Captain Kirk Finally Going To Space?

Even though actor William Shatner – unlike the space faring starship captain that he played 50 years ago – had never been to space, will his upcoming suborbital flight fulfill a “to boldly go” promise?

By: Ringo Bones

Unlike, Lt. Mae Jemison, who was actually a NASA astronaut who made a guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation back in the early 1990s was the only person, so far, who was actually been to space via a NASA space shuttle mission; William Shatner, the famed actor who played the original Captain James T. Kirk of the original Star Trek TV series back in 1966 to 1968 and the subsequent motion picture franchise has never been to space. But this coming October 12, 2021, it could all change. Captain Kirk will be actually going to boldly going to where no main Star Trek actor has gone before.

At age 90, William Shatner will be the oldest person to experience the weightless conditions of near orbital space. His scheduled to fly on the New Shepard, one of the first spacecraft specifically designed for space tourism by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Back in July 2021, Wally Funk, one of NASA’s women astronaut trainees and part of the original Mercury 13 was previously the oldest person at 82 years of age to travel to space after she was denied by NASA back in the 1960s because of her gender. Before Shatner and Funk, it was the late Senator John Glenn, who at 77 years of age back in 1998, was the oldest person to go to space back in October 29, 1998 on the STS-95 mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

The October 12 flight will have Shatner joined by two other paying customers: Chris Boshuizen, a co-founder of the satellite imagery firm Planet Labs, and Glen de Vries, a co-founder of the clinical research software Medidata and the fourth passenger will be Audrey Powers, the vice president of Blue Origin. Even though it is only a sub-orbital space tourism flight, William Shatner – aka Captain James T. Kirk – actually going to space, has Star Trek fans the world over experiencing a collective sense of joy even if it is only on the phallic-shaped Blue Origin New Shepard space vehicle instead of an Alcubierre style warp-capable spacecraft.

This Star Trek Day – Remember To Live Long And Prosper

 With Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek Picard gaining a sizable new generation of fans, is Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a utopian future still alive?

By: Ringo Bones

If you’re lucky enough to be old enough to remember the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement, it seems somewhat disconcerting if Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a futuristic utopia now known as Star Trek would ever be possible in the era of heightened Soviet distrust and racial strife ruled the headlines. And yet back in September 8, 1966, Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future aired on network TV and generated a cut following that has grown to what it is today. The original series might have only lasted for 3 seasons but the resulting motion picture spin-offs, a next-generation series had made it possible for anyone who identifies himself or herself or themselves as Trekkies or Trekkers something to be both proud and hopeful about when it comes to the future being better than the past.

And let’s not forget to thank Lucille Ball, hailed as star Trek’s god-mother, for without her the original series would never have seen the light of day. And in the time of Trumpism and COVID-19, it seems that the turbulent geopolitical climate - systemic racism and religiously motivated political fanaticism - of the mid 1960s is, unfortunately, still with us today. Well, at least Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a utopian future is still inspiring the next generation of Trekkies and Trekkers to make tomorrow much better than today.

Section 31: Dark Side Of The Federation?

Its mission was supposedly to protect the interests of the United Federation of Planets by any means necessary does Section 31 represent the proverbial “dark side” of the Federation’s supposedly high ideals?

By: Ringo Bones

Renewed discussion of this rather esoteric aspect of the Star Trek universe was rekindled after the second season of Star Trek Discovery began visiting yet again on how might this rather secretive arm of the Federation came to be in the Dominion War era of Star Trek Deep Space Nine and its probable origins in Star trek Enterprise. But what makes Section 31 such an interesting aspect of the current Star Trek lore?

Probably founded in the 2140s primarily as an organization to protect the security interests of United Earth, the rather secretive organization known as Section 31 eventually evolved to protect the security interests of the United Federation of Planets. During the mid 23^rd Century, they were considered a critical division of Starfleet Intelligence. While by the 24^th Century, they were believed to be a rogue organization not considered a part of the Federation. The organization claimed to be sanctioned by the original Starfleet Charter:  Article 14, Section 31 of which allowed for extraordinary measures to be taken in times of extreme threat.

