Saturday, January 26, 2008

Star Trek Tour

Star Trek The Tour is the biggest assembly of sets ever constructed where trek fans can make contact, explore and capture the essence of Gene Roddenberry's much loved Star Trek television legacy.

The 50,000 square foot massive exhibition opened its doors on Friday Jan 18th 2008 which lasts for one month in Long Beach at the Queen Mary Dome, California. Trekkies are beaming in from all over the universe to experience this spectacular sci fi creation. The interactive tour is an absolute trek paradise for trek fans and the tour will be visiting forty cities across north america over the next five years. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com and the Queen Mary Dome Box Office.

Image Creator/Owner: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

The Star Trek Tour is open weekdays from 10am to 8pm and weekends 10am to 10pm Adults pay $30 weekdays and $35 at weekends. Ticketmaster has special packages.

The mystique appeal of Star Trek will influence cosmic thinking for eons to come with its array of large iconic Starfleet ships, including Kirk's legendary flagship herself, the USS Enterprise 1701-A which hangs overhead in the Rotunda. (where all trek minds begin their journey.)


Meticulous craftmanship has gone into numerous displays, information systems providing historic star trek content, shortmovie showpiece theater attraction starring Mr Crusher and Tuvoc (his captain) in a dramatic showdown against their Federation enemies. Shuttlecraft simulators, Main Engineering, Photo Opportunities, Visual Episodic adventures united with glorious musical themes to make you feel at home. Experience The Original Series Star Trek bridge and the Next Generation Bridge filled with display monitors, replica props, artristry, original costumes and even try out the captains chair for fun!




Heres a list of all the Star trek Tour sections:

1.THE ROTUNDA.
2.THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE NCC-1701 HOLOGRAM.
3.THE GENE RODDENBERRY TRIBUTE.
4.STAR TREK: THE U.S.S ENTERPRISE BRIDGE.
5.THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE-D HORSESHOE.
6.THE MUSEUM SPACE.
7.THE SAUCER CORRIDOR, including
Captain Jean-Luc Picard's Living Quarters
Dr. Beverly Crusher's Sickbay
The U.S.S Enterprise-D Transporter Room
The K Corridor.
8.ENGINEERING SECTION.
9.CHRONICLES OF THE STAR TREK TIMELINE.
10.STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION COMMAND BRIDGE
11.THE SHUTTLECRAFT SIMULATORS!! Ride and go wild!! Weeee!!!
12.INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS.
13.THE FEATURE FILM PLAZA.
14.THE ENCOUNTER THEATER.
15.STARFLEET PROVISIONS.
startrek.com
The Star Trek Tour just wouldn't be complete without Food and merchandise. Trek fans gotta to have a few goodies to go away with except I hope you like Klingon bloodwine and fresh Pipusclaw, Hehe...

Have fun trekkers!

Monday, January 07, 2008

Spock - Fight to the Death.

Remember Kirk's and Spock's fight to the death in Amok Time? well I betcha you never thought Jim Carey aka "Cable Guy" was keen on Star Trek? Lets warp back in time. Science Officer Spock is experiencing a loss of emotional control caused by a build up of adrenaline in his body. In this Star Trek classic we see a crazy guy Spock but there is an underlying logic to his madness.


Questions: Who stepped in and injected Kirk to give the captain a fighting chance? What class of stimulant was it and what were the overall effects?

Image Creator/Owner: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

Spock's in the gripping throes of Pon Farr and needs to go home to vulcan to mate. Dr. McCoy runs tests on the First Officer and tells Kirk that Spock is suffering from an imbalance of toxins that will kill him within a week, eight days max. Kirk's decision to head back to Spock's home world finally happens after much deliberation with crew members, Starfleet, and emotional upheaval for Spock.

It was Starfleet's intention to demonstrate a show of force to the Klingon Empire by sending their best Federation starships at the Altair VI border.

Dr McCoy discovers that Spock's body is being flooded with adrenaline. If the Enterprise doesn't reach Vulcan in eight days, Spock will die. So what did Starfleet say when Captain Kirk asked for authorisation?

"Forget it Kirk, he's just the half breed vulcan!!, Altair VI has top priority. Starfleet out."

At the recommendation of Dr McCoy, Kirk flatly disobeyed the chain of command and risked his starship command. In a bid to save First Officer Spock's life, the USS Enterprise 1701 diverts her course and proceeds to Vulcan in-order to find a cure for the vulchie's life threatening blood fever.


Amok Time shows us some very interesting character moments amidst a wonderful backdrop of Vulcan scenery in the Star Trek continuum. Spock meets his lovely Vulcan fiancee T'pring (pre arranged by the parents ever since their childhood by a meeting of minds.) T'pring only had plans for her secret Vulcan lover Stonn revealed after the battle.

Image Creator/Owner: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

T'Pau is the High Priestess who presides over the wedding ceremony, with Kirk on standby as T'pring's champion who is forced to fight a duel to the death with his best friend!! This isn't just any ordinary wedding and I was surprised to notice Spock's parents absent.

