Tag: Star Trek

SGS: Fictional Fathers

Posted on by in Geeky Sunday, High Castle

Today is Father’s Day in the US. This is your reminder to call your dads šŸ˜‰

June 21st ā€“ Father Figures

As itā€™s Fatherā€™s Day today, weā€™re celebrating the father figures in our fandoms. The good, the bad and the downright bonkers ones.

Who is your favourite fictional dad?

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Can I get a drum roll, please?

John Smith from The Man in the High Castle.

He loved his children and was willing to do anything to protect them. He was active in their lives, and can I just mention a certain scene in Season 4 where I always burst out laughing?

Jennifer has a male friend over and puts on an ā€œillegalā€ record. Loud music permeates through the apartment as the two start dancing. Her sister Amy runs out of her room, and the two girls start screaming at each other. The friend follows them into the hallway, and the front door opens to reveal Smith walking into the apartment in the midst of the chaos. 

Who is your favourite evil dad?

John Smith. Yes, he is evil.Ā 

Who is your favourite father figure/mentor?

Captain Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I have always thought of him as a father figure. The bond between him and his son Jake was strong and unique. Sisko was always there for him. He always had something intelligent to say when Jake had questions (the scene where Jake says the Bajoran religion is stupid comes to mind. Sisko explains why they worship the prophets so that he can understand where Bajorans coming from).

Who is your favourite unconventional father/mentor?

Haymitch – is a father figure (in a way) to Peeta and Katniss. Heā€™s ill tempered and brash, but he cares about them and does what he can within that dystopian world to ensure at least one of them survives.

What is your favourite child/father scene? 

The scene in High Castle Season 2 where Smith takes Thomas to the lake with intentions of euthanizing him (sickening, I know). Thomas starts talking about normal worries and woes of teenage life, and the camera zooms in on Smith. You can see him make the decision to protect his son with the sudden, determined intensity in his posture. He wants his son to experience those teenage problems, teenage love, and life itself.  

What is your favourite quote from a fandom about fathers/by a father?

I donā€™t have a favorite quote, but I do have a favorite episode based around a sonā€™s love for his father (and vise versa). 

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Visitor

I confess that it honestly took me forever to watch this episode because I knew Iā€™d become a basket case, overwhelmed with emotion. When I finally watched it, I was glad I did. I know Iā€™ll need a tissue box if I explain it, so Iā€™m linking wikipedia’s synopsis.

I just got teary eyed trying to find a good screencap!

SGS: Food!

Posted on by in Babylon 5, Geeky Sunday

Itā€™s time for another Seriously Geeky Sunday brought to you by the creative Heather at geeking-by.net!

Okay, so I love food. I really, really love food. I love making it, and I love eating it! I made bread, cake, and ice cream on Thursday, and let me tell you A Thing: delicious! 

17th ā€“ Food

If you could have any fictional food item become reality, what would it be?Ā 

Romulan ale! I have always been tantalized by its blue color and itsĀ highly intoxicating content, ha! For those of you who have known me for a while, youā€™ll remember I visited my mother in August and found a mysterious bottle of Romulan ale (my mother and step dad donā€™t watch Star Trek or anything sci-fi related, so it was bizarre). I wish I had drank it.

When I was there in February for my uncleā€™s memorial, it was still there, and I promised myself that Iā€™d drink it when I visit in April. Well COVID-19 happened, and you know the rest. Hopefully itā€™s still there because I really want it and am kicking myself for not drinking it in August. šŸ˜‰

What is your favourite food moment/scene?Ā 

I swear there is a scene in The Orville where Captain Mercer attempts to spit out alien food awkwardly in his napkin or is grossed out by it. I cannot remember which episode, and google has failed me…Okay, so it’s me desperately trying to type the right things into the search bar and failing, ha ha!

What fictional restaurant would you like to visit?Ā 

the Three Broomsticks Inn for some good old fashioned butterbeer!Ā 

What is the most decadent dessert youā€™ve seen in a fandom?

Pretty much any desert with chocolate. Diana Troiā€™s favorite deserts come to mind!Ā 

What is the most disgusting fictional food item youā€™ve seen?

Spoo from Babylon 5 and Taspar Eggs from TNG

Just thinking about Spoo makes me gag! I donā€™t care if itā€™s supposed to be the most delicious food in the universe, the second someone puts that in front of me, Iā€™m gonna offend the galaxy by pushing it away. Nope to the power of nope, and Bester better read my mind before serving that, ha ha!

More than you ever wanted to know about Spoo:
Spoo is a fictional food product that served as a running joke within the Babylon 5 science fiction television series. In the series’ fictional universe, spoo is made from alien worm-like creatures of the same name, and is considered to be the most delicious food in the galaxy, regardless of which species is asked. Although it is a universally loved foodstuff and an actively traded commodity, the creature itself is regarded with contempt by the races that consume it. https://www.cs.odu.edu/~salam/wsdl/inforet/wikihtml/Spoo.html

Taspar eggs evoke an immediate gag reflex, so Iā€™m not going to go into describing them. If youā€™d like to experience the wonderful world of Cardassian Taspar eggs, watch Star Trek: TNG, Chain of Command. Donā€™t say I didnā€™t warn you!Ā 

What is your favourite fandom inspired recipe/food item?

