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When I was seven or eight years old cable television either didn't exist or wasn't widely available. To watch television we needed an antenna and with that we could receive four channels: NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS. There were two times when television went straight to ultra boring - when the president was giving a speech and Sunday morning. It was Sunday mornings that got me interested in SciFi.

While Saturday morning was cartoon time for the kids, Sunday morning was for the religious. All three of the big networks played church programs. Now, this was before mega churches and video sermons. The programming that was on was the service from a local church. If you were lucky, there was more than just one camera sitting in the back of the sanctuary with a wide shot of the altar/pulpit. Considering we often left the television off on Sundays until after church, the last thing my eight-year-old self wanted to see was more church. As George Carlin said, "Church was a weekly reminder that there was something worse than school."

With church on the big three we usually turned to PBS. This is the only reason I know what Nova is and it is what introduced me to Star Trek. It wasn't just that it was often the only thing to watch on Sunday mornings that wasn't church, I really enjoyed it. I loved Star Trek so much over the years that there was a time that I could literally identify the episode, by name, and give you a full plot synopsis by watching no more than ten seconds of any part of any original series episode. Even if it was just a closeup of Mr. Spock raising an eyebrow. Yes, seriously.

Star Trek, in its many forms, has always held a special place in my heart, like a first love. If you asked me what my fandom was, my unhesitating response, for many, many years would have been, "I'm a Trekkie!" [side note: fandom is a recent expression. It's sort-of like cosplay. It's always been there, we just didn't always call it that.] I will forever refer to myself as a Trekkie (or Trekker, depending on my mood) but I've recently been taking notice of which fandom I gravitate toward most strongly and, to my surprise, it's changed.

Way back in 1977 there was this little box office sleeper that was quietly released to theaters called Star Wars. You may have heard of it. I think it was the first movie I absolutely had to see. There were so many incredible things about the movie theater experience back then but seeing the lines wrapped around the building (we mostly had single-screen theaters back then) had to be the most spectacular to my young self. If that many people wanted to see this movie at any particular time it had to be good.

I love the original Star Wars and will forever raise it up as an example of great film making. From the story to the characters to the then ground-breaking special effects (up to that point no one had left the model stationary and moved the camera around it to create motion) it's absolutely amazing. I watch it now and can see its rough edges but still marvel that George Lucas and his team put so many firsts in that production. They literally had to invent new ways of producing special effects, some of which are still used today.

As great as it is and as great as it was I still identified myself as a Trekkie. Maybe because the fandom never got saddled with a catchy name, I don't know. What would you call a Star Wars fan, anyway? Star Warrior? Star Warian? Skywalkerer? At any rate, my placement of Star Wars as my number one favorite lasted maybe a year or two after its release if it ever was on top. I eventually settled back into my old, comfortable, Starfleet mindset.

In the early '80s PBS, yet again, introduced me to this odd little show from England called Doctor Who. I know it wasn't another Sunday morning find. I think it may have aired on Saturday afternoons. Anyway, Here was this show about this quirky guy with bushy hair and a looooong scarf around his neck traveling through space and time in... a British police box... that was bigger on the inside. This show was not some highly-polished, big-budget production. On the contrary, it looked quite cheap. But that was part of its charm. Being interested at the time in television/video production it was fascinating to see how they used ordinary objects and materials in unusual and unexpected ways.

I lost touch with the show when the local PBS stations started shuffling the schedule. It was also around that time that I really started to take an interest in girls. The latter was likely the reason I didn't fly my geek flag quite so high anymore. I lost track of The Doctor and eventually heard that the show had ended in 1989. It wasn't such a hard blow for me because I'd missed out on something like four doctors by that time and I'd settled comfortably back into my Trekkie seat in 1987 with the introduction of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

With a steady diet of Star Trek movies and television and Star Wars sequels I'd put The Doctor on a shelf to gather dust. I kept him around, to be sure, and when people asked I would politely tell them, "Yes, I know of The Doctor and enjoyed the show very much." I really didn't give him much thought until 2005 when BBC America, a channel that didn't even launch until 1998, announced that they were bringing it back.

By this time I'd done away with my self-consciousness and flew my geek flag as high as I could. I was uneasy about this rebirth (or should that be regeneration?). Would they maintain the spirit of The Doctor? Would the stories be any good? Would The Doctor be any good? I watched the first episode with trepidation. I didn't want to hate it but so many rebirths of so many shows had failed miserably. I needn't have worried. When I heard Christopher Eccleston utter the phrase, "Hello, Rose. I'm The Doctor. Run for your life." in that Doctor-esque calm and whimsy I was hooked again. This time, I don't think I've missed a single episode (thank God for DVRs).