According to Memory Alpha, Section 31 was also somewhat comparable to the Romulan Tal Shiar or Cardassian Obsidian Order except unlike the latter two, it operated on its own without Starfleet's knowledge or consent. In the 2250s, it was mentioned in rumors and even had its own insignia that was recognized, a black Starfleet badge. By the 2370s, Section 31's very existence was a deeply buried secret, known only to a handful of people beyond its own membership. (DS9: "Inquisition") 

Perhaps Section 31's darkest aspect was that, while it had existed since the beginning of Starfleet, it was an autonomous department, having operated for over two centuries with no oversight or accountability whatsoever, even free to kill those it deemed a threat to Federation interests at its own discretion. (DS9: "When It Rains...") By the time of the Dominion War, at least some of Starfleet Command's top officers knew for certain of Section 31's existence, and on occasion even worked with them to serve the interests of the Federation. However, for the sake of propriety, they tended to keep as much distance from the organization as possible. (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges") As far as Section 31 itself was concerned, it seemed to have well-placed agents in nearly every level of both the civilian Federation government and Starfleet's command structure, allowing it to carry out operations without risk of being publicly exposed. (DS9: "Extreme Measures")

Even though Memory Alpha already has a very detailed entry on Section 31 and there are already proposals to make it into a live action Star Trek series before the COVID-19 shutdown, Section 31 is still probably one of the least discussed aspects of Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek universe and only the most knowledgeable of Star trek fans know of its existence. And more importantly, portrayals of Section 31 that eventually gets used in an official current Star Trek TV series script or teleplay can be heavily influenced by the zeitgeist when it was written.

Section 31 in Star Trek Deep Space Nine was heavily influenced by the 1990s era of the American people’s distrust on the government when it comes on how much the military knows about intelligent extra-terrestrial life. Like back in 1995, probably all Star Trek fans reject the Pentagon’s explanation of the July 1947 Roswell crash was nothing more than a top secret balloon borne nuclear explosion detecting device. I mean it was only in 2013 that the US Government finally made it official that Area 51 exists even though every Star Trek and X-Files fan already knew that this place is real and experimenting on captured alien tech back in the 1990s.

Section 31 during Deep Space Nine could be considered most interesting from my perspective because it mirrored the shenanigans on what the then US President George Dubya Bush’s so-called neo conservatives’ reaction and policies after 9/11 even though the DS-9 era Section 31 was probably written 5 or more years before 9/11. Though, the Star Trek Discovery era Section 31 is the full-bloom of the concept because of contemporary Trumpism and the American right wing conservatives’ normalization of intellectual ineptness.

Star Trek Discovery: The “Back On Track” Star Trek?

Said to be a much welcomed relief to Trekkers and Trekkies who are unable to accept JJ Abram’s reboot of the Star Trek universe, does Star Trek Discovery qualify as a much vaunted “back on track” return to Gene Roddenberry’s original vision for Star Trek?

By: Ringo Bones

If you are one of those Trekkers / Trekkies like me who are still suspicious of where the JJ Abrams Star Trek is going or what it was supposed to become, the latest “small screen” variant of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise – i.e. Star Trek Discovery could be the much needed cool breeze we are seeking since 2009. With a couple of seasons now shown and a third one that’s already airing in some parts of the world, it seems that critics and long-time fans agree that Star Trek Discovery could be the greatest Star Trek TV series of the second decade of the 21^st Century.

Star Trek Discovery not only serves as a stage where a female East Asian action star named Michelle Yeoh, who became well-known to Western audiences in her role as a computer savvy Chinese agent in the James Bond Tomorrow Never Dies movie back in 1997, can now appear regularly to Western fans who had wondered whatever happened to her after 9/11. But what Star Trek Discovery has to offer that might rekindle the interest of Trekkies and Trekkers fiercely original to the original series who thinks that the franchise started to went downhill when Star Trek The Next Generation happened is that Discovery reexamined characters and plot lines of the original series that are somewhat merely glossed over back in the latter half of the 1960s. I mean on the first season of Discovery alone showing the potential for Harry Mudd to be as a formidable villain as Khan Noonien Singh and not just a fumbling grifting buffoon in the original series. And Discovery’s first season ends with a few episodes revisiting in more detail the “Terran Mirror Universe” that was only featured in a single episode in the original series titled Mirror, Mirror.

