So many Star Trek references appeared in unexpected places for me this week. In fact, three of them happened just today.
First was in the latest episode of the podcast Hardcore History. Honestly, it’s never that big of a shock to hear host Dan Carlin slip in a comparison to Kirk or Spock or Klingons. His current series explores what he refers to as the Supernova in the East - the opening salvos in the Pacific theater of World War II. In the most recent episode he talks about the way decisions are made in battle situations - if the battles were waged by Vulcans, it would be a whole different ball game.
The second reference came in one of the many podcasts I listen to that feature musician, philosopher, and raconteur John Roderick. The latest episode of Roderick on the Line features extensive references to Romulans. Roderick is a wonderful storyteller and his reminiscences always get me thinking - both reflecting on my own life and experiences as well as thinking of new ways to look at the world. (There’s also a V’ger reference in today’s episode of the Omnibus Project podcast that Roderick cohosts with Jeopardy GOAT Ken Jennings.)
As for the third reference - well, scroll on, friend.
I like small miracles.
I like blueprints.
THIS WEEK’S 3rd RANDOM TREK REFERENCE
Today I came across an essay by Michael Solana titled JUMP. Here’s how it begins.
Back in elementary school a ‘scientific theory’ hit the playground that blew my mind: if every person in China jumped at the same time, their impact would knock our planet off its axis and the world would end.
I was always a sort of gullible person. I think I just liked to believe things, and in them. But this idea really captured me. It was the frightening image of it first, every single person in a country doing the same thing, at the same time. I didn’t even feel comfortable in Catholic Mass when the monotonous, somber group prayer started. But at the scale of a billion people? I used to watch a lot of Star Trek with my dad, and this was Borg shit. It was also just confusing on a practical level because the billion jumpers weren’t drones. They were people, just like me, and I didn’t want to die. Why would they? Naturally, I assumed, they’d have to be fooled into doing it by a megalomaniacal supervillain. But how could he pull it off? Information traveled differently in the nineties, and more slowly. To succeed at a scam so spectacular as the Jump, the time and place of the apocalyptic act would have to be announced by broadcast days in advance, and it would have to be framed as something not only beneficial, but essential. This would be the only way for the instructions to make it to the billion people required, and for them to go through with it. But by the time the information reached them, there would be an enormous media reaction. There would be counter information. There would be experts on planet stuff, probably, and they would tell people this was dangerous. If the megalomaniacal Jump enthusiast pirated a television signal (supervillains loved to do this), he could trick as many people as were watching a single, live broadcast. But hundreds of millions of people? Billions? Instantaneous, global mass hysteria was just not possible, let alone the direction of that hysteria to some particular end. I could rest easy, I decided, and it was back to my dreams of the Starship Enterprise.
But a lot has changed since 1993.
There’s an internet-connected device in your pocket and it can create action - for good or ill.
Today, a single piece of information — a tweet from your president, an update from the World Health Organization, video footage of police brutality — is polarized and shared across our social network. From there, it can reach hundreds of millions of people, often furious, in less than an hour.
Jump.
Social media, the internet, these things were never part of Star Trek.
Groupthink, though? We’ve seen that.
Everything inside of us is drawn to group consensus, and when the group is angry we frame the impulse as thinking with the mob. Intuitively, when we’re not inside of it, we know it’s dangerous. We even have a word for it — groupthink. But thought, here, is only an illusion. Mobs don’t think at all. They only burn, and when the burning stops there’s nothing left. Human civilization can weather a fire in pockets every now and then. It’s even on some rare occasion better for them. But a world on fire? That’s an existential threat we are not prepared for.
People often joke you can’t change the world with a tweet. But it’s more apparent now than ever that you can. The problem is, in practice, a meme at rapid global scale doesn’t often look like freedom, or justice, or prosperity. It looks like a billion people doing the same thing, at the same time, in a temporary state of madness.
Jump.
Food for thought.
See also: Don’t Be Like the Borg and Is Modern Technology Creating a Borg-like Society?
The arrow of time is vicious.
ART TREK TUESDAY
By Lee Sargent
Each week, one of my favorite artists, Lee Sargent, draws a random Trek-related scene.
This week’s random episode is from TAS - “Yesteryear.”
