The Secret Life Of Trek Pets

Like your pets?  Of course you do - don't we all?  Will we still love our pets in the far flung future?  Data loved his pet cat.  Captain Picard had Livingston - his lion fish, floating around in his aquarium in his Ready Room on Enterprise.  Pets are such a big part of most everyone's lives, and they're going to be found in the future.  Check out my new TrekNews article on The Secret Life of Trek Pets.

http://www.treknews.net/2017/04/27/secret-life-trek-pets/

Where Guinan Knows Your Name

Sam Malone is a Boston bartender.  Guinan is a galactic bartender. Sam runs Cheers.  Guinan runs Ten Forward.  Both of these lounge operating professionals know your name. 

Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan is also the hostess of the hippest place on Captain Picard's Starfleet starship - Enterprise 1701-D.  Guinan knows your name, your drink and your species.  Check her and her friends out in my new article.

Interactive Technical Manual - Landmark TNG App

If you were lucky enough to pick this up back in the late 90's, you know what it's like to walk through the Enterprise - without ever leaving your office or computer room.  

Check out my article at TrekNews.

Healthcare Of The Future

Healthcare is on everyone's minds these days - and we're looking to the future to see just how we'll be healing come Dr. Crusher's time.  

Check out my new article on Trek medical marvels.

http://www.treknews.net/2017/03/28/star-trek-healthcare/

A Romantic Ghost

Those ghost chasing reality shows are still quite popular.  If they last and are still the rage until the Enterprise D's launch and space faring era, maybe Dr. Crusher could be a consultant for them in both the romantic arena and the paranormal.

In the seventh season episode, Sub Rosa, Crusher (Gates McFadden) gets quite the ghostly encounter. Writer Jeri Taylor, a producer on TNG, and writer for the tale calls it a 'romance novel in space.'  It certainly qualifies as such, but it also ranks as the most direct parallel to a ghost story ever to appear in Star Trek.  Dr. Crusher gives the eulogy at her grandmother's funeral, only to later be obsessed with quitting Starfleet and taking up residence in her Nana's house.  Is this the end of Dr. Crusher's tenure on Captain Picard's starship?

Captain Picard must approve his Chief Medical Officer's resignation, but he still worries for her, and for good reason. A mystery man known as Ronin, who romanced Crusher's Nana, has now set his romantic sights on Dr. Crusher. Turns out Ronin is a creature composed of 'anaphasic energy' - yet another parasitic lifeform who feeds on humans; here, by possessing a person's body and using them as a host and feeding vessel. In the end, Crusher is forced to destroy the charismatic creature, but realizes its romantic embrace brought great happiness to much of her family - including herself.

Holodeck Vs Holosuites

Science fiction fans may argue about which they like better - Star Trek or Star Wars.  Vulcan neck pinch trumps a Jedi Force push?  Does a lightsaber get more love and respect than a Klingon Bat'leth? One thing in common with both sci-fi powerhouses, they love using holograms.

The holodeck on a starship is a place to relax and play. If you find yourself at Deep Space Nine, however, you'll have to use a holosuite - run by the Ferengi Quark. What's the difference?  Well, for one, those Galaxy class starships are enormous - big enough to devote an entire deck of space to holographic fun.  On DS9, space is a premium, so your holo adventures may be a wee bit curtailed owing to the cramped space. One thing is clear:  Quark's notion of what is permissible - involving sexuality of all kinds and ways - can't be as conservative as Starfleet's.  Anything goes.  

In purely practical terms, the crew on Picard's Enterprise and on other Starfleet vessels are always being interrupted by fellow crew mates strolling into the holographic fantasies.  It's a sure bet that if Quark's customers had strangers barging into his holosuites - or relationship partners wanting to know their secret sexual desires - his reputation and profit margin would go south faster than the warp drive on the U.S.S. Defiant. 

Barclay And His Holo Hotties

This says it all about our favorite Enterprise 1701-D Holodeck addicted crewmember; the transporter psychosis obsessed Lt. Reginald Barclay.

Riker Sets His Beard Like His Phaser

Starfleet phasers have many power settings for many uses.  For Commander Will Riker's beard, there really is only one setting that he swears by.

