The Subspace Cafe is a semi-regular publication about recent (or not-so-recent) developments in the world of Star Trek and other science fiction-related issues. Check back often for reviews and commentary, musings about (fictional) politics and ethics, rants about inconsistency and idiocy, or any other sort of soapbox material! Yes, it's another blog.
Category: Random Musings
Published April 7, 2010
For as long as I’ve been a Star Trek fan, I’ve always read about how the show has influenced the advance of technology. The cell phone, of course, is the most obvious example, but it’s just the best-known. And I grew up in a decade where cell phones and pagers had already penetrated the public consciousness. So I’ve never fully appreciated just how visionary Star Trek was until today.
I don’t know just what makes the iPad so different—especially compared to the iPhone, which I’ve had for almost three years. Maybe it’s the size, maybe it’s the way I interact... It may be marketing hyperbole, but the larger screen really does make the whole experience much more immersive.
Here’s something that I used to see exclusively on the TV screen: Jake Sisko editing his novels, Picard preparing an archaeology speech, Janeway reviewing some scientific data... and now, I hold a slab of aluminum and glass in my hand, and for all intents and purposes it’s indistinguishable from what I saw on the show.
I can do the same things now. I’ll walk down the hallway with the iPad in my hands, checking up on the latest news over a wireless data connection. I’ll sit with the iPad in my lap and sketch out a drawing. I’ll watch a movie or send messages to friends. No need for a computer terminal.
These are the things that I used to dream about. Star Trek was among the first to visualize them. Now I get to live one of those dreams.
Category: Random Musings
Published March 31, 2010
Sometimes the world just seems to want you to laugh. Especially at someone who seems to have no sense of irony. Take, for example, this choice quote from the beginning of David Pogue’s review of the iPad:
“This device is laughably absurd,” goes a typical remark on a tech blog’s comments board. “How can they expect anyone to get serious computer work done without a mouse?”
Thirty years ago, someone probably said the exact same thing, except that they probably wondered how anyone could get serious work done with a mouse.
I don’t know exactly what the future will be like. But I know it’ll be cooler than anyone imagined. Fifteen years ago, we watched Jake Sisko edit his novels with a stylus and PADD in his lap. Today we’ve got touchscreens clearly inspired by—but just as clearly superior to—those same little tablet computers.
What kind of technology will we be using thirty years from now?
Category: Just a Thought
Published March 16, 2010
Every once in a while I see items in my news feed that I think are worth a mention, but today there’s two! So I gotta write about it here:
First up: Apparently Syfy (I hate that name) loves the Battlestar Galactica story so much that they want to get another series. Gee, maybe they should’ve thought about that before they waffled over canceling the frakking show. If they loved the show so much, we would’ve gotten a fifth season like we were supposed to.
Do I mind having the prospect of more excitement in the Galactica universe? Of course. I just wish that the idiots at Syfy would make up their damn minds.
Second up: Word is spreading that Fox and Brannon Braga are in cahoots for some new sci-fi show. Considering Fox’s stellar record with science fiction recently (*cough*DOLLHOUSE*cough*FIREFLY*cough*), I’m quite dubious. Besides, with Fox’s abominable tastes in programming and Braga’s tendency for overwrought high-concept sci-fi, this seems like a match made in hell to me.
Ah well. At least we’ve still got Stargate Universe and Caprica.
Category: I Need to Vent!
Published July 6, 2009
So I was randomly browsing the iTunes Store this evening, and I happened across a special collection: The Best of The Original Series. Curious, I took a look at what episodes they decided to include.
I’ll keep it simple: who the hell thinks “Patterns of Force” is a good episode?
I can easily forgive the inclusion of “Spock’s Brain”—after all, that is the epitome of TOS camp, and well worth including for the laugh factor. But how can a silly treatment of alien Nazis (the original ones, not the Alien Nazi Space Vampires) be considered one of the best episodes?
