Dr Ira Graves

G is for Graves but who is he? Dr Ira Graves is one of the greatest intellects ever to grace the 24th Century Universe. In Star Treks TNG we discover 'The Schizoid Man' doesn't enjoy the company of humans especially authority figures or sneaky doctors. Graves is a scientist consumed with molecular cybernetics attempting to bridge the gap between machine and man. His simple philosophy is women are not people!....

Sadly Ira deteoriates in early 2365. Sweetheart Kareen sends word to the Federation requesting medical treatment but time is running out. Meanwhile, Gravesworld provides the perfect isolation for reclusive Graves until Data turns up with USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D asking questions. The androids curiosity with the preeminent scientist lights up a dying mans eyes. Data immediately takes to the ol' coot calling him Grandpa but the sly dog has concocted a devious plan. All is not what it seems. The mans brilliance has unlocked the secret of transferring his vast intellect and knowledge into a computer!

Can you guess what happens next?

After Datas touching reunion with Grandpa, Graves is beamed aboard the USS Enterprise-D for a fine send off. The enigma deepens when Commander Data steps up to the transporter pad and gives an overblown eulogy at Graves funeral.

It doesn't take a genius to realise something is definitely amiss.

Just look at that face,
The face of a thinker, a warrior!
A Man for all seasons,
Yes, Ira Graves was all that and more but he was not perfect.
Perhaps his greatest flaw was that he was too selfless.
He cared too much for his fellow man with nary a thought for himself!
A man of limitless accomplishments and unbridled modesty.
I can safely say that to know him was to love him,
and to love him was to know him.
Those who knew him loved him,
while those who did not know him loved him from afar!

Friendly Angel Gorgan

F is for friendly angel but who or what is he? The Friendly Angel is a mind controlling Star Trek entity who brainwashes a group of children to take over the USS Enterprise NCC 1701. We find out later his name is Gorgan. Apparently, Angel eyes preys off the negative emotions of his unsuspecting victims corrupting them to do his bidding.

Listen to Melvin Belli's magnificent voice (below). This man gained Legendary fame in the United States legal profession as the 'King of Tort.' His appearance in the classic series episode "And the Children Shall Lead" as our Friendly Angel, Gorgan is a surprise. When Gorgan's masterplan is exposed, he warns his following that their 'operation' has been discovered but have no fear, call and I will appear!

Friends we have reached a moment of crises!
The enemy have discovered our operation but they are too late.
They no-longer control the ship.
We do, we shall prevail!
They will take us anyplace we desire.
So back to your stations,
maintain your controls.
If resistance mounts,
call upon their beast.
Their beast will serve us well.
The fear in each one of them is the fear which which will consume him.
Remember how it was on Triacus?
If they resist, so shall it be on the Enterprise!
If you need me call and I will appear,
our new goal is Marcos12.
It is our new beginning, we must not fold!

Only love and happiness can stop the Friendly Angel.

Is it time to summon the Friendly Angel?

Hail, hail, fire and snow,
Call the angel, we will go.
Far away, for to see,
Friendly angel come to me!

Edith Keeler

E is for Edith but who is she? Edith Keeler is played by Joan Collins caught at the center of a temporal accident in Star Trek's City on the Edge of Forever.

Her 21st Street Mission helps scores of unemployed people who have reached the end of their rope. 1930's planet earth is a gloomy, primitive culture rocked by hunger, suffering and homelessness. Fighting oppression with hope and encouragement, Edith preaches from her mission's soup kitchen feeding lost unhappy souls wandering in from the streets, inspiring them to believe in a bright future.

Keelers optimism insists life is worth living but its a tough job converting hungry stomachs dying for some food. 'I don't pretend to tell you how to find happiness and love when each day is a struggle to survive.'

The Guardian of Forever identifies itself to Kirk and Spock summarizing their predicament.

"Your vessel, your beginning. All that you knew is gone."

'Little ms Goodie two-shoes' soon realizes Kirk and Spock are not what they seem. The Mission's angel of mercy is curious about Kirk and Spock who hides his ears under a beanie hood. Trust is the cornerstone of all friendships however Edith soon falls for quiet Kirk and a romance follows.

