The Sanctified Nerd

Intro A pointy-eared stoic race with a dedication to logic and reason - these are the Vulcans. Gene Rodenberry's Space Elves are easily the most iconic alien race of the Star Trek  universe thanks to Mr. Spock. Other Vulcan characters of note include Surak, Sarek, Tuvok, and T'Pol. I have not seen Voyager  aside from a few episodes so I have no opinion of Tuvok but T'Pol is probably the least enjoyable Vulcan of the bunch. She conveys less the idea of logic and more a sense of resentment for being stuck with humans. Vulcans have always struck me as quite inconsistent as despite their professed adherence to logic they are nonetheless deeply mystical. The Enterprise  episode "The Andorian Incident" features a Vulcan Monastery, for example, and of course, we have the classic TOS episode "Amok Time" in which we learn just how violent the Vulcan mating ritual is. Granted, this is seen as logical, a releasing of emotions for an intense but short per

Apologies for the delays. I've missed the last few weeks of #TrekTalkTuesday installments because I've been working on my own  Star Trek  inspired series, SpaceWard  with the first "episode" now available on Kindle  so, of course, I've had my hands full. Today though, I want to introduce a mini-series within "Trek Talk Tuesday" on the various alien races in the Star Trek  universe. For now, I'm limiting the discussion to the prominent humanoid species - Vulcans (and Romulans)/ Klingons, Ferengi, Andorians, Betazoids,  and possibly a post on the various "creature features" of TOS. I'll be starting with the Vulcans (hopefully next Tuesday, but possibly the following week) over the course of two posts (because there is a lot to cover) and a third "spinoff" on the Romulans. Next, I'll spend a week on the TOS Klingons and a week on the TNG Klingons. The new  Star Trek: Discovery  Klingons don't matter because it'

It's time for another Trek Talk! I said last time I was going to talk about the real McCoy himself, so here we go. Dr. McCoy is one the best parts of TOS for me. Especially because he reminds so much of another medical professional on a different show - Doc Adams of the Western TV classic  Gunsmoke. Both doctors are warm-hearted grouches who try not to show their real natures and offer blunt and timely advice to the main character (Captain Kirk/ Marshall Dillion) while exchanging sharp banter with another character (Spock/ Chester and later Festus). Bones is probably my favorite character in the entirety of  Trek , with Scotty making a close second. And there are a few reasons for that. First, Bones is like a link to the viewer because he doesn't have the same polished nature of so many in Star Trek . While Spock has logic and Kirk has passion, McCoy has common sense - an important necessity for any space voyage. Second, McCoy is well cast. DeForest Kelly actually w

Let's talk some Star Trek TNG . I've said before that the typical story of a TNG episode tends to be duller than those of The Original Series. Just last week, I saw an episode of each, and in TNG, the entire story revolved around a girl who turns out to be a Q (powerful being from another dimension for uninitiated), and how she made her choice between being human and being a...Q. It's decidedly dull. On the other hand, in TOS, Kirk and Spock (aided by historical figures of Earth and Vulcan history) are pitted against four villains of history in a death-match by curious aliens who wish to observe the battle of good v evil. Cheesy yes but more engaging. Because of the vanilla flavor of the week to week storylines themselves in TNG, what makes the show memorable is a handful of key characters - Piccard and Worf especially. The third memorable character, however, is the android Data. And personally, I have several problems with the concept of Data. For starters, e

To keep a semblance of a regular schedule and because I've been getting back into Star Trek  following the announcement of Sir Patrick Stewart's return as Captain Picard, I'm planning a new series for this blog called "Trek Talk Tuesday". Lord willing I will post something every Tuesday but life makes such promises fragile. Suffice to say I will do my best to post one of these every Tuesday. I am of course more into Star Wars , Tolkien's Middle-earth and  Battlestar Galactica (1978) then I am into Star Trek  but I do enjoy it and in my own way, I love it. But don't expect me to be the fountain of nerd-knowledge here. Since this is my first post on Star Trek , I think a good place to start is establishing what parts I've seen and my overall feelings about the enterprise (pun intended). And in the coming weeks, I will look more in depth at some of the topics I will raise here. I have seen all of The Original Series (TOS), at least I think I have

So I'm very late on putting this review out, but better late than never. This review has SPOILERS so if by some chance you have not seen this movie yet...either read and be spoiled or find a showing if you can or wait for the home media release in September. Okay, so first off let me say this is easily the best Disney Era "Star Wars" film to date, a title previously held by Rogue One  in my estimation. When I talk about "Star Wars" needing to have fresh stories but still be "Star Wars", this is a good example of what I'm looking for: an original adventure set in the SW Universe that uses the lore of that universe to create the backdrop. First, the few problems I had all of which come down to some casting  and editing  choices. The opening chase scene is well filmed but I really wish that Ron Howard and John Powell had taken a look at some of the great speed-based scenes of film history - from Ben-Hur 's chariot race to the "Star