A whole lotta scifi coming to TV soon

First of all, most of this news comes from Adam Whitehead's most excellent The Wertzone, so big tip of the hat to him.

Let's do a run down:

• Spike just announced that they're going to turn Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy into a series. Reminder that Spike is the channel with the MMA, wrestling (not for long), and a plethora of reality shows. Hopefully they won't fuck it up.
• Syfy is doing a ton. They're adapting Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End into a miniseries, as well as turning James S. A. Corey's Expanse and John Scalzi's Old Man's War into TV series. Finally, they have a show based on the movie 12 Monkeys set to premiere this January. Interesting stuff, but then again, this is the network that brought us such turds as Children of Dune, Riverworld, and Earthsea, to say nothing of all of their ghost hunting shows.
• FX is doing a limited series based on Scalzi's Redshirts.
• HBO, meanwhile, is stepping into the science fiction arena by optioning The Foundation series. Given the size and scope that Game of Thrones has, this could be interesting. I don't doubt for a minute that what ends up on TV will differ greatly from the source material, but that's probably not a big deal. I mean, even Isaac Asimov couldn't figure out why the Foundation Trilogy was so popular. At the very least, we're getting boobs and sex and more boobs. Probably full frontal too.

I'm being somewhat flippant towards Spike and Syfy because the former has never done a scifi series (to my knowledge) and the latter has a bad track record when it comes to adapting written scifi to television. On the other hand, Syfy seems to be at least making an effort to live up to their name, which is more than can be said for other niche channels.

Never mind the Trek blog

Ran out of steam and ideas, even though I planned to write quite a few posts. Oh well, I've imported the few posts that I did make, so let's pretend it never happened. :P

On a list of reasons to join Starfleet, I didn't think a swimming pool would even rate

(via Memory Beta)

Look at this gem from the Memory Beta page for the Northampton-class:

These vessels were designed for deep-space stationing in all sensitive areas, to prevent alien aggression. The Northampton vessels were sought after assignments by crews and troops due to numerous recreation decks and spacious quarters for the crewmembers and marines. Swimming pools, gravball courts, and gymnasiums were all located in the lower hull adjacent to the shuttlebay and near the engineering section. Although the hull design incorporated the single-engine lock often found in Andorian designs, the Northampton was a Martian design.

The bit about the ships being sought after because of swimming pools and other amenities caught me as funny. I can just imagine a cadet about to graduate from Starfleet Academy, getting ready to go out and exploring the galaxy, discovering new life and all that jazz, then ditching that in favor of a swimming pool.

Human Resource Officer from Starfleet: "So, I see you went the Sciences route in Starfleet. We always need more science officers, what was your specilization?"
Cadet: "Exo-botany. I wrote dissertation on the Xindi tulip."
HRO: "Interesting, interesting. Well, we do have an opening on an Oberth science vessel, the USS Sheldon Cooper and they do a lot of research on planet life, including flora, so you'd fit right in."
Cadet: "Great!"
HRO: "Now, I should tell you that an Oberth is a pretty small ship, so it doesn't have all the amenities of larger ships."
Cadet: "That's fine. Sacrifice is expected in the name of science, after all."
HRO: "Good to know, because you certainly won't find a swimming pool on an Oberth like the Northampton's have."
Cadet: "Well that's fine with--I'm sorry, but did you say 'swimming pool'?"
HRO: "Hmm? Oh yeah, the Northampton-class starships all have pools, gyms, grav courts, etc. Big quarters too, even for the most junior officers. Now, let's get the paperwork started so we can move you on out to the Sheldon Cooper."
Cadet: "Uh, actually, I think I've changed my mind. Is there an opening on any Northamptons?"
HRO: "Yeah, a couple, but they don't really need an exo-botanist."
Cadet: "Well, I mean why should have matter? I don't think one should necessarily be limited by their degrees. A person can grow in other directions and my direction is clearly toward a Northampton!"
HRO: "But they're warships - all they do is patrol and guard sectors of space! There's no science or exploration involved!"
Cadet: "Look, I know how to fire a phaser and I've got fists perfect for punching aliens in their faces, so what more do I need?!"
HRO: *facepalming* "Goddammit..."

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.

I forgot to watch Saturday's episode of Doctor Who

And didn't realize until I woke up at like three in the morning and the realization instantly hit me. I am really, really, really bad at remembering not just remembering when new seasons premiere, but that the shows are back on the are until a few weeks in. I watch almost no TV during the summer, save for wrestling and Doctor Who. I missed the second season of Orphan Black because of it.

