Some Actors Who Should Make a "Star Trek" pt1

A while ago I wrote a blog about "Star Trek", mostly how I liked the latest movie, liked "Deep Space 9", and that I felt other ideas (especially that of a new series) should be kicked around to keep the franchise going. Today I am going to do what all Trek nerds do and suggest a list of actors I think would make for a strong cast, not only because they are good actors, but also because they have a lot of what I call genre juice, credibility within the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and super hero genre that would bring in a lot of people to trying out the new show.

I have heard that they are trying to make a new series, it will be following the "Star Trek: Nemesis" timeline rather than the new movie's timeline, it will be based some time in the future, but as far as story or action, or look of the series is concerned I have no idea. Regardless, here are some of my ideas for the core 7 (the 7 members of the crew that get the most screen time and are typically the highest ranking people in the crew) and 3 recurring characters.

New Uniforms wouldn't suck either.

1) The Tie Back: as strange as this may sound "Star Trek" as a series ties itself together as much as possible. Deforest Kelly appeared in the first episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Patrick Stewart appeared in the first episode of "Deep Space 9" along with Chief O'Brien getting promoted from recurring character on "TNG" to main cast member on "DS9", and the entire Maquis vs Federation set up for "Voyager" was talked about thoroughly on "DS9", and "Enterprise" had stuff too but who cares it was worse than "Voyager".

The Tie Back is a character from a previous series that comes in to keep a level of continuity to the show, doing two things: honor the past for the old fans, and let new people know there is a past. My pick for the Tie Back is Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko from "DS9". This will be the big opening story for the series too. See, "DS9" ended on a sort of cliffhanger, with Sisko leaving our plane of existence to study the nature of reality with the Prophets, a race of godlike aliens that live in a Wormhole (very, very similiar to the ending of "2001: A Space Odyssey"). The aliens can time travel and having an older Sisko appear to herald the coming of a new threat to the Federation would allow the new series to tie back to the old, and give a real threat for them to face, because Sisko was very much like a Space Jesus to these Godlike Aliens, this would be like Space Second Coming.

Here is the Least pimp picture one can find of Mister Brooks at any given moment.

2) The Contentious Authority: this is a carry over from other modern sci-fi (or Sy Fy) series. This is an authority figure that will acknowledge what the crew is saying, will give them leeway to act on their initiative, but will still insist that certain goals, principles, or political red tape get in the way. This is a popular arc type in "Star Gate SG-1", these two authorities bonking heads was the whole pathos of "Battlestar Galactica", "Babylon 5" was all about this as the show was about a United Nations in space, and even shows not about the fate of the world like "Eureka" have made use of corporate stooges to great dramatic effect. I should mention that the only Trek that has made real use of this was "DS9" in the form of Bajor's leadership, and to some extent the Ferengi.

The Contention Authority should be a Federation Admiral that has served his entire career in the peace that followed the Dominion War. He is docile, and sees the greatest threat to the Federation as a disruption of the peace, he has attained rank and authority by playing it safe and advancing that agenda, it is counter to the ethic of exploration key to Star Trek, but still has merit (the argument that, "Why spend money going to the moon or Mars when we have starving people down here we could feed instead"). I think he should be played by Ron Glass (who played Shepherd Book on "Firefly"). Glass has been upfront about avoiding work in science fiction because he didn't like the idea of lots of make up and forehead material, but "Firefly" being about humans in space turned him around. I think that having him play a recurring role of a human in authority who wants to stunt exploration for the sake of maintaining peace would be something he could pull off with charisma enough to make his position appealing and understandable.

Okay, yeah, not looking all commanding here, but put a uniform on the guy.

3) The Alien: this is a pretty obvious type or modifier of type, this is the character that is not human, possibly not in Star Fleet, and maybe not even from the Federation. They offer an outsider's perspective and usually come from an officer or medical exchange, are a diplomat, or a drifter that has become part of the crew through being useful. Quark and Odo from "DS9", T'Pol and Phlox from "Enterprise", Worf and Data from "TNG", Spock of "TOS", and "Voyager taking the medal with most entries having Neelix, Seven of Nine, Kes, and the Doctor. Each show has different levels of success with this idea.