I guess Spock's mom and dad didn't have the stomachs to watch their only son slaughter innocents on their precious ancestral grounds. Star Trek fans see Spock's home world "Vulcan" for the first time in this episode with the science officer's famous words "Live Long, T'Pau and Prosper" voiced for the first time. This is just cool classic Star Trek.

Kirk agrees to fight for T'pring but is mortified to discover, its a duel to the death. Spock and Kirk are evenly matched except for the thin Vulcan air which takes its toll on the captain. McCoy gives Kirk an injection to give him a fighting chance in the Vulcan atmosphere. The fight resumes and Spock strangles Kirk, dropping his captain's apparently lifeless body to the ground. Dr McCoy steps in and confirms Spock's worst nightmare. Kirk is dead. Shock sweeps over Mr Spock snapping him out of his Plak tow blood fever. T'pring's reason for invoking the challenge is because she wants to marry Stonn. The marriage is cancelled. Back on the starship Enterprise 1701 all is revealed by Dr McCoy who faked the captain's death with a neural paralyser. Of course, Spock displays a momentary lapse of emotional control with a big grin, when he sees the captain alive.


Jim Carey did a re-enactment of the "Amok Time" with Spock and Kirk's - fight to the death duel in his "Cable Guy" movie. It was brilliant. In the duel scene you'll see why this master of crazy comedy is just so funny with Chip and Kovac slugging it out in the arena. Jim Carey's improvised "Star Trek" crazed sound effects are totally hysterical. I love how Cable Guy carries on with humming the "Amok Time" lyric as he walks away from Kovac (Broderick), triumphant and with his hands held high.





"All right you want to play rough? Daddy can play rough."
Da-na, na, na, na, na, naaa, na-naa, na, na.
"Like when Spock had to play Kirk on Star Trek, best friends forced to do battle." - Cable Guy.
"Chip this isn't funny, will you stop it!!"
"The name is Spock, if we don't battle to the death, they will kill us both." - Cable Guy.
"This isn't Star Trek" screams Kovac.

Lol. that's what Kovac thinks, try telling the Cable Guy that.


Answers: Dr. McCoy saved Captain Kirk. He stepped in with his hypospray and injected Kirk with a triox compound telling Kirk it should help him breathe better. The stimulant was in fact a neural paralyser which faked Kirk's death and saved Spock's life.



Live Long and Prosper Trekkers!!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Star Trek vs Star Wars

The trekkie and darkside ravers on Youtube are funny. It seems the endless Star Trek vs Star Wars debate will never end. Two spaceships are facing each other in a battle for their very lives.

Image Owner/Creator: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

Which one will reign supreme over the galaxy? Could it be Picard's Enterprise of the Federation or Darth Vader's Imperial Star Destroyer? One way to settle this is perhaps by analysing the spaceships firepower, like the fanboys are doing on Youtube except how can a Trek or Empire sci fi addict be objective about this? So Never underestimate the Power of the Dark side! right?
wrong! We always question darkside reasoning. Captain Picard's Galaxy Class Enterprise NCC 1701-D photon torpedoes can be fired in concert with its phasers. This is the Federation's Flagship, our pride and joy for most Star Trek TNG fans. It carries a full payload of 275 torpedoes. One of these Federation sweeties has an explosive yield of up to 64 megatons. Multiply that by a maximum of up to ten photon torpedoes. That equals 644 megatons of power fired in successive pattern, after the phasers have melted the enemy's target's defense shields. That should make one helluva kaaa-booom! Yeah!! Blow that sucker. Woo Hoo!!!

Except theres one problem. I've uncovered spaceship specifications which makes for interesting reading and I'm sure Galactic Empire enthusiasts will, enjoy the news. So here it comes.

Jango Fett's small patrol craft is a Star Wars ship of the Galactic Empire of even technological magnitude, to compare against the United Federation of Planets Galaxy Class Enterprise NCC 1701-D. I know this is like admitting defeat trekkies but what if Picards flagship is outmatched by Fetts ship? Starfleet code of honour won't protect us thats for sure.
I watch Star Trek and try to imagine a happy, untroubled 24th century timeline for humanoids. Millions of fans love Star Trek and Star Wars. Its true. So trekkies, lets put down our phasers and not take these spaceship specs to heart even if the Jango Fetts starship specs are based on mere speculation.

Star Wars: Slave-1 specs: Published in Star Wars Episode II Incredible Cross-Sections.

Main guns: 64000 Gigawatts (2 kilotons per shot, 480 rpm firing rate onscreen in AOTC for time-averaged power output rather than peak output).
Missiles: 190 megatons (tail-launched missiles; seismic charge mines are approx 12000 megatons).
Sublight acceleration: 2500G.
Operational range: not stated (however, Obi-Wan's starfighter has an operational range of 150,000 light-years, or similar).
Shield heat dissipation: not stated (however, Amidala's personal yacht has shield dissipation of 2 billion Gigawatts peak, or similar).
Reactor power: not stated (however, Amidala's personal yacht has power output of 7 billion Gigawatts max, or similar).
Max hyperspace speed: not stated (however, same-day flight from core to galactic outer-rim systems requires speeds in excess of 10 million c). c = speed of light.


