The Dissapearing Chekhov

          Is Star Trek really Star Trek without Chekhov??? I vote no. Chekhov and Kirk really make the show (mainly Chekhov). That being said I did enjoy Star Trek: The Next Generation, I think they did a pretty good job at replacing Kirk, but some things still stood out to me as to ought some things were really improved in it compared to the original, but some things really slacked off too.

         I like how there has been a leap in the gender norms. Picard really was a step up from Kirk's manly man persona, but almost a step too far. He's got some manly sides, like how he'll try to protect people, but he also doesn't fight for his people as much as he should and can be too ignorant for his own good. For example with the Tamarians Picard refuses the knife he was offered. While in the end it turned out to be a good thing that he stayed peaceful I think it's pretty unrealistic that such a passive way of approaching situations would always turn out ok. While Kirk's super assertive way might not have been the best approach either he would have died fighting for his ship instead of running like Picard did with the Borg. (Side note on the gender norms: with the girls they haven't really gotten any better as the majority of the girl's we have seen are either in low cut shirts or shown to be annoying which is really annoying in and of itself).

          I think the best and most obvious replacement of Kirk was Riker I mean he's basically Kirk with a much cooler way of sitting. 

          He's huge with the ladies and is the epitome on manliness, just like Kirk. The only difference is that he's not captain yet. I actually really like this aspect of it because it gives Riker something to strive towards, but also adds depth to his character (how he won't leave his ship even if it meant becoming a captain) that we never really got to see in Kirk.

          My bigger problem comes with Chekhov. There doesn't even appear to be an attempt at a replacement with him. The only way I can reason with this is by saying that there is no replacement of Chekhov, that he's simply too good to recreate and it wouldn't even be worth trying. I mean how can you replace how perfect he is.

 

          And while I totally agree with my reasoning something tells me it wasn't the same as the producers, so it leads me to wonder why they didn't even try to make a new Chekhov.

Tlic

While reading Bloodchild I got curious as to what the Tlics looked like. We new that they coiled a bit, had legs that could make a cage, and had a tail with a stinger that could go out or in, but I was having trouble visualizing it so I did some research. Most of the pictures and more in-depth descriptions I found ended up looking like these:


They all seemed to agree that the tlics looked like an enlarged centipede mixed with something else, though some had them looking more like dragons. Throughout all of these there was one thing in common: they all seemed incredibly terrifying. I don't know about you but if one of those came up to me--even if I knew them-- it would scare the crap out of me and I can imgine ever laying in their "cage.". But in Bloodchild everybody seemed either resentful or in love, nobody was scared of them, though it could be argues that the brother's hate came from a place of fear. Which leads me to wonder have they grown accustomed to the looks and actions of the Tilcs or is the fear just laying low in all the Terrans.

Neuromancer

        Throughout the Neuromancer a common theme we see is drugs. In the beginning there is no question as to if Case was addicted to drugs or not. Rivera is constantly in need of drugs in order to function. And Molly uses drugs to push through pain.
         While reading this book I couldn't help but wonder if the idea of drugs went beyond the most surface level sense--people simply taking drugs-- to more of a symbol. I think that they people in the Neuromancer also represent drugs.
         My hint to this was Molly. During the story the way Case treats Molly seems a lot like a drug to me. He feels like he needs her, really enjoys her presence, and she gives him a few small gifts like the ninja star (the same was drugs could give you the "small gift" of a high). But in the end she leaves him and hurts him. This also explains how quickly he grew fond of Molly, much like how Case would grow to love a drug quickly he grew to like Molly.
       When Case first encounters Molly he was addicted to drugs and trying to find something that would make him feel. She acted as a new drug, something he could care about. Though they started out as just friends with benefits it seemed to grow more romantic. This is just like how you could start off using a drug just for fun, but then grow to need and and depend on it. When Molly left was right when he decided to start a new life and ditch drugs.
       The name Molly also hints towards a drug since Molly is also the street name for a very pure form of methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA (basically super concentrated Ecstasy). In the 1980's there was a spike in the use of Molly and it became very popular to people to take at parties. Sine the Neuromancer was released in 1984, right in the middle of the spike, Molly could have been named after the drug.
         I think that Molly is the Neuromancer is a symbol for the drug culture at the time: appears nice and strong, but in the end it will hurt you and leave you.
       

Google Soul

         We gave you faster internet, google glasses, and a great navigation system. Now, we're here to change the medical world entirely. Do you have a friend of family member who is on the Asperger's syndrome? Do you simply have trouble reading people's emotions? Or are you just curious about the world around you? No matter the situation Google Soul is here for you. Google Soul comes in three different models: MD Google Soul, Google Soul 1, and Google Soul Xtreme.

