#source: star trek the next generation

[incorrect-quote-blanks]

Person A: If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are.

[warpfactor9]

i feel like we as a community don't dwell on the fact that data drinks lube often enough. does he take it like a shooter for maximum efficiency? does he mix it into a silly cocktail with a little umbrella and sip it with a straw to be social? i think about it constantly

[spirkbitch]

i wish i understood the history of starfleet uniforms

within tos they don’t change much

they seem fleecy in s1-2 but in s3 they get much more well constructed, seemingly sturdier shirts

in the pilot and some early episodes we have these sweaters

but they’re all very similar

so what prompted the change from that to these

leggings? tights? or is it the whole onesie under those weird tunics

whatever the reason, it was a good call to change to these

but THEN

according to the TNG episode Yesterdays Enterprise they stick with those for like 70-80 more years

JUST TO GO BACK TO THE FUCKING ONESIES (at least these are more stylish onesies)

why do they wear these goddamn onesies in the first two seasons? and, once again, what prompted the change?

(imo these are like band uniforms, with those weird little overall pants and the back zip jacket. lol they prob have to zip each other up)

anyways, somehow, before all of this, they looked like this?? what sense does that make?

i get that there’s out of universe explanations for this stuff but i want in universe explanations

[gatespage]

Gates McFadden poses with the ‘Justman’ shuttle on the TNG set (3/5/1993)

Robert Justman

“My favorite actress displays my favorite personal vehicle. When she auditioned for the role of Dr Beverly Crusher, she was so impressive that we had to cast her immediately. So, Gates McFadden was the first actor to land a role on Star Trek: TNG.”

[gettheorion]

[incorrectgarashir]

Geordi and Worf visit the replimat again:

Geordi: This tastes like chicken Worf: So what's wrong with it? Geordi: It's macaroni and cheese

[brick3621]

TNG text posts part 4

[wilwheaton]

Q: My wife, “Sarah,” always wanted to be an actress, but it never happened for her. We have a daughter, “Bianca,” and the trouble is that for years, Sarah has been trying to push her into acting. She has auditioned Bianca for parts in commercials and TV shows since before Bianca could talk; she’s had a handful of spots, but nothing significant. When our daughter was 4 years old, Sarah signed her up for acting lessons. Now Bianca is almost 7, and it’s become abundantly clear she does NOT enjoy acting (she wants to play soccer more than anything). She has told her mom directly, but Sarah refuses to listen. Bianca is growing increasingly miserable and has gone to such lengths as hiding or pretending to be sick when it’s time for her acting lessons to avoid going. [...] A: ...you need to find a way to get through to your wife, because I think you have very valid concerns. (Wil Wheaton, of Stand by Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, has discussed in books, podcasts, and various articles throughout the years what it was like to experience his mother’s problematic desire to live vicariously through him. Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died offers a similar sobering tale.)

Family advice: My wife is pushing her former failed dreams on our daughter. I need to stop her.

I just need to add that Bianca’s childhood does not belong to her mother, and she has no right to take it away from her. If Sara cares at all about her daughter, if she cares at all about her happiness, and the relationship between them, Sara better drop this right now, and APOLOGIZE.

Sara needs therapy to understand why she is willing to ignore her daughter’s pleas, why she doesn’t care that she is hurting her daughter, and why chasing some kind of fame as an actor is more important to her than her daughter’s life and happiness and childhood.

Bianca is a child. She deserves to be a child. She will never get to be a child again in her life, and if Sara successfully steals it from her, Bianca will carry the wound for her entire life.

If Sara does not put her daughter’s interests and her daughter’s joy ahead of her own selfish desire to be a successful actor, she is as terrible a mother as mine.

Sara needs to decide if she’s going to be Bianca’s mother, or if she’s going to be the source of unimaginable pain for her daughter.

I applaud Bianca’s father for reaching out to Slate for advice. I will always wonder how different my life would be if the man who was my father gave a single shit about how much my mother was hurting me. Unfortunately, he was too busy being my bully to notice.

[stra-tek]

WARP CORE DEEP DIVE!

Where it all began. So much so, that they never quite nailed down what anything in engineering was. We know the thing in the middle was a "matter/antimatter integrator" and it had a dilithium crystal in it. But it didn't appear until later on, the floor was originally empty. There were also large transformer-ish things that moved about as the plot demanded. The big thing behind the mesh? That's the pipe cathedral. Maybe it was an impulse engine (as per the old Star Trek Blueprints by Franz Joseph) or perhaps it was part of the warp drive. Originally the idea was that the warp nacelles generated their own power. But that would change soon...

