A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 13 (11/26 - 11/30)

This week was simply meant to round out November Sci-Fi Month! I tried to get in some last minute nods and stay comfortable while doing it. Luckily towards the end of the week I was able to wear my ultimate field trip shirt! I'm not running from zombies or anything, but there was the chance that I might not make it back.

Week 13: 11/26 - 11/30

Monday, November 26, 2018
We've fallen off the rails a bit with our Keto-ing. Without an oven it gets a bit rough. So this was my way to say, "Let's start over!" On top of that, it's super heroes. #scifimonth TeePublic.com

Tuesday, November 27, 2018
There was no rhyme or reason for this shirt other than I felt like wearing it. It matches the Ant-Man shirt I got from Loot Crate. I tried to do couples shirts with my husband, but that never works out. Either way, more Sci-Fi with some superhero high-tech craziness and girl power!

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
It's been cold in my classroom. Well, not mine specifically, but the other people on my floor in The Tower. So I kind of wore this shirt to be silly for them. The really funny thing is that my one coworker actually asked to borrow my kettle and some tea! Totally made my day. Then, of course, I'm still trying to give some love to the Sci-Fi month theme. Woot Shirt!

Thursday, November 29, 2018
Another shirt I just felt like wearing for whatever reason. Kind of trying to wrap up my Sci-Fi month with some final nods to Sci-Fi. Star Wars and Retro PacMan. I wanted my daughter to wear her's with me, but it just wasn't in the stars. Get it... STAR Wars... in the STARS. yuckyuckyuck.  TeePublic.com (Link not located.)

Friday, November 30, 2018
Oh to be a Red Shirt. This is one of my favorite shirts to wear on field trips. We try to wear our school colors or school apparel so that we can be recognized and stay together better. But, well... Red Shirts don't always make it back. I'm savvy enough to make it so.... so back I mean. I've had this shirt for quite awhile, so I'm not sure where I got it from. They're everywhere though and if you like it you probably already own it.

Loot Crate Unboxing - September 2014: GALACTIC

Back in July, I was lured in by the geeky-something-shiny of Loot Crate. So many neat little special items to call my very own for a set price every month. I'm not usually turned on by subscription boxes. I've done food ones in the past like Graze (UK...now in the US) and Nature Box (US). Yet, one of the parts of my Fitness Goals says that I am allowed to reward myself big at certain milestones. And with that. . . I signed up for Loot Crate.

Loot Crate is a monthly box of Geek & Gamer gear. Subscriptions vary from one month to six months. I currently have the sixth month recurring subscription.

Each month is a special theme. So when I signed up it was VILLAINS! August's crate was HEROES! There was a glow-in-the-dark exclusive Funko Pop bobble-head Groot in this one. (I keep it at school and my kids LOVE it!) While these two crates were nice, they weren't really wowing me like what I've seen in past crates. Yet, one of the options that Loot Crate has is to sometimes buy leftover Loot Crates from previous months. I bought the June crate: TRANSFORM. It had some neat things in it.

Each crate has some nice pieces. The VILLAINS crate was the most-underwhelming so far, but the September crate even impressed my hard-to-impress husband who does not like that I signed up for Loot Crate. September's Loot Crate theme is: GALACTIC! That is right up my alley. They've been tempting us with bits and pieces for the last month. So I already knew there would be Star Trek, Star Wars, and Firefly, as well as some other galactic type stuff.

It arrived yesterday and I felt compelled to do my first unboxing EVER! Not a video, but pictures. So. . . beyond this point, let me know what you thought of the unboxing.

LOOT CRATE SEPTEMBER: GALACTIC

 

LET THE AWESOME BEGIN!  

Below you will see what came in the box, as well as inside pictures of the box itself. They theme out the insides of the boxes, as well. 

 

We all know Tribbles are trouble, and now you have one of your very own. It is a plush Tribble with directions on the package for how to care for your Tribble, such as keeping them away from Klingons.  Light and fluffy, but it did shed a little bit when I took it out. This is a Loot Crate exclusive.

This box was a Mystery Mini. It could have been one of many different items. When I opened mine, I had gotten Captain Mal from Firefly. This is a Loot Crate Exclusive and everyone, according to the Loot Crate magazine, received a Captain Mal.

Each Loot Crate includes a pin for the theme of the crate. It is picture below with some awesome Pop Rocks Green Apple candy. On the right is a Star Wars Exclusive Retro Arcade Magnet. 

An Alien collectable figure was also included. Just like in previous boxes, they randomly put a figure into the box. I lucked out and got the Alien. They also had available Ripley, Kane, Dallas, and Ash.

It took me a moment to realize this was Firefly Bank Robbery Money, which can be used as currency in the Firefly universe. So now when I need to seek passage on a ship outta this crazy place, I have the creds to do so.

