Persistent, Niggling Questions

[Nate the Great]

Ed Asner died today.


Yet another in a long line of "I thought they were already dead" entries.



PNQ: Favorite Asner role?


The Mary Tyler Moore Show and similar are way before my time. I had completely forgotten that he voiced Hudson in Gargoyles, so I guess that would have to be my pick in retrospect. Second would be J. Jonah Jameson, and third is his various appearances as Granny Goodness.



As for Mike Cosgrove on Freakazoid, I never really watched that show. The whole Animaniacs-style of overly topical jokes doesn't appeal to me.

[Flying Gremlin]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

PNQ: Favorite Asner role?

Easily Carl from Up.

[Nate the Great]

I only watched Up once. They were trying too much for a kids movie (I've noticed that Pixar tends to do that, with varying levels of success). And like everyone else, I would've rather have had the whole movie be the "Married Life" stuff. That scene still tugs at the heartstrings.

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

PNQ: What's the first major world event you remember as a child?

Watching the 1992 presidential election returns on TV.

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

PNQ: Do you think they'll eventually do a Kelvin-style reboot of TNG?

I think Hollywood will eventually do a reboot of everything that smells like they can make even a shred of money off of it.

[Nate the Great]

Regarding Colonel Kira being made a Commander in Starfleet...




PNQ: Shouldn't she be a Captain?



As an aside I decided to look up a chart comparing Army (i.e. Bajoran Militia) and Navy (i.e. Starfleet) ranks. Major is equivalent to Lieutenant Commander, which is odd is retrospect. I think Kira was in charge of the entire Militia within the Bajoran system (besides Bajor, of course).



Perhaps she was really a Lieutenant Colonel, which is equivalent to Commander. A full Colonel is equivalent to Captain. Memory Alpha confirms the Colonel/Captain thing and brings up Colonel West.



Then again, Colonel West wore uniform decoration above the level of a Captain (and again, insert Nate's theory that army-ranked people were really members of UESPA integrated into Starfleet).



Of course, I suddenly wonder why Bajor would use Earth rank titles anyway.



And while we're on this rank kick, I found myself wondering why the Romulan Commander would equal a Starfleet Captain and where the term "Sub-commander" came from.



Apparently for Sub-commander T'Pol it was declared that the rank was somewhere between Commander and Captain.



Memory Beta has a chart comparing Vulcan and Romulan ranks. Which is odd, you'd think they'd be the same. And don't forget, the Vulcans have their own fleet separate from Starfleet.


The Trek BBS forum has a nice conversation comparing Vulcan and Starfleet ranks.

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by a YouTube video...


PNQ: What does it mean to "prepare" to go to warp?


Sometimes the command is given, sometimes not. What does this entail?


It stands to reason that there are some systems that need to be switched on to activate warp drive, but how many need ten seconds to "warm up"?


Do the warp engines have a proverbial clutch? Does warp plasma not enter the nacelles until you actually go to warp?



If the warp core wasn't actually needed for anything except warp drive you could imagine "prepare to go to warp" meaning "activate the warp core using the slower and safer matter/antimatter injection process rather than the faster and more damaging one". And while I could see that in TOS, I'm pretty sure that in the TNG era you need an active warp core for most systems like the main deflector dish.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm binging Friends clips on YouTube, and a commenter compared David the Scientist Guy to Leonard from Big Bang Theory...


PNQ: Really?



It always offends me when people think that there's only one kind of nerd. There's not. And while the awkward may classify themselves like this, to the world in general there are only two camps, nerd and geek.



David is more socially awkward than Leonard, Leonard is more insecure than David. David is definitely closer to "nerd" and Leonard to "geek", but the complete picture is way more nuanced.