Watch Exclusive Clip: Star Trek Celebrities Play ‘Would You F**k This Alien’ For Trek The Vote

Trek The Vote for Vote Save America - exclusive clip- TrekMovie

Last week, there was a livestream hosted by Trek fans Jon Lovett and Alice Wetterlund (Resident Alien) with a bunch of Star Trek celebrities answering fun questions and playing games in a comedy show to fundraise for Vote Save America. We chatted with Jonathan Del Arco, one of the organizers, about what to expect at the show—a version of Jon Lovett’s Lovett or Leave It at Crooked Media— and why the cause is important.

Even if you missed the live show, you can watch the replay in exchange for a donation. We have an exclusive clip to tempt you into donating here to get a link to the whole show. At the end, after having the celebs in different groupings, the hosts brought them all out together get their take on important questions like “Would You F**k This Alien?”

Participants in the lively discussion: Mike McMahan, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Frakes, Rosalind Chao, Jonathan Del Arco, and Gates McFadden. (Previously announced guests Wil Wheaton and Tawny Newsome were unable to make it to the show.)

Trek the Vote


Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

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I’ll just make a donation to the Harris campaign, and let my imagine run wild……

Yep. There are a lot more people bundlers I can think of who would appreciate my donation more than celebrities.

And while the “would you f**k a salt vampire” subject matter is fine Trek convention fodder, it’s *politically* tone deaf.

The phrase for the salt vampire is ‘sucks to be you.’

Yep. This election ain’t about fun. That’s why I’m baffled, but not surprised, by the commenter here talking about how fun Trump rallies are.

Well, if you’re the type of person who gets enjoyment from the promised abuse of migrants, the monitoring of women, and the mass imprisonment of people of color, along with some old-fashioned violence and racism then yeah, I would imagine a Trump rally would be loads of fun. I’m all for keeping America great, but not when it requires the suffering of others to accomplish that goal.

the rallies are more like ‘red hour’

“Festival! Festival!”

At least they didn’t talk about chemtrails at the Red Hour.

I really thought the chemtrail business was a gag, like saying if Snoop had been a guest aboard AF1 that a plume would be coming out of it, a la the Cheech&Chong movie. The idea that some people actually believe this is unfriggingbelievable to me.

Finally an article and question worthy of our attention! 😁

I gotta admit that clip was a lot funnier than I thought it would be!

It was actually more funny most of them had no clue what the salt vampire was lol.

I so wanted someone to ask, “wouldn’t McCoy be jealous?”

Anytime I think that UK politics is a shambles, I only have to look across the pond and think….there but for the grace of God go I.

I bet this is what Romulans and Cardassians say about one another. :-p

Well, gosh, that looks incredibly stupid.

Luckily, I’ve already donated to the Harris campaign, so I don’t have to suffer through this. :-)

TBH my friend, I don’t think it’s really supposed to be an exercise in intelligence :). This world is so serious and depressing these days sometimes it’s IMO just a good idea to turn the brain off and have some innocent fun!

I’ll take the Salt Vampire all day over Harris.

You say that as though there’s another reasonable option.

That’s what boggles the mind: he’s a Star Trek fan, and he honestly believes that there is.

Somehow reading that reminded me of a passage in a dirty Harry novel … yes, there were original dirty harry novels in the 80s, part of Warners men of action series ..anyway the line was like, the bullet tore a path up through the soft flesh at the roof of his mouth and lodged in his MIND.

Truly mind boggling

I had no idea about Dirty Harry, but trashy novel series’ targeting adolescent males and featuring loads of sex and violence were definitely a thing in the Eighties. One of them was about a half-Chinese martial artist named Mace, a one-man slaughterhouse who was spiritually much more Jack Reacher than Kwai Chang Kane. Another book series detailed the adventures of Cherry Delight, a pneumatic redhead who was very catholic in her sexual tastes and worked for an anti-Mafia crime-fighting outfit called N.Y.M.P.H.O., I kid you not. (Of course, my knowledge of any of this is entirely secondhand.)

My stepdad had a complete collection of TED MARK – MAN FROM ORGY novels, which was really something considering I never saw him read a book outside of tech manuals.

Another good bit in the mostly awful HARRY books had a gunfight at Steinhart aquarium, with a baddie blasted into a shark pool. When the ‘help’ finally arrives and asks about what happened to the perp, Harry just says, ‘digested.’

Even if the novels were good, hard to imagine Harry’s appeal absent Eastwood’s charisma. Which is a very real thing: even I, a Prius-driving kumbaya liberal, relished Eastwood asking that guy if he felt lucky.

