Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with startrek

Be there ST:TNG fans on this here interweb?

whitewall — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:08:08 -0800

If you wanted to formulate the dorkiest/nerdiest/most obsessive "Star Trek: The Next Generation" question, what would it be? I'm attending a Q&A session with Patrick Stewart next month following a production of Macbeth. I doubt I will actually be ballsy enough to do this, but I would like to have an extremely irrelevant, extremely pedantic Star Trek question ready to pose on hand. Something referencing temporal abnormalities and episode number and tribbles. Help a heckler out? (P.S. I'm not really going to heckle.)

"The Man Trap" or "Where No Man Has Gone Before" - where do I start?

Lucinda — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:23:10 -0800

Trekkie/Trekker Filter: Should I watch the episodes of TOS in the order in which they were produced, or the order in which they were aired? I have decided to make use of my new iPod Classic by watching the original Star Trek, of which I have only previously seen an episode here or there (Mirror, Mirror and City on the Edge of Forever are the only ones I can recall off the top of my head).

My husband has organized them in order by date of production, but I'm wondering if I should try and capture the "watching it for the first time like they did back in the 60's" feel of the show by watching them in the order they were aired.

Or am I overthinking a pile of beans?

(halloweenfilter) Help me look like Captain Kirk on a budget

stenseng — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:56:31 -0800

I'd like to be Captain Kirk for halloween. Anyone on MeFi have any ideas/experience as to how to find/fashion/fake a gold Star Trek TOS shirt/tunic thingy for a halloween costume? I've got black pants, leather boots, and good hair, but I'm fairly broke, and need to come up with a convincing Kirk costume top without breaking the $20 mark. Also, I don't really know how to sew. I'm about 6'3, 50" chest, 42" waist Thoughts?

Star Trek/Star Wars t-shirt - Where can I get this??

angryjellybean — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:42:36 -0800

Star Trek/Star Wars t-shirt - Where can I get this?? My boyfriend saw a t-shirt worn on (British) tv last week - I believe it was the Peter Serafinowicz show... anyway, Peter was wearing a t-shirt that read "Star Trek" but - this is the important bit - it was in the STAR WARS font.

I am very sorry for all you non-geeks out there now rolling your eyes.

However, I'd be very grateful if anyone knows where one could get hold of this t-shirt.

If you travel through space at lightspeed, will the stars in the background appear to move relatively slow?

paulinsanjuan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:50:31 -0800

If you travel through space at lightspeed, will the stars in the background appear to move relatively slow? I am watching The Fountain (after the FPP about it the other day) and I noticed while traveling through space, the background of stars "moves" fairly slow. Wouldn't Hugh Jackman and his tree have to be traveling at lightspeed to get to his destination within a lifetime?

Or is it more like Star Trek / Star Wars where everything becomes a streak? (I think in Star Trek warp speeds are faster than light.)

So, let's say we're traveling at lightspeed from Earth to Vega (like in Contact), a total of 24.3 light years away, will the stars in the background appear to move relatively slow?

Also, will going any slower change the "speed" of the passing stars?

How do I give myself Spock eyebrows?

RobotHero — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:02:59 -0800

How do I give myself Spock eyebrows? I presume there's enough Star Trek fans that someone knows how to make up my eyebrows to be slanty like Spock's. But I haven't been able to google up any instructions.

Is there a somewhere I can order them online? Do I spirit gum patches of latex to my head? Any ideas?

Andreana Weiner: recent-ish pictures plz?

Quarter Pincher — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:43:57 -0800

Can you find me some more recent pictures of Andreana Weiner, an American actress, other than from the ST:TNG s07e07 "Dark Page" with which co-stars a young Kirsten Dunst? Perhaps someone has Adams Family Values or Red Dragon and could take screenshots? Thanks!

How does warp drive work?

psmealey — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:02:02 -0800

How does warp drive work? I had thought that warp was merely about using astrophysical phenomena to bend or warp space, but I don't understand why there are gradients between 1 and 9, and why Warp 9 is the theoretical maximum? Any resources that can help answer this eternal question. While we're at it, what, exactly is full impulse power? What velocity is that?

Help me find alien masks and ST badges?

supercrayon — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:52:08 -0800

Please help me find places online to buy el cheapo alien masks and star trek communications badges? My mother-in-law is looking for @40 of both for some scout related thing or other, and they can be really crappily made, just as long as they're cheap. The alien masks can even be like those plastic with the elastic string dealies. I'm not having any luck with google so far. Thanks!

Would the stars really look like that?

eustacescrubb — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:37:39 -0800

Would the stars really look like that? I was watching Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan last night and during the opening credits, the names appear in what was probably a futuristiic-looking font in the 80s, and as the credits progress, the stars seem to slip past the screen, starting out from the center and then progressing offscreen without passing through the center again.
Would it really look like this? How fast would one have to be going for it to look like that? Wouldn't some of the stars be larger than the others from the p.o.v. of the viewer's spaceship?