Jamaharon Anyone?

If you visit the pleasure planet of Risa, you'd better know what this means.

Romance Is A Place Called Ten Forward

Name the most romantic spot you've ever had the pleasure of visiting, and I'll bet that Ten Forward has it beat.  The bar or lounge of Captain Picard's Enterprise can serve as a moody relaxation spot, a place for friends to gather after a tough away mission, but with its majestic windows and sweeping views of the whole of the galaxy itself, Ten Forward sets a romantic tone like no other.

Imzadi - The Betazoid Concept Of Beloved

Of all the many alien races depicted on the various Star Trek shows and in the movies, those of the planet Betazed may be the most romantic one of all.  The Deltans - first seen in ST: The Motion Picture - could be considered the most sexual, but for the similarly telepathic and empathetic Betazoids, there's a concept they call Imazdi - translated basically as one's beloved.

In The Next Generation, Counselor Deanna Troi calls her new crewmate Will Riker her Imzadi - right off the bat in the pilot, Encounter As Farpoint.  These two were romantically linked before their tour of duty on Captain Picard's Galaxy class starship, and that blazing romantic torch song never really ended. By the time of their marriage in Star Trek: Nemesis, Riker and Troi have seen the ups and downs of a romance which could only be properly encapsulated by the concept of Imzadi.  Interesting note:  A platonic love or deep friendship can also be characterized as Imzadi.

The Skant Beguiles

Do the Skant!  No, it's not a new dance craze nor a slick and hip, hip-hop rhyme.  It's what Deanna Troi wore occasionally on Star Trek: The Next Generation's debut season.  Somewhere in between a skirt and a pair of pants lies the beguiling mystery of the skant.  

For the record, the guys weren't immune to the fashion faux pas either. Infinite Diversity Infinite Combinations, indeed!  Sung to The Hustle - Do the Skant!

Fun & Fully Functional

Data is a marvel of technology.  He admirably serves the Starship Enterprise under Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), and his fellow officers and crewmates admire the ever resourceful and sentient artificial lifeform.

Oh, and perhaps most importantly of all - Data (Brent Spiner) is killer in the bedroom. Just ask Tasha Yar. 

Naked Betazoid Weddings

Remember what it felt like to be all dressed up when you got married? It's a safe bet most of us never get so fancy ever again - that especially goes for traipsing around again in a wedding dress for the gals.  The people of Planet Betazed have neatly solved the sophisticated wardrobe problem - everybody attends the ceremony and joyous celebration dressed only in their birthday suits.  Yup, they all go naked!

Solves the problem of what to wear!

Alien Valentine - The Bynars Get Ready For The Love Day

11001001  If you were speaking machine language (binary) which powers computers, you'd know what that means.  As it is, you probably don't, but as a Star Trek fan, you do know it's the title of a Next Generation first season episode. 

Of the many alien races found in Star Trek, the Bynars - performing their tasks and living out their lives co-joined - seem the perfect culture to embrace the spirit of Valentine's Day.

Diamond Select Femme Fatales Counselor Deanna Troi

Deanna Troi will be available from Diamond Select as a 9" tall statue. Dressed in her Starfleet duty uniform, the Counselor, or Imzadi if you're more familiar with the half human, half Betazoid bridge officer, will retail for $69.99.

Android Phone Data Plan

A Data Plan was never so easy....

Ashley Judd On Next Generation

Do loyal Ashley Judd fans remember one of the big star's first roles? The actress known for her gritty roles opposite Morgan Freeman in Kiss The Girls, and as a determined mom in, Double Jeopardy, opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Bruce Greenwood - Captain Pike himself from the Abrams' Trek films - first played one of Starfleet's finest on board Captain Picard's Enterprise.

Judd is known to TNG fans as the dynamic Robin Leffler in the episodes, Darmok and The Game.

Riker's Rep

So, I went looking for a few Riker memes.  Here's what I found.  

OK - I'll just put it right here.  No need for further commentary.  This guy is 2nd in command of Starfleet's flagship.  Yep.

Andrea The Android

There are Androids.....

And then there's Andrea The Android from classic Trek, What Are Little Girls Made Of?

 Any questions?