They actually mirrored that scene in one of the novels, where a baddie has the drop on Harry and asks him the same question. Harry squints and leans in close to the guy’s magnum and then smiles as the guy cocks the trigger, tricking the guy and giving the impression that he can see the gun’s chamber is empty when it is not, and then he attacks the guy and shoots him with his own gun after.

I’m pretty sure this was one of many titles where there were house names for the writer but that actually a bevy of scribes wrote the books. In fact, one novelization that I really really liked was for HALLOWEEN 3 and I think that was also written as a house name author who didn’t really exist (I checked just now and it seems that while credited to Jack Martin it was actually written by Dennis Etchison — wonder if I should see what else the guy wrote?.) I was without wheels and working at a small chain drugstore that was very large in size — it actually stocked ice cream, lots of books and even steak, trying to compete with a Safeway next door — more than 7 miles from my apartment during that period, and if I missed the last bus (which did happen a lot), it was a LONG walk home, so I tried to always get early and have something to read while waiting, which is how I happened to read Dicks’ DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP along this book, largely out of desperation.

Fortunately I lived only two blocks from where TWOK was playing, so I had no excuse to not see it multiple times.

There you go, is the Trekkers for Trump rally being held at your local pole dancing establishment??

It is and it should be fun too. Every Trump rally I have been to, 3 in total, have been super fun. Harris has been in my neck of the woods in Iowa only once and it was not fun. In fact, it was horrible. You have a good time voting whatever way you see fit for yourself. I will do the same and be happy about it.

Yeah Trump spending time talking about Hannibal Lecter as he fear mongers that black and brown immigrants are coming here to murder you in your beds or eat your pets. Or just spends his time lying about everything like how the last election was stolen from him while he insults his opponents in nasty ways the way a teenager would.

Yeah sounds like a really fun time if you like someone who is a narcissist, racist, cruel, manipulative and corrupt. It’s hard to believe someone like this was ever President in the first place.

…it still boggles the mind, doesn’t it. I’m still in shock from 2016.

Ever since so many people said they preferred George W. Bush to Gore because he seemed more fun and was someone they could have a beer with, I knew the country was on a slippery slope. People like to say “vote with your heart” as if voting with one’s brain wasn’t a thing. Democratic positions often require empathy, critical thinking, and more time to explain than people seem to have patience for. Republican stands are overtly emotional and easily boiled down to strident calls like, “Don’t tread on me.” Hell, they get to stake out the position of being pro-LIFE whereas Democrats have to tell people, “Okay, put yourself in the position of the mother. Now imagine that…” It’s an uphill climb to even get someone to listen, let alone be curious and empathetic.

Well if the immigrants are illegal they shouldn’t be their.

This is America. Vote the way you would like. But whomever loses better accept it and not call foul like last time. People seem to forget we’ve been here before.

Go on, explain how falsely accusing hard-working (and, it should be noted for the upteenth time, legal) migrants of eating cats and dogs is “fun,” and how that accords with the long-established ideals of the Trek franchise. I’ll wait.

This is the weird thing as a non-American. The rallies shouldn’t be “fun” and they shouldn’t be full of lies and mis-truths. In the UK, we have serious debates hosted by serious commentators.

I mean, Boris Johnson was a complete populist twonk. But even he could debate properly. And none of our politicians could hold a rally anything like what we see in the US, put simply, no one would come! and the heckling would be immense.

The UK is quite different. People tend to take a more informed view of politics, trying to understand each side – and then making a decision (I understand there is a large contingent of tribal voters but for the most part this is true). People tend to be much less vocal about their support for a party.

Add this to the dislike of boisterous and loud people in British society and it’s quite easy to see why American-style rallies never took off here. It simply goes against the way that people approach politics, and social interaction, in general.

Prior to Trump, political here was definitely political theatre. Since Trump, the GOP has been a s**tshow….

This is a guy currently LYING about the federal government response to the hurricanes. He said that FEMA is only using the money to help illegal immigrants instead of everyone else.

First off, what advantage would that even be for anyone? And in an election season? Illegal immigrants can’t even vote. It’s just more bizarre fearmongering.

And then in irony of all ironies we learn people from his own administration admitted he didn’t want to give relief aid to blue states like California when it had its forsest fire crisis. They literally had to persuade him by showing all the Republicans who voted for him there. So he basically did what he is accusing others of doing, just in a more disgusting way; because it was literally just about him and being spiteful.

