Reason #1,354,657,865 why Rick Berman never "got it" and why Ron Moore is a television God!

From Ron's Blog:

"What do you have to say to new fans, like myself, people who are unfamiliar with the mythos of BSG? You've been talking mainly to people who are intimately familiar with the original series."

I guess I say welcome aboard and you've got some homework to do. If my references to the original series drive you crazy, why not go out and get the DVD set of the original and see what all the hoopla's about? I try not to delve too deeply into the original show in my commentaries, but at the same time, this show does have a history and I think it's only fair to point out the connections between now and then, after all there would be no Galactica now were it not for Galactica then.


Tonight's episode of "Enterprise" proves that even more. If Manny Coto had been around when the show was first conceived and writing like "Into the Mirror Darkly" had been happening from day one we might still have Star Trek on TV. This took chances, this shook it up.......this was FANTASTIC. Ron and Manny have respect for the original material; I don't believe Berman ever did. Ron and Manny have respect for the fans; I don't believe Berman ever did. What Ron and Manny have done for the genre is laudable and deserves all the applause and awards that could be heaped upon them; what Berman has done to the genre is a crying fucking shame.

Seperated at birth?

My son....The Prince.

Another lazy weekend. Some friends went to a renaissance Faire. I bowed out because they bore me to tears. All of the stereotypical "geek" labels people put on Trek fans I put on people who are into these events. Yes, I am a geek and can walk around all day in a Starfleet costume. However, I do not walk about making believe it's 2265. You'd think the wannabe actor in me would appreciate what the performers are doing but it just is one big yawn fest for me.

I only left the house to go to work for a few hours Saturday and get the mail. Other than that it's been veg out and catch up on shows I have on TiVo.

"Blind Justice" is Stephen Bochko's latest and it has taken some getting used to, but I'm glad I stayed with it. The premise is a bit of a stretch; a NYPD detective is blinded in a shoot out and goes back on the job guide dog and all. The thing which has kept me there is the lead actor, Ron Eldard. He plays John Dunbar with a strength which grabs you and keeps you there. The real hook to the show is exactly how a blind person deals with every day life; that sometimes is more intriguing than the detective stories happening around him. And, OK, I live for the bedroom scenes with his wife, Rena Sofer.

It's been probably 30 years since I watched an episode of "Kojac" so I'm not sure exactly how close the USA Networks version with Vingh Raimes is to the original but I like it. I know they definitely do not have the character of Detective Crocker as well fleshed out as the original but Vingh hold the show together tightly. He plays the cop we all wish cops could really be, doing whatever is necessary to get the bad guy and bending or breaking the rules if it either gets the job done or helps out the good guys. He has got to be the best dressed cop on TV today.

"24" continues to be bad television done well. Last week's episode cranked up the suspense but continued to stretch believability. It cannot be that easy to take down Air Force One.

"Robot Chicken" is hilarious. Thanks to my friend Dave for hooking me up with it. They had a bit on the Star Wars Trilogy which almost had me peeing my pants.

I could not really enjoy "Gray's Anatomy" for the same reason I skip "ER". A little too real. Death and sickness is enough to deal with in the real world; when I sit to watch TV I'd like to have a little fun and escape. I tried though, I really tried but kept getting creeped out.

I usually don't try to say much derogatory about The Ex in public. Well, at least when my son is around. But I think it's time to state the obvious.

The Ex is a big poopie head!

Today I called and broached the idea of taking Johnny to the first midnight showing of "Revenge of the Sith". She laughed and said, "Honey, you're not serious". Her concern was his missing school. Mine was missing out on a fantastic father/son moment. While she may have a point this is something of an event.

OK, OK....I'm a geek. But so is my son! He hides it well, but he is a geek by genetics if nothing else. We have never gone to any of the Star Wars movies on opening day much less a midnight show. This would be something he'd remember forever.

I still vividly remember my father trying to share a passion of his with me when I was little. Stock car racing. It was too loud for my little ears and I walked around most of the time with my hands plastered to each side of my head. He tired bribing me with memorabilia and food. I would have no part of it. I can see him dragging me through the packed parking lot back to the car. As the dim of the engines faded behind us I was sure he was taking to my next spanking as I had put up quite a stink to leave early. But it was a moment between him and me that is still so vivid I can smell the fumes. I want him to have just as many with me when he gets older.

