From Michael Giacchino’s excellent score for J.J. Abrams Star Trek remake.

Nerdy, but awesome:

(Via io9)

“How many men and women, how many friends have we watched die? I’ve lost count. Every one of them, every single one, fought for life until the very end.”
– Commander William T. Riker

John Scalzi’s back this week tackling bad design in Star Trek films.

The Alien Probe of Star Trek IV
The programming of this probe is even more simple than that of V’Ger, and could be written in four lines in the BASIC programming language:

10. GOTO Earth
20. INPUT “I can has humpback whalez?” A$
30. IF A$=”no” THEN GOTO 40
40. DESTROY EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING

I’m pretty sure this is not optimal design.

I’m also a fan of the holodecks entry. Read the whole thing.

“You ever wonder if people back on Earth ever read over Starfleet logs and just freak the fuck out? ‘Um, hey, I don’t mean to be a bother, but.. what the hell is a ‘doomsday machine’? And it says here that some doctor went back in time and destroyed all life as we know it, but it’s okay because a couple other guys followed him and fixed everything, but they had to kill some girl. Wait, I’m sorry–they had to let her die. Okay, is there any way we could stop these guys from leaving their ships?’”
– Zack Handlen

“A series of cataclysmic events leads to the annihilation of a war-mongering elite. All that remains is a rogue group of working-class types who are motivated by racial resentment, obsessed with drilling, and led by a balding, blue-collar spokesman. Not only does this describe the 2008 GOP — the party of Joe the Plumber, “Drill, baby, drill,” and supposed anti-intellectualism — it also describes the Romulan villains of the latest Star Trek film.”
– Matthew Schmitz

(link via E.D. Kain)

Juliet Lapidos has an excellent breakdown of the 12th best episode of Star Trek ever, “Chain of Command”, and how it is relevant to torture debates today.

Torture scenes are typically an opportunity to demonstrate a protagonist’s fortitude or an antagonist’s ruthlessness. In this episode, however, torture is an exercise in futility. Picard doesn’t have the information the Cardassians are after. They can zap him all they want, but they’ll never learn the Federation’s secrets. Picard states, truthfully, that he knows nothing of value, but the interrogator refuses to believe him and to let him go. Torture is thus portrayed not as a reasonable if barbaric strategy but as a waste of time. That is, not really a strategy at all.

The extended torture sessions take a toll not just on Picard but on his interrogator as well. The more time the Cardassian spends with Picard, the more he becomes fixated on breaking his prisoner. And so the supposed goal of torture—information—is sidelined, while the means by which the goal will theoretically be achieved—mental submission—becomes an end in itself. As Picard puts it, “Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information. It is ultimately self-defeating as a means of control. One wonders it is still practiced.”

Read the whole thing.

Over at Flick Filosopher, Maryann Johanson asks: “Who’s your favorite Star Trek character?”

For me, this is best broken down into “best Star Trek character by series.” So here goes:

The Original Series

Leonard McCoy. No question. Irascible, compassionate, witty. Plus he makes a mean mint julep. What more do you want?

The runner up here is Kirk, of course.

The Next Generation

Jean-Luc Picard. This is a tougher choice, but Star Trek: The Next Generation is really all about Picard. All of the best episodes revolve around him: (”The Inner Light”, “Darmok”, “Family”, “The Best of Both Worlds”, “Drumhead”, “Chain of Command”, “The Perfect Mate”). He’s pretty much the star even in the series finale, and also manages to take center stage in the Klingon-centered episodes. That’s because, well, he just embodies the vision of the 24th Century, doesn’t he? Strong, intelligent, humane, a renaissance man… Picard just towers over every other character.

If there’s a runner-up for TNG, it would have to be Data.

Deep Space Nine

I consider Deep Space Nine to be by far, no question, the best Star Trek series by a mile. One of the reasons why is because the cast of characters was so strong and well-developed. So it’s a little harder to pick a favorite, but the bottom line is that I have to go with Julian Bashir. In a Star Trek series that had the guts to really explore some of the hard ethcial choices that war and survival put forth, Julian Bashir remained firm in his conviction to Federation ideals, and I admit that every time I re-watch DS9 I’m convinced of that more and more. Plus, if there were no Bashir, there would be no “Our Man Bashir” episode–and that would be a shame.

The runner up here is harder to choose, so let me just list out the remaining top five: Elim Garak, Miles O’Brien (who started on TNG but shone in DS9), Worf (ditto), Quark, and Benjamin Sisko.

Voyager

I pretty much hated Voyager, but Robert Picardo’s holographic Doctor manages to keep me entertained when there’s nothing else on TV but an episode of Voyager. No runner up here: The Doctor is the only worthwhile character in the series.

Enterprise

Enterprise is sometimes maligned, which is a shame because I thought it had a really strong first season. Seasons 2 and 3 were terrible, though. Season 4 was fun, because it explained a bunch of TOS stuff, but it was still pretty much fluff. I’d have to say that my favorite character on the show here was Trip Tucker, who I thought embodied the spirit of the original series. Dr. Phlox is a close second.

How about you guys?

Here’s something that should brighten your afternoon:

(via Wil Wheaton)

This is just a great mash-up.

My good friend Shane once came up with a whole concept for a Star Trek show that really was just “The A-Team in Space.” I’ve always thought that could be a cool concept. Of course, so did Joss Whedon, which is why he made Firefly.

(link via Steven Taylor)