It’s a heartbreaker for this week’s Random Trek Tuesday with the second episode of the Animated Series Yesteryear.
Yesteryear is probably the best episode of TAS and certainly the one that deserves to be canon the most. So much of Vulcan and Spock is drawn from this episode. Huge kudos to Enterprise who would in their fourth season reference this episode a lot. Also the 09 Star Trek film nodded heavily with the three Vulcan bullies taunting Spock.
It’s an extremely well crafted episode and I’m incredibly moved by Spock’s line when he returns:
SPOCK: One small thing was changed this time. A pet died.
KIRK: A pet? Well, that wouldn’t mean much in the course of time.
SPOCK: It might, to some.
Having only lost a pet myself a year or so ago it is a particularly poignant exchange to me.
I was also very impressed with the look on Amanda’s face when young Spock returns to declare his intentions to embrace his Vulcan heritage. It pauses briefly on her and it’s a powerful scene.
The fact that this comes from a somewhat dinky animated show from the 70s does this episode a great service.
Check out more of Lee’s art at LeeDrawsStuff.com. Support his work at Patreon.com
Apologies for the colorful metaphor at the beginning.
MIND MELD
With Michael Kenny.
In which we get to know a Trek fan just a little bit better.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
Hi I'm Michael! I'm a marketing professional and lifelong Trekkie based just outside London, UK.
What’s your first Star Trek memory?
I have many fond early Trek memories, but the one that always springs to mind were the repeated attempts to watch The Search for Spock at 5 in the morning. My parents would often come and turn it off and tell me to go back to bed, but secretly I think they dug the fact their kid was into Star Trek!
Which series (or movie) do you most enjoy watching and why?
If it has Star Trek on the tin I'm game! I think we all gravitate towards a particular show or movie though. My favourite Trek show usually flips between The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. I love how different they are and that combined they create this rich picture of a (mostly) wonderful future for humanity. Movie-wise is a little harder as I love them all really (well, maybe not Into Darkness so much...), The Wrath of Khan is an easy choice - it's the best Trek movie - so I'll go with The Search for Spock; it's got everything. A massively underappriciated movie.
Which series (or movie) are you least familiar with?
The newest Trek productions would be an easy answer as we've not had a lot of time with them. Of the older Trek shows I'm probably least familiar with The Original Series. I've watched the show a couple of times over, but it's not really my go-to Trek. Nothing against it, without TOS we wouldn't have Star Trek!
Favorite Captain?
Sisko! He's perfect, because he's not perfect. One of the best, multi-layered characters in Trek. Brilliantly written and perfectly brought to the screen by the legendary Avery Brooks.
What led you to intentionally be a force for positivity in Trek fandom?
Well firstly I wouldn't call myself a force. I'm just a dude in his 30's who loves Star Trek and wants to spread good vibes! We live in difficult times, and I'm not blind to that fact, but Star Trek has always been a comforting thing for me. If I can share a piece of that with my friends in the Trek fan community and make one person, just one person happy, then that's a good thing!
What Trek ancillary material - maybe a book or comic or podcast - should everyone check out?
Ooooh so much out there to love! Podcast-wise Trekkerprise's Warm Blanket is a must-listen, as is Trek on the Tube's Trek Chat!
First book or toy or other tie-in you remember?
I was a spoilt kid - I think I had the entire Playmates range back in the day. I have fond memories of the phaser and tricorder props. I also remember watching to death the 'making of' VHS tape for Generations. I must have watched that thing 3 times a day when I first got it!
Most treasured Trek item that you own?
Unfortunately all my toys and tapes were thrown out when I grew up. Tragic I know! I've spent the last few years trying to collect everything again but it'll take years to get back everything I had. Of what I have now I think my favourite item is a recent addition. It's a copy of the script for TOS's 'Amok Time', signed by Enterprise's Dominic Keating, made out to 'Stinky'. It's virtually priceless.
How has Star Trek made a difference in your life?
For me Star Trek is more than just a TV show or series of movies. It's given me the tools to become a better person. Star Trek has given me confidence. It's helped me understand and appreciate the differences in the wonderful people on this planet. It's helped me develop a sense of humour. It inspires me to create, whether that be making videos, podcasting, writing or mucking about on Photoshop. Most crucially it offers me sanctuary. It's a safe space I can go to temporarily escape the drudgeries of adult life, and the perceived bleakness of contemporary society. I really don't know what I'd do without it at this point.
