Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Introduction: Hello World

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Posted by Whorfin (Member # 2208) on :

Honored members,

I just joined the forum and thought I would (uncharacteristically) stop by and introduce myself.

I've been a sci-fi fan all my life, and a Trekker about as far back as I can remember (once syndication started in our area). Star Trek is my passion, though I like most other science fiction, depending on the quality and effort afforded it.

I've been a Treknologist since my teens, though the vast majority of the time its been a private affair, or something my friends have had to suffer through. Back in the day my first deck plans (on graph paper) were for the Star Fleet Battles Police Cruiser based on the SSD alone (I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew while 'teething'). More recently I've shared some of my Trek musings on another forum, with somewhat mixed results (it may come as a surprise, but some people can be down right opinionated about some of this stuff!). A recent run of bad luck with multiple hard drives (among other things) has left me "...picking up the pieces down here", but I'm working my way back to having something useful to say. I hope.

My primary hope is that the fans, if not the franchise, can continue the original work of Gene Roddenberry to promote human development and understanding by example -- fictional or otherwise. Something similar probably applies to varying degrees to other franchises.

As to where I stand on more controversial issues of the age: JJ should have either done a clean reboot or copied New Voyages; Han shot first; Forget Team Edward and Team Jacob, I'm sticking my neck out and nominating Team Alice.

Now you know where I stand on the important issues. It should be all gravy from here.

Posted by the trekist (Member # 2186) on :

Hi ya Whorfin, welcome aboard! I think you'll like it here.

Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :

Did they ever lift the 'must wait 15-days before the newbies can be sodomized' restriction?

anyway, welcome aboard. some of us are assholes (or as i like to look at things, 'a license to type poorly')

don't worry. i'll wait 15 days before i make you my bitch, sir... o.O

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :

Only Pensive has "a license to type poorly"- the rest of us do it illegally.

Welcome to Flare- as the resident hater of the JJ reboot, I welcome you.

Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :

Ooo...does this mean I am no longer the office n00b?

Welcome to Flare Whorfin. Might that other forum be Trek BBS? I see a member with the same name around there occasionally...

Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :

No sean... come here, sean. It's French Somdomy time you, toto...

Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sean:
Ooo...does this mean I am no longer the office n00b?

Sorry dude, but I think you'll be the office noob till the day you die.

Look at the bright side... Im too spaced to think of one right now, but I'm sure there is one... [Razz]

Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pensive's Wetness:
No sean... come here, sean. It's French Somdomy time you, toto...

The men in the white lab coats haven't arrived yet I take it?

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :

Be sure they use fresh latex gloves- only the finest for our Sean.

Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :

*giggles*

Posted by Whorfin (Member # 2208) on :

Sorry for the delay in replying to everyone, there was a death in the family. One not entirely unexpected, but the suddenness was a bit of a surprise. In any case, because of where I live my access to the internet is somewhat limited and therefore haphazard under the best of circumstances, but this caused an additional delay. I appreciate all the welcomes.

quote:
Originally posted by Sean:
Welcome to Flare Whorfin. Might that other forum be Trek BBS? I see a member with the same name around there occasionally...

Yes, among a few others. I've had a series of health issues that started to seriously drain my energy -- what little there is of it -- and that effectively knocked me offline (certainly in terms of overall productivity and participation) for awhile. It also influenced me in not making more frequent backups of my Star Trek data, which contributed to my latest disaster. So remember to tell this cautionary tale around the camp fire to the children after singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

Eventually I intend to post at TrekBBS again, but I've still not quite got my sea-legs back so when another "Long-Winded Treknology" chapter will arrive is a bit of a mystery. They don't write themselves, unfortunately.

But I've been meaning to sign up for Flare for... ages I guess... so I stopped procrastinating. My primary interest is Pre-TOS Trek (with or without ST:Enterprise), Pilot and Production TOS, and the TMP era. All eras have something to contribute, but we all have our favorites. Call me old school. So I would like to try to connect with other people with similar interests, mutually assist each other as much as possible, and with some luck maybe give something back to other fans. My main issue is having the resources to do it on a consistent and worthwhile basis.

quote:
Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:
Welcome to Flare- as the resident hater of the JJ reboot, I welcome you.

Thank you. The Reboot, yes. Sort of a 'big deal', isn't it? I was actually glad to be out of commission during that whole fiasco, because I thought the forums would devolve into two rabid camps willing to fight to the death. Thankfully, that so seldom happens in real life or the internet! But here are some round-about thoughts on the Reboot.

