star trek nerds

• lol Badge Feed
• win Badge Feed
• trending Badge Feed

Browse links

• © 2024 BuzzFeed, Inc
• Consent Preferences
• Accessibility Statement

The Funniest Jokes That'll Speak To Every "Star Trek" Fan's Inner Nerd

Live long and prosper, Trekkies.

BuzzFeed Contributor

If you've found yourself watching the Star Trek franchise on repeat, or effortlessly quoting one of the show's characters regularly, chances are you're one of the die-hard fans.

No matter if you started watching from the beginning, or just love the series in general, we've rounded up the funniest social media posts that'll speak to every trekkie's soul. check them out below:.

Dayton Ward 🖖😎 @daytonward There's no party like landing party. #StarTrek 01:07 PM - 18 Sep 2017 Reply Retweet Favorite

Evil Girafe 👁 @Lyrical_Girafe Same vibe. #Startrek 03:47 PM - 10 Oct 2021 Reply Retweet Favorite

Jay Stobie @StobiesGalaxy There's been a late addition to the crew of William Shatner's Blue Origin spaceflight... 🦖 #StarTrek 06:25 PM - 12 Oct 2021 Reply Retweet Favorite

soph @neonriddler star trek ds9 is one big meme 10:20 PM - 16 Sep 2021 Reply Retweet Favorite

View this photo on Instagram

Which Star Trek joke or meme would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!

Share this article.

• April 26, 2024 | Michael Dorn Wanted Armin Shimerman To Play The Ferengi That Worf Killed In Star Trek Picard
• April 26, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Gets To Know The Breen In ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ 505, “Mirrors”
• April 25, 2024 | Prep Begins For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Finale; Cast And Directors Share BTS Images
• April 25, 2024 | Jonathan Frakes Sees Opportunities With Streaming Star Trek Movies, Weighs In On “Filler Episodes”
• April 25, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reflects On Its Choices In “Mirrors”

Podcast: All Access Star Trek Nerds Out More With Terry Matalas On ‘Picard’ Season 3 And His Next Trek

| August 19, 2022 | By: All Access Star Trek Pod Team 89 comments so far

[Terry Matalas interview starts at 19:34]

Missed part 1? Listen to it here .

Anthony and Laurie start with a preview of The 56-Year Mission in Las Vegas, covering venue capacity, Covid procedures, guests, and panels, including one on Thursday from TrekMovie. They cover the Saturn Award nominations for  Discovery, Strange New Worlds,  and  Lower Decks,  discuss fan reactions to SNW showrunner Henry Alonso Myers’ comments about his pitch for the show, round up more San Diego Comic-Con interviews from the SNW cast, and talk about the latest comics, books, and games coming our way (with some surprising tie-ins).

Then it’s time for Part 2 of the epic interview with  Picard showrunner Terry Matalas, going back to talk a bit about season 2 and taking an even deeper dive into season 3 and the return of the TNG crew, and how he had to keep his inner fanboy in check on set. He also offers up some hints about what kind of Star Trek show he would like to do next, talks about how he just can’t help responding to critics on Twitter, and more.

The podcasters wrap up with Kate Mulgrew’s promise to avoid causing temporal anomalies by visiting the Janeway statue and some surprising history about what’s probably the most important scene in The Wrath of Khan .

Interview: Gary Berman Previews The 56-Year Mission Las Vegas Star Trek Convention

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,’ ‘Lower Decks’ And ‘Discovery’ Pick Up 6 Saturn Awards Nominations

Saturn Award nominations – full list (Deadline)

Watch: ‘Strange New Worlds’ Showrunner Says Series Pitch Was “What If We Just Did Star Trek?”

See Mirror Picard And Riker Face Off In Preview Of Final Issue Of ‘Star Trek: The Mirror War’

Comic And Novel Tie-ins Coming For ‘Star Trek: Resurgence’ And ‘Star Trek Prodigy’ Games

Anthony: Kate Mulgrew tweets > about upcoming visit to Janeway statue, promises not to cause any temporal anomalies; Aaron Waltke follows up

Laurie: “The Tholian Web” co-writer Judy Burns talks about adding that crucial scene to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the Enterprise Incidents podcast.

Follow Laurie on Twitter .

Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and should you be so inclined,  please review us on Apple .

Subscribe to our podcasts

The  All Access Star Trek  podcast has joined the long-running  Shuttle Pod  as part of the TrekMovie.com Podcast Network. If you already subscribe to the  Shuttle Pod , your subscription will now include both shows from the TrekMovie Network. If you prefer, you can sign up for only the  Shuttle Pod  or  All Access Star Trek  using the links below.

Keep up with everything to do with the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

Related Articles

DS9 , Lower Decks , Star Trek: Picard

Michael Dorn Wanted Armin Shimerman To Play The Ferengi That Worf Killed In Star Trek Picard

All Access Star Trek Podcast , Discovery , Strange New Worlds

Podcast: All Access Gets To Know The Breen In ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ 505, “Mirrors”

Strange New Worlds

Prep Begins For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Finale; Cast And Directors Share BTS Images

All Access Star Trek Podcast , Discovery , Lower Decks , Star Trek Origin Movie , Strange New Worlds

Podcast: All Access Faces The Strange On ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Great interview with Matalas once again!

And I really love the idea that season 3 is about passing the baton and that a spin off would be the next, next generation! I won’t speak for every fan but this was always what I wanted after Nemesis ended, that we go to the next era of Trek passed TNG/DS9/VOY and start anew in a way. Now I don’t think Matalas is saying that, he made it clear if there is another show it will take place right after Picard, but it sounds like a mix of old and new characters would be setting up a new direction and that’s really exciting.

I was very happy when Patrick Stewart was coming back as Picard but in all honesty I was hoping it would be setting up a bigger universe in the 25th century with new characters aboard another starship since we knew Stewart wasn’t doing seven seasons or anything. It sounds like that’s what they are setting up now. But I still suspect Seven of Nine and/or several TNG characters will still be part of any new show as he also alluded to. But I am hoping we get a new set of characters and really set up the 25th century with a different drive than what the 24th century shows gave us. Let’s see Star Trek continue to expand in new situations, characters and time eras and not just nostalgia for what came before (but I am loving all the nostalgia too ;)).

I’m really excited about where all of this can be going now!

I feel your excitement!

However, I think if I get three or four more interviews like this with him giving up more and more info, I’ll feel like I’ve already watched the season.

This dude’s like “you’re spoiled baby brother” who could never keep a family secret Lol

No offense, but I don’t get your hang up about this at all? I think I’ve seen you post this in other places, but it’s really odd to me why it would bother you? For me it’s the complete opposite. A few reasons.

For one, Matalas hasn’t revealed anything about the actual story. Can you lay out one scene from it? Can you tell me a plot line? What we see one character doing? What other legacy characters shows up? So how has he ‘spoiled’ anything? He’s just framing the basics of the season, but he hasn’t said one thing about the story itself. Anthony said it in this interview, he’s really good at teasing us but not giving anything away. He’s not dropping any big details but he’s not vague either. The only TRUE spoiler that has been given away is that we know the Enterprise is showing up, but Patrick Stewart broke that first at Comic Con, not Matalas.

Secondly, this is what EVERYONE does, Matalas isn’t doing anything remotely different. You seem under the impression that Matalas has talked up his project more than other producers or writers and trust me, not even remotely true lol. I don’t know how long you been here, but I been here a long looooong time. Not at the very beginning but back in 2008, just lurking then. But guess who else was here? Bob Orci! That guy was on the boards talking up the 2009 movie 18 months before it opened. He was throwing out bits of info and updates to anyone who had a question every week lol. And then on top of that he was giving Trekmovie exclusive interviews just like this one every few months. And THEN would still jump in the comments section to elaborate more. He was giving constant updates and story hints while the guy was still writing both movies lol. In fact that entire team of Orci, Abrams and Kurtzman was talking up the first movie at least a year before it came out but you can even go as far back as 2006 giving statements and interviews on it. I’m not joking.

And how is that different from what the show runners of SNW are doing? They been throwing out just as much info about their show. TM just posted a new interview talking up season 2 and mentioned Scotty showing up in the future and Kirk and Spock’s first meeting. So what’s the difference??

Lastly (and man this was only suppose to be a few lines lol), you have to remember this is probably just as much about damage control as it is about promoting the next season. Matalas has made it very clear he knows how much people have hated the first two seasons of Picard. There are a lot of people out there just very down on this show, me included BTW. And there are many who just stopped watching. He’s probably trying to convince THEM that season 3 is different and in a great way. People like us are going to watch no matter what but it’s the others he’s trying to convince who isn’t. Not everyone is going to just watch because he dragged in all the TNG characters back IF they were really down on the first two seasons. In fact I’ve seen people say all season 3 will do is just ruin those characters. He’s trying to make it clear we are getting a true TNG season and not just an extension of the first two.

And frankly for people like me, I NEED more of this, not less. Yeah I’m going to watch but I still hesitant about next season. But the more I hear the more my mind is changing!

And lastly dude, don’t take this the wrong way, but if you don’t want to hear any more about next season, you can simply not click on the link like this one. Done.

I’m going to wait and see how much more we learn before the season starts, because I really think this is trending to much more information at this point before a season begins then any other series to date. You can feel free to disagree of course. If this season turns out to be underwhelming, I think this may end up being one of the reasons why, but we’ll see.

And we will also see how much more he gives away both at the convention next week and on Star Trek Day. My bet is he won’t be able to help himself but to again provide some more major info, but again, we’ll see.

And yet no one else seems remotely bothered by it. As said, he hasn’t actually spoiled anything. He’s only talking about the season in broad terms. Again, how is that any different than what they are doing with SNW right now? I don’t see the difference at all. The show runners there has been open about what we will see, what characters will show up again, their dynamics, etc but hasn’t given away any story details other than the LDS crossover.

Again, look at the Kelvin movies. They were talking up those movies for years. Obviously its different since its not a TV show and you have years between a film, but I don’t understand how talking up a 10 episode season every month is different from a 2 hour film?

That’s not true, Lorna Dune agreed with me when I brought this up on another article on Matalas recently, and about two months ago a different person (I can search back to see who it was if you want me to dig it out?) also concurred with me on this. I am not the only one who has noticed this.

Dude, I don’t recall the Kelvin movies having near the level of advance talk like this from it’s creative lead nearly every week for like starting nearly a year before their release? Only when the full trailer came out did we start to get this kind of access and info at this regularity. And that’s kind of my point here — this is really a lot of talk way early in comparison to other seasons, movies, etc. It’s flunking Marketing 101 for TV/Movies in my opinion.

Again, this is all just my opinion.

OK, I guess I missed that discussion with Lorma Dune lol. No problem. But the MAJORITY seems fine with it, agreed?

Look, only advice I can give you if it bothers you this much, don’t click on it ! If you see a thread with Matalas discussing his views, just ignore it.