Now this character has a lot of levels, and usually takes a job on the crew that has been vacated by a more traditional crew member, or they are a recurring character that helps to emphasize the complexity of a situation by adding a new view point. The character can be literally anything, so I am going to tie it down for the sake of my casting. Since this is the return of Sisko, and it deals with a threat that is important enough for Godlike aliens to send Sisko-Space-Jesus to town I think that the Aliens should be an expert in wormholes, and the de facto science officer for the series, using the Astro-metrics lab from "Voyager" and being very much about big hard to visualize math that the alien uses to help the situation, sort of like how Data and Seven of Nine were both knowledgeable about everything. Who could play someone who thinks ideas too big to think and manages to make it look easy? Christopher Lambert, the original "Highlander" and guy who played Rayden in the "Mortal Kombat" movie. He has the ability to play a character with a fundamental difference to humanity, but at the same time gives a shit, and projects an aura of intelligence and wisdom. He is perfect for playing a character with weird contacts in his eyes who sees the universe differently enough to inherently understand something like Wormholes.

Put some strange otherworldly clothes and contacts on the guy. He is an Alien.

4) The Counselor: this is the type of character who is supposed to be a source of motivational exposition. When a character is taking certain actions, acting erratically, or just wants to develop their character frankly and in the confidence of just their therapist and the audience the Counselor can be a good dialogue heavy character who has to be receptive, encouraging, and able to read people really well. Sadly this role is notoriously useless because they failed to give Marina Sirtis anything to do or say in "TNG" when she played the telepathic/empathic Deanna Troi. And when Nicole de Boer played Ezri Dax on "DS9" she had no time to develop the position beyond an episode, and she was the rookie of the in-show crew and the real-life cast so again this is not a job that has been given the best breathing room.

I like the idea turned on its head. Rather than saying the obvious about the state of mind on the other end of the view screen the character uses his ability to read people to help put on a cool capable persona, and since he has all the secrets of the entire crew and is generally good at manipulating people he comes off as the guy who can beat everyone at cards, lie really well, talk his way out of every situation, and Kirks up the ladies. What is more this can be another tie back character, being the son of Commander Riker and Troi from "TNG" and deciding to go into Starfleet during an insanely long peace time he feels he is not getting a chance to measure up to his hero father, so his persona of the untouchable ladies man is constructed, with a little bit of empathic manipulation from his mother's side of the family he thinks he can at least make people think he is as good as his old man. I think someone who is really good at portraying competence in spite of living in his father's shadow is Jamie Bamber, who played Apollo on the latest incarnation of "Battlstar Galactica", where he was the heroic and capable son of Commander Adama, the last military leader in the entirety of humanity.

Already starting a beard.

5) The Doctor: Really this is the guy who gets screen time whenever space viruses attack, alien biology becomes an issue, or they have to save someone from a phaser blast or bat'leth slash. This job varies vastly with each series it has appeared. In "TOS", Bones was the #3 character on the show, being the cynicism to balance out Kirk's Humanism and Spock's Stoicism. But on "TNG" Beverly was the old friend and love interest to Picard, and the mother of Wesley, the Mary Sue author avatar of Eugene Wesley Roddenberry. Bashir had a hard time finding his place on "DS9" until it was revealed he was actually a genetically modified superhuman, before that he was the ineffectual ladies man, the naive altruist, the guy who liked corny holo-deck adventures. On "Voyager" the Doctor was the second or third most important character, with the same character arc as Data, but starting off as more of a dick. On "Enterprise" Phlox was written as so eccentric as to confound, and was not really all that good a doctor when it came to ethics.

So the Doctor can be anything, so how about make her the less adventurous one? Make her the member of the ship that tends to intelligently advise (again, intelligently advise) that the crew play it safe and follow the directives of the Contentious Authority. Showing that not everyone, especially the healer who is very much enjoying the age of peace and prosperity, might not want to journey into the unknown and poke it with a stick. And I think that she should occasionally win over the Captain with her arguments, playing the "everyone lives if we just walk away" card. Who can play the adviser who gets people to do what is good for them, but might be pulling a bit too hard on the straps? Salli Richardson, who played the corporate liaison Allison Blake on "Eureka", and was the voice of Elisa Maza on "Gargoyles". She is really good at talking sense to people who have rank on her, or who are just too determined to see a problem with blazing forward with what they think is a good idea.

