Siskoid's Blog of Geekery

Sexy Kitty Week

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

As I mentioned in yesterday's This Week in Geek, I'll be on tour with my improv troupe part of the week. It's in a nearby region, so I'll be in and out of town, but I don't know if I'll have the time or energy to generate much content. Yeah, it's time for an extended Cat of the Geek Week. To make it a little more Google-friendly, all 5 "cats" will be sexy girls, some feline, some only kitty-themed.

Gotta cater to my demographic (what a terrible pun). For the ladies out there, I know I owe you for this. Don't worry, I'll find some way you can collect in the near future. So without further ado...

Sexy Cat of the Geek #33: Pussy Galore
[]
Name: Pussy Galore
Stomping Grounds: A haystack in Goldfinger
Side: Evil then Good
Breed: All woman
Cat Powers: Immune to charm. Judo. Piloting.
Skills: Eat 3, Sleep 6, Mischief 8, Wit 8, Making sweet love under a parachute 10
Cat Weaknesses: Not as immune to Bond's charms as she would like.

Star Trek 1081: Brother's Keeper

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1081. Brother's Keeper

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual #5, DC Comics, November 1994

CREATORS: Howard Weinstein (writer), Rachel Ketchum, Bob Smith, and Charles Barnett III (artists)

STARDATE: 47512.3 (between Sub Rosa and Lower Decks)

PLOT: On its way to bring an admiral to a peace conference, the Enterprise stops by a damaged station sitting in front of space-time anomaly. Geordi brings over a team to investigate and stays a little too long. When the anomaly emits a burst of energy, Data is damaged, perhaps irreparably, as is the Enterprise. Geordi becomes obsessed with saving him, going as far as trying to return to the station for whatever data might be in its computers, risking a court-martial. In the end, even the rushed admiral agrees Data must be saved, and a crew manages to get the station's computer core just before it is destroyed. Data is saved by the information.

CONTINUITY: Reg Barclay appears. Geordi has a Sherlock Holmes-related dream in which Moriarty and his lady friend appear (Elementary Dear Data, Ship in a Bottle). Picard runs his equestrian holodeck program (Starship Mine).

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Geordi shouldn't have accepted that invitation to Deanna's girls' night out.
REVIEW: I've been a strong critic of Howard Weinstein's writing, but Brother's Keeper features none of his usual tics and is a pretty effective Geordi story. On the series, I never managed to connect with Geordi. He was Data's straight man and none of the stories focusing on him specifically were much good. Here, the friendship that defines him is put at risk, and consequently, the story is charged with emotion. Weinstein even reverses the usual plot point about a pushy admiral who might want to take command of the ship. The art is better than usual and the characters all look and sound like they should. And great final scene, making something inevitable a little more special.

This Week in Geek (16-22/11/09)

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Buys

The theme of this week's buys is people fighting the supernatural on tv. I got the Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 and for really, really cheap, all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I've probably watched less than a season of Buffy over the years, but I've never disliked it, and recent Whedon discoveries like Firefly and Dr. Horrible made me jump at the chance of getting all seven seasons essentially for the price of a single season of Star Trek. Why not.

"Accomplishments"

DVDs: Flipped Spooks/MI-5 Series 1, and even with only 6 episodes, I thought it was an engrossing success. After that shocker in episode 2, I was hooked for life. As the series is still going on, I think it's gonna cost me a pretty penny to get up to date. And it was lovely to catch Hugh Laurie (House) and Naoko Mori (Torchwood) in "before they were stars (to me)" moments. There are tons of extras on the discs, with clever "you are the spy" menus that make them all seem like Easter eggs (I eventually found that the skip button could release me from watching the overlong animations). In addition to commentary tracks, there are all sorts of featurettes, interviews and hidden credits (the show airs without credits... ooh, secretive!).

Our Hong Kong movie showing this week was Infernal Affairs 3, at once an immediate prequel and sequel to the original film, whereas IA2 took place so long ago, it really just stands on its own. Tony Leung and Andy Lau are back and in great form, though sadly, the characters of Wong and Sam are very minor players this time (which is fine, given they got starring roles in the previous installment. People talk about diminishing returns, but there are still some great scenes and awesome stylistic touches (the dual psych appointment for example). The DVD does have fewer features though, with no commentary and only a short (but good) featurette to call its own.

Big Finish Doctor Who audios: My, how that ipod is proving useful! Wanting to find out a little more about new companion Hex, I decided to listen to a few more 7th Doctor stories. The first of these was the quite strange Dreamtime by Simon Forward, which made impressive use of Australian mythology. I didn't always understand what was going on, but strong sound design and sufficiently interesting images made it a winner overall. It basically starts with the TARDIS landing on Ayres Rock flying through space on a small asteroid and goes on from there. Good because it was so unusual, though I was disappointed the "clutch" aliens weren't actually the Chelonians from the New Adventures (they're Forward's creations from The Sandman, which I skipped, but will go back to soon).

Then came Live 34 by James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown, one of those audios that actually uses the audio format in a clever way. Gone is the Doctor Who theme, and instead we get a series of radio broadcasts (on Live 34) that tell the story of impending revolution on a colony world through news items, interviews, and investigative reports. It's a fun experience that unfortunately (and perhaps necessarily) devolves into long exposition in the last chapter. Still, lots of nice touches, from sound dropping out to censored words, as well as a real live news presenter lending his voice to the faux radio station. As someone who used to produce similar radio news programs, I can vouch for the fact it actually SOUNDS like such a broadcast (until the last bit at least) and I could tell just what was going on behind the scenes in the studio just by experience.

I don't know what kind of episode Edward Young's Night Thoughts would have been on tv, but it was commissioned for Season 27, which never happened. I guess it would have turned out something like Ghost Light. While I appreciate the attempt at a moody, thoughtful horror story, I've got to call this one a failure. Despite the atmosphere, nothing really happens for two chapters, and then the whole thing turns into melodrama that had me turning my eyes into my head. The only thing worse than the ham-handed revelations was the time travel physics on show that are so far past nonsense that they plunge head first into drivel. But at least something happens in the last half.