As what I was hoping would be ammunition on my side I asked her if she thought my friend Dave (The Hey, for those in the know) and his wife had these same kind of conversations when Opening Day approached. That much we did agree on.

The only good part to the conversation was that we were able to joke and talk to each other about it like we might have years ago. It's nice to have that much of my old friend back.

Even if she is a poopie head.

I just had the coolest conversation with my son today. I was sharing with him my opinion of "Sin City" (It sucked) when I was given the most unexpected gift; his respect.

I was telling him how, while I liked the visuals of the movie, it lacked a coherent plot. Basically, there was no story to really follow. He said, "Wow, it must have been bad; something like that coming from you" He values me opinion and seems to use it as a yardstick for comparison. OK, so he probably doesn't always agree, but he does seem to put value to it.

I don't think my feet have touched the ground. Each day with him gets better and better the older her gets. I know I've spouted off before about envisioning the two of us as adults together, but this hammered that home to me again. We have grown, not only as parent and child, but as friends. There were may times since the divorce when The Ex had said things to try to undermine my relationship with him but that all fades away with each moment like this. In spite of the mileage and situations my son and I have grown together. I do still regret not being part of the day to day of his life; but what he now have, and what it seems to be going, is a fantastic relationship I see getting stronger than if I had been there all along.

Speaking of opinions:

Battlestar Galactica has got to be the best thing to hit television in a long time. I yelled out when the twist ending hit last Friday night. I did not see it coming. The writing is as good as The West Wing as is the acting. It's a drama that just happens to be science fiction. If you missed it the first time around please find a DVD, download it from the net, watch the reruns....whatever you have to do to get into this show.

24 continues to be a bad show done well. Maybe it's because they have gone to the well one too many times and stretched believability too far. In this weeks episode I find it beyond belief that getting to Air Force One could be so easy and that, knowing of the imminent danger, that the President would just sit and wait.

The Pacifier bites. When it was over, I turned to my son and said, "You owe me $12." While it was aimed directly at 10 year olds it really should not have seemed as if it were written by a 10 year old. Yeech.

Post partum depression is not exclusively a new mother's problem; I suffer from it every two weeks. I put John on a bus to head back to his mother's. We had a great week together. Lots of time just hanging out together and simply living in the same space.

I did, however have to parental at one point this week. By accident I had found he was searching for nude celebrity sites on the net. A few years ago I had caught him trying to get into the Playboy website so the rule was if he was caught again there would be limits placed on his internet use. Since, as far as I could tell, he was only searching and hadn't actually gone to one of the sites he was cut off from the PC for two days. Usually when he's caught he cries; this time he knew he was busted and took it like a man.

He amazes me more and more each day. His sense of humor is being honed and he's growing into quite a person. I revel in each day just watching the changes. I often wonder what will happen when he is on his own; how will I deal with even more separation from him?

Speaking of changes, my congressional friend is staying in the House of Representatives so it seems my political coat tail grabbing is on hold for a while more. Jim Langevin announced over the weekend his intention to stay and build seniority in the House as opposed to taking a shot at a senate race this year. If he had, I had every intention of trying to get back on his staff and moving to DC. It would have meant a drastic change to things with John but would have out my life back on track to where it was before moving to Florida.

Being this close to my son, however, does make up the difference.

Whoo! What a weekend we had! Yes, I know this is delayed but with John here for the weekend we've been a little busy. OK, so we're sitting on our butts a lot watching movies or playing gamecube, but you get the idea.

We started off with a Vulkon weekend in Orlando. There were the usual band of suspects. Given my usual routine for these weekends has included consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, having my son there was an interesting addition.

Vulkon was it usual self. Brent Spiner was the main guest and although tempted, the only times I made it onto the main programming room was when I was looking for friends. I did my best to balance the time I had to spend with friend and on Fleet matters with the fact that most of a Vulkon bores my son into a coma. Or at least to retreating to the hotel room. It was when the drinking started things took on a different slant.

