From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
All I Need to Know About Life I learned from Star Trek
Wow---today is the 51st anniversary of the premiere of what creator Gene Roddenberry called "Wagon Train to the Stars." Star Trek was regularly beaten in its time slot, and placed 52nd among all series in 1966-’67, its best season. But the issues it took on---war, peace, technology (for good and evil), racism, gender, greed and others, all handled so deftly by the writers and cast that Martin Luther King Jr. became a fan---still resonate and make the series eminently watchable in 2017. Today’s a good day to review the basics:
• Seek out new life and civilizations.
• Non-interference is the Prime Directive.
• Keep your phaser set on stun.
• Humans are highly illogical.
• There's no such thing as a Vulcan death grip.
Bonus lesson: Sometimes in life there are moments when all you can do is gather everyone together, twist up a fattie, and just stare out the window into space.
• Live long and prosper.
• Having is not so pleasing as wanting; it is not logical but it is often true.
• Infinite diversity in infinite combinations (IDIC).
• Tribbles hate Klingons (and Klingons hate Tribbles).
• Enemies are often invisible -- like Romulans, they can be cloaked.
• Don't put all your ranking officers in one shuttlecraft.
• When your logic fails, trust a hunch.
• Insufficient data does not compute.
• If it can't be fixed, just ask Scotty.
• Even in our own world, sometimes we are aliens.
• When going out into the Universe, remember, "Boldly go where no one has gone before!"
This week Admiral Kirk himself sent---with a little help from NASA---a message ("We offer friendship across the stars. You are not alone.") to the Voyager space probe on its 40th anniversary. (Hat tip to AKALib for the link.) No one’s sure yet what the return message---”We’re out of coleslaw.”---means, but their top decryptionists are on it.
Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
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