I think Mad Magazine had the right idea… Mad #115, Dec 1967
Hi Everyone,
I got back from a wonderful visit with a dear friend last week. It had been ages since I had taken an airplane anywhere. But as I was enjoying the sensation of being lifted into the sky in this silver bird, it got me thinking of traveling in the age of Star Trek; most importantly, The Transporter.
How often have I wished for a transporter in real life to visit out of state and country friends in the “wink of an eye” 😉 To see all the places in my life without having to book a flight. Oh, and to never need planes again, or cars, buses, taxi’s or trains! To always be on time for any event, any where, and to get back home the same way.
Yet once I put my mind to it, the logistics of real transporter travel became a bit less enticing. Indeed, if it existed in real life, I don’t think humanity would survive! I wondered, how, in the Trek Universe, were Transporters perceived by governments and public alike? Were there funding problems? Protests? And no doubt there must have been horrific accidents in the development stages.
Now obviously I am not an expert on the fictional historical facts of Trek Transportation. So I will borrow these bits from Wikipedia:
According to dialogue in the Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT) episode “Daedalus“, the transporter was invented in the early 22nd century by Dr. Emory Erickson, who also became the first human to be successfully transported. Although the Enterprise (NX-01) has a transporter, the crew does not routinely use it for moving biological organisms. Instead, they generally prefer using shuttlepods or other means of transportation unless no other means of transportation are possible or feasible.
Well that was a good start. and I can understand why transporters at this early stage were not the standard of transportation. What a miracle to transport items large or small within moments! Yet I wonder how this affected commerce and general capitalism? With instant delivery of most purchases and goods, would there be no more equivalent of Mail Delivery Services, let alone the trucking industry, or any in-person shopping? (watch out Amazon!) I imagine it would have needed a ton of regulation to avoid damaged or altered goods. Man, wouldn’t that open awhole can of worms for thievery and illegal trafficking? Let alone mishaps of people transporting into the wrong places situations. No doubt wars could easily erupt over say, top secret documents ending up in the wrong hands or worse, weapons of mass destruction.
Then there’s the physical effect of a human being being transported; again Wikipedia:
Whenever a person or object is transported, the machine creates a memory file of the pattern.
And this makes me completely sympathize with Dr. McCoy, who said:
“I signed aboard this ship to practice medicine, not to have my atoms scattered back and forth across space by this gadget!“
Indeed, if transporters really existed, then technically, the first time you enter one is the last time you will be your actual self. If you are nothing but “a memory file” in the transporter banks, and now just a copy of your original self, how does one ever know if they are truly the same? How is every complex memory still there? And what about all of your life’s knowledge and experience. Yes, transporting is sounding ever more dangerous. Not to mention accidents! Like this truly horrific one referred to on Wikipedia:
(In) Star Trek: The Motion Picture when a malfunction in the transporter sensor circuits resulted in insufficient signal being present at the Enterprise end to successfully rematerialize the two subjects, and Starfleet was unable to pull them back to where they had dematerialized from. The transporter system attempted to rematerialize what little signal was available, and despite the efforts of Kirk and Scotty, the system failed and both subjects vanished from the transporter pad and back to Starfleet, where both subjects died from radiation and disfiguration. Kirk, visibly shaken by what he had witnessed asked, “Starfleet, do you have them?”, to which the response was made “Enterprise, what we got back didn’t live long, fortunately”.
No, I DEFINITELY would not want to come back as a pile of radiated, disfigured oatmeal – AAAHHHHHH!
Yep, traditional transportation will do nicely for now. I wish you all happy travels!
It’s coming up on my annual renewal for trekkerscrapbook.com. ( June 10th)
I plan to renew it for another year and hope to bring you all the Trek ideas that have been stewing in my mind.
However, I have decided that that this next year will be my last as publisher of this blog. It’s expensive and as you may have noticed I hardly post as much as I did when I started this little party 12 years ago! I admit, talking only about Star Trek can be limiting, and I realize that as it is my blog, I can discuss plenty of other topics, and sometimes I want to, but I decline, thinking that it would be ignored or misinterpreted.
But it’s not just that. I am by no means old (heck, I just turned 62!), but the longer one lives, the more one realizes that time is a finite thing, and every day is precious. I have many obligations and dreams in my life, and although this one is a pleasure, it is not on my list of high priorities.