But for me, and assuming most others are fine with it because I want to know as much as possible without any big spoilers and completely fine with it. I mean this is why we come here lol. And I still don’t see any difference between him and the show runners giving info for SNW. But OK, let’s just move on.

I will even give you that it’s the VAST majority that is fine with this! :-)

I’ll live with clicking on it, but I will reserve my right to share my opinion.

Let’s see how much more info he gives up next week at the big convention and on Star Trek Day. If he doesn’t give up anything major, I will be the first to admit I jumped the gun on this.

You responded to me about it first, not the other way around. I was giving my thoughts on something else but we ended up here. ;)

To be clear: this isn’t something I’m actually bothered by. :)

LOL, good to know! I’m personally loving all the info about season 3 so far! I think most of us are.

I’m really hoping so as well. I love SNW and that needs to continue but with the exception of that the era of prequels needs to die. Time to move forward in all shows. I remember like a decade or so back when someone pitched a 25th century cartoon show with a descendant of Kirk being the next captain, of the Enterprise at a time when the Federation was falling apart or something. Glad that didn’t happen

I have NEVER really been a fan of prequels of any kind, Star Trek included. It was a big reason why I had trouble getting into both Enterprise and Discovery. But Enterprise really won me over eventually and DIS was actually getting very interesting in season 2 as well until they moved forward in time (which I prefer). SNW is really the perfect prequel setting though so I was 100% for it from day one. And I wouldn’t mind a post-TUC/pre-TNG era show. That could be interesting too and bridge elements between TOS and TNG more. This is ultimate fanboy stuff but I think it would be cool to see a now Captain Saavik in charge of the Enterprise B after Captain Harriman steps down. That’s really the only other prequel time period I’m interested in personally.

But yeah I will always prefer to go forward. For me, anything in the post-Nemesis era is going forward. It doesn’t have to all be in the 32nd century lol, but as Matalas said the 25th century is a good era for NuTrek because you have all the legacy actors you can bring back but also do something completely new too. I’m really happy we are seeing the remnants of the Dominion war next season but a new show could give us an entire new species that could be a threat to the Federation. And most fans seem to want this era the most, certainly on Reddit at least.

And the show you are thinking about is called Star Trek: Federation. And it actually took place in the 30th century. I read about it here. It sounded interesting to me, but the idea of the Federation turning stagnant seem to put off some fans.

Oh yes. I remember now. I read about it here too! And the federation going stagnant or belly up is exactly why I don’t like discovery still even tho now it is a sequel forward and not a prequel. It’s feels like everything Kirk and Picard and Sisko and janeway fought so hard for was for nothing because one day a baby cries and everything blows up.

Man, I wish this guy would just can it now until we get to the season. I want to be somewhat surprised – I don’t need so much of this spoiler stuff fed to me way in advance. We are getting way too much info in advance for this one – much more than for any other Star Trek series recurring season that I can remember.

This risks a huge let down when we actually see it given we will know know a lot of what’s happening, and this it won’t be as exciting or fun as it could have been.

Kurtzman and CBS marketing need to have a talk with him and kind of shut him down for awhile (at least after the convention next week where I’m sure he’s going to tell us a ton more spoilers…lol) – my opinion.

he’s not really giving anything away. It’s shocking to me, really, how very little we know about the story. For all the things that have been teased (or leaked), we genuinely don’t know what’s happening.

Yeah that’s the thing, he hasn’t dropped any actual spoilers. I don’t think saying Riker being really funny next season is exactly something you can make an article about.

I do like that he has denied things which I don’t count as spoilers like making it clear Sela or Sisko isn’t returning. Or that we won’t see DS9. I think he’s trying to just manage expectations in that case because, per usual, people’s imaginations out there are going wild and will be disappointed when they don’t get the thing no one ever promised them.

Exactly. I think people consider different things spoilers. To me even hearing X or Y is coming back isn’t much of a spoiler. It’s a franchise. That is sorta expected. What I do consider a spoiler is how or why people show up. To me, the little teases about Worf or Geordi or Crusher add intrigue and fun speculation. But if there was a leak that outlined storylines or plot, I’d avoid that.

Perhaps. Let’s see what he says at the convention next week and on Star Trek Day next month. I hope I am wrong, but my bet, based on his pattern to date, is that the dude won’t be able to help himself from giving a lot more info away.

Man, I wish this guy would just can it now until we get to the season. I want to be somewhat surprised – I don’t need so much of this spoiler stuff fed to me way in advance. 

I haven’t watched this interview.

But if you absolutely want to know nothing about season 3 of PICARD before watching it, surely the best course of action is not to read any of the publicity materials or teasers at all?

Speaking of people we wish would can it…

Terry’s excellent in these interviews, and Anthony and Laurie are great interviewers. A pleasure to hear.

Thanks so much! He was a great guest.

re: Spiner, it’s gotta be either Lore or B4.

Also, great interview! You’re both fantastic podcasters and interviewers!

I think it’s going to be Lore aged up. I think that’s what he means by an ‘old new character’. He’ll be Lore but just not as we remembered him because he will look older which is probably what he means that people will have so many questions if they see him in a poster.

I would have to think if that’s the case the reason why he’s old is that Dr. Soong originally programmed him to age like a Blade Runner android, but because he was deactivated for so many years, that aspect of his programming didn’t really have a chance to kick in when TNG audiences saw him. Then again, that’s the first thing that popped into my mind, and I’m one of the dumbest people who ever lived, so, it will probably be more interesting than that.

I wonder if it will be both… That Lore will have stolen or absorbed B4 and Data’s “subroutines” – to finally become “fully human.” But not necessarily Picard’s friend.

LOL, but I actually think that idea sounds pretty plausible. Soong made Lore to be more human from Data from the start, so it’s not inconceivable he was meant to age as well. He may still live to be over hundreds of years old but still age.

And it’s been nearly 30 years since we seen him last. Man where does the time go???

I’ve sometimes wondered if maybe after “Descent” there should’ve been a trial episode with Lore, or at least his head, ha, in the courtroom being prosecuted by the Federation. I mean, it might’ve been interesting to see Picard and Data struggling with whether or not Lore should be permanently deactivated or disassembled for study. Sort of like a twist on “Measure of a Man.” You fought for their rights, guys, but what if they’re psychotic?

That would’ve been a great idea and a fun twist! It’s easy to side with a benign A.I., what if its one that can be provoked to kill you like a biological life can?

Thanks. Yeah, I think I could’ve traded a season 7 episode like that for… I don’t know, was “Masks” in that season? Or maybe one of those dull dream episodes.

Anyway, it felt to me like Lore’s story was over a little too quick. Data mentions in passing he’s going to be deactivated or something and that’s it. But, hang on, can’t you get a moral dilemma out of this?

I don’t know, kind of an odd way to end it, and part of me does wish for some kind of resolution in ST:P.

What if he’s the voice of the computer? Like a Data ringtone.

Then he would truly be his father’s son by becoming Often-On Soong.

I think Season 1 of PIC settled B4. My guess is that Spiner is human Season 1 character – Altan Soong.

Ohhhhh like he froze himself a la Khan and is resuscitated? As a payoff to that project file at the end of last year

Thank you! Terry is indeed a great interview. We could’ve done a whole interview about non-Star Trek things and he still would’ve been fascinating.

Given what we’ve seen of the Soongs, it is safe to assume everyone after Arik Soong is a clone. Through cloning and AI, he ensured no one would ever forget his face.

Agreed. I actually think that was some of the more brilliant aspects of Pic S2

Sounds like there’s a chance we’ll see Ro Laren.

The YouTube video (which I thoroughly enjoyed and mostly agree with) that Terry has been referencing is this one: https://youtu.be/qKufJoRSr6c

Honestly, it was refreshing to hear him say that he’d prefer to have the Eugenics Wars set in the 90s, and that its half-baked retcon into the 21st century is just corporate wanting Star Trek to be “our future”. Actual history has diverged from Star Trek ever since we passed 1968. Paramount/CBS needs to get over that way of thinking, especially with First Contact just four decades away now.

I saw that video a week ago. Not only do I agree with it, I made several comments of my own in the comments section. I am getting more excited for season 3 but season 2 was just a mess.

And yeah, others need to stop pretending Star Trek is about ‘our’ universe. Maybe at one point that could’ve been argued but too much time has passed and things are just too different from Trek’s history and our real history. And retconing dates is NOT the answer because now you’re just confusing Star Trek’s fake history. A few people got on my case a few weeks ago when I said Star Trek is just a TV show. This is another example of what I mean. Stop treating it like it’s suppose to be reality or at least OUR reality. I think while the idea is cool, we can all accept aliens landing in Montana 41 years from now because an alcoholic engineer managed to build a FTL space vehicle out of a missile silo has zero chances of that happening in our universe.

But my guess in another 30 years someone is going to retcon that date to the 22nd century instead.

You know ever since *certain* events of the past decade my own head canon says the Star Trek timeline of the Eugenics Wars did actually happen. But we are not in that universe. We are the mirror universe 😢. Heck instead of Braxton’s ship being found by Ed Begley Jr maybe he was found by Roddenberry and that caused the divergence LOL!!! J/K

Having said that, as blissful as the 90s seemed to be in the real world, it also directly caused all the turmoil, death and destruction and economic downturns in the 21st century that we never ever really recovered from. Fictionally (as the Eugenics wars novels elude too) one could make the argument that the Wars did happen in the 90s but the general public just wasn’t aware.

I have heard fans cite us actually being in the mirror universe. That actually would make sense lol. But pretty dire obviously. I would prefer to think we are still part of the big Star Trek multiverse, just a different universe from what we seen in the Mirror and Kelvin universes. So if you want to get really nerdy about it to enjoy fictional entertainment, Star Trek still exists for us, but its prime universe is simply not ours. Maybe we will go on to also make some form of Starfleet/Federation in the next century but the events will have shaped differently since we didn’t have the depressing hellhole known as Star Trek’s past lol. And maybe we will still have an Archer, Kirk and Picard in this universe, just a bit varied from Prime.

I know about the book you’re referring to, but if you look at the Eugenics wars, it’s practically impossible to really happen here, at least the way it was described in TOS. One guy being able to subjugate 40 countries is pretty absurd for today’s geopolitics. I know the Eugenics war was really suppose to be WW 3 (until TNG retconned it later to once again try to keep ahead of real world present day), and I guess the idea was suppose to be similar if the Nazis and Japan won WW 2 and colonized most off Europe and East Asia. So from that perspective you can KIND OF buy it.

But today it would be unheard of, even in the 90s. Look at Russia and Ukraine. Russia is spending all its resources to subject just one country and fortunately they are having a really hard time at it. As for the Eugenics war, the irony is no one seems to ever want to show it on screen because they know how preposterous it would feel for audience today and yet they won’t shut up about it lol. It’s fraught with so many problems, changing the date doesn’t solve anything except in the most superficial way. I wish they would just ignore it completely, say it happened and move on.

Well the problem with Russia and the Ukraine is that Russia is doing it surface level, for all to see. With assaults and tanks and stuff. Don’t think of Khan like that. Think espionage. Think hacking. Think quiet wall street take overs. Think Edward Snowden type stuff. How much did we know about Bin Laden before 9/11? Because he had a LOT to do with the US prior to that. 

as for the Trek multiverse (which existed longer before the MCU, deal Marvel lol) there is actually a universe in DC comics where Superman and Batman et al are actually comic book characters. So we could totally exist in the Trek multiverse where Trek exists for us but in our Universe Trek is a franchise

Tightening the gap between 1st contact and founding of the Fed would make a lot of sense to me, since exploration-wise, we have humans pretty much twiddling their fingers in one corner of a sandbox up until Archer era, so far as I can tell. And that is when all the changes are supposed to happen.

I could not disagree more. I’ve always thought of Star Trek in the hope that it represents our future, and knowing that the Eugenics Wars never happened in the 1990’s was irksome and irritating to me at the level of Klingons being portrayed as “blackface” in TOS until they were retconned correctly in TMP — so I was so happy to see it get included with WWIII now in the mid-21st century.

The Eugenics War retcon was a great decision by Kurtzman!

It’s FICTION, there is NO eugenics war on our planet, not in the 1990s and probably not in the 2090s. According to Star Trek, WW 3 is suppose to start in just 4 years and last two decades. How do you get around that if we don’t have a world war in a few years. Do we just retcon that too?

Yea, you continue to retcon as you move forward. I get why you and some don’t like that approach, and that’s fine. But I like my future sf to be theoretically possible in our future — that’s why it is science fiction, and not fantasy like Lord of the Rings or Thor.

And if you read The Making of Star Trek and some of the other histories/bios of TOS, this approach is what GR intended, in fact that’s why he retconned TMP, and that’s why that movie is the “hardest” sf of all of the Trek movies/series.

It seems that, instead of continuing to retcon firmly established events as we move further into the century, it’s better either not to reference them or to do so in a way that’s not specific to the dates. That’s a reasonable middle ground. Lots of fans like me don’t want Star Trek to have a fluid continuity like The Simpsons, but also I get why some fans like you care about it being an imaginary possible future.

As a side note, Enterprise, which aired in the 2000s, was comfortable referencing the Eugenics Wars as having occurred in the 90s. But, if Paramount doesn’t want to continue that “alternate history” approach going forward, then it would be better not to be date-specific than to break continuity.

I think some day there will be a eugenics war. Just like I think some day there will be a Cylon war. It’s not even really about Trek or BSG for me but rather that our scientific advancements are outgrowing our own ethics. We are moving faster in our knowledge than we know what do do with.

To quote Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should”

If you think about it, in a way that day is already here. True AI doesn’t yet exist. But we are already having serious arguments about whether current day AI such as that which exists in Tesla cars should be allowed to function because it is causing accidents all over and causing the deaths of human lives.

I’ve already posted a reply to you about this before I saw this one so I won’t elaborate more other than maybe it can happen in SOME form, I don’t buy it could ever happen the way it’s described in Star Trek. Sure when the episode was written, it was the 60s and you had real tyrants literally trying to take over half the world not that long ago in that period. But that scenario would just be too difficult today. But sure I can buy genetically advance freaks at least trying I guess. ;).

Yeah. I agree that it won’t happen the way it happened in Trek. Genetic supermen won’t rise up and take over the world like it’s the X-men in reverse. But there will be wars over it imho. I think it’s just inevitable. For instance many today agree if we can detect an abnormality ina fetus like blindness maybe we should correct it. But that goes directly against that TNG ep with Geordi where he saved that genetically enhanced civilization with his visor tech.

Great interview! Great part 2. If only all Trek interviews could be as detailed and knowledgeable (and long).

Can’t wait for PIC season 3, and I hope Matalas’ vaguely described intentions are true and we get a “next next gen” show. Maybe some Voyager crew (Commander Kim anyone?) as senior officers to some new juniors? (Still hoping for a 3-season DS9, or more, follow-up too.)

What a great time to be a Star Trek fan.

I am sad that because I will be on vacation next week, I won’t get to check out Friday’s podcast covering LDS’s premiere and will have to wait till the following week. Always the highlight of Fridays. Speaking of LDS, were the winners of the LDS season 2 DVD sets announced? Did I just miss hearing?

Yep this idea excited me more beyond season 3 itself. To get a future show with new characters carrying on with maybe some of the old legacy characters leading them. That would be, sorry, the best of both worlds. It would keep all the fans happy who want to see old characters to be part of these shows but we’ll still get something new out of it and not just a retread.

I’m sure plenty of fans right now would love to see a ship with a bunch of legacy characters on it like Riker, Tuvok, Worf, Dax, O’Brien and so on. And I won’t lie to you, I would watch the hell out of that show lol. But I think it’s better to use maybe 1-2 of them and create new characters around them. It’s actually kind of what Prodigy is doing now with Hologram Janeway, but in a very round about way since those characters aren’t part of Starfleet obviously.

So maybe not flood a show with all those legacy characters, but they can all show up from time to time though! ;D

Commander Kim anyone?

OMG, please just: Make it NOT so! Lol

Aww come on. The dude deserves it. Lol.

Thanks so much! We were lucky Terry gave us so much time! A limit on that is usually what gets in the way of long and detailed interviews.

Maybe data is the new computer voice/ai for the enterprise?

i really really hope the 3rd season has a backdoor pilot for a new star trek with the new enterprise and crew.

Assuming that Terry has had a good experience with Kurtzman and Co., I wonder if he would want to return and produce/show-run/write another new Trek with Kurtzman and Co.

And if so, what would that be?

I am sure that those talks either have happened or are happening between him, Kurtzman and the powers/money at P+. It would be wonderful to know what sort of show ideas they would be talking through.

Looking forward to PIC S3….

I want to see him deliver on S3 of Picard first. Talk is cheap, so let’s please watch S3 first before giving him another set of keys to the franchise.

Very fair. Very True.

Ok. Let’s see if he can bring it.

I for one am glad Akiva Goldsman’s bad writing fingers are not in Season 3. This one might not be horrible? Fingers crossed!

It’s so weird, SNW first season was good but DIS and PIC was so bad under him. Maybe the other show runner has more influence or he’s just not good with serialized stories? Maybe both.

Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas both share writing credits on the first two episodes of Picard season 2 (the ones that most fans seem to enjoy). The only other writing credit Goldsman has on season 2 is for the finale. The whole middle part that fans seem to hate most was written by people who had never worked on Trek before (except for Kirsten Beyer who’s a co-creator of the show and who co-wrote episode 8). So neither Matalas nor Goldsman wrote that middle part, but both of them were probably in the writer’s room when they developed the season.

This is a stark contrast from season 1 where Michael Chabon had writing or co-writing credits on most episodes.

No script for an episode of television makes it past the showrunner without a rewrite. The buck stops with them (or, in this case, Goldsman).

It’s too bad some of the stuff Matalas discussed here about Jurati’s Borg journey didn’t make the Season 2 finale. Even if they couldn’t have done a full scene, a few extra lines of dialogue would have added a lot. His comments about the writers room are also interesting, and it sounds like he would have made some different decisions.

Yes, I was fascinated by this as well. Such a huge setup! There’s a lot of story potential there.

What bothers me is that, like the S1 finale, I don’t think we are going to get a wrap up the the S2 finale. What was that threat the Jurati queen was hinting at that she needed Picards help for? If the story is so fundamentally switching for S3 I seriously doubt they will have time to resolve that.

You can also guess from the fact that they’ve dumped most of the cast from the previous seasons that there probably won’t be any wrap up except for maybe a throw-away line by one the few remaining characters.

I also wonder: Terry Matalas has said in interviews that he left in the middle of season 2 to focus on season 3. Is he talking about the middle of production? Or is he saying he left while they were still in the middle of developing season 2? It wouldn’t really make sense to work on season 3 before they even knew where season 2 was going to end. Based on what he said about this extended Borg story that ended up getting discarded, he seems to have been involved at least somewhat in the writers’ room discussions for the end of season 2.

There are points in this interview and the previous one, where he openly admits he wasn’t involved in certain decisions, or would have done things differently. Like where he discusses the points of resolution for Jurati that were dropped/cut out. Since it has been said there’s a one year time jump, it probably will be just a few lines of dialogue. Maybe it will be something like Seven or Raffi lamenting that the Jurati collective was destroyed while closing the anomaly. Maybe S3’s villain comes through the anomaly before Jurati sacrifices herself and her collective to close it? Obviously I’m speculating but since Allison Pill isn’t in S3 it wouldn’t make sense for the Jurati collective to be there either.

That makes me sad. I wish he had way more input.

Back in season 1, Michael Chabon also talked about certain decisions that he would have done differently. As much as some fans would like to have one clear person to lay all the blame on, there is rarely just one person calling all the shots. As Matalas mentioned about retconning the date for the Eugenics Wars, some decisions are even coming from outside the writers’ room.

As you say, it doesn’t make sense to have Jurati’s collective if Allison Pill isn’t involved. However, I would say they owe it to the audience to give some explanation what happened to all the characters who are suddenly gone. Not everybody reads all the interviews and know about the behind-the-scenes details.

That’s why I agreed there will likely just be some throw away dialogue regarding Jurati. We don’t need anymore explanation on Rios – Guinan already provided it. Raffi could easily mention Elnor in a line or two of dialogue. If the Soong Brent Spiner is playing is Altan Soong, he could provide an update on Soji. My guess is Elnor is probably now an Ensign on a Lt. Jr Grade on his current assignment, and Soji is either continuing her ambassadorial duties or went back to be a doctor.

Yikes. That happened? In what ever what it did it would explain so much. I was so expecting a 12 monkeys season 2 and we totally didn’t get that. Practically everyone guessed from the trailers that Jurati would be assimilated and that she was under the hood from ep 1. Uugghh. That sux.

Well, it’s ironic that the season Matalas apparently wasn’t fully involved in featured the time travel story, while the season he took over as the sole showrunner won’t be a time travel story.

Yeah that is totally ironic.

Tony and Laurie,

What a great interview! I’m sold on S3 Picard. He seems very enthusiastic and I can’t say no! Worf looks terrific! I can’t wait to see Michael Dorn again.

After reading the fifty year mission, I am more appreciative of the work, the hours, the sweat and anxiety that goes on in making a trek series. I am happy for SNW and the other shows who got nominated for an award. Will I always agree with their creative decisions? No. Do I understand S2 of Pic? No. However, do I believe that S3 of Pic will be great? Yes. Because, the excitement that Terry brings to his interviews is infectious, and I’m on board and my enthusiasm is through the roof!

A “new old character.” We know that several of Data’s brothers are still out there.