Eeesh.

Last Saturday's episode of Doctor Who was okay, I guess (spoilers)

It didn't knock my socks off and felt a bit underwhelming until the end. I enjoyed Madame Vastra calling Clara out on her bullshit, as well as her relationship with her wife Jenny. Why isn't there a spinoff starring those two? Eleven calling Clara and asking her to stay with Twelve, along with Peter Capaldi's performance, and the aforementioned Vastra and Jenny saved this episode from sucking.

Ever hear of a wargame called StarForce: Alpha Centuri?

This came across my dash on Tumblr this morning.

http://70sscifiart.tumblr.com/post/95288514209/starforce-alpha-centauri

I found the Wikipedia article for Simulation Publications, Inc. via Google. The company was founded in 1969, folded in 1982 with TSR acquiring its assets the following year. The company made all sorts of wargames and even tried to compete with TSR in the RPG market. StarForce was one of the companies first scifi-based games and here's what its Wikipedia article says:

StarForce described a future history of humanity reaching out into local interstellar space, and making first contact (and war) with a number of alien species. FTL (faster than light) travel was based on "telesthetic" (teleportation) powers enhanced by artificial intelligence, both from on-board crew members and with the assistance of fixed Star Gate installations. Space combat was relatively non-violent, mostly based on telepathic disruption of the enemy's crews. The space volume on the map represented real astronomical data, designed to allow players to become familiar with the layout of nearby stars.
----
Unlike most board games, StarForce used both pre-plotted simultaneous movement, and a 3D playspace covering a radius of approximately 20 light years from Sol. "Semi-hidden" movement allowed players to display their horizontal location while keeping their vertical position concealed.

 Another point of interest is that 80s new wave band, The Human League, took their name from one of the game's factions.

So anybody ever hear of StarForce? Anybody play it?

RIP Robin Williams

Fuck.

Syfy turning John Scalzi's Old Man's War into a series!

 Via Hollywood Reporter:

The NBCUniversal-owned cable network has put into development Ghost Brigades, a drama based on John Scalzi's Hugo-nominated Old Man's War universe book series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The NeverEnding Story's Wolfgang Petersen will oversee development on the project alongside Scott Stuber (Safe House), with Jake Thornton and Ben Lustig (Winter's Knight) on board to pen the first script. The drama hails from Universal Cable Productions, Petersen's Radiant Productions and Stuber's Bluegrass Films.

Excellent. Old Man's War is one of my favorite scifi novels and the rest of the series is pretty damn good too. To give you an idea of how good OMW is, I started re-reading the thing like ten minutes after I finished it. I was probably fifteen pages in before I stopped myself. That has never happened before or since.

The premise is (and spoiler warning, folks) that the John Perry enlists with the Colonial Defense Force, the military arm of the interstellar government that manages human colonies, the Colonial Union. The catch? Perry is 75 years old and the CDF's entire military force is based around geriatrics. The spoiler bit is how they make use of people who would likely break a hip just matching - genetically engineered bodies created from each person's DNA, but mostly comprised of non-human material. The CDF transfers each person's mind into one of these new bodies, then transfers them into brand spanking new cloned human bodies after their term of service is completed.

The book is military science fiction, but mixed with a good bit of humor and wit. The title of the TV show is interesting, as Ghost Brigades is the title of the second book in the series and doesn't really feature Perry at all. The series itself is going to be a mix of the entire series, rather than a straight adaption of just the first book. The name change makes even more sense, then. I mean, having a show called "Old Man's War" isn't going to attract a ton of viewers.

John Scalzi has a series of posts over on his blog about the new series. This isn't his only work getting the TV treatment. FX is turning one of his other books, Redshirts, into a miniseries. Interestingly, Syfy is also turning James S. A. Corey's Expanse series into a show. Looks like the channel is finally shifting away from reality shows and back towards science fiction.

Just gonna leave this here

http://www.listoid.com/list/140/page2

"Mom, dad, why can't you just accept us for what we are? I know Johnny is a giant robot and society will scorn us, but our love is real. It's real."

I really like this Rogue Trader picture

(via Lexicanum)

I dig the Age of Sail/pirate vibe with their outfits. The old fashioned (treasure?) map is a nice touch too.

Posts worth reading: Tower of Zenopus's The Good Old Star Fleet Universe

I was going to link to these posts sooner, but I wanted to wait until Blacksteel posted all three. Then I got distracted by something shiny and well, derp.

