Grab a cuppa and a comfy seat, and let’s chat a while! It’s time for Coffee and Conversation!
When I was six, my family was driving on a highway late at night. Streaks of headlights and taillights painted the dark. For the first time, I realized that each car held people living lives as important to them as mine was to me.
There’s something about a new year that seems to beg new challenges, new perspectives, and new projects, isn’t it?
One of mine, this year, is to complete The Star Trek Chronology Project – to view the entire live-action canon in the space of one year, in “chronological” order – so that the fictional story progresses along a rational timeline.
Why am I doing this?
Well it will be fun to revisit my favorites (I get to start with Enterprise, after all, and, at the moment, it’s far and away my favorite Trek series). I’ll have a series that features T’Pol, then one with Spock, and then some movies…
Another reason is that I missed a lot of Deep Space Nine, and most of Voyager. I was in my mid to late twenties, then, and life took precedence. I’ve prejudged these two shows without really engaging with them, and I feel like they deserve another chance.
But the primary reason is that I am passionate about Trek - passionate enough that I spend considerable time and effort crafting Star Trek fan fiction. I give it as much effort and attention as I do my other writing. And that means that I want to be sure that I am respecting, not only the canon of the televised and movie franchise, but also these characters who, to coin a phrase, fascinate me. I want to honor them and the fictional reality they occupy.
This will be an act of love.
For Trek, for Vulcans, and for myself.
From time to time, I will be updating my progress, and offering some thoughts and ideas inspired by what I’ve watched recently.
This week, I’ve got the first three episodes of Enterprise, and a bit about each (clicking the titles will take you to the episode on Hulu:
As series pilots go, this one’s breathtaking – so good, in fact, that I tend to forget that it’s a pilot.
The decontamination scene gives a tantalizing hint that there is some degree of sexual tension between Trip and T’Pol – and the basis upon which my fan fiction is based. I’ve always thought that something else had to have happened before that for Trip to be so bold, and for T’Pol to be – well, even bolder. I love that they conduct this inter-species exploration in the midst of a heated argument – an argument that simmers over repeatedly as they learn to live and work together.
This second episode deals with fear, adaptation, and discovery – a frightened and overwhelmed officer, an alien life form struggling to survive, human curiosity and Vulcan logic, and a ship filled with dead aliens from whose bodies fluid is being siphoned.
This is a good character development episode, but hasn’t yet inspired any fan fiction.
Enterprise discovers a Minshara-class planet – one with the capacity to support humanoid life. But all is not as it seems…
I’ve written two long stories based upon this episode. It’s an excellent exploration on the conflicts between Trip and T’Pol, conflicts which explode in a dangerous way. It leaves lots of room for other things to happen, which I of course took advantage of.
It’s a solid beginning to this prequel to the original series, and it offers action, character development, the seeds of things yet to come…if you liked what you saw here, stay tuned for future installments of my STCP experience.
Do you have a favorite show or book? Have you ever imagined other stories based upon these characters? I’ve got drinks and popcorn in assorted flavors, and we’re expecting some snow. Won’t you cuddle up and share?
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