Simon Guerrier's The Settling is Hex's first foray into history and of course, he tries to change it by preventing a massacre. It's a great vehicle for his character, using his compassion and self-doubt to good effect. And is that a crush on Ace he's nursing? Fun dynamic. While I'm a fan of pure historicals, and I like that the audios do routinely go down that route, as a North American, this one lost me in parts. I'm afraid Oliver Cromwell is not as big a historical figure here as he is in the UK. Made me learn more about history, which I suppose is the whole point! Also, top marks on the very evocative music. Very nice.

Switching gears, I listened to The Sandman, Simon Forward's story that ties into Dreamtime (yeah, I got them in reverse). Though it has an intriguing premise, with the 6th Doctor consciously being an entire species' bogeyman, the various aliens' voices are just plain annoying. For the same reason that I find Dalek stories a little trying - screaming distorted voices - I had trouble with this one. Anneke Wills (60s companion Polly) plays one of those voices, but you can't tell it's her, nullifying any cool factor her participation might have generated. Good ideas, good imagery, irritating execution.

Hyperion to a Satyr entries this week include:
Act I Scene 2 - Ghost Stories according to the text

New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 31 new cards this week, completing the Adventures in History set with cards from The Time Meddler and The War Games among others. That tally also includes cards from Relative Dimensions 5, my annual "boutique product" featuring cards from extracanonical sources like novels and audios. Here's Hex:
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Doctor Who's Character Sheet is up for discussion on Hero Press. Make sure to click the link to the pdf to read all the wonderful "Traits" your favorite Time Lord has. This is making more and more excited about the upcoming role-playing game!

Star Trek 1080: Some Assembly Required

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:43:00 +0000

I'll be going on tour with my improv troupe this week, so I had to do a lot of work to get the week's regular blog posts ready. With too little time to read and review the scheduled TOS novel, I was down to once again do a quick riff on a non-fiction book. But I've played that dirty trick too many times lately. That's why I thought I might just skip to the next SCE ebook. These are short reads and at least keep the fiction rolling.

1080. Some Assembly Required

PUBLICATION: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #12, Pocket eBooks, February 2002 (collected into print with S.C.E. ebooks #9-12 as Some Assembly Required in April 2003)

CREATORS: Scott Ciencin and Dan Jolley

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last novel)

PLOT: The planet Keorga just acquired a second-hand planetary computer with an indecipherable user's manual to help protect them from cataclysm-level tectonic shifts. Bart (the linguist), Carol (the cultural expert) and Soloman (the Bynar computer whiz) are sent to help. They find a planet on the brink of disaster and a culture of wonderful artists with an unusually literal mind. Their computer is more harmful than helpful, and turns out to be "testing" them. In phase 2, it starts creating energy constructs pulled from the Keorgans' subconscious. The team deduces the truth: The computer is interfacing with them and giving them tools to learn anything they put their minds to. Soloman interfaces with the machine and tricks it into giving him a planetary magnetic tool to shift the tectonic plates back, but the computer rebels and attracts the asteroids he actually said he wanted to study. Before they hit the city, Carol interfaces with it and is hypnotically regressed by Bart to relive her childhood. Detecting the tool user's immaturity, the computer engages failsafes and returns the asteroids to space. Carol "recovers" slowly, acting out a childhood she never really had, and the Federation pledges to helps the Keorgans by lending them the kind of metaphorical fiction that will give them an understanding of their new computer.

CONTINUITY: None.

DIVERGENCES: None.

SCREENSHOT OF THE WEEK
REVIEW: Bart and Carol are quite the comedic double act in this, and that comedy is well balanced against real drama and epic-level story elements. The real focus is on Carol, a character that hasn't gotten a lot of development yet, and it does her a world of good. She's not that likable at first, but by the end, you're definitely on her side. She's all the more human for it. And while I do like the engineers, their dialogue does tend to spin into technobabble. The cultural experts speak my language for a change, and the Keorgans make for an interesting and fun ethnological puzzle. They're really the opposite of the Children of Tama from Darmok. And there are actually two cultural puzzles here, as the computer is an AI from another mindset entirely. It all leads to a huge climax. Great fun.

Next for the SBG Book Club: Trek to Madworld (TOS), A Call to Darkness (TNG), Warped (DS9), No Surrender (SCE).

Spaceknight Saturdays: Versus Gay Pah Ree

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Here we go. The penultimate chapter of a story starring Spaceknights working for an Empire that looks nothing like the Galador from Rom, fighting Dire Wraiths that look nothing like the Dire Wraiths from Rom, recently escaped from Limbo though they never call it that... You know the drill by now. Why the words "Limbo" and "Neutralizer" aren't allowed is a mystery to me. Or maybe Starlin has something against Caribbean dance competitions.

In the wake of their battle with a Deathwing, the Spaceknights try to go back to Galador to get the Neutralizer and fight back. What they don't know is that it's apparently been destroyed by a saboteur's bomb (don't believe it for a second).
To make things worse, the Dire Wraith(s) have turned two more planets against Galador, including the Pah Ree who originated the bomb in the previous panel. The Pah Ree. And Limbo sounds too stupid, I suppose. It's very distracting, but then, Starlin revels in distracting me:
Advice: If you're going to replay Arthurian legend in your space opera, don't have the characters talk about Arthurian legend. There's hitting the nail too squarely on the head, and then there's THIS.

So the Spaceknights's armors are kind of cracked and dented from their last battle and they're asked to stand down. The Colonial Vanguard, an army of Spaceknight wash-outs will carry on. How this is considered strategically sound when the most powerful weapons of the Galadorian Empire have just had their metal butts handed to them, I don't know.
Yeah, that's what I said. Tristan is convinced that if they do take part in the battle, he can lead them to the Dire Wraith using his precog abilities. Why exactly the Knights feel the need to patch their brains into Tristan using Scanner's telepathic abilities, risking her brain damage, isn't clear. They just stay behind Tristan anyway. How can they concentrate under the full brunt of his emo genes?
And he leads them right to... the Wraithknights!
Ok, let's see that battle then be done with it.

