Great Links: Get Out The Vote Edition November 4, 2008
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Great Links , trackback
Well today is election day in the US and so we have our last round-up of Trek-related election links. Plus we have a photo trip into Trek history, Lutherans for Trek, John Hodgeman’s Trekexpertise, Trek on the lists, a famous viral video working its way into a Trek viral video, and so much more.
The Last Trek The Vote
Today is election day in the US so it looks like we can finally wrap up the Star Trek connections to Politics, with just a few last stragglers.
ToyCyte reports on some custom Barack Obama figures, including one with a Trek theme.
GOP Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain traditionally spends election days going to the movies. Comedy Central’s Indecision 08 Blog is recommending some movies for the Senator, including a Trek movie. From the post:
Star Trek: First Contact: That pretty Borg Queen reminds him of Cindy
At a campaign rally yesterday, GOP Vice Presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin seemingly made a plea for some Trek aliens. From an article at MSNBC:
It was at a San Francisco fundraiser earlier this year that Obama got into trouble, suggesting rural voters “cling to religion and guns” because jobs were being lost. Palin referred to them Monday as “bitter clingers” and “cling-ons.” (There goes the Star Trek vote?)
Friend of the site Ed Gross sends in his latest comic from Media Geek, which takes a look at Sarah Palin and asks her the toughest question at all, dragging her into the Star Trek v Star Wars fight.
Can Palin answer the real questions fans want to know?
[click to see full size]
Lutherans inspired by Trek
Eric H. points us to the cover story of this month’s Lutheran magazine, the magazine for members of the Lutheran faith. The article is titled To go where we’ve never gone before. The story covers the decline in congregations, but the article’s author looks to the final frontier for hope, writing in part:
Today many churches across the country face decline—even death. How do we deal with this challenge? Where does the ELCA find hope for the future?
Trek’s James T. Kirk was my hero when I was a boy. His passion for exploration and the uniting of all inhabited planets throughout the galaxy touched me deeply. Although the TV series died, it later returned as feature motion pictures.
Apparently God does need a starship
Pictures of the week – Trek history from LA Times archive
The Los Angeles times Hero Complex blog dove into their photo archive and came up with some great old photos from Star Trek’s history. Here are the three images, with informative captions (written by TrekMovie’s Resident Trek Historian John Tenuto).
1968 NBC Star Trek Cancellation Protest: Although the 1968 fan protests against the cancellation of Star Trek are well documented in prose, there are very few photographs of those days. This 1968 photo by Harry Chase for the LA Times is a gem because it details the zeitgeist of this unique fan era, from fan clothing to signage. This is a photo worthy of inclusion in American television history texts.
1973 Animated Star Trek Cast Photo: The first photo of note was taken by Mary Frampton in 1973 for the LA Times during the Animated Star Trek era. It shows Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelly, and William Shatner enjoying themselves as they voice their characters for the show. The actors often worked on the show independent of their costars, although there were a few times when principal cast conducted their recording sessions together. Therefore this photo is of incredible value to fans and popular culture enthusiasts.
1952 Leonard Nimoy Photograph: Leonard Nimoy is only 20 or 21 years old in this Gordon Wallace photo of the future Spock with costar Mona Knox from the film Kid Monk Baroni. Nimoy writes about this film extensively in his memoirs I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock.
Quotes of the week: Hodgeman knows his Trek
Daily show ‘resident expert’ (and co-star of the Apple’s I am a Mac/PC campaign) John Hodgeman knows all, or at least he pretends to. But he does seem to know his Trek. In an interview promoting his new book "More Information Than You Require" with Geekette Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribute, Hodgeman got onto the subject of sci-fi. From the interview:
We talked a bit about various “Star Trek” TV shows and how Ron Moore came from that tradition but went in a different direction with “Battlestar Galactica”: “One of the things that impressed me the most [about Moore’s 'Battlestar Galactica'] was his real desire to approach TV in a different way, which was born to some degree out of his frustration with ‘Star Trek,’ where you obviously had story arcs and character development, but there was never any damage. The ship rebooted every episode. Even on a show like ‘Voyager,’ where they’re supposedly adrift without any resources. The ship would take damage and then be fine. ['Voyager'] snapped back to a ‘Star Trek’ formula that had worked for that franchise and often worked quite well. [Mo here: Yes, nerds, in the course of this somewhat digressive conversation we did acknowledge that 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,' which Moore and other 'BSG' writers worked on, was the general exception to the 'Star Trek' rule in this regard].
“I’m not taking this opportunity to run down ‘Voyager,’ I’m just saying is that Ron wanted to tell as story where damage was done over time. Not just to the ship but to the characters. Not just external damage, like Saul Tigh losing an eye, but interior damage that those characters wore the way real humans wear damage. That’s the great opportunity about telling a long-form story, whether it’s purely episodic or whether you’re trying to tell some big story arc – you live with these characters for a long time. And when you live with people for a long time, you know they change.”
Hodgeman calls out Voyager
Fan Art Of The Week: The Great Trek Pumpkin
TrekMovie reader Ian P. sends a pic of his Halloween Pumpkins for 2008.
Trek Spooooooky
Video of the week: Klingons get what they deserve
YouTuber mjscarface looks to Star Trek III and sees the ultimate ‘gotcha’ moment for a viral video.
QuickLinks
- Wired ranks Star Trek IV #3 on their list of 10 Geeky Movies That Should’ve Been Terrible, But Weren’t
- Kovels, publishers of the Antiques and Collectibles Guide, reports that "Captain Kirk" was the 10th most popular costume search on its website.
- Examiner.com’s Jason Roestel rank’s Chekov’s ear invasion in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan nuber 5 in his 10 grossest ear scenes in film.
There are 4 grosser ear scenes?
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Comments»
Wow, Palin knows her stuff!! Although if she was REALLY smart, she’d know that Archer ain’t canon. ;)
It’s amazing how young Nimoy there looks like Zack Quinto.
The animal didn’t even come from where the canal is ;)
I can see the neutral zone from my quarters!
If Obama is president of the federation does that make mccain the borg queen???
Go Bama!
Wow look at those 1968 ST fans! They actuallly look like normal people, some of them even actually look cool!
WTF happened then??
God doesn’t need a Starship, but it would look really cool on his desk.
And I voted. No line!
#5 –
What happened? Well, back then “Star Trek” was just another TV show, like a Western, only set in outer space. There were no stereotypes, no “geeks,” no preconceived notions about Trek and the fans. The show was seen as normal, and the fans were also considered normal because it was still “cool” to like such a “cool” show.
Then the movies came along, putting Star Trek in a different light. No longer was Trek just another cool TV action show, now it was some kind of “higher object” which added an element of haughtiness to it. Then TNG came along, with it’s high-minded and boring adventures. Star Trek became something “only for smart people/geeks,” alienating (no pun intended) those who liked action with their sci-fi (they had to go with stuff like Star Wars).
By straying from the exciting, action-packed (yet intellegent) spirit of the TV show and changing everything to some high-and-mighty thing for “eggheads,” they created the geek subculture AND made Star Trek look stupid to normal people who like to be entertained.
Thanks, TMP/TNG.
I wonder if any of those people in that crowd shot are around today?
Well, in 1977 at the age of 13 I went to see a Gene Roddenberry appearance, and the audience was pretty geeky. I myself was wearing a blue Spock uniform shirt, for which I was completely embarrassed, but my parents bought it for me and I didn’t know how to say “no”.
#4:
If Obama was President of the Federation, we’d be in the Mirror Universe and McCain would be Kirk in a malfunctioning transporter.
NObama!
McCain / Palin 2008
guys…just this once a little bit of politics is ok, but lets keep it civil
^ Thanks for that keen insight
Sorry Anthony, was referring to #10
That pumpkin art is very well done! :D
I can’t believe I just saw a “Yes on Prop 8″ ad on this website…..