Please note: When I end this blog next year, there will still be the Facebook Group for this page, where we can all get together for fun, so be sure to join it! I’ll occasionally post there too! I’ll give you plenty warning. For now I’m archiving all my posts for my own posterity!
I still love my little site of course and I am so grateful for your patronage! I look forward to sharing one more year of my Trek memories and my art work with you. Here’s to the last new year!
I know we’re Star Trek people here, but in honor of May the 4th, I’m sharing this funny video my son Matthew (a budding filmmaker) made for his Film-Making class last year! Graphic by my son, Audio is a recording of his friends that he made 🙂 Enjoy!
5/3/2023 UPDATE! Because an artist is never happy, I made just a few slight changes to the collage today — So be sure to check it again! I’ve added my friend and wonderful actor David Frankham as Larry Marvick on here ( I had him all set up yesterday and forgot to save it!!) as well as a spilled coffee cup and a rename on the drum; changing it to BAND instead of BRAND, which confused people. (It was meant as franchise humor)
It’s really done now! Thanks for your comments and likes! 🙂
HI Everyone!
Sorry I’ve been away for a while, (busy with life) but I’m back and I wanted to share this updated collage with you!
I originally created this collage in 2018 with the use of my ancient computer program (don’t laugh) Print Master Platnium 18.1. Although I liked the original, (and you can see it here) it clearly lacked the precision and sharpness I could make with my Adobe Printshop program, with which I’ve been making all my latest colleges with ever since. On the old program one had to crop images by painstakingly outlining them dot by dot and them eliminating the background. With Adobe, this process became much less time consuming and tedious! You can also see how even the writing on the bass drum looks much more realistic, especially since my son taught me how to add fonts to my system!
So here’s my updated Beatle/Trek homage of of “Captain Jim Kirk’s Starfleet Brand” I’ve added a few characters and props, and I find it highly more satisfying! Note: I didn’t add a key this time, since I figure many of my readers will recognize just about everyone here! Have fun with it and let me what you think!
I hope to have an public exhibit of many of my collages up sometime. I’ll let you know if it ever happens 🙂
Happy Heavenly Birthday to Leonard Nimoy who would have been 92 today. He was such a wonderful human being; kind, compassionate, caring, and grateful for the life that fame brought him. He never forgot where he came from or took anything for granted. Glad we were along for the ride of the man who brought out the humanity of Spock, and thankful he lived long and prospered.
I finally finished my annual tribute to the stars we lost in 2022. It took a bit longer than I expected, as I started this in December, and here it is March! But I wanted to be sure it was as complete as possible, and I believe it is.
After a while working on this, I felt I almost got to know all of these wonderful people personally. Some I had never heard of, and some died tragically (murder, car accidents, Covid, suicide) and way too young. Sadly there were also an unusually high number of passings in the Star Trek Family, some iconic and all beloved. But I hope the joy they brought the world will live on. Bless them on their journeys from life to life.
Unfortunately, there have been several notable passings already this year that I am aware of, but I am already beginning the 2023 farewells as I write this, and you will see them next January. (I’m only two months late with this!)
Let me know what you think, and feel free to include any of your favorite memories of these remarkable people. You can see all their names and accomplishments in the keys below.
