Star Trek

The Characters of “Star Trek”

Ryan and I have been watching through Star Trek: Enterprise, (which I had only seen an episode or two of previously). While I’ve been watching, I’ve come to a realization about Enterprise, which led to a realization about the Star Trek franchise in general, and made me wonder if other people feel this way:

True or False: Every series of Star Trek has one main character that you either wish had never been included in the cast, or was completely unnecessary to the show.

I have come to the conclusion that, for me at least, this is almost uniformly true.

  • Star Trek: Enterprise—Hoshi Sato–It’s not really her fault. She was just an underdeveloped, underused character. It seemed like they only really brought her out when they needed something translated or deciphered.
  • Star Trek: The Original Series—Uhura–I get that the character was ground-breaking, particularly when it came to race. And I can appreciate that. But I just don’t find that she was all that essential to the show…I think it would have worked just fine without her.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation—Counselor Troi–I don’t suppose I have anything against Troi as a person, but the whole 80s concept of bringing your therapist with you when traveling the galaxy is just so obnoxious, I can’t get past it.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine–This show is the one exception to the rule. I really like all of the characters, which makes sense, because I think the characters were better developed and written in this series than they were in any other. If I had to choose, however, I’d go with Ezri Dax, partly because I’ll never forgive them for killing off Jadzia, and partly because Ezri was so annoying. But she barely counts, since she was only on for one season.
  • Star Trek: Voyager—Kes–And for good measure, you can throw Neelix in with her. Kes is possibly the most pointless character in Star Trek history, which the writers obviously realized, because they got rid of her after three seasons. And Neelix is irritating, too, partly because of his association with Kes, and partly on his own merit.

I’m not really sure what it says that all of my least favorite characters on Star Trek are women. On the other hand, my favorite characters, (T’Pol, Spock, Worf, Dax, and B’Elanna Torres, to name a few), are all aliens. I guess that says something about me, too. Maybe I need that 80s therapist, after all!

Quote of the Day

You’ve never had a child. You don’t know what it’s like to watch your son… to watch him fall a little further behind every day. You know he’s trying, but something’s holding him back. You don’t know what it’s like to stay up every night worrying that maybe it’s your fault; maybe you did something wrong during the pregnancy, or maybe you weren’t careful enough. Or maybe there’s something wrong with you; maybe you passed on a genetic defect without even knowing it. ..This is important. You can condemn us for what we did. You can say it’s illegal or immoral or whatever you want to say, but you have to understand that we didn’t do it because we were ashamed, but because you were our son and we loved you.  Amsha Bashir, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Quote of the Day

I have seen drier days on Ferenginar; and we have 178 different words for rain. Right now it’s glemmening out there. And that’s bad. Armin Shimerman as Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Quote of the Day

Dr. Julian Bashir: Out of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren’t?

Elim Garak: My dear Doctor, they’re all true.

Dr. Julian Bashir: Even the lies?

Elim Garak: Especially the lies.  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

My Favorite Things–TV Shows

It’s been awhile, so here is the latest round of My Favorite Things!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine–Quite possibly my favorite TV of all time, although it took me a long while to get to that point. But now I love it, especially Vic Fontaine and Klingon episodes.

Friends–My favorite comedy. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve watched through that show. We have the whole series on DVD, complete with collectible case, and I can just watch them over and over again. To some extent, it really feels like Monica, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe *are* my friends (don’t worry, I know they’re fictional!).

Babylon 5–Although I don’t enjoy this show as much as I used to, I think it’s one of the best told stories on TV, especially the first four seasons.

Firefly–Is is a western? Is it sci-fi? Does it even matter? I’m just sad that it didn’t even make a full season; it was such a good show.

Mad About You–I loved watching Paul and Jamie, especially in the early seasons. To be honest, I started watching it because I knew my older cousins did, and I wanted to be cool like them, but I soon discovered I liked it on it’s own merit. It would be nice if Warner Brothers (I think that’s right) would decide to put more of the seasons out on DVD.