I’m so disgusted with this man. I do not understand how ANYONE can not see why he is beyond unfit to run a country. Someone so soulless that he will demonize the other side to get any advantage from it. Someone who will lie to the point he’s willing to do it at the peril of others. Someone so spiteful that he was unwilling to help others because they didn’t vote for him?

This is who you want as a President? Seriously? This is sadly what 60 million Americans think should be in office and making life and death decisions for EVERYONE?

There is so much wrong with this man and the way he looks at the world. The way he treats people he sees as an opponent. And how he will just flagrantly lie to everyone just to get what he wants, the consequences not important. January 6 should’ve taught EVERYONE that.

This has nothing to do with being a Republican or Democrat or which one promises the best tax cut. We are way way beyond that. It’s trying to keep someone out of office who is demented, spiteful, ignorant and hateful and yes, very dangerous.

It’s absolutely insane to me a Star Trek fan could ever vote for this man knowing what we know.

I’ve never been enthused about having any party affiliation, and remember being implored by my then-girlfriend to register as a Democrat in 1980 so I could participate in the Florida primary. (Ultimately, I didn’t.) Still, I’ll have to push back a little when you say that this isn’t about Republican versus Democrat. Ten years ago I would have agreed with you, but it’s become apparent in the last two decades that, ideology aside, there is something seriously amiss in the Republican Party. Ron Desantis refuses to take the calls of the sitting Vice President while his state is in the midst of a biblical-level catastrophe, and I suppose you can’t entirely blame him, as Republican voters gave Chris Christie nothing but grief when he was seen as being too respectful towards Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Those voters and their radicalized mindset are the problem, and I’m honestly at a loss as to what’s to be done about it.

Oh yeah we FULLY on that. Don’t get ne wrong, I agree the Republican party have just gone off the rails. Sure I’m biased since I’m a liberal and a Democrat but this is just reality. When so much of that party is spending more time promoting conspiracy theories instead of passing bills that is supposed to help your constituents something is wrong there.

Now people do make the distinction between the old Republican party who do belive in fiscal conservatism and policies than the MAGA Republicans who has essentially hijacked that party and turned it into some personally cult and where ignorance proudly flourishes. Unfortunately the former has been ostracized from their own party to the point many are now voting for Kamala Harris or leaving it altogether. Someone else has said this but when AOC and the Cheneys are voting for the same people, something has went off the rails somewhere in that party.

No one is pretending the Democratic party has all the answers or can’t be corrupted. The Mayor of New York and his current indictments have made that clear. But that is still the difference between the parties. We don’t excuse bad behavior. We certainly don’t celebrate it either. If Obama or Biden carried a quarter of the corruption that Trump has they never would’ve been President. If either of them pulled something like January 6th, they would’ve been drummed out the party long ago and RIGHTLY so.

And then we have someone like Trump that many pundits predicted he would get MORE votes if he was convicted of felonies in the hush money case and sadly they were right. A man also found guilty of sexual assault and frauding banks in the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in civil suits. None of that matters to these people who is vying for the most prestigious job not just the country, but the world. This guy couldn’t get hired as a manager at 7/11 with his record but he could be back in the Oval office again in 3 months. It utterly boggles the mind.

But he puts on great rallies apparently, so…

This is the same party that couldn’t even denounce George Santos, a man who literally frauded is way into office. They finally had to vote him out when it was revealed he broke laws. If it wasn’t for that he would probably still be sitting in Congress today.

Why there isn’t the same mechanism for President is crazy. But no one ever thought someone as deplorable as Trump could ever be President in the first place I guess.

I think Biden is crazy for acceding to Trump’s demand for a military aircraft capable of defending itself in the air. You don’t want to arm this guy with anything more powerful than a rubber band, it’ll snap back on you when he gets his dander up (as in, every 5 minutes.)

They’re legal because they were deemed legal by fiat. All of the repetition of the world “legal” won’t erase that fact.

Thanks for the awesome lecture. I would still prefer the Salt Vampire to Harris.

And yet you can’t say why, much less defend your own preferences in any kind of substantive way or explain how those values relate to those of Trek (in fact they couldn’t be more antithetical). Just a lot of hit-and-run trolling, typical MAGA.