India Successfully Tests An Anti-Satellite Missile: A Prelude To A Gene Roddenberry Style Sino-Indian War?

With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a successful ant-satellite missile test as an “anti-China measure”, will this be a prelude to a Gene Roddenberry style Sino-Indian War?

By: Ringo Bones

During his national address back in Wednesday, March 28, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country has successfully shot down its own low-orbit satellite with a missile that now puts India in the league of global “space powers”. Prime Minister Modi said India had achieved a “historic feat” by shooting down its own low-orbit satellite with a ground-to-space missile in three minutes. Would it be also a matter of time before a “genetically-engineered” Khan Noonien Singh like figure would soon arise too in India? Historic feat indeed because when the United States successfully tested the ASM-135 Anti-Satellite Missile back in September 13, 1985, it took over 20 years to perform the same feat – i.e. The People’s Republic of China when they successfully tested their own anti-satellite missile system back in January 11, 2007 and Russia only recently succeeded in doing the same back in November 18, 2015.

The test comes two weeks before polling begins in general elections and Prime Minister Modi is seeking a second term in power after a landslide victory in 2014. The test was largely termed as an ant-China measure according to Bharat Karnad, a security expert with the Indian think tank the Center of Policy Research. And given that almost all of Pakistan’s latest military satellites are launched with technical assistance from The People’s Republic of China, it seems that India’s latest successful ant-satellite missile test could be perceived as payback for the country’s defeat during the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

Even though India already possess missiles capable of downing satellites in low-Earth orbit since 2012, the recent success of Mission Shakti – Shakti stands for power in Hindi – as India’s foremost anti-satellite weapons system would defend the country’s interest in space. India’s latest space capabilities seem inevitable because the country’s space program has grown substantially over the past decade. In 2014, the nation managed to put a satellite into orbit around the planet Mars and the Indian Space Organization has announced that it will send a manned mission into space in the next three years.

Has Kevin Spacey’s Sexual Misconduct Shaken The Star Trek Universe?

Although it happened over 30 years ago, has Kevin Spacey’s alleged sexual misconduct with an underage cast of Star Trek shaken every seasoned Trekkie and Trekker?

By: Ringo Bones

Although many have angered in the recent Kevin Spacey apologizing for a sexual misconduct with Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp that happened back in 1986, the revelation have indeed shaken the largely complacent Hollywood entertainment industry. Many have asked whether to continue to patronize the collective thespian works of Kevin Spacey for artistic reasons or to boycott it as a matter of principle; Though many will chose to sympathize with Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp given that back in 1986, Rapp was only 14 and Spacey was 26.

During his entire acting career, Spacey was very private about his sex life, sadly, when he chose to come out in 2017 – it resulted in the tumbling out of skeletons out of his closet so to speak. Despite of the sordid state of affairs uncovered in Spacey’s revelations, some good did manage to come out of it. It managed to empower anyone to speak out about inappropriate sexual advances committed by those in authority – and it probably nudged a number of Trekkies and Trekkers to watch again Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home whether to check if Anthony Rapp was part of the cast; Though I did found out that Go Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin was part of the cast as an alien communications officer.

Farewell Anton Yelchin

Star Trek fans around the world were saddened with the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin.

By: Ringo Bones

Anton Yelchin was introduced to the Star Trek universe as the actor who played Pavel Chekov – first made famous by Walter Koenig in the mid 1960s era original Star Trek TV series – during the JJ Abrams reboot of the iconic science fiction franchise. Yelchin has been killed by his own car at his home in Los Angeles, police say. It struck him after rolling backwards down the steep drive at his Studio City home, pinning him against a brick postbox pillar and a security fence. He died shortly after 01:00 (08:00 GMT) on Sunday, June 19, 2016. 

Yelchin reprised his role as Pavel Chekov in a third film, Star Trek Beyond, which is due for release next month. JJ Abrams, who directed Yelchin in the first two Star Trek reboots, paid tribute on Twitter saying he was “brilliant”. Fellow Star Trek cast-mates Zachary Quinto, John Cho and even William Shatner also paid tribute. 