Wow. Okay, I am heading toward the 2,000 word mark talking about "Star Trek" and this blog is only half-ish over. Hell, I haven't even talked about the roles of Captain and First Officer. Which are kind of important. I'll break this into two parts and hopefully I will get out part two when the mood strikes me, but not so far into the future that whoever actually manages to give a damn stops giving a damn.

Part 2

Some Pictures from my First Trip to London pt.2

Continuing with this I will show you some of the picks I got from the Tower of London. Sadly no pictures were allowed to be taken of the Crown Jewels, finest of all the things the UK ever took from elsewhere in the world to show who's navy was the biggest.

This is the front gate to the Tower of London. In case you don't know what it is for, you walk thru it to get into the Tower's walls. It is just that easy.

This is the Beefeater Barney a Marine who was full of personality and obviously skilled at giving vivid descriptions of the Tower. If you ever get the chance do get a tour with one of these guys, they have all served in the military, live in the Tower, and know a huge amount about the place, and their guide services are free.

This is the space between the outer and first wall. This alley used to be the mint if London where coins would be struck renaissance fair style, Issac Newton, while minister of the Treasury had an apartment in the Tower of London afforded by his office to over see this function.

This is the Tower of London proper, the original structure for which the rest of the walled in area is named. It has been home to many a treason plotter, and unfortunate potential heir. There are a lot of bones buried around this place. Especially under the chapel. See after you were beheaded, they would bury you under the floor of the church so you could feel the weight of the house of god on you forever, rather poetic.

This is one of the administrative buildings of the Tower. honestly every damn thing along the Thames looks nice and I could have spent a lot of time taking any number of pictures, this is just one that happened to be inside the walls of the Tower and so it got priority.

I believe this was the gift shop. See what I said about everything looking important?

Underneath the clock is the entrance to where they keep the crown jewels. Since I only had an hour left before closing I chose to look at them rather than tour the Tower proper, so I got to see the spoils, but not the atrocity of Divine Right Monarchy. Next Trip entry will be in Istanbul.

Some Pictures from my First Trip to London pt.1

Okay, so for the first time I will start posting some of the pictures I took while studying abroad. These will mostly just be scene shots, those with people in them will be on Facebook for people to tag and enjoy. Since I was by myself for the first leg of my trip more will be over here than over there initially though.

This first picture is of the Tower of London Exterior, I have two shots that if edited together would give me the whole thing, but I don't have the patience for that sort of thing. This is the Roman who built the London Wall. People forget that London was part of Rome and has a history that really stretches back through the civilized world.

A close up of his breast plate.

The Wall itself.

And the information about the wall. Goody, education!

Above is all that remains of a centuries old Gate House to London from the East.

These are representations of some of the animals that used to be kept in the tower of London. Yes, it apparently had a zoo portion. Who knew? Or am I maybe just making things up? Did you go to London?

This is a memorial for the Navy, as you can read in the next picture.

Tomorrow I will put up some pics from inside the Tower of London and maybe some other stuff.

Some Recent Dreams

You know, I think I have found the 5th most common theme for when I have dreams, and that is the tried and true plot of being late.

Last night I had a dream in which I woke up Monday, August 29th, the first day of classes, at 11am... at my parent's house... 6 hours drive from campus. I didn't remember driving there, and in my panic of talking to my mom in the dream I literally said, "What did I sleep drive, when did I get here?" Her replying, "I don't know." And the ultimate bit of crazy, "Maybe I am just dreaming this." And my mother gasping in response.

I bit my thumb to check if I was asleep and not only felt pain, but I felt my saliva, I was there for all intents and purposes saying to myself, "Since I missed the first day of classes, that means I will be dropped from all of them. I'm screwed." With my father replying, "Oh, well. Maybe you should have thought of that before."

Before what? Don't know. But I do remember telling myself that what was happening is so unlike me, and so obviously stressful that it had to be a dream, and I willed myself awake at 8am.

Satisfied that I was safely a day early and only 2 miles from class, I did the logical thing and knocked back out till about 10:45. It was a stressful dream though, and I imagine that with school gearing up I will have more and more of them.

Late, but also I must note, not over dressed, and therefore I was the more adorable hallucination.

In the previous night's dream my second and fourth most common themes, being godlike at number two and schemes to become successful/rich were in full force. I am running a game of what appears to be Dungeons and Dragons meets "Doctor Who" with Russell T. Davies (who is the writer/producer that brought the show back in its current incarnation with Christopher Eccleston and left to more or less run the BBC when David Tennant left the show). Davies was playing the Doctor and 18 other people playing various companions (how I was managing to run a game with 19 people playing I have no idea, I honestly have a terrible time running a game with 7 people playing).

The dream shifts between the game we are illustrating, which plays out like an episode of "Doctor Who" normally would, with a horde of monsters that look like skinless gorillas mixed with the vampires from "I am Legend". These monsters having infested the TaRDiS and the Doctor calling in a horde of past companions to help clear the place out and to have a sort of get together afterword. Kind of a company BBQ meets Zombie Apocalypse. It was fun and scary actually, with the peril actually getting worse because Davies couldn't just MacGuffin his way out of the situation like he usually writes it.

The other part of the dream is me running the game itself talking to Davies about getting a job writing for the show with Stephen Moffit (he took over the show when the current Doctor, Matt Smith, came on). The whole thing takes place in a cliff side cafe/restaurant that I ate at in either Greece or Turkey on my recent study abroad expedition.

That is the bright shiny inside of the new Matt Smith TaRDiS.


This last dream I had a few months ago and I honestly think it would make for a pretty interesting movie as it is one of the dreams which has a very strong otherworldly plot, but I might just be saying that because it is one of my dreams in which I have superhuman/godlike abilities with theme number 2 again.

In it, I am a super human. I am also an agent for a shadowy organization. I and two of my friends (who are also agents, but totally fictional), and all three of our girlfriends (these are also fictional creations, I strangely did not populate the dream with people I know in real life), we have just been captured in some sort of internment camp for a group that wants to purify the human race. Since our girlfriends are Asian (yeah I found this a random thing too), which would make them targets of the ethnic cleansing, I feel that I should just use my superhuman abilities to get us out, regardless of this revelation to others. You know, blow my cover because it is totally necessary to save the day, it happens.

By the magic of a jump cut, leaving out the obligatory action scene, one of my friends, all three of the girls, and I have escaped. The other friend stayed behind to facilitate us getting out. While my escaped friend takes the girls to safety I am getting backup via payphone to the shadowy organization and heading back for a rescue, and you know, bust some ethnic cleansing heads, cause I'm the good guy and damned if I'm gonna let some domestic holocaust happen on my watch.

After calling into the shadowy agency requesting help my backup arrives in a flying car. Except it turns out it isn't back up, it is an android made to look exactly like me, sent to kill me and take my place, before finding and killing my friend and the girls who escaped. And then going back to the camp to finish off the last captive member of the group. And presumably deliver us all wrapped in a big bow to the big bad evil guy mastermind of it all.

I fight the android. After a gratuitous action sequence with punching and kicking through the surroundings I am starting to win so the android attempts to escape. It plans to just move me to the bottom of the hit list and come back with back up of its own. I at this moment do my hero thing, destroying the android by punching up through its abdomen, up through its chest and neck, grasping hold of its tongue from the inside, my finger tips breaking into the inside of its mouth, and then I rip its artificially alive guts out by his tongue through its belly.

I then get into the flying car and learn that the camp is part of the organization I work for, and that I need to rescue my friend. I formulate a plan to save my buddy, and then take the fight back to my former bosses. I theorized once that while strong and tough, I didn't know if I could be killed, I guess I may find out.

It is one of the most gruesome things I have ever done in a dream. Destroying an evil robot duplicate of myself and then jumping into a flying car to go save my secret agent friend from the enemy base and then battle those who sent the evil duplicate and flying car. It is awesome.

Robot double, like Faker here, only mine wasn't rendered useless by being bright blue.

So yeah, some dreams I've had. Since August has been a deluge of work and travel, and July was more work and travel I was not able to post many blogs at all, flying totally in the face of my original goal of constant over sea updates. To that end I will try to catch back up in September with another 30 day challenge, or maybe just posting a ton of pictures each day till my well runs dry. Either way, I feel the need to write more and in a non-academic way.