Great interview. Here are a couple of things I noticed

–Matalas did not like some of the decisions made with seasons 1 and 2 that were also heavily criticized. He did question the lack of humor, the decision to make Picard an android (he stated he is just moving on from that), and some of the time-travel “rules” in season 2. Matalas was very careful in his wording, but that is the impression I got. –I also don’t understand why the new image of Worf is causing some controversy. He looks absolutely amazing. The white hair is cool! I support Matalas questioning the people that state is doesn’t match up with “Klingon canon.” –Spiner is playing an aged-up Lore. –He keeps saying how Season 3 is the TNG movie he wanted to watch. This is great news and I am filled with hope! –Slightly off topic, but the guys at Inglorious Treksperts podcast stated that episode 5 from season 3 of Picard is one of the best Star Treks of all time, and this is from a guy that hates all the “Nu-Trek” including the Picard show. I don’t know how he watched it already, but that’s very high praise. I have a strong feeling we are getting something great with this season.

I also don’t understand why the new image of Worf is causing some controversy.

It’s because Klingons live for centuries, and at this point Worf isn’t even middle-aged yet. By Klingon standards he’s still very much in the prime of his life. So technically Worf isn’t anywhere near old enough yet for his hair to have started going noticeably grey, let alone for all the hair on his head and face to have gone completely white.

Of course, it’s possible this is part of the story. Maybe Worf suffered a major emotional trauma in the previous 20+ years — Alexander may have unexpectedly died, for example. The shock resulting from sudden loss of his only child certainly could realistically turn Worf’s hair prematurely white, especially since DS9 showed Worf and Alexander eventually reconciling; presumably they continued becoming close afterwards.

But I’m just guessing here. Perhaps it’s another reason, or maybe it’s just a canon-contradicting aesthetic choice on the part of the showrunners.

Even if Klingons live longer than Humans, who is to say that they display signs of aging in a similar sequence as Humans? Also, has it occurred to people that Worf’s hair may have turned white by choice? Humans certainly know how to dye hair today. In the future, you probably don’t even need to wait in the chair and smell the chemicals.

Alexander was walking and talking when he was a year old, and he was serving on a starship when he was about ten. Clearly Klingons do age faster than humans at some points in their life. Who’s to say that they don’t grow old at a similar rate to us, and then stay old for longer. Besides, didn’t Worf also have grey hair in All Good Things?

I genuinely hope Spiner is not playing Lore. How did you glean that from the interview, from the “new old character” hint? I was hoping we’d see him return as Altan Soong from S1 so there would be some cohesiveness. But you’re probably right – it’s probably Lore and I’ll just have to trust Matalas came up with a good story to justify that.

Matalas was asked what quintessential Star Trek was to him and he replied the space navy against all odds in a highest-stakes battle with a larger-than-life villain. Are you not entertained?

I’m starting to think that Spiner is B4, but he is almost an entirely different character now that he has Data’s memories. He’s an old character, in that he’s a combination of Data and B4, but he’s also something entirely new.

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Sep 9, 2020

Test Your Trek Knowledge With Quibbles with Tribbles

Can you spot all 22 Trek references?

StarTrek.com

This month sees the release of the book Star Trek Nerd Search: Quibbles with Tribbles – a fiendish publication designed to test your knowledge of Star Trek . It’s a search and find book with a difference. Instead of just looking for people you are hunting for cunningly concealed continuity errors. Can you spot the things that don’t belong? Are the characters wearing the correct uniforms? And just what is that Klingon doing there?

To celebrate the book’s release the authors have created an extra artwork so you can put your knowledge to the test. The extra-dimensional being Q is so mad about not being mentioned in Quibbles With Tribbles , that he has teleported a whole load of tribbles aboard the bridge of the Enterprise ! That’s not the ONLY thing that shouldn’t be there. We’ve also hidden one item — person, creature or thing — from every single Star Trek movie, and most of the TV series in the scene. Can you prove you’re a real Trek spert and spot all 22? If you think that’s easy, then you’ll have no trouble picking up the two bonus points. If you enjoyed this, there’s plenty more in the book.

Star Trek Nerd Search: Quibbles with Tribbles is out now and is available from booksellers everywhere.

Find your answers here !

You need to find something from each of these shows or movies:

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• The Wrath of Khan
• The Search for Spock
• The Voyager Home
• The Final Frontier
• The Undiscovered Country
• Generations
• First Contact
• Insurrection
• Star Trek (Kelvin Timeline)
• Into Darkness
• The Original Series
• The Animated Series
• The Next Generation
• Deep Space Nine
• Lower Decks

Get Updates By Email

What's Your Nerd Trek?

The Nerd Trek network was born of the idea that every nerd is on their own journey of self-discovery and, while we are all different, we share many overlapping passions.

We look to make a network of podcasts and a community of nerds that celebrates everything we love.

Tablets are the perfect mobile platform that embody the PADD style input output device. I've reviewed tablets over 7".

New New New New New Manufacturer I Motorola Samsung Notion Ink Apple FlatComputing ViewSonic Archos Apple Archos FlatComputing Model I Xoom Galaxy Tab 10.1 Adam iPad 2 A10W gTablet 101 Internet iPad 9 PC A10 OS M Android 3.0 Android 3.0 Android 2.2 iOS 4.2 Android 2.2 Android 2.2 Android 2.2 iOS 4.2 Win 7 Android 2.1 App Catalog M Official Official Official Official Official Secondary Secondary Official Official Official Screen Size I 10.1" 10.1" 10.1" 9.7" 10.1" 10.1" 10.1" 9.7" 8.9" 10.2" Resolution B 1280x800 1280x800 1024x600 1024x768 1024x600 1024x600 1024x600 1024x768 1024x600 1024x600 Touch M Multi Multi Multi Multi Multi Multi Multi Multi Single Single Type M Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Capacitive Resistive Resistive Material I TFT LCD TFT LCD TFT LCD IPS LCD TFT LCD TFT LCD TFT LCD IPS LCD TFT LCD TFT LCD Processor Speed B 1GHz 1GHz 1GHz 1GHz 1GHz 1GHz 1GHz 1GHz 1.2GHz 1GHz Dual Core O Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Memory RAM M 1GB SDRAM 1GB SDRAM 1GB SDRAM 256MB DRAM 512MB DRAM 512MB DRAM 256MB DRAM 256MB DRAM 1GB SDRAM 256MB DRAM Internal (Flash) M 32GB 32GB SDHC 9GB 16GB 512MB DRAM 16GB 16GB 16GB 60GB 2GB SD Card M Non-functional 32GB SDHC 32GB SDHC No 32GB SDHC 32GB SDHC 32GB SDHC No No 32GB SDHC Max I 64GB 64GB 41GB 16GB 32.5GB 48GB 48GB 16GB 60GB 34GB Communication Wi-Fi M Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Bluetooth M Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No USB M Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes HDMI M Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No Sensors Accelerometer M Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Microphone / Jack M Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Magnetometer M Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No Gyroscope M Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No GPS O Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No Light O Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Proximity O Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Barometer O Yes No No No No No No No No No Camera O 5MP 8MP 3.2MP Yes No 1.3MP No No No No Web Cam O 2MP 2MP 3.2MP Yes .3MP No Yes No 1.3MP No Price Base M $600.00 ? $399.00 $499.00 $495.00 $380.00 $369.00 $399.00 $429.99 $175.00 Rating positive 38 37 31 25 24 23 23 19 17 14 negative 1 1 1 4 3 3 3 6 8 8 Total 37 36 30 21 21 20 20 13 9 6

Notation Outstanding Good I've had better Debilitating Best of B 2 Must have M 2 1 0 -1 Optional O 1 0 Informational I Ungraded Price < $249 $250 - $399 $400 - $499 > $500

Ear pieces, Communicators, and Tricorders

In Star Trek, Tricorders were at the forefront of mobile computing. These devices were small, hand held and reflected a need of sense. Sensing ones’ surroundings and collecting said data. In today’s terminology we might call this a smart phone. Although the tricorder didn’t normally send voice transmissions, it did send and receive data to and from other sources, such as a ship. So, modern smart phones could be considered an amalgamation of the Tricorder and Communicator.

Note: The ear bud piece that we call the ‘Bluetooth’ is much like the communication style ear bud piece found on Star Trek. One might say the Ear bud and Tricorder are our Bluetooth and Smart phone.

Home and Life Automation

Android - Skins - Fancy Widget - Clock Skins

South Park Archives

• Contribute: Learn more on how to Create a Fandom Account and help us document South Park: Snow Day! & get less ads as a registered editor! We NEED editors so if you have ever thought about helping the wiki, this is your chance.

• Minor Characters
• Characters Voiced by Matt Stone
• Characters Voiced by Trey Parker
• Cthulhu Cult Followers
• Unnamed Characters

Geeky Computer Guys

• View history

The Geeky Computer Guys (also called the Star Trek Nerds ) are two male college students who sometimes help out the boys in times of trouble. They have shown to be useful and talented in both science as well as special effects, but also to get into squabbles with each other over trivial things, such as the number of episodes in Star Trek: The Original Series .

• 1 Background
• 2 Appearance
• 3 Prominence
• 5 References

Background [ ]

They made their first appearance in " Fourth Grade ", where they build two time machines for the boys, in order to return to the third grade.

They reappeared briefly in " Freak Strike ", where they helped the boys attach a set of prosthetic testes to Butters ' chin so he can go on the Maury Povich show, in exchange for an edited copy of Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace .

They were also seen worshipping with the Cult of Cthulhu in " Mysterion Rises ".

In " Cock Magic ", they appeared in the background watching the Magic: The Gathering (CCG) game at the Hobby store.

Appearance [ ]

Both of the nerds wear sandals and round-framed glasses. The first nerd wears light blue shorts, a navy blue shirt with the words "Resistance is futile!" written in green, and a green coat. He has long blond hair in the style of a ponytail.

The other nerd wears green pants, a black shirt with the words "Yeah, resistance is futile!" written in red, and a black wrist brace. He has short brown hair, which is receding, and has a brown mustache and beard.

Prominence [ ]

• " Fourth Grade " - They help the boys build two time machines.
• " Freak Strike " - They build Butters prosthetic testes to attach to his chin.
• " Red Sleigh Down " - They are seen in the crowd during the Christmas celebrations.
• " Good Times with Weapons " - They are looking at knives at the fair.
• " Mysterion Rises " - They are seen at the Cthulhu cult meeting.
• " Cock Magic " - They can be seen watching the Magic: The Gathering match in the comic book store.
• According to Kyle , they are college students who live next door to him.
• In the DVD commentary for " Fourth Grade ", Matt Stone confirms that they are based on the two "systems guys", Sean Laverty and J. J. Franzen . The blonde is based on Sean, and the brunette on JJ, whose website avatar looks similar.
• In their first appearance, " Fourth Grade " they make a number of Star Trek references. Beyond their debut episode, Resistance is Futile , written on both of their shirts, is a phrase used by the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation and later series, usually when threatening assimilation into the collective.