Easy there professor, I use something as simple as Isidewith.com and fully answer the questions and see who I most align with. It is not Harris. As far as values go, you just instantly believe that all conservatives are far right wing extremists, just like I assume that you are a far left crazy. I only match up with Harris on 36% of the issues. So you expect me to go against what I believe in as a person to vote for someone that I have zero respect for (morality candidate? I think not….) has practically zero experience in anything that actually matters right now (foreign affairs, economics) just because she is a she, then you’re asking too much. I live a golfballs swing away from where TIm Walz is from and he is not popular up here, not at all. Star Trek is my fav, and for you to assume that diversity, and harmony and peaceful coexistance and equality are and all the things that Conservatives don’t want, then I don’t know what to tell you because you’d be wrong. Hit and run trolling? I just said I’d rather fuck a salt vampire than Kamala Harris, and it’s true. I can’t stand her. Just like you can’t stand Trump (or Cruz, or JD or Desantis or Bush or Regan or……….)

Well — looks like your little missive got approved after all. Patience, Grasshopper! (And if site approval is a priority for you, some self-restraint in using the effword might be in order, just a suggestion.) But, truly — and I write this with all respect that is due — I’m not sure the mods did you a favor by publishing it. Believe that all conservatives are right-wing extremists? Hardly — I grew up in Orange County, where such thoughts would have gotten me killed, or worse. So, you only match up with Harris on 36% of the issues? That’s practically a love connection as compared to, say, Liz Cheney, who voted to support Trump’s policies well over 90% of the time, yet is supporting Harris in spite of their many policy disagreements because she sees Trump as a narcissistic, incompetent huckster who won’t hesitate to bulldoze American democracy in service of his bottomless appetite for adulation and revenge. (That a very conservative rising star in the Republican Party would willfully sacrifice her career to issue that warning might presumably give you some pause. Nah, of course it wouldn’t.) So, conservatives approve of diversity as an abstract ideal, at least, if not “woke” initiatives that force the issue? Well, tell that to Trump’s best bud Tucker Carlson, who after visiting Victor Orban’s Hungary (which Trump has also spoken highly of) ridiculed the very notion that American diversity was any source of strength. Seriously — I don’t expect you to believe what I believe, but you don’t even seem to be in touch with what your own side believes.

(And, you still haven’t justified the thing about eating pets.)

Intersting. I grew up in OC as well……Sunset Beach.

I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Huntington Beach, surfing capital of the world. Not that I was ever cool enough to be a surfer. Well, howdy, but you still haven’t explained how knowingly lying about how a group of people fleeing desperate circumstances are eating the pets of their neighbors is ‘conservative,’ or aligns with the values of Trek, or advances the interest of anything decent whatsoever. Go right ahead.

I can boast that I have jumped off the Huntington Beach pier (the old one, not the giant new one) back into late 70s. Got is a ton of trouble with the lifeguards

I don’t think I can justify the pets thing. They were told probably 3rd hand about something that may have happened and ran with it. The local gov’t says nothing has been reported so it’s probably not a thing. I don’t know why in this day in age, DT would say something out loud like that without documentation, KNOWING that he’ll have his feet held to the fire on everything he says.

Well, there’s the rub. You admit that the (at base, racist) story about pet consumption is a fiction — a rarity among MAGA, that you’ll acknowledge reality, so kudos for that, I guess — but then go on to plaintively wonder why Trump would lie about something so easily fact-checked when he’d just ultimately get hammered by the media for it. But see, Chris W, this isn’t about bad tactics, it’s about the loathsome morality of stoking fear and division at the expense of an entire community — and that holds true whether you think those Haitian migrants have any business being in Springfield or not. Bomb threats were received, schools were shut down, and cultural events canceled over the pleas of local Republican officials trying to undo the damage which, true to form, Trump takes no responsibility for. And here’s the thing: there’s actually a reasonable discussion to be had about the costs imposed on a community in terms of public services and available housing when its population is suddenly increased by 30% with an influx of strangers, and you can have that discussion without invoking racist lies or moral panics. But then, Trump has always lied as easily as most people breathe, as with his latest lies about FEMA, regardless of the very real harm those lies cause to other people. He’s just that awful.

Haha. My response was not approved. I didn’t even say anything nearly as mean as you did. :)

“Mean,” moi? Heavens forbid — sweetheart that I am, I have yet to baselessly accuse anyone of eating the dogs and cats belonging to their neighbors, much less lend my support to those who do so.

“Legal by fiat” is a meaningless term, and one made especially risible coming from the supporters of a criminal ex-President who claimed that he could declassify stolen national security documents through the sheer force of his will.