I had grown up in a house where there was drinking. In the corner on our dining room was a liquor cabinet. I have gone from living in a bottle when I first got to college to being dry for seven years to enjoying the hell out of drinking. I was anxious about having my son around. Actually, I was more nervous about hearing grief from the Ex over it. I did balance my drinking with spending time with him during the evenings festivities. At one point he became extremely bored by himself in the hotel room and came down to check out the dance. This was an educational experience to say the least.

For a change I was the more sober of the bunch and it was an education for myself as well. No one was way out of control or anything; simply all having a good time. I don't know enough about my ex's life and her friends, but I do know enough to say to my son, "I guess you could definitely say Dad's friends are lots different than your mother's." His eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously. He called the evening "interesting" when I asked him the next morning.

Since coming home we have been to the movies and rented a few video games. Nothing too strenuous or out of the ordinary for two lazy guys on vacation. Tomorrow, though, I do plan to hit a miniature golf place nearby he's had his eyes on for a while.

His older brother is in a pile of trouble. Jimmy visited with his brother last President's Day weekend. With him being 17 years old I thought nothing of him sitting up until 2 or 3 AM watching television. That was, until I got this month's satellite TV bill. He had racked up $50 worth of adult pay per view. I was livid. Luckily, DirecTV could see that I had never even used regular pay per view and that this was an unusual spike in its use. They wrote off the $50. I will not let him know that, of course, and make him pony up the money. I'll give it to his mother for something he needs but will put him through the torture of facing both me and his mother on this one.

The sound you are hearing is my parents laughing in vengeful retribution from the other side!

I haven't been blogging with any substance because I've been so busy in the last week. I'm working as much overtime as I can to make up for taking next week off entirely to spend with John on his school vacation. I'm at the office some nights until 7PM which leaves me precious little time to do what I have to around the house and get a decent amount of sleep before staring another 10 hours work day.

Last weekend was the annual Region 2 Summit. This year was in Tampa. While there were some organizational problems it was a fun weekend. I was able to finally talk someone else in my chapter to attend and she loved it. It is basically an excuse for us to get together and have fun. We do have some organizational meetings and an awards banquet but getting together with friends is the reason.

The hotel has a pirate ship in the middle of their kiddie wading pool. Even though this is Florida since the pool wasn't heated the water in it had chilled to that of a mountain stream. As I sat there looking at the water I remembered that I had been swimming in a mountain stream before, so I decided to take a plunge. The "pirate ship" had water cannons and a slide. I bounded up and slid right down into water which made that stream in Israel seem like bath water. I screamed like a little girl as my testicles retreated to somewhere around my throat for warmth. Not to miss out on the fun Mandi, our Fleet Admiral, and my pal Bruce ran for their suits. Hotel security handled it very nicely as she whispered, "You do know this is the kiddie pool, right?"

Saturday night was topped off my the usual drunken debauchery hosted by my friend Max and his crew from Tampa. It's always a sign of how drunk I'll get by whether or not my son is in attendance. Since he wasn't there.........

I am really looking forward to our week together. Since I'm still limping my van through its final days he'll be taking Greyhound to get up here. With luck I'll be buying something while he's here. I got a raise at work which it retroactive to September so I should have enough to get into something decent.

Some media notes. "24" has become a faint reminder of what it used to be. This season's story line continues to stretch things too far. With all of the moles who end up working there; if CTU were in charge of Homeland Security Bin Laden would be strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue. However, I still do watch every week. It's poorly written, but it's produced well. There are moments when they keep the suspense, however ridiculous, as tight as a watch spring. Thanks to TiVo I can zip through it in 35 minutes. I still manage to have to hit the bathroom somewhere during an episode and Jack Bauer seems to go all day without so much as looking into one!

I went to see "Robots" yesterday and it is everything "The Incredibles" wasn't. I laughed outloud like I expect to at one of these. There are jokes for the adults and a great fart joke scene for the kids. Meaningful story and magnificent CGI renderings which looked photo realistic.

