Link Thread

[Nate the Great]

So August 30th is apparently National Marshmallow Day, so Junkball made a video reviewing Spock's Marshmallow Dispenser.


I already knew this somewhere in the dusty recesses of my memory, but Spock calls them "marshmelons" because Bones reprogrammed the camping database as a prank on him. Because of course Spock would do thorough research on what you're supposed to do on a camping trip.

[Nate the Great]

25 years ago DC Comics published the two-issue series Who's Who in Star Trek. You can now read it online.


Some thoughts:


Over 100 comic book issues are mentioned along with over 45 novels. Yikes. How things have changed.


There are two races of Andorians mentioned, perhaps to reconcile the gray Andorian Thelin from "Yesteryear" (another instance of Hal Sutherland's colorblindness, although I do wonder why nobody corrected him).



Later on, of course, the gray Andorians were explained as a sister species called the Aenar, who feature in Enterprise.


It's nice to see so many elements from TAS represented.


It's interesting to see that Arex would return to the Enterprise after the refit.


I didn't know that Bailey returned from his tour on the Fesarius to take a job on the planet Babel. I'm used to the idea of him and Balok eventually making it to the Delta Quadrant to meet the crew of Voyager in one of the Strange New Worlds stories.


Elements of the first DC comic run also made it into the guide, the run that was rendered noncanon by Search for Spock (see Linkara's reviews here). I bought the CD comics collection years ago and I still haven't gotten around to actually reading it.


I didn't know that Christine Chapel had Native American ancestory.


After therapy Richard Daystrom returned to his work. I guess his career was good enough to get an Institute named after him after all...


I find it interesting that Deltan telepathy focus on images rather than abstract concepts like the Vulcans.


I find it unlikely that Elas could be the main supplier of dilithium to the Federation OR that it would be important enough to earn three continual starships to guard it (frankly, I doubt it would take the Klingons much to assemble a fleet large enough to handle three starships if they wanted to). They can't be three Constitution-class, I wonder what kind they were?


The Enterprise 1701 was mentioned to be launched in 2188, which we know to be ridiculous, we all know it was launched in 2245. 2188 would be way to early for Robert April to be the first captain, among many other errors.


The original 13 Constitution-class ships are mentioned. They further specify that the 430 man compliment was 43 officers and 367 enlisted.


You'll laugh to see how weird the DC comics run makes the Excelsior look, only the top view looks okay. It's interesting that the transwarp principles used by the ship were created by Zephram Cochrane, who sent out a probe from Gamma Canaris with his latest ideas (especially because all records that he was alive were sealed).


A story is mentioned of Kirk taking the Excelsior into Romulan space and almost starting a war. I wonder if that's from a comic or what.


Farrell abandoned starship duty after the traumatic events of "Mudds Women", "The Enemy Within" and "Miri", his three TOS appearances.


Opposition to Amanda and Sarek's marriage was mostly on the Earth side, as T'Pau had given her support, which shut up the Vulcan side.


Kelso was buried on Delta Vega after Mitchell strangled him with the cable. I think that's a little callus of Kirk.


Kirk's romance with Ruth (the daughter of an admiral) almost ended his Academy career.


I don't know how to feel about Robert April creating the Kobayashi Maru scenario, it doesn't seem like his type of work.


It's mentioned that Kirk was the first captain to successfully complete a five-year mission. I find this dubious, but that's a whole screed by itself.


The human-looking Klingons are described as just being another race within the Klingon Empire.


After David's death Carol Marcus created the Dr. David Marcus Research Center, nice touch.



McCoy's wife (or I should say ex-wife) is described as a "Starfleet Legal College student" named Gillian. If you want a more "canonical" version of Bone's failed marriage I recommend the novel "Shadows on the Sun", where her name is Jocelyn.


I find it odd that Miramanee's pregnancy isn't mentioned. I guess it was considered too dark for a DC comic.


Most of the likenesses are okay, but Gary Mitchell's art is just...wrong. Is this one case where the comics didn't have image rights?


For that matter, Number One's art is awful as well. John Byrne did WAY better at drawing her.


Mark Piper still serves as Chief Medical Officer of Starfleet Academy.


Kevin Riley is mentioned as moving to a teaching position at Starfleet Academy. I prefer the version from the novel "The Lost Years", where Riley becomes Chief of Staff for the newly minted Admiral Kirk.


It's mentioned that after the encounters with the Enterprise the Romulans prefer to focus their attention away from Federation space. Again, I prefer the modern Byrne comics.


Saavik's friendship with Peter Preston is mentioned, which means that the official novelizations are also being referenced. She's mentioned as the first known Romulan/Vulcan hybrid, which I find unbelievable. Then again, her past on the failed Romulan colony on Hellguard hadn't been created yet.


Scotty's past is mentioned to include dancing competitions, which I find unbelievable.



Spock is explicitly described as the first Vulcan/Human hybrid. It's also mentioned that his telepathic powers require physical contact, which we know to be untrue from numerous TOS episodes. His son Zar is also mentioned, another usage of the novels.


It took fifty years for Starfleet's resources to reach 4 starships, 40 freighters, and 27 outposts. I find this claim a bit suspect. I get that in TOS things were supposed to be spread out a bit, but that's ridiculous.


The first Romulan War is described as being with the "United Worlds", was this supposed to be a precursor to the Federation?


The USS Constellation was a temporary flagship until Enterprise was finished.



The Reliant is mentioned not as Miranda-class, but Galaxy-class (awkward...). Longer nacelles allow for faster acceleration.


After Scotty sabotaged Excelsior Admiral Nogura enlisted him to help refit the fleet so such a thing couldn't happen again.


