Yes, I did watch the World Idol results show last night. They had some clips of auditions for the upcoming new season of AI. There was a Klingon couple in full costume and make-up! They told Simon about how they killed the rest of the constestants and held up a goblet of bloodwine! God I can't wait to see their full audition....

Last night's SNL rerun had a sketch involving Reese Witherspoon talking about hiring an obesity coach to help her gain weight for the sequel to "Bridget Jones' Diary." Eventually, they brought the coach out, and he started talking about the other celebs he had helped to gain weight, including "that guy who played Scotty on Star Trek." Hee!

edited

We saw a similarly-themed cartoon here in Abq with Bush saying that the Mars mission would give us a chance to "smoke the Klingons out of their holes." Chaney leans over and says, "Sir, I think you're overselling it."

Can't remember the artist- I'll see if I can whip up a link here soon.

Bush's new space initiative seems to have a lot of crossover with Trek. Here's another cartoon...

Aaron McGruder's Boondocks Comic Strip for 1/23/04

ETA: Apologies to anyone offended by the comic strip. Didn't anticipate that. :)

edited

Read what I posted about political discussions in the Meet Market thread. We can have them as long as we aren't insulting the views and prefences of others on this board. Please act like an adult.

Tonight on Gilmore Girls, Kirk -- on of the quirky townies -- got a permanent ringing in his ears due to the newly repaired church bells in town. He told Lorelai that he'd done some research and found out that William Shatner also had the problem. She said, "Kirk and Captain Kirk?" He said that the connection wasn't lost on him.

The presence of self-admitted Trekkie Jane Espenson on the Gilmore Girls staff has upped the Trek refs on the show. Last week, and now this week a comment on cloaking devices and the problems both Kirk and Picard had regarding the same.

She also wrote the DS9 episode "Accession," so you might expect some Ferengi or Bajoran references sooner or later. Still doesn't make up for her Mutant Enemy work, which I generally dislike.

Except this week Lorelai said she didn't want to date a Trekkie.

I never liked that brat.

Hee. That was my response also especially since she mocked Luke for being a trekkie in an earlier episode.

Background on "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins."

Interesting point: One of the dancers on the show (and probably on this song) was Erin Gray, later of Buck Rogers, and, according to IMDb, one of those considered for the role of Kathryn Janeway.

Hee -- George Takei was on The Daily Show last night, answering questions from Samantha Bee about whether there are enough mainstream Asian pornos out there. Samantha Bee asked him if he'd auditioned for "Young Wet Bitches." Takei kept repeating, "Young...Wet...Bitches?" as he tried to figure out what Samantha Bee was getting at. It was hysterical.

That particular interview had been run before, but I don't remember in which episode.

Hee, I was just watching The Office (series 1), and there's a great bit in the fourth episode about David nitpicking a trivia quiz question about Spock. Though now I'm a little concerned that Ricky Gervais thinks Trekkies are like David Brent, because...*shudder*

Gilmel, you're right, it was originally run in the ep that had James Spader as a guest back in November. Unfortunately, Dr. Mathra and I happened to miss that one and have been dying to see the George Takei thing ever since.

There's a book review in today's New York Times of a new book called "The Vulcans," about President Bush's advisors. The reviewer has to assure us right off the bat that the reference is not to pointy-eared aliens but to the Roman god. Apparently it's a self-applied nickname that a bunch of fiery advisors took. I'm sure they realized the other meaning, though.

Your Trekkie Communicator Is Ready

That is so, sooo cool. I can't believe that's real already. Awesome.

Hee:

That is definitely very cool. Man, I could use one of those to get in touch with my boss some days.

There's a jab at Enterprise in this comic. Good to see Firefly in pop culture at any rate....

Scott Kurtz (the author of that comic) is a long-time Trek fan. He went to a Con last year and got to meet Robin Curtis (Saavik from SFS), whom he had a huge crush on when he was a teen. He wrote all about it, but I can't seem to find a link to what he wrote any more.

Where was there a Coronado? I can't find it, outside a fan site.

No mention in the Trek Encyclopedia but my edition only goes up to DS9 year 5 and VOY year 3. Maybe it was mentioned during the Dominion War?