Temporary Protected Status, which applies to most of the Haitian migrants currently residing in Springfield, was first passed by Congress during the Presidency of George W. Bush, and was expanded by the Biden Administration in June. It was originally meant to allow foreign nationals whose home countries had experienced political upheaval or natural disaster an opportunity to legally work in the United States for limited periods. That the Haitian migrants met those preconditions is beyond dispute, and their presence in Springfield, while not without its challenges, has been largely seen by local businesses and community leaders (mostly Republican) as a net benefit. Trump, J.D. Vance, and their brainwashed followers demagoguing the issue won’t erase those facts.

I find it interesting — not quite hopeful, but interesting — that with the tiniest bit of common ground, civility and better communication ensued between the two of you. I’m still utterly and completely and irrevocably in Hall’s corner on this, but it felt vaguely trek-like to read an exchange that did not descend further into madness on at least one side like most web disagreements seem to do.

(“I never thought I’d be drinking with a Klingon” comes fleetingly to mind, and not just because I rewatched TFF this week. )

As a liberal growing up in Orange County, I had to learn to get along with those I had profound disagreements with just as a matter of survival. No doubt Chris W and I could vigorously debate the issues of the day and have a beer afterwards (except I’ve never managed to develop a taste for beer), and while I’ve never gotten how some Trek fans square the show’s progressive values with their conservatism it’s not my place to gatekeep. Where I must draw the line, though, is Donald Trump. Ideology aside — which he doesn’t much possess anyway, apart from his own self-aggrandizement — he is to my way of thinking by word and deed obviously a bad man, everything a loving parent would warn their child not to be. Like so many I have friends and relatives that mean a great deal to me who have fallen under his spell, and I despairingly think of them as being lost to a cult.

I know what you mean about beer. When I was about 16 or 17 on a very hot summer day, I remember being handed what I think was a tall can of Busch Bavarian (whatever the hell that is or was) and I drained it in about 15 seconds and loved the taste of it, but I a:) never came across that particular beer again and b:) had never had any good flavor experience with beer before or after that time, outside of being able to mildly tolerate some kind of UK ale called Watney’s during my 20s.

That was well before I was confirmed as a diabetic, which of course took all booze — even the beloved Long Island Ice Teas, which our local Denny’s served to us minors for 2 years without ever even once carding us, and they made them in glasses that were about 2.5 times the size of regular long island ice tea glasses! — off the table for all time. Tried 1/2 a beer after seeing a revival house showing of MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE in 2004 and blood sugar went to 360, so definite no-no.

Sorry to hear of your diabetes, which my younger brother was also recently diagnosed with, though he’s wisely taking it seriously and getting it under control. I recall that your wife has also had health issues and trust she’s doing well.

After my parents moved from back east out to the promised land of Southern California in ‘63 the second job my dad managed to find was as a beer salesman working for Coors. It turned out that he was very good at it, and stayed with the job until their marriage dissolved in 1970. Even so, he never developed much of a taste for the stuff himself. It’s only when the day is really, really hot and the beer really, really cold that I can tolerate it, but would still prefer to drink just about anything else. To my taste it’s just bitter and weird.

And speaking of weird, I did manage to catch a screening of MEGALOPOLIS last week in an otherwise near-empty theater. In brief I found it ill-conceived, and embarrassingly didactic (if sincerely earnest) in the presentation of its themes, not to mention a being real narrative mess. Yet certain sequences here and there definitely bear the mark of the master, and I have no doubt that it’ll find its ardent defenders in the years and decades to come.

I saw one from the heart opening day, and that’s about as adventurous as I’ll get with post apocalypse now Coppola. Strangely enough, except for a woman who who would shortly thereafter become my best friend’s wife, I was in an empty theater as well. I always liked tèrri garr and frederick forest, but my God that was a mess!

I actually think there’s a fair amount of enjoyable entertainment to be found in Coppola’s filmography post-APOCALYPSE, but certainly nothing to compare with those four masterpieces he directed in the ‘70s. That said, I think that Kubrick’s much smaller and far more obsessive output itself only has four films that I would rate with Coppola’s best: those that he made between DR. STRANGELOVE and BARRY LYNDON. The rest are all well worth seeing, but definitely second-tier.

Oh, I actually own GARDENS OF STONE on DVD and DRAC on blu (I rewatch the latter a whole lot, for its visual splendor, though I spend the film wishing they had gotten someone to dub Keanu), and would probably buy TUCKER if I came across a used copy, but I just meant in terms of checking out a Coppola that was big and personal and a super-risk, which I guess is how you’d group MEGA and ONE (and APOC.)

