You're not going to believe this!

Ok, everyone sit down! Oh, ok, you are sitting down. After three years in the works, "The Missing Clue" the latest mission of the crew of the USS Ulysses has been finished. Look for it's posting on the Ulysses website in the near future, the webmaster does have a personal life, and he does have to do some web magic to it before he can put it up. But Hey, it's done!

My Paper Fleet Grows!

I have no idea if I'll do any more of these paper starship models or not, but this one was simple and small, about 5 inches total. Lots of interesting curves but horrible instructions. Well, it's cheap fun and it keeps me off the streets at night. And I did just find an Enterprise-E...

Trek Remastered Review

I stayed up well past bedtime Sunday night to watch the remastered classic Trek TOS episode "Balance of Terror", newly syndicated and playing on the local CBS affiliate. I didn't make notes or anything, since I wanted to simply enjoy it, but here are my impressions after a day or two. No, I haven't seen any other reviews.
First, the episode itself was a classic submarine battle with the added tension of an unknown enemy and a crewman's suspicion about Spock's loyalty. I don't have episodes memorized, but I couldn't spot any blatant edits for time, even though the episode was certainly short.
This new reincarnation of TOS is designed to spotlight a re-recorded theme, re-mastered sound, updated effects, HD-TV resolution, and a new video processing scheme to add "depth".
On the plus side, I had no issues with the sound, even the re-recorded theme. It sounded crisp and clear, and the theme was authentic. There was something about the video that just wasn't right. It was like the contrast was way too high. The color was over-saturated. Characters had shiny foreheads and shadows looked muddy. There's the possibility that this existed somewhat in the original episode, what with it deliberately designed as a claustrophobic nail-biter where the players are supposed to look sweaty. I should probably withhold judgement on the video until I see "lighter" episodes. Also note that I watched on a standard TV.
My real issue is that the average viewer isn't going to spot a damn bit of difference in the effects. Out of timid loyalty to fanatic purists, the newly digital Enterprise still flies at weird angles, the space scenes around the bridge are still washed-out stills, and the cosmos still look pretty mundane. Perhaps because this was a ship-bound story, there may not have been the opportunity for effects wizards to show off. But then why premier with this episode? My wife is slightly more familiar with Trek than the average viewer, and her reaction was "what's different?". Even the opening looked the same. Maybe the travelling matte outlines are gone, and the ship flies a little steadier, but there was a great opportunity here to really create a buzz about a cool new "Trek enhanced". But it just looks like "Trek cleaned-up". I see no added value that would make any station want to pull this out of the late night graveyard.

My Week in Focus

Geez, that sounds like the beginning of one of those news documentary kind of boring-type programs. I know it has been a while since I posted but it has been a long week. Tuesday night we went down to the bowling alley to see if we could get on the Tuesday Laughlin league, but still no openings.
Wednesday we went to the usual Skyline softball game to watch them pretend to know what they are doing. They are Gene's friends but they are not very good softball players, more like watching the Keystone Kops play sports, very entertaining.
Thursday was our day of rest, or was supposed to be, the air conditioner at work decided to forget how to work. The temperature was 96 degrees in the building all day and even our fans were blowing hot air. The people and the computers were running sluggishly. So when I got home, it was dinner and a nice cool bed, I was completely sick to my stomach from the heat.
Friday the building was freezing, they got the air conditioners fixed and as usual blasted them all night. It felt like it was about 12 degrees and so everyone was walking around with their sweaters and cups of coffee. When I got home we got ready and went down to our bowling night, and bowled pretty good. The team we are supposed to bowl against apparently quit, so we bowled against ourselves. When we got done bowling we went next door and had a drink at the Wheelhouse.
Saturday morning I was supposed to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific with the Athena crew but when the alarm went off, I was very dizzy and was having a sugar attack. I called off from the away mission and stayed in bed until about 11:00. Gene came home from having the blue truck smogged and asked how I was. I was feeling better so I went with him to the Route 66 Car Show in San Bernardino and walked around a little.
Now I am just catching up with all the things I didn't do during the week. Guess that's all for now.
Juanita