It's not listed on the official site's library section, either. I wonder where the article's author got the info that there's a ship by that name?

If you type the terms into Google, you get a fan club- one of the "Starfleet" types, with a ship of that name.

Ah, fact-checking in the age of the Internet. Say no more.

See, but you can also find a ship called "Keckler" in one of those fan clubs, which makes me think they self-name them.

Oh, dude. Now I'm just mad I didn't start a ST fanclub called the USS Keckler.

Maybe this post should be in the "you know" thread? Heh.

Heh, I wish I could think it was about me, but I have a feeling it's just someone with that last name naming a ship after themselves.

But it's a sweet thought, lis.

Nah, you deserve it!

(That is, if you think the idea of a bunch of adults pretending to be members of a fictional organization flying on a spaceship they named after you is sweet. *ahem*)

I need to go back and re-watch, but the Vedek and I have been watching Futurama and that show is just crawling with Trek references (and we haven't even gotten to the so-called "trek" episodes). My favorite one-liner lately, when they were scavanging for food, "This is a type-M planet. There should at least be some Roddenberries!"

Surprised no one mentioned last night's Simpsons yet: "Marge, you just agreed to raise our kids Klingon!"

ETA: Can anyone verify whether the Klingon was correct?

Sadly, the captioning did not provide any clues, and I lack the ability to translate.

And now, ER features a mental patient who only speaks Klingon. I thought that myth had been laid to rest a while ago (the Oregon hospital who wanted Klingon interpreters, etc.). For the first time, I'm offended on behalf of Trekkies.

Wow, I'm so glad that I swore off of ER after last week.

That sounds familiar -- I think they've done that on ER before.

I don't know if ER's done it before (I swore off ER and let go its merry way after Clooney left) but the familiarity is most likely due to the fact that the maladjusted, geeky, awkward, possibly seriously disturbed, Klingon speaking Star Trek fan card has been played ad nauseum.

I know ER has had at least one episode where something exploded or fell down or something at a sci-fi convention, and of course all sorts of disturbed, maladjusted Trekkies came through the ER.

And was it ER that did the story about some dumbass trying to give himself Vulcan ears? I tried to search for it in the recaps, but searching ER recaps for "Vulcan" just brings up every episode Jen was in. Aha, found it. Same episode as the convention thing.

Come to think, it was another John Wells show, The West Wing, that also went on an anti-Trekkie run. But I remember the Vulcan ears too. And the convention, or at least a "furries" one.

Well, at least Abby was outed as a Trekkie of sorts as well.

Did calling Jen "Vulcan" precede Enterprise? Because her resemblence to T'Pol is striking.

I think that "Vulcan Jen" preceded Enterprise, but I'm not 100% sure.

I'm pretty sure ER has done both a Trek convention and a furries convention.

ETA: You know, I really don't need to defend Aaron Sorkin.

Tonight, on The Simpsons, two Coastguardsmen, one Canadian and one American, are insulting each other:

Canadian: "Back off, you Shatner-stealing Mexico-touchers!"

And on the next episode, a repeat:

Krusty: "Chaim Potok? What is that, some sort of Klingon?"

Awww! After talking about how a certain priest looked like Sulu on Scrubs, Turk ran to the wrong church and it actually WAS Sulu! Since the Evil Dr. Mathra is still grading exams down at Stanford, I screamed to the cats that they had to understand how cool that was.

It's really unbelievable how Star Trek sustains.

Were the cats duly impressed? Hee.

Nichelle Nichols did a guest-voice on the Simpsons this past weekend (at least, it was supposed to be her- I didn't catch the credits to confirm). Trek is everywhere!

It was her: "I told Shatner, I won't date anyone with pie on their face!"

Trek was even on the op-ed page of the NY Times as an example of how grammar police can be too strict ("to boldy go" is OK). And now I'm noticing that a common term among conservatives for Russell Kirk, one of the founders of the movement, is "Captain Kirk."

Hee. I'm so happy I remembered to tape this. I agreed with Turk, I'd want to be married by Sulu also.

From the latest CSI recap:

There is no honor in crabgrass!

Hee.

The new Beastie Boys video (I think it's the new one) has them fighting in Amok Time style, dressed as Kirk and Spock.