At the Bar with Star Trek

If we were having a beer, you would be picking on me…again

“So, how did you celebrate on Thursday?”

“Huh?”

“Thursday. I heard that it was the 50^th anniversary of Star Trek. I thought you would have done something special.”

“Ha, no. We had a Board Meeting at work. I don’t think a Star Trek theme would have been appropriate.”

“What about after work? The original episode didn’t run until 8:30 pm.”

“Listen to you with the facts and figures. I guess accountants can be geeks after all.”

“Financial advisor. For the umpteenth time, I am not an accountant.”

“You’re also not a geek, so where did you come up with the Star Trek trivia answers?”

“NPR.”

“Oh for the love… Cheryl, we need some alcohol, stat. I’ll have a Yuengling and program the replicator to serve up some Meiomi.”

“And, you can put this on my tab Cheryl.”

“Truly, where no man has gone before.”

“Are you guys are talking about Star Trek?”

“He was just about to enlighten me on the series. He’s barely watched it, but he listened to a recap on NPR.”

“They treated the show with the respect, I suppose it deserves. They listed things like the number of episodes (725), the first star date (1513.1) and the number of movies (13). They also recognized the lasting effect the franchise has had.”

“Wait, you’re looking at your phone, do you have those facts written down?”

“Of course I do. You think I was going to remember that stuff?”

“I was beginning to wonder.”

“Here you go guys. One beer, one Meiomi. Be careful, these aren’t Synthehol.”

“Wait, so you’re a Trekie too, Cheryl?”

“Original series, big fan. Next Generation, not so much, but if it’s on, I’d watch.”

“What about you, all 725 episodes?.”

“No. I’ve seen every Original Series episode, numerous times and every Next Generation episode several times, but I wasn’t a big fan of the other spin-offs.”

I would have thought you would have liked Voyager. I saw an episode of that once, and the captain had Irish Setter puppies on board.”

“Janeway, Captain Janeway had an Irish Setter back home. In fact, her name was Mollie, same as our third Irish Setter. Q tried to seduce her once, with a litter of setter pups.”

“He was the omnipotent guy? The recurring character, right?… They mentioned him on NPR”

“Yes, well played by John DeLancy. He also turned Beverly Crusher…”

“Who?”

“Beverly Crusher, the best doctor on Next Generation. He turned her into an Irish Setter once.”

“Best doctor on Next Generation? I take it that means not best doctor of all time.”

“That would be Dr. McCoy – ‘Bones’ – best Star Trek doctor, ever. You guys want to order any food?”

“I’m with Cheryl, Bones was the best doctor. Actually, I’d put the holodeck doctor on Voyager at #2.”

“So, are you with Cheryl that the original series was the best?”

“The original series holds a lot of good memories. I used to watch that with my college roommate.”

“Is that the guy who died in his 20s?”

“Yeah, huge fan of Star Trek. Tony never saw Next Generation, but would have loved it for the technology alone. I’ve watched almost every STNG episode with my daughter, so that’s special too.”

“OK,  you geeks have determined the best doctor. We have a split decision on the best series. I don’t want to start a food fight over captains. How about ‘who was the worst character’ can we…?”

“Wesley Crusher!”

“What she said, Wesley Crusher.”

“Wow, Cheryl, you sound adamant about that.”

“The only good thing Will Wheaton ever did was Stand By Me.”

“So, what’s the deal with Star Trek? Why does it still matter 50 years later?”

“It’s optimistic about mankind. That’s a good thing.”

“You guys want another round?”

“We do, Cheryl. But first, do you agree with my young geeky friend’s opinion about the optimism of Star Trek?”

“I do, but they also know how to laugh at themselves, at least in the Original Series. That’s important. They also respect other life forms, even more important.”

“Like non-trekies? I ask, because this is all we’ve been talking about. NFL football started Thursday, too…just sayin’ ”

“You know, that’s funny. They mentioned once that people were still playing baseball in the 24^th century, but I don’t ever recall them mentioning any other sport surviving that long.”

“Damn, this is hopeless. I am outnumbered, 2 to 1.”

“Look, this only happens once every 50 years. You can handle it.”

“So, next week, football?”

“Make it so.”

That’s Mollie, our previous Setter, doing a little victory dance after catching the Frisbee

Original Series Cast – Wikiepedia

Mollie loved to play Frisbee

Original Series Enterprise – Wikipedia

The crew of Star Trek Voyager

For Cheryl – wikipedia

The Enterprise-D from Star Trek Next Generation – Wikipedia

My TOS era phaser

Research material

Just in case I have to travel

Yes, I own a Captain Picard action figure. And it’s pronounced “fig-ur” just so you know.