This Weekend

Had an eventful weekend. Enjoyed the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival in Dana Point, it was something that we had never done before and quite exciting. I was a little worried stepping across from ship to ship a couple of times since they weren't exactly moving in sync, but there were deck hands there to give a helping hand. We tried some of the food and also had our pictures taken dressed up as pirates, which was quite fun also.
On Sunday, Gene and I went to practice bowling and we played 6 games. Gene even bowled one game of 199, only one pin away from a 200, that was really exciting. We had kids next to us, so we had to educate them on how to be courteous while you bowled and wait your turn, but otherwise it was an enjoyable time.
I finally was able to get Gene to give in to letting me buy him the knee brace, he used the elbow brace when we bowled Friday on the Kings and Queens Vegas League. We hope to also get on the Tuesday night Laughlin League but we have to go back Tuesday to see if we can find two openings or not.
I also got my new phone, it is kind of a cross between a phone and a keyboard. It is a stick phone that opens up into a keyboard and has the camera in it and has the internet and I am going to download ringtones also.
Well I guess that's everything for this weekend.
Juanita

The wonders of science!

The wonders of science! If you can read this post, I have figured out how to blog by phone!

A day on the Holodeck

I have a few hours before I have to start my tour on the bridge so I think that I will take a swim on the holodeck. So just use your imagination and see my lake, deep blue surrounded by a deep green forest. The trees are lush and full, and above is a large full moon to swim by. The water temperature is just right for a swim and it is very inviting.
So if you don't mind I will take my swim alone.
Carry on, Dismissed.
Vice-Admiral Gamble

These are the Remastered Voyages...

Word from StarTrek.com is that original series episodes are about to be remastered with all new digital effects shots, and even a re-recorded theme including the soaring vocal. Shatner's immortal voiceover will be kept but remastered. As long as the pacing, acting, and other substantive meat of the show isn't affected, I see nothing wrong with inserting CGI ship, planetscape, and space shots, especially if they replace the cheesy stills on the "monitors" around the bridge. Just as long as they don't replace phasers with walkie-talkies or make Greedo shoot first!

The updated episodes will only be available via brodcast outlets, no plans have been made to release to DVD. Although now that they've sold us the entire original series on DVD, you can count on seeing these next year around Christmas probably. And then a year or two later on Blu-Ray, and then in Super-Duper-Hologram-HD, etc, until we finally pay to have them implanted directly into our brains. Then they'll figure out how to completely CGI the entire dead-by-then cast and start making NEW episodes to sell us!

All quiet tonight

Night shift is quiet tonight on the bridge. I like third shift once in awhile, it gives me a chance to just sit back and enjoy command, without the pressure. Kind of like having my cake and eating it too. I am craving a cup of tea, so I think I will go get some. As I walk into my ready room, my mouth is already watering. I order Earl Grey, hot, and enjoy the tart smell of the Bergamot as it materializes on the replicator stand.
I go back to my seat, sit back down and watch the stars go by as I sip my tea. The night goes by without a problem. As the morning shift reports in and everyone changes duty information, I look forward to a nice, soft bed, and a long nap.
Vice-Admiral Gamble

Killing time on Labor Day!

Like I don't have enough to do, I decided this weekend to attempt building a paper model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 bridge. I've found various websites where insane people have published printable models of just about anything you can imagine. The bridge model really caught my eye, and aside from reacquainting myself with the X-acto knife, wasn't that hard to build. I learned a lesson or two should I try this again, but all in all it came out pretty spiffy!

Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog! This is a group blog where members of the International Federation of Trekkers, California Inland Empire chapter, can post about their lives and hobby interests, joined sometimes by their alter-egos in their roles as the command crew of the IFT Starship USS Ulysses!