"It's a pointless enterprise"

One thing I don't think I've ever revealed in Blogland is my love for one of the most misunderstood & maligned TV shows that has ever been broadcast. A clever character drama that has, over many years, explored countless aspects of the human condition.

Yup, I love Star Trek.
There I've said it.

I have always failed to understand why the show in it's various forms has come in for limitless mocking. I do not consider myself a Trekkie nor have I ever had the slightest interest in attending a convention or dressing in star fleet uniform or speaking Klingon.

I really can't recall when I first ever saw Star Trek but I do vividly remember that as a boy of 8 or 9 I had a glorious die cast USS Enterprise that fired little orange discs out of the front of it. Oh it was ace! Having said that I vaguely remember swapping it for a millennium Falcon. Come on, the Falcon is the coolest spaceship ever.

I also recall that in the wake of Star Wars, my Dad took me to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which to my young eyes was a load of old plop. I have it on video now, but I still haven't watched it since that cinema visit 20-odd years ago. It might be good watching it as an adult but I've never got round to it.

Like most folk of my generation I'd often watch the original series on telly when I was a kid. I thought Captain Kirk was a top geezer & I was enthralled by Spock. I also enjoyed the movies despite being non-plussed by the first one (& the 3rd & the 5th!), particularly the 4th installment The Voyage Home which mined a fairly rich seem of humour throughout.

My real love for all things Trek started in 1990 when the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation was broadcast on BBC2. I didn't actually see it at the time as Funny Dance & I went to Leicester to watch them play Leeds in the league cup (We didn't actually get in to see the match & Leeds lost 1-0). Monochrome Baby, whom I was living with at the time, had taped it for me & raved about it. So I watched it the next night.
I thought it was great & continued to watch it week in, week out.
The characters were strong, especially Captain Picard & Data, & the new Enterprise was one hell of a ship.
I'm pretty sure that I've seen every single episode from all 7 seasons.
It grew & developed into an outstanding show, in my opinion totally eclipsing the original series.
It had fascinating story arcs that continued season after season. It introduced some truly memorable characters & villains.
Q was always a big favourite of mine, and Q's appearance usually allowed for something different. Such as making the crew act out a very elaborate Robin Hood fantasy in Sherwood forest. Anyone who knows what I'm banging on about will surely recall Worf's comical protestation that he was "not a merry man"!
And what of the Borg? Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic!
Surely the finest of all the Star Trek movies, First Contact is a wonderful action packed romp as our heroes have to overcome the relentless, merciless Borg. It's my favourite anyway.

Fast forward a few years & you would find many an argument kicking off chez Flash on a Wednesday teatime. Trek on BBC2 at 6pm & Home & Away on ITV at the same time. Temper Tantrum loved bloody Home & Away. It would only really be a problem if we were going to be out. Who would get to video their show? Usually after much aggravation, I would triumph. Often with the old "... but it's only on once a week your bloody crap is on every chuffing day" piece of logic.
Spock would be proud.

In all the various forms of the show, perhaps the most wonderful thing about Star Trek is the blissful, utopian future that it offers. No racism, no corporate greed wreaking havoc on the world, no poverty, no war, no Shania Twain. It's a beautiful vision that the optimist in me just cannot resist.
Then there's the technology; Warp drive, transporters, Holodecks (God, I would kill for one of those bad boys!), etc.
Remember Kirk & Spock et al with their little flip open communicators? That would be your mobile phone, eh? It just fills me hope that we've only scratched the surface of what technology may yet bring us.

So what's brought Star Trek to the forefront of my mind right now?
Tesco.

See I've joined up for their postal DVD rental service. When I was browsing the site to see what I'd like to watch I noticed there was lot's of Trek on offer. Now, I loved Deep Space Nine & Voyager just as much as TNG but somewhere along the way I got lost. I missed the final season of both of them, which has irked me for years now.
So imagine my glee when I discovered that I could rent the complete series on DVD!
Yay!
So far I'm 8 episodes into DS9's final season & quite frankly I'm loving it.
After that I shall do the last series of Voyager & then I shall embark on Enterprise from the very beginning as I've only seen a few of those (enough to know I'd like to see more & also enough to know that the dreadful cheesy theme song is extremely dreadful & , erm, cheesy).

On top of everything I really love about Star Trek there is another added bonus, it is a bonus in the truest sense of the word as I would still watch it anyway without the bevy of beautiful women that inhabit the various ships & planets that are brought to my TV screen.
Allow me to share my (hastily compiled) top 5 with you...


At No.5 we have Kes (Jennifer Lien) who was a real sweetie in the first 3 series of Voyager. Bless her, she grew her hair long, which looked lovely, but then transformed into some sort of non-corporeal being never to be seen again.
At cute as she was, she was not missed (see No.1)













At No.4 we have Ezri Dax (Nicole DeBoer) from Deep Space 9. I've only just become enamoured with Ezri here as she only appears in the last series.
She is as cute as cute can be.












No.3 sees Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) also from DS9 join us.
Sadly she never appeared on the show looking like this.

















From most recent series, Enterprise, comes our No.2.
Meet T'pol (Jolene Blalock), surely the most beautiful Vulcan the universe has ever seen. To disagree would be highly illogical.

Just in case the ears don't do it for you, here she is in her "civvies"... ahem..



















And at No.1...

This is Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).
She used to be a Borg & I for one would agree that resistance would indeed be futile if faced by the prospect of being assimilated by this statuesque beauty.














Anyway I've banged on for far longer than I intended to but just to remind you; I love Star Trek.

Mock if you wish (C'mon Charbs, do your worst!) but I won't be swayed.

Oh yeah, one more thing...

Live long & prosper.