vulcan bares all

[damalurbackup]

A last bit of Trek flailing, and then I promise it's back to my regularly scheduled enthusiasm for TBBT and Doctor Who.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Found courtesy of Wil Wheaton, who was himself quite enthusiastic about the reboot.




Also, I spewed this out last night at popkin16, and I thought I'd repost it here in case the links are of use to anyone.

This might be a bit lengthy, but here's a basic run-down that might help you.

In the beginning, there was Star Trek, a three-season television show. There have been so many spin-offs that this is now called Classic Star Trek or The Original Series (TOS). Some two decades after the end of TOS, a new show called Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) aired for seven seasons. Three more television series followed (Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, technically a prequel). Although all the shows are set in the same continuity, they feature entirely different casts and are set at different times.

There were ten Star Trek movies made prior to the most recent one - six based on TOS and four based on TNG. Now we have a magic reboot that is absolutely amazing, and I love it to bits. The great thing about the latest movie is that it is so accessible; most of what you need to know about the classic characters is condensed into two and a half hours.

Assuming you don't want to get involved with the spin-offs at this point, there are really only a handful of things besides the 2009 movie you need to watch to really understand the fandom. A good viewing list would be something like:

- Star Trek (2009 film)
- "The Menagerie, Part I"
- "The Menagerie, Part II"
- "Space Seed"
- "The City on the Edge of Forever"
- "Amok Time"
- "Mirror, Mirror"
- "Journey to Babel"
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

That should be just about everything you really need, although, again, the 2009 film stands pretty well on its own. A couple of the links below have suggestions for an expanded viewing list. If you want a fantastic book that gives great background for the new movie, I'd recommend picking up "Spock's World" by Diane Duane. She is a FANTASTIC author and the book is a great read on its own.

Some other stuff that might be useful:
- crack_van's TOS fandom overview
- penknife's introduction to TOS
- newbieguide's list of TOS resources
- 10 Things You Should Probably Know About Star Trek

st_reboot is definitely a good community to keep an eye on; trek_news is invaluable for de-clogging your friends list, as is the soon-to-come st_newsletter. I also keep an eye on kirkspock_recs, spockmccoy, and now spock_uhura. Kirk/Spock is obviously the fandom's main ship - in fact, it's in large part the reason slash exists - although I'm pretty fond of Spock/McCoy myself. Spock/Uhura I'm willing to read, although really the only good TOS-era S/U fic I've found is Wildcat's lengthy S/U series.

- Classic Kirk/Spock recs for new fans
- More Kirk/Spock recs for new fans
- ship_manifesto's entries on Kirk/Spock and Spock/McCoy
- The Spock/McCoyote's Den (old school S/M archive)

Phew! So there you go. I have massive, massive love for Star Trek, if you can't tell, although if you do nothing but see the latest movie I think you'll be well-positioned to dive into the fandom. The Original Series is so camp and fun and sometimes even touching, though, that it's worth a try. :)

Finally and as always, I'm here with a reminder of the REALLY IMPORTANT topics in fandom: Jim Parsons has sexy hands; everyone wants to tap David Tennant when he's holding a kitten; there is no universe where RuPaul is not the fiercest creature on the planet; etc.

In keeping with today's Star Trek theme, I'd like to take some time to talk about Spock. I think we can all agree that Zachary Quinto is attractive...





...but I also feel it's important to remember that Leonard Nimoy was the original foxy Vulcan. Dax said it best.

DAX: I had no idea.
SISKO: What?
DAX: He's so much more handsome in person. Those eyes...
SISKO: Kirk had quite the reputation as a ladies' man.
DAX: Not him. Spock.

In honor of that, I bring you pictures.



Random face groping ftw! I'd shoot spores at him if I thought it would get me face groping privileges.


In dress uniform. (DON'T HE AND BONES LOOK MARRIED?)


Also of note: THIS is what Sarek looks like. What they did to him was pretty much my biggest complaint about the new movie. Sarek does not run around telling people that he loves his wife. He isn't comforting. He's the sort of man who's more likely to not speak to his son for two decades when his son decides to join Starfleet than he is to pat his son on the head after said son beats the crap out of his classmate. Not to say that he doesn't care about Spock and Amanda; he clearly does. But guys, he's a VULCAN.


Who wouldn't tap that eyebrow?


It's so nice to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same.


Spock and Bones with tribbles! I love it when men come complete with small, furry animals.


Scotty is also all kinds of adorable.


There's this thing that I have where I like people's hands, which some of you may have noticed with relation to a certain Jim Parsons.
The reason I have that hand thing? SPOCK.


