Given the horrifying events at Virginia Tech this morning, the following video (courtesy of Chris Roberson) is either wildly inappropriate at this time or a much-needed break from the gloom. Personally, I just thought it was funny:

We’re about to delve deep into the dark underbelly of geekiness here, folks, so you might want to strap yourselves in. Here there be dragons…

First, the background: There is within many fandoms a sub-culture of people who like to write their own stories using characters from whatever their favorite media obsession may be, and within this “fanfic” (short for “fan fiction”) scene, there is a sub-sub-culture of those who write so-called “slash fiction.” In broad terms, slash stories take established, heterosexual characters and reimagine them in homosexual relationships with each other. The original such pairing (as far as anyone can determine) was between Star Trek‘s Kirk and Spock in mimeographed stories that got passed around at early Trek conventions back in the 1970s; the name of the genre actually originates with the way these particular stories used to be categorized (i.e., “Kirk/Spock” or “Kirk-slash-Spock” stories).

All of which leads to my observation that some ideas never die:

(Hat tip to SF Signal for this. And if you haven’t dared play the video yet for fear of what you might see, go ahead and click it. It’s harmless, and more funny than anything.)

Sunday morning. I’m at The Girlfriend’s apartment, waiting for her to finish getting ready so we can go to brunch, our usual Sabbath-day routine. Suddenly, I realize her poodle is staring at me with deep, imploring eyes… he needs to go outside and do his dirty, sinful business. Being the great guy that I am, I put on his leash and take him outside.
Through the open patio door at my back, I can hear brief snatches of unrelated sound: a TV chef blathering about oysters, a cacophony of cheering at a sporting event, gunshots, country music. The Girlfriend is channel-surfing. The disconnected rapid-fire audio stops, and there’s now a familiar, urgent melody playing.

“Sounds like you found some classic Trek,” I say over my shoulder.

“Bet you can’t tell me which episode,” she calls back.

I listen for a moment. I can’t hear it terribly well…

“What is that, ‘Amok Time’?” I ask. She doesn’t answer me. Puzzled, I turn to look back through the door. She’s sitting on the couch with the TV remote dangling loosely from one hand and a stunned look on her face.

“What?” I say, even though I already know.

“How do you do that?”

I shrug and wait for the dog to finish relieving himself while Spock, deep in the throes of pon farr, fights his captain and friend to the death for the sake of a woman…

I’ve had a really crappy couple of days, the details of which I intend to blog about shortly. In the meantime, here’s the one thing today that’s managed to bring much of a smile to my face, a mash-up of classic Star Trek footage with Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”:

If nothing else, this reminded me of how much more expressive acting styles were in the ’60s compared to now, how creative and striking the camera work and lighting was on the original Trek, and, most of all, how much drinking and drug usage there was on the old show. Feed your head indeed…

(Hat tip to Chris Roberson…)

I’m ten days late in mentioning the following items, but I was busy last week and I figure somebody out there might not have heard about them and would appreciate getting the word. Besides it’s my blog and I want to mention them, so there…

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In celebration of Star Trek‘s 40th anniversary and relaunch in all-new computer-generated semi-glory, Lileks has applied his humorous cudgel to the less-than-inspiring efforts to keep the franchise alive during the mid-70s. This was the period between the cancellation of the series and its big-screen rebirth in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, when fans really didn’t think the show would ever return and, presumably, they’d take whatever crappy souvenirs of their beloved obsession they could get. I remember seeing most of these ads in my old comic books. They looked pretty lame to me when I was a kid; they look really bad now.

From Star Wars to Star Trek: that’s been pretty much the back-and-forth pattern of my life for decades now. They’re the twin moons that rise and fall over my personal landscape. Or some labored metaphor like that. Anyway, to business:
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been gathering articles and blog entries about Star Trek‘s 40th anniversary — hey, somebody‘s got to do it, right? — and I now present the links below for your rainy-afternoon geeky reading pleasure.

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Yesterday I caught my first episode of the new “enhanced” version of the classic Star Trek series, which you’ll recall I already pre-denounced a week or so back, sight unseen.

And what is my official verdict now that I’ve examined the evidence with my own eyes. Eh.

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Speaking of Star Trek (well, I was yesterday), today is the 40th anniversary of the premiere of that obscure little TV series that nobody’s ever heard of. Forty years of split-infinitive goodness (referring, of course, to the show’s motto: “to boldly go”; it may be grammatically questionable, but it is undeniably catchy, even soul-stirring). Incredible. I can’t imagine how weird it must be for the surviving cast members and behind-the-scenes folks to still hear people talking about this show after all this time. (Granted, it’s not talked about as much as it was ten or so years ago, but it hasn’t exactly dropped off the pop-cultural radar, either.) Shatner has taken a lot of heat in the past for saying in that infamous SNL “Get a Life” sketch that, for him, Star Trek was just a job he did years ago, and he’s baffled by the enduring loyalty of its fans. However, I think he’s being more honest than other folks associated with the show who tend to wax poetic and/or philosophical about it, claiming that they knew all along they were involved in something special and revolutionary. I don’t buy that. Back in 1966-69, it really was just a TV show, just another job for all those involved in its production, and I highly doubt that anyone truly thought it would still be remembered, let alone revered, four decades later.

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