Talking Trek is fine by me.

Subject: Talking Trek is fine by me.
Author: Outhra
Posted on: 2013-03-13 00:30:00 UTC

If I didn't, my responses wouldn't have been half so long.

Even Spock's Brain, the commonly accepted "really bad one" for the original Star Trek, wasn't as bad as The Omega Glory. Spock's Brain was actually fun to watch and pick apart, because even after you laughed at the first layer of plot holes, you realized that there was a second layer of nonsensical plot contrivances just beneath its surface. How did the people on Sigma Draconis even reproduce if each gender had no idea that the other existed? Spock's Brain logic. How did a dozen unmarked buttons on McCoy's remote control replicate Spock's entire cranial functions? Spock's Brain logic. It's like Sue logic, if Sue logic made you bust up laughing instead of wanting to smack yourself in the head.
Omega Glory, on the other hand, was just flat-out stupid. I read that it had originally been considered for the first episode of Star Trek to air on television. That would have been awful! Nobody would have watched the show because they would have been so disappointed, it would have had no fandom, and then no sarcastic fanwriters would coin the term "Mary Sue", and then the PPC would never exist! The crappy fanfictions would still be out there, but the PPC would just be... doing something else! The very idea repels! (dramatic gasp)

As for the next bit, I imagine that, by Season Three, Kirk's bosses had run out of extra-dangerous missions to send him to, and on a routine sweep for certain-death encounters, they saw that he'd gone to the planet from Day of the Dove with no backup to fight both Klingons and the Beta Entity, and he still didn't die. Exasperated, the Federation Council threw up their collective hands or equivalent and said "Screw it all. When he comes back, we'll promote him and give him an administrative job that we can legitimately fire him from.", which he proceeded to vacate so that he could fight off whale-loving space probes and Klingon Doc Brown.
I like this idea. Your revelation is a good revelation.

I've had a fanon going for a while that Picard lost his hair as a teenager, similar to what happened to Patrick Stewart, and one of his original motivations for succeeding at so many pursuits was to show up all of the other Starfleet cadets who teased him for being bald. It's slightly OOC for him, but it makes me smile nonetheless.

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No Subject by Outhra on 2013-03-11 04:26:00 UTC Reply

Hello everybody! I discovered the PPC the better part of a year ago, but I never actually posted on the Board until now.
For the first few months, I just read a few of the series without even knowing this place existed, but after I found out, I was reluctant to get involved for a long time because, well, I got nervous and kept putting it off. But no longer!
Oh, crap, I've spent half the post space rambling again. I've got to cut down on that.)
My fandoms include Discworld, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Bionicle, Adventure Time, Doctor Who(I've not watched much of the classic series, unfortunately, but I'm working on that), Homestuck, Star Trek, assorted Nintendo games, and plenty more that I'll more likely get to when I haven't already gone on for so long about everything else.

Hi hello and greetings! by Mister Shoebox on 2013-03-13 22:58:00 UTC Reply

Hi and welcome!
Hello! by World-Jumper on 2013-03-12 18:43:00 UTC Reply

AH, another brony! Sweet! You are currently 20% cooler then most other newbies. Here, as a gift, I give onto thee one statuette of your favorite character from Friendship is Magic (I have expanded my nanobot work crews past favorite pony now! Huzza!) with some aspect of their personality enchanted on it. For all of our sakes, I hope it's not [MESSAGE REDACTED].

(an alternate gift would have been miniature Luggage, but I think even a miniaturized version of the Luggage would cause havoc amongst HQ)

Oh, excellent. by Outhra on 2013-03-12 19:20:00 UTC Reply

Statue Twilight Sparkle is doing an excellent job at keeping my other new gifts organized!
As an added bonus, she's keeping Cadamr sequestered until I can return her to her original author. (Cadamr growls) Now, Cadamr, I'm sure that Caddy-shack will be around soon to pick you up. You should have known better than to go after Tribble-eunuch like that. It's scared half to death! (Tribble-eunuch whimpers) There, there, Tribble-eunuch. Go play with the airhorn.

PLAAT! PLAAT! PLAAT!
Maybe play with something else.

