Hurin

Can you tell I'm a network admin?!? That was supposed to be "instantly."

My only regret is that I have to have that dumb-ass "edited" marker. I originally went with "p**sy". . . but all those asterisks there ruins it. So I had to go with the clean version. And darn A1! He went ahead and defused it by being able to laugh at himself! I guess my dad's not all bad. Even if he is a giant vagina. H

So, you're a vagina? H

Reason why the beginning of ST:TNG was an unmitigated wuss-fest #1047: Hey! We have these great villains from Star Trek's past! Well, we've made peace with the Klingons. . . how about the Romulans? No! Let's introduce a whole new species of half-height, harmless looking weirdos whose main goal is profit. That's right, let's show all the geeks out there how evil capitalism is! After all, it's the early nineties. . . and with the recent fall of Communism in Easter Europe, it's time to show that we suck too! If not now, then capitalism will definitely be evil in our invented future. And thus. . . the Ferengi. . . the worst villains. . . ever. They lasted for one or two seasons as the major antagonist before everyone on the production side realized what the viewers recognized installed. They sucked. So, they finally did what they should have done in the first place and replaced them with the Romulans (yeah!) and the Borg (also pretty cool). H

I'll never forget one episode from the first season of TNG. . . (more on that after this) With the Original Crew, you grew fond of them while they engaged in their day-to-day business of exloring the galaxy, kicking ass, and pretending not to notice that their Captain was a total pimp. The original crew didn't get together and play friggin' cards all the time to show us that they are all buddies and one big happy family. They just seemed like one. . . though not too much like one. Now, enter TNG. . . where they're all sleeping with each other, marrying each other, and basically sharing their deepest, innermost personal thoughts with each other (and they didn't need to be overcome by alien parasites to do it). And, the problem was, they were doing this long before they were on the show long enough for anyone to give a rat's @ss about their personal life. Back to that early first season episode. I kid you not, there is an entire first season episode where almost the entire plot is taken up with Riker having a fight with his dad. Seriously. If I recall correctly, the ship is never in danger in that episode and there really isn't much of anything else going on. . . we're just supposed to sit there and watch a grown man struggle under the expectations of his father. Now, that might have been interesting in the fifth season, when we had gotten to know Riker (through actual exciting adventures). But I just remember watching this episode early in the first season and thinking: "Do these people really think we care enough about these characters to give a crap about how bad Riker's dad makes him feel!?!" Okay. . . rant over. H

Errr.....ok. When Yamato have spent nearly a year in development, have the CAD designs finished and already have a completed physical sculpt, plus have probably started to cut the steel molds, I'm sure they will be influenced by a photo of a model from an old hobby magazine . Just because a few fans prefer that model kit sculpt, doesn't mean Yamato is going throw out their existing design and start all over from scratch. There is already a lot of money invested in the design so at this stage of development there is no way that they are going to be making any major changes. Graham Heh. Perfectly said. Plus, even if they were to "start over". . . I'm not sure how they could improve it to make it more accurate to the line art. They are constrained by the 1/48 VF-1 itself. And, as we all know, there is a lot of "anime magic" in how a VF-1 looks between fighter and battroid mode. Not to mention the GBP line art's liberties with proportion. Yamato can't just wish it into looking like the line art. It has to fit on the friggin' toy! H

I'm pretty that what you just said made no sense. They used the same footage each time it seperated, as far as I recall. As for that being the reason they destroyed it in the movie. . . you'd think they would have done that earlier in the series if it was intended as some type of "model preservation" measure. H

All y'all need to also take into account that Kirk was aggressive and more "simplistic" in the way he handled conflict because. . . that's the way TV was written back then. Kirk embodies the television heros of that era. Picard embodies the touchy feely PC-ness of the era in which he was written (the very early 90s when "PC" really broke through into the mainstream). What always cracked me up was how Riker was obviously a little Kirk clone, womanizing, brash, etc. So, he was there for the Kirk fans in order to take some of the edge off of Mr. Shakespeare. H

And by everyone, you mean Kirk. Well, and Spock I suppose because he wasn't guilty of murder thanks to McCoy's quick thinking? But he didn't save the Enterprise or its crew as a whole. But, regardless, I'm sure there's at least one episode where McCoy saves the Enterprise. . . but I'm wracking my brain right now and can't really come up with one!

Yes, Spock helped save Kirk's ass quite a bit. But Bones? When? At least Kirk depended on his brilliant first officer rather than the teenage son of his ex-flame. I could not believe how nearly each and every first season episode revolved around how Wesley would eventually save everyone. And, my problem with peace? I have a problem with peace when it's not time for peace. I believe in giving peace a chance. But, when it doesn't work out, I strongly believe in giving war a chance. H

So was Janeway. And Sisko, once he got a ship. Heck, Archer doesn't have a counselor either. Picard is the only person that DID have a counselor on the bridge. And that may've just been because of her abilities(let's be honest, where do you think someone that can read minds is more useful?). Meh. She was there because TNG was intended to be "kindler, gentler" Star Trek for the "thinking man." There were no counselors sitting next to the Captains on the other series because they realized it was lame. Dude. . . the Enterprise D's bridge looks like a super-comfy living room! All of these things they gradually undid (even with the TNG in their movies). But, there for a while, TNG was just lame. . . everyone sitting around comfortably on the bridge waiting for the boy genius to save them. . . And when he couldn't, they'd just sput some techno-babble about rerouting something through the deflector array, and then everything was alright. At least when Kirk figured out a solution to their dilemmas, it was something we all said: "Man, I wish I had thought of that!". . . but in TNG, we couldn't have thought of that because it was just techno-babble that is intentionally over our heads. H