Tell us about a StarTrek-related rabbit hole you fell deep into.
Memory Alpha can be a real productivity killer...that and repeatedly telling myself "this is the final episode" at 3am during my daily Trek binge.
Thanks, Michael!
PS: I had a conversation with Michael on his podcast, Networking on Nimbus III.
I like charts.
THIS WEEK IN TREK HISTORY
And here we are again. History is inevitable, and so is Star Trek. Certainly inevitable in Star Trek are cliffhangers, and three big ones happened this week in The Next Generation. But first, the births!
On June 15, 1918, Richard Derr was born, and by that, I mean born to be high-ranked in Starfleet. Derr appeared twice in TOS as two different officers, Commodore Barstow in "The Alternative Factor" and Admiral Fitzgerald in "The Mark of Gideon." Also on June 15, in 1956, the lovely Robin Curtis was born, who we all know as Saavik from "The Search For Spock" and "The Voyage Home".
On June 16 in 1972, one of the original crew from the Kelvinverse was born, the great John Cho aka Hikaru Sulu, while on June 17, 1951, we had Joe Piscopo, who was the comic in the "beloved" TNG episode "The Outrageous Okona" (Holodeck info revealed his actual name to be Ronald B. Moore). And on June 18, a whole slew of children! A veritable sling's worth! In 1899 (!) we had John Warburton, who was the Romulan officer in "Balance of Terror", then Keye Luke (1904) 1904, who was Donald Cory in "Whom Gods Destroy" but is better known as the Grandfather who refused to sell Gizmo in "Gremlins" and "Gremlins 2" (and also did press art for the original "King Kong"!), Robert Ellenstein (1923) who was the Federation president in "The Voyage Home", Nick Tate (1942) who was in TNG "Final Mission" and DS9 "Honor Amongst Thieves" but was even more importantly Eagle pilot Alan Carter in "Space: 1999". [Editor: he’s also a prolific voiceover artist.] And then Linda Thorson (1947), who as well as starring in "The Avengers" (not the Marvel one) was Gul Ocett in the TNG episode "The Chase".
On June 19 in 1978, another Kelvinverse recruit was born in the guise of Lt. Nyota Uhura, Zoe Saldana, and finally, on June 21, 1940, Mariette Hartley was born. Hartley played Zarabeth in the TOS episode "All Our Yesterdays", where she had a relationship with Spock. And apparently, according to one of the novels, she had a son with him. A Spock son!
Episodes were a bit thin on the ground this week, with TNG's "Manhunt" happening on June 17, 1989. June 19, 1995, saw changeling vs changeling in the DS9 second season episode "The Adversary", with another DS9 episode, "In The Hands of the Prophets", airing on June 20, 1993.
And then there are those cliffhangers. In reverse order of importance, June 19 in 1993 saw the Sons of Soong come together to destroy the Federation amidst a cabal of rogue Borg in "Descent, Part I", while Worf gave up his Starfleet commission to fight alongside Gowron in "Redemption, Part I", which aired on June 15, 1991. And of course, we met Sela, who turned out to be alternate universe Tasha Yar's daughter. Or something. Frankly, I'm still confused.
And on June 16, 1990, we got the shock of all shocks when Captain Picard was abducted by the Borg and assimilated, becoming Locutus of Borg. The episode ended with the now Captain Riker ordering the Enterprise to fire its special deflector weapon at the Borg cube in a last-ditch attempt to save everything. This, of course, was "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I." [Editor: Remember the feeling when we saw this the first time?! Wow wow wow.]
I'w barhau...
Politics.
DIRECTIVES
My pal Laurie interviews the great Kate Mulgrew.
TOS behind the scenes home movies from Billy Blackburn, the greatest TOS extra of them all.
For your next Star Trek party or picnic.
Entertain yourself by watching virtual panels.
Clickbait-y list of Shatner anecdotes about being Kirk.
Seriously, go check out TrekLad’s podcast, even if you skip the episode I’m in.
That’s it for now. Grok you later.
LLAP,