Hey! by Lynne Lloyd on 2013-03-11 22:45:00 UTC Reply

Welcome! I've been a bit busy as of late, but never too busy to say hi to newcomers! Lots and lots of fandoms, hooray! Have an urple wig! It'll look great with all your clothes! And maybe some yummy brownies too, because Sue-hair isn't the best gift.
Hey. by Ivan the Not-so-Terrible on 2013-03-11 20:04:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the Board! Have a bottle of Bleeprin, and pray you don't need it.
Also, do you know the term for a Discworld fan?
Ooh, another Whofan and Brony/Pegasis by Silken Dawn on 2013-03-11 19:07:00 UTC Reply

Hey there! It's always great to have more Dr. Who and My Little Pony fans aboard. And actually, I've been thinking about watching Adventure Time. What do you like about it?
Anyway, please have this unbelievably adorable Fluffy Wambler. See you around the Board!

Wambler-keeping advice and Adventure Time by Outhra on 2013-03-12 16:15:00 UTC Reply

Are Wamblers territorial? Or carnivorous? It's starting to eye my new tribble-eunuch in a way that's saying I'll need to keep them apart.

If you're going to watch Adventure Time, I'm not sure where I should tell you to begin. The first season is where all of the characters started off, and it sets a great tone for the crazy awesome land that they live in, but it's around Season 2 that it really started to develop. One of the show's strongest points is its characters, and a lot of Season One is testing the waters. When it hits, it's incredible. When it doesn't, we get bits like the Ricardio the Heart Guy episode that are just sort of confusing. (Though I'll be the first to say that his return in Season Four was epic.)
The show itself is one of the rare programs that has a great sense of humor but doesn't turn around and call attention to it; it's just part of their world, and it shows up everywhere. The background for the land of Ooo and the more enigmatic characters like Marceline is revealed little by little, through episodes that you wouldn't even realize were linked until after the fact, because info-dumping wouldn't be much fun at all, would it? (Take notes, practically every other show. They're right with that idea.) There's great dialogue, massive amounts of creativity, and constant subversion of the expected that makes the show enormously exciting and interesting to watch, and it's the first show in a long time that got me genuinely excited to see returning minor characters.

... Ahem.
That turned into fan-gushing really quickly, but there's just so much that I like about it!
Writing this made me want to watch Mortal Folly/Mortal Recoil again. I'll be back in half an hour.

The Care and Keeping of Fluffy Wamblers by Silken Dawn on 2013-03-12 20:36:00 UTC Reply

Fluffy Wamblers are not remotely territorial or aggressive in any way. They're just adorable. They're tiny and humanoid with fingerless/toeless limbs and fluffy white fur. They're incredibly low-maintenance, since they don't seem to eat anything. Yours probably just wants to make friends with your, er, augmented tribble.
Anyway, I'll have to check out Adventure Time soon!

All right, that's good to know. by Outhra on 2013-03-12 23:06:00 UTC Reply

I wouldn't want two of my newbie gift-pets at each others'... I was going to say throats, but tribbles definitely do not have throats, and from the pictures I found, the Wambler just has lots of pudge.
... at each others' vital anatomical structures. That works, though it doesn't exactly roll off one's tongue.

A bit of advice for watching Adventure Time online: there's not a lot of it on Youtube, due to copyright bots, and most people will only have a single season at most posted on their sites. It's best to have the episodes that you want to watch rounded up beforehand.
I should be able to link you to some places that I found if you tell me how to make an external link from the Board. I was going to attach one to this post, but I can't get any of the usual methods to work here.

Hey-o. by SeaTurtle on 2013-03-11 18:34:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the Board! Have some of my world-famous hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Shines like a white-point star!
Hello there! by hermione of vulcan on 2013-03-11 18:01:00 UTC Reply

Ooh, My Little Pony and Star Trek! Based on that, two questions:

1. Who is best pony? (and why?)

2. What is your favorite Star Trek series (and why?)

My answers are Twilight, because I identify with her nerdiness, and The Next Generation, because it has consistant episode quality, an intellectual captain, Q, and Data. I also like TOS and Voyager, though, and I've just started DS9.

Oh, and you need a newbie present! Have a tribble! (Don't worry, it's been spayed/neutered.)

Hmm... Best pony and Best Star Trek... by Outhra on 2013-03-12 15:12:00 UTC Reply
1. My best pony would also be Twilight, partially because her social awkwardness and obsession over small problems relates to my own personality, and partially because out of all the ponies, she's the most interesting to watch in new situations. You mostly know how the others will react; Pinkie will produce bright colorful objects from nowhere, Rarity and Rainbow Dash will try to impress everyone, etc.(not that any of those are bad, mind you), but Twilight could do any of a half dozen things and still be perfectly in character. (Discord, due to being the essence of chaos, does this as well, but it's treated much differently in a contextual sense, and he's not really a pony, is he?)
  