I mean, seriously, when Spock Prime mind-melded with alt!Kirk, I still felt a frisson of excitement when he spread his fingers. LEONARD NIMOY'S HANDS. THEY ARE GOLD.


This has little bearing on Spock's hotness, but I couldn't resist. BECAUSE! THEY KILLED A REDSHIRT! I LAUGHED. I SHOULDN'T HAVE, BUT I DID.

AND FOR LAST, THE GOOD STUFF:


YOU GUYS. COME ON. WHY WOULD YOU NOT HIT THAT?


CHEST OF SPOCK.


BONDAGE OF SPOCK.


NECK OF SPOCK.


BACK OF SPOCK.


I DON'T THINK THIS NEEDS ANY CONTEXT.

Comments

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Holy Wah, thank you for the glorious pics of Spock! NomNomNom!

[damalur]

You are very welcome! Love for shirtless!Spock is best when shared.

[obiwahn.livejournal.com]

Hee. I forgot how much I love the original series. I grew up with Star Trek - my parents were total trekkies, and I completely felt the Spock/Kirk love. Still haven't seen the movie! I need to go this weekend.

[damalur]

I wish my parents were Trekkies; as it stands, they're pretty much mystified by my love for SF & fantasy. I did drag them to see this movie, though, and they both enjoyed it. Get thee to a theater!

[fenellaevangela.livejournal.com]

1. Feel free to talk about Star Trek as muc has you want. I'm sure it would fit into the schedule just fine :-D

2. Great run down of the Trek fandom! I may use a few of those links myself.

3. Wow. I am all over that second picture of Quinto. Where did that come from? He looks much less like a mannequin and much more like a really sexy thing.

4. DS9! My favourite Trek series. Trials and Tribbleations is hilarious (And also my current desktop :-D).

5. Tribbles are awesome, Nimoy is delicious, and I agree with you 100% re: Sarek.

[damalur]

There will probably be more Trek flailing in the future, because this movie has - maybe not reawakened my love, because I don't think my love ever feel asleep, but it's certainly made me take a step back and realize how much I love Star Trek. Now that I'm older, I find that I like it quite a bit more than Star Wars, even, which is saying something.

I have no idea where that second pic of Quinto came from, but OMG DO WANT. I ganked it from Google, so who knows?

DS9 and Voyager I'm fond of, but for me Star Trek has always been about TOS & TNG. I have a friend that thinks I'm just attached to the Enterprise. She's probably not wrong. :D I think from an objective standpoint, though, that DS9 might be the best series.

SAREK. HE IS NOT NICE. That was, like, the *one thing* that kept jarring me out of the movie. (Well, that, and listening to Spock talk, because Quinto did a fantastic job and I love him but his voice is not, you know, THE VOICE OF SPOCK. Which is okay, because even Leonard Nimoy doesn't have THE VOICE OF SPOCK anymore). But Sarek IS NOT CUDDLY AND NICE, and I felt like they were trying to make him nice, and IDK, he didn't feel like Sarek at all. I can accept that Ben Cross and Mark Lenard don't look alike, because Karl Urban looks almost nothing like DeForest Kelley and he ROCKED MY SOCKS as Bones, but argh, they didn't get Sarek right at all.

OTOH, Spock/Uhura is kind of like Sarek/Amanda for a new generation, so there is that.

[fenellaevangela.livejournal.com]

I've always caught reruns of the various series (DS9 is very clearly my favourite, but I love them all - I think I actually like TOS and TNG more than Voyager, or maybe that's just because I haven't seen much Voyager lately :-D) and I am loving all the renewed interest on LJ etc.

There's this thing where people don't seem to understand how Vulcans handle their emotions, which seems to be what happened with Sarek. I get that Spock is half human and the writers want to show how that effects his emotions, right, but Sarek is a full Vulcan and Vulcans control their emotions for a reason. Even if that's not all they messed with, Sarek did come off wrong :-/

[damalur]

Sarek aside, I think that the writers did a decent job with the Vulcans, Spock included. My major problem is with the new fandom, which doesn't seem to understand either the Vulcans or Spock. Spock is "more Vulcan than Vulcan," and while I can understand his behavior in the movie - it makes sense in context, for his age, etc. - he isn't going to cry, or flirt outright, or act human. He was raised on Vulcan, he identifies as Vulcan, and yes, he has a human mother, but if anything I think that's made him more likely to go in for something like Kolinahr - he has to be more perfect, more emotionless, more logical than the full-blooded Vulcans. I don't see this as having changed in the alternate timeline.