I haven’t tried any, so I don’t have an answer for this one. However, I want that bottle of Romulan ale!

30 Miles to Awesomeville

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Okay, so you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been about as active as a derelict starship stuck in the neutral zone as far as blog posts go.

Yep. I moved. We are out of that tiny, one bedroom apartment and finally in our forever home. Mushy-feel-good stuff aside, It feels awesome to own our own place. You can imagine how that guzzled up my spare time, but it was worth it.

My commute to work is much longer, but I see it as an unexpected glass that is half full. It is the perfect time to edit my stories. For whatever reason, riding the highway express bus puts me in the right mindset for it. Those of you who write know what a chore editing can be and how hard it is to force yourself to do it after you get home from work. I mean, there are so many other things to do…like play games, surf the Internet, do some actual writing, read a book…

Image courtesy of Wikipedia. You can find it here.

What I’m saying is that it can feel like you’ve been put in charge of organizing a room full of tribbles by color, size, and purr pitch after they’ve had an endless night of *ahem* reproducing. You walk in with your trusty tablet and find yourself drowning in the cute little suckers.

I’ve been working on this thing since July. What you are looking at is the FINAL edit. Yes, this is a short sequel to The Year is Now. Elly is back and runs headfirst into a threat she’s never encountered before. How much more heartache can one woman take? She’s run for her life once before, but this time it won’t be enough.

Roddenberry’s 200

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If you’re a Star Trek fan or into the sci-fi scene at all, you’ve heard about Gene Roddenberry’s stash of floppy disks by now.

The possibilities are endless. My imagination is going nuts because I love Star Trek. Those of you who know me know that I’m not the 2009 reboot’s biggest fan, and let’s leave my opinion of the ’09 movie at that. So yes, you could say that I’m excited about this find. It could mean a new TV series for all I know!

The scoop on the find is this:
According to CNET, 200 floppy disks were discovered shortly after Roddenberry’s death. Sometime between now and then, they were sent to DriveSavers to recover the documents stored on them (read the article for details). The huge news is that they were successful.

Here’s my speculation (and hopes) of what’s stored inside. Bear in mind that a 5.25 inch floppy holds a max of 360 kilobytes (KB). Yes, kilobytes! [source]

That doesn’t leave much room per floppy for more than simple text files. The final draft of The Year is Now is 302 KB. The book is 172 pages and roughly 74,000 words long (just to give you an idea of what a maximum of 360 KB gets you).

1. Scripts for a future Star Trek series – How can I NOT wish for this? I’m not excited about the rumors floating around about a new series, but if they scrap it in favor of filming one with uncovered Roddenberry scripts? Hell to the yes!

2. A novel or two – Wouldn’t that be awesome? Maybe he wrote some crazy, out-there sci-fi book that never saw the light of day.

3. Scripts for a completely new show – As a writer, I know how it is. You focus all your works on your made up universe, but sometimes you need to take a break from it. I would love to see something we’ve never seen from Roddenberry before!

4. Adulting stuff – Budgets, an address book, records of his bills, tax documents…etc. Boring, but even the best of us can’t escape the bleh that is adulting.

5. A journal – Maybe he blogged before blogging was even a thing. Maybe there are all of these files on there of “Today I had the perfect sandwich. I wanted to take a photo of it.” Of course he had no way of posting his life to the outside world, but it’s hilarious to picture him wanting to tell the world about an awesome sandwich or how ugly the coats were at his local department store. Is the dress blue & black or white & gold?

That’s all I can think of for now.

What do you think is stored on Roddenberry’s 200 floppy disks? I want to know!

Send me your guesses on Facebook or Twitter!

 I’d love to compare theories and eventually find out if we’re spot on or can’t hit the broad side of a barn!

Off to work we go

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My faithful bag companion has a +5 Holding attribute, but a – 15 Fashion detractor, and you’re about to see everything!

What do you carry? Do you carry a backpack? An awesome satchel of hipster proportions? Or are you a bold soul who carries nothing? If you’re brave enough to share, join me on Facebook and make your bag take a selfie at The Command Deck’s Facebook Page!
Bonus points if you post your bag’s stats! 
Top to bottom, left to right:
Wallet
Lock (to secure my bag at work)
A notebook
A book (I mean…that one is hard :P)
A leather bag of change–I needz coffee!
Yes, that is an Ipod Classic (5th Generation)–mandatory for my commute!
An Umbrella–I told you it had a +5 Holding stat!
Hand sanitizer I’ve never used. Hey, it was free!
Lipstick and chapstick. The lipstick is just in case my chapstick gets sucked away into the void (it has happened on occasion). My lips get extremely dry. 
I need more pens. I do not have enough.
Old Dart passes–I always end up tossing them into my bag when they are used up!
** Not in my bag right now, but is always a part of my work commute **
My lunch
An extra shirt 

Need to cure the incurable cubicle boredom? 
Click on the image to expand it, right click, and then select “Print.”
*Fixed!
Yes, that is my handwriting. 

 Find the answers here: 
Click on the image to view full size