 And finally, snuggled away at the bottom of the box, was this perfect 9 x 27 poster of Han Solo. ::swoon::

The crate also game with a HALO code for digital loot and, as always, the Loot Crate magazine. The magazine has neat information and also explains all of your materials. So if you didn't know or understand why something was in your box, you could find out. This month's magazine has a little Behind-the-Scenes of Loot Crate's Short - The Verse.

And, finally. . . the empty box. The perfect playground for your new loot!  

If you don't want to miss out on this level of awesome in your life, make sure you go and sign up for Loot Crate.

Star Trek Insignia Perler Craft

I've been dabbling in crafts, especially now that I have a daughter at home who is also into crafts. One of the crafts we love to do, because it teaches my daughter shapes and dexterity++, are perler beads. I used to do these as a kid all the time!

My first perler creation was a turtle using a turtle shaped perler board, but I wanted to branch out and do some others. As I prepared to send my first International Geek Girl Pen Pal a letter, I wanted to send along something special. So I looked up a pattern for a Star Trek Insignia and created one on my perler board. Here are the pictures and the directions.

Materials

• Black Beans = 100
• Gray Beads = 60
• Clear Beads = 118
• Yellow Beads = 43
• Cheddar = 29
• 5-3/4 x 5-3/4 inch Perler Board

Template

In-Process

Final

14 Geekolutions for 2014

My Geekolutions for 2014 in all their glory! Some seem a little like goals, but I'm resolving to do these things, so yeah. I tried to be reasonable about the whole thing and there's no hard and fast "do or die" mentality about them. I do what I can. Besides, no one knows what the future holds for me.

1. Watch all of the Original Star Trek.

2. Watch all of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

3. Participate in 3 5K walks (ex: Dirty Girl Mud Run, Turkey Trot, Famous Racing Sausages).

4. Lose 50lbs (min.) using my geek fitness goals.

5. Attend at least 2 Cons. I'm hoping to attend GenCon, Chicago's Wizard Con, and Gameapalooza. I so badly want to hit up some others, but. . . well. . . I'm new to this whole thing and. . . broke.

6. Keep my geek fitness goals for at least six months. (That's a reasonable minimum.)

7. Read 30 books, half of which should be from my Augmenting Geekology List.

8. Organize my closet (give a home to all my geek shirts).

9. Play 5 video games through completely.

10. Play all of my tabletop games at least once this year.

11. Go to Door county (tour lighthouses or learn some paranormal history or something).

12. Complete at least 50 geocaches.

13. Go out of state at least twice. Preferably to new places I've not visited before. This could be a ghost hunt or a vacation or even a Con.

14. Eat at a celebrity chef restaurant (Chicago is really full of 'em). We've been to Graham Elliot's and Gordon Ramsay (when we were overseas). I'd love to, on our 10-year-Anniversary this year, to do a tasting weekend. This totally feeds my food geek.

Star Trek Twerk

My first week of school is over and I have been catching up on some of the moments I might have potentially missed. One of which is the Star Trek/Miley Cyrus Twerking video and I just had to share it. I am an outspoken opponent of the "awesomeness of twerking." I think it is the stupidest thing to ever grace the dance world, or world in general. To have it entered into the Oxford Dictionary Online is even more appalling to me, but it added a bunch of stuff I think it's useless.

The bottom line is that it's lewd, it's crude and it's no Madonna and Britney Spears kissing, which Miley Cyrus hailed as her most memorable and most shocking MTV moment. Madonna and Britney had shock value, but it was shock value for progressive rights of hetero- and homosexuals. Miley made a progressive stance on. . . humping foam objects and letting it all hang out? ::shakeshead::

So have a laugh and enjoy the crew of the Star Trek Enterprise reacting this is visual assault:

WARNING! IF YOU HATED SEEING HER THE FIRST TIME, TURN AWAY AND PROBABLY DON'T WATCH THIS! IF YOU WANT TO RELIVE THE PAIN, PLEASE CONTINUE WATCHING!

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 14: Balance of Terror

Episode 14 - Balance of Terror

•  Is. . . is this a wedding?
• Ok... thanks Kirk for setting up that something is about to happen during this gathering.
• McCoy is all happy leaning against the wall. . . where's Spock? Oh.. on the Bridge avoiding feelings.
• Kirk and Janice mirroring the two people getting married. Awe... adorable!
• OH NO!!! CRISIS!!! Better make this a quick honeymoon!
• Romulus and Remus! ROMULANS!!! AWESOME!
• Momentary pausing of the episode reveals Kirk's heavily laid eyeshadow!
• Romulan Empire and the Earth Zone. The Neutral Zone in-between. Interesting Map. (Earth Outpost Sector Z-6 and the Romulan Star Empire, below which says Romulous and Romii. . . Remus.)