References [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 "South Park" Fourth Grade (TV Episode 2000) . IMDb.com.
• 1 Kenny McCormick
• 2 Kyle Broflovski
• 3 Eric Cartman

The Nerds of Color

Pop culture with a different perspective.

Babs Olusanmokun on Playing Dr. M’Benga on ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes us back to the original Star Trek era where Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) led the Enterprise and her crew on daring missions to explore the vastness of Space and make new discoveries and advancements on behalf of the Federation. The crew of the Enterprise is has a vast range of experience and skill they bring to their mission, and one Dr. M’Benga, played brilliantly by Babs Olusanmokun, gets his own featured episode this week.

We had the opportunity to speak with Olusanmokun ahead of his featured episode this week, “The Elysium Kingdom,” asking him what Star Trek means to him, how Dr. M’Benga deals with his current struggles, what viewers can anticipate, and much more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

NOC: What’s it like filming on Strange New Worlds and what’s the dynamic like on set?

Olusanmokun: All of the dynamic is fun. It’s been a brilliant time. We’re towards the very end of shooting the second season. So we’re very excited and a bit tired but love it, and it’s just been really a beautiful experience all around. Everybody is really committed everybody’s there to do what they need to do to serve the piece. And it’s been fantastic. It’s been really, really fantastic. Everybody behind the scenes together, we get along and enjoy each other and we’re very supportive of each other and yeah, is literally just beautiful times.

And it really comes across that way while we watch the show and it’s just it’s such a beautiful show in so many different ways. I’m curious on a more broad level, what does Star Trek mean to you and what do you personally think its most important lessons are?

Star Trek means it means, to me, peace. It’s a project that demands more than just the work, so to speak. It’s your representative of something. And that assumption is hope, optimism, which sometimes in this world of ours, it can be quite difficult to hold on to. But it’s a show that demands that our view the message of the show historically has always been that that’s been its legacy. Also a legacy of inclusion. In a world where people want to punch down, like those that are better finding trying to find themselves in our world. I think Star Trek urges us to live. The fact that we are all one and without each other. So we have to take care of each and every one of us. And I think that is I believe that is the most powerful message of the show of the series in general, and I think that is enough. So to be on a show to be doing a piece of work that has that reach and and seeks to have that reach and is does it forthrightly, I think that’s a beautiful thing. There are many actors that will do lots of different projects and, they might end up doing not even one that would resonate the way this resonates and has resonated historically with people from all walks of life. So it’s quite a special thing to to be a part of that.

Dr. M’benga has this kind of really tragic situation with his daughter who has this terminal illness. He’s secretly keeping her aboard the Enterprise and he’s probably doing some things that are outside of Starfleet protocol. But I suppose in general what do you think think leads him to be so secretive about his personal life with others on the enterprise? Maybe even besides the like, breaking up protocol?

He’s a very responsible man. And he takes his duty as a Starfleet Deputy very seriously. And realize and knowing I think it’s it’s a there’s a massive conflict. Of course where he’s got is he has to invest in it has to save his child. As much as he adores or respect Starfleet, he has to say this time, so he knows it’s wrong, according to Starfleet, and he is ready to pay the price. for that. But there is no way he would involve anybody else. Because of what he knows it entails it really is going against the code of Starfleet. So therefore, I think it’s just a matter of responsibility and shield and others from having to carry that burden. That is why he kept it from from all the others.

Leading up to your centered episode, which will be airing this week. We get to see Dr. M’banga, we get to see you leading what is ironically despite this tragic situation, a more a classic Star Trek “silly premise” episode. We’ve seen these before and what was it like for you filming that and how is it different from what you usually shoot on set?

I mean, there’s a lot more of me. So it demands the demands. You’re essentially, anytime one of us has to be sort of like, a center of the episode, you’re shooting a film, and you’re sort of taking the lead and you have to sort of be the through line for this piece. And so, it was a lot of work in over this one in particular, I got the script like the day before we started shooting but it was a beautiful challenge. I loved it. I loved working on it. We had a lot of fun. It was, it was the set was just beautifully, beautifully designed. And the art department was just amazing. Every room I walked into is quite different. And I was just taken by the artistry of all of that. And then I just put this nice guy through this journey.

Dr. M'Benga will see you now. #StarTrek : #StrangeNewWorlds premieres May 5th. ✨ https://t.co/ypHgRphrr9 pic.twitter.com/FxaJlsfHYh — Star Trek (@StarTrek) March 31, 2022

And so it was really, really beautiful to play. All the rest of the cast was just fantastic. And we had a we had a great time. Definitely it’s my favorite episode so far. I’ve yet to see it. I probably won’t see it anytime soon. But yeah, it was definitely it was definitely to just live sort of in this other world was really special. And I think that’s, that’s the great thing about our, our show. Every episode we get to play in a different playground. And as an actor, that is just really really, really wonderful to experience and explore. And fantastic costumes. It was beautiful. It was really being being on a playground and enjoying himself. So yeah, it was really wonderful.

You can watch “The Elysian Kingdom” this Thursday, June 23 and you can watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds every Thursday on Paramount+.

Share this:

Published by

Swara salih.

Swara is a data analyst and a co-host of The Middle Geeks. He loves talking about politics, animals, nature, and all things Star Trek and DC. View all posts by Swara Salih

Discover more from The Nerds of Color

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Star Wars fanatics take a cross-country trip to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch so their dying friend can see a screening of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) before its release... Read all Star Wars fanatics take a cross-country trip to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch so their dying friend can see a screening of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) before its release. Star Wars fanatics take a cross-country trip to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch so their dying friend can see a screening of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) before its release.

• Kyle Newman
• Ernest Cline
• Adam F. Goldberg
• Jay Baruchel
• Kristen Bell
• 89 User reviews
• 82 Critic reviews
• 45 Metascore

• (as Chris Marquette)

• (as Chris McDonald)

• Admiral Seasholtz …

• (as Thom Bishops)
• Thick-Necked Thug

• Rogue Leader …

• Harry Knowles
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia When dedicating the statue of Captain Kirk versus Khan, Linus (Chris Marquette) jokes that it looks nothing like either of them, to which Admiral Seasholtz ( Seth Rogen ) states "Yes, thank you for pointing that out. Unfortunately the whores at Viacom threatened to sue, if we used their likenesses." This is an in-joke, due to the fact that none of the "Trekkies" wear official Star Trek clothing, and the Starfleet symbol looks nothing like the one from Star Trek.
• Goofs When everyone is being chased through Skywalker Ranch and jump down a garbage chute, Hutch dives in head first but when he exits he comes out feet first. This was regarded as an error but it is likely the director purposefully did this to spoof Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) , in which Han jumps in head first and comes out feet first.

[last lines]

Eric : Hey guys.

Windows : What?

Hutch : What, man?

Eric : What if the movie sucks?

• Crazy credits The Weinstein Company logo is backed by light saber sound effects.
• Connections Edited into Fanboys: Deleted Scenes (2009)
• Soundtracks Tubthumping Written by Danbert Nobacon , Dunstan Bruce , Alice Nutter , Louise Watts , Paul Greco , Darren Hammer (as Darren Hamer), Allen Whalley , Judith Abbot (as Judith Abbott) Performed by Chumbawamba Courtesy of Republic/Universal Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises and EMI Music Germany GmbH & Co. KG

User reviews 89

• Sep 14, 2009
• How long is Fanboys? Powered by Alexa
• Is "Fanboys" based on a book?
• Is there going to be a part 2?
• Why do they call him "Windows"?
• February 13, 2009 (Iceland)
• United States
• Official MySpace
• Official site (Japan)
• Hiland Theater - 4804 Central Avenue SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (theater in final scene)
• The Weinstein Company
• Trigger Street Productions
• Picture Machine
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $3,900,000 (estimated)
• Feb 8, 2009

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Cookie banner

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy . Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use , which became effective December 20, 2019.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Filed under:

Get a Life!

What a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch from 1986 can teach us about the ongoing battle between superfans and the people behind the TV and movie franchises that they love

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Get a Life!

On December 20, 1986 , one month after the release of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , William Shatner hosted Saturday Night Live . By that point, the actor had been playing Captain Kirk for 20 years. More than anyone else (except maybe Leonard Nimoy), he understood what it was like to live under a discerning subculture’s microscope.

Knowing this, Robert Smigel approached Shatner early in the week with an idea. The writer, who was in the middle of his second season at SNL , pitched a sketch in which the sci-fi icon visits a Star Trek convention. The twist? Instead of warmly greeting the attendees, he’d make fun of them. What sold him on the scenario were three words that Smigel suggested he say to the mostly bespectacled crowd: “Get a life!”

“That’s what made him laugh,” Smigel said. The phrase wasn’t yet the ubiquitous insult lobbed at know-it-alls, but he’d heard it before. Smigel, whose lengthy SNL résumé includes the creation of both the long-running, oft-quoted “Bill Swerski’s Super Fans” and the animated short series TV Funhouse , went as far as calling Shatner’s dork roast “maybe the most resonant sketch I ever wrote there.”

The world never used to care about the opinions of nerds. For decades, fanboys and fangirls weren’t considered important enough to acknowledge, let alone listen to. Then things changed. It’s hard to determine exactly when the flip occurred, but the SNL sketch signaled an impending mainstream shift.

The six-minute segment endures because of what it’s poking: the strange relationship between the diehards and the people behind their favorite television shows and movies. In those days, it was one-sided. Hardcore fans held little sway. Now, emboldened by the internet and their own purchasing power, they’ve gained leverage. As former SNL staffer Jon Vitti , who helped Smigel with the Star Trek sketch, put it: “You’re not really picking on the weak anymore.”

In 2018, fan-spurred conflict has grown exhaustingly intense. Consider: Seven weeks after The Last Jedi premiered to critical acclaim, the Rotten Tomatoes audience score sits at 48 percent. (Alt-right trolls naturally took credit for that dip .) A Change.org petition demanding that Disney “strike Star Wars Episode VIII from the official canon” has more than 95,000 signatures. Several interviews that Mark Hamill gave about his initial dislike of Luke Skywalker’s character arc have been employed to cudgel the blockbuster. And in January, a nauseatingly opportunistic misogynist made and uploaded a “de-feminized” edit of the film to the torrent site The Pirate Bay.

Director Rian Johnson has handled the increasingly toxic backlash with the kind of self-aware openness that only a Star Wars fanatic could possess. While refusing to renounce his vision of the franchise, he’s taken to Twitter to engage detractors. That Johnson is able to stay civil is admirable. But blasters don’t always have to be set for stun . Occasionally, a full-on excoriation can be cathartic.