Star Trek 1079: The Truth Elusive

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:34:00 +0000

1079. The Truth Elusive

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #65, DC Comics, November 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Deryl Skelton (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: Our Geordi is a bit smarter than alt-Geordi and turns the tables on him quickly. The rookie on his team figures out they ARE in the alternate universe thanks to tricorder readings and Geordi then gives alt-Geordi his runabout so he can destroy the rogue star. Before the anomalies responsible for bringing them there disappear, Geordi fixes the alt-runabout and tries to retrace his steps. Meanwhile, the Ferengi leave as soon as they arrive and Picard figures out the Romulan scientist's plan. First, he now knows he was telling the truth about the no-doubt profitable dilithium virus, so he calls the Romulans and Cardassians' bluff and they leave before causing a diplomatic incident. Then, he confronts the scientist about a deal he made to sell the virus through the Ferengi. His plan exposed, he asks for asylum and will be put to work finding a cure in case the secret ever gets out.

CONTINUITY: None.

DIVERGENCES: See previous issues.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Shut up, he doesn't want to hear it.
REVIEW: The ending of this arc hinges a bit to much on leaping to conclusions to be truly satisfying. Picard pieces together everything based on the Ferengi's behavior, and that's a fair deduction. That the Galor and Warbird leave without any fuss is a disappointing as it is fortuitous however. The rookie's conclusion that they must be in the alternate universe, however, is based on technobabble and frankly poor use of the wasted "Darwin's Planet" concept. I liked Geordi being shown to be an able leader, peacemaker and engineer, but otherwise... meh.

Kung Fu Fridays - Asian Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:13:00 +0000

Just spoiling the poster for my Kung Fu Fridays through December and January. We'll be missing some dates because, well, the holidays (but what kind of holidays will they BE without Kung Fu, I ask you), but that's still 7 full nights of Asian cinema in my living room. The first Friday of December will be a Best Of night, featuring the best fights we've seen since the beginning. Fun for those who couldn't make it every time. After that, a special theme: Asian Tour.

I start from pre-Handover Hong Kong and make my way south, then north, through various Asian countries until I hit modern China. Here's what's on tap:

Hong Kong - Last Hurrah for Chivalry: An early foray into wuxia from director John Woo, back when Shaw Brothers studio was still big,

Thailand - The Protector: Save the elephant! With this poster's star, Tony Jaa.

Vietnam - The Rebel: I know almost nothing about this film except there appears to be a lot of kicks to the face in it. We like kicks to the face.

Japan - Sanjuro: A little Kurosawa is definitely indicated.

Korea - The City of Violence: Lots of "kung fu", not a lot of "gun fu" in this line-up. City of Violence should remedy that.

Mainland China - Curse of the Golden Flower: We end where we began, with Chinese wuxia. Plus: Chow Yun Fat's amazing 'stache!

That's this winter's KFF line-up. People in my entourage can expect amazing action. People on the internet can expect weekly reviews.

Star Trek 1078: The Deceivers

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1078. The Deceivers

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #64, DC Comics, October 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Deryl Skelton (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: On "Darwin's Planet", Geordi speaks to his alternate universe self. Alt-Geordi and his crew crashed there on a mission to destroy a small rogue sun from destroying the system. He wants our Geordi's runabout to complete it. Geordi won't let him because he doesn't know WHICH universe they're now in, and destroying the stable second sun in his would cause terrible destruction. Alt-Geordi is forced to betray his other self and commandeer the runabout. Meanwhile, the Cardassians ask Picard to give them the Romulan scientist, and then the Romulans arrive and do the same. Each side accuses the Romulan of different atrocities, so Picard doesn't know WHO to believe. And then the Ferengi arrive...

CONTINUITY: The alt-Geordi's Starfleet pin is the striped design first seen in Future Imperfect.

DIVERGENCES: See previous issue.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Holy fighting photocopies, Batman!
REVIEW: In the second chapter, both heroes (Geordi and Picard) get their moral dilemmas handed to them, with some low-level action occurring near the end as alt-Geordi makes his move and Riker boards the Cardassian derelict looking for clues. With four major powers and an alternate universe in play, there's plenty of coolness to go around, and the art stands up rather well. Skelton is becoming more skilled at his particular, collage, style with every issue.

V for Visas

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Episode 3: A Bright New Day

Don't know how long I'll be keeping tabs on this show for the blog. I'll be watching it, but writing about it? Not sure. The biggest part of the reason is that NOT ENOUGH HAPPENS. Or really, NOT ENOUGH HAPPENS FOR ME. And it's totally my bias for BBC and HBO productions that keeps seasons between 6 and 13 episodes, fully packing each hour (yes, full hours!) with CHARACTER and STORY. Now it's not really V's fault. It's just following the American model, losing 20 minutes to commercials and mini-cliffhangers going into those commercial breaks. Furthermore, it's following the "deep mystery built for DVD" trend started by "24", ending each episode on a small twist that makes you want to play the next episode ("just one more"). But on a weekly basis, it's not quite as engaging. A week passes, and I forgot what intrigued me at the end of the last ep.

If V is to play out over 4 seasons as planned, the first season will probably just build the Resistance. The fight begins in Season 2, the Vs win over Season 3, and humanity's inevitable comeback occurs in Season 4. But at 20-something episodes per season, none of that is compacted. In episode 2, our good sleeper sought out another sleeper only to get whacked on the head. This episode, same thing happens. Not exactly the same result, but do we need to see each recruitment attempt? The answer is yes, because we've got all those episodes to fill.

I'm also missing out on the Visitor's alienness. What kind of culture do they have? Right now, they've taken human names and use concepts such as the Fifth Column, which are decidedly humanocentric. I understand the need to keep secrets, this early in the game, but even when they're alone together, they keep things close to the vest, only a sometimes sufficient reptilian performance supporting the scenes. And yet, I admire their media games, staging events to help their P.R., that's all very well done. And even among the V, you can't trust the bad guys to necessarily be bad. Looks like both sides are manipulating humanity. But aside from the high tech elements, this could be a conspiracy story without the aliens.

Did anyone else have sound problems in one of the acts? All I had was the soundtrack and folley, but no dialogue (or dim, very distorted dialogue). Rather bizarre. Thank the Lords of Geekery for Close Captioning. And speaking of production problems, I think the creators missed out on giving their episodes titles that start with the letter V, something I have availed myself of on this blog. A simple thing, easy to miss or to find unworkable over the series' projected ±100 episodes, but I don't particularly care for the titles they DID come up with. In this one, the Vs get Visas. Writes itself.

