Trek AM~Erica

So anyway...

This weekend is a busy weekend in our house: my older son left with his church choir, the Music Makers, this morning with several other 4th & 5th graders to visit the Heifer International ranch in Arkansas. This is to see where the money they raised goes to. Their choir put on an amazing musical called "Technicolor Promise". It's a fresh & fun retelling of Noah's ark while set to music. Fifty-three (or so) 4th & 5th graders created a 60 ft. ark in the sanctuary & became animals upon the ark. Truly amazing. In the process, they were trying to raise money for Heifer International & wanted to raise $5,000 to fill an ark. The kids were shocked & excited to find out that they raised enough to fill THREE arks! That's $15,000, folks! Heifer International was so amazed by this feat, they invited the choir to the ranch for a chance to see what their efforts helped go toward. Unbelievable experience.

Then, my daughter is set to be confirmed at church tomorrow afternoon! YEA!! This is a really big deal to her & us. This is the point where she decides that she fully accepts her responsibility in her part of the relationship into this marriage with the church she attends. A very big deal, indeed!

Oh, yeah...and Mother's Day comes in there somewhere, too...

But...I would like to talk about another event this weekend: the release of "Star Trek".

I want to preface this by saying that I am not necessarily a fan, but more or less grew up in a Trekkie home, so therefore having Star Trek knowledge & trivia ingrained into my brain. My father owns blueprints to all of the Enterprise ships, a Technical Manual, toy phasers from 1970-something, and the infamous Klingon dictionary. Ah, the dictionary - the book my father purchased for the "sole purpose" of the family learning the language in case we ever needed to have a private family conversation in public. Seriously. Ummm...we never learned the language, it's officially a piece in a Trekkie/Trekker's collection. Does it count that I apparently peed on Leonard Nimoy's leg when I was very young at an appearance? I don't remember that at all, but it apparently happened...

It's because of this stuff & being taken on opening weekends to almost everyone of those movies, that it did have an award-winning impact on my life.

1. During a computer conversion we were going through at a bank I was working at, the management thought it would be fun, for anyone who wanted to participate, to have employees write either a poem or short story about the conversion & then let the people of the conversion company pick the winner. I, of course, had join in...but what style would I write; what take would I have? Then, it hit me - Star Trek. And knowing how some fans would probe whatever is being said, I had to do some research. It was called "Receptionist Log" (since I was the receptionist at the main branch), and gave it a stardate. I said that our bank (which was really a starship, of course) was going to be signing a treaty with the new aliens & considered the previous "aliens" a threat & we were working to defeat them since they tried to corrupt our systems.

Between 4 branches, mine won & got me a paid day off of work. WOO HOO!

2. At a separate place of business that I was employed at, some of the other employees were raising suspicion as to what I would try to pull off for Halloween. I thought they were crazy & trying to convince me to go over the top with something when no one else would dress up, or something (like a hazing). Well, I did research & found that Halloween was a HUGE deal at this place - they gave prizes & all! Oh, man...what would I possibly do that would, or could I do, that would be different than any of the costumes anyone there had done before? A Vulcan was a logical choice.

Of course I did research for the crazy trek fans in case they bombarded this Vulcan with questions for authenticity sake. A back story had to be done & an appropriate name...so T'Rek was born (name was thanks to the Vulcan Naming System). I still have a pic of the infamous T'Rek...who, btw, took 1st place that year (2001) in the costume contest. I would, also, like to note that my father was furious that he didn't know about the Vulcan Naming System...ah-ha! I had him on one. he he he...

OK, does this qualify me to attempt to cover some of the things I've heard about in the new movie even if I have not yet seen it, but would really like to? Good! Here goes:

I have heard that some Trek fans have major issues with the new movie - why wouldn't they? JJ Abrams is a self-proclaimed Star Wars guy. He would rather have the force be with him than go warp speed or be beamed up. But he took this on...a prequel of all things "Trek".

1. I have heard complaints about the ages of some of the cast members in comparison to what they should be at the Academy. Seriously? I think that's mostly relative & should see the performances in action before making these leaps...they may actually work.

2. That James T. Kirk would NEVER be that rebellious. WHAT?? Chris Pine had already stated that there was no way he would touch the Shat's Kirk - dialect & otherwise. Maybe Jim was that rebellious & calmed down when he settled in as a captain...

* Just a note here that my daughter overheard this conversation between my hubby & me, and announced that she didn't know that William Shatner (aka - the Priceline guy) was in Star Trek...yes from the mouth of grandchild of a Trekkie...and that only Star Trek fans would know that. Imagine our shock at this point*

3. Spock was never that soft-spoken. YIKES...seriously? Zachary Quinto is in the same position as Chris Pine. Deal with it.

4. The Enterprise was built in San Francisco, not Iowa. OK - this is one thing you HAVE to get right. This would be that basic Star Trek fan knowledge - which is deeper, MUCH deeper, than basic pop culture knowledge (refer to note on #2.)

However, I have seen where people did get to catch the early screening, yes trekkies/trekkers, and loved it...some even going back to watch again. So glad to hear it! Now I wonder if I'll get my turn to see it at theaters, or just wait 'til Netflix will send it to us...

Plus, maybe this resurgence of Trek will encourage our young people to research big-time pop culture...like maybe my daughter will see who really was in Star Trek TOS...

AM~Erica, out.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica