Link Thread

[Nate the Great]

Adam Savage unboxes his new Back to the Future II DeLorean model


I still think the DeLorean is one of the most iconic film cars ever. It's up there with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Herbie, the Mach 5, and the Aston-Martin DB5.

[Nate the Great]

So what class was the original Enterprise, anyway?


I was surprised to learn that "Constitution Class" as a concept didn't really exist until the TNG era. Of course I knew that the 1701 plaque reads simply "Starship Class", but that can be excused by Early Installment Weirdness. As I've discussed elsewhere, in TOS the difference between "spaceship" and "starship" was much more defined back then.



Then again, "Enterprise Class" only appears in the films on the TWOK simulator room sign. Does it really refer to the class of starship, or could it refer to the Enterprise herself as the ship depicted in the simulator? That is, a classroom depicting the Enterprise? Wouldn't it stand to reason that cadets would want to pretend that they're serving on the flagship and that the simulator room is regularly updated along with the Kobayashi Maru test?



In the novels its stated that by the 24th century the test is against Romulans and not Klingons, and one presumes that the test was updated to be against the Dominion during the DS9 era. Would it not make sense to think that Cadet Picard took the test in a simulator based on the Enterprise-C, and the door still says "Enterprise Class"?



I don't think that holodecks were advanced enough to completely replace Kobayashi Maru simulator rooms until the TNG era, do you?

[Nate the Great]

The Groovy Sound of Music


Songs from the musical redone as xylophone jazz. Only in the '60s would that make sense as a thing to do.



To this day I most associate the xylophone with the Mister Rogers theme. I guess I never realized that the theme was meant to be jazz.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in decades, and I'm gobsmacked when I hear Sallah start to sing "A British Tar."


Of course John Rhys-Davis does it better than Stewart. More natural, more like he's actually having fun rather than trying to impress anyone.

[Nate the Great]

1981 South African version of Tom Foolery (the Tom Lehrer Revue)


It's worth the watch if only for the fashion sensibilities.

[Nate the Great]

An alternate take on Admiral Morrows blatant error saying that the Enterprise is twenty years old in STIII.


He doesn't even bring up the captains before Kirk. He makes a convincing argument that the age of the ship was reset during the pre-STTMP refit, and thus it can't possibly be twenty years between STTMP and TSFS.


After all, how much of the 1701 actually survived the refit process? The nacelles were replaced, the saucer was replaced. At best the bottom part of the stardrive (the proverbial "keel") survived. How is this the same ship?


For that matter, why was it so important to maintain that the ship in STTMP was the same ship as that in TOS? All we had to be told was that the 1701 was destroyed saving the Federation, and this new ship was named the same to honor it.



Furthermore, you don't need to fall back on the age of the ship to justify scuttling it in TSFS. Khan beat the heck out of it. Ships pre-Defiant just don't shrug off that much weapons fire while unshielded to be recoverable.

[Nate the Great]

Someone actually made earrings that look like Ceti Eels.


Cool, but gross.

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

For that matter, why was it so important to maintain that the ship in STTMP was the same ship as that in TOS? All we had to be told was that the 1701 was destroyed saving the Federation, and this new ship was named the same to honor it.

The ship is as much a character as the people. Would fans be less likely to buy a ticket if, say, Chekov had been recast? Probably. Psychologically we want to watch the same ship we loved during the series, even if it looks kinda different now.

The context of the long spacedock scene would be different too. It would be less "See how we prettied up your favorite ship for the big screen!" and more "Your favorite ship looked dumb, see how much better our version is!"