As I look around my desk I see four Star Wars figurines, some The Walking Dead Funko pocket pop!s that I got in a grab bag, a Captain America Funko mug I won at work, a Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head, and a space marine action figure from Starcraft. Scattered about amidst all of that is a six-inch vinyl TARDIS, three postcard-sized pictures of the TARDIS (one looking in to the control room, one with the doors closed, and one with a cat peering inside), a photo of me stepping out of the Tulsa TARDIS, and a Funko pocket Pop! of the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker). But it doesn't end there. My current vehicle is a 2014 Jazz (darker) Blue Dodge Charger with a vanity plate that reads TMTRVLR (TARDIS was already taken). I think it's safe to say that I've changed my primary fandom from Trekkie to Whovian.

Live long and prosper, may The Force be with you, always know where your towel is, and Allons-y!

How I Became A SciFi Nut

I grew up during a time when there were only 4 channels available on television. You had the big 3 networks and PBS. The major networks operated, at that time, using a standard known as PICAN (say it like pecan). The networks were charged with operating in the Public Interest, Convenience And Necessity. What this meant was that Saturday morning children's program had to include some sort of educational content (hence the moral lessons in cartoons of the time). It also meant that Sunday morning programming was usually of a religious nature.

When we returned from church on Sunday mornings the only thing on TV was... church. There was no way we wanted to repeat the experience we had just been through so we turned to PBS. The PBS station in Tulsa, OK used to run episodes of Star Trek on Sunday mornings. Hence, I, and my siblings, watched Star Trek on almost any given Sunday morning.

I can't tell you why it had a more pronounced effect on me than my brother and sister but it did. I was fascinated by every part of it. I watched it every opportunity I got. I bought and read and memorized trivia books about the show. There was even a period of time when I could watch 10 seconds or less of any part of any episode of the original series and tell you which episode it was and give you a plot synopsis.

Flash forward to 1977. There was this movie that came out that got all kinds of buzz. It pioneered visual effects that are considered simple by today's standards. But they're also the foundation of some of today's standards. It is the only movie I have ever seen people line up around the building to see. Maybe you've heard of it? It was called Star Wars. These days it's called episode 4 but it was the original in many many ways. Star wars was really the spark. It lit the fire.

The next summer I saw a poorly produced commercial on TV that piqued my interest. What caught my eye was the tall guy in the back dressed as Chewbaca. It was an ad for a little SciFi convention called OKon and it was right there in downtown Tulsa. I had to go.

I was only 11 or 12 at the time so I begged and pleaded with my mom to let me go. None of my siblings wanted to go so it was just me and mom. We went to the Mayo hotel in downtown Tulsa where she paid my admission for the day then sat patiently in the lobby reading a book.

I don't remember a whole lot about that particular convention. I was only there for a couple of hours, three at most. There were no big celebrities to fawn over. I wasn't a big reader at the time so I didn't know any of the authors they had there. I most likely just walked around the "huxter's room" and ogled at all the cool toys, posters, T-shirts and other merchandise. Once I had seen all I could see and exhausted what meager allowance I may have had with me, I returned to the lobby and mom and I went home.

I attended every OKon there was after that and still go to conventions today. I have seen the evolution from fan gathering to commercial enterprise, no pun intended. Some are very fan-centric and give attendees a variety of activities to choose from. Others are more structured and have a singular tone to them. They are all, however, a chance for like-minded fan(atic)s to geek out and be comfortable in those elements of their personality, however pronounced, that all the people who know them don't understand.

So, here I am. A child of the stars born from reruns on Sunday mornings, raised by movies and educated at family gatherings called cons (conventions to the uninitiated).

Starfest Day 3

Just getting started this morning. Had a couple of late nights with some sleep deprivation thrown in but I'm having a great time.

There wasn't a whole lot going on at the con on Friday so we got registered, checked out the art show/auction/sale (and picked up a couple of cute prints), checked out the dealer's room, then went for some dinner before going to see Gabriel Iglesias. The 8pm show sold out so we ended up at the 10:30 show which didn't start until after 11 and he ran 30-45 min long so we didn't get back to the hotel until after 2am but it was so worth it and I got a T-shirt too [sharp inhale of oxygen].

Getting back after 2am, tossing and turning most of the night, and wanting to be at the con bright and early meant that yesterday ran on less then 4 hours of sleep. But what is a con if you're not exhausted and halucinating that the half dozen Mandalorians (think Boba Fett with different colored armor) running about are tracking you and out to freeze you in carbonite?