I was discussing with a friend (a die-hard TNG fan) the open source software (OSS) movement, both in terms of operating systems and applications, which are generally freely developed and distributed. I ended up paraphrasing Picard (from "First Contact" and "The Neutral Zone"), that these people were a bit like those 'Federation people', 'interested in the betterment of mankind, not just themselves'. To me, that is perhaps the key message of Star Trek: "Let me help".

There are a lot of social changes going on. For example, Egon's pronouncement in "Ghostbusters" that "Print is dead" may be slightly premature... yet... but not by much. Printed books probably are on life-support. Early this morning I watched a documentary on the Books for International Goodwill ( http://www.big-books.org/ ) a charity that ships free books around the world and the U.S.A.: its easy for them to get books, because people don't read them, at least not much anymore. These books would either be recycled into paper towels or put in a landfill (or first one, later the other). Instead they are sent out to change the world... without the help of the Gates Foundation or other big donors.

Now there are benefits to eBooks, environmental and otherwise, but I think the real issue is that mass media culture and educational declines have resulted in each generation being less interested in reading and learning than the last. At least on a habitual basis, and something other than best-sellers. Why imagine something for yourself when the latest tent-pole movie or video game can fill in all the blanks for you? And if you are only force-fed drivel, you may learn to like, and only like, more drivel. Yes, the occasional Harry Potter may flash before a child's eyes, as a techno-thriller or romance might flash before an adults. And there are exceptional individuals, but my sense is that we are losing the battle in Gene Roddenberry's culture war for the betterment of humanity. Not because of the tools, but because of the way people are taught, encouraged, or even enforced to use them. The OSS movement is one indication that this statement may be wrong, but its a small demographic.

New Voyages/Phase II, Hidden Frontier (et al.) and the other fan films are the Trek equivalent to the OSS movement: providing significant content for free, often at significant personal cost. Vance's Graphic Toolkits is another. Fan fiction and art are others. And I think that the key to both keeping Trek alive and using it to change the world is in the hands of the fans, both in getting them involved in participating in Star Trek (in whatever capacity suites them), and in participating in the world.

Oh, yes. The point. Now if the franchise -- in its new direction -- can see that Star Trek is not just about entertainment, that its not writing formulaic scripts designed to manipulate desires and thrill-seeking, that its not just about the bottom line... then it has a chance to get back to the bold vision of "The Cage" and the 'ridiculous' idea that the audience can actually think while being entertained. And its the job of the fans to find a way to prepare an audience that can do that, even if that means doing something about societal issues off the internet. There was a reason that Martin Luther King personally 'vetoed' our "Lt. Uhura" from quitting the show, and it had nothing to do with ratings, and it was the same reason that GR had that character there in the first place. It was about changing the real world, one viewer at a time. Is that concept too ambitious for the current breed of mankind?

So, regarding the reboot, the questions become: did classic Star Trek lose its audience, did it become 'old fashioned' in a 'new-fangled' world, is its original kind of audience (thinking people?) demographically gone for good or is there some way to increase those numbers. Yes, I know that certain individuals had their foot on the accelerator as they sent the ongoing series off a cliff, but honestly I'm not sure that was the key issue at all, that it was merely exacerbating a more fundamental problem. Perhaps the BSG reboot and the direction it took is a further demonstration of the issue: at times it became the "anti-Trek", or so it seemed to me (influenced by Ron Moore's time in manacles in the Trek dungeons). In short, regarding the new movie, is this all we have left? Is there nothing more?

Well, maybe I am working my way back to being "Long Winded", just a bit. Sorry for the distraction from the ongoing sodomy thread: Carry on [UK members: wasn't that one of the installments of the legendary movie series???]. I simply have no expertise in the subject, and therefore nothing to contribute. [Big Grin]

Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :

quote:
I ended up paraphrasing Picard (from "First Contact" and "The Neutral Zone"), that these people were a bit like those 'Federation people', 'interested in the betterment of mankind, not just themselves'. To me, that is perhaps the key message of Star Trek: "Let me help".

Posted by Whorfin (Member # 2208) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jason Abbadon:

I'm more of a DS9 fan, really.
Their motto was "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Really- every time some Dominion fleet or Bajoran prophesy or whatever rears it's ugly head, the assembled crew have that motto writ large on their faces. [/QUOTE]

I think the point of that expression was to drive home the point that Section 31 were the only guys that had a clue. [Eek!]

Not that this is my position on the matter. But that was one of their points: These "root-beer" Starfleet types aren't ready for the real world, only the people willing to get their hands dirty are.