Phew! And that's my Vulcan rant. :D

Voyager's probably my least favorite series, although I couldn't say why - although that's aside from Enterprise. We will not speak of Enterprise here. *g*

[fenellaevangela.livejournal.com]

I think the fandom could do with a few good Vulcan rants right about now! A lot of people are jumping right in, and it's got to be tough being the new guy in such an old and widespread fandom.

We will not speak of Enterprise here. Sounds okay to me ;-)

[sinstralpride.livejournal.com]

... This is an excellent resource for n00bs. GO YOU! ♥

I shall be shamelessly linking this to my friends who I'm trying to get into this fandom. XD Thanks for making it easier.

[damalur]

You're welcome! I'm glad that you found it useful. :)

[shlnbard.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmm, shirtless Spock ftw! I've had a crush on Leonard Nimoy's Spock since I was 12, and Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy have succeeded in bringing it back in full force!

[damalur]

I think there probably isn't a sci-fi/fantasy fangirl out there that didn't have a crush on Spock at one point. This might require further research...

[shlnbard.livejournal.com]

If they didn't, they seriously missed out.

Poll? Y/Y?

[ennta.livejournal.com]

How timely of you! I watched some Trek when I was younger (around the time I started watching Star Wars), but it never really stuck; I loved Voyager during its last few seasons--read a few of the novels, bought a few more that are languishing in my closet somewhere now--but never felt compelled to seek out the fandom. I also watched a few of the older movies and a bit of DS9, but Star Trek and I have remained mere acquaintances in the sci-fi sphere for about a decade.

And then I decided to see the new movie, and now I feel like a bit of a loser for taking this long to jump on the bandwagon. :p I also started to feel a bit disturbed at finding Leonard Nimoy as Spock so attractive when I tried to watch some classic Trek prior to seeing the new movie, but now I see that I have nothing to be ashamed of and am in good company. :p

tl;dr version:

I have a feeling this post will help me devote more hours than strictly necessary to catching up on another classic sci-fi franchise.

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Aaaah this is so weird, I was just watching "The Other Side of Paradise" like an hour ago and after I saw that exact shot you have a screencap of I said to my sister, "Damn, Spock has some pretty hands!" LOL.

In other news, this entire post is win.

[theaudhobbit42.livejournal.com]

Kiss him, kiss him...

I want a Tribble!

[saturn-a-gogo.livejournal.com]

PICTURE FROM THIS SIDE OF PARADISE IS EPIC JUST BECAUSE. JUST BECAUSE.

And I TOTALLY LOOOOVED THAT RED SHIRT DEATH. Even before they skydived down I was all like "That dude's gonna die." AND HE DID. LOLOLOL

This is great primer material! :D

Also I just want to say this somewhere, but sometimes I wish they would've made a spin of series based off Assignment: Earth. Cause I would've watched it. And loved it. I mean I guess I can read the comic spin off, but you know. It would've been SO 60's awesome.

[serenityveritas.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I totally remember that line from DS9. My boyfriend hasn't seen that episode, just the original Tribbles one. It's now waiting at the top of the queue from Netflix. :P

And thanks for the picspam! Despite being raised by Trekkies and technically having seen all episodes of Star Trek through somewhere near the last season of DS9, I don't remember much of anything. It's great fun going back and watching TOS on Hulu and stuff in light of the new movie. :D

[arthoniel.livejournal.com]

So I'm not the only one who thinks that Spock is made of epic win?? Because all my friends look at me wierdly when I say this, but then they've never seen Original Series!Spock. Personally, I like Zachary Quinto!Spock more, but... yes. Spock. He's awesome.

[nova-mist.livejournal.com]

You. Are. Awesome!

Thanks so much for this!

LOL - that last picture. Has Spock lost the lube?

[hii-chan23.livejournal.com]

UNF THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS.

Heehee I must say, TBBT made me love Star Trek even more.

[bombshell-dolly.livejournal.com]

OKAY so I already love you because of your epic series of love that is Life, the Universe and Everything. I love your TBBT stuff. And now I find you're posting about ST: TOS, and about SPOCK?

I agree. ZQ is cute and all, but there's something about Mr. Nimoy. Everytime he cocks an eyebrow, my insides turn slushy. YOUR PICS. THEY WIN!

It's not just about lovely nekkid Spock (well, only half-nekkid, but any nekkid is good nekkid, I say), but a special focus on SPOCK'S HANDS. GUH. I know what you mean about Jim Parson's lovely hands, but SPOCK'S HANDS ARE OH SO EPIC that when I saw a few pics dedicated to JUST his hands, I squee'd out loud just a bit. (Will there be moar hand!pics of doom?)

Sorry, my comment = tl;dr. NUTSHELLED: THANK YOU DAMALUR. I DUB THEE EPIC.