Anton Yelchin’s untimely death had saddened the entire Star Trek fan-base because he has yet more to offer to the iconic science fiction franchise’s ongoing trajectory. His untimely passing could “complicate” any subsequent Star Trek movies that are yet to be made. 

Yelchin’s first screen role was in the US TV drama ER in 2000 and appeared in more than a dozen TV series and films before his breakout role in 2006’s Alpha Dog. 

Colonel Philip Green: Star Trek’s Most Mysterious Villain?

Despite reappearing sporadically in Star Trek: Next Generation and in a couple of episodes in Star Trek: Enterprise, why is it that Col. Green remains a “mysterious” villain to the casual Trekkie?

By: Ringo Bones 

Despite the actor Philip Pine saying that Col. Green was one of the most recognizable villains of Star Trek, it seems that to younger Trek fans – especially those born after the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation aired back in 1994 – Colonel Philip Green is still a relatively obscure minor character that, to them, is probably reserved for high-stakes Star Trek trivia games. But despite his picture inexplicably appearing in TNG after Data was assimilating the Dixon Hill novels prior to participating in a Holodeck role-play in the episode The Big Goodbye, and a few episodes in the 21^st Century era Enterprise, why is it that Col. Philip Green is still a relatively obscure and mysterious villain to the young Trekkie? 

When he first appeared in the original Star Trek series episode titled Savage Curtain, Colonel Philip Green was a despotic militia leader on Earth in the 21^st Century during World War III, Green, known for his motto: “Overwhelm and devastate,” was notorious for striking at his enemies during treaty negotiations. During the war, Green led a faction of violent eco-terrorists whose actions led to the death of 37-million people. Barely two years after a cease-fire had ended the war Green ordered the euthanasia of thousands of radiation-sickened humans so they would not pass on mutations to future generations. Green outlined his rationale by speaking to a crowd about how they must “reject the impure and cast it out.” This act was met with mixed feelings by survivors, may regarding him nothing more than a genocidal madman. Others saw him as a pragmatic visionary who “humanely” euthanized radiation-afflicted individuals, preventing those afflicted and their descendents from passing on deadly mutations and the suffering that would come to that. (ENT: “Demons”) This controversial and posthumous view of Col. Green resulted in the heated debates about him and the impact of his policies for many years; among the students of Green’s teachings, years afterward, John Frederick Paxton made use of his ideologies to lead a group known as Terra Prime in an unsuccessful bid to expel all non-humans from the Sol System in 2155 (ENT:”Terra Prime”). 

As a Star Trek fan himself, Philip Pine – the actor who played Col. Philip Green when he first appeared in Star Trek TOS – was delighted to receive the role of Green, play the part, and be associated with it. “The character of Green was well-written,” he remarked. To the first generation of Trekkies, Col. Green proved extremely popular. Although Philip Pine had previously played many villains in television productions, he found Col. Green to be most often recognized by Trekkies at the time. “I think Colonel Green is probably well-remembered because he was such an unmitigated bastard,” Pine mused. “He had no redeeming qualities at all, none. The guy’s smile was even sinister! He probably had bad teeth and they hurt. Everything about him was bad.” Col. Green’s timeline in the Star Trek universe happened way after the Eugenics Wars / Gene Roddenberry's Sino Indian War of 1992 – 1996. 

Is NASA Seriously Testing A Star Trek Style Warp Drive?

Even though it may seem farfetched, but is NASA seriously testing a Star Trek style warp drive propulsion system that could someday propel a spacecraft faster than the speed of light?

By: Ringo Bones 

From naming the first Space Shuttle prototype after the starship Enterprise after a letter writing campaign from Star Trek fans to the increase in astronaut applicants after Apollo 11 successfully landed on the moon, it seems that NASA’s post Apollo projects have been largely shaped by the fans of the original Star Trek TV series. But did you also know that they are currently working on a Star Trek style warp drive that could someday propel a spacecraft faster than the speed of light that could make interstellar travel a practical reality? 

