"He's dead, Jim"

By the way, did you notice "He's dead, Jim" in the first episode? Until now, I didn't know where the phrase came from. So cool--I'm picking up ningo already!

My two favorite places its referenced:

(thanks Chrome!)

and

 

(When you die against some of the monsters they say you're "Dead Jim, dead, dead, dead." If you've never played this before, my nerd profile so beats yours!)

"Stop thinking with your glands!" (TOS 1:1)

The Man Trap (1st aired episode. NBC felt original pilot, The Cage, was "too cerebral.")
WIKIPEDIA EPISODE SUMMARY

So, this is the first aired episode of Star Trek. And wow...um...wow. So, between The Cage and this were a few years, and a lot of work to appeal to wider demographics. The intro sequence feels like riding the people mover in Magic Kingdom Orlando. We've got knight errant Kirk in place of Pike. Instead of making more room in the white boy's club on the bridge, they made Lt Uhura the female/black representative for the rest of us not white men. And the women's uniforms have changed! The high skirts and boots will definitely help keep that blood flow from the brain so things don't get too cerebral. Even with the outfit and expected female scripting of the time she is able to bring some personality to her character (which the boys apparently need to work up to). Go Nichols (Lt Uhura)!

Episode Highlights: Aztec looking remains, doc tasting strange tablet to confirm it's salt (no danger there), weird hand puppet plant, "how would you like her as your personal yeoman," lots of waitresses on a professional star ship (or I assume that's why all the women in short skirts are carrying food trays around the ship), and oh--my fav part of the episode--"stop thinking with your glands!"

The plot, predictably, starts with a woman who deceives the men around her, becoming their expectations and/or fantasies. In the seconds we confirm she is actually a killer, she turns into a he (well into Green to escape blame for deaths and look for more salt). A long search ensues, in which the salt monster (is the species even given a name?) takes on several appearances before finally being killed by  Dr.McCoy with a gun. Unlike Pike, Kirk has no inner conflict; he is confident and secure in his decision that salty needs killed. Sure, salt monster is like the last extict buffalo, but the buffalo wasn't killing crew members.

Why it couldn't be stunned and sent back to the planet to live out life as the last of its species is beyond me. Apparently we can just ransack the ruins of planets and eliminate any species that gets in the way. Poor desert yeti salt monster. Episodes lesson: Hope humans don't want your stuff. Onto the next episode, going boldly, but not so ethically...

Proud Neutral

Another thing I had never heard of before previously mentioned party (see 1st post) was an alignment chart. Apparently it's used in D&D to help develop your character. I was curious, and 12 different online quizzes classified me as a true neutral represented by Spock. My husband was consistently a neutral good represented by Gandhi and Mother Theresa. Yeah, now he thinks he's so much better than me. I'm just a balance between stick-up-ass and careless, pushover and tyrant. Balance is important. I'm like Violet Crawley, Treebeard and Sherlock dammit, and we're awesome!

 

Space Cowboys aka The Cage (TOS 1:P)

Roddenberry must have had a titanium pair, seriously. I can picture this show's Pilot being pitched:

You see, the Talosians have become dependent on experiences and everything being brought to them through these monitors they sit and watch...great tv show, right? And we are also calling hell a primitive myth on primetime tv. Wha'd'ya say guys?

*Silence*

Did you see the dancing slave girl?
 
*Cheering*

Maybe that's not exactly how it went, but I like my version.

The Cage  feels like a 60s Western or Arthurian Romance. In this case, we have nomadic wanderers of the space frontier and Pike, our head knight errant, has his own code of honor, rescues damsels in distress, and fights villains.

Being made in the early 60s, the bridge is mostly male with an alien thrown in for diversity (apparently there aren't any black/Hispanic people in the future?). Poor Pike also expresses he can't get used to having a woman on the bridge ("I don't think of you like that Lieutenant").

I have 3 big questions from this episode:
1. Are the Talosians really that smart? They can't seem to guess how to put Vina together. It also seems like they could have been a lot cleverer about tricking the captain and the crew. I could have totally done it better with their superpowers.
2. Do people really want freedom and experience more than comfort and illusion? Would we die for it? I know we say that, but a lot of people are more than happy to spend their weekends watching sports games or Real Housewives marathons (rather than traveling, building and creating). Maybe we are already in that disturbing future?
3. So slave trader was one of Pike's optional careers, but humans would rather be dead than slaves? Maybe the slaves in his vision don't mind because they're women? That sadly would make sense in the social structure we have been presented with in the show so far.

Fun Fact: Jeremy Bentham wrote "It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong." Sounds like Pike when deciding whether to try to rescue the 18 possible survivors while 200 injured were suffering on board his ship. You can still see Bentham today at University College London...

Where to Start...

Have you ever been to a party where everyone is speaking your native tongue, but it sounds like a different language? Yeah, that was me at a friend's birthday a couple months back as I tried to understand strange species and codes like pon farr. Apparently there's lots of cons (Comicon, Wondercon, Minecon, Penguicon) and they're good things (not people trying to screw you out of money). And apparently cosplay isn't necessarily a kinky thing, it's a constant Halloween for grownup nerds. So my friends may have had legitimate reasons to take away my nerd card.

While I have always identified with nerdy types, apparently I am not one of them. I lack the same cultural references and jargon. But fear not! Being my type A research-y self, I've come up with a plan.

Confession: I've never seen Star Trek--any of it--television or movies. And considering this is where most of the references I've missed are from, I've decided to go for it, all of it. At the end of my journey I may even bravely go to some kind of con (the good kind). "To infinity, and beyond!!!"

(Oops, that was Buzz Lightyear...spacyish, but not Star Trek. I'll get the right references soon)