Every once in a while there's something someone points out on YouTube that doesn't make me cringe wondering what the hell people do all day on their own. angelamermaid shared this creative video which is a tribute to the awesome John Williams.



Star Wars, however, will never hold a candle to my childhood companion, Star Trek. A tribute to Star Trek with the majesty of James Horner:

Sadly Star Trek is in the dumper and kids dream only about bling and whores and wouldn't know what a wormhole is if it swallowed them and dropped them in 2491.

( On the other hand, I grew up a Star Trek geek. )
( What ST species am I anyway? )

Since I was mentioning Star Trek yesterday, I thought I'd now give the irreverant look at Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk.

NSFW: cursing, suggestive material

I admit it, I'm a Star Trek geek. Not so much as I would've thought since I missed the 40th anniversary on Friday! Oh no! My membership is going to get revoked!!! ;D

I read this today comparing Star Trek and Star Wars and it sums up how I feel about Star Trek and why I like it better than SW.

THE MUTARA NEBULA IS EVERYWHERE*
David Brin

I would like to pay tribute to Star Trek by making a few comparisons between Trek and its chief competitor for the hearts of science fiction fandom -- Star Wars. A comparison that illuminates two very different views of fiction, civilization, and at the meaning of a hero.

Here's one way of looking at the underlying implications of these two sci-fi universes. Consider the choice of which kinds of ship are featured in each series. Let me invite you to ponder, for a moment, and contrast the Air Force metaphor vs. one that hearkens up images of the Navy.

In Star Wars, the ships that matter are little fighter planes. Series creator George Lucas made liberal use of filmed dogfight footage, from both world wars, in some cases borrowing maneuvers like banking slipstream turns, down to the last detail. The heroic image in this case is the solitary pilot, perhaps assisted by his loyal gunner -- or wookie or droid -- companion. It is the modern version of knight and squire. Symbols as old as Achilles.

In contrast, the federation starship in Trek is vastly bigger, more complex, a veritable city cruising through space. Its captain hero is not only a warrior-knight, but also part scientist and part diplomat, a plenipotentiary representative of his civilization and father figure to his crew... any one of whom may suddenly become an essential character, during the very next adventure. While the captain's brilliance and courage are always key elements, so will be the skill and pluck of one or more crewmen and women. People who are much closer to average - like you or me -- yet essential helpers, nonetheless. And possibly even -- when it is their turn -- heroes, themselves.

In any event, the ship -- Star Trek's Enterprise -- stands for something, every time we look at it. This traveling city is civilization. The Federation's culture and laws, industry and consensus values -- like the Prime Directive -- are all carried in this condensed vessel, along with the dramatic diversity of its crew. Every single time there is an adventure, the civilization of the United Federation of Planets is put to the test, through its proxy, the hero-ship. And when the Enterprise passes each test, often with flying colors, so too, by implication, does civilization itself.

A civilization that might even be worthy of our grandchildren.

Compare this to the role of the Old Republic, in the Lucasian universe. A hapless, hopeless, clueless melange of bickering futility whose political tiffs are as petty as they are incomprehensible. The Republic may be sweet, but it never perceives, never creates or solves anything. Not once do we see any of its institutions actually function well. How can they? The people, the Republic, decent institutions... these cannot be heroes, or even helpers.

There is no room, aboard an X Wing fighter, for civilization to ride along.
Only for a knight and squire.
* * *
All right, you may call this making too much of yet another superficial thing. It can certainly be argued that ship size doesn't really matter. On the other hand, recall how eager Yoda was, in Attack of the Clones, to destroy the "Federation Starship"? Interesting choice of words, there! Could it be that the director agrees with me?
In scifi, ships carry powerful symbolism. They convey contrary ways of viewing heroes, and their relationship to common women and men.

Anyway, I couldn't help it. This difference in the metaphor of the ship continued to nag at me as every problem with the Star Wars universe just seemed to grow and compound, with each newly released episode. These superficial things mounted up, one after another. Deliberate artistic choices bubbled to the foreground, like Darth Vader's Nazi-style helmet and use of the term "storm troopers", or the need to be a genetic "midi-chlorian" mutant, in order to use the Force.

Or take the difference in educational styles, between the university-like Starfleet Academy and that imperious, overbearing, secretive guru, Yoda. Two very different -- and iconic approaches to acquiring and passing on a skill, to acquiring power and then using it.

This is not just a difference in style of storytelling. It is about fundamentally different ways of viewing reality, life, justice, civilization… and even hope. In the fantasy world of Star Wars, we are invited to return to medieval ways, "long ago and far away."

In Star Trek, we are invited to explore a future, in which our children may become better than us… and their children better, still.

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* Expanded from a portion of: Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (BenBella Books: Smart Pop series) by David Brin and two dozen wonderfully articulate authors "testifying" either for the prosecution or the defense. Is SW fantasy disguised as science fiction? Does the series spread doom-pessimism about democracy? Has it been a let-down since "The Empire Strikes Back"? Does it even make any sense?