So apparently the NX-Enterprise was powered by Mac OS X

Was derping around on Memory Alpha and found this picture:

(via Memory Alpha)

According to this article on Trek Today, something like 16 of Apple's Mac G4 Cubes were used to handle the computer displays on the set. Mike Okuda and others would man these computers and monitor everything that goes up on the displays in the set. Whenever the Enterprise went to red alert, ran a diagnostic, or blipped off and on when the ship took damage, it was done from there. Neat.

The Loknar-class is a sweet starship

(via Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator On-Line Database & Archive)

The Loknar was one of the myriad of starships that appeared in FASA's Star Trek RPG back in the 1980s. Here's some info from Memory Beta:

The five series of Loknar vessels were built at the beginning of a period of Federation expansion known to historians as "The Great Awakening". Although the era was defined by scientific research and exploratory ventures, numerous small warship classes were built, including the Loknar. These vessels were primarily designed by Andorians, who favored a doctrine of border protection for the young Federation.

Note: The Loknar-class does actually have a deflector dish
in other pictures I've seen,
no idea why it doesn't have it in this one.
(via Memory Beta)

When authorized by the Federation Appropriations Committee, the Loknars were constructed by Andorian shipbuilders in large numbers in shipyards at Mars and Salazaar, and introduced to service on reference stardate 1/9010 with the commissioning of the USS Loknar. All Loknar vessels were named for Federation colony provinces and cities, and many are crewed exclusively by Andorians, as part of the "Blue Fleet".

Over the course of the Four Years War, the Loknar became a staple of fleet action, and was upgraded several times from its original design. The first series weapon complement of heavy lasers and accelerator cannons were replaced by phasers and photon torpedoes, the standard starship weapons of the mid-23rd century era and beyond.

The Loknar remained in production until the late 23rd century, with older vessels continuously refit to newer standards.

Interesting sidenote: The same article points out that the NX-class from Enterprise looks an awful lot like the Loknar.

(via Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator On-Line Database & Archive)

I can see the similarities, but I'd say it was probably more of a coincidence than anything else, unless Doug Drexler has said otherwise. I like the overall design of the Loknar, especially in all of the fan art I've seen of it.

Credit: davemetlesits.

Credit: XenoMAX.

 A shout-out to the BARKING ALIEN for reminding me that the Loknar existed.

So I bought 18 Star Wars books Saturday

The local library was having a book sale and good lord, they had a lot of SW books. I had to resist the urge to buy most of them on Friday, but I resisted because they always do a bag sale on the final day and I knew I could pick them up for dirt cheap. Come Saturday, I tossed the eighteen I wanted in a bag and along with some non-SW, I only paid three bucks for them. Not bad, not bad.

I picked up books 2-9 of the X-Wing series, so I know have the entire run except for the last book, Mercy Kill. Other finds include:

The Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers
The New Rebellion - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Courtship of Princess Leia - Dave Wolverton
The Lando Calrissian Adventures - L. Neil Smith
The Crystal Star - Vonda N. McIntyre
Tales from Jabba's Palace - Edited by Kevin J. Anderson
Assault at Selonia and Showdown at Centerpoint - Roger MacBride Allen
Shield of Lies - Michael P. Kube-McDowell

There was more, but it was just New Jedi Order and a Darth Maul novel.

Oh yeah, expect a lot of Star Wars posts, since I'm getting back into it.

That exact moment when you know you're f*cked

Jedi: "Pfft, it's just one Sith Lord against twenty of us? Easy!"

Jedi: "Okay, we might be slightly fucked here."

Found the gif on reddit. It's from one of the teaser videos that came out for the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. The attack on the Jedi Temple was part of the larger Sacking of Coruscant. The video is pretty epic and worth watching.

While a ruthless tyrant, I do agree with Palpatine's position on tax reform

I can't say that I agree with his approach to fighting terrorism, though.

http://imgur.com/ndRyNxI

Remember when Darth Vader killed all of those Younglings?

Unfortunately, couldn't find the entire scene, but this is close enough.



I saw the midnight release of Revenge of the Sith back in 2005 and when the movie got to this scene, it floored the entire audience. I remember a woman behind me whisper to her friend "He's not going to kill them, is he?". When Vader turned his lightsaber on and the door closed behind him, ending the scene, you could hear audible gasps from almost the entire audience. It was a small, but important scene because it showed the continuing fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of Darth Vader. Killing Mace Windu and the other Jedi was one thing, but killing children? That was a whole new depth of evil.

Well, Palpatine did order him to kill all of the Jedi at the Temple...

Just FYI, I created a Trek blog

And it has the greatest, most fantastical name of all time that will absolutely blow your minds. Ready? The Trek Blog. Holy shit, I know right?

But joking aside, I'm not abandoning this blog at all. I just created that other blog because I really like Star Trek and I plan to do an absolute shitload of posts without flooding this one and turning Rayguns into a de facto Trek Blog.

I plan on expanding and posting about a lot more scifi shows on here than I have before. I've been fairly myopic about what scifi I post and I want to change that. Expect posts about Babylon 5, the Stargates (all of them), Star Wars, military science fiction, Battlestar Galactica, and more.

Here, have a cat picture.

(via)

Shadowrun commercial - "A Night's Work"

Or "wow, you mean this isn't the set up for a porn?"



I like how the dude's only task is to yank panels off for the hacker and the blonde's job is to stare people to death.

Clearly, John Scalzi's milkshake is bringing all the TV networks to the yard

Legendary TV is planning on turning Scalzi's new novel, Lock In, into a series. The book came out like two weeks ago, goddamn son. So far, this makes the third book/series of his that's getting the adaption treatment. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Thus far, season 8 of Doctor Who has a lot in common with a vacuum cleaner

I honestly cannot even tell you what the last four episodes have been about. I'll switch over to DW on Saturday nights and unlike previous seasons, I just blank it out. They're bland, boring, and make no sense at all, even by the standards of Doctor Who. It's pretty obvious that Moffat has absolutely no idea how to handle the Twelfth Doctor and is just floundering. I'm going it give another try, but if the next episode is more of the same, I may just skip this season.