The Star Wars trailer came out this week and looks fantastic. It seems to match the scripts I have read online and if this gets acted as well as it reads this should make up for the first two movies. While I don't hate them as much as some fans do, they are not quite the same as the original trilogy. There has been a spark missing form them which ran through all three of the originals. I am as excited about this one as I was then Episode One first opened.

I don't know if I'm amused by or pissed of at the rumored series ender for Enterprise. For the whole story check this out. You probably know I think Rick Berman is an asshole and is the reason Trek has seen a demise so I'm leaning towards being pissed off. It's as if he's saying, "Hey, all you geeks got so ticked off I screwed with your precious TV show well,, guess what......I never existed! Nyaaa-nyaaa!" Don't bite the hand that feeds ya!

Reason Number 5,324,954,345,234 why Ron Moore is THE MAN and Rick Berman is the Ani-Christ:

From Ron's blog this week.....

A question from a fan:

"If we go too far with this are you prepared to deliver Captain Kirk's 'Get A Life' speech?"

His answer:

I should be so lucky as to watch you guys get to that point.

Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

This past Saturday I got together with two of my oldest and best friends. It was the first time in a long time that Dave, Howard and myself were able to be in the same place at the same time. Howard was in Orlando with his son for school vacation; with both Dave and myself being a short car ride away we jumped at the opportunity.

I was fantastic. It was as if not a single day had passed since we were together last. While there are some friends who I do nothing but rehashing "old times" the three of us still have a strong active friendship and things in our lives while intermingle and keep us together.

First thing we did was recreate a moment from the past. Below are two images 19 years apart. The first was taken at a Halloween Party in 1986. We took the current version on the porch at the Orlando House of Blues. Amazing what the years will do. This photo recreation was my little project. Leave it to me to not be in just the right position. Of course, that gives us the excuse to get together again when Howard returns to Florida!!!




True to our unbelievable luck. The Ryans and I arrived before Howard. He had said he was going to get reservations through Disney. As I watched the line to the door getting longer and longer, I decided to double check. The cute blonde at the door looked through her list saying there was no Cronson, McAuliffe or Farkle. She looked up at me, smiled and said, "Well, when your friend gets her just come up and see me." Sure enough, when Ho arrived we walked up, she recognized me and led us to our table when other were being told of a 45 minute wait.

She wanted me!

Dinner was great. We talked over the old days. Where we are now. Starfleet. Old friends. Family. Kids. Howard got his biggest laugh of the evening as I had to pull out my bifocals to read the menu. "The good old Captain Kirk eyeglass trick, eh?" Funny guy!

Afterwards we walked through Downtown Disney. It was great but way too short. Plans are on the list for getting together with both sets of children at Disney the next time he comes down.

If you've read my blog with any regularity, you know how tight I try to hold on to friends. It's gratifying when I have friends like Dave and Howard I can call at a moment's notice or get together any time or any place and you'd never know a day had passed between us. The hair may be thinner. (Howard's has always been grey, so I won't go there!) The waists bay be wider. But the smiles in both photos are true. You're looking at the faces of loving friendship.

Here's more proof of just how much a Get A Life Trek fan I am no matter how hard I may (or may not) try to hide it. A friend of mine and I were talking today about the impending release of Star Wars Episode III. There is a co-worker who is getting married that week and we joked about him explaining to his new bride that they have to go to a movie theater during their honeymoon. Which brought back a vivid memory.

I was married the first time in April 1988 when Next Generation was in it's first run. The wedding was on a Saturday. After the reception my bride and I stopped at the house to get a few things and count out booty in wedding gifts. As I was counting the cash I turned on the TV and there was that week's episode.

"Come on, Jack, we have to get going." The new Mrs. Eaton said.

"Well.........can't we wait till this episode's over?"

And that marriage didn't last......how is that possible?!

Here's a punchline only those who know the the former wife and are Trek fans will truly appreciate. The episode that day was "Skin of Evil". Somewhat ironic, isn't it?!

My little boy is growing up!