For those of you that don’t know, Prop 8 (here in California) takes away the right of gay couples to get married.
The [Political] Cast of Star Trek
Kirk Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)
Spock Former Secretary of State Henry Kissenger
McCoy Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN)
Scotty Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA)
Sulu Senator Daniel Inoyue (D-HI)
Chekov Vladamir “Shirtless” Putin (Russian PM)
Uhura Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
Why not?
Speaking of Chekov’s ear scene … this summer I was on a mission work project in a remote mountain village in Guatemala when a small jungle insect suddenly jammed itself deep in my ear canal, right against my ear drum. For three hours it buzzed and bumped around, resisting every effort to remove it. I finally drowned it with saline solution, but it wasn’t until I got back to the States several days later that I was able to flush out its remains. All I could think about was how painful that little bug was, and how Chekov and Terrell had it a WHOLE lot worse….
RE: ads on this site
We do not chose the ads we subscribe to two different ad agencies who serve the ads which vary. We are not endorsing anything
For fans of the TNG-era…
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) – Boothby or Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) – Armus or Nikolai Rozhenko
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) – Omag or Wesley Crusher
Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) – Dr. Beverly Crusher or Rachel Garrett
Aw man, last year I had a pumpkin just like that one! (Well, except that it had the Science insignia, but close enough.) Maybe I should’ve sent in a pic, gotten myself featured in an article. But that doesn’t make this one any less cool! :D
And I’m loving those old pictures, too. Getting a glimpse of another era like that is such a treat. (Even if seeing that wood paneling brings up some rather unpleasant memories of a previous house. Haha.)
anyone know what happened to Star Trek Phase II: Blood And Fire Part I? It was supposed to premier on 10/31
I think the premiere date for Blood and Fire was approximate. They were doing pickups for it a few weeks ago, so assuming that they got all the live action in the can, they still have SFX, music and editing to do.
I’m not on the production staff, but I was there in June and the water line break at the studio cost them many days of shooting as primary cast had fixed time to be there and jobs to return to.
I am working on a FanMade with a STP2 update
And lets avoid Prop 8 discussions….that will not end well and I dont want to close this thread
nObama!!!
I support McCain! Someone who actuall served out country!
If Kirk were running for president of the Federation, his service to his country would make him the obvious candidate over one who has never served.
Blade Runner WAS terrible.
BR was okay. I liked the visuals. Edward James Olmos was cool. The car was cool Ridley Scott knows how to direct a movie, but there’s really no character to ride on through to the end.
Oh well. I predicted that paramount would release some photos of the new E, but I was wrong. Now I am going to boycott the movie.
Wow, young Nimoy kinda looks like young Reagan.
“Don;t blame me; I voted for Kodos!”
…Oh great. After a week or so of Hodgeman ALL CAPSING Boing Boing, now he shows up over here.
Please. Let this one bit be all.
Yeah…get out and vote!
— For McCAIN because he’s not a Marxist!
This post is neither for nor against Palin — but I’d just like to know what exactly that cartoon has to do with her or her politics? Or with anything? I don’t get the connection.
#28 I’m sure we’ll see the Enterprise next week in the trailer.
#1–”It’s amazing how young Nimoy there looks like Zack Quinto.”
I thought the same thing when I caught LN on Bonanza “The Ape” (1960). ZQ really DOES look like LN did when he was young!
I think it’s a jab at her tendency to circumlocute when given a direct question.
35.
You mean just like every other politician on the planet?
Shatner-Hasselhoff in 2012!
Anthony:
You should have posted Kirk’s “E Plebnista” speech from “Omega Glory!”
10 days until trailer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This trailer is the highlight of 2008 for me. Hope it’s sufficient to motivate non-trekkers/trekkies to go see it. Trek needs to seriously broaden its fan base.
As a McCain supporter i guess i’m a minority here. Looks good for Obama so far. Hopefully he’ll be responsible enough not to abuse the democratic congress supermajority to do to much damage. I never like the reigning president to have a blank check in the senate, regardless of which party.
