Age of Wonders

The science fiction drug is available everywhere to kids, in superhero comics, on TV, in the movies, in books and magazines. It is impossible to avoid exposure, to avoid the least hint of excitement at Marvel Comics superheroes and Star Trek reruns and Star Wars, impossible not to become habituated even before kindergarten to the…

Clooney, Others Develop SCI FI Shows

Diamond Age, based on Neal Stephenson’s best-selling novel The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, is a six-hour miniseries from Clooney and fellow executive producer Grant Heslov of Smokehouse Productions. When a prominent member of society concludes that the futuristic civilization in which he lives is stifling creativity, he commissions an interactive book…

Damn Vulcans, ruining this federation…

Consider their treatment of Mr. Spock. Almost every episode, Dr. McCoy heckles him over his logic and even uses “green-blooded” as part of his threats. Captain Kirk, ostensibly Spock’s greatest friend, takes any opportunity he can to point out problems logic causes, and on more than one occasion makes Spock the butt of race-based jokes…

Slouching Towards Bedlam

*clunk* The rotating tin cylinder within the phonograph vibrates slightly as a brass needle scrapes against it. The sound of a throat being cleared emerges from the machine’s hornshell speaker, followed by a thin, haunting voice. “March the 16th.” A deep, shaky breath. “I dread to say it, but I believe I am going mad.…

Gingerbread Tie Fighter

—Gingerbread Tie Fighter (Flickr) The Icing is what gives the ginjedi his power. It’s an energy field created by egg whites and sugar. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the ginjedibread together. Via BoingBoing. Similar:I may have mentioned that I have a daughter who does things. Her next is "To Battle: A Fig…Study finds…

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor believed lost in space

NASA scientists conceded on Tuesday that the 10-year-old Mars Global Surveyor is probably lost in space after the U.S. agency tried unsuccessfully for two weeks to contact the probe. —NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor believed lost in space (Reuters) This link will probably expire soon, so here’s Wikipedia’s Mars Global Surveyor page. Similar:Study finds AI tools made…

Best. Costume. Ever.

—Best. Costume. Ever. If your geek quotient isn’t high enough to recognize it, this is a mock-up of the power loader from Aliens. Similar:Study finds AI tools made open source software developers 19 percent slowerThe Scapegoat by Richard Maples (1957 Sci-Fi Short Story)Business as Usual #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 18) Quark accepts a…

Building a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin

—Building a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin (Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories) Via boingboing. Similar:Study finds AI tools made open source software developers 19 percent slowerThe Scapegoat by Richard Maples (1957 Sci-Fi Short Story)Did you like or share that social media post about two Camp Mystic girls found in a tree?Business as Usual #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode…

My Love Affair With Star Trek

There was no separating the two Treks, the vacuous and the visionary. It’s no coincidence that one of the most legendary episodes — “The Trouble with Tribbles” — was essentially a comic take on the show’s established themes. Given some distance from the moment, I realize this is actually an entirely healthy attitude. It’s the…

Extreme Makeover: Star Trek Edition

Battle sequences, ship exteriors, galaxy shots and landscapes (which previously came courtesy of matte paintings) will be given more shading, depth and computer-generated believability. The original Alexander Courage-composed score has been rerecorded in stereo and, perhaps best of all, William Shatner’s opening monologue has been remastered, so that “Space, the final frontier…” will sound better…

Wired News: Star Trek Submissions

—Wired News: Star Trek Submissions (Flickr) What a cool idea! Wired News has created a Flikr account, and invited readers to sumit their Star Trek memorabilia photos, in preparation for Star Trek’s 40th anniversary. Similar:York Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of footage.Study finds AI tools made open source software developers 19 percent…

Star Trek's a thesis

Among the dark corners where Dr Baker’s thesis – titled Broadcast Space: TV Culture, Myth and Star Trek – shines light is the changing link between the starship Enterprise’s intergalactic adventures and the real world’s space race. Shatner’s monologues were inspired by the visionary speeches of JFK, advocating greater exploration. Thirty years on, the roles…

Knights of the Round Table — Star Trek TOS

—Knights of the Round Table — Star Trek TOS (YouTube) Amusing. Not side-splittingly funny, like that Bush/Blair mashup that was circulating last year. But still amusing. Thanks for the suggestion, Rosemary. Similar:York Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of footage.I may have mentioned that I have a daughter who does things. Her next…

Maize: the final frontier

—Maize: the final frontier (ABCnet.au) A Star Trek cornfield maze. I’ll spare you the fanboy analysis, which would hinge on the fact that it looks like that’s the original series Enterprise, firing what looks like a phaser from the secondary hull (should be coming from the base of the saucer) at a Borg cube, but the…

Christie's to hold "Star Trek" garage sale

Trekkies will be setting their phasers to “bid” this fall when Christie’s holds the first official studio auction of memorabilia from all five “Star Trek” television series and 10 movie spin-offs. —Christie’s to hold “Star Trek” garage sale (Reuters) I’m proud — or, more accurately, nerdy enough — to say I recognized every one of the…