Welcome to Star Trekking, my weekly attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.
The ongoing thesis of this newsletter is that, whether you’re actively looking for it or not, Star Trek is everywhere.
This time it was in my baking show.
Okay, the world’s baking show: The Great British Bake Off.
During the first bake in the season finale, contestant Peter made some kind of honey thing that ended up looking like this.
To which host Noel immediately said, “It looks like a sixties Star Trek creature.”
And, fair enough, it does sort of resemble a cross between a Horta
and one of those flying pancakes from Operation—Annihilate!”
So of course Noel tried to meld with it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some baking to do.
(image from www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/1095283/star-trek-horta-cake)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Deleted scene from Assignment: Earth?
Out of the mouths of babes.
I’ve been obsessed with The Queen’s Gambit.
ART TREK TUESDAY
by Lee Sargent
A random Trek-related scene by one of my favorite artists, Lee Sargent.
This week’s random episode is from DS9 - “Second Skin.”
Last week was a little crazy, so I didn’t get a chance to do my weekly random Trek episode even though I did watch it on time.
Second Skin is a creative what-if episode that avoids a hackneyed resolution.
Major Kira awakens to discover that she is a Cardassian spy who is unable to remember her true origin. An intriguing concept considering how much Kira hated the Cardassians.
The episode plays out well despite the audience knowing that it’s not true, the genius though is that it is so effective in its execution that you can forget at times. For the briefest moments, you can ask “how insane would it be if this was true!?”
Of course, it’s not true, and Kira rescue is assured.
The twist at the end of the episode is genuinely genius. We discover that the plot was never aimed at Kira but instead at her Cardassian father.
I remember seeing the episode for the first time and not expecting that, even on subsequent viewings I’ve forgotten that element to the story.
Nothing significantly jumped out at me in this episode apart from the initial surprise reveal that Kira appears Cardassian. So I’ve drawn that sequence, which surprised me because generally, I wouldn’t say I like drawing characters dressed in disguise. A hazard of the style I’ve formed.
You can buy Lee’s original art in his shop: shop.leedrawsstuff.com.
For more of Lee’s art, visit his website: LeeDrawsStuff.com. You can join me in supporting his work at Patreon.com.
Teach your children well.
This week I was reminded of this commercial from 1995(!).
And so, of course, I had to find some back story. Which led me to Kelman Studios.
Caption: “One of Jamie's first big jobs in Hollywood, CA. Working for his mentor, Matthew Mungle at his studio, WM Creations, Jamie helped mold & cast up the gelatine appliances & apply the makeup for these look-alikes. The commercial utilized the actual actors voices, and can be found on YouTube. Standing in front of the Trek Crew on the left is Matthew Mungle, and front right is a babyfaced 22-year old Jamie Kelman.”
Turns out Jamie Kelman later worked on the first two Kelvin-verse movies (as well as many other projects - check out his portfolio).
Fascinating.
Great thread.
Paramount “what’s new for 1985” reel features some familiar faces. (h/t Neil S. Bulk)
It’s that time, friends.
DIRECTIVES
Clickbait “Wrath of Khan Makes No Sense.” Trigger warning..
Economics professor Tyler Cowen’s excellent analysis of Mirror Mirror.
I also enjoyed Cowen’s comments about Star Trek in this interview with Darren Lipomi.
I reviewed a new book, The Artistry of Dan Curry, for TrekMovie.
That’s all for this week. Thank you for reading. Please share with other Trek folks and let me know what random Trek references you come across during your week. I’d love to share them here!
Grok you later.
LLAP,