I quite liked TUCKER myself. Also, for all its flaws, THE COTTON CLUB (which Harlan Ellison called “a wonder” when it was released.). Last year during the annual Criterion sale I bought a copy of RUMBLE FISH, but haven’t watched it yet. I think in a way I’m kind of afraid to, because I loved its Expressionist style when it first came out and I’m hoping that won’t have changed after all these years.

Just last week, my wife was amazed to find that I had never seen RUMBLE FISH or THE OUTSIDERS. When I looked them up, I was in turn amazed to find MIchelle Meyrink (the cute nerdy girl in REAL GENIUS who deserved a much longer career and was for me running a strong #2 crush behind CREATOR-era Virginia Madsen) is in one of them. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen THE COTTON CLUB either (maybe this is all my backlash to ONE FROM THE HEART, or could have just been that I was more seriously than usual poor.) I also may have conflated CLUB with THE BIG TOWN, another period movie with Matt Dillon and Diane Lane that has a nice turn from Tom Skerritt.

I can’t believe you’ve never seen THE COTTON CLUB! The idea was for a Jazz Age GODFATHER that would plumb the issues of race in America, and while it falls short on a number of fronts — my main issue is Richard Gere, the empty hub that fiery pinwheel of the movie spins around — you can’t fault it for its ambition, and in fact the production design and musical numbers are terrific (the final sequence that intercuts Gregory Hines’ masterful tap dance with a gangster being consigned to eternity is simply one of the best things I’ve seen in a theatre, ever, and I’m not into musicals). If you elect to give it a go, I recommend the theatrical cut, as the re-edit adds some music and evens-out the black/white subplots but unaccountably loses some of the film’s best dialogue.

While a friend (and former CFQ writer) prefers THE OUTSIDERS, when I first saw it I was as in love with the German Expressionist vibe of RUMBLE FISH as I was with the aesthetic of APOCALYPSE NOW or BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA. Not all critics agreed, though many did. Both films are well worth your time, even if you end up not caring for either of them.

I’ll check ’em all out, as your recommendations are remarkably solid in my book.

Is that CFQ writer acquaintance by any chance Thomas Doherty? I remember being captivated by a number of his reviews and for awhile was thinking that if he teamed up with onetime SNL writer/castmember A. Whitney Brown (haven’t heard from him in a LONG while either), there’d probably be a perfect writing life form a la what was intended in the climax of the film THE FINAL PROGRAMME. Which, by the way, I have watched five times since buying last year. While it is something of a narrative mess, and may well do a disservice to the Moorcock novel, I find the lead actor and actress both captivating, Finch for coming off like a saner proto-BillyZane and Runacre for just embodying the extraordinary. The rarest of movies in that it is one that I wish was 1/2hr longer, as opposed to the way I think most pics need to be cut by 15-40 minutes!

No, it was Dennis Fischer, a fine writer but a far less-frequent contributor than Doherty.

I did finally screen RUMBLE tonight, writing about it apparently having generated enough curiosity to overcome my fear that after four decades it wouldn’t live up to my memory of it. After all this time I’d actually forgotten that Nicholas Cage, Dennis Hopper (who looks and sounds like he’d stumbled over from the APOCALYPSE set in the Philippines) and Sophia Coppola* were in it. Between Stephan Burham’s cinematography and Stewart Copeland’s experimental score I still think it looks and sounds every bit as good as you could want, and if the expressionism and technical gloss tend to overwhelm the modest plot and thematic content — the movie is based on a YA novel, after all — there are worse sins.

*According to Wikipedia, RUMBLE FISH is Sophia’s favorite of her father’s films.

Interesting. Burum was DePalma’s DP of choice for the better part of two decades, and I remember his name coming up in the CFQ article on SOMETHING WICKED (pretty sure he and the production designer were at each other’s throats throughout that rocky production, probably over the sets being done in metal and solid instead of wild.) BTW, I only reread SOMETHING WICKED recently, after something akin to your 40+ year gap, largely because I feared it wouldn’t measure up (tho I watch the movie a lot.) Turns out that the novel didn’t fit my recollections (a lot darker), but was still very much a page-turner.

And I also found I had a couple of signed Bradbury collections from his later years, though I have no idea how or when I came by them (along with a bunch of slipcovered signed and numbered Anne McCafferey Dragon books, which is really weird because I’ve never read ANY of her stuff. Maybe I picked these up back when Ronald D. Moore was trying to developed her PERN books for SyFy between the DS9 years and nuBSG?)

