A reader writes:
I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but your blog has been put up for
Best Religious Blog on the bloggers choice awards.
http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/3333However, through some sick and twisted joke of fate, fans of Wesley
Crusher (why Wesley Crusher, he was the most annoying character during
the most annoying years of STNG?) have for some odd reason voted Wil
Wheaton’s blog to the top of the category.As an SF fan, you surely can understand the horror that this must stir
in any Catholic, and any SF fan. It would be one thing if Bhuddists
or Episcopalians or devotees of the Giant Spagetti Monster were
winning. But Wesley Crusher?No. It cannot be.
Please let your readers know that you’ve been nominated so we can get
a Catholic blog back up on top instead of WESLEY CRUSHER.
I can’t find Mr. Wheaton on the first 10 pages of the “Best Religious Blog” category. Maybe the owners of the awards site removed it from the category?
Nevertheless, I did my duty and voted for Jimmy.
To be blunt, the problem is your personality. You come off as aloof and condescending, rarely responding to comments and typically speaking to your readers like they’re children. This is most obviously true when you invoke various rules about who is allowed to disagree with your sacred wisdom. What I find especially absurd about this is that you act like the censorship is justified because the people who ask you for online advice are so desperately dependent on you that they would be shattered if anyone dared disagree with what you, at great length but minimal content, tell them. You’re really not that important.
Translation of the above: “Waaaaaaah!”
Definition of censorship: Prior restraint by the government.
Wil Wheaton is currently leading in “Best Celebrity Blog” category. Naturally I voted for our esteemed host in the “Best Religious Blog” category, but then I voted for Neil Gaiman’s blog on the celebrity list. Anything to defeat Wesley Crusher!
I’ll have to disagree with Lucky Jim. I find Jimmy’s posts to be polite and pleasant, and he avoids insults. As a Methodist, I don’t always agree with him on theology, but I get a great insight into Catholic teachings and practices by reading him (and by reading the comments).
Not posting in the comments thread isn’t a sign of condescension or aloofness. It’s for us to discuss things; he’s already given his opinion, and it takes a lot of extra time to follow all of the comments. Be happy he’s put a comment thread in at all! (I don’t have one on my blog.)
Catastrophe averted. Wil Wheaton’s blog was at the top of the Best Religion Blog category for about three days, but apparently those who run the website realized that it was a “fark-job” and moved it to the appropriate category.
Catholics are back on top.
That said, JA.org is still in fourth place. Please vote.
Oh, and note also that you can vote more than once in a particular category. If you want, you could vote for all the Catholic blogs in the category. This would move the atheist blog (currently in 5th place) out of the runnings entirely.
Why the hate over a person just because he played a role you didn’t like? This is crazy. Wheaton’s blog is a respected one, and currently on the top of the “Geek” list.
He should win. He shows more respect with his pinky than most who post in here.
“Hate”?
Crush Crusher!
Hee! I do get a kick out of the haters. The envy just oozes from my screen. They feel the need to drop by occasionally and make sure everyone knows that, in their view, Jimmy isn’t any big deal, but is in fact a BIG DOODY HEAD.
Translated, this means “It’s not fair that you have 100 times more readers than I do!!”… or as someone above phrased it, “Waaaahhh!!!”.
By the way, in case y’all haven’t heard, Mr. Wheaton is set to pen a story for the second volume of the Star Trek Manga collection published by TokyoPop.
GET THE STORY.
To be blunt, the problem is your personality. You come off as aloof and condescending, rarely responding to comments and typically speaking to your readers like they’re children. This is most obviously true when you invoke various rules about who is allowed to disagree with your sacred wisdom. What I find especially absurd about this is that you act like the censorship is justified because the people who ask you for online advice are so desperately dependent on you that they would be shattered if anyone dared disagree with what you, at great length but minimal content, tell them. You’re really not that important.
It’s his blog, he can censor all he wants. Having said that, I think your opinion is one of someone who has some sort of disdain for Mr. Akin.
Why the hate over a person just because he played a role you didn’t like? This is crazy. Wheaton’s blog is a respected one, and currently on the top of the “Geek” list.
He should win. He shows more respect with his pinky than most who post in here.
I think the main issue here is that Mr. Wheaton’s blog is NOT a religious blog, and does not deserve to win the category.
Jeff, don’t confuse the poor guy with logic. It’s obviously not his strong point.