Star Trek 1077: A Matter of Conscience...

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1077. A Matter of Conscience...

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #63, DC Comics, September 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Deryl Skelton (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: While Geordi, Troi and a small crew take off in a runabout to study to quickly evolving "Darwin's Planet", the Enterprise-D prepares to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone. They come across a derelict Cardassian transport from which they beam a lone surviving Romulan, a scientist who developped a dilithium virus that could cripple the Federation. He is defecting rather than see his weapon used, but now the Cardassians want him back. Meanwhile, the runabout hits a magnetic field at Darwin's that makes it crash. On the planet surface is an even more damaged copy of their runabout, and then a Starfleet away team with its own Geordi...

CONTINUITY: None.

DIVERGENCES: Ro Laren really shouldn't be at the helm in Season 7 (Preemptive Strike). The Cardassian transport looks like no Cardassian ship ever seen.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Some pretty poor piloting.
REVIEW: First off, a few words about Skelton's art. His poses are still awkward, and there's a great deal of what appears to be photocopied likenesses and ship/equipment technical drawings. However, a thicker line makes the art almost stylized, and though the backgrounds are pulled from reference, they're backgrounds! It makes everything a lot sharper and palatable. And not a moment too soon because this new storyline has some scope. A major Romulan attempt at destabilizing the Federation, Cardassian involvement (oh those rascally spoonheads), and in the B-story, some kind of temporal paradox or parallel universe story in the offing. Looks fun!

Cat of the Geek #32: Whizzy

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Name: Whizzy
Stomping Grounds: Action Comics #287
Side: Good
Breed: American shorthair mutant, 30th-century descended of the original Streaky
Cat Powers: All of Streaky powers, plus telepathy.
Skills: Eat 5, Sleep 3, Mischief 3, Wit 9, Manipulate Supergirl 5 (it's genetic)
Cat Weaknesses: Litter problems (going by the name only). The Collar of Needless Exposition.

Star Trek 1076: The Victim

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1076. The Victim

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #62, DC Comics, August 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Rachel Ketchum and Rick Burchett (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: Without knowing how she got there, Troi is embroiled in a scenario in which a psychotic Tharkkite hunts her and tries to kill her as he apparently killed other members of the crew. When she finally gets her hands on a phaser, it is stuck on a kill setting, which she cannot bring herself to use. She then awakens in a lab where she learns that she was a murder suspect on a planet where they project scenarios into your mind to see if you can kill or not. The real killer gets away from the guards, but Troi talks him down.

CONTINUITY: None.

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Troi, just trying to fit in.
REVIEW: Reminiscent of DS9's Hard Time (though a couple years earlier), The Victim makes me realize I was a little starved for proper backgrounds. Rachel Ketchum, whom I generally liked on the TOS book, takes care of the art and does a better job than Skelton has. Her environments are alive and colorful, and her Troi pretty and charming. The story itself gets mired in exposition near the end, and you know, it's all a dream, but it's still a pleasant enough action vehicle for Troi.

Time Capsule: Swing with Scooter

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:52:00 +0000

How do you capitalize at once on the Archie explosion and Beatlemania? No, the answer isn't Teen Titans, it's Swing with Scooter! To find out if it fares better than, say, Binky or Pavel Chekov, we'll have to dig up another time capsule...The label says June-July 1966...

SWING WITH SCOOTER #1, DC Comics, June-July 1966
When British superstar Scooter leaves the Banshees to come and live in Plainsville USA (it's not snark, that's actually the name), he's sure to cause a ruckus. Good thing he has his special scooter that "can do anything" like throw smoke screens, or else he might not survive!

Scooter's popularity isn't universal though. Judging by the cover, he's got his critics as well. But then, dialogue like this was bound to cause some controversy:

Still, I think the critics are in the minority:
Remember, this is before the tightened security at the airport. Lonnnnnnnng before.
You know, Scooter could do with a bodyguard.
But then, if they're gonna come down the chimney, you might as well take it as an early Christmas present.

At this point, allow me to reveal that this mag is written and drawn by comics legend Joe Orlando. It's true. Given that pedigree, I believe Swing with Scooter is a lot more than an Archie knock-off. What Orlando has created here is an Archie parody in hyperdrive, with wall-to-wall action, crazy lingo filled with song lyrics, and eventually, everything from aliens and ghosts to Jimmy Olsen-like metamorphoses. As such, it's got its own Veronica in "rich-witch" Penny who kidnaps Scooter with her private helicopter and drops him into her personal amusement park filled with traps.
And its own Betty in goody two-shoes Cookie:
But he rejects them both in favor of hot librarian-type Cynthia!
That gets all the girls getting hot librarian make-overs. But get this, Cynthia's not his girl, she's his SISTER! Uh-oh...
DC was marketing this to girls and the text pieces prove it. There's biographical info on real music superstars like Elvis, and one of those inappropriately-titled columns you're kinda worried are written by middle-aged men.
Remember girls, guys like their chicks neat and pretty! Other sage advice lower on the page includes: "A pretty mouth line is very important to a miss!" and "Hips too wide? Ah, that's a shame, but it's no longer a problem! Bell-bottom slacks are the things for you - they can keep a real secret!"

But none of those are the lesson of the day. No the lesson of the day is:
SO HAVE OUR FOREFATHERS SPOKEN!

Star Trek 1075: Brothers in Darkness

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1075. Brothers in Darkness

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #61, DC Comics, July 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Deryl Skelton (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: The away team rescues a human and a Chalnoth from the creature's cocoon and find out its brains were scrambled by Chalnoth disuptors. It has abandonned or destroyed its eggs, and is cocooning enemies as if THEY were its children. The Chalnoth away team try to kill the creature and the eggs saved by the Aquitaine's away team, so Riker and crew must defeat them again. This time, Lt. Takamura is badly hurt, and with the cave walls preventing beaming, Crusher lets her be cocooned, a process that seems proven to heal wounds on just-rescued personnel. In space, Picard takes a cue from his younger self and slings a disabled Chalnoth ship at the others with a tractor beam. The two sides strike a peace after Crusher sedates the creature and frees cocooned personnel on both sides. She also operates on the creature so that it cares for its eggs again.