The Animated Series gave us something very similar to the TOS engine room, with the pipe cathedral and one BIG transformer, but instead of the matter/antimatter integrator we got a glass tube with what looked like measurements on it. Maybe it's a proto-warp core a la TMP, especially since it's in a similar spot to Strange New Worlds'. Or maybe it's a coolant pipe like the 2009 movie. Who knows? We also saw inside the "antimatter nacelle" in one episode, which is generally assumed to mean inside one of the warp engines themselves but it's all a bit vague.

The Motion Picture gave us the original Big Blue Lava Lamp, the physical set was 3 stories high but augmented with forced-perspective, in the form of a painting at the bottom of the shaft and a truncated horizontal intermix chamber crewed by children at the end of the main level. The engineering crew on the main deck now wear radiation suits, adding to the idea this big blue thing isn't your friend.

This was also the Big Retcon, making the intermix chamber the power source for the warp nacelles. Every Trek regardless of era would follow this route.

In Wrath of Khan, they'd add a very important side room with dilithium crystals in for Spock to self-sacrifice in. I always found it very amusing this room, where the most important part of the engineering machinery was, was in no way physically connected to the intermix chamber. Nor did it exist in the previous movie.

The Next Generation gave us a pot-bellied stove, with neon segments glowing one-by-one up and down to give the impression of pulses of energy colliding in the middle then being fed to the nacelles. No more radiation suits needed, and the room has a nice carpet. This was also the first time "warp core" was used, a phrase that would retroactively be applied to all the prior ones.

The Enterprise-E and DS9's Defiant would have bigger and smaller warp cores that were variations on the same theme as TNG.

Voyager brought back the classic Motion Picture big blue lava lamp, just without the horizontal tube this time. It does the nifty swirly thing too. Q Junior makes it do club lighting one time.

NX-01 Enterprise is just kind of this big industrial tank with some glowy bits. It's weird that in the classic movies they needed radiation suits to work in engineering, but in the series set 100 years earlier they didn't.

The 2009 reboot filmed engineering in a thinly disguised Budweiser brewery, which made the area look enourmous and extremely complex, but lost all the high tech clean room vibes prior shows had. What in real life were giant brewing tanks housed the intermix chambers which made up the warp core, which were ejected through a hatch in the roof at the end. This look was extremely controversial with some, but personally I loved it.

In Into Darkness the warp core looks like an almighty piece of kit, and that's because they shot on location at the Lawrence Livermore National Ignition Facility. It's a real-life fusion reactor. And then you can climb inside it and it turns out that inside is one very important laser thing, some dilithium crystals you barely see and lots of deadly radiation. At least the self sacrificing happens inside the core itself and not a weird separate side chamber this time. The brewery from the last movie was still there, implying this was all along even if we didn't visit it. But that complicates things because the bits they called the warp core are very different. Perhaps the intermix chambers ejected last movie and core seen here are all part of the same huge warp core system.

Strange New Worlds reboots the original... sort of. They put a vertical intermix chamber in there and instead of a mesh and forced perspective they've got an AR wall with an enourmous array of high tech pipes. But weirdly, the writers guide says the big AR wall with the updated pipe cathedral is the deflector dish machinery not the warp core. I guess the confusion makes it more authentic TOS.

[gatespage]

Cheryl Gates McFadden during the ST: TNG pilot filming (1987) (x)

[askcosplaysenpai]

Nice pic you got for your header image now spill the tea👀

Prepare yourself, this is a full cup.

All of this is relevant.

My earliest memory is from sometime in the late 80's, falling asleep on my dad's lap at my grandparents house while he watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. I used to run around with a headband over my eyes because I wanted to be Geordie LaForge. I have, quite literally, loved Star Trek for as long as I can remember.

My dad was a boy when the original series started airing. He is genuinely one of the most insightful people I've ever known. Put him in a room full of strangers, and watch the ripple of heads turning to listen to what he's saying. He can fix anything. He is honest and fair, but never cruel. He's comfortable being in charge because he believes in doing what's right and trusts his own decisions. And I wanted to be just like him.

My partner's dad was a teen during the TOS era. I don't know if I've ever met anyone more intelligent. Math, philosophy, art, you name it, he knows it all. He can critique with an acumen that cuts like a knife. He is fiercely loyal to those he loves, and cares not for the opinions of others. Fact, not emotion, is the way he approaches problem solving. And she wanted to be just like him.