Jeff,
It’s NOT IN the category. On the other hand, I’ve seen insults given to Mr Wheaton based upon a character some people didn’t like. He has had a difficult time — many rude people have been known to throw things at his picture, and attack him personally for ST:TNG. It’s rather uncharitable, and I see the comments on him here continue to be that way. Not a good Christian response. It is easy to see — he is not on the religion seciton. Go and see. He isn’t. Even if he was by accident, don’t assume that means insult him. No. A good Christian response would be charitable to him.
Anon, you make a good point. Whatever one thinks of the character of Wesley Crusher, that is a past chapter in Mr. Wheaton’s life. (Remember that TNG debuted twenty years ago this coming September.) We have a duty to be charitable toward him.
For my part, I enjoyed the first volume of the Star Trek Manga (referenced in my above post) and I hope Mr. Wheaton’s contribution to the second is good.
Edward,
Right. This blog of his is about himself, his views, his life, his writings, his thoughts, etc. It transcends (by far) his Star Trek life. To constantly reference him was “Wesley Crusher” and say things like “Crush Crusher” is very uncharitable. I am glad some people see this 🙂
Wasn’t the character of Wesley Crusher supposedly some sort of ‘Mozart’-type genius destined for greatness for some reason?
I never continued watching STNG after that, but whatever became of it?
He *was* in the religious section. That’s been corrected.
Wheaton’s blog was running in first place as “Best Religion Blog.” However, the site owners have now corrected that. It no longer appears in that category.
The odd thing is that an anti-religion blog of an atheist organization is near the top of that category (and actually started out in first place).
You can vote for as many blogs as you want.
Wasn’t the character of Wesley Crusher supposedly some sort of ‘Mozart’-type genius destined for greatness for some reason?
I never continued watching STNG after that, but whatever became of it?
When we last saw him*, he quit the academy and moved to an Indian planet in the DMZ to explore new planes of existence with the Traveler (who was the one who compared him to Mozart).
*Not counting Riker and Troi’s wedding in ST:Nemesis in which, I’m told, he could be briefly seen.
When we last saw him*, he quit the academy and moved to an Indian planet in the DMZ to explore new planes of existence with the Traveler (who was the one who compared him to Mozart).
*Not counting Riker and Troi’s wedding in ST:Nemesis in which, I’m told, he could be briefly seen.
THANKS PUBLIUS!!!
That’s one of those Star Trek thingies that I thought (but thank goodness they didn’t) they might actually do a spin-off.
The other one was that Star Trek (Original Series) episode where (from what I remember) Kurt and Spock were trying to do something with a rocket (prevent sabotage?), and a guy from the future (further into the future than Kurt & Spock?), who had a cat with him, was actually trying to do the same.
Does anybody know what became of that one as well?
I could’ve sworn it smelled like a potential spin-off twist as well!
FWIW, while it was very miscategorized as a religious blog, I like wilwheaton.com.
But in my book, top religious blog will always be JA.org!
Am I the only one who didn’t mind Wesley all that much?
Now Troi was annoying as heck…
Esau, um, that’s Kirk, not Kurt. James T (for Tiberius) Kirk, actually. The episode you’re thinking of was Assignment Earth with Robert Lansing as code name Gary Seven, his cat Isis and Teri Garr.
According to wikipedia, they were indeed thinking of a spin off series, but it didn’t happen.
Mary Kay:
THANKS FOR THE INFO!!!
Kirk — aye yai yai (sp?)!
How’d I manage to get that name wrong?!
Probably because you didn’t watch TOS reruns every week during college 🙂
Probably because you didn’t watch TOS reruns every week during college 🙂
No shame in that! ;^)
Actually, I know a lot of folks who prefer TOS over the STNG.
In fact, there was even this draconian monster of a nun (I mean that affectionately, of course) who said that she thought STNG only relied on special effects in order to win and captivate the audience whereas TOS was of such endearing quality that, though it may not have had the same in terms of these theatrics, it definitely had substance, unlike STNG.
Sometimes, I wonder if she was right in her estimation.
Now Troi was annoying as heck…
Hehehe… I remember the first time I saw STNG, I thought they sliced Spock in two: Data, the logical, Vulcan side, and Troi, the emotional, human side.
I get this from BillyHW — The actress playing Troi overacted in the earlier episodes I watched of STNG to such a degree, it went pass annoying to intolerable on many occasions.
Well, whatever you can say about the Star Trek writers, at least they never married Wesley Crusher off to Chelsea Clinton.
Fellow Ratcliff (anti?)fans, report!
Explanation for the rest: When I was young teenager on the internet, I was very much amused by the MST3K page where people imitated MST3K except with really bad fanfiction instead of bad movies.