We know from Spock's chat with Captain Kirk that if Edith lives, Earths history will be irrevocably contaminated tipping the balance of power into evil Nazis hands. Imagine the Third Reich winning World War II erasing the United Federation of Planets from cosmic history! How is this possible? Spock jumpstarts his tricorder and discovers shocking timeline displacements.

1) Keelers pacifist peace movement convinces Franklin D. Roosevelt to delay the United States entry into World War II with disasterous consequences.
2) Has Dr McCoy's meddling damaged time beyond repair?
3) What if Edith Keeler must die?

What would you do?

D is for DeForest

D is for DeForest Kelly but who is he? DeForest is the lovable, cranky, argumentative Chief Medical Officer from Star Trek's classic series who hates using transporters! Sadly D is no longer with us but his spirit lives on as the emotional country doctor Dr Leonard H. McCoy also played by Karl Urban in Star Trek's 2009 movie.

We know from Starfleet's Medical that Dr McCoy donned the uniform in 1966 and cared about patients welfare between sips of saurian brandy, which he only used for medicinal purposes! You can't help but miss the ol' coot who had the heart of a poet and frailties which fans could identify with.

DeForest wrote a wonderful long poem called The Big Bird's Dream as a tribute to Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek delighting fans at Star Trek conventions.

C is for Chekov

C is for Chekov but who is he? In classic star trek Walter Koenig appears in the second season beginning with the episode 'Who Mourns for Adonais.' Hes the Navigator aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701. We know from Chekov's jokes that Russians invent all things great and small in Earth history which explains why hes so proud of his Russian heritage.

One of Star Trek's mysteries is how Khan Noonien Singh recognizes Chekov when the Russian is captured redhanded in Star Trek II (The Wrath of Khan.) We know the classic Enterprise crew encounter Khan aboard his sleeper ship, the SS Botany Bay in Star Trek's Space Seed episode but heres the kicker. Chekov doesn't get posted to Captain Kirk's USS Enterprise until nine episodes later in season 2!!! Khans famous gloat 'I never forget a face. Mister...Chekov. Isn't it? really begs the question. Where did Khan and Chekov first meet?

B is for Boothby

B is for Boothby but who is he? Boothby is Star Trek's grumpy Groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy played by Ray Walston. In 1963-66 Walston also starred in 107 episodes of My Favorite Martian as the sweet talking alien from Mars who lands on planet Earth.

Its neat seeing Uncle Martin in Star Trek TNG playing Boothby. Hes far more than just a groundskeeper offering simple advice. His special wisdom has mentored several Starfleet captains including Captain Jean Luc Picard, Captain Janeway and her sidekick Chakotay. Apparently, Picard seeks out Boothby's wise words of wisdom once again while investigating Starfleet's Nova Squadron cadets. Sadly all is not what it seems when Cadet Albert's flying tragedy is reported as an accident in TNG's 'First Duty.'

Only Boothby's intimate knowledge of Nova Squadron saves the day giving Picard the edge he needs. A real mystery surrounds Joshua Albert's training accident over Titan. Why are Starfleet's elite cadets acting so mysterious and elusive? False testimony about flight plans is definitely hiding something but what is it?

Who has the moral fiber to admit what really happened that day?

A is for Ardra

A is for Ardra but who is she? Ardra is a mysterious Star Trek character from The Next Generation's episode 'Devils Due.' Over a thousand years ago the planet Ventax II was rocked with civil unrest, pollution, murder and mayhem. We know from Captain Picard's chat with Leader Jared that Ardra delivered the population peace and prosperity except theres a catch.

Ventaxians sign a legally binding contract surrendering their planet to the devil affording citizens a peaceful millennium of prosperity. The deal is struck with the devil except time passes and Ardra returns. Earthquakes rock the planet striking fear into Ventaxian hearts. Apparently the mythical figure Ardra is the real deal but why is Captain Picard suspicious of her powers?

Is Ardra really the devil?