John took his first commute from Broward County to the northern most stop on Tri-rail solo this weekend. Actually he took it with his older brother Jim, but it was completely without adult supervision. The ironic thing is; when I was married to the Ex and Jim went for his first day of school, his mother was a pool of tears. In my most male of moments was smiling and waving happily at the bus and laughing at her saying, "We'll probably have to sedate you when he goes off to college!" Now, I was the one standing on a train platform tearing up over a simple commuter train ride.

We had a good weekend as usual. I bought a couch from a co-worker and they helped move that on Saturday. We mostly hung out watching the Omen trilogy and playing a Star Wars role playing card game. Sunday was the Trident 10th anniversary cookout. I taught John how to make my Redneck Caviar.

My van is still limping along but for Friday, to get the boys from the Tri-rail station, I had rented a car. It ended up being the last time I would rent from Enterprise. Apparently they have taken a big hit from people using debit cards linked to bogus accounts; people would end up stealing the cars and there would be no account to which any changes could be applied. So, here I am, picking up my car during a half-hour lunch break and they hand me a piece of paper asking for all kinds of information and references. When I returned the car the next day (and YES, I drove it like a rental!) I informed then that they could cancel my next rental. I told them that I felt insulted, as a repeat and regular customer, to have to fill out the required paperwork. I can understand for someone fresh off the street who had no relationship. They tried their hardest to keep my business. One phone call to another company who also had a bsuiness discount with ym comapny and I had found anew car rental company.

Years ago, I was never one to send food back at a restaurant or pay whatever extra fees were added on to a bill. Now all it takes is one little slip of paper to piss me off.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

I had the opportunity to get even with one of those who were in on my "pink slip" a few months ago. Very innocently, the Human Resources person, who sprung that gem of a practical joke on me, told me last week that her 40th birthday was coming up and she was dreading it. Another person who was there said my eyes immediately glassed over as my mind began racing through any and all possibilities on what I could do to her.

A friend of mine is the manager of a local supermarket and helped out by supplying a few dozen old flowers destined for the dumpster. I had a large cardboard box on its way out and salvaged it to be transformed into a gravestone. With some grey and black spray paint this three foot tall box began looking like a block of granite. On the front I placed a piece of parchment showing this was the resting place of my target's youth; 1965-2005...RIP. Another can of black spray paint turned the wilting flowers into a monotone death shroud of blossoms for the top of the monument.

The HR office is right next to the time clocks as every ones comes if the front door so there were few who missed this edifice placed right next to her office door. It was perfect. For some reason, she immediately came to me. I don't know where I get this reputation?!

She has a great sense of humor and loved it. The punch line to the whole thing is that she lied about her age; she is actually 44! I turned this around for myself by telling her that meant I got her two presents for her birthday; the flowers....and now everyone thinks she's younger!

While Rick Berman is the anti-Christ of Star Trek, Ron Moore is John the Baptist. He has just posted the perfect view point on the cancellation of "Enterprise" on his weekly "Battlestar Galactica" blog.

http://blog.scifi.com/battlestar/

A year ago today I was in deep shit at work and I made a gesture to mend some personal wounds over it.

At the time I was under a lot of pressure as a Team Leader with a very rough group of employees. I would swear that my team had the highest number of problems in the course of a single day. Made for some very interesting days. There was some incidence, and now I can't even remember what it was, that spilled over into the working relationships between myself, a supervisor and at least one other employee. Being as emotional a person as I am, it affected me. So much so that I decided to take some sick time and get away from work. Stress relief. And for me my greatest form of stress release is the movies.

I was without my own transportation at the time and had to rely on a "friend" for transportation back and forth to work. This person lived right around the corner and was not out of this person's way to bring me along. I offered money for gas but was rebuffed a number of times. A friend doing a friend a favor. Our friendship included helping out during a rough personal time with this person. As always I opened myself up to this person. Sometimes it comes back to bite you in the gonads.

As I readied myself to leave work I made plans with this person to pick me up on the way home; my movie would be getting out just as the work day ended. I would get away from my stress, I would get home with no problem and I would not inconvenience this "friend". This person was completely supportive of my decision, "I don't blame you. I'd do the same thing. No problem, I'll see you after 5."