An extremely infamous celebrity in Star Trek fandom was a college student named Stephen Ratliff who wrote the most bizarre Star Trek fan fiction about Princess Marissa Amber Flores Picard, Captain Picard’s adopted daughter, who became Admiral of Star Fleet by the time she was eighteen as well as heir to the throne of the planet of Essex.
Ratliff’s “works” are still hilarious to read. “Time Speeder” in which Marissa and Wesley Crusher go back in time to get Bill Clinton to save Nasa from the Evil GOP, and Wesley strikes up a romance with Chelsea, is one of the “best.”
Though I’m also fond of the one where the Pope shows up in his ship “The Holy Trinity” and defeats the Romulans. Stephen Ratliff was also a devout Catholic, if rather a silly one.
More info on one of the oddest internet celebrities:
http://home.netcom.com/~mblackwl/mst.html
Esau, I think she got it exactly right. When “Star Trek: The Next Imitation” came on the air, I wanted desperately to like it, but found myself laughing at things that were supposed to be serious (Q, Riker, the Denise Crosby character, the “messages”.
Esau, I think she got it exactly right. When “Star Trek: The Next Imitation” came on the air, I wanted desperately to like it, but found myself laughing at things that were supposed to be serious (Q, Riker, the Denise Crosby character, the “messages”.
bill912:
I’ve got to admit, in spite of her menacing presence and utterly strict teaching style, she was often “right on” — God Bless Her!
From what I remember of both TOS & STNG, I can’t help but think there was actually more substance to the former (especially when you consider some of the profound themes it attempted to explore in many of its episodes) and that the only thing that attracted folks to STNG was, indeed, the special effects.
“The episode you’re thinking of was Assignment Earth with Robert Lansing as code name Gary Seven, his cat Isis and Teri Garr.
“According to wikipedia, they were indeed thinking of a spin off series, but it didn’t happen.”
When I saw that episode I immediately thought of a spin off series, which I named, “Gary Seven, the Spy From Space”.
But wasn’t “Q” supposed to be funny?
Lucky Jim,
Next time you go to the doctor, I’ll invite myself in to prescribe what I, self-annointed doctor of the world, think you should be taking.
Puuuleeeeze!
Q was supposed to be funny at times, and at other times serious. And I think he did a good job at it.
ST TNG did not equal ST TOS. It did rely upon its now dated effects too much, and it simplified the stories a bit, often for a rather full PC related theme. But this is not to say PC themes were new to ST, they were there from the start. But they were not as openly and unashamedly PC as ST TNG became.
ST DS9 will always be the under-appreciated classic; it might not rival TOS but it sure beats TNG hands down for what it develops.
American Sci-Fi is too much about the effects; Babylon 5, because it couldn’t be about effects, took the cake for being the best American sci-fi series ever produced. Of course, it learned the lesson of how to make good sci-fi tv by being written by a fan of the genre, someone who wanted to have a sci-fi epic on tv, and one who knew how the British handled it.
Even though RTD has caused various problems with Doctor Who, Doctor Who still is the best overall sci-fi series ever produced. It is many genres in one, which gives it vitality and an ability to never be totally self-absorbed (like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica), and yet not without biting criticsm about society. Indeed, the under-rated “New Earth” by RTD of all people was one of the best pro-life, anti-cloning stories I’ve ever seen. If only it would be shown to all involved in stem cell research!
Lucky Jim,
Ya know, You need to save us from our own hero-worship of Jimmy Akin. ’cause everybudy knows that we hang on his every word, bow before his every thought, eat as he does, watch what he watchs, sleep with his picture under our pillows (I’ve got the eye-exam photo), and stamp his opinions and advice on our foreheads. Save us, O sage blogger!
American Sci-Fi is too much about the effects
AMEN to that, Anon!
By the way, what’s RTD?
Anyone know whether the next installment of the star trek genre is in the planning stages, or is star trek officially dead? The next, next generation?
The 11th Star Trek feature film is in development, with J.J. Abrams (of Lost and Alias fame) set to direct and co-produce. Shooting is supposed to take place later this year, and as of this moment the theatrical release is scheduled for Christmas Day 2008.
A good site for updates on the film is TrekMovie.com.
RTD is the initials of the current producer, script editor, and lead writer of Doctor Who: Russell T Davies, hence RTD for short. We Doctor Who fans are used to such abbreviations after the John-Nathan Turner years, calling him JNT for short.
I would highly recommend the story New Earth if you can find it. I’m still overwhelmed that a vowed atheist wrote something like this. Then again, JMS of Babylon 5 is also an atheist and wrote something of this calbre. However, from other works of theirs, of the two, I believe JMs is more likely to convert…
>The odd thing is that an anti-religion blog of an atheist organization is near the top of that category (and actually started out in first place).