The 1986–87 season of Saturday Night Live was an important one in the history of the show. The year prior, series creator Lorne Michaels had returned after an extended hiatus . Following a disastrous 1985–86 campaign that raised the threat of cancellation, he fired most of the cast. The producer kept Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, and Dennis Miller, and brought on new cast members Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon.

With a bunch of all-time-great SNL performers to write for, Smigel found his groove. In late fall, he devised a funny, well-received sketch featuring Hartman as a much-sharper-than-he-looks version of Ronald Reagan . “Mastermind” played off a question that some Americans were then asking : Beneath his charming façade, was their septuagenarian president still competent? William Shatner obviously wasn’t the subject of that kind of speculation, but he, too, had a well-polished public persona. When the actor arrived at 30 Rock to prepare for his hosting gig, Smigel presented him with an idea that scrubbed off his detached, respectful veneer. That cleanse allowed viewers to see what the (only slightly) fictionalized version of the man behind Captain Kirk really thought of his most dedicated fans.

The star liked the pitch, but there was a small problem: Smigel wasn’t much of a Star Trek fan. Luckily, Jon Vitti was. He’d seen every episode of the original series multiple times. Shatner was one of his childhood heroes. “There is no star as big as a star from when you were a kid,” said Vitti. He geeked out over meeting Shatner, just as he did later when Adam West appeared as himself in a Simpsons episode that Vitti wrote.

Smigel and Vitti, both in their 20s at the time, spent the Tuesday night of Shatner’s week in New York working on the sketch. Vitti’s familiarity with the source material came in handy. He offered up obscure Star Trek details and made sure that the convention sign the audience sees read “Welcome Trekkers,” the term devotees prefer over the pejorative “Trekkies.”

“If it happened today,” Vitti said, “Robert probably would have gone on the internet, picked up the references he needed, and written it himself.” Smigel’s goal was to mock fans’ fascination with minutiae rather than ridicule their physical appearance. “I remember actually asking wardrobe to tone it down a little bit,” he said. “A few less pocket protectors, if possible.” Carvey’s character does end up in an “I Grok Spock” T-shirt, Nealon’s wears a Starfleet uniform, and Lovitz sports a pair of Vulcan ears. Smigel conceded that “they probably came off fairly stereotypical.”

The scene built up to Shatner’s rant. “The whole sketch was written around that moment,” Smigel said. When it was time to come up with the tirade, Smigel consulted George Meyer. Before becoming one of the best Simpsons writers ever, he toiled at SNL . Meyer had the rare ability to transform a hilarious idea into something transcendent. “He could drop three lines in the script,” said Vitti, who also became a prolific Simpsons writer, “and those were the three lines people talked about.” A Meyer gem that made it into Shatner’s diatribe: “You’ve turned an enjoyable little job, that I did as a lark for a few years, into a colossal waste of time!”

After a production assistant passed Smigel and Vitti a typed copy of their sketch, they panicked. While writing it longhand on a legal pad, neither realized how long it had run. Short, unfunny sketches were dismissed and quickly forgotten. But if an overdone dud made it to the episode read-through in the writers’ room, Vitti said, “you could feel the hate.” He recalled even asking coordinating producer Audrey Peart Dickman to pull the sketch before that could happen. But, Vitti said, she calmly told him that it was too late.

It was a wise decision. The sketch got laughs at the read-through and was scheduled to run in a prime slot: right after the monologue. It went well at dress rehearsal, but Smigel thought Shatner hadn’t fully committed to the resentfulness of his role. “Shatner was playing it a teeny-weeny bit jokey,” Vitti said. So before the live taping, the laid-back Smigel gave Shatner a note.

“I was pretty fearless back then about talking to actors if I was certain it would help the end result,” Smigel said. “Life had not yet beaten me down enough to suggest that some fights aren’t worth fighting.” The writer said he asked Shatner to “play it more serious.” In other words: ratchet up the on-screen vitriol.

It wasn’t an easy task for a man who in real life didn’t want to alienate the fans who adored him. In fact, in his monologue Shatner addressed Star Trek aficionados. “I mean they’re truly incredible,” he said, “and I hope they have a sense of humor about the show tonight. Or I’m in deep trouble.”

Playing a comedic version of yourself isn’t easy, but Shatner pulled it off. He even seemed to take Smigel’s advice. When conventioneers ask him to recite the combination of a safe in a particular Star Trek episode and to confirm the number of saddlebred horses he has on his farm, he stops them.

“Before I answer any more questions, there’s something I wanted to say,” he announces from a podium. “Having received all your letters over the years, and I’ve spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled, you know, hundreds of miles to be here, I’d just like to say … get a life, will you, people?! I mean, for crying out loud, it’s just a TV show!”

Soon Shatner asks Lovitz’s character if he’s ever kissed a girl and continues, “There’s a whole world out there! When I was your age, I didn’t watch television! I lived! So move out of your parents’ basements” — bloggers may have Smigel to blame for the spread of that dig — “and get your own apartments and grow the hell up! I mean, it’s just a TV show, dammit. It’s just a TV show!”

When he finishes his broadside, Shatner leaves the dais only to be met by Hartman’s angry emcee. The two shove each other, Hartman waves Shatner’s contract in front of him, and then the actor returns to the stage, licks his lips, and says in his unique cadence, “Of course that speech was a re-creation of the Evil Captain Kirk … from … um … Episode … um … 37 … called ‘The Enemy Within.’ So thank you and … live long and prosper.”

The clever ending still throws Vitti. After all, “The Enemy Within” was the fifth episode of Star Trek , not the 37th. Minor error aside, the sketch was a hit. The same night, Shatner opened a Star Trek –themed restaurant in a sketch and for another bit resurrected another old role: T.J. Hooker .

In the late 1990s, the actor wrote a memoir centering on his quest to finally embrace the fans with whom he hadn’t truly ever personally connected. In reality, his turn as nerd-bashing Evil Kirk on SNL wasn’t exactly a put-on.

“Were they sane?” writes Shatner, who through a spokesperson declined to be interviewed for this article. “Were they sober? Did they really need to ‘Get a life’? To be brutally, humiliatingly honest, that now-infamous Saturday Night Live sketch was for me, at that time, equal parts comedy and catharsis. I was oblivious to the facts. I bought into the ‘Trekkie’ stereotypes. In a nutshell, I was a dope.”

Shatner called the book Get a Life! In it, he credits the writers of the sketch that inspired the title: Judd Apatow and Bob Odenkirk. The misattribution still makes Smigel smile. “How,” he said, “could he get it that wrong?”

Smigel wasn’t done playfully messing with nerds. “It’s been a lifelong pursuit,” he deadpanned. In 1993, the self-proclaimed Saturday Night Live nerd became the first head writer of Late Night With Conan O’Brien . Four years later, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the cigar-chewing, Smigel-voiced puppet, made his show debut. In 2002, the foul-mouthed canine famously sniffed around the premiere of Attack of the Clones . At one point, the pooch looks at the many buttons on someone’s Darth Vader suit and asks, “Which one of these calls your parents to pick you up?”

As it turns out, a bunch of costumed Star Wars fans didn’t mind Triumph berating them. “There’s a big overlap between nerds and comedy nerds,” Smigel said. “This was the first time that I had done Triumph where I was sort of surrounded by people who found Triumph really funny.”

In 2008, Smigel brought Triumph to the San Diego Comic-Con. “Nerds. Dorks. Geeks. Mouth-breathers. Loners. Mama’s boys. Noobs. Droids. Druids. Trekkies,” he began a long panel speech . But after thoroughly ripping the audience, he acknowledged — in the most predictably offensive way possible — the power that geeks now wield. “Move over, Jews, the nerds control the media,” said Triumph, whose owner is indeed a Member of the Tribe. “Praise to the nerds.”

Tasteless joke aside, he was right about nerds. They finally had a say. “The explosion of the media and the internet have definitely empowered the quote-unquote nerd,” said Smigel, who knows this from experience. In the early 2000s he was asked to write a comedic Green Lantern script. Warner Bros. envisioned Jack Black as the star. But when Smigel’s draft leaked online, fans revolted. Then the studio went in a … different direction .

“Advertising and the opinion of your local critic used to basically dictate how people responded to the idea of a movie,” Smigel said. “And now it’s so democratic that everybody’s opinion can be heard fairly equally. You can just go to IMDb and read 1,000 opinions.”

On the surface, that sounds nice. But among those mostly innocuous opinions are extremes. Those tend to be amplified. Just look at the ongoing bickering about The Last Jedi . The nasty trolls making noise now are nothing like the gentle Trekkers in the “Get a life!” sketch, which these days would have much more deserving targets.

Smigel, however, doesn’t think a similar premise would induce nearly as many laughs now as it did originally. “I wouldn’t have even thought to write it,” he said. “Anything that reeks of obsession is still funny but it’s certainly not as foreign as it used to be.”

While Shatner was delivering his cathartic rant back in 1986, Smigel decided to do something that he normally didn’t: He stood right next to Lorne Michaels. When the audience applauded, he made eye contact with his legendarily reserved boss. “I remember us sharing a look,” Smigel said. “Just contained excitement.”

Hall of Fame: Steve Rodgers, Captain America

We need to talk about the ‘challengers’ threesome scene. just not for the reason you think., aaron sorkin, live from d.c..

• APPLETV+ MOVIES
• MARVEL MOVIES
• NETFLIX MOVIES
• SONY MARVEL
• STAR WARS MOVIES
• ABBOTT ELEMENTARY
• STAR TREK SERIES
• MARVEL SERIES
• PERCY JACKSON
• THE BAD BATCH
• THE MANDALORIAN
• 9-1-1: LONE STAR
• DOOM PATROL
• HOUSE OF THE DRAGON
• THE LAST OF US
• NIGHT COURT
• SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
• HEARTSTOPPER
• STRANGER THINGS
• THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
• CRIMINAL MINDS: EVOLUTION
• YELLOWSTONE
• LORD OF THE RINGS SERIES
• THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY
• RESIDENT ALIEN
• ALL AMERICAN
• SUPERMAN & LOIS
• HARRY POTTER
• LORD OF THE RINGS
• CREATION ENTERTAINMENT
• NEW YORK COMIC CON
• RHODE ISLAND COMIC CON
• ROCKWOOD MUSIC FESTIVAL
• SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON

‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Final Season Premiere Date Announced

‘star trek: the picard legacy collection’ gets new release date, ‘star trek: strange new worlds’ season 2 coming to dvd, blu-ray™, and 4k uhd in december, ‘star trek’ celebrating 50 years of animation with ‘star trek: very short treks’, celebrate star trek day with plutotv.

‘Tracker’: First Look at Jensen Ackles as Russell, Synopsis for Season 1, Episode 12 “Off the Books” Released

‘tracker’: synopsis released for season 1, episode 11 “beyond the campus walls”, ‘the rookie’: synopsis released for season 6, episode 8 “punch card”, jensen ackles to appear on cbs’ ‘tracker’, ‘walker’ recap: season 4, episode 4 “insane b.s. and bloodshed”.

