Weekly Geeking

This week’s theme was suggested by Renay. She says, “I thought it would be cool to ask people to talk about other forms of story-telling.”

This week’s theme is once again one you could approach several ways. You might want to tell about the forms of storytelling (aside from books) you love. Maybe you enjoy TV shows, movies, music, narrative poetry, or Renay’s favorite, fanfiction. You could give us an overview of a type of storytelling, such as listing your favorite movies. Or you might pick a more specific story, one particular favorite. I just finished watching an episode of Lost, for example, so I could tell why I enjoy that series, or I could get more specific and focus on one character’s personal story. Some people might post youtubes of the songs whose stories they find brilliant, or some might share family bedtime stories.

I like movies. I watch a lot of movies these days, thanks to no cable, but plentiful netflix movies. Actually my sneaky reason for getting netflix at all was to watch Star Trek. From the time I watched The Next Generation with my mom as a child, I have been a Trekkie. I can't possibly afford to buy all of the seasons of all of the series, and even renting them from a movie store (supposing the movie store even has all of the title available) is also cost-prohibitive. But thanks to the beauty of netflix, my husband and I have watched the majority of the movies, the majority of The Original Series, and we are now on season 3 of The Next Generation.

Granted, our viewing has been interspersed with many other movies, but we do watch a lot of Trek. I'm not going to lie. The concept has its flaws. The humans in the series are so perfect at times, they seem completely unrealistic. Plotlines get recycled (and in the case of TOS, costumes, sets, and props as well). The science is fuzzy. But even time I get annoyed at weak story-telling, an episode comes along that makes me love the series all over again.

Turnabout Intruder, where Kirk is forced to switch bodies with a woman and experience the frailties that go along with it. The Trouble With Tribbles, that classic of camp, where tiny fuzzball creatures that are born pregnant, multiply like crazy, coo when petted and hiss when close to Klingons, expose a Klingon plot to carry out dastardly deeds. (Best line ever: Kirk: well, where are the tribbles, Mr. Scott? Scotty: Oh, I beamed them onto the Klingon ship, where they'll be no tribble at all.)

My favorite character on Next Generation was always Data, hands down. Data is an android, who like Pinocchio and the Tin Man before him, just wants to be human. I think some of the most powerful episodes are about his quest to be more human. His first real test was in Measure of a Man, when an ambitious scientist wants to declare Data property, and then experiment on Data in order to create more androids. Data, with Picard's impassioned assistance, wins the fight, but when he creates a daughter, Lal (The Offspring), the Federation scientists are back again, trying to take away Lal in order to study her. Data insists she is his child, and that he cannot give her up. The ending of that episode makes me cry every time I see it.

There are plenty of other wonderful subplots, delightful heroes, villians and assorted characters I deeply love in this series, but can't possibly mention in the interest of not writing an entire thesis at 12:30 in the morning. I like Star Trek because it is optimistic about the future and humanity's ability to overcome present-day troubles. It imagines that one day racism, classism, in fact the need to use money will be things of the past. I like it, because Star Trek is really examining present-day issues from a science fiction perspective. When Kirk encounters two aliens that hate each other so much they've been hunting each other for thousands of years, long after their respective species have died, because one is black on the left side, white on the right side, and the other has the opposite coloring, we are looking at the futility of hating others based on their skin color. When Riker falls in love with an androgynous alien who confesses that although her culture forbids it, she identifies as female and loves him back, what we are really exploring is the nature of gender, love, and those who deviate from the "norm".

Ahem. Let me get back to my normal every day NON-GEEK rants. And case you were wondering, no I haven't gone to a convention in Star Fleet regalia. Although I did dress up as a Vulcan one year for Halloween. Yeah I know I looked hott as a Vulcan. Thanks for saying so.