Well, atheism IS a religion, no matter how much they want to deny it.
Yes, vote for Jimmy!
http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/categories/14
OR
Click HERE to see the category of “Best Religion Blog”
However, vote for all the Catholic blogs on that first page!
I want to see that atheist blown out of the running.
RTD is the initials of the current producer, script editor, and lead writer of Doctor Who: Russell T Davies, hence RTD for short. We Doctor Who fans are used to such abbreviations after the John-Nathan Turner years, calling him JNT for short.
Appreciate the Info!
Actually, I used to watch Doctor Who when it used to be shown on PBS, in all its stage-like setting.
I get this from BillyHW — The actress playing Troi overacted in the earlier episodes I watched of STNG to such a degree, it went pass annoying to intolerable on many occasions.
I’m sensing feelings of hostility and disgust from him captain, but it’s not entirely clear. I can’t be sure, it could just be gas.
Atheism is (in BobCatholic’s terminology) the Ultimate ‘Mirror’ Worship!
If they’re actually running for Best Religious Blog, I’m surprised Satanist blogs aren’t as well (that is, if there are such in existence).
I’m sensing feelings of hostility and disgust from him captain, but it’s not entirely clear. I can’t be sure, it could just be gas.
Thanks, BillyHW.
Come off it, Esau! Everybody knows that you worship yourself under the alias of David B.! (wait a minute…)
Deanna Troi is a cylon!
Yeah, right! ;^)
Correction! John (the VII/pope hater) is the alias of Esau! It’s all a ruse! Unless John can prove to me that he’s not Esau (or at least Esau’s lemming), I will not believe otherwise!
Deanna Troi is a cylon
Hey, I was going to say that!!!
(OR MAYBE I just did!)
…cue in creepy Twilight Zone Music…
“Yeah, right! ;^)”
Yawole!
Correction! John (the VII/pope hater) is the alias of Esau! It’s all a ruse!
John jtnova@optline.net is NONE OTHER THAN…
… Karl Keating!
This proves that Esau and David B. are one and the same!
John,
We are not! Preciousssss!!
John’s JA Personality Cult MEMBERSHIP REVOKED!
We are not! Preciousssss!!
No — I’m the Walrus!
(ooopsss… wrong movie)
Ku-ku-kachoo
I don’t understand why so many Next Generation Trekkies found/find the Wesley Crusher character so annoying. I watched STNG faithfully during its run, and I was pretty indifferent about Wesley. There was nothing annoying or offensive about him at any rate.
“When ‘Star Trek: The Next Imitation” came on the air, I wanted desperately to like it, but found myself laughing at things that were supposed to be serious (Q, Riker, the Denise Crosby character, the ‘messages’.”
The series got better as time went on, but yeah, it started out pretty badly. The problem is that Gene Roddenberry conceived of STNG as the Star Trek he really always wanted to make but was never allowed to. Well, we found out in that first series or so just how much of a blessing it was that Roddenberry didn’t get a chance to do Star Trek the way he really wanted it to be.
Then he died, God rest his soul, and the series started getting a lot better . . . .
I thought Roddenberry only recently died, long after STNG went of the air.
The annoying thing about Wesley is that he is this genius kid who in the end becomes more or less superhuman (I forget exactly what it was) but was supposed to represent Roddenberry himself. Old sci-fi television producer portrays himself as a genius kid so far ahead of the rest of his species. Nice.
“Old sci-fi television producer portrays himself as a genius kid so far ahead of the rest of his species. Nice.”
I’m gonna get a t-shirt with that on it (if it’s not copyrighted.)
Of course Star Trek itself (at least Next Generation on) is athiest, modernist, progressive, socialist, etc. and filled with ugly modern aesthetics. Not qualities I like.
In general science fiction has these qualities, and it often presents such a glorious picture of what human technology will become in the next centuries, which could be a dangerous assumption. In particular I think of those who put off trying to solve environmental or sustainability problems because they are confident future generations will just invent something or other to fix everything. For example when oil runs out we’ll just invent something to replace it. As soil erodes we’ll just keep inventing ways to produce more food from less soil or to switch entirely to hydroponics. In fact it is not at all certain we will be able to do any of this.
Gene Roddenberry died in 1991. His son Eugene Roddenberry is still out and about.
I don’t understand why so many Next Generation Trekkies found/find the Wesley Crusher character so annoying. I watched STNG faithfully during its run, and I was pretty indifferent about Wesley. There was nothing annoying or offensive about him at any rate.