Unlike Star Trek’s Zefram Cochrane who built his warp capable ship under post World War III shortages, NASA physicist Harold “Sonny” White and team had been for a number of years been working on a propulsion system based on the Star Trek warp drive based on the groundbreaking equations formulated by Prof. Miguel Alcubierre showing the feasibility of faster-than-light travel that doesn’t violate Einstein’s Special Relativity. Only this time, they are actually receiving federal government funding. 

The White-Juday warp-field interferometer is a space warping experiment to detect a microscopic instance of a warping of spacetime with the intent of creating an Alcubierre warp bubble, if possible. A research team led by Harold “Sonny” White in collaboration with Dr. Richard Juday at the NASA Johnson Space Center and Dakota State University are conducting experiments but results so far have been inconclusive. An additional experiment with an EmDrive is showing interesting results. 

The NASA research team led by Harold White and their university partners currently aim to experimentally evaluate several concepts, especially a redesigned energy-density topology as well as an implication of brane cosmology theory. If space actually were to be embedded in higher dimensions, the energy requirements could be decreased dramatically and a comparatively small energy density could already lead to measurable – i.e. using an interferometer – curvature of spacetime. The theoretical framework for the experiment dates back to work by Harold White from 2003 as well as work by White and Eric W. Davis from 2006 that was published in the American Institute of Physics, where they also consider how baryonic matter could, at least mathematically, adopt characteristics of dark energy. In the process, they described how a toroidal positive energy density may result in a spherical negative-pressure region, possibly eliminating the need for actual exotic matter. 

The NASA research team has postulated that their findings could reduce the energy requirements for a spaceship moving at ten times faster than the speed of light from the mass-energy equivalent of the planet Jupiter to that of the Voyager 1 spacecraft or less. By harnessing the physics of cosmic inflation, future spaceships crafted to satisfy the laws of these mathematical equations may actually be able to get somewhere unthinkably fast – and without adverse effects. Also, physicist and Earth Tech CEO Harold E. Puthoff explained that contrary to widespread belief that even the highly blue-shifted light seen on board such a spaceship would not fry its crew, being bathed in strong ultraviolet light and X-rays. It would however be dangerous to anyone seeing it fly closely.     

Should Civilians Be Exempt From The Prime Directive?

Even though it seems like an all-encompassing ethical principle in the Star Trek universe, should space-faring civilians of the Federation be exempt from the Prime Directive? 

By: Ringo Bones 

To the seasoned Star Trek fan, they’ve probably first found out that civilians are actually exempt from the prime Directive in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled Angel One which originally aired back in 1987 during TNG’s first season. But before we proceed further, here’s a brief refresher crash-course on Starfleet’s Prime Directive. 

The Prime Directive – also known as Starfleet general Order 1 or the non-interference directive – was the embodiment of one of Starfleet’s most important ethical principles: noninterference with other cultures and civilizations. At its core was the philosophical concept that covered personnel should refrain from interfering in the natural, unassisted development of societies, even if such interference was well-intentioned. And it focuses particularly to civilizations that have yet to develop faster-than-light interstellar travel technology. The Prime Directive was viewed as so fundamental to Starfleet that officers swore to uphold the Prime Directive, even at the cost of their own life or the lives of their crew. The most recent example that younger Star Trek fans are probably most familiar with was the opening sequence of Star Trek: Into Darkness where Spock was willing to die rather than Captain Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew violate the Prime Directive in order to save him. 

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled Angel One, Data says that civilians – as in crews of freighters and trading vessels whose home ports are members of the United Federation of Planets – are not bound by the Prime Directive as opposed to Starfleet personnel. Does this mean that civilians in the 24^th Century can “evangelize” other civilizations? 

The issue whether civilians should be exempt from the Prime Directive arises in the situation of that particular TNG episode is that the planet Angel One has developed for centuries as a female-dominated society and the crew of the freighter Odin which crashed there 7 years before and its civilian crew had started to set roots after the hopes of being recued by Starfleet or the Federation seems impossible. Though it was only a few years after that the government of Angel One found out of the stranded male crew – as in all male crew who grew up on Earth or at least raised on Earth like values – became a problem after they have been secretly “evangelizing” their values to the women of angel One that they have been secretly cohabitating with. Does the issue set a legal precedent to the established laws of the United Federation of Planets?