However, soon after I left work this "friend" went to management complaining. As I waited for my ride to get me the top two members of management came riding up asking me how the movie was. Busted! I ended up in the most monumental of shit storms being accused to misuse of sick time, creating a hostile work environment by expecting a favor from a subordinate and saying insulting things about a friend supervisor. That last one was the one that put it over the top for me. I could have cared less about the job; the fact I was being accused to saying horrible things about a friend of mine to other employees was sickening. Lies were being thrown at me to break me. But I didn't break.

I used my sick time as stress relief because the situation at the time was so bad I was ill. My stomach hurt and my hands shook. I stood by that and refused to sign the disciplinary action paperwork. Mincemeat knew they wouldn't be able to make it stick; what I did with my time once I left the building was my own business and the reasons for leaving were of a health related nature.

To hear these other accusations being leveled at me was like a punch to the gut. My supervisor friend went along with this witch hunt. Today we finally buried the hatchet over this for good. In recent months we have been talking and joking like before and it seems to be water under the bridge. I had to let this person know though that the accusations against me were false. From talking with my friend I did learn that the accusations and how she handled it were all a part of office politics which she had no choice but to follow from higher ups.

closure is a good thing. I will admit, at least in this work environment, I am looking at some friendships through a different shaded eyeglass but I still try to hold on to the benefit of doubt when it comes to friends. Like Mary Richards said in the final episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show; "The people you work with are not just the people you work with."

Go Pats!

I am happy over the outcome of this year's superbly. The game was good and most of the ads during the show were entertaining. The Quizno's, Visa Checkcard, Diamond Nut and Ameriquest were my favorites. The Superbowl flavored commercial for "Robots" was cool as were the ones for "Batman Begins" and "War of the Worlds".

The one thing which gave me pause during the game was the half time show with Paul McCartney. It made me miss John more. This was strongest during "Get Back" when someone else was there with Paul playing the guitar licks created by Lennon. He would have been 66 this past October. So much has been written about what he would have or might have done if he had not been murdered. Paul's appearance shows part of what that might have been.

I got chills listening to the crowded stadium singing along with "Hey, Jude". No goddamned lip synching. Evidence of how powerful Beatles music is 40 years afterwards. How many people will be packing stadiums to sing along with "Pop it Like it's Hot" in 2046?!

I guess turnabout is fair play. I had to cancel the previous weekend with my son so he returned the favor this weekend because of a friend's birthday party and the Superbowl. I ended up working overtime today and tomorrow looks like a day filled with laundry, movies and Superbowl.

I was a little torn about how to handle his wanting to cancel. One of the reasons I gave him the calendar with our weekends marked off was so that this kind of thing didn't happen. At the same time he is a teenager and is bound to be less and less interested in spending time with the old fart. His mother and I actually talked it over a little; debating the difference between teenager freedom and teaching lessons about responsibility.

Wait!

Do you hear that?!

That sound is my parents laughing from their graves at the thought of me having a debate about responsibility!

The Ex thinks he may simply be trying to shy away from using public transit to make the trip here. I have been trying for the longest time to get him to use the light rail system between his neighborhood and West Palm Beach for almost a year now. We have taken one trip together and in recent months he's used the local buses in his county to get to and from the mall; so the idea is not foreign to him. When I was his age I took a Greyhound from Rhode Island to Texas by myself; I think he can handle 90 miles on a train.

My father always said, at the time, that they chose to send me on that trip by bus for financial reasons but I swear to God he was getting even with me for something! To a 13 year old that was a grand adventure. My favorite part of the trip was a layover in New York City; my first time there. I drove through 18 states on that trip. I sat next to a nun from Connecticut to Ohio. Almost lost my tickets on Oklahoma. In a wonderful moment of karma got to squeeze in a seat next to a very fat gentleman for a couple of states. Got hit on by a panhandler in Arkansas. Suffered through an asthma attack on the return trip from Louisiana to North Carolina. I must have really pissed him off somehow!

Things should be back to normal by our next weekend, which is a three day weekend which will make up for some of the loss of time together.

OK, I did find one reason to mourn the demise of "Enterprise"

Linda Park.