1) He was a kid 2) he saved the day a few too many times 3) overpowered 4) he was a kid.
I never had a problem– I quickly identified him as a future-geek, a bit like me, but without much knowledge of how much he was annoying some folks. He did get a bit annoying later, I think they were trying to make him appeal to kids.
(I was born in 1983, so keep in mind my youth for these views!)
I notice the same folks who hate Crusher also tend to hate the technobable solutions. (when they’re pulled off well, I like them) They also tend to like Q. I despise that creature. (outstanding acting!)
Maureen,
My mistake there. A couple years ago someone told me he had died. I must have misunderstood them to mean this had just happened, instead of a decade earlier.
Not even the great Ronald D Moore (who has more in common with Mozart than Wesley Crusher) could write a good Crusher episode — he wrote the send-off with the Traveller one. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, Wes makes a cameo in Nemesis. Way to kill a franchise, guys. If God smiles on us, Star Trek XI will kick-start it up again.
Not only did I dislike Crusher the younger, but I also despised Crusher the elder. But for the sake of my soul, I will not go into the reasons why.
But I see that many of you have let your hate rule your mind ((Vader breath)). Good. Good. Now I want you to unleash the full force of your hate on Judd Nelson.
Because it is HIS fault Optimus Prime is dead!
Not only did I dislike Crusher the younger, but I also despised Crusher the elder. But for the sake of my soul, I will not go into the reasons why.
Oh man, Stubblespark! You can’t just drop a bomb like that and then walk away without explanation. I mean, well, I guess you can, but ….
But now I REALLY frikkin’ wanna know!
StubbleSpark: re: Judd Nelson: waaay ahead of you there, buddy.
Of course Star Trek itself (at least Next Generation on) is athiest, modernist, progressive, socialist, etc. and filled with ugly modern aesthetics. Not qualities I like.
J.R. Stoodley:
I believe there were actually CHRISTIAN themes evident in the ORIGINAL Star Trek series.
If someone more knowledgeable than I (preferably, an avid TOS fan) can help me out (haven’t seen TOS in ages), I seem to recall an episode where at the end of it, Uhura mentioned to Kirk and Spock that it wasn’t the SUN that the people were referring to, but THE SON (which, I take it, to mean JESUS).
I believe that’s what struck Spock as being so weird at the beginning of the episode since he couldn’t recall a people of that particular period (time, place, whatever) ever having been Sun-Worshippers; yet, all this time, it wasn’t the SUN these people were worshipping, but THE SON.
Uhura: “It’s not the sun up in the sky. It’s the Son of God!”
Thanks bill912!
Holy Cow! You actually remember the entire line?
Great memory!
That episode is “Bread and Circuses” – and it’s one of the episodes on the schedule for the “remastered” Original Series that is now airing in syndication. It will air the weekend of June 2nd; check your local listings.
Here’s the full schedule. 😉
And by the way, Jimmy did a previous post on the subject of religion in Star Trek.
Edward:
THANKS FOR THE INFO!
I guess this provides, yet, another reason why the ORIGINAL is better than the subsequent IMITATIONS (as bill912 puts it)!
Just in case there are some TOS purists lurking about…
Be advised that the “remastered” episodes include some new digital effects. But, be assured that they didn’t mess with the look of the interior of the Enterprise.
Ack, the link didn’t post properly.
Information on remastered TOS episodes
Hopefully putting this text below the link will make it work.
Be advised that the “remastered” episodes include some new digital effects.
But didn’t they do that a long time ago?
I remember the episodes I saw were the ones that were advertised as “Polaroid-remastered” or something like that.
Anyway, I remember “Polaroid” in the commercial. “Brought to you in Polaroid blah blah blah”.
Remastered Star Trek Episodes information
Trying one more time.
Esau,
Check the link I just posted. These are all-new digital effects, which include new exterior shots of the Enterprise and other starships.
Some quotes from the original (and to my mind, the only) Star Trek series:
“Mankind has no need for gods. We find The One quite adequate.”
“The idea of male and female are universal constants.”
“Love sometimes expresses itself in sacrifice.”
And, oh yes, my favorite profundity of all:
“No more blah, blah, blah!”
Star Trek stinks.
Go Firefly!
Star Trek stinks.
Go Firefly!
Star Trek stinks.
Go Firefly!
The reason why they changed the effects is simple: hd.
>Atheism is (in BobCatholic’s terminology) the Ultimate ‘Mirror’ Worship!
I believe that satanism is the ultimate mirror worship.
Satan is the ultimate mirror worshipper. They’re worshipping the one worshipping the mirror!