There are many people involved in producing a television series. While many fans bond to a particular actor or actress, I've found in the Star Trek fan base something unusual; they bond with the creators, the writers in particular.

There's nary a trek fan around who doesn't know who Gene Roddenberry is, or D. C. Fontana, or Harlan Ellison, or Bjo Trimble. For it is the creators of the words that inspire the fans through the actors and actresses. It is singular that trek fans embrace the message of an optimistic future full of hope, full of exploration, and full of self-actualization.

A long time ago, in a state far far away (from most everything) - North Carolina - a young boy was touched by the ideas put forth in Star Trek. He began to read voraciously where he had shunned books before. He wanted to know what was real, what was fiction, and what was fundamentally wrong with him in looking to the stars. Most of his family (except his father) provided little support for such 'way out' ideas, and thought that he, like them, would end up working at the textile mills in town, or - if he was really lucky - at the General Electric assembly plant. But that wasn't what he had in mind.

His eyes were on the stars. He wanted to become like his heroes: Kirk, Spock, and Scotty. And he read. God did he read. The only thing trek related he could find in his home town was "The World Of Star Trek". When he discovered a huge bookstore on a family vacation, he was in heaven. He finally - FINALLY - picked up "The Making Of Star Trek" and a little tome called "Star Trek Lives". He was 12 at the time. Well, you probably already know that the 'he' is me.

While 'World' and 'Making' were about the process of television, "Star Trek Lives" was about the fans. I wasn't alone any more. There were others out there just as 'weird' and 'strange' as I was. I learned about the underlying message of Star Trek, about that hope and optimism and dedication to a purpose bigger than yourself.

That book literally changed the course of my life. I determined that I would not work at the GE plant, or make upholstery for furniture. I decided to do something bigger. Something more worthy of a Spock or a Scotty. So I decided to learn about electronics and computers. And I did.

When I say that the book changed my life, I am deadly serious. I found out that once properly motivated, there's literally nothing that is beyond the reach of a human being who is willing to work for it.

Why this detour down memory lane? Why would I waste your time and mine with this little voyage of self-discovery? Well, by chance, I happened upon Jacqueline Lichtenberg on linkedin.com - she, along with Joan Winston and Sondra Marshak were the authors of Star Trek Lives. Through her assistant in crime, Karen MacLeod, I learned that Joan Winston had passed away on September 11th. Karen asked me to write something for the Joan Winston tribute page, so this is what I came up with.

It is incumbent on us all to realize that our words, our actions, our relationships, and our hopes and dreams can truly inspire others to do amazing things. Joan (along with Sondra and Jacqueline, and scores of other people) inspired not only me, but great masses of people through their sheer process of creation. And that inspiration carries forth into the future, for we have within us the capacity to inspire others, and so on. Inspiration is the coin of the realm in science fiction - but I dare say that Inspiration is the coin of the realm for living a worthwhile life in general. And while that young kid didn't become a Captain Kirk, or Mr Spock, or Mr Scott - he did become something more than he would have otherwise. Just like many of us have been inspired by Joan's work to do more than we thought we could.

I couldn't think of a better epitaph than that for any person.

Goodbye Joanie. You words will ring into infinity.

Visit Joan's tribute page at http://www.simegen.com/joan.html

7:33 - Whoo hoo - a 2 hour premiere. Least they can do since the aborted second season. I'm watching here with Aithne - We're watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles first, then the debut. :) I'll be writing most of this, but comments from Aithne will be prefaced with AIT)

"The Second Coming"..... Syler, by chance?

Oooooo - Nathan isn't as dead as we were led to believe!

Okay, Claire is still a moron, Hiro needs to learn to listen to his dad, and Peter is the shooter from the future. And we have a cutie speedster who has it in for Hiro's formula. Cool.

AIT) That is interesting. It WAS Peter

Nathan has turned into a priest. Okaaaaaaay. The flying Priest, anyone?

I find myself wishing that Sylar kills Claire - she's dumber than a rug. AIT) She has not watched enough horror shows, damnit! She should you know you don't stick around after you stab someone with super powers.

Okaaaaaaaay. Told ya he should have killed her. Well, assuming he could! heh

And Suresh is onto something, and Maya doesn't seem to be that interested.

AIT) Nathan has lost it - too much oxygen deprivation. Angles, riiiiight.

Good to see Linderman back in the role of Nathan's God. But is he really there or not?

Oh cool - Bruce Boxleitner gets "Tracy" aka Jessica aka Nikki aka "Schizo gal"

Matt seems to be making friends with a scorpion in the desert. But which desert?

AIT) Matt's gonna be pissed

Hiro really needs to stop thinking with his.... ego

And Ando starts being more prominent, as the world is being destroyed of course, in the future. Or if not the world, then at least Tokyo.

Suresh.... you're such a dope. Experimenting on yourself, sheesh!

Super strength comes in so handy, doesn't it?

"The Butterfly Effect"

Moms can be real bitches - even when they're right. Strike that, especially when they are right.

Elle is another bubblehead blonde with super powers. Daddy doesn't appreciate her finely tuned.... sense of making mistakes.

Claire needs to calm the hell down! Although watching Peter swoop in was a good scene.

Okay, maybe Linderman isn't Nathan's 'god' - which is probably a good thing overall.

Uh oh... Daddy Deadest. Poor Elle.

Nice shot Noah..... pity your daughter had a lil meeting with Syler before you.

Well, maybe Tracy isn't Nikki/Jessica - we should call her Ms Freeze. :) She's cold.... no really.... COLD.

Hiro is getting the hang of this. Kinda

Suresh.... what did YOU find on your shoulder?

Looks like Matt needs some sun block, and is talking to turtles. Okay, maybe not. But Matt's in Africa.

And it looks like Noah and Claire are not quite destined to remain together.... again. But mom is sticking around..... okaaaaay.

Peter never catches a break, does he?

Oh hell. Mom is SYLER'S mom????

Not a bad premiere!

So, I got my hot lil hands on a full run of the 1983 show "V" and proceeded to watch the two intro miniseries installments (and the first episode of the series). It's funny, but you get so used to the fancy CGI, the morphing terminators, and the spectabulous space shots in modern films, but many times there's something lacking there. I think it's called 'a compelling story'. Somtimes it's called a 'plot' of any nature. We get so caught up in the HD/CGI/Visual experience, we sometimes (as viewers) let the story slide.

V was a story and a half. As I recall, it was one of the most expensive miniseries ever made at that time, and it shows it. Not from the visual effects point of view (frankly, some of them were laughable by today's standards), but for the boldness of the story itself. A retelling of the stories of resistance fighters of world war II - facing facist Germany and fighting back every way they knew how.

V is the story of one cell of the resistance in Los Angeles, fighting against the (supposedly) friendly "visitors", an advanced alien civilization who showed up in mile wide motherships, lazily hovering over the world's biggest cities. They came 'as friends' - yeah, right - and only wanted our help to make some special chemicals that would keep them from going extinct. Uh huh. All that didn't explain the mysterious disappearances, the mass kidnappings, and - oh yeah - those tubes with frozen human ala carte in their starships. You see, they needed water and food. To be precise, they wanted all our water and humans as food! The resistance, led by Dr. Juliet Parrish and reporter Michael Donovan assemble a widely diverse group of people in their cell, and work to subvert the visitors at every turn. Their band is not without casualties. Lots of them. 

All in all, it's a wonderful story. A story of real heroism against insurmountable odds. It's also a cautionary tale about helping those who wish you harm. Collaborators do not do too well in V - much like in real life. Neither side will trust a collaborator, and eventually both sides will want you dead.

Ignore the effects (some of the matte shots made me cringe) and go grab this baby and watch it again. It's well worth the time.

There are times, and those times seem to be coming more and more often, when I truly dispair for the human race. More specifically, I despair over the human race's seeming shunning of exploration and risk taking. It's almost as if we, as a species, have forgotten that we have come this far precisely because we took risks and explored.

Now, any mistake, any misstep, any accident, and it's "Why are you doing that?", "You shouldn't be doing that!". As if we have decided that from this point out, the rules change. No exploration if there's risk involved. No pushing forward if a person may be injured. Hell, we even consider harsh language as an 'injury' now.

NASA says "Let's go to Mars!" - the American public says "There's more important things here on Earth". We've heard that line before, folks. And we lost the moon because of it. Never mind that there's He3 in them there moon rocks - a more powerful energy source than anything we have here on ole terra firma. (Three shuttle loads a year would power the USA for a year) Never mind that if we had the moon today, we'd have Mars tomorrow. (And who knows what spinoff tech we'd have already) Never mind all the benefits of space, just look at the tragic costs of 'that boondoggle'!

I chalk it up to what my friend calls "the attention span of a gnat's ass" of the American people. You can see that everywhere. From politics to war to 9/11 to even patriotism. Space never had a chance against those other things. Space was boring. Space was not interesting.

Well, risk is never boring. Real risk. Risk as in the "If we don't do this right, we're gonna die" mentality. And sometimes, regrettably, they did die. I, for one, will never forget them. Those bold, courageous, explorers of the cosmos. Those who knew the risks, rolled the dice, and lost. They burn in my memory like shining stars. But sometimes... sometimes we roll the dice and we, as Commander Adama says, "roll the hard six". But that takes guts, and boldness, and an appreciation of the real risks involved.

I think that every schoolchild in America should watch Apollo 13 in their classroom - with a teacher who truly understands what the space program was all about. That story is one of the most amazing in our young country's history. Also, I'd include "From the Earth to the Moon", and "When We Left Earth" to that list. Our real space adventures have seemingly come to a close, and our wonderful astronauts are slowly leaving us, one by one.

We can't afford to forget our exploratory roots. It's as dangerous as forgetting to eat, only more so.

I don't usually do this, but here are the Amazon links to any of the above mentioned titles you don't have. If you haven't seen any of them, I strongly suggest it.