It was really a lot of fun. We got to see Christopher Judge (click pics to bigify)

and Summer Glau.

We got both autographs and listened to both talk on stage. We didn't get to see Summer finish her time because of a fire alarm. They cleared the events room so I took Shelly back to the hotel (she was tired). I wanted to see some of the later events so I went back to the con. By the time I returned the chaos was over and Summer had already gone back on stage and finished her talk.

She was followed by Mr. Tim (look him up on Youtube), then the costume contest. Some of the costumes were lame, some were good efforts, some were alluring (and revealing), some were elaborate and some were just downright kick ass - like this guy who won best of show:


I didn't get to bed until 11:30pm last night and survived the entire day without a nap. Not bad for a guy my age (not tellin').

These people really know how to run a con. Big stars, well organized autograph process, Late-night events (there was a dance after the constume contest), and at the very least videos running 'round the clock. If they aren't going to flood the con with stars like Trek Expo does, I would like to see more panels/discussions on things like their talk on the new Star Trek movie and how it altered the timeline. Or talks by authors on the guidelines they have to follow when writing for this or that franchise. Or maybe even a healthy debate/discussion on movies from comics or whether remakes and reimaginings are a good or bad thing.

One Foot In Front Of The Other

This post is proving more difficult to write than I thought it would be. It's hard to decide what to share and what not to share.

Life has gotten marginally better. I'm still on the edge at work but I'm also still employed. I spent 13-14 hours at work on Friday. We started having issues with a USB storage device-propagated virus. And we discovered that some of our classroom computers were infected.

We had created an image when we installed the computers but the program we used is painfully slow. By the time the image got pushed to just one of the machines and I did all of the necessary updates and changes that have come along since December 2008, it would be just as easy to build from scratch - which is what I did. I pulled one of the machines late in the afternoon and started working on it. I had to finish it and get it back into the classroom before 8:00am Monday. It took me about 4.5 hours to get all the software I could installed and updated and start creating a new image using a better program. I went in Saturday morning and got the machine back into the classroom.

We have a program that freezes the system state. If anything happens to the machine - file deletion, virus, whatever - all you have to do is reboot and it goes back to the way it was when it was locked. We didn't lock down these classrooms when we originally set up the machines so I'm surprised it's taken this long to have a problem. I still have to re-image the other two rooms but they have a couple of different programs on them that require license keys that I didn't have access to Friday night. I am hoping to at least get the software and keys in hand on Monday. I have to get it done before COB Wednesday because I'm heading to Denver on Thursday.

My wife had some friends she had met online through a TV Show fan site that lived in the Denver area. Because of them we discovered a Denver SciFi convention. We've been to Starfest a couple of times but it's been seven or eight years since we've been.

I usually go to Trek Expo in Tulsa but when we found out that Summer Glau and Christopher Judge would be appearing, two stars that don't generally appear at cons in this area, we started making plans for how we could attend. I'll report back when we return.

As for my weekend, I've had a better weekend than I've had in a very long time. Once I was done at work Saturday morning, I left it behind and just had a nice, relaxing day. I found my 1984 Olympics album (I'd been looking for it for a long time and thought I had somehow gotten rid of it) and transferred it into MP3. Today, I spent a few hours cleaning up the back deck (it's been needing to be done for... longer than it should have), setting up a large table umbrella, and just enjoying the outdoors.

Expo Memories

Trek Expo 2009 has wrapped up. Overall, I had a good time but the atmosphere was much different this year. I don't know if it was me, the economy, the guest list, the not-so-rushed attitude, or what but there wasn't as much of a spark of excitement as in past years.

Speaking of guests... Chase Masterson, a regular attendee (she must have family in the area or something), was lovely in form and voice as usual.


Leonard Nimoy started out interesting but we bailed on his talk. We were in the cheap seats and the acoustics of the room, combined with the tonal quality of his voice, made it very difficult to understand what he was saying (we weren't the only ones).


The one I really wanted to see was Corin Nemec from Stargate SG-1. He was one of only four guests I hadn't seen before. He was well spoken but needs to work on his timing. His stories, while interesting, tended to grab attention early then fade out instead of having a punch. He's very nice, though and I think he's losing his hair (he was never without a hat all weekend).


Of unexpected interest was Phil Morris. He has done a lot of voice work, he played Jackie Chiles in Seinfeld, a Jem-Hadar and a Klingon on Deep Space 9, and most recently The Martian Manhunter on Smallville. Two bits of trivia: He is the son of Greg Morris who was on the original Mission: Impossible. When it was remade later during a writer's strike, he was cast as the same character his father played. Also, he got his start in television and in the Star Trek universe in the original series as one of the children in the eposide Miri. He has some great stories.