I Love Lucy–Right up there with Friends as far as best comedy shows, and it has the added bonus of being appropriate viewing for my children. I can’t believe a show that’s been around for as long as I Love Lucy has can still be so relevant and so funny, and yet it is.  Groundbreaking, too, so it also gets historical bonus points. And the recent release of the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour as the last seasons of I Love Lucy almost deserves it’s own spot on the list–who can *not* like Lucy hunting uranium with Fred MacMurray, hanging around Sun Valley with Fernando Lamas, and getting into a snowball fight with Danny Thomas?

The Cosby Show–I haven’t watched it regularly for quite awhile, but it’s another show I can watch with my children, and appreciate both it’s funny and serious moments (occasionally at the same time–remember when they buried Rudy’s goldfish?).

Scrubs–Another great comedy; I love watching the doctors and nurses of Sacred Heart at work. Although I’m a little disappointed that we watched the “finale” this year, only to have it renewed last minute for the fall, I am curious to see where the new direction takes them, and I will be cautiously watching.

E.R.–An obvious love of medical shows, here–sometimes, you don’t want the comedic perspective, and E.R. is great for those times.

Gilmore Girls–I will be the first to say that I hated how the show ended, and I found more to dislike about the characters in the last few seasons, but I still think it was a good, solid show that managed to *not* glamorize teen pregnancy, and showed a strong mother/daughter relationship.

What About Brian–Even though it was only on for a year, I really got hooked. I found the characters to be likable and real, and like Firefly, I wish it had gotten more of a chance to develop itself.

24–Anytime I want to sweat profusely and have heart palpitations, I just have to see what kind of (bad) day Jack Bauer is having.

This Old House–I loved watching Bob Vila as a kid, and I love the new format now.

Back when we had cable, I loved watching…

What Not to Wear–In my top three favorite shows, without a doubt. I loved watching Stacy and Clinton perform makeovers. Yes, the 360 mirror was grueling, and yes, they could be harsh, but the end results were always fantastic. I learned so much about fashion from watching (not that I do a lot with that knowledge being at home with the children all day), and I loved looking at the pretty clothes!

How Do I Look–Another fashion show similar to What Not to Wear, this became a favorite of mine when recovering in the hospital following the births of my third and fourth children.

Christmas Castles–It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this show, but it used to be on HGTV every year at Christmastime.  It showcased famous mansions all over the country, from the Biltmore estate to the Pabst mansion, decked out in their Christmas finery.  So beautiful!

House Hunters–I always loved this one on HGTV, and I took special interest in it when we were first considering buying a home.  You can learn a lot just by watching other people walk through houses.

My guilty pleasure TV show…

The Golden Girls–I watched the re-runs of this show in college all the time, and I even caught a run-through of the spin-off, Golden Palace, a few years ago.  I don’t care how much older than me those ladies were, they were funny!

And, speaking of guilty pleasures, my favorite soap opera…

One Life to Live–I know I shouldn’t watch soap operas, and I usually don’t, but when I do feel the need to be completely mindless, One Life to Live is always the show I turn to. I started watching it on and off right after Turkey was born, and while I have gone for almost two years at a time without watching, eventually, I always come back to see what is happening in Llanview.

And, the jury is still out on…

Castle–I really liked what I saw of it last season, and I’m hoping it really picks up steam in the fall. It has the potential to be great in a Murder She Wrote/Matlock (yes, I like both of those, too) kind of way.

According to “Glamour,” I’m OK

I have to admit:  I love Glamour magazine.  I don’t always agree with it, but I appreciate their fashions, because I think they do a decent job of representing different body types, and showing clothes that are actually wearable, and not just ridiculous.  I love the beauty tips, the articles, the “Dos and Don’ts.”

One of my favorite columns every month, though, is the “It’s OK to…” segment.  It’s usually just a random grouping of things you shouldn’t have to feel bad about doing or not doing, primarily light-hearted, but are often things I find that I can relate to.

Recently (and by that I mean about two months ago, but it slipped my mind!) I read that:

“It’s OK to…have never seen a single episode of Star Trek…or, to have seen every. Single. One.”

Guess which category I fall into?  At least Glamour says I don’t need to feel bad about myself for my inherent nerdiness…also good news for Bunny, who has displayed a propensity toward being a nerd (she loves Worf, what does that tell you?).  I wonder where she gets that from?

*Please note that I am not actually depending on Glamour for validation, or to seriously tell me what in my life is OK and what is not.  I just find it amusing, and often accurate!