Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom

Lyda here. I suddenly realized that we haven’t had a Random Weirdness post in… well, longer than a week anyway.

And that I have neglected one of my true nerdnick obsessions: science fiction. Not that I have neglected it in the blog, or in my life. Just that I have neglected it in the Random Weirdness posts. At least it hasn’t been featured as the actual core of one of the posts. Forget it, I’m just doing this ’cause I wanna. So there.

And because it was my first sci-fi love, and with a big thank you to Gorgeous and Available Engineer brother who got me into this, and sci-fi in general, in the first place:

Here is this week’s 

Random Weirdness of Humans: To Boldly Go Where No Pollyanna Has Gone Before…

1) The first sci-fi in my life was Star Trek, which I watched with my GAAE bro every time it was on.

I later discovered Robert Heinlein (”Have Spacesuit, Will Travel” is still one of my favorite books), and Tolkien, and lots of other authors, and then Star Wars, and on and on. But Star Trek was my first. It became my haven, and my moral compass. It helped me define what I believed, and what I wanted to be. No shit.

2) When the show first aired, my then 10-year-old brother would not leave the TV to eat dinner. Mom would not let him eat in front of the TV. Difficulties ensued. Mom said she would not save his dinner for him. He said he would go hungry rather than miss Star Trek.

In the end, my mother had to change dinner time. This was huge. It’s as if the Pope had agreed to naked prayer circles.

3) Chekov was my first crush. Later, I fell for Sulu. And then I fell hard for Scotty. And Kirk. And Spock…

All this probably explains my fascination with accents. And engineers. And philanderers. And men who are emotionally unavailable… hmmm…

4) And of course I wanted to be Uhura, who was beautiful and intelligent and spoke a gazillion languages and had perfect skin. Or maybe a yeoman, so I could catch Chekov’s eye… or Kirk’s…

5) Despite Klingons and planet-devouring space creatures and nasty aliens, I loved this Trek universe and still do. Here were all these interesting people, living their dreams, laughing, and saving the universe too.

And they all lived and worked together every day, and they almost never yelled at each other, unless there was some weird gas trying to take over the ship or something.

And they never had to share a bathroom or wash clothes or do the dishes or even cook.

6) I love the original series. Once, GAAE bro and I counted that McCoy said the same three words ten times in one episode (sorry, don’t remember what episode).

“He’s dead, Jim.”

7) Okay, the special effects were… basic. Here’s a fun article about ten of the cheesiest classic monsters from the original series.

8.) I love all of it - all the TV shows, all the movies - some more than others, of course. Come on over, we’ll watch, we’ll debate… bring your knitting…

and some wine…

9) NASA named a space shuttle Enterprise. Captain Picard has a whole wall in his ready room covered in models of all the Enterprises, from the sailing ship commissioned in 1775 for the Continental Navy, to the space shuttle, and beyond.

Can’t you see him putting those together late at night, a cup of Earl Grey steaming beside him?

10) In Las Vegas, you can get married standing on the bridge of the Enterprise, dressed as your favorite Star Trek character, and then party surrounded by Star Trek aliens. You can also do a Vulcan Vow Renewal. The Captain’s Wedding comes with a bottle of Chateau Du Trek champagne. Check the link. I am not making this up.

Uh, let’s skip the wedding and get straight to the drinking… and maybe a Hamborger. Again, not making this up. This ain’t called “random weirdness” for nothin’ folks.

Bonus: Here’s a list of 2008 resolutions made by characters from the Star Trek universe. My favorite? Kirk’s, I think. That link also has a video clip of Trek characters drinking, just for fun.

Although you might agree with Seven of Nine: “Resolutions are futile.”

Anyway, it’s 2008, and that’s one year closer to Starfleet’s founding. Hurry up and get here, Vulcans.

Live long and prosper, ya’ll.