Fast forward to last summer. It had been a while since I'd delved back into Star Trek, but I was feeling the itch and the things we love are better shared. She and I both have a great appreciation for stagecraft, and pre-digital midcentury acting is really only one step away from theatre. I found non-remastered versions on DVD, and we sat down to watch them.

I'd seen TOS before, but watching it anew with her was a completely different experience. We both fell in love, with the franchise and the characters specifically. We realized how much we related to Kirk and Spock. Soon after, we realized we'd been grandfathered their personalities from our fathers. We decided to take them to our annual trip to Yama-Con in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

I teach costume design at the Portland Fashion Institute. Accuracy is important to me when it comes to making a cosplay. I did my best to source original patterns and materials, and made what I couldn't find from scratch. My partner has a brilliant hand for makeup and hairstyling. She even cut my hair to match Kirk's.

I've been a guest panelist/cosplayer at Yama-Con every year since it started in 2013. My partner has joined me there as a guest in her own right since 2021. We coordinate our costumes to each other and to the panels we run.

The convention is usually the first week of December, so the con offers photos with Santa. Professional Santa and professional photographer. We have become friends with both the Santa and the photographer. At the convention, we schedule a (santa-less) photoshoot, then use those photos for our guest announcement for our next year of conventions.

The photographer and his partner have season passes to Dollywood, and we all went together after the con last year. He took photos when I proposed to her. A minute an a half later, he took photos when she proposed to me. Neither of us knew the other was proposing. I tell this side story to showcase how in sync we are, as no one who knows us was surprised by this.

So to answer your question: My header image is from our Kirk/Spock photoshoot from last year's Yama-Con, three days before we got engaged. I'm posting that image in full, as well as a few of my favorites from the shoot.

@tumbleofdorks is my partner<3 Here is the photographer

[cdr2002]

Bashir: oh, captain. Did you get my report on last week’s away mission?

Sisko: yes, I looked it over. Nice work.

Bashir: good. Thanks, dad.

....

Bashir: why is everyone staring at me?

Kira: you just called Captain Picard “dad”. You said “thanks, dad.”

Bashir: pardon? No, I didn’t. I said “thanks, sir.”

Sisko: do you see me as a father figure, Doctor?

Bashir: no. If anything I see you as a bother figure because you’re always bothering me

Worf: hey! show your father some respect

Bashir: I didnt call him dad!

Sisko: no, no, Bashir, I take it as a compliment.

Rom: it’s not a big deal. I called Leeta mom once and she’s my fiancé

Bashir: guys! A random extra is speaking without a script!

Jadzia: but you calling Benjamin daddy-

Bashir: daddy is not on the table here.

O’Brien: but you did call him dad.

Malcolm: oh, captain. Did you get my report on last week’s away mission?

Archer: yeah I looked it over. Nice work.

Malcolm: good. Thanks, dad.

....

Malcolm: why is everyone staring at me?

T’Pol: you just called Captain Archer “dad”. You said “thanks, dad.”

Malcolm: pardon? No, I didn’t. I said “thanks, sir.”

Archer: do you see me as a father figure, Lieutenant?

Malcolm: no. If anything I see you as a bother figure because you’re always bothering me

Travis: hey! show your father some respect

Malcolm: I didnt call him dad!

Archer: no, no, Malcolm, I take it as a compliment.

Random crew member: it’s not a big deal. I called Rossi mom once and she’s my fiancé

Malcolm: guys! A random extra is speaking without a script!

Trip: but you calling Archer daddy-

Malcolm: daddy is not on the table here.

Hoshi: you did call him dad, dude.

[gettheorion]

[the-library-alcove]

I have... I can't call it a "special interest", but definitely an abiding source of fascination and curiosity in the concept of "institutions". I know that sounds weird at first, but if I tell you that it came from teenaged-me wondering how the fictional Star Fleet from Star Trek and the real world NASA got started and maintained, that might clear up why :D (And if you know me and my writing at all, this will not come as a shock to you in the slightest bit)

But it was a real curiosity! "So how did the Air Force get started?" I would wonder, because it seems like a whole thing that sprang up out of nowhere, with very specific skills, needs, systems, and directions. And you learn, when looking into it, that it came because they basically threw something together right before WWI, and it was populated by the most experienced pilots they could beg, borrow, or steal, who then trained the next generation of pilots while improving on what they themselves had learned, all the while finding out what didn't work by the very harsh teachers of "gravity" and "physics". And then NASA was built on top of that in the same way, taking the best pilots from that crop and adding engineers and mathematicians to the mix, and continuing to iterate and pass down what works and what didn't work--what we call "institutional knowledge".