To include just a bit of TREK in this, since we’re in the midst of a CARNIVALE rewatch, I compared a really good interview with the show’s creator Daniel Kauf with my own Moore interview and see a different recollection of that fruitful but contentious first season, where HBO brought Moore on as showrunner since the creator had virtually no experience. Moore recalled the writer room experience as being very brutal and unpleasant, and while Kauf also implies that there were way too many chiefs among the writing staff, he also says that Moore had come from Trek where they eat their young, which suggests that Moore was comfortable with that Vorlon approach – which flies against my limited knowledge of the latter’s short VOYAGER experience.

Back on topic.No crime in originating from a YA book, I mean you can say the same about THE WARRIORS, which I probably rewatch with greater frequency now than just about any other film or TV show. I just wish somebody had made THE MAD SCIENTIST’S CLUB into a movie or TV series, that was my Scholastic Book Service go-to from 5th to 7th grade (and when I found a used copy a few years back, I still found it to be a ton o’ fun.)

I saw SOMETHING WICKED at a special screening at the Director’s Guild in L.A. with Ray Bradbury in attendance. My recollection is that he was very pleased on the whole with the film. (That was actually my second exposure to the Maestro, the first being when he did us the honor of attending our community college production of “The Martian Chronicles,” which he also seemed to like; certainly more than he liked the dismal adaptation starring Rock Hudson and directed by Michael Anderson that had aired on NBC some years before.)

I thought CARNIVALE was the bomb when it aired, though I didn’t like the second season as much as the first. Reading of Ron Moore’s departure for BSG after the fact it was pretty obvious as to why.

Novelist Sol Yurick may have been disappointed, and as with A CLOCKWORK ORANGE there’s probably a reasonable discussion to be had on the potential for copycat violence. But, much as I hate to agree with Ronald Reagan on anything, I love THE WARRIORS. David Patrick Kelly’s demented “Warriors, come out to play-yay!” is one of those little pop-cultural moments that, when taken collectively, surely warped me for life.

The YA book series I’d like to see adapted is John Christopher’s “Tripods” trilogy, which concerns an alien invasion from the perspective of a young boy long after the invasion has already taken place, and is all the more disturbing for that.

I loved “The Mad Scientist’s Club” as a kid, and read my copy to tatters, though the only story I can hazily recall at this point was about a hot air balloon race. I fear, though, that the time for an adaptation in that case has passed. The American culture that in its innocence celebrated knowledge, curiosity, and a kind of authority-defying courage is long gone.

I saw Bradbury speak in early 79, at which point he was holding out hope that TMP would surpass CE3K as his fave flick. Not sure, but perhaps it was a combination of him speaking and a laser light show, as that was really a thing at the time (my first exposure to a planetarium laser light show was in 77 or 78, and it opened with Kansas’ Borne on Wings of Steel, which is still for me the only vocal song I’d ever use for a TREK series.)

I remember TRIPODS fondly though vaguely, and think there have been a couple BBC adaptations, though fear tech limitations would probably make them unwatchable. Am flabbergasted even you remember MAD SCIENTIST’S CLUB! Geez, did you read CLARENCE THE TV DOG as well before upgrading to sports-oriented adult fare like BALL FOUR and INSTANT REPLAY?

I definitely remember Bradbury being publicly well-disposed towards TMP when it came out, though he stipulated that he thought it definitely needed a trim. Whether that had something to do with his friendly relationship with Roddenberry is anyone’s guess, though I suspect it did.

The cliche about getting old is that you can recall the most obscure things from your childhood while not being able to remember what you had for breakfast. Scholastic also published a monthly science magazine for elementary school students, and of course I jumped for joy when it used the Starship Enterprise in a feature story about black holes, though they were called collapsars back then. Another thing that comes back to me about “The Mad Scientist’s Club” is that one of the characters was named Mortimer, but that since I’d never encountered that name in print before my inner voice kept reading it as “Mor-tie-mer.” But nope, never heard of Clarence the TV Dog before.

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How is it false? Their are literally videos of them

“Their are literally videos of them” what? Eating pets? Citation and link, please. (Because no, there aren’t.)

He’s probably seeing images from 700 years back in time and thinking it is happening right now (wasn’t that Trelane’s problem in GOTHOS? He didn’t realize his megatelescope was seeing ancient light.)

The General is probably not the first godlike super-entity to run afoul of St. Albert, and won’t be the last.

This is bizarre, and just… yeah… no words. I’ll skip watching that.

A version of Terra Prime is trying to influence this nation. Hopefully a new hope will rise, not a shameful mark on our nation.

It’s always interesting how decades old Star Trek episodes still feel just as relevant today. Demins and Terra Prime being great examples since Trump came on the scene.

