tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post2531867035896591312..comments2023-05-30T10:15:40.341-04:00Comments on Comics Ate My Brain: The time-traveling crossover plok didn't quite demandTom Bonduranthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209820912557263080noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-59918199258551653192007-06-26T23:52:00.000-04:002007-06-26T23:52:00.000-04:00Time to vote, if you so desire, Tom!Time to vote, if you so desire, Tom!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-87439649740821468752007-06-22T20:18:00.000-04:002007-06-22T20:18:00.000-04:00To me, "Not-Q" recalls the propositional calculus ...To me, "Not-Q" recalls the propositional calculus more strongly...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-40384235377188223442007-06-21T09:47:00.000-04:002007-06-21T09:47:00.000-04:00I do -- but you don't want to use the obvious "Ant...I do -- but you don't want to use the obvious "Anti-Q" moniker? I can't decide if that's too Kirby or too Wolfman....<BR/><BR/>Reminds me of the John Cleese quote about his Bond character originally being named "R": "I wanted to be 'P,' but they wouldn't let me."Tom Bonduranthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07209820912557263080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-51736628095285426962007-06-21T00:35:00.000-04:002007-06-21T00:35:00.000-04:00...Even to the point where I have an extremely gee......Even to the point where I have an extremely geeky suggestion to make for it. You know how people loved the idea that Trelayne was an immature Q, possibly even John DeLancie? Well, ST continuity disproves that theory now, so here's another one. Trelayne does indeed come from a race of omnipotent immortals, but it isn't the one we think. It isn't the Q.<BR/><BR/>It's the <B>Not-Q</B>.<BR/><BR/>Amusing, no? And among the Not-Q's distinguishing characteristics: they're not as powerful as the Q (though they're considerably more powerful than we've seen), they are madly fixated on the order of names and distinctions as the Q are not, and due to them being just about the only entities in the universe that are <I>invisible</I> to the Q's senses, their existence is purely <I>theoretical</I> to the Q. But, the Q can also see that, whatever these strange un-parse-able entities are, that are apparently out there somewhere, they cannot be a threat. That much, their universal senses can reveal to them.<BR/><BR/>The Not-Q are also fascinated by the Q, to the point where individual Q are like matinee idols to them, and especially to their children (unlike the Q, the Not-Q reproduce all the time). Trelayne himself, as an immature Not-Q, was fixated on the John DeLancie Q, and sought to emulate him and his capricious behaviour. Of course a Not-Q must eventually put these childish infatuations with non-selfhood away...<BR/><BR/>You like?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-83880944219860974642007-06-20T16:09:00.000-04:002007-06-20T16:09:00.000-04:00Oh, definitely. Also, I'm dying to see a slimy Se...Oh, definitely. Also, I'm dying to see a slimy Sec. 31 character lry to stare down key members of the original Enterprise crew. McCoy: "Uh...you know that <I>we're</I> actually the secret protectors of the Federation, don't you son?" Post-DS9 Bashir, maybe with a beard: "I'm afraid he's right, Commander. You'd better just let us operate." Something like that.<BR/><BR/>I think Dan Simmons does some things extremely well, and other things not so well, but I'd definitely recommend "Troy"...I think it's his best book.<BR/><BR/>I'm actually finding this idea more and more pleasant to think about, Tom!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-42696276212240444812007-06-20T10:39:00.000-04:002007-06-20T10:39:00.000-04:00It would have to involve Section 31 as well, would...It would have to involve Section 31 as well, wouldn't it? Probably warrants at least a Bashir cameo.Tom Bonduranthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07209820912557263080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-31205220375036535332007-06-20T10:19:00.000-04:002007-06-20T10:19:00.000-04:00Hmmm ... I'm not familiar with Dan Simmons' Troy, ...Hmmm ... I'm not familiar with Dan Simmons' <EM>Troy</EM>, but in light of your comments it might be worthwhile to cast this in more of a <EM>Planetary</EM> light. It would be another part of Trek's "secret history," with Spock and Bones as Elijah Snow and ... oh, can't remember Snow's first partner's name....<BR/><BR/>I don't read a lot of the Trek novels, but I did read the first two Greg Cox books on Khan, which basically argued that the Eugenics Wars happened just like "Space Seed" said, except that no one noticed. There was a lot of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln in those books too. So it's not as much of a departure to me as it might seem.<BR/><BR/>Also, if I did expand on this, it would include at least one barren, ruined planetscape which constituted the remains of a lost civilization. The Modern Trek shows didn't do nearly enough of those.Tom Bonduranthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07209820912557263080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629130.post-66267045970979578432007-06-20T04:54:00.000-04:002007-06-20T04:54:00.000-04:00Wow, Tom, you've flipped!Okay, who had June 19th i...Wow, Tom, you've flipped!<BR/><BR/>Okay, who had June 19th in the pool...<BR/><BR/>Hm, this interests me strangely, and I actually think I <I>would</I> consider it as a contender for my time-travel meme, if only because though it uses the Star Trek characters, it charts different territory from what mainline Star Trek could (<I>I</I> think) afford to get itself involved with. Which is something of the point of fan-fic, after all! Not that I really think it's "good" fan-fic either (and don't take that the wrong way), because it's transgressive of the Star Trek Universe-isms that fan-fic's more minor transgressions (of character; of ownership) are based on. Trek-based time-travel fan-fic always has to fit in...but this fits <I>out</I>, if you see what I mean, even daring to root itself in the Great Unmentionable of Trek continuity, ST: TMP.<BR/><BR/>It's a very curious idea. ST's own "The Great Disaster", in the making? That's an idea that's been toyed with in post-Classic Trek stories sometimes, usually artlessly (c.f. Enterprise, and to a lesser degree Voyager, with the one useful exploration of this being Bashir's struggle with the Federation Secret Police in DS9), because to put the usual heroes of Star Trek at the centre of decentred events usually tends to make a person yawn: this isn't where those characters are supposed to be operating, so why should we care what they do there?<BR/><BR/>Using the "castoffs" of ST makes this more interesting as a concept, though, as does using the regular ST characters for lesser purposes than usual, as was done in Assignment: Earth...anyway that's what I'm getting from your description above. Trelayne, post end-of-TNG Picard crew, Decker and Ilia (great! reminds me of Jim Starlin Dr. Strange!), Lost Era Spock and McCoy without their binding agent of Kirk in the middle, "ascended" castoff-characters coming back from the great beyond, attempts to phone up to the usual big omnipotent players that (I sense you saying) don't quite work or are somewhat difficult to pull off. A Star Trek that isn't "Star-Trekky", characters that have to do things which aren't natural to them (Picard and Riker meeting Decker and Ilia? <I>That's crazy</I>...but I like it!), and coming late to the action, only half filled-in about what's going on. Presumably that's what Spock and McCoy are for, to act as scouts and find out the hidden history of it all, while Geordie and Data beaver away on Treknobabbly stuff.<BR/><BR/>Basically, I think what you have here is Dan Simmons' <I>Troy</I>, only with Starfleet.<BR/><BR/>ST: TGD?<BR/><BR/>It could actually be a show, if it weren't for the fact that a) no, no, no, they'd never allow it...and b) the parts of it they <I>would</I> allow are the parts that Enterprise already covered, with the help of a couple dozen episodes-worth of manure.<BR/><BR/>Nice audacious fannish thoughts here, Tom! I dare you to flesh them out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com