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The Intellectual Content of Star Trek
The Texas Mercury ^ | August 2002 | Hank Parnell

Posted on 08/10/2002 12:36:14 AM PDT by sourcery

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To: sourcery
Hank Parnell Ha!

What a L7! What a Herbert!

You know what I mean. ;-)

Somehow I just bet he loves "The Lost World" talk about cheesy.

61 posted on 08/10/2002 11:15:13 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou
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To: longshadow
You know what Captain Kirk and toilet paper have in common? They both circle Uranus and wipe out Klingons.
62 posted on 08/10/2002 11:19:03 AM PDT by blackbart.223
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To: leadhead
I remember the radio version of Space Patrol, with Bizz Corey that was broadcast Saturday mornings in the late 1940s. I saved up and bought a space patrol gun that you loaded with flour. When you pulled the trigger a little puff of flour came out. I think I liked it a lot.
63 posted on 08/10/2002 12:10:40 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: leadhead
Ack! Buzz Corey, not Bizz.
65 posted on 08/10/2002 12:16:28 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: sourcery
What's Star Trek? Some kind of television garbage?
67 posted on 08/10/2002 12:25:00 PM PDT by goldbux
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To: Jimer
UFP President

68 posted on 08/10/2002 12:34:55 PM PDT by Consort
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To: zhabotinsky
I opened a deepspace communication link and submitted your query to PELGAR, who is working off a plea bargain taking questions from weak-minded hew-mons in his Federation cell. Here is his reply:

One thing that Ze'ev Jabotinsky was not, he was not a whiner. Tell your friend to grow thicker skin. "Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than the question is an answer": Rule #208, which was given to me by my Aunt Ethel on the day of my bar mitzvah.

69 posted on 08/10/2002 2:13:03 PM PDT by tictoc
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Comment #71 Removed by Moderator

To: ffusco
SF writer Norman Sprinrad wrote that one.
72 posted on 08/10/2002 2:21:15 PM PDT by Rocko
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To: Confederate Keyester
Sturgeon (who is NOT vacuous), Lafferty, PKD bump to the top.
73 posted on 08/10/2002 2:22:22 PM PDT by Rocko
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To: Rocko
Bradbury, too (although, I know, he's more of a fantasy writer).
74 posted on 08/10/2002 2:24:22 PM PDT by Rocko
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To: Jimer
UFP Press and
Information Service

75 posted on 08/10/2002 4:02:49 PM PDT by Consort
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To: zhabotinsky
The Narn were not bad folks but had truly horrible music.

What! You did not care for G'kar's little song?

I'm thinking of thinking of calling her up
After my after noon nap,
I'm thinking of thinking of sending her flowers,
Right after bonnie gets back
So many fishes left in the sea,
So many fishes but no one for me
I'm thinking of thinking of finding a love,
Soon after supper is done

Such romance! Such wrenching emotion! Such (could you hand me that stool? Thanks. It is getting a little deep, even for me.)

Can you imagine Picard trying to deal with the aliens from Thirdspace? He would be trying to feel their pain and understand their motives; Sheridan blew them to kingdom come. He didn't care what their motives were. They attacked, therefore they must be defeated.

The secret of B5 aside from its conservatism was the characters. They acted like people. There were good guys and bad guys and good guys that did bad things and bad guys that did good thing. But Human or Alien they acted like people. With all the quirks that make people interesting. Part of that was the story arc but even those who showed up for only one episode had depth.

And all without girls in mini skirts too.

a.cricket

76 posted on 08/10/2002 5:01:23 PM PDT by another cricket
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To: Jimer
Star Fleet
Marine Corps

77 posted on 08/10/2002 5:48:23 PM PDT by Consort
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To: another cricket; zhabotinsky
The secret of B5 aside from its conservatism was the characters. They acted like people. There were good guys and bad guys and good guys that did bad things and bad guys that did good thing. But Human or Alien they acted like people. With all the quirks that make people interesting. Part of that was the story arc but even those who showed up for only one episode had depth.

Even the villanous Bester had complexity. In the final season when you got to see Psi Corps from the inside, you saw that among other telepaths, Bester was a pretty okay guy. A continual theme you saw on the series was the tension between the desire of each race to turn in on itself and behave selfishly while a few heroic individuals try to rally them against the evil first of the Shadows then of the Clark regime. The tension between self-satisfaction and xenophobia (Clark, the Minbari Warrior Caste, the Narn and Centauri refusing to see past their hate) and trying to reach out for more (Sheridan, Delenn, and what both Londo and Gkar became).

Even down to telepaths sneeringly calling non telepaths "mundanes" and mundanes returning the favor by calling them "teeps".

Londo was a tragic figure. A failed Centauri politician banished to a sinecure was tempted by the Shadows with power and greatness, realizing too late the devil's bargain he made.

Others commented on the relative weakness of Starfleet in later ST series. Didn't B5 start that ? Earthforce was the weakest of the great powers with their clunky rotating ship sections when all the other races had artificial gravity.

And all without girls in mini skirts too.

In my book Andrea Thompson on B5 in that clingy dress she always wore had SevenofNine beat. It left something to the imagination.

78 posted on 08/10/2002 11:12:12 PM PDT by Tokhtamish
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To: Tokhtamish
Bump to the B5 top!
79 posted on 08/11/2002 6:26:06 AM PDT by Jonah Hex
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To: Jimer
Star Fleet Academy

80 posted on 08/11/2002 9:28:22 AM PDT by Consort
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