• The Good Old Star Fleet Universe - The Past
• The Good Old Star Fleet Universe - The Present
• The Good Old Star Fleet Universe - The Future

Luke's new *ahem* "lightsaber"

Teehee.

http://xkcd.com/1397/

Finished: Star Trek Vanguard: Harbinger (spoilers)

(via Memory Alpha)

It was pretty good, but felt more like a pilot episode than a novel. What I mean is, the book mostly established multiple plot threads for the rest of series and didn't really resolve anything except for the destruction of the Bombay by the Tholians.

Can we just talk about for a second? A pre-refit, TOS era (Harbinger is set just after the events of Where No Man Has Gone Before) Miranda-class took on six Tholian heavy cruisers and destroyed four of them out before being destroyed herself. Damn, son! No wonder the Reliant kicked the Enterprise's ass in Wrath of Khan!

What a pre-refit Miranda might have looked like.
(via Memory Beta)

Anyways, back to the book. The premise for the Vanguard series is pretty cool: The USS Constellation (you might have heard of it) discovers something called a meta-genome in a sample of mold that they were transporting back from a planet called Ravanar in the Tarsus Reach, a far off sector of space outside Federation territory. Yup, outside Feddie territory and right between the Klingon Empire and Tholian Assembly. What could possibly go wrong? The meta-genome proves to be important because it contains a lot of information; too much, in fact, to be anything but artificial. So, Starfleet fast-tracks the construction of Vanguard, a watch-tower class starbase in Tarsus Reach. They also assign three starships to the base: the already mentioned Bombay, the Constitution-class Endeavor, and the Archer-class Sagittarius. The Archer is a small scout ship that was created specifically for the series and has appeared outside of it as well.

Like I said, there are multiple plot threads established in Harbinger. One is that a member of the Federation diplomatic staff on Vanguard, Anna Sandesjo, is actually a Klingon spy and the lover of the station's intelligence officer, T'Prynn. There's another plot thread with the latter. T'Prynn had a very dramatic experience during Pon Farr. Her mate was a physically abusive dickhole of a Vulcan named Sten, who she killed during kal-if-fee (remember that fight between Spock and Kirk in Amok Time?) and well, it did not end well for her. Sten forced his katra into her mind and it can't be removed with it destroying hers in the process. So, she faces a daily mental battle with his katra assaulting her mind until she submits. There's also a secret relationship ongoing between Commodore Diego Reyes, the commander of Vanguard and his JAG officer, Captain Rana Desai.

Then there's Cervantes Quinn and Tim Pennington. Not in a romantic relationship, but their lives are connected throughout the novel. Quinn a smuggler/man for hire working for an Orion crime boss based out of Vanguard. Pennington is a reporting working for the Federation News Service. Quinn is responsible for the destruction of the Bombay when he accidentally destroys the sensor screen (while trying to steal it) that a team of Starfleet engineers and scientists were using to hide their top secret project on Ravanar. The Bombay was sent to rush a new sensor screen to the planet. Pennington's girlfriend was a bridge officer on the Bombay. Their separate threads connect throughout the novel until the very end when they become entangled. Presumably, because I don't know if Pennington and Quinn are even in the rest of the series. Honestly, it took a while for me to warm up to Quinn and Pennington branches of the plot and even then, I didn't like them much. Pennington brought the Federation close to the brink of war with the Tholians with his expose on the latter's destruction of the Bombay because he wanted to bring justice for Oriana, his girlfriend. Quinn just didn't wow me. He mostly just slunk around, got drunk, got beat up, and then got even more drunk.

The ending and the introduction of the Sheddai, which apparently is some sort of ancient advanced alien species was intriguing, but nothing new. It piqued my interest nonetheless.

Overall, I liked Harbinger regardless of its faults. Every book is going to have them. I like the way David Mack handled Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise in the story. They were there and helped move the plot along without overshadowing the book's cast of characters.

Rating 8/10. Recommended.

The Decker-class was one ugly FASA ship

From the front, it looks fine. From the top and the side, it looks whoever at FASA designed it was really hitting the bottle. Here's the description from Memory Beta:

The Decker-class was a Federation class X destroyer starship in Starfleet service in the 23rd century, becoming active on reference stardate 2/7502.

The Decker-class vessels crewed 200 officers and crew, with room for up to 10 passengers and about 100 Starfleet Marines. Additionally, the Decker could carry 10,000 metric tons of cargo, rated at 200 SCU (standard cargo units). The vessels weighed 140,603 metric tons, measured 288 meters in length, 120 meters in width and 52 meters in height. The Decker had four standard (6 person) personnel transporters, four 12-person escape transporter stages and four cargo transporters, two for large scale cargo and two for small scale cargo. The control computer of the Decker vessels was of the M-6A type.