Garret Wang was entertaining as usual. Here, he is doing his "Power of DeLanciiiiiiiie!!" schtick. He brings a lot of energy to a convention.

For the second time, I had the opportunity to see Avery Brooks. He is a very interesting person with very zen-like insights and mindset. It makes for interesting Q&A because half of the time when he's finished giving his answer, your mind has followed his etherial rhetoric and you have forgotten what the original question was.

Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake Cisco on DS9, was scheduled such that he and Avery spent an hour sharing the stage. At one point, they were talking about an eposide in which Tony Todd had guest-starred and called him up to the stage. Made for a nice photo-op.

Sorry, I Missed You

I was watching the Stargate: Atlantis finale last night and they made mention to General Hammond, played by Don. S. Davis, passing away. I thought it might be because he just wasn't able to make it to production for some reason. They didn't have Richard Dean Anderson on, either.

After it was done, I checked IMDB and, sure enough, Don passed away June 29 of 2008. I knew he had originally left Stargate: SG-1 for health reasons but I completely missed that he'd died this year.

I met him once, as you can probably tell by the photograph (we're leaning over a table). Unfortunately that's about all of the interaction I got with him. Shortly after that shot was taken I had to leave for Kansas City to help celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.

We'll miss you, Don.

Nope, Didn't Make It

I skipped Trek Expo this year. Like I said, I'm disappointed on many levels.

It's probably a good thing. Our cash flow hasn't been that great recently and that's money I didn't need to spend. Of course, what I spent at garage sales and getting to them this weekend probably cost about the same. My friend Kevin and I haven't hit garage sales together since before I moved to Idaho and he was in a mood to go. It didn't hurt that there were no less than eighteen neighborhood garage sales near his area of Oklahoma City. I got up, drove to OKC, and we spent the day buying stuff on the cheap that we really didn't need.

That's not entirely true. I picked up a Hoover FloorMate for $30 and I've been wanting one of those for a LONG time. That's only $10 more than the deductible to go see my doctor when I have back spasms after trying to mop our ceramic floors. Quite a bargain if you ask me.

Other than that I've been doing stuff around the house like laundry, mowing the lawn...

Speaking of mowing the lawn... I haven't mowed the back lawn in 3-4 weeks for various reasons and excuses. Some of the grass was better than knee high - seriously. As I came around on one pass, I noticed a small area I had just mowed over on the last pass and it was squirming. I looked down and saw three or four very small critters jockeying for position. None of them appeared to be hurt as they had been burrowed in just under ground level.

These were baby critters who hadn't opened their eyes quite yet and, at first, I thought they were mice. We have a multitude of them around our area and they've gotten into the attic again (gonna have to do something about that). Having gloves on, I gently picked one up and examined it. Odd shaped ears. The back feet don't look quite right. No whip of a tail. This is not a mouse.

Somebunny used our long grass for cover. They were baby rabbits no bigger than an adult mouse.

I don't know if they'll survive but I did what I could for them. I put the one back and he snuggled in with his siblings. I turned the mower chute away from them and carefully mowed the grass around them. Finally, I pulled some of the long grass that was left and laid it over the hole. I figured this would shelter them from the sun and any prying eyes circling the sky. I checked on them this morning and they seem to be OK.

Trek Expo Letdown

My annual pilgrimage has come around once again. The event that is Trek Expo. It is something I look forward to with great anticipation. The ability to see TV and movie start up close, hear them talk about their experiences and get an autograph or maybe even a picture is too much to resist. Through these events I have met or seen the likes of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Jeremy Bulloch, Bruce Boxleitner, Kevin Sorbo, Walter Koenig ... the list goes on. It's an exciting time for me.

Because we moved to Boise, I missed any chance at a convention last year. We were actually driving through Denver, CO on the opening day of StarFest, another convention, but couldn't afford the time (or money) to stop. I have been following the buildup to this years Trek Expo and had started to get excited about it. They promoted Adam Baldwin, Nichelle Nichols, Dean Stockwell, Wil Wheaton, the guy who plays Silar on Heroes and the lady who played Admiral Kane on BSG. I was kinda pumped. Then Silar and Kane cancelled. This was a fairly early cancellation. Disappointing but not devastating.

As May ended, I went back to the site and double-checked the dates. I also double-checked the ticket prices and almost fainted. I am used to $20-$30 for general admission for the whole weekend. The price this year jumped to $50 for the whole weekend or $20/day for Sat or Sun. Can you say wet blanket? No matter, the chance to meet Adam Baldwin and Dean Stockwell as well as see Wil Wheaton again would be worth it.

Today is opening day. I just checked the web site and Stockwell and Wheaton have cancelled. That means four out of the 5 people I really wanted to see have cancelled. In addition, the hosts have not back-filled the schedule so there are no substitutes coming (not that they've noted, at least).

They have nobody coming from any currently-airing shows or recent movies (unless you count Chuck on NBC). They have nobody from any recent shows such as Stargate. The people they do have, with the exception of Baldwin and Nichols, are all supporting actors/actresses or not big headliners. I don't have anything against these people and I actually enjoy seeing/listening to them but they're not who I go to see.

I am seriously reconsidering my resolve to attend at all this year. I will probably make an appearance tomorrow just so I can see Adam Baldwin and meet up with my friend Greg. I will most likely not attend Supper with the Stars as I have the past 4 or 5 years and I'm almost certain that I will save my gas, save the price of admission and skip Sunday altogether.

Sorry Starbase 21. You've collapsed the field on my warp drive.

The Sharks In Charge At Stargate Command

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't yet seen the Stargate: Atlantis episode "Sunday" stop reading now. I'm going to discuss an event that occurred in that episode that you really need to learn about from the episode. Go watch it, then come back. Of course, if you don't care about me spoiling the episode for you... read on.
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I have been a fan of Stargate SG-1 since it premiered on Showtime. Even as the storylines with the Gou'aould (I think I spelled that right) were getting tired, the cast carried it well and the writers took it in different directions. Episodes like Holiday and Lifeboat and Bane were related to the major story arc but let us see other sides of the characters and actors.

When Don S. Davis (Gen. Hammond) left and they put Jack O'neill (Richard Dean Anderson) in his chair, the story line worked for a while. But, like Kirk at a desk job, the chair just didn't fit him. They either needed to get him back on the front lines - something Anderson was done doing from what I hear - or relegate him to recurring character status, which is what they did.

Since the introduction of Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) and General Landry (Beau Bridges), however, the show has jumped the shark. The writers pretty much wrapped up the Gou'aould story and introduced the Ori as the latest supervillain. At the same time, however, they're dealing with the politics of the Jaffa, the Alutian alliance, Baal - who seems to be a semi-good guy now, Merlin and his super weapons, Adria and Vala, and a host of others. That's WAY too many story arcs for a final season. Without tying up loose ends into a tidy little convenient package (see episode: Bounty), there's just too much going on for a final season - even if you do plan to spin off into cartoons, web series and feature-length made-for-TV movies.

But that's really a bit of backstory to why I'm writing this.

Sometimes, heroes die. One of the absolute, hands-down, best episodes of SG-1 is Heroes. This is, of course, the episode where Janet Fraser (Teryl Rothery) is hit by a blast from a staff weapon and dies. The show gave the character a wonderful send-off and, although it was unfortunate for Ms. Rothery, it was accepted by the fans.

Now it seems that being a doctor on a Stargate series is akin to wearing a red shirt on Star Trek. I realize that to tell a good story, especially in SciFi, you have to put the characters in danger. The more peril, the better.

As I watched Sunday, the latest-aired episode of Stargate: Atlantis, I recalled meeting Paul McGillion at Trek Expo in Tulsa, OK last summer. I learned that there are many layers to this fine actor. First, he speaks very clear English and does not normally have the Scottish accent he affects on Atlantis. He does, however, affect the accent very well and very consistently. I found out that he's also an acting and voice coach... which explains some of his talent. About half way through the episode, I commented to myself that I really liked Paul and felt that his character, Dr. Carson Beckett, was one of my favorite characters.

Then, the writers, producers and directors slapped me in the face by killing him off at the end of the episode. Unlike Dr. Fraser, he was robbed. He saved the lives of his nurse as well as the guy with the exploding tumor but why did he not run away after the hand-off? And what's with the exploding tumors anyway? Did the producers just sit down and say, "We've got to get rid of Paul. How do we kill Dr. Beckett?" to which someone else said, "I've got it! Exploding tumors." It just seems so weak. At least Dr. Fraser was in the field during an attack. I can believe that one.

I'm sorry, I just had to vent. I'll step off my soapbox now.

Since nobody really dies in SciFi and you want to bring Paul and Dr. Becket back to Atlantis, visit http://www.savecarsonbeckett.com/