  2. It depends on what mood I'm in. If I want over-the-top space antics, only TOS will do, but TNG is better in terms of overall character and episode quality, even if it does occasionally devote entire episodes to backstory. I've only ever seen two episodes of Voyager; one was really good, but the other was really bad. Either way, I don't have enough information to make a real opinion about it.

Yeah, Voyager's like that. by hermione of vulcan on 2013-03-12 17:20:00 UTC Reply

Some episodes are amazing, some episodes are horribly stupid. So you got a pretty accurate impression of the show. However, overall, the characters are interesting, the good episodes are REALLY good, and the fandom fills in the gaps where the series failed.

I never minded when TNG devoted entire episodes to backstory - it helped you get to know the characters more deeply than TOS. TOS basically only developed Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, while TNG developed all seven of the main cast and some recurring characters too, like Barclay and Ro. One of the strengths of Voyager is that it does the same. That's why those two are my favorite. Also, ~~Discord~~ Q appears on both. (Actually, it seems like DS9 might become another favorite, but I haven't seen enough yet.)

So, in order to prolong this Trek conversation, I have a few more questions:

1. Kirk or Picard? (and why?)

2. Who are your favorite characters?

As I have made clear my preference for TNG, obviously my answer to the first is Picard. Favorite characters are Spock, Data, and Q, as I have also made fairly clear.

I might want to watch more Voyager, then. by Outhra on 2013-03-12 19:08:00 UTC Reply

I just have an instinctive dislike of info-dumping, and even though the backstory episodes help define the characters, which is always a good thing, spending a full episode to show a character's family and past life just makes a part of me wonder whether any of this new information is going to be brought up again. To each his or her own, I suppose.

1. Definitely Picard. For all of Kirk's shenanigans, he was never very good at things that didn't involve drop-kicking aliens or romancing characters-of-the-week. Picard was the much better captain both in terms of having an interesting and multi-talented character and actually being able to manage people. It makes me wonder how Kirk got promoted to Captain when he breaks up fights between aliens by reading the United States Preamble at them.(Okay, mentioning The Omega Glory is a low blow, but it makes for a good example.)

2. From TOS, McCoy. From TNG, Data. Seconds are Spock and Geordi, respectively.
Q gets an honorable mention, but doesn't get ranked, because I've never seen any of his episodes all the way through. I always catch them halfway in, so I don't know what he's doing there. Then again, from context it just seems like he shows up because he gets bored in the Continuum and likes pestering Picard and Sisko. I can appreciate that. Sisko is the sort of guy who would need to be pestered once in a while, and Picard's reactions to Q randomly showing up are hilarious.

Yep, that's exactly Q. by hermione of vulcan on 2013-03-12 22:36:00 UTC Reply

I mean, sometimes there's other motivations, but it all basically traces back to him being bored. "I'm bored, I guess I'll test humanity!" is probably his motivation in the pilot episode, and then Picard intrigues him and he stops by other times.

Yes, "The Omega Glory" is pretty much the worst episode of TOS. I was reading a recap of it somewhere which I think summed it up nicely (I'm paraphrasing here): "It's typical for Star Trek aliens to represent cultures in Earth history. This is usually done subtlely. But in "The Omega Glory", subtlety was set on fire and thrown off a cliff." I mean seriously, the implausibilities! I always had the idea that Kirk was promoted because he was disobeying orders left and right, so they sent him on a mission where they thought he'd die, but he managed to survive. He kept doing that until he got to captain. Then movies, where he became Admiral. Then - my gods, I've just explained all of TOS! The reason the Enterprise keeps getting in trouble is because Starfleet keeps trying to send Kirk into missions that will kill him for disobeying orders. Only problem is, he makes friends, and is intelligent enough in his own way to get out of tough situations! *revelation*

Ahem. Picard, on the other hand, just has bad luck. Starfleet loves him because he stays enough within the rules to keep them happy, but he's still sympathetic to viewers because he breaks rules for legitimate reasons. He's much more well-rounded - if he quit Starfleet he could become an archaeologist, a professor, a musician, a radio announcer (I kid, who needs radio when you have holodecks?). He's intellectual, and listens to his crew's opinions.

Or, to quote my sister, "The only thing Kirk has over Picard is hair."

I'm probably gushing/babbling, tell me to stop if you want me to. It's just seeing a Trekkie (or Trekker if you prefer) makes me want to talk Trek.

Talking Trek is fine by me. by Outhra on 2013-03-13 00:30:00 UTC Reply

If I didn't, my responses wouldn't have been half so long.

Even Spock's Brain, the commonly accepted "really bad one" for the original Star Trek, wasn't as bad as The Omega Glory. Spock's Brain was actually fun to watch and pick apart, because even after you laughed at the first layer of plot holes, you realized that there was a second layer of nonsensical plot contrivances just beneath its surface. How did the people on Sigma Draconis even reproduce if each gender had no idea that the other existed? Spock's Brain logic. How did a dozen unmarked buttons on McCoy's remote control replicate Spock's entire cranial functions? Spock's Brain logic. It's like Sue logic, if Sue logic made you bust up laughing instead of wanting to smack yourself in the head.
Omega Glory, on the other hand, was just flat-out stupid. I read that it had originally been considered for the first episode of Star Trek to air on television. That would have been awful! Nobody would have watched the show because they would have been so disappointed, it would have had no fandom, and then no sarcastic fanwriters would coin the term "Mary Sue", and then the PPC would never exist! The crappy fanfictions would still be out there, but the PPC would just be... doing something else! The very idea repels! (dramatic gasp)

As for the next bit, I imagine that, by Season Three, Kirk's bosses had run out of extra-dangerous missions to send him to, and on a routine sweep for certain-death encounters, they saw that he'd gone to the planet from Day of the Dove with no backup to fight both Klingons and the Beta Entity, and he still didn't die. Exasperated, the Federation Council threw up their collective hands or equivalent and said "Screw it all. When he comes back, we'll promote him and give him an administrative job that we can legitimately fire him from.", which he proceeded to vacate so that he could fight off whale-loving space probes and Klingon Doc Brown.
I like this idea. Your revelation is a good revelation.

I've had a fanon going for a while that Picard lost his hair as a teenager, similar to what happened to Patrick Stewart, and one of his original motivations for succeeding at so many pursuits was to show up all of the other Starfleet cadets who teased him for being bald. It's slightly OOC for him, but it makes me smile nonetheless.

"Spock's Brain"Â… by hermione of vulcan on 2013-03-14 02:13:00 UTC Reply

I have a Star Trek calander with pictures from various episodes and fun facts on the bottom. There's a picture from "Spock's Brain", and the fun fact is, and I quote, "The plot of this third and final season premiere is described by some insiders as a backhanded "tribute" to network executives who'd cut the show's budget and moved it into an undesirable time slot." That explains the blatant stupidity.

"The Omega Glory"… Its bad logic is a whole different degree of stupid. Yes, every single planet has developed exactly like Earth. Suuure. *wipes Sar-Plasm off walls* That is a frightening thought - "The Omega Glory" would have killed the Star Trek franchise at birth, meaning that modern fandom wouldn't have been created the same way, meaning that PPC might not even exist! What a terrifying alternate universe!

Whale loving space probes…Best Trek movie ever. (Closely followed by First Contact and Wrath of Khan.)

Your fanon about Picard makes sense, because it is shown that he was a bit of an arrogant womanizer as a Starfleet cadet (Season 6, "Tapestry") so losing his hair could have caused him to try and regain his pride by being smarter than everyone else. And I forgot diplomat on my list of other jobs Picard could do. And ambassador. Yeah, Picard is epic.

Good to have you a-Board! by doctorlit on 2013-03-11 16:56:00 UTC Reply

Greetings, new friend! Have a sprig of poison joke!
No subject? by SpecstacularSC on 2013-03-11 09:38:00 UTC Reply

But-but-but, teh newbies!

Ah well. Have a present from teh Specs:

An Omega Rod!

(This one comes special from one of my in production fantasy stories. Unlike its mechanical brother, which was used for mass destruction, this omega rod is meant for the sole purpose of healing and light.)

(Headdesks) by Outhra on 2013-03-11 13:20:00 UTC Reply

Ugh, sorry about the default title, everybody.
I was planning on a Pseudo-Witty Title©, but it was too long for the title bar, I deleted it, and I forgot to replace it with another one. Having no edit button is something I will need to get used to.
My "This post is not as good as it could have been" guilt easily quintupled when I saw that. Well, at least I'll be able to find my intro thread more easily with the search option. There can't be that many mistakenly untitled threads, right? (hears the IO chuckle)
Oh, grob, what have I done?