The Decker had warp engines of the FTWC-2 type, rated, in original cochrane unit scales, to cruise at warp factor 12 and max out at warp factor 14. The Decker impulse engines were of the FIF-2 type. The Decker weapons had five FH-11 phaser banks, with forward port, forward starboard and aft firing arcs. The vessels had three FP-4 photon torpedo launchers with forward port starboard and aft firing arcs and was defended by FSM model deflector shields.

The commissioning of the prototype USS Matthew Decker marked a new use of advancements in technology and ship-mounted weaponry that were originally fielded in Starfleet's Excelsior-class, but in a lighter, more maneuverable destroyer vessel designed for patrol, escort and deep space combat. The class ran into initial delays as advanced technology required redesign to fit into the compact spaceframe. Most of these problems were solved by the introduction of Daystrom Duotronics' M-6A/M-9A computers, integrating synoptic duotronics with artificial intelligence. The Marine contingents frequently refer to these vessels as "Damn Fine Deckers" because of their quality as a fighting ship.

The destroyer class was named for Matthew Decker, namesake of the first ship of the class, as well as other members of his family who had given their lives in Fleet service. Other ships in the class are also named after Starfleet officers that had given their life or otherwise sacrificed in the line of duty. By 2364, of the 40 Decker vessels that had been constructed, 20 remained in active service, with an additional two used by Star Fleet Training Command as training vessels, and the rest listed as missing, scrapped or destroyed.

They may have been a "damn fine" ships, but they're never going to win any beauty contests.

I am dead and this Hijinks Ensue Star Trek comic is my killer

Credit: Hijinks Ensue.

For those who might not be up to date on internet memes (they do tend to come and go like lightning), the punchline is based on the Doge meme, seen below.

(via Wikipedia)

Yeah, the internet is pretty stupid. Anyways, Darmok is one of the best episodes of Star Trek ever. I love the idea of an entire alien species whose language is based on metaphors that are themselves based on historical events. It was nice seeing the Federation encounter a situation where the much vaunted universal translator was about as useful as a preacher in a whore house.

Space Station by Long-Pham

Credit: Long-Pham.

Kate Mulgrew NOT, in fact, a believer in geocentrism

So a small controversy erupted over the fact that Kate Mulgrew did a voice-over narration for a movie called The Principle, which promotes the thoroughly disproven idea that everything in the solar system revolves around the Earth. Yes, there are people who still think that. Fortunately, Mulgrew is not one of them. She posted a message on her Facebook fanpage about it on April 8th:

"I understand there has been some controversy about my participation in a documentary called THE PRINCIPLE. Let me assure everyone that I completely agree with the eminent physicist Lawrence Krauss, who was himself misrepresented in the film, and who has written a succinct rebuttal in SLATE. I am not a geocentrist, nor am I in any way a proponent of geocentrism. More importantly, I do not subscribe to anything Robert Sungenis has written regarding science and history and, had I known of his involvement, would most certainly have avoided this documentary. I was a voice for hire, and a misinformed one, at that. I apologize for any confusion that my voice on this trailer may have caused. Kate Mulgrew"

I'm glad she spoke out because Robert Sungenis is a terrible excuse for a human being and I shudder to think that there are people who do associate with him. The guy is a Holocaust denier who actually claims that no one has proven that the Holocaust even happened, so just ignore the death camps, I guess. He also thinks Jews are plotting to "put Satan in control of the world" and that Israel assassinated John F. Kennedy, amongst other things. This guy is so extreme, the Catholic Church made him remove the world "Catholic" from a website he runs.

I still can't believe that people like that still exist.

Lasgun out of a Nerf Longstrike = awesome

Credit: Frost-Claw-Studios.

This beauty was made out of a Nerf Longstrike by Frost-Claw-Studios. Amazing. They apparently take commissions too, so imagine having one of these puppies hanging on a wall in your game room or man cave, or defending the Imperium against heretics and dirty, dirty Xenos!

h/t The Khan Rides to War.

How did Starfleet not know that warp drive was damaging space?

Or did they?

One of the Hekaran scientists presenting the damaging caused by warp drive.
(via Memory Alpha)

In the TNG episode "Forces of Nature", two alien scientists reveal that warp drive is damaging spacetime, with the area the episode takes place in being badly affected. This is demonstrated quite drastically after one of the scientists blows up her ship via warp core breach just to prove their point. After this, the Federation imposed a "speed limit" of warp five to mitigate damage.