Speaking of the continual wussifcation of Star Trek that began with Picard. . . you gotta love how they had families onboard, and for the first few episodes, they would always seperate the "saucer section" off and send it to safety while everyone else wandered down to the "battle bridge." Then, about five episodes into the series, they said: "Hey, that's pretty f'ing stupid." But, of course, having families on a war vessel was stupid to begin with. . . of the thirteen original Constitution class starships that went on their five year voyages. . . only Kirk's Enterprise returned. So, as Starfleet, what's the logical thing to do? Hey! Why not put a bunch of families/civilians on the ship! Sounds like a great plan! And please don't try to tell me that the entire galaxy suddenly became safer. . . the whole idea was that they were exploring new areas of space. . . and you don't know how safe it was going to be. Now, they made the series increasingly better as it went along (ditching Wesley, the saucer seperation, and some of the pseudo-pacifism). . . but that crap in the beginning drove me away to the point where I didn't really enjoy TNG until well towards the end of its run. H

Kirk. . . because he's the Captain of a friggin' military vessel rather than some lame-ass ship of goodwill that travels around with everyone's family onboard. . . and with a friggin' "ship's counselor" on the bridge right beside him all the time. H

I'm Hurin. I was Hurin on the old boards. And I'm Hurin (or 'Hurin Thalion' if longer is required) just about wherever I go. It's a name from Tolkien's The Silmarillion. He was the lord/ruler of a realm called Dor-lomin. And, I eventually registered the domain for Dor-lomin. So, that's been my domain for about eight years now. Anyways, I had something like 50-100 posts on the old boards. I dropped by to sell my Joke Machines and some other stuff. . . but I didn't post regularly until the Invision Boards came around. This happened at about the same time I got my first Yamato toys and saw the Animeigo DVDs (thus finally divesting myself of my lingering childhood RT baggage). I tend to type a lot, and I don't mind arguing verbosely. This annoys some. While others actually appreciate it when people supply some logic and/or reasoning for their opinions. I do have a problem with not letting arguments go very easily if I feel the other side hasn't made any sense or is unfairly dismissing the othe side. And, yes, I have been guilty of pursuing a grudge or two (BUT THEY DESERVED IT! ). Okay, that's me. H

I think that's one episode later. "Virgin Road", I believe is the wedding episode. "Messenger" is the one where they make peace. I think you sing in that one. H

I think it was more about losing an engine with three or four TIE Fighters behind him in hot pursuit that made him consign himself to his doom. H

I've seen this valk for years. But I don't remember its pedigree. Is it from a game, or just a Kawamori doodle? What's its story? H

Can I come live with you? It creeps me out the way he makes me oil him up all the time.

Hey, I never said he was my FAVORITE son. I actually should remember how its spelled, it rhymes with "urine!!" You spineless weakling. You fixed it!?! It was funny that you had left it mispelled all this time even though those of us who followed its evolution knew that you were aware of it. Now you've caved. I'm ashamed to call you my father. H

This seems like an appropriate thread to celebrate an impending B-Day. pfunk is going to have a bouncing baby boy. I would have posted this in the thread in which he originally mentioned it. . . but that thread is trouble. . . I'm staying away. Congrats pfunk! H

Hehe. Hey, I've been the guy who's been saying that Lucas was a genius, but then lost his touch for the cool and instead started making movies for his new daughter. It seems there is another school of thought out there (that is new to me) that says that he's always had a lame sense of humor and a tendency towards slapstick, but that it was restrained by those who knew better. But what we do seem to agree on is that there is a difference in tone between the movies. So at least we have that! I think that's how we view them today. But I think they were supposed to be menacing back then. Look at how they are introduced in ANH. . . by annihilating a bunch of rebel soldiers as they overrun a rebel spacecraft. This whole "Stormtroopers are idiots" thing came about over the years as a sort of comical rationalization for why they never managed to kill even one of the heros. But, that tends to come up in any series where the good guys never die yet manage to pick off bad guys by the bushell. Well, you got me there. Very true. H

I thought the "Carrie" was thoroughly discredited. Even Mark H got into a heated exchange about it once, if I recall. I always thought it was an odd sounding "Hey!" Just googled it:

Yes, and since I've obviously fallen over the edge into fanboyness here by posting so many times within the hour, I might as well point out: The problem now is that the new sound they've inserted draws attention to it where you know that in the original, they were hoping you wouldn't notice. H

I found this while looking into getting the OT non-SE edition on DVD somehow. It's regarding the fact that, in the recent DVD release, they actually added a "clunk" sound into the soundtrack where the Stormtrooper accidentally hits his head on the door in ANH. But, I think this analysis of the decision to do this is apt for all that Star Wars has become in recent years: Just as a refresher, here's the scene (no sound): Original Thread is here.

I think the operative word is excised. It ain't there. They thought better of it. My inclination is to believe that Lucas wasn't surrounded by as many Yes-men back then. People would actually tell him that something was stupid, silly, or just plain not working back then. Not so much anymore. Who knows, maybe it was his wife (Marcia). And the operative word there is little. In my humble opinion, it's not even in the same league as anything from TPM or even Jedi. And, not directed at you bsu legato, but I love how a lot of people refer to 3PO as the "silly" part of the OT. . . yet, even restricting the discussion to just Threepio's character, even just within that narrow limitation, there is a world of difference in how that character is portrayed in the five movies. There is absolutely nothing analogous in the OT to Threepio's lame real world puns ("Well, I'm quite beside myself") at the end of AotC when he's decapitated and wandering around as a battle droid, etc. In fact, Lucas had the opportunity to use nearly all those lines and lame puns in Empire when Threepio was decapitated. But it wasn't done. Why? Because the movies took themselves more seriously back then. They just simply had a different tone/sensibility. H