Love and Blessings, Therese
ATHLETICS
1. Maury Wills, 89, Base-Stealing Shortstop for the Dodgers
2. Lusia Harris, 66, First Woman Drafted by NBA
3. Pelé, 82,Charismatic Master of the “Beautiful Game”
4. Jeremy Giambi, 47, Former MLB Player, portrayed in Moneyball.
5. Bill Russell, 88, Boston Celtics Legend and the NBA’s Ultimate Winner
6. Brad William Henke, 56, Super Bowl Winner, Orange Is the New Black, Lost
7. Scott Hall, 63, Notorious Bad Guy of Pro Wrestling
8. Bobby East, 37,Former NASCAR Driver (stabbed)
9. Jeff Gladney, 25, Arizona Cardinals Cornerback, (Car Accident)
10. Dwayne Haskins, 24, Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback, (Struck by Car)
11. Franco Harris, 72, Steelers Hall of Fame Running Back ‘Immaculate Reception’
12. Len Dawson, 87,Hall of Fame Chiefs Quarterback ‘Inside the NFL,’
13. Tony “Goose” Siragusa 55,“Super Bowl Champion and Actor in The Sopranos
14. Vin Scully, 94, Treasured Voice of the Dodgers
ENTERTAINERS AND NEWSMAKERS
15. Robert Clary, 96, Corporal LeBeau on Hogan’s Heroes
16. Gail Halvorsen, 101, Cold War ‘Candy Bomber’
17. Sonya Eddy, 55,General Hospital. Come Away Home
18. Georgia Holt, 96, Actress, Singer and Cher’s Mother,
19. Robbie Coltrane, 72 Comic Performer, Hagrid in ‘Harry Potter’
20. Angela Lansbury, 96 Manchurian Candidate, Sweeney Todd, Murder She Wrote
21. Pat Carroll, 95, Cinderella, With Six you get Eggroll, The Little Mermaid,
22. Jules Bass, 87,Producer, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman
23. Ivan Reitman, 75, ‘Animal House’ Producer and ‘Ghostbusters’ Director
24. Kevin Conroy 66, Longtime Voice of Batman,
25. Steve Schapiro, 87, Acclaimed Photojournalist,
26. Douglas Kirkland, 88, Famed Photographer of Hollywood Luminaries
27. Patrick Demarchelier, 78, Fashion Photographer who took Princess Diana’s last portraits.
28. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 95, Retired Leader of the Roman Catholic Church
29. Brenda Deiss, 60, Breakout star of Red Rocket
30. Queen Elizabeth II, 96. Britain’s Longest Reigning Monarch, Mother of King Charles III
31. Dale Chritchlow 92, Napoleon Dynamite
32. Gallagher, 76, Comic Known for Smashing Watermelons
33. Busi Lurayi, (Mid 30s) ‘How to Ruin Christmas’
34. Adam Wade, 87, Singer, Actor Musical Chairs, Kiss Me Goodbye, Claudine
35. Larry Storch, 99, Corporal Randolph Agarn on F Troop,
36. Robyn Griggs, 49 ‘Another World’
37. Irene Papas, 93, The Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek, The Moonspinners, Z.
38. Ann Turner Cook, 95, The Original Gerber Baby
39. James R. Olson, 91Andromeda Strain, Rachel, Rachel
40. Lindsey Pearlman, 43, ‘General Hospital’
41. P.J. O’Rourke, 74, Irreverent Author and Commentator
42. Michael Callan, 86, Actor in Broadway’s West Side Story and ‘Cat Ballou
43. Mary Alice, 85,Fences, Sparkle, The Matrix Revolutions,
44. Kenneth Tsang, 86,‘Rush Hour 2,’
45. Denise Dowse, 64. ‘Beverly Hills, 90210, Insecure
46. Paul Herman, 76, ‘The Sopranos,Entourage’ and ‘The Irishman,
47. Frank Vallelonga Jr.,60, Green Book, All In
48 Ray Liotta, 67,GoodFellas, ’Field of Dreams, Cocaine Bear
49. Leslie Phillips,98, Debonair British Actor of ‘Carry On,’ Potter’ Films
50. Clu Gulager, 93, ‘The Virginian,The Last Picture Show’
51. Robert Cormier 33,Heartland, Slasher
52. Michael Kopsa, 66, X-Files, Stargate SG-1
53. Tony Sirico, 79‘ The Sopranos’
54. Joan Hotchkis, 95, ‘The Odd Couple’, ‘Ode to Billie Joe,’
55. Stuart Margolin, 82, ‘The Rockford Files, M*A*S*H
56. Joe E. Tata, 85, Beverly Hills, 90210,A Clockwork Blue
For the past two months I’ve been working on my traditional, annual Memorial Collage for celebrities and newsmakers. I usually post this in January, but sadly, there were so many passing’s of notables that it’s taken a lot longer than usual. (The Musician page alone has way too many!)
Anyway, I worked all day yesterday on the final portion of the collage and I THOUGHT I saved it. Well, this morning it’s nowhere to be found and I have to start all over again on that part! (Waaaah!!)
Here’s hoping I’ll have the whole thing up within a week. You’ll see it here as soon as it’s finished, with name keys and all.
For now, here’s only a small portion.
Take care today and make every day count! Love you all – Therese