What was the DS9 episode with the alien refugees who wanted to settle as farmers on Bajor and couldn’t after they had been demonized?

Just checked. It was “Sanctuary,” tenth episode of the second season. Chris W might want to demonstrate just how much fun a Trump rally can be by playing it at one of them.

I forgot that episode existed. It had an actress as the alien leader who in the ep kind of looked like Bibi Besch had lost an acid fight, am I right?

Don’t know if I would have put it that way, but yeah, the aliens had some kind of icky skin-flaking thing going on that definitely complicated their plans to emigrate to Bajor iirc. Can you imagine Trump on Bajoran TV, in full idiot-demagogue mode? “They’re shedding on the sidewalks, in the parks, in the temples. Next it’ll be in the schools, all over your children.”

How in the frack did we get here.

But I bet those Bajoran cats were mighty tasty….with the Fava beans and a nice Chianti….

That cat business wouldn’t be funny even if transposed to fiction and another planet. Heinlein revisited with, ‘Martian Flat-cats are being eaten by Earthman immigrants! ‘

It was the episode aptly named Sanctuary. Yep another great example. And for people who listen or watch The Delta Flyers podcast, they talked about that episode a few months ago. And (small trivia, sorry) I learned Armin Shimmermans wife had a small role in it too. But some great insights in the episode by Shimmerman.

And fortunately no one in the Bajoran Provincial Government accused them of eating any Bajorans pets.

Didn’t knew about Armin’s wife, but remember that Walter Koenig’s son Andrew was in it.

Well, we’ve already had the shameful mark. Let’s not do that again. It cost us 400,000 unnecessary dead and millions more permanently disabled. In his own words for the sequel, there will be blood.

Let’s call that shameful mark what it is, a very vocal shitstain.

We’re certainly doing nothing to kill stereotypes about Star Trek fans, huh?

Pop culture continues to poison Trek, this is disgusting, kids watch this show.

Huh? Kids may watch Trek but they do not donate nor do they vote so I am quite certain they are not the target audience in this particular instance. Besides there has been swearing on Trek for quite a while now.

Well, they are TRYING to get younger viewers, lol.. but… we’re also talking about a show that gave us a naked Klingon having sex.

Classy.

That was pretty lame.

Hey, when you’re in the MOOD, well… ;-)

I’m not downing this 110 proof to get in the mood, it’s making you look better!

THere are so many jokes I could make about that pic of the salt vampire, but I won’t ;) LOL

‘Hand’ job comes to mind, given how it almost takes out Kirk in the ep …

Sadly, needlessly crass swearing entered into the Star Wars lexicon with the ‘Andor’ show.

And it needlessly crept into the likes of the ‘Picard’ show too.

Thankfully, I don’t consider either of those shows ‘canon’ for my own purposes. ;)

I happen to swear a lot in life personally, but I don’t really think this vulgar article is worthy of this site.

I miss STAR TREK.

Would an article fondly looking back at that time when Picard and Riker blew Remmick’s head off be more appropriate? We need to be a little flexible, surely, but going so far as policing what the actors say off-camera and an article covering them seems unnecessary to me.

@ Ian – Just to clarify, it’s the casual usage of the ‘F-bomb’ that this article involves which bugs me.

I guess I’ve just looked on anything ‘Star Trek’-related as being ‘family entertainment’ – I’m all for being flexible, but I just prefer my ‘family entertainment’ to *not* include that specific profanity.

Sure, some previous Trek movies included some colorful language here and there, but it was always of a lower level to an ‘F-bomb’. To me, the likes of Discovery and Picard were not improved by having the writers include it in their scripts. Maybe I’m wrong for not wanting ‘Star Trek’ to sound like ‘The Sopranos’, but that’s just how I feel about it. I certainly don’t feel that it’s enhanced by it, that’s for sure.

Anyone know who the woman is next to Gates?

I get that they’re trying to have fun for a critically-important cause — but, maybe they’re trying too hard? This clip definitely is cringey.

Thanks!

I am of course pulling for Kamala. She exudes grace, intelligence and just common decency or the total opposite of the convicted felon and all around disgusting man. I can’t believe he was President the first time. A full on disgrace.

It’s great to see so many Trek actors involved in the political process and stand for the same values for the show in real life: a shared community, the importance of democracy,
helping others who needs it, the belief that our differences is what makes us better as a species and not a deficit. And not demonizing others because they are different as sadly that pitiful man do for votes.

I think the whole world is watching us to get it right again. Fingers crossed.

“Would You F**k This Alien” is really crass.