Sulu is mentioned to have been born in Los Angeles, not San Francisco. Which is weird, because Gillian Taylor also appears, placing the comic after Star Trek IV. He's also mentioned to have been active with "the top-secret Special Section" during the five-year mission. This smacks of Section 31 ten years before it was created. I don't think Sulu would join Section 31, if anything I could see an idealistic Chekov being tricked by them.


A Tellarite appears in "Dagger of the Mind", and we get the explanation that Tellarites prefer colder weather, and standard ship's conditions may be too warm for them, creating short tempers and occasional insanity. See, this is what happens when people who care about the material are allowed to give their opinions without fear.



Cyrano Jones refused to tell the Klingons the location of the Tribble homeworld. He tried to tell Kirk, but Kirk didn't want to know.


A second five-year mission is mentioned.


Instead of a United Earth a Solar Alliance is mentioned, confined to colonization efforts within the solar system. After the first colonies they became the United Worlds. A partnership between UESPA and Starfleet is mentioned.



Vulcan's early history is expanded upon, including the mention of a Death Meld. For the more lethal side of Vulcan mind powers I refer you to the novel The Lost Years and the mind wars between the proto-Romulans and Surak's followers.

[Nate the Great]

So someone turned LEGO road plates into a Borg cube...


Is it weird that I couldn't care less about the Borg cube but am instead trying to figure out which class of starship that's supposed to be that's next to it?


You don't need to answer that, I already know the answer.

[Nate the Great]

A sort-of-videofiver for the first Iron Man movie made with LEGO.


I'm still bummed out that we never made the audiofiver thing work...

[DrWho42]

A friend drew Guilala from The X from Outer Space (1967) for me:

mars_atax

[Nate the Great]

Someone makes a model of Howl's Moving Castle.


Yet another hobby that I would never have the patience for, even if it is impressive.



I admit that there's a small part of me that wishes I had the time and money to make those huge model railroad dioramas.

[Nate the Great]

The history of Ura Zelda


As an Ocarina of Time freak I've long known of Ura Zelda/Master Quest, but I learned some new stuff here. In particular, the theory that Master Quest is just remixed dungeons because everything else was used in Majora's Mask. I thought that the Ura Zelda and Zelda Gaiden teams were completely separate, but I guess not.

[Nate the Great]

This one gave me a laugh.



Casting the leads for five video game movies.


I won't spoil their choice for Link, but it's a funny one.

[Nate the Great]

Were the Progenitors the Preservers? Were the Iconians the Preservers? Were Gary Seven's sponsors (this guy has probably never heard the name "Aegis" in reference to these guys) the Preservers? Were the Vians ("The Empath") the Preservers?


I don't see how this is a question. The Aegis can't be the Preservers, they're a current power somewhere out there. The Vians may have more power than most known races, but their mission and methods are completely different than the Preservers.



The Iconians were destroyed 200,000 years ago. And that's the weird part, whatever you think the Preservers are, they're either way older or way younger than that! Plus, y'know, it seems likely that the Iconians were at least as militaristic as current races, protecting younger species doesn't seem like their MO.



I do lean towards the Progenitors and the Preservers being the same race, or perhaps one is a branch of the other. Perhaps the Preserver race had different groups within it with different philosophies.

[Nate the Great]

Awhile back I visited Kirk's future birthplace of Riverside Iowa, but apparently Bloomington, Indiana is doing the same thing for Janeway.


I wonder why New Orleans hasn't made a monument for Sisko yet. There are several places in France called La Barre for Picard, people are still trying to figure out which one based on what they imagine the wine tastes like. Plus, y'know, I doubt there are enough Trekkies in France to justify this kind of fanwankery.



As for Archer, we're not sure where he was born. Maybe it was San Francisco, maybe not.

[DrWho42]

another commission by jacob paik based on my birdsona:

Traveling beyond the stars

[Nate the Great]

The soundtrack to Ocarina of Time as a prog rock concept album.


Don't let the conventional beginning throw you off, it gets weirder later.

[Nate the Great]

Irish People Try Minnesota Snacks


I'm from Minnesota, and I've never heard of any of these things. They couldn't at least have had a Salted Nut Roll in there?

[DrWho42]

Some Star Trek gaming news:

GOG Brings Eight Classic Activision STAR TREK Games Back for Modern PCs, Including ELITE FORCE and ARMADA Titles

[Nate the Great]

Someone added lyrics to "The Inner Light" theme.


I'm not sure how to feel about this...


A flute/piano cover that I don't think I've heard before. One or the other isn't usual, but both...


I'm sure this lady means well, but adding flourishes doesn't help the song. If Jay Chattaway wanted more notes, he would've added them himself.



The full suite, which I've probably posted before.



(P.S. I hear that they butchered this song on Picard. I'll never know, I'm never watching that atrocity.)

[DrWho42]

YouTuber Ordinary Sausage tries to make a sausage using gummy bears:

Gummy Bears Sausage

[Nate the Great]

Mickey Mouse and Friends do a version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."


So, yeah, that happened...

[Nate the Great]

The politics of Star Wars Episode One Explained


....What?



I mean, seriously...what?


How were people supposed to know this stuff in the theater?

[Nate the Great]

What if the Earth was stationary, the sun moved around it, and the planets moved around the sun around the Earth creating spirograph patterns?


You'd have one asteroid in a sort of kidney bean-shaped orbit around Earth. Weird.

[Nate the Great]

Casually Comics tackles the question of how people can think that Superman and Clark Kent are different.


I've known about the Kryptonian glass/superhypnotism thing for years now, but I still prefer the good old-fashioned explanation of "Superman acts differently when he's Clark" plus "people don't think Superman HAS a secret identity."


Just look at this clip from the first Superman movie!