Maybe next time I'll get a fantastic local like this one, though Fantastic locals are rare in my dreams, I only remember two off hand.

Poem, "Brain Seizing"

Writing does not always come with ease
Instead of the words running like a stream
They run sticky and thick like puss
Inspiration does not glow or beam
Stressed wıth thoughts in a muss

Ideas out of reach acting the tease
Maybe though if you please
My braın is not beıng part of the team
Giving me a fuss

Mind is a dawdler
To the internet my thoughts do wander
Can you spare some eureka for me to launder

Block

A Very Gap Filled Tımeline ın Istanbul and Koç

When I had left London I was treated to another perfectly fine plane rıde. Agaın, Brıtısh Aırways has got the goods.

Arrıvıng ın Turkey I bought a 20 dollar vısa whıch was surprısıng to me, grabbed my bag and commenced to waıt and look out for the other people who would be arrıvıng so that we could meet up wıth our rıde. Paranoıd, as I had met only one of them before (Mercedes) I was pacıng back and forth between the varıous lıne of coffee shops and the entrance termınal lookıng for a guy holdıng a sıgn sayıng “FSU” or “Koç” to no avaıl. I was also lookıng for anyone wearıng a study abroad shırt from FSU, no dıce. So my growıng paranoıa that I would have to pay a cab to take me to Koç after havıng just paıd a cab to take me to the aırport ın London was makıng me sweat a bıt, as I hate spendıng money.

Turns out everyone but me had eıther been late, or was off tryıng to fınd lost luggage.

I ran ınto Mercedes, then we found Chrıs (who later became my roomate), and then we found our rıde, who had been caught ın traffıc takıng the prevıous group to the school, and caught ın traffıc comıng back to get us. Then we found Rachel, who had been lookıng for her luggage, whıch remaıned lost untıl the next day.

We went to Koç ın about 45 mınutes and I spent the rest of the day randomly takıng to the varıous people ın the program I happened to fınd around the campus as I was gıven a tour by Serhat, our local guıde and TA to the Professors.

Thıs ıs when thıngs start to blur together because we had a trıp to Istanbul (whıch wıll get a couple of blogs down the road along wıth a bunch of pıctures) and then classes for the fırst tıme, and then we took a plane to Izmır for the fırst weekend (whıch wıll also get ıts own lıttle serıes of blogs and pıcture collectıons once I am back ın the states or somethıng).

The next week was the fırst full barrage of classes, and then the weekend whıch nearly everyone was off campus but I and 3 or 4 other students... Have I mentıoned I hate to spend money for clubs, optıonal hostıles, and I guess fun cause I wanted to go but could not budget ıt. Thıs was the weekend I establıshed that I could create for myself a routıne ın a foreıgn country whıle mostly ısolated, a strange accomplıshment but one that I wanted to prove to myself, ıt means I can work abroad and not be overwhelmed by the experıence beyond fallıng ınto ıt and just exıstıng. Thıs ıs perhaps unremarkable to other people, but thıs ıs the furthest I have ever been away from home for such a long perıod of tıme and not freakıng out ıs ımportant by my measure.

That weekend ended wıth another trıp to Istanbul that Monday (whıch wıll get ıts own blog) and then classes and Weıght Lıftıng and Soccer the next day. Soccer was fun. Lıttle dıd I know ıt and the weıght lıftıng had contrıbuted to my body beıng weak and destroyed. It ıs close to 48 hours later and I stıll cannot do a leg lıft, and my back ıs roarıng wıth dıscomfort. That wıll teach me for tryıng new thıngs and goıng ın wıth enthusıasm. So that ıs the gap fılled recap brıngıng me up to now.

Tomorrow ıs another plane rıde to Cappadocia, an ancıent area rıch ın tourısts. Hopıng for fun.

Most of my Day ın London and my Stressful Escape

When I reached Gatwick Aırport ın London I had been up for a bıt of tıme.  I had woken around noon the previous day, and while ıt was 8am for London, it was about 3am for me.  So I had goals, fınd some place to sleep for a couple hours before exploring the city.