Star Trek: Enterprise-D Specs: Published in Star Trek Next Generation Technical Manual.

Main phasers: 3.6 Gigawatts
Photon torpedoes: 64 megatons max explosive yield. (The actual explosive output figure is shy of 64 megatons due to the matter, anti-matter intermix delay time.)
Sublight acceleration: 1000G.
Operational range: 2750 light-years.
Shield heat dissipation: 3311 Gigawatts peak.
Reactor power: ~4 billion Gigawatts at max warp 9.6
Max Warp speed ~2000c or speed of light in a vacuum (warp 9.6)

On the face of it Picard manages to bag one of the bad guys! Does'nt that mean the Enterprise-D busted the Empire up? Darth Vader will need to regroup his troops for the next battle, I wonder why Jango Fett's spaceship did'nt come to the rescue?





Merry Christmas Trekkies and may the Force go with the Galactic Empire.


Saturday, December 15, 2007

Space and Sci Fi Quiz

1. Which sci fi series did De forrest Kelley star in? 2. In what sort of home does Ben Kenobi live?
3. What is the name of Blake 7's apologetic computer?
4. What planet were the rebels on before Darth Vader destroyed their base in The Empire Strikes Back?
5. Who had a father called Jor-El?
6. In which state does Invasion of The Body Snatchers take place?

Image Owner/Creator: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

7. Who is Luke Skywalkers's squadron commander in the final battle in Star Wars?
8. In what episode is Data's cat first seen in Star Trek The Next Generation and what is her real name?
9. What is the name of the robot in forbidden planet?
10. What retired admiral launched a witch-hunt aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701 that questioned the loyalty of the crew?
11. Which film has the line - "Houston, we have a problem!"?
12. Who beat Worf's best score in the phaser range?
13. Why did Wesley lose his cool with his mom in Star Trek's TNG Evolution episode?

Image Owner/Creator: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.


1. Star Trek.
2. A cave.
3. Slave.
4. Hoth.
5. Superman.
6. California.
7. Red Leader.
8. Data's day and the cats real name is Spot!
9. Robby.
10. Admiral Norah Satie.
11. Apollo 13.
12. Guinan.
13. Beverly walked in on Wesley's messed up nanite experiment, which has infected the Enterprise and now moms going to find out everything!!! Wesley has to come clean. Its fess up time. Oh No!


Happy Christmas Trekkers, enjoy the festive season.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Gowron's Reign

In Star Trek's Sins of the Father Robert O' Reilly a.k.a. Gowron plays one of the most influential sci fi warriors of all time. I'd like to say science fiction heroes, but Klingon history has recorded Gowron's miscreant deeds, nevertheless this rascal is still one of my trek favourites. Captain Picard's choice for the Chancellor of Qo'noS (pronounced Kronos) stood in Gowron's favour who was a great believer in politics and honour. The other contender for the leadership, Duras the traitor, got snuffed out by d'akturak (iceman) Worf for killing K'Ehleyr, which was hardly surprising. But it was a shocking surprise when the Klingon High Commander K'mpec took ill from poisoned Veridem Six. bloodwine.

Victory was within Gowron's reach and the Empire was his there for the taking! No-body was going to stand in way except for the human Picard, observing Klingon tradition. A "no contest" fight on his hands was a sure win for Gowron but Picard had to stall for time in order to discover which one of the contenders murdered K'mpec! That left one little P'atk problem to be resolved but until the winner was declared by Captain Picard, Duras and Gowron would never rest easy with a treacherous murderer on the loose.

Image Owner/Creator: Paramount Pictures or CBS Paramount Television.

K'mpec's successor maintained his grip on power by undermining potential political opponents like Martok (he was Gowron's Military Defence Advisor) and challengers to his leadership like Toral but.. General Martok's rise to fame with the adoration of the Klingon people came as a rude awakening to Gowron. Gowron expressed his reasoning in a fiery, confrontational manner but it was his ruthless military tactics that finally became his undoing..

Despite Martok's glorious war campaigns, Gowron sought to assert his leadership with severe battle strategies against the Dominion with Martok as the fall guy. The loss of Klingon lives was dear but Gowron was beyond caring. The taste of power was sweet and the stakes were high. The Klingon Empire was expanding everywhere and Klingons were expendable.... But so what? Klingons consider it an honour to die in battle. "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees"


The Klingon chancellor's dishonourable actions called for an explosive challenge from General Martok which passed to Worf also of the House of Martok. General Martok refused to engage in combat with his Ruler, Gowron, Leader of the High Council and Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. Worf saw differently and in 2375, the flash of the bat'leth blades ensued. Worf silenced Gowron for good which ended his territorial reign in the quadrant and saw Martok installed as Chancellor Of the Klingon Empire.

"Hail Martok, leader of the Empire! Leader of destiny." -- Worf

Live Long and Prosper, trekkies, niners and trekkers.

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