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Showing posts from March, 2012

Blog #13: Why 'Voyager' Failed

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I was not overly excited in 1994 when Paramount made it's initial announcement about the newest Star Trek series that would be taking the place of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the television airwaves. First off I wanted them to make an 8th season of TNG because season 7 was a poor send off to that series. Also the initial premise didn't work for me: 'Star Trek The Original Series' meets 'Lost In Space'. A Federation  starship  becomes stranded in the distant 'Delta  Quadrant ', cut off from Starfleet this group of Officers must work together with a group of 'Maquis' terrorists to make the 80 year journey back home. All new aliens, all new enemies, a true exploration of the unknown. Sadly this concept was doomed to fail in my books. Why have the series take place in the 'Delta  Quadrant '?: I mean why?  Theres  plenty of corners of the Alpha  Quadrant  that haven't been explored. Having them so far away from the Fede...

Blog #12: TNG Seasons 6 & 7

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This was originally posted on my 'Random Nerdness' blog before I created my 'Trek1701' blog, so I wanted to include this blog in my Trek blog. Season 6:   This was another solid season. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 launched mid-season and TNG viewers saw guest star Colm Meaney (Transporter Chief O'Brien) and his family transfer to DS9. Season 6 also marked the end of Whoopi Goldberg's tenure on the TNG series. She only appeared on 3 episodes and never returned. Her character made no official exit and I to this day I am not sure why she never returned to TNG in season 7. TNG needed a shake-up and they got it in the great 2 part episode 'Chain Of Command' with Picard being  transferred  and Ronny cox coming  on board  as 'Captain Edward Jellico'. Jellico was a very strict commanding officer who was hard to please and this created great drama for the actors, especially Rikers epic confrontation with Jellico. Also in that 2 parter Picard was captured...

This & That: Road To The 'Nerd Lunch' Podcast

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It was about a year and a half ago when I first discovered The Atomic Geeks  Podcast , and at first listen I was hooked. This group of fun loving Canadian guys sounded a lot like myself and my friends when we have geeky discussions. It was while  listening  to their  podcasts  I was first introduced to CT, from the 'Nerd Lunch' blog. CT from time to time would guest appear on The Atomic Geeks (TAG) Podcast, and I really liked his  appearances . CT fit right in with the other members of TAG, and last fall CT announced that he would be starting his own  podcast  called The Nerd Lunch (TNL)  Podcast , and that it would be a part of the TAG Network.  Immediately  I was excited, and I know from his TAG  appearances  that he is a dedicated Star Trek fan like myself. TNL was a success right from the start as far as I was  concerned  and they had a fan/listener in me. The format of TNL is they have a dif...

Blog #11: TNG Seasons 3,4 & 5

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This was originally posted on my 'Random Nerdness' blog before I created my 'Trek1701' blog, so I wanted to include this blog in my Trek blog. Season 3:   This is perhaps in my opinion the best season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This was the season when they came out of the shadow of the Original series and became their own Trek. I think this was in huge part due to behind the scenes creative changes. Roddenberry  stepped back due to health issues and Rick Berman took over. He brought on board the creative talents of Micheal Piller and Ron Moore, who would later go on the produce the 'new' Battlestar Galactica. Season 3 saw the  beginning  of the 'cold war' between the Federation and the Romulan Empire. The Romulans were present in 3 of the seasons best episodes, 'The Enemy', 'The Defector' and 'Tin Man'. They introduced new costumes and fixed up the set in certain areas to make the show look a little better. Season 3 ...

Blog #10: TNG Seasons 1 & 2

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This was originally posted on my 'Random Nerdness' blog before I created my 'Trek1701' blog, so I wanted to include this blog in my Trek blog.   Star Trek: The Next Generation:   I didn't watch TNG until it was in it's third season. At first I was a little  critical  of this new series. Captain Kirk was my Captain, his crew was the only crew I wanted to see. Being a 7 year old kid I just didn't understand why they couldn't do a new TV series with the original cast. Also at that time my family lived in an area where TNG was not available on the air waves. But when we moved to our acreage in 1989 I was able to start watching TNG, now in it's third season, for the first time. I soon forgot my misgivings of them not using the original cast and quickly embraced this new cast of intergalactic  travellers .   It was easy for me to get hooked into this series having watched it for the first time in it's third season, because in retrospect it was probably...