Hello, everyone! At the moment, I'm a bit sidetracked by the inanity of Shani Davis, the melodrama of the weather and the sheer awesomeness of many of the lesser known (in America) Olympic moments. However, I thought you might enjoy a little silliness by way of the new Star Trek.

(paraphrasing a conversation I'd been hoping to avoid: discussing the film with my co-workers)

Ko: So who do you think is cute in the movie?

me: [blushes] Um, I'll send you an e-mail.

Sarah: [mentions something about having seen the movie and thinking about how various cast members are cute]

me: [facepalms]

Sarah: I don't know all their names, but...the guy who played Kirk is cute.

me: I find his eyes to be disconcerting.

Hey, does anyone remember this story  ? Well, it's been getting a pretty good response, and I find out when people add it to their favorites. Given that people are still looking at it even four months after I first posted it, I have an inkling that people might enjoy the story that spawned that one. Thing is, this story is too long to be admitting to writing in my head. Yes, it has gotten to that point, especially since I read the Memory Alpha entry on Denobulans. Without going into the long and really geeky explanations of retconning, fanon and how anything is fair game in the new Star Trek universe, let me just say I figured out a plausible solution to a problem that has been bothering me since June.

Yeah, I've been working on this much longer piece since that time but stopped to work on the story I did eventually post, and then I spent the holidays focusing on work, neighborhood involvement and other non-online aspects of my life. All the while I was bamboozled how to handle the Borg, as I had plans for the Enterprise to confront the Borg in this particular story. I had a lot of contrived ideas floating around but tossed them all out the window after "At Last" was posted. When I read that Denobulans possessed super strong immune systems that were caable of holding off Borg nanoprobes, I had a Eureka moment. Perhaps Starfleet would invest in the research and development of a vaccine of sorts to prevent assimilation using Denobulan physiology as a springboard. Granted, that type of project would take decades, so anything available at this time would be experimental at best. It would make for an interesting showdown. Since I thought this up...I want to go back to this story in the worst way even though I shouldn't. I'll probably end up doing it, though. I hate my brain, but every once in a while it amuses me.


 

First off, I apologize for the unbelievable spelling fail in the title for the last entry. Anyway, so I've been mentioning FlashForward for a while now. It's a good show. It gets kind of addictive in marathon, but there's no need to worry about it replacing Trek in regards to obsession following. Even so, there are plenty of reasons to tune in and have a look. I'll share some of my thoughts after watching all except the last two episodes (just haven't gotten around to them).

The opening episode is very visceral. A lot of care went into developing the impact of the blackout and the physical chaos that resulted when everyone snapped out of it. And it borders on surreal in parts, especially when the marsupials start hopping along the streets of LA. No, that is not a dream I had. (It could be, though.)

Racial diversity among the cast is evident but not thrown in your face. In fact, quite a few of the FBI agents are black. The best part is the diversity doesn't feel obligatory, and the non-white characters are developed in terms of what they do and not what they look like.

So far, the writers have expanded this beyond sci-fi. It's taken a more dramatic angle, sure, but better to go light on the science than to totally bungle the facts and theories. Given the series original source material, I think we'll see more of it in the second half of the season.

Spoilers ahead!