One wonders what has dragged on longer . . . . the presidential race, or the wait for the next Star Trek movie.
OK some people don’t understand what ‘be civil’ means….(posts deleted, people banned for a week)
I dont know what it is about some people who cannot have a discussion without resorted to name calling, trolling and generally getting ugly.
This site welcomes everyone and I really dont want things to get so divisive. We are all part of the same party…the Trekkie Party! and next week our party is going to win a big victory with a new Trailer.
Obama just won Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Mexico.
It’s over.
That guy with the guitar in the pic looks like John Denver.
Apparently, from the looks of that 1973 photo, Nimoy, Kelley and Shatner all walked in from a guest-shot on THE WALTONS…
And the young Leonard Nimoy looks like a young David Schwimmer!
All the attention in the new Trek seems to be to Kirk and Spock. I really hope Bones gets an important role. His voice was as crucial to Kirks decision making as Spocks was. The very human emotional input combined with Spocks logic, with Kirk trying to find the middle road or the road that satisfies both as best possible. Maybe I’m alone in seeing that way. I guess Kirk himself could fulfill the role of the “human” side, but I just really really liked Kelly as McCoy. My favorite charactor I think.
Benjamin Sisko was just elected President.
#47.
Like the TMP title says. The human adventure is just beginning.
I am supposed to be working. I am way too excited. I can’t concentrate.
I saw it! It was real! I imagined it! – Benny Russell
I voted for McCain. I honestly have the deepest sinking feeling that our country has just made the worst mistake of the last 100 years electing Obama. But saying that, I truly hope that I am absolutely wrong. I definitely do not want to see our country ruined and that is something all of us agree on.
Wow, you think we can get worse than we already are?
Regardless of who, I’m glad that someone won by such a clear majority.
…and I sincerely hope that B.O. does as good of a job as that majority apparently think he will.
^ better than my typing, anyway :)
Enterprise 52. Yes. I think we are going to get a whole lot worse. But then again, I philosophically believe in small government & low taxes which spur economies. Whether you love Obama or not, we all know that that is not his position. My biggest complaint with Bush is that he’s been a big government spender. So Obama ran on a platform of Change, but in my mind we’ve only voted for more of the same. One big spender for an even bigger spender. Understand now why I can think things will only get worse?
But as I said before, I truly hope I’m dead wrong. :)
Awe-inspiring image of George Murdock as the Ancient of Days. Very inspirational part of a film which was otherwise uneven in many places, but for a few minutes in STV the movie presents an inspired depiction of the Glory of God.
#48:
I agree 100%!!
Obama is elected President! A wonderful night in America.
My hope is that our next President will steer this country back to fiscal sanity and responsibility. Onward!
“So Obama ran on a platform of Change,”
Gotta spend to make. Just how you spend it is what counts.
I’m mainly happy about the high (historically high?) voter turnout. As long as we’re forced to choose the lesser evil every four years, we may as well do it TOGETHER. So my personal thanks to all of us who took the time to vote.
George Takei can’t be too happy right now about the Prop 8 thing. I won’t out-&-out make an argument ’cause I know I’m not supposed to, but I just don’t understand why people are so anti gay marriage… marriage already means a lot of different things to a lot of people: a Hindu wedding isn’t the same as a Jewish wedding, which isn’t the same as a Presbyterian wedding. Anyway, I feel sorry for all of those folks who went out and performed the ceremony and are now left with this feeling it was just for show (although of course they know in their hearts it wasn’t).
It’s a strange feeling to simultaneously feel proud that I live in a California that elected Obama, yet ashamed that the same state came out so close-minded with respect to gay marriage.
#46 – My sentiments exactly. Bones was the heart of the show for me. Can’t wait to see what his part in the new film is like!
#53 – You said it, brother. I don’t think my poor heart could have taken another close election, no matter who ended up in the big chair. Tenterhooks, tenterhooks.
Congratulations to Barack Obama. He knows he has a tough job ahead of him, 8 years of rampant deregulation to cope with.
I think he is the man for the job.