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy © 2024 - Nerds and Beyond. All Rights Reserved. Made with Newspaper Theme.

Privacy Overview

• Humor & Entertainment

Buy new: $9.99 $9.99 FREE delivery Friday, May 3 Ships from: Ivy Leafs Novelties Sold by: Ivy Leafs Novelties

Buy used: $3.35.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Star Trek: The Next Generation Nerd Search: Bloopers of the Borg: The Mistakes Must Go - Make it So! Hardcover – December 14, 2021

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 40 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Hero Collector
• Publication date December 14, 2021
• Dimensions 8.76 x 0.45 x 12.09 inches
• ISBN-10 1858759951
• ISBN-13 978-1858759951
• See all details

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

From the Publisher

What is a Nerd Search?

It is a puzzle book but not as you know it. We are giving you the chance to enjoy STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION all over again—by ruining it with mistakes! We all love finding errors in our favorite shows, and we have added to the fun by inserting errors of a quirky kind.

Types of Puzzles

CATCH THE CUBE - Spot the Borg Chaos Cube before it does too much damage!

NERD ALERT - Spot five continuity errors within the featured episode.

THE ARTIFACT ANOMALY - Every scene contains 10 elements from other episodes.

SUPER QUIBBLES - Special points that only true fans would know about.

Scoring and Answers

Like the Kobayashi Maru, attempting top marks in this book is something of a no-win scenario, considering the extreme difficulty of some of the puzzles. See where you come in our ratings!

Editorial Reviews

About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hero Collector (December 14, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1858759951
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1858759951
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.18 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.76 x 0.45 x 12.09 inches
• #377 in Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Television (Books)
• #1,004 in Science Fiction & Fantasy Movies
• #3,691 in Trivia (Books)

About the author

Dakin glenn.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top review from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Star Trek Discovery’s L’ak Actor Told Us About Learning His Character's Most Exciting Details At A Point When He Couldn't Immediately Freak Out

I would be losing my mind too.

Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for the Star Trek: Discovery episode "Mirrors." Watch the episode with a Paramount+ subscription before hopping in!

Star Trek: Discovery snuck in a significant reveal in its latest episode, and it answered a question that many fans have wondered for decades. We finally know what the Breen look like, and it turns out we've been looking at one almost the entire season. L'ak has the honor of being the first Breen face for fans to see, and actor Elias Toufexis had a great story of geeking out when he first learned about it.

For those who follow him on X , Toufexis is a massive Star Trek fan, but he didn't find out how significant his role as L'ak in the final season was until he was in a spot where, understandably, wild reactions and jerky movements are discouraged. The actor shared the details of when he first found out he was going to be a Breen and how he felt about it:

When I went to the makeup test I had, I had to go put on the whole plaster where you sit there for 20 minutes and try not to pass out, try not to freak out. But I said, ‘Can I look at what I'm going to look like?’ And they showed me some concept art and I said, ‘What is he?’ And they said, ‘Oh, he's, he's gonna be a Breen.’ And I was like, ‘Breen don't take their helmets off.’ That was the first thing I said, that's a much of a nerd I am. And I'm like, ‘Are you telling me I'm gonna be the first Breen that takes his helmet off?’ …The makeup guys are geeks too. So it's like, ‘Yeah, it's gonna be cool. It's gonna be the first time in Star Trek!’ And so that really got me excited.

I can't express how much I love it when a big fan of Star Trek finds themselves in a role for the franchise. Being the first unmasked Breen may not mean a ton to every actor who would get the honor, but I know Elias Toufexis was as enthusiastic as he stated in the quote above. At the same time, what awful timing to figure it out when you're in the makeup chair and have to contain your excitement physically for a set period of time!

The Breen were first mentioned Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1990, and then six years later, the species would make its debut in the Deep Space Nine episode "Indiscretion" but remained unseen until just recently. According to a quote from showrunner Ira Steven Behr from the Deep Space Nine Companion , Breen were originally fully covered up because he "wasn't in the mood" to design a new alien race.

Fast forward to now, we've seen an unmasked Breen on the run from his species with his lover, Moll (who is nothing like Ahsoka 's Shin Hati ). The couriers are searching for the Progenitors' device in hopes they can exchange it with the Breen for freedom and no longer have to live as fugitives.

I'm getting really excited about this.

Michael Burnham, being the inspiring captain that she is , offered to protect L'ak and Moll from the Breen, but her offer was rejected. The two made their escape, are off to continue to search for more clues and, hopefully, evade the Breen capture.

CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER

Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News

It is cool to see Star Trek still surprising fans with reveals decades later, and I wonder if we'll see more unmasked Breen in upcoming Star Trek projects going forward. Perhaps whatever comes out of this conflict with the Breen will play a part in the story of the upcoming Starfleet Academy series , which is also set in the 32nd century. I can imagine we'll see at least one or two members of the Discovery cast there, though Mary Wiseman wouldn't spill the beans when I asked. Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying!

Star Trek: Discovery streams new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays. We're officially at the midpoint in the final season, so now would be a good time to remember what we've learned so far and gear up for the final episodes.

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

'It's Making Good People Look Bad': Elsbeth Star Opens Up Following That Game-Changing Reveal And Season 2 Renewal

Anna Sawai’s Big Shōgun Fight Scene In Episode 9 Is All Her, Despite What Some Trolls On The Internet May Have Assumed

Heartbreak High’s Second Season Pulled Off An Impressive Plot Twist, And I Can’t Stop Thinking About How It Could Impact A Potential Season 3

Most Popular

• 2 Where Channing Tatum And Jenna Dewan’s Personal Relationship Reportedly Stands Amid Legal Battle Involving Magic Mike And More
• 3 I Binged Conan O’Brien Must Go, And I’m All In For More Seasons Of The Max Travel Show
• 4 The 6 Best Zendaya Movies
• 5 Vanessa Lachey Admits She Was ‘Blindsided’ By NCIS: Hawai'i Cancellation In Candid Post

Callum Keith Rennie on Rayner's Journey in "Star Trek: Discovery‪"‬ Trek Untold: The Star Trek Podcast That Goes Beyond The Stars!

• Film Interviews

Callum Keith Rennie plays Commander Rayner on the fifth season of "Star Trek: Discovery," a complex character with deep motivations shaped by the dark events that happened before the Discovery crew jumped into the future. Rennie speaks with Trek Untold in this exclusive interview about who the character is, how the actor joined the show, learning that this season would be the end of the series, and the difficulties he had while performing the role. NOTE: This interview was done in conjunction with Episode 4 of Season 5 and doesn't discuss plot elements beyond this point in the season Check out Trek Long Island 2024 this summer in Hauppauge, NY, from May 31 to June 2 to meet guests from multiple eras of Star Trek shows and more in this epic event. Details on www.treklongisland.com Please subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@trekuntold . There, you will see all the old episodes of this show, as well as new episodes and all of our other content, including shorts and some other fun things planned for the future. Visit my Amazon shop to check out tons of Trek products and other things I enjoy - https://www.amazon.com/shop/thefightnerd View the Teespring store for Trek Untold gear & apparel - https://my-store-9204078.creator-spring.com Support Trek Untold by becoming a Patreon at Patreon.com/TrekUntold. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating if you like us! Follow Trek Untold on Social MediaInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/trekuntoldTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/trekuntoldFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/trekuntold Follow Nerd News Today on Social MediaTwitter:  Twitter.com/NerdNews2Day Instagram: Instagram.com/NerdNewsToday Facebook: Facebook.com/NerdNewsToday Trek Untold is sponsored by Treksphere.com, powered by the RAGE Works Podcast Network, and affiliated with Nerd News Today.

• Episode Website
• More Episodes
• Copyright Burning Hammer Productions

The man who saved Star Trek has died

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/26/the-man-who-saved-star-trek-has-died.html …

My favorite footnote to the story of the saving of Star Trek is that the first episode of Season 3, the phoenix-like revival of the show, was “Spock’s Brain”, widely regarded as the very worst episode of TOS. I can only imagine what those fans, who’d worked so hard to bring the show back, thought as they were watching it.

“Brain and brain! What is brain?”

Ah, but who did they come to when they needed someone to write said poems?

Also, Lucille Ball produced the two pilot episodes through her studio, allowing it to go into production.

So that’s where the Bajorans came from!

Interesting you mention Time Tunnel, since that star was also Vic Fontane in DS9. Probably not an accident.

So Star Trek as we know it today has to thank Lucille Ball, fans like John Trimble, and maybe even Martin Luther King, Jr. (for convincing Nichelle Nichols to stay on TOS). You know, it strikes me that maybe the nerds have always been at the leading edge of pop culture. We just haven’t always known who they were.

Some of the very earliest films were based on books written by sci-fi nerds:

We may or may not have been, but the geeks undeniably won the contest to define pop culture. Not that you’d know it from that certain subset of bitter middle-aged white male nerds who still wallow in their high school memories (sometimes imagined) of being persecuted outsiders.

I bet Homer had regular walk-on cameos for stage productions of The Iliad and The Odyssey like he was Stan Lee.

And of course Gilgamesh was just the original hero of the MCU (Mesopotamian Cuneiformian Universe).

They’re just mad that Star Trek’s gone all woke now, you know with their Black Mary Sue captain, and the little queer family… that kind of diversity just doesn’t make sense in the future!!! /s

I knew about Bjo, but not about John.

Peace and Long Life.

Most renaissance and Baroque painters did

It still amazes me that Star Trek TOS was so huge in syndication that you could buy Trek toys like action figures and “ Colorforms ” in the mid-70’s, years after the show had ended.

When I read the headline, I thought for a moment and said, “John Trimble must have died.” His wife Bjo was more well-known, having authored one of the essential Trek books of early fandom, “The Star Trek Concordance.” But the Trimble team’s efforts, not only for getting us the syndication-securing third season, but also the less well-known letter-writing campaign between the first and second seasons, is the stuff of superfan legend. Rest well, John.

Why would anyone think that?

They were elegant toys for a more civilized age.

And certainly none of that woke nonsense like racial equality…

Star Trek has never shied away from holding a mirror up to society.

Of course citizens of the planet Cheron probably hate mirrors since their reflections look like people of a hated and inferior race.

And because nerds are intersectional, the Society for Creative Anachronism has also bid vale to Master John ap Griffin

Related Topics

Combadge Project Wants To Bring Trek Tech To Life

While there’s still something undeniably cool about the flip-open communicators used in the original Star Trek , the fact is, they don’t really look all that futuristic compared to modern mobile phones. But the upgraded “combadges” used in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its various large and small screen spin-offs — now that’s a tech we’re still trying to catch up to.

As it turns out, it might not be as far away as we thought. A company called Vocera actually put out a few models of WiFi “Communication Badges” in the early 2000s that were intended for hospital use, which these days can be had on eBay for as little as $25 USD. Unfortunately, they’re basically worthless without a proprietary back-end system. Or at least, that was the case before the Combadge project got involved .

