Monthly Archives: June 2017

You Mean Yet!: TOS #21: “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”

The Enterprise accidentally travels back in time to Earth in the 1960s, where it’s seen as a UFO, and then struggles to erase records of its visit and to return to its own time. This is a fun episode that … Continue reading

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Links and Comments: Tribal Loyalty and Values v. Reality

NY Times: The 15 Best-Educated Congressional Districts in the U.S.. All but two of which, including the just contested Georgia district north of Atlanta, are solidly Democratic. Hmm. \\ Also: Trump’s Lies, a comprehensive, up-to-date list. It’s not surprising that … Continue reading

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Absolute Annihilation: TOS #20: “The Alternative Factor”

Kirk wrestles with a bizarre pair of near-duplicate antagonists whose meeting threatens to wipe out the entire universe. This is in the running for worst Trek episode ever, with an incoherent premise, overwrought acting, and sloppy writing and direction. The … Continue reading

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A Most Promising Species: TOS #19: “Arena”

Kirk is pitted in a one-on-one contest with the reptilian alien captain of a starship that destroyed a Federation outpost. This is the famous episode, filmed on location (again at Vasquez Rocks), in which Kirk battles this green reptilian (though … Continue reading

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Frequency Interactions

When I was a teenager, in the Fall of 1971 just after I turned 16 years old, and just a few months after my family had returned to California from a three-year stay in Illinois, I took a typing course … Continue reading

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Carl Sagan’s “Baloney Detection Kit”

Carl Sagan, one of the great scientist-communicators to the general public of the past century, author of the 1980 book Cosmos and host of the 1980 TV series of that name, has a list of ideas for how to evaluate … Continue reading

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Studying My Predators: TOS #18: “The Squire of Gothos”

The Enterprise encounters a remote planet where a foppish ‘squire’ insists on entertaining (and studying) them and challenging them to the death when they refuse. I’m fascinated in retrospect by how episodes open, about what is going on before the … Continue reading

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Gary K. Wolfe, How Great Science Fiction Works

This is a course released by The Great Courses (http://www.thegreatcourses.com/) in early 2016. The course consists of audio or video downloads or discs (as lead Locus reviewer Gary K. Wolfe delivers lectures on a set), and comes with a 200-page … Continue reading

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Linkdump: Science, society, conspiracy theories, the fear of NRA conventioneers

Science: The Atlantic: Are We Living in a Giant Cosmic Void?. Maybe. Scientific American: How the Science of “Blue Lies” May Explain Trump’s Support. Subtitle: “They are a very particular form of deception that can build solidarity within groups” Guardian: … Continue reading

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The Need for Play: TOS #17: “Shore Leave”

The Enterprise visits a lovely planet where the crew discover that their daydreams and memories become instant reality. This is a fun episode, but also sort of a kitchen-sink episode, in which many colorful things happen without much relationship to … Continue reading

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