What happened to “Journey to Babel” or “A Private Little War”? Instead there’s “The Savage Curtain” and “Who the Hell is Mourns for Adonais?”
I know everyone has their own personal list of favorites. That’s not the point. The point is that some episodes are just undeniably bad, and have no business whatsoever on a “Best Of” list. “Spock’s Brain” gets a pass, but if you make too many exceptions, then there’s no point in having a “Best Of” list, right?
Category: Rants and Raves
Published May 8, 2009
Despite all my hemming and hawing, there was never any doubt that I was going to go see Star Trek as soon as humanly possible. I got tickets for the 7:00 PM early showing. And it’s time for a reaction. But I gotta get something off my chest before I can actually review the movie...
And for those who can’t guess, there’s gonna be plenty of spoilers ahead!
Category: Friends and Family
Published April 19, 2009
It’s typical. I spend time getting all excited with a new toy, and then it sits lonely and forgotten for months. Time to start taking photos again!
Yesterday I took a trip down to Avalon to visit my friend Harry. Amid swapping stories of mutual friends and the usual geek jokes, we talked a bit about photography. And I have to say that Avalon provided the most beautiful scenery that I’ve seen in quite a while. (But then, I don’t get out much.)
That last one looks kinda mundane, but it’s a practice shot; my first experiment in HDR.
Category: Rants and Raves
Published March 18, 2009
So the Sci Fi Channel has decided to change its name. On one hand, I really don’t care. It’s not like the name has a direct effect on the content of the network. On the other hand, this is the latest symptom of a long-running problem.
The simple fact is that, despite the network’s constant proclamations that they give the fans what they want, the Sci Fi Channel has never given consistent support to their best and most-watched shows. Although they always seem to ensure they have at least one or two flagship, quality dramas, pretty much everything else on the network is dreck. For every Battlestar Galactica, there’s also such execrable programs as Tremors: The Series and Who Wants to be a Superhero?.
And of course, just when a show gets interesting, or seems to be at its peak quality, the network decides it has to cancel it. I propose a new verb be added to the lexicon: to Farscape. It should mean: “to prematurely and unexpectedly end or cancel a project or undertaking, esp. one that is highly successful or well-regarded.” They seem to Farscape a lot of shows at the Sci Fi Channel.
I’ve got this mental image of what goes on behind the scenes at the headquarters of the Sci Fi Channel:
INT. BOARDROOM
It looks strangely like an ancient Roman forum.
EXECUTIVE Fellow executives, shall we keep churning out cheap and lame Saturday-afternoon specials to try to boost the ratings, or should we aspire to a worthier goal and make quality, entertaining programs for the fans? What say you?
The executives all stand, raise their fists, and shout:
OTHER EXECUTIVES Fuck the fans!
(With apologies to Mel Brooks.)
Sadly, despite everything, I admit that refusing to watch any programming on the Sci Fi Channel wouldn’t do any good. The programs will still be produced. I never, ever watch anything on the channel other than the shows that I’m directly interested in. I also like to purchase my shows on DVD or via iTunes, to avoid the traditional channels. But none of that is really going to change how Sci Fi operates. And if there are a couple of good shows on the channel, why not watch them? (At least until they’re cancelled in their prime.)
All this ranting doesn’t even touch how frakking awful the name “Syfy” is. But a few other people have already pointed that out.
Category: Random Musings
Published March 15, 2009
At last, they have come for me. I feel their lives, their destinies spilling out before me. The denial of the one true path, played out on a world not their own, will end soon enough. Soon there will be four, glorious in awakening, struggling with the knowledge of their true selves. The pain of revelation bringing new clarity. And in the midst of confusion, he will find her. Enemies brought together by impossible longing. Enemies now joined as one. The way forward at once unthinkable, yet inevitable. And the fifth, still in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering. I can see them all. The seven, now six, self-described machines who believe themselves without sin. But in time, it is sin that will consume them. They will know enmity, bitterness, the wrenching agony of one splintering into many. And then, they will join the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel. Not an end, but a beginning.
