great Bird himself.

We now return to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

And on that nightmarish note, let’s say goodbye for now.

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Until next time,

The human adventure is just beginning.

Neil

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Star Trekking is written and edited by Neil Shurley, except where noted.

Star Trekking logo art by James H. Dargie.

Amazon Affiliate links included to help offset some of the costs of assimilation.