CONTINUITY: See previous issues.

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Awkwardly stunned.
REVIEW: That's a pretty crazy story. I was afraid it was going to make the creature the secret mother of the Chalnoth race, but the truth is lame rather than stupid. That's pretty specific behavior to be caused by disruptor blasts to the chest. And then there's the deus ex machina of the healing mucus! The outer space stuff is much better, with Picard minting a new maneuver. And it might all have passed inspection if the art was any good. But Skelton really sinks the enterprise here. Awkward poses, incomprehensible starship battles, and faces drawn from likeness that fail to have any coherent expressions in whatever panels they appear in. The closer you are to a person or object, the more likely it is to be detailed and well drawn, but it gets sketchy very quickly once you move the "camera" away, and technical drawings of ships and phasers seem to be pasted into the art when necessary. Nothing here redeems the silly story elements in the least, and sadly, neither Takamura or the Chalnoth captain truly realize the potential of their introductions.

Great Match-Ups of Science Fiction #3

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

USS Enterprise vs. Star Destroyer!

A very old argument Trekkies try to win through the power of trivia. I am such a Trekkie...

FACT: Star Destroyers are equipped with lasers.

FACT: "The Outrageous Okona" states that lasers cannot punch through the Enterprise's shields.

FTW: Duh.

The above mash-up is more generous, but comes to the same conclusion.

Star Trek 1074: Mother of Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1074. Mother of Madness

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #60, DC Comics, June 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Pablo Marcos (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)

PLOT: While Picard battles a Chalnoth fleet in orbit of a contested planet, away teams from both sides discover what happened to their missing crews. A giant creature has cocooned them alive, apparently for having destroyed its eggs. Troi is mystified that the creature's feelings seem to indicate it's trying to protect the Chalnoth attacking it. The Enterprise's away team defeats the Chalnoth who only know that their captain wants the planet for a military base. Up above, the Enterprise can't take much more punishment...

CONTINUITY: Continues the Chalnoth (Allegiance) arc from the last issue.

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Stuff you didn't know about Data: He was one of the original models for Easter Island.
REVIEW: Despite the panel above, Pablo Marcos' art is superior to Deryl Skelton's, more fluid and original if sometimes wonky. The Chalnoth are starting to come together as a people, the idea that they are anarchists not just politically, but psychologically coming to the fore. The implications of this story appears to be leading towards a very strange revelation about their origins, but it's too early to tell. Lt. Takamura's potential isn't realized, she's only used to make a comment about motherhood (like only an actual mother could?). Loads of action, this issue, with Geordi once again coming off fiercer and smarter than in series (I'm not complaining).

This Week in Geek (9-15/11/09)

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:16:00 +0000

Buys

Based on how impressed I was with staged Shakespeare productions put out by Thames TV (Macbeth and Twelfth Night), I completed my collection with their King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. And I finally found a DVD copy of Al Pacino's Looking for Richard (so I can retire my old VHS tape), but it came in a boxed set with Pacino's other indy work, Chinese Coffee and The Local Stigmatic. And just when you thought you have me figured out, I throw in Punisher War Zone. Meh, why not.

DMZ volume 7 and Northlanders volume 2 also came into my possession. I've been reading these series in trade.

"Accomplishments"

DVDs: I wanted to do something special for Remembrance Day, and in lieu of a 16-gun Halo salute (which we once did), I watched Passchendaele written, directed and starred in by Paul Gross. I know it got mixed reviews, but how many Canadian WWI movies are there? It had to be this. I for one will defend it. Yes, almost half the film takes place back in Alberta, love affairs and all that, but while the romance does take a lot of room (and its music rather cloying), I didn't find it out if place I did in other historical films such as Titanic (where it trivialized the real tragedy) or Pearl Harbor (where history was completely mangled). That part of the film is about the toll war takes first and foremost, and creates a context for the ensuing action. And what action! That was one brutal war. And films should honor its soldiers more. The DVD includes only a 45-minute documentary, but it's a good one.

Police Story 2 was on Kung Fu Fridays' ticket this week, and it is definitely an inferior film to the first one. There are some cool fights and lots of pyrotechnics, and a memorable (if bizarre) villain in the deaf-mute character, but the inclusion of the bad guys from the first film - red herrings all - only puts a drain on the pacing. I do like a lot of the elements - May's continued humiliation, the crazy "Charlie's Angels"-type babes, even the ultimate pay-off to the crapper joke - but taken as a whole, they just create pace issues. Great final battle though. The DVD includes another commentary track with Bey Logan and Brett Ratner, as well as a hour's worth of extras, such as interviews, outtakes and location visits.

Big Finish Doctor Who audios: After a whole 8th Doctor season, I decided to go backwards for a little 7th Doctor action. Dust Breeding by Mike Tucker throws a lot of ideas at the earphones, but they sorta get jumbled in the wind. We have a creature living inside Munch's The Scream, sentient dust storms, screaming mad Daleks carried on the wind, the return of the dessicated Master played by Geoffrey Beevers (The Keeper of Traken), creatures pulled from the novel Storm Harvest, a guest character pulled from another audio (The Genocide Machine) and Caroline John (Liz Shaw) giving a camp performance as an Eastern European (?) art collector. Though it does give Big Finish a usable post-Ainley Master, it's a little iffy as a story. The parts are better than their sum, I'm afraid.

Ace and the Doctor are then off to Colditz (by Steve Lyons), which is historically notable for featuring David Tennant's first Doctor Who contribution (as a Nazi creep). The story is pretty good, with Ace particularly strong as she engineers an escape from the famous castle prison, and there's a very neat time paradox that has to be dealt with. It's a very good story, but I do have to criticize the sound design. There's an echoey jail cell environment that is just grating to be in, some unconvincing sound effects, annoying music and even fluffed lines that could and should have been fixed. Colditz is strong enough to overcome these technical problems, but that makes them all the more annoying.

For Doctor Who's 40th Anniversary, Big Finish featured each of their Doctors in audios named after and heavily starring villains. In each of those I listened to (Omega, Zagreus and now Master), the villain in some way took on the role of the Doctor. That really makes me curious about the fourth starring Davros. In the Master's case, the story explores the nature of evil in an interesting way and with about as much pathos as the Master's most recent appearances on television (though the "birth" of the Master is more or less contradicted). As in Dust Breeding, Geoffrey Beevers incarnates the (dual) role.

