Category: Sci-Fi

Chapel, Star Trek’s Number One Nurse

I loved watching Star Trek when I was a kid. Being the age I am, I saw the original series when it first aired, from 1966-69. I’d hold the mic of my portable Aiwa reel-to-reel tape recorder to the TV speakers, record the shows, and play them over and over again in bed late at night.

It’s already been a month since Majel Barrett passed away. About thirty years ago (!), Bismo and I attended a lecture and presentation by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry that was held at the Springfield (MA) Civic Center. Roddenberry showed the original Trek pilot, called “The Cage,” copied from what was then the only known print, in black and white. In the 80’s a video was assembled using color footage from “The Menagerie.” Later, a full color print of the pilot was found, but I enjoy the mixed version, because it highlights the parts that had been cut. Here’s my Nurse Chapel tribute.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/JAN/StarTrek.flv 480 350]

Embedding down with Hulu

Some people — those younger than I — really, really keep up with what’s going on. I sort of keep up. For example, I don’t know how big an audience Hulu has, but every time I see it I’m impressed by how much video is there, although some of it — hot, current stuff like Battlestar Galactica — has an expiration date.

The first thing I watched on Hulu was Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, after it jumped over there from iTunes. It was created by the slightly horrible and very fannish Joss Whedon, who previously had done the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly. You’ll find Firefly on Hulu, including this episode that features actress Christina Hendricks, now famous as Joan in the AMC series Mad Men. Rated TV-14

R2D2 Projector

Bismo has pointed out a rather unique item. An R2D2 DVD video projector. It’s the sort of thing The Sharper Image would sell — if they hadn’t gone out of business. But don’t despair, because you can order one directly from Nikko Home Electronics for only $2900 plus shipping!

[flv:/Video/2008/MAY/r2d2.flv 440 330]

It’s odd that R2D2 isn’t shown projecting scenes from Star Wars. The projector has a typical computer screen resolution of 1024×768. The feature list says it uses DLP, but the spec sheet says LCoS. I’m inclined to assume the spec sheet didn’t get updated when the product was finalized, because DLP is much less expensive and simpler to implement than LCoS.

Got His Mojo Blogging

My buddy Bismo is happy to inform us that his friend Mojo, highlighted here as an Emmy-winning special effects wiz for Battlestar Galactica on The Sci-Fi channel, has started a blog. And he’s using WordPress’s blogging service. Smart man, Mojo. Go here to read all about the night he picked up his Emmy. I’ll have to be careful reading this, however, as Bismo has warned me about spoilers. We’ve been only semi-weekly lately in our Friday night Galactica DVD watching, and we’re only up to the start of season 3.