Subspace rift caused by a warp core breach.
(via Memory Alpha)

What strikes me is that Starfleet or the Federation's scientists didn't know that warp drive could damage spacetime. Not once while they were developing newer, faster engines did anyone stumble upon evidence or even a notion that warp had such a negative effect?

(via Memory Alpha)

Or maybe they did and Starfleet buried it until a solution could be found. Maybe The Great Experiment (transwarp drive) was meant to be that solution and it's failure put them back at square one. The Intrepid-class's unusual warp nacelles may have been another attempt at fixing the problem. According to Memory Alpha, the unpublished tech manual for the first season of Star Trek: Voyager and the third edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia both suggest that the Intrepid's "variable geometry pylons" eliminated the problem. The problem with that is that the Intrepids are the only ships in Starfleet service with VGPs - all the ships built after them (the Akira, Steamrunner, etc) all have conventional setups.

It's worth noting that in the non-canon Treklit, Starfleet appears to be actively fixing the problem by moving away from warp drive and towards quantum slipstream, but that's for another post.

Epsilon IX station

(via Memory Alpha)

Epsilon IX was the station that fell victim (after the Klingons) to V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Officially, Epsilon was a communications station and transceiver for subspace messages, but it's position near the Klingon border makes you wonder if maybe it wasn't something more. Why would Starfleet need a manned station near the border of a then-current enemy if all it was built for was to handle communication traffic? And why put one there? The fact that they were able to observe the destruction of the Klingon ships that attacked V'Ger would imply otherwise. Certainly makes you wonder which division was really operating Epsilon - Communications or Intelligence?

(via Memory Alpha)

According to Memory Alpha, three scale models of Epsilon IX were built for the movie: the station, an enlarged panel (seen in the second picture), and the largest being the conning tower.

(via Memory Alpha)

The models of the station and panel were later reused as a wall decorations in the Officer's Lounge in The Search for Spock. After that, the models disappeared without a trace because that's something that can somehow happen.

I always did like Kirk's uniform in Star Trek: The Motion Picture

(via Memory Alpha)

The TMP uniforms were pretty swanky and well, let's face it, fit the polyester era of science fiction perfectly. The uniforms were apparently one-piece, which I imagine was a pretty annoying thing when you needed to use the bathroom or just changing in and out of.

(via Memory Alpha)

The sleeveless version was pretty cool as sort of a "casual-wear" uniform. It looks like this one might not be a one-piece, but the hem of the tunic might just be hiding it.

Galactica 1980 was such a great show

You know you're a Whovian when...

You hear Florence + The Machine's "The Drumming Song" and it makes you think of The Master.

Doctor Who: The Oncoming (link)Storm

• Andrew Blair over at Den of Geek ponders the morality of the Doctor.
• BBC America's Anglophenia has a round-up of the interweb's reaction to the Twelfth Doctor's outfit and this comic by Tumblr user halorvic is the best:

• Speaking of which, Doctor Who TV lists five reasons why the Doctor's new threads are the best ever.
• Doctor Puppet has a Twelfth Doctor puppet:

Fantastic.

Things I like about the Trek Reboot

• The casting
• The uniforms
•  

And that's about it. Having Kirk promoted straight to Captain and given a starship command when he hadn't even graduated yet (and if I remember right, he was facing disciplinary action for cheating) is one of the primary reasons why I don't like the reboot. The design of the Enterprise itself is another reason. One of the biggest reasons, however, is the casting of a white actor to play a Sikh character. I know, I know, Ricardo Montalban wasn't even South Asian, but at least he wasn't white.

But like I said, I like - no, LOVE - the casting. Pine, Quinto, Cho, Saldano, etc. are all perfect castings. The uniforms are snazzy and are a nice update to the classic uniforms of The Original Series.

Doctor Who: First photo of Peter Capaldi in his Twelfth Doctor outfit

(via BBC's Doctor Who Facebook)

Swanky and very Jon Pertwee, as someone on Facebook pointed out. Could use a fez, though. Or maybe a bowtie. A stetson maybe?

Sorry, couldn't help myself. :D

Frank Bellamy artwork for Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks

Originally appeared in a 1972 issue of Radio Times, then reprinted in Doctor Who: Timeview in 1985. Love it, especially the way Bellamy drew the Third Doctor. Nicely detailed.

(via neilalien)