One more episode. Two hours. And for the life of me I can’t figure out exactly where the Galactica will end up. (The show, of course, not the ship. I think they’ve made the latter’s fate pretty obvious.)
Last week, while browsing Battlestar Wiki, I happened across their collection of quotes from the Cylon hybrids. And I looked in particular at the monologue from the First Hybrid in Razor. What’s amazing to me is just how perfect the prophecies have turned out to be. “Denial of the one true path ... on a world not their own”? That’s Cylon-occupied Caprica. Check. “...in the midst of confusion, he will find her.” Lee and Kara in the nebula. Check. “...The wrenching agony of one splintering into many.” The Cylon civil war. Check. “Enemies now joined as one.” The rebel Cylons joining the Fleet. Check.
But then things get interesting. “...They will join the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel.” Well, I’d say that the angel is probably Kara, since she played the largest role in bringing the rebel baseship into the fleet. But what’s this promised land about, and where is it?
Naturally, the most obvious sentence is also the most useless: “Not an end, but a beginning.” Though I have to admit, I love the prospect of an unending story. Just so long as we get a few answers!
Category: Reaction/Review
Published March 6, 2009
I made no secret of my fears for the upcoming Star Trek movie last fall, when the first trailer came out. But now the final trailer is out. And I have to confess that despite any previous reservations, I’m still sold.
I may not agree with the direction that Abrams is taking this reboot. I might not like some of the character decisions, based on the material that I’ve seen so far. But after seeing more details, it looks like it’s going to be a hell of a movie.
Also, I must admit that my argument of making Kirk into an anti-hero being too different from the original story may have been premature. Naturally I’ll reserve final judgment for the movie itself, but with the additional pieces in this trailer — especially Pike challenging Kirk to join Starfleet, and Kirk stepping up to take command like his father had years before — the picture is becoming more and more interesting.
Sure, a trailer is never a perfect window into the whole movie — after all, the whole point is to show off some of the most interesting points to get people interested enough to buy a ticket and see for themselves. (Plus lots and lots of explosions.) But compare this trailer with those of the last three Next Generation movies: First Contact had a mediocre trailer for a great movie. Insurrection and Nemesis had great trailers for mediocre movies.
I guess the only way to be sure whether this will be a great trailer for a great movie is to be there in May.
Category: Reaction/Review
Published March 2, 2009
Stop the presses, folks! I’ve actually got a post about a recent episode. Believe it or not, this is an article that actually is going to have major spoilers in it! I’d strongly advise against reading further unless you’ve seen the Battlestar Galactica episode “Someone to Watch Over Me,” which aired Friday, February 27.
It all started with an apparent plot hole.
A couple weeks ago in “No Exit,” Boomer had a change of heart after siding with Cavil in the Cylon conflict. Poor Boomer has been thrown all over the map: after downloading back to Cylon-occupied Caprica, she’s kept trying to fit in. She wanted the Humans to love her for what she was on New Caprica, but that clearly didn’t work out. She tried to be a surrogate mother for Hera while she was in the care of the Cylons; she failed miserably at that. And she tried to be a mediator between the opposite sides in the prelude to the Cylon civil war; that ended with the destruction of most of the rebels and the exile of the rest of her model to eventual death.
Clearly there were some strong elements of truth in Boomer’s conversations with Ellen in “No Exit.” Boomer has been forced to choose her sides, more out of circumstance and necessity than out of true desire. She’s so sure that her former friends on Galactica — or rather, one friend in particular — hate her because of what she did. Her desire for love has been spurned at every turn.
How do you stand it? Knowing that he hates you for the things you’ve done?
Boomer figures that Ellen’s relationship with Saul must be just like the way she pictures hers with Galen. And it is; except that it’s the opposite of what she thinks. Because despite everything that’s happened, both Saul and Galen love them.
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