So watching Trump, Musk, and Co just wholesale reject any and all forms of institutional knowledge in favor of their own egos and a mindset that amounts to "If I don't understand it or know about it, it doesn't really exist and I will impose that on reality"...

Well, they're going to find out why gravity and physics are such harsh teachers. Because, to quote a favorite novella, "you can fool men, but you can never fool the metal."

[phoenixyfriend]

Hi, I saw your addition on the soap post and thank you for the heads up 🙏 I’m traveling to Japan for the first time next month and now hand soap sheets are definitely going on my packing list.

are there any other tips like that you could share? I’ve never really traveled so far before (I’m from nyc) and I don’t know what to plan for lol

General advice:

Japan-guide was my main source for the vast majority of my planning (until I pulled in google maps).

They give you things like transit times from the city, hours of operation and days closed, ticket prices, and approximately how long you want to spend there.

The website also gives instructions on regulations for luggage sizes on trains/what the different kinds of tickets are/how to use the passes, and also explains the several different kinds of discount railway passes.

If you're arriving at Tokyo through Haneda or Narita airport, there are rail options to get to the city fast and sometimes you can get a 24/48/72 hour subway pass at a discount included: - Narita: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2027.html - Haneda: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2027.html

Japanese review apps skew HEAVILY towards a three average. Don't need to look for the highest rating possible, a Japanese 3.1 is basically a 4.8 or whatever in America. 3+ on Google is plenty good enough.

I basically just picked a food I know I usually like and then just went wherever was in my price range and had at least three stars. I did go to a few hole in the wall places. A lot of them really liked it when I tried to order in Japanese, even if I flubbed it VERY often

Download the google translate app. It has photo and audio functions and was incredibly useful.

As mentioned: BUY HAND SANITIZING WIPES AND MAYBE SINGLE USE SOAP SHEETS. A lot of bathrooms, for some insane reason, do not have soap.

Carry cash. A lot of places in Japan do not take card. And it costs like $5 per transaction to withdraw from an ATM (you can find ATMs at most 7-11s).

You can use card at most big chains (the various convenience stores, shopping malls) but anything that looks like it might be small and family-owned? Almost definitely cash.

If traveling with shopping, most train stations and some museums or other major attractions will have coin lockers available where you can leave your stuff, safely, for a fee. Big luggage is 500-800 yen, a purse or a shopping bag like 200-300. I had mixed luck with finding coin lockers via sites or apps before, but that was partly because I went to some smaller towns and cities than most tourists.

City-specific from when a friend asked about Tokyo and Kyoto recently:

Tokyo: Akihabara is the anime zone but Shinjuku and Shibuya are also big draws.

Tokyo I think is honestly best for Contemporary Japanese Culture things (urban stuff) but they have a really interesting historic shrine that's worth a visit in Asakusa, called Sensō-ji.

Personally I love the Kyoto railway museum but I'm a very specific nerd.

If you like sightseeing trains/boats, you can take the Sagano sightseeing train out to Kameoka, and then the Hozugawa River Cruise back to Kyoto.

Kyoto has a "food alley" that I went to that was amazing, called Nishiki Market. It's about five blocks of street food (along with fresh fish markets, some chopstick stores, and a few cafes)

For a more specific restaurant, I'd love to suggest Tsujiri Uji Main Store, which is near Byoud-in (pretty far south), where I had like ten different matcha desserts.

Even if you don't do Kiyomizudera itself (one of the fancy old shrine complexes), I would suggest doing a trek up to it along one of the shopping streets from Kiyomizumichi or Gojozaka station, then down along the famous steps (Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka) to see the historic Higashiyama district, and then you turn left at Maruyama Park and it takes you to Gion, which is another famous historic district (be VERY respectful, they hate most tourists) and recently opened up a really cool museum about Geiko and Maiko where you can see a 15-minute Geiko (Kyoto-specific Geisha) dance. I can't remember if it was Gion or Higashiyama but I'm pretty sure one of them has a Ghibli cafe.

[brick3621]

TNG text posts part 5 feat. DS9 era O'Brien