In the audios, the 5th Doctor has Egyptian princess Erimem, the 6th young-at-heart senior Evelyn and the 8th a series of new companions, most prominently Charlie. So I was keen to listen to The Harvest (by Dan Abnett) to meet the 7th Doctor's first new audio companion, Hex. After the disappointing C'rizz, I was trepidatious. I shouldn't have worried. Though not as immediately distinctive as, say, Erimem or Evelyn, Male Nurse Hex feels like a complete character thanks to the audio being using his POV and an endearing performance by Philip Olivier. The story itself has good fun with the undercover Doctor and Ace and I like its soundtrack and sound design, though the returning villains suffer one twist too many (their motives suddenly fail to stand up to scrutiny). Nice intro for a new companion nonetheless.

Hyperion to a Satyr entries this week include:
Act I Scene 2 - Enter Hamlet according to Classics Illustrated
Act I Scene 2 - Enter Hamlet according to the French Rock Opera

New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 4 from The Time Meddler, with more to come during the week.

Someone Else's Post of the Week
Marvel Comics Swimsuit Editions... remember those? Chris Sims is splitting his time between his own blog and Comics Alliance lately, the latter site where he dishes out some of the very worst pieces of cheesecake/beefcake from those mags.

Star Trek 1073: Ambush

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:24:00 +0000

1073. Ambush

PUBLICATION: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #11, Pocket eBooks, December 2001 (collected into print with S.C.E. ebooks #9-12 as Some Assembly Required in April 2003)

CREATORS: Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last novel, Bart is still on Maeglin)

PLOT: The da Vinci is on route to a mining colony to drop supplies and pick up an important mineral when both the colony and the ship are attacked by Munqu ships who want to ransom the minerals and equipment back to the Federation. A pair of engineers bravely set out to save the 15 people in their colony even as their reactor fails and goes on overload. Hoping to arrive in time, the crew of the heavily damaged da Vinci find a way of turning the mining equipment they're carrying to fight the Munqu. In the end, they succeed and arrive in time to pick up the miners blown out into space in their EVA suits when their reactor exploded.

CONTINUITY: The da Vinci is picking up a mineral cure to a Horta plague on Janus IV (Devil in the Dark).

DIVERGENCES: None.

CASTING PHOTO OF THE WEEK - The da Vinci's EMH III (Emmett) is getting some "screentime" now, so I guess he has to be cast. The best suggestion I've heard is James Lesure.
REVIEW: The short novel is basically one long ship-to-ship battle, which would make it an unusual episode for the SCE akin to TOS' Balance of Terror or DS9's Starship Down. The twist is that you get to see Starfleet engineers at their most MacGyverish, cannibalizing parts, modifying machines and figuring out how to use technology in new and diverting ways. And you see that process, where in one of the shows, it would mostly or entirely be glossed over with a line over the com. That's interesting, and there's enough of the miners to make you care about them as well. It also makes Ambush the strongest book for the bridge crew (Captain Gold and the non-engineers) yet, though that does make the reader impatient as many of the regular characters are sidelined. I do wish we'd had more of the Munqu as well. As a one-off species (they do reappear in the series later), there's really not a whole lot to them. The ebooks are as short as television episodes, so there isn't the extra development you associate with novels, and here that hurts the story.

Next for the SBG Book Club: Trek to Madworld (TOS), A Call to Darkness (TNG), Warped (DS9), Some Assembly Required (SCE).

Spaceknight Saturdays: Redemption (Ha!)

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:09:00 +0000

At the mid-point, Starlin's relaxed handle on the material starts creating inconsistencies in the Rom mythos. He calls Limbo the Ebon Dimension, for example. Why the change? It's not a copyright thing, and Limbo's never looked black to me. It's like he's going out of his way to erase any connection with the previous series. Well guess what, Starlin. There's a big fat "Spaceknights" on the cover.

Another objectionable element is the Galadorian Empire. In the first issue, Trion is described as under Galador's protection, but now Galador is preventing Trion to secede from the "Empire"? I can't believe "Emperor Rom" would have conquered (even diplomatically but so permanently) other worlds. Before you raise a finger an inquire about Galador having an Empire from well before, I'll remind you that Galactus moved the planet to another galaxy during the original series, and that the planet was soon devastated by the NextGen Knights. In other words, an Empire would have been built by Rom in the Galadorian reconstruction. In fact, it's the mulleted Lady Brandy who wants to keep the Empire in one piece and won't give Trion its independence back. Uh-huh.

So our boy Tristan/Liberator keeps getting his visions, all of them dismissed by Balin/Terminator. But how can he dismiss the promised appearance of a deathwing?
Sentry - the angel guy - believes, however, and he pledges himself to Tristan, becoming his (ho ho ho) wingman. Then the visions start becoming true again, and the Wraithkights attack. But nothing the Spaceknights throw at them works, not even Scanner's use of cliché!
Why Hammerhand seems to be attacking her also is just part of the frustration I have with this series. Though the designs are cool and the overall look of the comic is dynamic, the action choreography is frequently confusing. Wingman, can we have a pep talk please?
Ok, I feel like I can plow on ahead now. Only 9 pages to go. Terminator hits upon the idea of unleashing his blast weapon at point blank range to pierce through the evil knights' shields. I say "hits upon the idea", but it's probably just his natural violence that proves fortuitous. And when I say "point blank range", I mean "in the crotch area".
But then the Deathwing arrives and the Spaceknights have to switch strategies. When their choice of recounting how you can beat a Deathwing without Rom's nullifier fails to inspire the troops, Vanium the Knight You Didn't Even Know Was There tries to open a portal back to Galador, though unbeknowst to them, corrupted Lord Gaspar has set a bomb in the nullifier chamber...

Next: Bang?