Designed for folks who really want to start each conversation with a brisk tap on the chest, the primary project of Combadge is the Spin Doctor server , which is a drop-in replacement for the original software that controlled the Vocera badges. Or at least, that’s the goal. Right now not everything is working, but it’s at the point where you can connect multiple badges to a server, assign them users, and make calls between them.

It also features some early speech recognition capabilities, with transcriptions being generated for the voices picked up on each badge. Long-term, one of the goals is to be able to plug the output of this server into your home automation system. So you could tap your chest and ask the computer to turn on the front porch light, or as the documentation hopefully prophesies, start the coffee maker.

There hasn’t been much activity on the project in the last year or so, but perhaps that’s just because the right group of rabid nerds dedicated developers has yet to come onboard. Maybe the Hackaday community could lend a hand? After all, we know how much you like talking to your electronics . The hardware is cheap and the source is open, what more could you ask for?

15 thoughts on “ Combadge Project Wants To Bring Trek Tech To Life ”

“While there’s still something undeniably cool about the flip-open communicators used in the original Star Trek, the fact is, they don’t really look all that futuristic compared to modern mobile phones.”

I disagree :) . The modern phone has no blinking status lights, no obvious switches or dials… just a rectangular flat screen to look at… No flip cover for protection even. To slim. No battery ‘pack’ even for replacement batteries when you run out of power or just need a new battery…. Blah, a smart-phone has no class what-so-ever…. Not ‘modern’ looking at all! IMHO. :D

At least the device above has some buttons and such :) . Closer to what a ‘modern’ device should look like. LOL

Visually, the smartphone is as exciting as a pocket mirror.

There’s another classic communicator device

http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/imagingchamber/handlink.htm

One of the hospital systems near where I live already has these. That’s not to say I don’t think this project deserves attention. It’s either the Cleveland Clinic or University Hospitals; I forget which. The nurses would hit a button and ask it to call somebody, or they would ask where somebody is and it would tell them. probably uses a combination of what access point it’s connected to and maybe RFID sensors as well to determine location. It also had a privacy mode where it wouldn’t connect unless the recipient agreed to. and it had a different mode. I don’t know what it was called where it would connect them instantly similar to Star Trek

Proprietary server? Like a Blackberry? Like the U.S. Military uses Teams for phone service?

The communicators could communicate with a ship in orbit and they could be made to explode. Until cheap tristators from China become widely available I don’t see this going far.

I’m for, not against this, the thing about a walking baby is not how well it walks but that it walks at all. Thanks!

There was a much more primitive device to the one referenced in the TV miniseries Summer of Rockets.

It’s Transtator..

You can still buy those old Vocera Communication Badges on Ebay:

* Vocera B3000n Communication Badges Working (Worn Buttons) $39.99

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256224057500

Yes, that’s what the post says…

The original doesn’t have buttons..

if it work with tox or reticullum (or meshtastic) why not every badge is a mesh nodes similar airtag, for voice and data transfer. IF….

I was recently thinking that Humane badge thing would’ve been a neat comm badge if they hadn’t done all of the extra stuff with a mini projector and inaccurate AI results and such things that also made it really expensive with poor battery life.

I think I’ve seen these. If I remember right they also use them for patient monitoring.

We use Vocera at work at the hospital . They are absolutely horrible. To call someone you need to say their first and last name. Don’t know the name of the part time tech on other side of campus? Too bad. Try to call an emergency it will hear you wrong with total shit voice recognition and call Janie from accounting instead. Text pagers are literally more reliable and useful. So we still have those too. Healthcare tech is the WORST. :end_rant

I also use them at work (at a hospital) … they’re great when they actually recognize who you’re trying to contact. Admittedly there are too many times that they interpret what you say completely wrong.

They can be “trained” if there are people you contact regularly (e.g. charge nurses) and some folks do that and they work better that way.

Having worked with Vocera systems for several systems for many years, it is a horrible system.

However, the system is designed so that users add themselves to groups, so you make a call to the relevant group, rather than the persons name.

However, getting users (generally Doctors) to add themselves to the groups is a battle, even when we have the system set to automatically prompt to ask to add to multiple groups at login.

The tech isn’t cheap at ~£400 for a battery and B3000n badge. They recommend 2 batteries for a badge.(Batteries are propriety).

The chargers have a design flaw where the pins get damaged when batteries are inserted. Chargers are expensive as well.

The B3000n is no longer made and has been marked as EOL

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. ( Comment Policy )

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Never miss a hack

If you missed it.

Mining And Refining: Uranium And Plutonium

Programming Ada: First Steps On The Desktop

The Hunt For MH370 Goes On With Barnacles As A Lead

MXM: Powerful, Misused, Hackable

VCF East 2024 Was Bigger And Better Than Ever

Our columns.

Welcome Back, Voyager

Hackaday Podcast Episode 268: RF Burns, Wireless Charging Sucks, And Barnacles Grow On Flaperons

This Week In Security: Cisco, Mitel, And AI False Flags

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Transmitting Typewriter

Supercon 2023: Alex Lynd Explores MCUs In Infosec

By using our website and services, you expressly agree to the placement of our performance, functionality and advertising cookies. Learn more

Entertainment | C2E2: Our 9 best bets for 2024, from…

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Music and Concerts
• The Theater Loop
• TV and Streaming

Things To Do

Entertainment, entertainment | c2e2: our 9 best bets for 2024, from people-watching to prom.

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo — aka C2E2, held appropriately at McCormick Place, Chicago’s own matrix of architectural puzzlement — returns this weekend. It’s the 15th edition, and the nice thing is not much has changed: If last year was any measure, it’ll still be exhaustingly large, still crowded on Saturday, likely to drain your paycheck, will be studded with celebrities (who themselves will pick your wallet at around $65 to $110 an autograph) and is still a window into contemporary fan culture.

But for a moment there, the future looked bleak — like zombie apocalyptic.

After a couple of pandemic years, the comic con industry seemed fated for extinction, doomed by its own model: Would Lou Ferrigno insist on seeing my vaccine card before hugging? Was every cosplaying Justice League destined to meet in the Hall of Zoom now? The smarter artist-focused geek gatherings like C2E2 (and the indie comic-centric CAKE con in August) stayed vital for a simple reason: In a fractured digital world, this audience still needs physical space to meet — and a runway for showing off its creativity.

Inevitably, social media doesn’t cut it.

“I feel like we came out the other end of the pandemic with the stock up on these things, and their communities eager for in-person conversations,” said Brien McDonald, vice president of content for ReedPop, Connecticut-based producers of C2E2 as well as New York Comic Con and Star Wars Celebration. At the end of each C2E2, he said, the company conducts scores of conversations with attendees, and what they have decided was the future looks like a cocktail party. With Pokemon cards and cosplay workshops.

“Goofy as this sounds, what we say within the company now is, focus on friends.”

With that in mind, here’s a quick list of best bets for C2E2 2024:

1. The heart of C2E2 is people-watching. Specifically, the cosplay — the intensely realized uniforms of latex, the inventive alternatives to Hollywood CGI and robotics, the remarkable number of people who still want to dress as the Joker or Harley Quinn. It all builds to the Cosplay Central Crown Championships on Saturday. (And that’s a scene.)

2. C2E2 Prom,  Friday at 8 p.m. This is a cute idea, launched for the first time in Chicago after ReedPop’s success with two nerd proms at its Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. Costumes are very encouraged. There will be photo backdrops and of course, there’s a theme: 15 Years of Fantasy in Chicago. Admission is included with the ticket.

3. Josh Brolin. Guest of Honor. Straight off “Dune Part 2” and a memorable guest spot on “Saturday Night Live,” with a memoir coming this fall — not to mention, still feared as Thanos, the best villain in the Marvel movies. He’s signing for $200 a pop, but on Sunday (included with your ticket), he’s also doing a great big Q&A with the audience.

4. Maya Hawke. One of the best parts of C2E2 is the inclusion each year of a star just before superstardom (Chris Hemsworth, Steven Yeun, Millie Bobby Brown) and this year that’s Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, singer-songwriter, costar of “Stranger Things,” soon to play Flannery O’Connor in “Wildcat,” directed by her father. She’s signing Saturday and Sunday, and doing an audience chat on Sunday.

5. Horror is the new sci-fi. A generation ago, it would have been heresy to host a comic con without bowing repeatedly to “Star Trek,” the prototypical nerd-con topic. So it likely says a lot about the world right now that the hopefulness of science fiction is being replaced by the survival narratives of horror. Here’s some proof: Many, many panel discussions on horror as a growing literary, comic book, film and podcasting genre, including a conversation with Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright of the original “Alien” and several appearances by James Tynion IV , reigning paranoid god of horror comics.

6. Hollywood reunions. “Alien” aside, there are also lots of cast reunions, including “Hannibal,” “Star Wars: Rebels,” “Clerks,” “One Tree Hill,” “Rick and Morty” and the film “She’s All That” (via photo sessions, with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook).

7. Stage bound. One curious corner of C2E2 has been its dedication to workshops on theater and improv. This year, there are panels on using superheroes and Dungeons & Dragons in improv, as well as a conversation among three mainstays of the Annoyance Theatre: Mick Napier, Jennifer Estlin and Susan Messing. Also, if you’re experiencing costume malfunctions, DePaul University’s theater department has a prop repair booth.

8. Darren Criss. Speaking of theater, stage and TV actor Darren Criss — whose theater group Team StarKid was based in Chicago for a while — is back to chat “Glee,” “American Crime Story” and probably his recent off-Broadway turn in “Little Shop of Horrors.”

9. Meet-ups. The best lesson of C2E2: If you’re into something, someone else is too. Check C2E2’s website: There are meets all weekend around McCormick for fans of Scott Pilgrim, Studio Ghibli, “Our Flag Means Death,” Tamagotchi, “Dune.” Ad infinitum.

C2E2: The 2024 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo runs April 26-28 at McCormick Place South, 2301 S. Martin Luther King Drive; tickets from $70 at www.c2e2.com

[email protected]

More in Entertainment

Theater | Review: Solo ‘Hamlet’ at Chicago Shakes is from an Eddie Izzard unwilling to compromise

Theater | Review: Gravity and tension in ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’ at Goodman Theatre

Theater | Review: Hay and fever dreams in Joffrey Ballet’s wild and wacky ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ 

Music and Concerts | Review: Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a spirited, if uneven, collaboration with the CSO

Trending nationally.

• A woman had a hysterectomy. She claims her co-workers harassed her about a ‘sex change’
• 20 least-affordable US cities to buy a home are all in California
• High school athletic director used AI to fake racist recording of principal, police say
• Disneyland adds another potential themed land to the mix: Encanto
• Barbra Streisand drops first new song in 6 years in response to rise in antisemitism