Boldly going...

Optamystic — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:34:00 -0800

The wife and I just got the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation series on DVD. Which ones should we watch? She's a neophyte, I'm a fan from back in the day. We've watched "The Best of Both Worlds". Now what? Exceptional Picard, Data and/or Worf-centric episodes will earn you extra furlough on Rigel-7.

Trek Costumes?

donguanella — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:35:05 -0800

Can anyone suggest a place in the greater Los Angeles area to rent or purchase Star Trek costumes? The costumes are of the "Star Trek: The Original Series" flavor. I need to get my hands on them today or tomorrow. Seven total, of multiple colors (yellow, blue, red). I've made the calls to the big rental shops, as well as to Paramount Costuming... no dice. I'm thinking more along the lines of the geeky corner store magic shop? Any ideas? Online shops w/ overnight delivery?

Live long and prosper.

What Star Trek novel is this?

Jenesta — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 16:38:35 -0800

Which Star Trek novel has this ritual? Over a decade ago, I read a lot of original Star Trek novels. One of them took place on an ice planet, and two characters in the book had a ceremony similar to a handfasting.

Later this month I'm getting married (to Faint of Butt), and I want to use an element of this handfasting: while the couple is bound, a member of each family tugs them to show that family cannot separate the bond between them.

Does anybody know which novel has this ritual? I remember very little, but I think the plot may have been related to Spock and the book may have been blue (or at least had a picture of an icy planet.)

Kirk's John Hancock

lord_wolf — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 09:26:00 -0800

Star Trek TOS: what were those things the attractive ensigns would bring Captain Kirk to sign in some of the episodes? He never read them, he'd just sign them, smile at the eye candy, and go back to whatever he was doing. Was this just an excuse to get eye candy on the screen or is there a real world analogue?

I want to sell my Star Trek DVDs. Any clever ideas other than ebay?

MadamM — Tue, 16 May 2006 21:42:22 -0800

I recently bought a bunch of Star Trek DVDs cheap and need ideas on how to sell them, preferably easily. I bought almost the entire original Star Trek series on DVD at a garage sale for two dollars. I don't particularly like Star Trek, but I figured I'd watch them and then sell them. I was thinking ebay, naturally, but I have no experience with ebay at all, not even buying. I figure people won't be too scared to buy from a new seller when it's only DVDs, but I'd rather find a way to sell them that won't require trips to the post office. Should I try Half Price Books or...? I have no idea what kind of place would buy these. My goal is to make as much money as possible, but basically whatever I make will be profit considering I bought the DVDs for two dollars. Therefore, the ease of the method of selling is slightly more important to me than making a few more cents. So, Mefites, what's the best way to unload a bunch of DVDs?

(Obviously ebay is the first thing that springs to mind on reading this question, I know, but my total lack of ebay knowledge is scaring me off it a little. I don't want to get taken advantage of and I don't want to screw anyone over accidentally from ignorance.)

Post Star Trek roles

notcostello — Tue, 09 May 2006 09:58:24 -0800

Is there a site that highlights shows where Star Trek alumni have appeared together? Is Boston Legal the biggest (ie, decent ratings, longetivity, etc.) show to include Star Trek actors? I'm not sure why I find this intriguing, but I do.

The thought first came to me watching Boston Legal with William Shatner & Rene Aubejonois.

Then I saw last week's episode of NCIS and Connor Trinneer & Tim Russ had guest parts.

Then last night I saw an ad for 7th Heaven and there were Stephen Collins & Catherine Hicks.

I was also curious if some of the TOS actors had appeared together before the show was created?

Do inventors pay royalties for fictionally-inspired technology?

Servo5678 — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 08:01:16 -0800

If someone were to create an actual working version of fictional technology, would the inventor have to pay royalties to the owner of the original fiction? Suppose someone came up with a real working warp drive that was directly based on the technology from Star Trek (right down to the big blue warp core and glowing nacelles). Before the warp drive could be mass produced and sold would the inventor have to negotiate with the group that holds the rights to Star Trek to work out a royalty payment?

This question doesn't pertain exactly to Star Trek, so feel free to come up with your own example if you like. We could be talking about stargates, lightsabers, or sonic screwdrivers if you want.

What are the Big Ideas for combating global warming?

Galvatron — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:37:01 -0800

What are the Big Ideas for combating global warming? Who is proposing them? Which do you find most plausible? I'll admit it: I've watched some Star Trek in my time. Let me tell you, when there's a planetary crisis brewing, they don't sit around for twenty years debating Kyoto Protocols. They call in the Enterprise, drill down to the planet core with phasers, and reliquify the magma. (Substitute "tractor-beam the asteroid," "initiate a cascade reaction," or "compress the gravitational field" as you see fit.)