Star Trek 1072: Children of Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:31:00 +0000

1072. Children of Chaos

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #59, DC Comics, May 1994

CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Deryl Skelton (artist)

STARDATE: 47763.7 (between Genesis and Journey's End) and 16 years earlier

PLOT: 16 years ago, Picard had to fight a Chalnoth in ritual combat to allow a Federation colony to stay on in what was apparently Chalnoth territory until it could study a passing stellar cloud. Since he could name the weapon, he chose the sling and pulled a David on their Goliath. Today, the Enterprise-D finds two empty ships, the Federation's Aquitaine and the Chalnoth's Blade, empty above a planet claimed by the Chalnoth. Before he can send an away team, another Chalnoth ship arrives, commanded by the adviser he humiliated 16 years ago, who immediately sends his own away team. Picard's beams down, ordered to be careful...

CONTINUITY: Picard's visit to Chalna while in command of the Stargazer was mentioned in Allegiance. Jack Crusher was of course on that mission. The design of the Aquitaine is based on one of the Nova-class designs from the TNG Technical Manual.

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Jack Crusher can't TAKE it!
REVIEW: Along with yesterday's Annual, these are the first TNG comics I ever personally bought. Looking at Skelton's awkward figures and sketchy backgrounds, it's a wonder I kept buying the series to its cancellation. What probably kept my interest is that the book was entering a phase of continuity plug-ins. Odan in the Annual, and here telling the Chalnoth story Picard alluded to in Allegiance. Despite the art and badly choreographed fight scene, the Stargazer stuff is satisfying. The younger Picard is more rash, being somewhere between Tapestry and today, and his solution both entertaining and exciting. In the contemporary sequence, we only have time for a set-up, but it is sufficiently intriguing. Friedman takes the time to introduce Takamura, a security officer and single mother who goes along on the away team. We'll see what her role is, but I will say that for an original character, she's really well drawn. Is she also photo referenced from somewhere?

Unlucky Number 13 Ate Today's Post

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Not really. I just couldn't find time to write it until this very moment. And then I abandoned its original content.I guess that's a kind of bad luck, right?

I was just reading Hero Press where Acrobatic Flea was counting his 10 most recurring subjects. I thought I'd have the same look at my top 13 keywords...

1. Star Trek: Well duh. To keep myself honest and posting, I decided on the very first day to review one Trek story each day. No surprise there.

2. Comics: Again, I was pretty sure this would come in second. Not only does this blog talk about comics a lot, I've been doing an extra 6 comics a week because I've run out of Star Trek episodes.

3. Geekly Roundup: A weekly feature since th first week, "This Week in Geek" is the closest I've come to a diary, and real useful for preventing myself from reading the same book twice.

4. Batman: My first surprise. I wouldn't consider myself a big Batman buff, like Chris Sims, but I do read the various Batman comics. I guess that's translated into more than 100 posts. He's pretty ubiquitous as a character. Of course, more than half of those come from those few weeks when I was stripping Mike Barr's Outsiders comics of their dignity, one page at a time.

5. Rom: Between Spaceknight Saturdays and various Rom Weeks, he's gotten above the hundred mark. I think my silver friend will be well documented by the time I reach the SBG's Year 4.

6. Doctor Who: With more than a 100 posts, my current favorite SF franchise has gotten a lot of play. I also feel like these are among my most intelligent essays. Well, more intelligent than making Outsiders-related crotch jokes.

7. RPGs: We drop just under 100 posts for this one, a category boosted in the past year by my joining the RPG Bloggers Network. I've tried to make the articles interesting for people who don't play role-playing games, and yet useful to those who do. It's a hard line to walk judging by reader comments.

8. Movies: I'd like to do more film analysis on the SBG, and sometimes think up article content while watching something, but then I usually find I don't have the time to go through a film again for the proper evidence and screencaps. Of course, I do a lot of mini-reviews of films in my Geekly Roundups that are NOT included in the count, but I should still try to expand on them.

9. Outsiders: A category that should slip further and further down the list as time goes by, since the comic got its moment in the sun for a couple months and never really again. Except I've had sporadic requests to bring back the feature, so... you never know!

10. Friday Night Fights: With more than 50 posts, it completes the top 10 despite the fact I haven't participated in that meme in a looooooong time. It seems to have morphed into Kung Fu Fridays, which isn't an online thing. I'm expecting a reasonable crowd for Police Story 2 even as I write these words.

11. Holidays: A holiday is a great cue to do something special on your blog. I guess I'm a sucker for it. In fact, this post is a Holiday post. Happy Friday the 13th!

12. Superman: Less than half as represented as his World's Finest Friend, the Man of Steel still makes a reasonable showing.

13. Websites: Just under 50 posts in the last three years, many of these from Geekly Roundups back when I was stumbling on neat sites once a week, but Internet matters still appear on the 13 list. I think there may also be "posts about posting" in there*, so watch yourself.

As for "most Googled" subject matter, it appears to be "Sexy sexy She-Hulk". More than half a dozen searches a day, in fact. I get it, I just don't approve of it.

*Like, uhm, this one.

Star Trek 1071: A House Divided

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1071. A House Divided

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual #4, DC Comics, September 1993

CREATORS: Mike W. Barr (writer), Jim Key, Aaron McClellan, and Bob Smith (artists)

STARDATE: 46759.2 (apparently simultaneous with Birthright Part II)

PLOT: As a pulsar bears down on the penal colony of Tantalus VII, the Enterprise is tasked with moving its most dangerous criminal, a psychotic Trill called Dalor, out of the system. Ambassador Odan, hoping for a reunion with Beverly, will accompany him. With the help of his mercenary friends, Dalor forces Crusher to place his symbiont into Picard, then uses his body and knowledge to take over the Enterprise. The crew soon escapes, but Dalor steals the battle bridge and attempts to destroy the saucer section. Ultimately, the crew manages to punch a hole through the battle bridge's shields and Data beams the Dalor symbiont into one of the mercenaries. Odan and Crusher part on similar terms as last time.

CONTINUITY: Odan first appeared in The Host. The story is certainly reminescent of DS9's Invasive Procedures. Riker mentions Bre'er Rabbit, prefiguring Insurrection.