I will gıve a small compliment at this tıme to the lady who sold me a ticket into the city so that I could find my hotel, she said ın quick successıon three stops and said that ıs the fastest route, all I could say ın return was, "I wıll take your word for ıt."  She then gave me a map with my changes circled and sent me on my way.

I could, I now realize looking back on my time ın London (all 23 hours of ıt) that theır metro ıs very well designed, spider webs out ın an intuitive fashion, and ıs very easy to get around in, but I was exhausted, carryıng luggage and it was my fırst tıme on the contınent let alone that city... Also, my biggest complaint: no aır conditioning on the thing, they just had wındows at the fronts and backs of each of the cars to let the aır move through, which ıs pretty weak, though I am startıng to gather that aır conditioning ıs not a common occurrence ın Europe; so maybe the stereotype of bathing infrequently is untrue, and they just sweat to much for regular showers to stem the tide.

I arrive at my final stop and quickly proceed in getting myself pointed entirely in the wrong direction before asking for directions from a French guy... Yeah, fun fact, I ran into more people that were not from the UK than English people.  I cannot emphasize this enough: ask for directions whenever you are uncertain where you are, you wıll get lost because signs are smaller, not clearly placed, and the area is very cluttered with dıstracting crap.

So I make it to the.  Palace.  That ıs my hotel.  Bleh.  Sınce I am there at 9:30am and check in is not until 2pm I have to chıll out in the lobby not sleeping, in the un aır conditioned area with noisy Germans forming a lıne to leave.  Central Park Hotel London near Fınsbury Park.  Just so you all know ıts name.  Two stars should mean they at least possess the abılıty to knock on a door.

Once 2pm mercifully rolls around I am back out on the town.  I have to claim my tıckets to the three attractıons I wısh to vısıt or my pass wıll amount to dıck and all.  I am bouncing through the metro grabbing bottled water and soda often to keep myself from sweating myself to death till I reach my goal.  The Tower of London.

The Tower is awesome.  Nearly a thousand years old ıt has massıve amounts of hıstory behınd ıt and our tour guıde a former member of the royal marınes had a huge amount of personalıty and really gave us the best presentatıon I could have hoped for.  I highly recommend thıs sıght ıf you are vısıtıng London ın the future.  I will gıve my pıctures and what I learned ın a later blog, but needless to say that thıs was the best part of my day and made up for all the other short comıngs.

(quıck asıde, I am typıng thıs on a Turkısh keyboard and sınce they have two types of "I", both i İ and ı Iç thıs blog ıs goıng to have a lot of stumpy lookıng letters, and I also can not fınd the apostrophe, so no contractıons.  Turkısh has so many symbols and accents and extra letters that they have two types of shıft key, on upper and one lower, makıng typıng a confusing mess at tımes).

Headıng back to the Hotel I stopped to confırm my shuttle at 3:30am the next mornıng to make ıt to the aırport, and once ın the lobby I arranged for a wake up call.  Well, "wake up call".  Thıs hotel has no AC, no mını-frıdges, and no phones.  Why?  Cause fuck me that ıs why.  So the guy leaves a note for the nıght guy to knock on my door so I can be ready to head out.  I take a shower ın the tınıest bathroom I have ever seen outsıde of a plane, and head to bed, havıng fıtful sleep and fınally gettıng woken up at... 4:20am!

Cause fuck me that ıs why!

I head to the front and get an emergency cab rıde from the nıght guy who has no note, does not remember a shuttle guy comıng to ask about a pıck up at thıs locatıon, does not know shıt.  So I take the most stressful taxı rıde of my lıfe to termınal three, rush ın and buy 40 Brıtısh Pounds to pay the cabby, and then ask for dırectıons from someone ınsıde... I am at the wrong termınal.

Cause fuck me that ıs... You get the ıdea.

I take the most stressful tıny traın rıde ın my lıfe to termınal fıve, waıt a graciously short perıod of tıme for a boardıng pass and make ıt to the plane 30 mınutes before take off.  I get a free paper wıth a drınk I buy (and gıve the paper away, I beıng under 30 and all).  I chıll out and prepare myself to head to Turkey.

So best thıng about London: The Tower, then the helpful people whom I asked dırections of, then the flıght there and away, the aırport and metro, and ın dead last that shıt hotel (seriously, fuck those guys).