She plays Hoshi Sato and may be one of the less esoteric reasons I have stayed with watching the series since the premiere. Add to that her sister Grace playing Boomer on "Battlestar Galactica". They have got some phenomenial genetics going in the Park family. Watching the both of them on TV has fueled some wonderful Olsen Twin style fantasies.

OK, I'm a pig. So?!

Star Trek is dead.

Thank God!

Well, it's in a coma, at least. "Enterprise" has been cancelled. This show is, in this lowly fan's opinion, a show which should not have been in the first place. At a tme when the producers of the franchise cried out that they wanted to listen to the fan's wishes and the fans were crying out just as loud for a return to the flavoe of the original series, the producers turned a deaf ear and went with something only they had in mind.

OK, so I have a personal interest in the idea of "Star Trek: Excelsior". It would have been nice to have been able to visit the set with a simple telephone call. George Takei could have carried that show; I believe he still could.

On of the worst things about the whole "Enterprise" situation is that they had one of the best collections of actors but they were simply haded a stinker of a series. There was one bright spot. I don't remember the name of the episode, it was the Tripp cloning episode. This episode was a morality play which was written with nuance and allowed the actors to strut their stuff. We got deeper into the psyche of the Tripp character and it focused more on the characters that the setting in which they were in. Gee, sorta like the original series.

I sincerely hope Rick Berman, the Anti-Christ, loses his job much like Harve Bennett did after screwing the Star Trek pooch after letting Shatner direct. Ironic thing is that both of these dopes were trying to get an "Academy" theme series off the ground. Let's hope Berman's idea gets him as far as Bennett's did him.

The last month of being on the same night as "Galactica" only highlighted the differences between the two shows and how foolish Paramount was in letting Ron Moore get away from them.

Yes, I continues to watch "Enterprise" since it premiered. It turned into the same kind of thing as those who listen to Howard Stern even though they hate his show. They want to see what he'll say next. I kept watching to see how bad they were going to screw with the franchise.

Star Trek may be down but I do not believe it is out. Berman is the only one who seems to want to keep the franchise going. He is the one who brought on this situation by over saturating us with Trek since the last season of "The Next Generation" and he is still trying to come up with the next Trek incarnation before the ink is dry on the "Vacant Set" sign.

Years ago, before "The Dark Time".....before Braga and Berman....when it was a big deal when there was something new with the name Star Trek on it. When you now have the choice of two different networks carrying different Trek series, there are videos available in the mail, online and at the local video store, you can catch Trek any darn time you wanted. We need a break. Like any good relationship, we need a little space.

In a few years some one will come up with the next great Trek idea and all will be right in the universe. Until then we will have to hold on to out memories and wait for the next rumor. Just like we did back in the 70's.

OK, OK it's been a while. I've been busy.

This weekend was Fleet Day at Kennedy Space Center. We had 13 members of Starfleet International show up to lay a wreath at the Astronaut Memorial Wall. Some of us were in Starfleet and chapter t-shirts and a few of us were in full uniform. Your geek of a blogger was one of them. It was a fun day, which lasted much, linger than I ever thought it would. It was great to hang with friends like that.

It was also another "after surgery victory". The last time I was there in 2000 I was not able to walk out to the memorial wall due to my weight. This time, I hardly stopped the entire time! It felt great.We had a beautiful 2 foot diameter wreath of read and white carnations with a blue ribbon, which we placed at the wall. The memorial is impressive. I wish more people could see it. When the general public thinks of astronauts dying in the line of duty the first ones they think of are Grissom, White and Chaffee. It's a shame that more people don't know of the sacrifice of men like.

It now appears as if I'll have to be buying a new car sooner than I thought. A few weeks ago I had the radiator problem, which turned into a gasket problem. Now the transmission has started slipping and my mechanic informs me that repair wold cost more than the van is worth. I had been hoping to be able to wait until next year and use my "Santa phone call money" to buy a new van. What I'll probably end up doing is start financing now and then pay it off early next December. I went looking at the dealer where I bought the Areostar and am looking at a Dodge Caravan. I'd really like a conversion van; so the hunt continues.