Six Surprising Klingon Moments In Real Life

Starfleet's Commodores usually rally the troops in Star Trek TOS. By the time Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise hit our tv sets, the term Commodore had fallen into disuse. I can't help but wonder why? The Captain is always the last man to leave a starship in crisis but which Star Trek commodore makes a lasting impression? Which of these Commodore names was a pseudonym that Gene Roddenberry used when he wrote for 'Have Gun' 'Will Travel' while working as a LAPD police officer?

I'm guest posting for Maurice Mitchel at the Geek Twins today so beam on over to find out!

I have a special guest today, Maurice Mitchel from GeekTwins has written about Six Surprising Klingon Moments In Real Life. Its great to have you here, take it away Maurice..

I'm Maurice, one of The Geek Twins. SpacerGuy has given us the opportunity to post on his blog!



The most popular Star Trek villains are the militaristic Klingons. Surprisingly enough, the Klingons have left the movies and television screen and found their way into reality. Read on for six examples of the Klingons in real life.



1. Klingon Cures Dyslexia

When 50-year old British man, Jonathon Brown, started working
for the global "Klingon Language Institute" he found a way to work
through his Dyslexia.

The learning disability can make reading difficult and give the person
a hard time recognizing names. "Dyslexia is not something you get over,
you live with it. It's not necessarily a hindrance, you just learn
different ways to pick things up." Jonathon said.

"Working on the translation has helped me understand where
I've been having problems all my life with languages, I realised I'd
been trying to remember the words in the name part of my brain and
because I can't remember names, I can't remember the words.

"With the Klingon language games used on the CD, I tended to
put words into a different place and it went into my long term memory.

"I've still got a long way to go to speak it fluently, but
there are many people who do."



2. Father Raises
Son As A Klingon

One man took language therapy a little too far. d'Armond Speers spoke

only Klingon to his child for the first three years of its life.

"I was interested in the question of whether my son, going
through his first language acquisition process, would acquire it like
any human language," Speers told the Minnesota Daily. "He was
definitely starting to learn it."

Speers isn't a Star Trek fan. He has a doctorate in
computational linguistics and this was an experiment for his company,
Ultralingua, which develops language and translation software. In the
end, thankfully, the child learned English and promptly forgot the
Klingon when he started school.



3. Klingon
Beauty Pageant

While most people don't call Klingon women hot, every year there's a
beauty pageant called Miss Klingon Empire. Created by Eric L. Watts in
1999 and presented at Dragon*Con, the Miss Klingon Empire Beauty
Pageant judges the contestants on beauty, talent and personality.
Here's an example of the talent portion as one of them sings "One Way
or Another."



4. Klingon
Wedding

In 1997 a couple had a Klingon themed wedding. Besides the great
costumes, they also had a Klingon battle of honor between rival
families.

5. Rosario Dawson Speaks
Klingon

One of the most surprising examples of Klingon geekery comes
from closet geek Rosario Dawson. The beautiful
Rosario broke out as a huge fan Star Trek fan on Conan O'Brian. It
turns out she can speak a few words and uses them with her brother.

6. The 1979 Klingon Happy
Meal

Back in 1979 McDonald's had a Star Trek Happy Meal to coincide
with the release of Star trek: The Motion Picture. This was actually
the companies first use of the Happy Meal as a movie tie-in. The
commercial featured a "Klingon" talking about how his sons enjoy their
Happy Meals in Klingonese with a helpful interpreter. I'm no Klingese
expert, but I'm pretty sure he's just shouting garbage at the screen.






From curing diabetes to inspiring weddings, the Klingons have
left a permanent mark on our culture. As Worf says, "Perhaps today is a
good day to die!" That, or just have a Happy Meal.



Thanks again to Spacerguy for the chance to visit his blog. If you'd like to visit our site we feature Star Trek on a weekly basis. Not as deeply as Spacerguy, but it's always fun. Head over to The Geek Twins today!

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy

Spock is Star Trek's logical creature of reasoning and our pointy eared friend.

Heres hoping his birthday
Is second to none-
because right now our hero
has reached eighty-one!

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy.

Technobabble

I've done a little digging and found some "Technobabble" for you to have a listen to. If you thought Star Trek's Treknobabble, alien docking procedures, isophasic signatures and quantum singularities was complicated and confusing then try ASSIMILATING THIS.

Enjoy your Star Trekking.