Sports Fanatic me: You know, it’s a good thing James has all the Steelers’ Super Bowl victories on DVD otherwise this weekend would be less than spectacular.
Normal me: What about the Penguins?
Sports Fanatic me: Of course he has them to watch tomorrow, but it’s Super Bowl weekend. Can’t really think of it as that without some football.
Apathetic me: You mean James isn’t going to be watching the repeat of Super Bowl XLII?
Sports Fanatic me: Was that a jab at the Patriots? Nice. Anyway, James’ll happily watch the Penguins (who incidentally beat the Boston Bruins today, 2-1, in a game featuring good performances by both goalies), but there’s an ingrained belief that Super Bowl Weekend has to feature the Steelers somehow, even if it’s watching old games.
Normal me: What game is on right now?
Sports Fanatic me: Super Bowl XL, against the Seahawks, a 21-10 win. First Super Bowl James really remembered paying attention to, considering Super Bowl XXX never even happened.
Apathetic me: Yes, it did. *cough*Neil O’Donnell*cough*
Sports Fanatic me: Quiet, wench.
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Nerdy me: Is it my turn? Oh good. Anyone who knew there were two seasons of animated Star Trek in the ’70’s, raise your hand. Exactly. Anyone who knew that there was a cancelled Trek series titled Phase II in the same decade, raise your hand. Predictable. Who among you knew both facts? Again, not many. Those who do are the kind who identify the TNG episode Q’Pid and movie Insurrection from single lines of dialogue while not even in the room.
Apathetic me: I.e. you.
Nerdy me: Yes, pretty much. Anyway, today’s post features both concepts. Going back to the Animated Series (TAS), 22 episodes were produced by Filmation through 1973-74. Some of these episodes contributed significantly to Trek lore, such as Yesteryear, while others are reviled as the Star Trek versions of “Who Killed JR?” We pretend it’s all a bad dream.
Normal me: How many people get the Dallas reference?
Nerdy me: Does it really matter? Nobody ever knows what we’re going on about, that’s why we talk to ourselves.
Normal me: I question our psychological fitness at times.
Nerdy me: Anyway, James is hard at work on a CG version of the Insectoid ship from the TAS episode “Beyond the Farthest Star.” It’s a very fluid design, organic in nature, and a pain to build. He’s working on it, though. Here’s a preview:
Artistic me: I don’t think he’s ever done anything quite so…fluid.
Nerdy me: It’s a lot of subdivision and shape merging. Not too complicated a process, but tedious. Anyway, James made the not-so-brilliant choice to produce screenshots from TAS in random order. Interestingly, he started with the very last episode, possibly because it was simple.
Normal me: And that episode is?
Nerdy me: “The Counter-Clock Incident.” The Enterprise is transporting her very first captain, Robert April, to his retirement ceremony when it tries to rescue a ship heading straight for a supernova remnant. They tractor it, but it’s moving so quickly that it drags the Enterprise along and pulls it into the remnant too. It turns out that the remnant is in the same place as a newly forming star in an antimatter universe and acts as a passage between them. In that universe, everything is inverted, even the flow of time (interesting concept, failed execution, though). The crew begins “youthening” and eventually, Captain April and his wife are young again and he must command the Enterprise as they try to escape the way they came. They make it back, everyone ages normally, and they all live happily ever after.
Apathetic me: Madcap episode, and not particularly good…
Nerdy me: They tried. At any rate, it was the final episode of the series, and the first James produced a clip from in CGI form.
Artistic me: So strange to see her against a white backdrop, but she always looks good in every case.
Nerdy me: Wait until you see “The Majiks of Megas-Tu”…
Artistic me: Don’t remind me of that episode, please.
Nerdy me: Mmkay, then. Now, James felt like he could do something else interesting with the concept, so he decided to go ahead and produce a what-if image, where the redesigned Enterprise for the cancelled Phase II series would be seen in the same shot. Here for your viewing pleasure is the result:
Normal me: Interesting. Does he plan to do that for the entire series?
Nerdy me: If he produces images for it, yes.
Normal me: Well, it’s always nice to see that version of the ship now and then. Hopefully it turns out well.
Nerdy me: Hopefully the scenes are a bit less impossible too. That’s it for those, now, so we’ll have the rest for next time I suppose.
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Sports Fanatic me: Nerdy *knock knock knock* Nerdy *knock knock knock* Nerdy *knock knock knock* Nerdy
Nerdy me: Stop that, what do you want?
Sports Fanatic me: Look at the TV right now.
Nerdy me: Whoa…James forgot about that commercial. A Super Bowl XL commercial for Aleve with Leonard Nimoy complaining about the Vulcan salute hurting. Takes the Aleve, pain’s gone, and the convention crowd goes wild as he does that legendary gesture.
Sports Fanatic me: Uh… Not what I was talking about.
Nerdy me: Then what did you want me to see?
Sports Fanatic me: Willie Parker’s Super Bowl record setting 75 yard touchdown run.
Nerdy me: *sigh*
