who loves star trek?

yeah, that's right. I do. Cripes, I was a Trekkie before there were Trekkies! I watched the original Star Trek on television with my Dad as it was first broadcast back in the day. I was just a kid back then, reading things like A Wrinkle in Time and The Bronze Bow and The Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander. I hadn't written anything yet - discounting the turkey piece in 5th grade, of course.

At any rate. here are my five faves. I may or may not offer up some favorite shows. we'll see what I can come up with.

Five favorite characters:

Spock - the episode when he is overcome by the need to mate and thinks he's killed the Captain. I love how he completely appreciates the cold logic of his intended but practically loses it as a Vulcan when he sees the Captain (who he thinks he killed), '"Jim!" he yells in joyous surprise.

And of course there's this line: "I have, and always will be, your friend..." I forget when he says that and I probably didn't get it right either but if you're like me you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Data - is it any surprise I love the two most logical, unfeeling characters? Is it any wonder I sometimes I have a little trouble with the emotional side of my characters? Surely there's no connection ...? Anyway. yes, I love Data. I love how he changed and evolved from simply a machine to someone with rights. And that's probably another favorite episode. It showcases both Picard and Data.

Which leads me to Picard. Much as I love James Tiberius Kirk, Picard is the better captain and, the better actor. Star Trek Next Gen was lucky to have him.  He gave a certain respectability to the show I think and was also amazingly good in so many episodes. It's hard to choose just one but I think I'll pick the one where Picard falls unconscious when the Enterprise intercepts something and lives another life on a dying planet. It's more of a memory really but he nevertheless experiences it and when he wakes up he grieves for what he never had. After that episode, you'll sometimes catch him playing that flute when he's feeling melancholy.

Q. How could I not pick Q? He's the most annoying, despicable, interesting, obnoxious character in a series I've ever come across. Love him or hate him he made a lot of episodes riveting. One of my favorites, however, is the one where he loses all his powers. Poor Q.

Tasha Yar. I just liked her. I can't say why, exactly, but there's a few episodes she's in I really liked. One was with Data and the two of them have sex after he assures her he's "fully functional." HA! Later, she whispers to him to forget anything happened. And later still this incident serves to demonstrate Data's humanness when Picard has to prevent him from being disassembled and autopsied. I hated how she died, in a useless stupid tragedy, and yet, isn't that what happens sometimes? To the best of people? And then I loved how she came back later, crossing over time.

I know when I go check all your blogs I'm going to slap my head and say, of course! Why didn't I think of that! But this is what came to me right after I saw the link for the fest, my initial thoughts. There's lots of other great characters and tons of episodes I absolutely loved, like Mirror, Mirror, or all those episodes with Q, or The City on the Edge of Forever or that one with Terry Garr and the cat who isn't a cat...you get the idea. I'll just mention one more, and that's the original premiere episode, The Menagerie, with Spock and Captain Pike. Loved it.