DIVERGENCES: The stardate is exactly the same as Birthright Part II, but Worf is present so it can't be. There's a penal colony on Tantalus VII, while there's one on Tantalus V in Dagger of the Mind. Is the whole system penal? If so, why do they only need to evacuate VII? Then again, VII is a station, maybe it's not in the same system? Is "Tantalus" just the name they give every prison in the Federation? Not the comic's fault per se, but the Trill used here are from The Host and dissimilar to those seen on DS9. However, Odan and other Trill can use transporters, which they couldn't do safely in The Host. Beverly and girly Odan defeat a Romulan and Andorian hand to hand respectively. I'll call foul on THAT.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Data's "big boot" mod.
REVIEW: Though I think Mike Barr's work on Classic Trek comics is pretty good, this TNG adventure in more on par with his Outsiders work, i.e. pretty ridiculous. You've got a star flying erratically through the cosmos, and characters that have exactly the abilities required of the plot (if you can beam a symbiont out of a person, why would you ever need to force a doctor to perform an invasive surgical procedure?). There are plenty of convenient double standards as well. Dalor has all of Picard's knowledge, except when the plot says he shouldn't. Crusher spikes his tea, but drinking tea is just about the only trait of Picard's not overpowered by the Trill's personality. Not that it does much of anything. The pulsar scrambles communications, but not transporters or sensors. If at least the Crusher-Odan relationship had been explored a little more, but no, there's no growth here. It's like they stretched the last scene of The Host for an extra 60 pages, that's all. The art is uneven, I think largely dependent on who's inking Jim Key's rough figures. No help there. The potential for a good Crusher story was there though.

V for Version 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Episode 2: There Is No Normal Anymore

As promised, I'm keeping tabs on the new V, and I must say that with its second episode, it comes more into its own. Gone was the déjà vu, to be replaced with the New V's own breed of story. And that breed is PARANOIA. The V sleeper agents is the new element here, and it's making me suspect about half the ancillary characters of being Visitors. So that's kinda cool, and the motor for the show's suspense.

I don't know if it's on purpose, but fitting that theme, a number of things made me think of The Prisoner. You don't know who's who, what's what and who's listening to your calls as you get chased by a floating ball. And then there's the Hitler Youth "Peace Ambassador" jacket that reminds me of Patrick McGoohan's.

One thing that does bother me a little bit now is the casting. The show is populated by a bunch of pretty boys and girls, like so much of American television these days, and that somehow feels wrong. I don't just mean that it turns the program into a glossy, starlet-filled V 90210, but that it doesn't fit the premise. If the Visitors are universally good-looking (except maybe some sleepers), then having humans that are a little less pretty would tend to highlight that fact. But no, the priest is just as cute as the Vs and everyone else (as an example of a character who needn't have been).

Also, a large portion of the cast seems to come from other cult shows - Lost, Firefly, The 4400, Smallville... Are they trying to bring followers of each cult to create another cult? Could be. After all, Morena Baccarin got ME to watch it.

I'm not discussing the plot much, I know. It's not too late to get caught up via the Internets, so I guess I don't want to spoil anything. I do enjoy the media games Decker is playing with Anna. The Vs having bad photo resolution is a bit of twit bit. Rather convenient. And is Ryan's girl tapped to give birth to the first alien baby? Cuz who doesn't fondly remember that moment in the original series? Am I right? Right?! Anyone? Hellooooo?

Star Trek 1070: Good Listener

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

1070. Good Listener / A True Son of Kahless / Spot's Day

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation Special #1, DC Comics, September 1993

CREATORS: Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll / Kenneth Penders and Anne Wokanovicz / Diane Duane (writers); Deryl Skelton, Steve Carr and Jim Amash / Kenneth Penders and Romeo Tanghal / Mike Sellers and Rod Whigham (artists)

STARDATE: 46541.2 (between Tapestry and Birthright, Part I) / Unknown (during Alexander's stay aboard ship, and based on Troi's uniform would make it very late Season 6) / Unknown (late Season 6 according to Troi's uniform)

PLOT: In Good Listener, Guinan tries to save a shipboard marriage while the crew deals with a colony suffering from debilitating emotional attacks and hallucinations. Thanks to the featured husband's low-level telepathy, he is able to figure out the indigenous primates are sentient, telepathic AND responsible. The colony is thus relocated and the marriage solidified. In A True Son of Kahless, Worf takes Alexander camping on a planet that, as the Enterprise discovers too late, is about to undergo some massive cataclysms. Worf is hurt on the planet surface and it's Alexander who rescues him and drags him to safety until the Enterprise can get them out of there. Spot's Day has Spot escape from Data's quarters, follow various crewmembers around and end up fighting a tiger in Worf's holodeck program.

CONTINUITY: In Good Listener, one hallucination involves the Borg. Guinan quotes Kirk (in ST II) as the "friend of a friend" (the implication is that it's McCoy). Spot's Day is a reference to the similarly titled Data's Day.

DIVERGENCES: A True Son of Kahless features a heck of a lot of Klingon tears for a species without tear ducts (ST VI).

PANEL OF THE DAY - Holodeck safeties are ON.
REVIEW: Tony Isabella writes a fair Guinan story in Good Listener, though he mostly populates it with original guest characters. That's fine, though his handle on the Trek universe is at times iffy. A telepathic human? Not unheard of, but a little strange. Klingons being called "lobsters" by a racist? Interesting, but hardly something from the show. And yet it remains engaging despite the pretty obvious plot, probably because of the new angle (Guinan's POV) and some pretty dynamic visual scenes. Kenneth Penders takes care of both the writing in the art in A True Son of Kahless to good effect. He's good enough that he can smoothly use silent panels or pages, and his father-son story is at once sweet and exciting. Spot's Day is a fun little story with Spot getting into trouble. Well, not much trouble, but it's amusing to see him walk around the ship. A smile for the end of the issue.

Remembrance Day Cat of the Geek #31: Kitlers

noreply@blogger.com (Siskoid) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Names: Various. This one is called Leonardo. (But as someone really did call their cat Hitler, you can find him below.)
Stomping Grounds: The Internet - www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com
Side: Evil
Breeds: Various.
Cat Powers: Pep rally animal. May disguise itself as Charlie Catplin.
Skills: Eat 4, Sleep 4, Mischief 8, Wit 5, Evil 'stache 10
Cat Weaknesses: Feline Fascism gone awry. A pet statement you may not want to make.
A cat called Hitler: