star trek turns 42 today, still lives in parents’ basement
unlike some nerds, i love both star wars and star trek equally for different reasons. my all-time favorite series has to be deep space nine. it had a depth that the others seemed to lack. but i love the universe on a whole, flaws and all, just like star wars. i would argue though that star trek has had a bigger cultural impact that star wars has or ever will. the original show tackled themes other shows were unwilling to even approach in the late sixties and many of the later incarnations continued as allegories for our own civilization. further, take a second while you’re reading this and flip open your cellphone. bam! call me when you have a lightsaber and we’ll talk. also fun to note is that not unlike “play it again, sam,” the phrase “beam me up, scotty” was never actually uttered on any of the shows.
so happy birthday, star trek. i look forward with reserved excitement to your newest film adventure. jj abrams can be hit or miss, so let’s hope for a hit. and sexy green women.
-srd
you already know we share a love for DS9. but wait, are you saying that star trek is the reason we have cell phones?
yes, as is the guy who invented the thing:
“Dr. Martin Cooper found himself tripping over his phone cord when he saw Star Trek appear on the TV playing in the background. Cooper watched with envy as Captain Kirk calmly conversed while walking across an alien landscape.
“Suddenly there was Captain Kirk talking on his communicator,” remembers Cooper. “Talking! With no wires!”
Cooper, who was General Manager of Systems at Motorola, thought to himself, we need to communicate the way they do on Star Trek. “To the rest of the world it was a fantasy. To me it was an objective.” It was the moment the cellular phone was born.”
link: http://www.editinternational.com/read.php?id=4810edf3a83f8