Don't sweat it. by SpecstacularSC on 2013-03-11 13:25:00 UTC Reply

You wouldn't believe the number of times I've forgotten to input my own username.

AnonymousSC has become a mini of myself.

That reminds me... by Outhra on 2013-03-11 14:38:00 UTC Reply

What do I do to report errors in missions and have them corrected? I remember encountering a mini-Cadmar, Cadamr, in The Agents Who Cried Space Wolf. It doesn't look that good to see misspelled names in an organization that is supposed to frown on that sort of thing, and I... (Cadamr bites finger) AH! Sharp teeth! (shakes hand furiously)

There's always contacting the author. by Neshomeh on 2013-03-11 16:32:00 UTC Reply

It's probably best to use their site, if it has a way to leave comments, or the author's e-mail address or wiki Talk page. Accompanying the correction with a full review would not go amiss, of course. {= ) If you can catch them in the IRC chat room, that would work, too (and is probably your best chance in Caddy's case). I'd only bring it up here as a last resort for older missions, and not at all if the author/site admin isn't active anymore. Reviewing new releases on the Board when they're posted is perfectly welcome, though.

And, speaking of welcome, hi! Glad to have you a-Board. ^_^

~Neshomeh

Hello there! by KittyNoodles on 2013-03-11 08:55:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the PPC! I be KittyNoodles, and as a welcome gift I have placed a box of bleepnerds and one Odd Container in your inventory!

Odd Container
Item Level 1
Chance on Openng: Receive one spray of confetti or one huggle - your choice.
[This container is perfectly spherical and appears to be crafted from glite-painted wood. Its weight changes at odd intervals, and you can't shake the feeling that opening this container may prove detrimental to your health.]

...Ignore that last bit, the flavor text hates me...
Welcome. by MAXinsanity AKA 409 on 2013-03-11 06:29:00 UTC Reply

Go annoy people with this airhorn or something, I don't know.
OMG, a newbie! Hi! by Khaosity on 2013-03-11 06:25:00 UTC Reply

I'm not the newest one anymore! *does happy dance* As a welcome gift, you get some Bleep'n'ms and a wahooni carving of Ankh-Morpork. So far, we share the Discworld fandom, which is awesome. What are the fandoms you didn't mention?
Hi Newbie! by Karen on 2013-03-11 05:44:00 UTC Reply

Would you like a cookie?

Also YAY ANOTHER HOMESTUCK FAN *glomps* I am your friend for life.
Welcome, newbie! by son_of_heaven176 on 2013-03-11 04:38:00 UTC Reply

Welcome to the PPC Board! How did you run across the PPC in the first place?

Have you read the Original Series? (HIGHLY recommended reading for all newbies, as it is the base of this entire enterprise!)
Also, I suggest that you read the PPC Constitution. I am sure that you're at least familiar with the PPC Wiki page.

But enough Serious Business. As you probably know, it is customary for us Boarders to give "gifts" to newbies. So your gift is *rummaging through bag of holding* a Bleen replica of a Voyager uniform!

Thanks for the gifts, everybody! by Outhra on 2013-03-11 14:04:00 UTC Reply

I've read the Original Series, as well as easily a dozen of the spin-offs, and they're awesome. I read a few OFUs, too, but I gave up on that bit since none of the ones I read were ever finished. It's too bad; I liked them, especially the Redwall one.
I went on the PPC wiki already, and I even made a few edits there. Of course, since I forgot to log in, one of the admins said "Who is this anonymous person editing the Minis page?", and removed some of my changes, which is another of those things that I feel silly about in retrospect.
I first found the PPC when browsing TvTropes. When I went to the page, I saw the link to the Original Series and started reading it. It was, to reiterate, awesome.
I have to warn you, though, I will not be nearly as adept at Tolkien canon as a lot of the rest of you are. I'll probably still be able to identify unreported badfics for it though, if I need to. Sue traits are universal, after all.

Don't worry by son_of_heaven176 on 2013-03-11 19:31:00 UTC Reply

Not everyone here is a Tolkien fan, nor does a PPCer have to be. I haven't read much past the first book! However, as you said, Sue traits are universal: they're everywhere, not just in Tolkien.