Some Questions to Spur Discussion

[e of pi]

1. What do you think really happened to the Xindi in the hundred years before Kirk? Are they still there and we just never saw one, or were they assimilated by the Borg when no one was looking, or what?

I think the Xindi spent the meantime is fractured divisions and only in the 24th century got back together as a coallition unified enough to apply to the Federation. They actually fought on our side in the Dominion war when you weren't looking.

2. Do you prefer Mark One Assimilation (beam you away and insert implants manually and probably surgically) or Mark Two Assimilation (inject you with nanoprobes and manufacture implants using metal from hammerspace)? As a plot device, I mean, not as the way you'd prefer to be assimilated.

Well, I'd say I'd prefer Mark II, but of course they sent me back from an era when we only had Mar...am I still typing this? I am aren't I? YOU NEVER SAW THIS!

3. Can you think of a reason why Andorians' antennae never moved in TOS? Was it bred out of the genepool, or is it a trick that only certain Andorians can do, akin to wiggling ears?

Either of those work, but I prefer that they've always been able to do it and the ones we saw were just camera shy and literally froze up.

4. Regardless of the way the dictionary says it, do you prefer "few-tile" or "few-till?"

Pronunciation is irrelevant. Assimilation is useless no matter how we say it. Losers.

5. Do you think Voyager really had an aero-shuttle? Why didn't they use it? Was it in the plans but never made, or were some crucial parts going to arrive "next Tuesday" and Janeway had to leave with an incomplete ship because of the Maquis threat?

Maybe. I like the Aeroshuttle, and that makes sense.

6. Is it really reasonable that there are only X torpedoes on Voyager? Surely they can replicate casings and trade for antimatter with other spacefaring races, right?

As I recall from Ex-astris-scientia.org, they pretty had to have been. They used up their supply and still kept firing.

7. Would you have prefered Ro Laren to have starred on DS9 instead of Kira, as was in the original plans?

No. I like it as-is.

8. Are you a Wesley/Lefler shipper?

I like Lefler as a character, and think she could have done better.

9. You think Captain Bateson was still in command of the Bozeman in First Contact, or was he swapping drinks with Scotty on Wrigley's Pleasure Planet?

Unlike Scott, Bateson had his crew and company to fit in with. I like to think they got trained up, then given milk runs until they got used to the new tech, then rejoined the fleet in general. So, yeah, he's still in the center seat.

10. Do you disregard all mention of lasers and lithium crystals and Vulcanians and time-warp factors in the early episodes of TOS, or do you think that they really were in a transition period in the mid-2260s?

*fingers in ears* lalalalalala...I can't hear you. They were really saying phasers and dilithium and Vulcans and warp drive the whole time. We just weren't hearing it right.

11. Those STTMP uniforms really did stink, didn't they?
12. You think that Commodore is still a valid rank in the 24th century?
13. Should Picard have retired to serve as Commandant of Starfleet Academy and given the Enterprise to Riker a long time ago? I think so.
14. You think Riker's ticked off that Janeway made Admiral before he did? They are in the same class, you know.

Yes, no, no, and just a bit. He envies her rank, but isn't eagre to give up command of the Titan just yet.

15. You really think it would've been an "unheroic dead" if Soran had just shoot Kirk in the back, like it was originally shot?

Yeah, a bit.

16. If there was one Trek game that Paramount decided to market in real life, which game? Taking out Fizzbin as insanely complicated, would you prefer Parrises Squares, Kalto, Anbo-jytsu, Tongo, Dabo, what?

3D chess, the Vulcan one with the pegs, and Dom-jot.

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

Hey, a Dilbert reference! Can't have enough of those.

Where?

Originally Posted by e of pi

*fingers in ears* lalalalalala...I can't hear you. They were really saying phasers and dilithium and Vulcans and warp drive the whole time. We just weren't hearing it right.

So, a UT malfunction, then.

[Nate the Great]

PHJ: Like the dinosaurs, they took to hiding behind furniture only to appear when no-one is looking.

My mind immediately jumped to Bob the Dinosaur when I read that. Remember Dilbert's program that said that it was statistically impossible for ALL of the dinosaurs to have gone extinct, so they're just hiding?

I'm kinda bummed by all of the Lefler bashing. I liked her and Lefler's Laws. They were cool!

[e of pi]

Darn right they were! A quote for everything and everything with it's quote. Her developement in the New Frotier novels was also interesting, if in that odd, yet, in some ways, typical, Peter David style. Man, that does not parse well...

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

I'm kinda bummed by all of the Lefler bashing. I liked her and Lefler's Laws. They were cool!

Who was bashing Lefler? You asked about 'shipping.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

My mind immediately jumped to Bob the Dinosaur when I read that.

Aww yeah. My other favourite Bob the Dinosaur joke is in a series of strips where the Pointy-Haired Boss mistakes him for a COBOL programmer and he replies "Yeah, I get that a lot."

[Nate the Great]

This is the "complete" set of mentioned laws, direct from Memory Alpha. I can't help but think that I remembered there being more mentioned onscreen, though.

1: You can only count on yourself.
17: When all else fails, do it yourself.
36: You gotta go with what works.
46: Life isn't always fair.
91: Always watch your back.
103: A couple of light years can't keep good friends apart. (Wesley Crusher suggested adding this)

Nothing ostentatious, just simple laws of human nature and universal reality that can hardly be disputed. I wonder which number the equivalent of the Galordan Core Motto and Rule of Acquisition 285 is. "No good deel ever goes unpunished." That one seems like it'd be the subject of another theorem: Nate's Rule of Parallel Axiom Development. What, I can't name my own theorem after myself?

[mudshark]

Well, yeah, but your humility goes right out the window.

[Nate the Great]

Humility? What is this "humility" of which you speak? My UT must be on the fritz.

[e of pi]

Lemme see that...well no wonder. That's no UT, it's a space station, er, spoon. Sorry, easy mistake.

[Zeke]

Let me get this straight. You were looking for humility from "Nate the Great"?

[mudshark]

Seriously? No, but how often do you see me being serious, anyway?

I mean, really...

[Nate the Great]

You present a valid point, Zeke. But hey, I didn't come up with "Nate the Great." I was raised on the classic Nate the Great children's books. Anyone else a fan of that pancake-loving sleuth? That's how an eight-year-old could know about the name Nate. Before that I was either Nathaniel (pronounced by my equally immature friends as "nat-an-ee-ell") or Nathan (which I've hated ever since as a demeaning and childish name). I read the Nate the Great books and adopted the name Nate as my own. My family took to calling me Nate the Great in jest. Before I started fiving my online moniker was either Infinite Improbability (big h2g2 fan, that's where this forum name comes from) or Triforce (big Zelda freak).

But hey, accusations of egotism and pride are entirely justified. I even designed a specialized way to sign "NTG" all over the place.

PS: There is a nate-the-great.com, but that's not me. Never been in Little League. Nor am I the rapper. Come on, does this look like the face of a rapper?

[Nate the Great]

Okay, how do you actually insert images into the message? That looks so spiffy. Yes, I am that much of a cornball to use words like "spiffy." Also "neato," "jeepers," and "shazam." That last one has a different purpose, though.

[Zeke]

You need to have them uploaded someplace else. Then you can use BBCode or HTML to display them in the usual manner... or to display Naruto yaoi, if you're careless like that one guy.

I had no idea your name was a reference to something. That's cool.

Nathaniel, eh? Anyone ever call you Bartholomew?

[Sa'ar Chasm]

That one seems like it'd be the subject of another theorem: Nate's Rule of Parallel Axiom Development. What, I can't name my own theorem after myself?

Sa'ar's Law of Situational Entropy: Inconvenience tends to a maximum (put another way, the universe conspires to annoy me.)

The great thing about this law is that every case is the trivial case. If it's a serious annoyance, it's covered by some other law.

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

...or Nathan (which I've hated ever since as a demeaning and childish name).

Oh, I don't know. There was a Biblical prophet named Nathan, and a son of King David, too. There's Nathan Hale, and a place in Coney Island called Nathan's which is considered by some to have the best hot dogs on the planet. Nathan also just happens to be most of my name.

"Spiffy" is a nifty and useful word, but no one has ever called me Bartholomew.

Sa'ar: It isn't all about you; the Universe is an Equal-Opportunity Annoyance.

[Nate the Great]

Of course there are many notable and distinguished Nathans and Nathaniels. Nathaniel Hawthorne comes to mind in addition to the prophet Nathan, Nathan Hale and the apostle Nathanael/Bartholemew .

No, Z, no one's ever called me Bartholemew. I've known a couple of them, but The Simpsons has sort of spoiled me on Bart and it's variants.

I guess I can't insert images, then. I have no homepage to speak of. I suppose these days MSN would let me store photos, but I've never bothered to check. How do you guys like my mug? Hardly a stretch to imagine me to be a Trekkie and video game freak, huh?

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

I guess I can't insert images, then. I have no homepage to speak of. I suppose these days MSN would let me store photos, but I've never bothered to check.

http://photobucket.com/

It's easy. It's free.

[e of pi]

I'll vouch for that.