Thursday, August 28, 2008

Three Things

1. I wrote a post today that hasn't gone up yet -- probably first thing in the morning -- about "Truman Show delusion," wherein people think they're being constantly surveilled, and everyone around them is an actor. Because of this, I have had "Private Eyes" by Hall & Oates stuck in my head all day, despite the fact that I never actually heard it.

2. Joe Biden's speech last night > John Edwards' four years ago.

3. It's amazing what you will forgive in the artifacts of your childhood. On a whim of nostalgia I rented a random disc of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which I just started watching. My father didn't just love this show when I was younger, I'm pretty sure the VHSes he made of it are still in the entertainment center. That's right -- my mom and dad have an "entertainment center." They're old school like that. And while I'm on the subject, let me just say this -- I appreciate my own mother more and more every time I'm on the subway or in an elevator or standing in line next to some whiny 50-something New York woman who complains, complains, complains, and all in that horrible accent.

Back to Star Trek. Besides the corny special effects and occasionally forced dialog, a couple other things I never noticed when I was watching the show with my Dad. One, they have that feature on the enterprise where officers can ask the computer the location of a person on the ship, and it will just tell them. This has been the source of many great plot-lines involving shape-shifters. But don't they have any such thing as the goddamned right to privacy in the 24th century?

Second, what the hell does the transporter chief do all day? I mean, they're needed once a day, but when you see other people leaving the transporter bay, they just stay there. Do they stay all day, and just to future crosswords to pass the time? I mean, in the 24th century they're totally unnecessary anyway -- even when they're working, they just push a few buttons. When things go wrong, they usually can't fix it in time anyway. So isn't this a task that could be outsourced to the computer, or at the very least, an ensign? Plus, I don't think there's a chair in there. Which means the transporter chief stands around all day, doing nothing. What an awful life.

Third, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is a terrible tacky name. It would've totally failed like other sequels if sci-fi fans had normal aesthetic considerations.

Yet, thought I may never be 12 and ignorant again, Star Trek will always get a pass from me, since I grew up with it.

1 comment:

John said...

The transporter chief was more a side job for the engineering crew. So while Miles O'Brien may have been frequently featured just sitting by the transporter room, in actuality, he was also working under LaForge in engineering, too, and I think they showed this a few times.

Woo! NERDY!