          MD Google Soul is sold with a prescription only. Specially designed to help children and young adults who have Asperger's syndrome. WHen being worn the glasses use a special facial reading device to pick up the emotion of people around it and relay that information the the wearer. The glasses then use this information to give the wearer hints on how to interact with each person and keeps them updated on social cues. The glasses work with the wearer to figure how they learn est and what they need the most help with. With a prescription these glasses can be bought at your local pharmacy for $2,500.

          Google Soul 1s are the most basic and affordable of the glasses, for just $1,500. Google Soul 1 allow the wearer to see basic emotions (love, hate, happiness, despair, and anger) and who the emotions are directed towards. The emotions are shown by coloring in peach person with each colors designated color (love-pink, hate-red, happiness-yellow, despair-blue, and anger-black) and a thin line drawn to who they are feeling the emotion towards.

          Google Soul Xtreme has all the same features of Google Soul 1, but with every emotion you can think of mixed in for just $2,000. Instead of each person simply being colored in one color they show many different emotions (each one labeled). In order to keep this from getting to confusing when the glasses are first put on they appear the same as Google Soul 1, but by focusing in on one person all of the new features can be shown.

          Google Soul 1, MD Google Soul, and Google Soul Xtreme come in a red, black, deep blue, or marbled and in a variety of styles. Don't hesitate to buy yours at your local pharmacy now!

Dekard

After watching this movie I was left with onr question: was Dekard a replicant? First, as a disclosure, I missed like a good 45% of this movie cause I was called out of class (Me. Bergeron and I are sorta related apparently!), so I don't have all of the info.

I personally think that Dekard is a replicant for these reasons:
1) We don't see anything about his life before the movie.
          Replicants are given memories of other people, so him remembering was he used to so would make sense, but in order to prove that he's human we would need to see real memories.
2) The unicorn
          The only way people would know about his dreams is if he was a replicant.
3) He has one purpose
          The replicants are made for one purpose and one purpose only (though it varies for replicant to replicant) and Dekard Dekard is only shown to do one thing--fight replicants.
4) Dekard shows little to no emotions
          Dekard-as with many replicants can't show emotion and when he does it seems forced and doesn't appear to make sense.

Also I just want to mention how touching the replicants speech was at the end about how he needs to know how it feels to live in constant fear. He manages to humanize the replicants.

The Turning Point

As I stated in my last blog post I don't quite get the hype behind The X-Files, but I do think there is something to be said for the third season. Since I only watched the the third season in full and quick overviews of the first two seasons I can't be sure of this, but it seems to me that the third season marks where the X-files really becomes the X-files everybody today loves.

In the overviews of the first two seasons the show seems to skip around a lot and not have a solid plotline. If this youtuber, N3RD, is able to totally summarize the first two seasons in detail in about 3 minutes each it shows that it isn't that complicated with a solid plotline. In season 3 there is a solid plotline with semi in depth charaters, I have trouble following it, but it is there. In this seaason we get more of a look at the charaters' families, such as Scully's mom and sister, while in the first two seasons mainly what we see is a sister (who turns out to be an alien clone). In the season you can follow what is happening and who the characters are, whereas the fist two seasons have more of a "monster of the week" feel.

To help my understanding of the show I watched the last episode of season 2. In this last episode it seems like the end of a season, like the story can end there. The last scene is "the cigarette smoking man" burning Mulder in a boxcar. I think that this was the sceenwriters allowing the series to start all over again. This continues in the first episode of the 3rd season, which, if shown separately, could be the beginning of a new season. Everything from the past seasons that you need to known is covered within the first episode and you can easily catch on. I think that the writers realized that the first two seasons weren't what watchers wanted, so they allowed it to be reborn.

I think that season 3 allowed to series to start over and become a show that was pone of a kind in the 90's. It was a sci-fi that wasn't totally heavy science and even followed the plotline of another story, Sherlock. While I don't particuraly enjoy the series I do appretiate it for what it is, a ground breaking science fiction show, and I believe that that all started in season 3.

X-files--sci-fi or just fiction?

   I think that the X-files slips in between science fiction and fiction throughout season 3, but for the most part it's fantasy. I think it scratches the border of science fiction. During the season  they discover many supernatural things, such as aliens, but they never really take it into the science aspect. For the most part they try to dive into "why aliens?" or like "what is happening and why?" but a big part of the series is that it is never really answered. By trying to create cliff hangers I feel like they are actually taking away from the science aspect of the show.

   I feel like the science aspect of this is a missed opportunity. They could make the show so cool if they explained more advanced technology that the aliens had. Or if they had just gone more in depth to any of the science they mentioned in the show. I know I might get a lot of backlash from saying this, but I don't get all the hype around this show. I see all the potential this show could have had, but I've just had trouble getting into it. I don't see the show as having a strong plot line and I really have trouble getting attached to the characters, and I feel like I don't have much to say about it even after watching almost an entire season. Overall I don't think that it is a bad show by any stretch of the imagination, I just don't see why it had such a following.