Under-representation

And if that ^ is not a logical or correct word constructiony thing-a-ma-jig, it is now! HA! Take that Sarek!

This post is going to be dedicated to Star Trek because I just think it's so spiffy awesome a show! That, and doing all the research to figure out what I was going to do for today sorta got me going back to my Trekkie roots... so now I'm on a Star Trek jag. If you see me do the whole "Live Long and Prosper" thing, don't be alarmed. I'll be back to "normal" *cough* shortly.

Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It's five year mission, to seek out new life and new civilization. To boldly go where no man has gone before!

Anyway, today being the last day of Spirit Day, I was hoping to see a few Trekie's come out of the wood work. Well, apparently they are all bigger George Lucas fans than Gene Rodenbarry fans, because I think I was the only person supporting Star Trek at school today.

For me, before there was Star Wars, there was Star Trek. I grew up watching Captain Kirk fly around with Mr. Spock (I learned quite young that Mr. Spock and Dr. Spock were NOT the same person. These things were made quite clear in our house.)and Bones. Star Wars was introduced later, and I liked it okay, but you can't beat the theatrical, futuristic show (that changed the world!) that is Star Trek. What other show could have diseases like xenopolycythemia, or have episodes with gangsters, another with Apollo, and the first public introduction to the CD and get away with it? None I tell you! Or very very few! But none have had the impact that Star Trek has!

Going back to the characters- Everyone has their favorites. Some like the dramatic ways of James T. Kirk, some prefer the ever logical Spock. Some people go for Scotty, others Chekov, Sulu, O'hura(sp?), or Bones. Personally, I love them all! But it's always the characters made of random props that I like!

Take that one episode where there was that creature that looked like half cooled lava that Spock mind melded with. Or the Trouble with Tribbles episode. Mechanical balls of fluff. Gotta love that! So small, so cute! I wonder if they were allowed to keep them after shooting that episode...

One thing about the show that I never realized til Drama Mama (that'd be my mom!) pointed out was this: The show is very theatrically done. Almost a Shakespearean theatrical quality to it. Though the props and sets were often very basic and simplistic, they always created the right allusion with the help of dramatic lighting, characters, and of course, make up. Often, as I recall, the planets were symbolized by a few props and a solid colored back ground. Nothing fancy, but it definitely conveyed the idea. It was imagination television in a way!

Going back to the make up. Often it was nothing spectacular. Like the Vulcans. A little pancake over the eyebrows, some eye liner, BOOM! THere ya go. The pointy ears are a little more difficult, but the truth of the matter is a person with a little time could do a very true to the show Vulcan costume with out hurting their wallet too badly.

Then of course, the sliding doors, the communicators, the transporters, all the nifty props... a little harder for anyone to just make on the weekend, but they were all really basic.

All this rambling to say, at the end of the show, it was half what you saw, and half what you imagined that made Star Trek so much fun to watch. Which is why I love it so... I have a crazy imagination, and when I was a little kid, I could put a lot into the show, so I could get a lot out. There is something to be said for drama done like this- it sticks with you longer. When all the imagination is gone, and you're spoon fed all the awesome and wonderful stuff, it takes some of the imagination out of it for the viewer. At least for me. That was one reason I didn't like Star Wars. All the stuff looked so real and so believable, which is great, but I didn't have to imagine anything. I could watch it mindlessly. Not as much fun.

But, as is true with many things people go crazy over, the funnest part about it is doing the crazy little picture/caption/spoofs that the fans do. The fandom is what helps make it so much fun.

Anyway, since in light of today, the fact I am dressed like a Vulcan (but being crazy/emotional like a Romulan or Klingon), and because I think you can't have too much Star Trek in the world, I posted a few pics I was sent with captions. Live long and prosper.