If you can accept the idea that we have, in fact reached a tipping point where climate change may accelerate out of control, then we're potentially too late to reverse the effects by meagre (and uncoordinated) efforts at limiting emissions. So what are the Big Ideas for solving the problem? Who is talking seriously about treating the earth as a very large engineering problem?

As just one example, are there proposals for economically feasible ways to temporarily alter the earth's reflectivity? Would such proposals be sufficiently non-disruptive to everyday life that nations could agree on them? What is the probability that such efforts would have the desired effect?

For the purpose of this question, please assume that global warming/climate change is a reality; I'm not interested in holding that debate here. Bonus points for any answers involving lasers.

Does Gravett Island actually exist?

Effigy2000 — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 18:38:32 -0800

In Star Trek: First Contact, when Picard initiates the Enterprise auto-destruct sequence, he orders his crew to meet on Gravett Island, which is apparently an uninhabited island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. My question is; does this island actually exist? My Google-fu finds nothing but mentions of it on Star Trek websites and there's no article on a Gravett Island at all on Wikipedia, so I'm tempted to think it dosen't actually exist.

But if it does exist, a link to an article which shows pictures of it would be greatly appreciated. And if possible, I'd really, really like a link to a Google Maps image as well.

Where to find specific Star Trek MIDI music.

Jenesta — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:51:11 -0800

Does anyone know where I can find a decent MIDI version of the battle music from the Star Trek episode "Amok Time"? I would like to make it my default ring tone, and I can't find it anywhere!

I can't believe I actually bought all of those cards....

devilsbrigade — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 21:40:54 -0800

I have a huge number of Magic, Star Trek, and X-Files cards (well, not huge by some standards, but more than I'd like to admit to having). I haven't touched them 6 years or so. Needless to say, I want them gone. I could throw them away, but a) I put money into it (not a lot, but enough that I feel vaguely attached, and b) doesn't *someone* want them? So, I'd like to sell them or give them to people who would actually like them. I have no idea of how to do so or where to start... any help would be great.

What are the best TV show episode guides?

Servo5678 — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 16:57:04 -0800

Are there any TV show episode guides as well-written and interesting as the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine guide? If you've never seen the DS9 guide, basically it's over 700 pages of stories from the production of the series. The DS9 crew hired their own historian early on in the series to document the creation of each episode and the guide is much better for it. Every episode commonly has a 1 page plot summary, photos from the set, production sketches, and then 2-3 pages of production stories, unused plotlines, scenes cut from the script, ideas that evolved from one idea into another, and all kinds of interesting material. It's far and away from the other Trek guides that just have episode summaries.

Are there any other episode guides out there for other shows that are as detailed? I'm particualrly interested in guides that spend a lot of pages discussing the writing process and how plots take shape.

Star Trek or Star Wars: Which one is bigger?

notcostello — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:22:56 -0800

Star Trek or Star Wars; Which universe is bigger? This is a good start. It seems to pretty much answer the question of the dollar value of each. Although it lacks a few elements, such as the monetary value for the ST TV shows, it seems that Star wars would seem to have the edge by a few billion dollars.

But what about in terms of the intricacies of the universes in terms of the canonical elements.

When you reach out to the end of the tentacles of all that falls with the respective canons of both universes, which are the fullest, the most complex, the most original in its myth development and and what rate are they each growing?

Without though being a discussion of who sucks more Lucas or Berman/Bragga.

Transporters and Death

interrobang — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:47:22 -0800

Do you die when you go through a transporter? A Star Trek-style transporter--as far as I understand it--basically records everything about you, and then disintegrates you. I assume it swallows the atoms and keeps them in some sort of holding facility wherever you transport from, saving the atoms for whoever's coming down next.

Aboard the spaceship, your information is received by that computer--your actual atoms are not transported--and you are reassembled by the computer out of material on the spaceship, presumably the same material that the reconstituted food comes from. The shitometer burps and goes down by 160 pounds or so.

Is it the same you that arrives on the ship, or is it just something that looks, acts, smells, and remembers everything that you do, and thinks it's you?

I know this is touched on in Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing", where it is revealed that Swamp Thing is not the man who "became" Swamp Thing": it just thinks that it is.

I'm not (really!) a big Star Trek person, but I've for a long time felt that going through a transporter meant certain death. Does anyone else feel this way, and has anyone else written about this?

And yes, I'm aware of Algis Budrys.

Question number 15117

sbutler — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 00:08:04 -0800

Calling all ST:TNG geeks! I'm looking for an example where a Starfleet member shows blind loyalty, honor, or duty that is against his/her own personal interests. [more inside]