• Earth Romulan Conflict over a century ago. Fought with primitive atomic weapons, no quarter and no captains and no ship-to-ship visual communication. We've never seen each other.
• Entering the Neutral Zone means WAR!
• Painted like a giant bird of prey!
• The Enterprise is Expendable if issues arise.
  
• WOAH!!! You can marry your superior officer? That's crazy! 
• Revealed: She's a MAN BABY! (He tells her to "get back to work buddy.")
• They've taken out four of our bases! 
• No Room for Bigotry on the Bridge! ("Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the bridge."- Kirk to Stiles, after he implies that Spock could be a Romulan spy)
• Plasma torpedoes?
• Ooooo cloaking systems!
• Toga like uniforms, but with shorts. Interesting
• Weaponry is superior to ours. We are totally screwed.
• Kirk has another captain who thinks like him. Oh this could lead to trouble! How impressive is Kirk that an arrogant Romulan is taking steps towards respecting his ability to maneuver and being an awesome captain!
• Spock: Circuit Mechanic
• Ship crumbles with dust? (Every time the Romulan ship is hit by the phasers, the walls crumble. If they're so superior, why is their ship crumbling? Note for the future: Please do not use plaster and dry wall on your ships.)
• "I wish I were on a long sea voyage somewhere. Not too much deck tennis, no frantic dancing. And no responsibility." - Kirk to McCoy, on the Romulan incursion.  (He just wants to go on a cruise with no crazy dancing, what more can a man ask for!!)
• McCoy's got the answers! "In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three million earth-type planets...and in all the universe, three million million galaxies like this one. And in all of that, and perhaps more, only one of each of us. Don't destroy the one named Kirk."
• Spock, was hitting that button to accidentally initiate a signal to the Romulans planned?
• 23 causalities? from radiation? Oh, not deaths. . .there was only 1 death.
• SCOTTY!!! Not Mr. Scott. SCOTTY!
• And the groom is dead! Do we know this earlier than now because of how jaded we are? 
• People need to know there's a reason. For his death? ("It never makes any sense. We both have to know that there was a reason.")
• And Kirk is headin' back to The Bridge!

MST3K Connections?  Sadly, not a one, but there was an interesting connection to the history of Star Trek. Mark Lenard, who plays the Romulan Commander, ends up being Sarek, Spock's daddy. That's pretty nifty. How did I find this out? Husband. The fun part of all this, is that he is the Virgil to my Dante, the Gandalf to my Bilbo, the Al to my Sam. . . without him, I wouldn't be having as much fun as I have been throughout this whole journey. Once again, drawing on the idea of a nerd or a geek being a SOCIAL thing. We need to talk and bounce our references off each other. To philosophize or riff. . . else it's just all missing that little something extra special that makes us feel like we belong.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 13: The Conscience of the King

Episode 13 - The Conscience of the King

• As I ended the last episode with a play title/quote from Shakespeare, so we start with a Shakespearean play!
• Was Kirk just trying to Riff Macbeth?
• Woah.... Macbeth is The Executioner!
• Famine eradication Stardate 2817.6 by Dr. Leighton on Planet Q.
• Oh wait, he really wanted to just persuade Kirk to trap Kodos! 
• OH!!! Revenge and vindication for Kodos taking half his face. Come on, Kirk, that's good enough.
• Slaughtered 50% of population. Burned body. No positive identification. What? No, DNA evidence? It's THE FUTURE!
• Galactic Cultural Exchange Program.
• What? No overlapping or aging programs available? Oh future. . .
• Lounge Theme Song Version.
• Kirk. . . flirtatious smooth-talker.
• Spock is baffled by Kirk's confidence about knowing when women are coming aboard the ship. teehee.
• The men would be devastated to miss your performance and presence. Forget the women.
• Kirk is very irritated with Spock offering logical responses to the distance off course they are going.
• Oh McCoy, you and your philosophical metaphors. 
• Spock does not drink, huffs at McCoy's preference.
• Wow! There is massive amounts of sexual suggestion in this episode. Oh goodness... where is Yeoman Janice? Oh no!
  
• Kodos had his own theories of Eugenics.
• Hey Lt. Riley! Not going to go crazy on us are you?  Poor guy, being demoted. 
• More Uhura singing.... Spock save us! 
• Tarsus IV.
• Poison and he immediately needs a drink of milk. . . Coincidence? Just a need to quickly to move the plot along!
  
• The entire crew is concerned about Lt. Riley. Oh... wait... probably for themselves and poison slinking around in milk.
• Stop meddling in my private affairs, so sayeth Captain Kirk. 
• Spock is a mathematician. 2+2=4.
• Logic is not enough. . . I must feel my way. . . I must be absolutely sure.
• Phaser on overload becomes a bomb. Pretty cool.
• The Ship has it's own theater!
• We always suspected it was her! 
• As bright as a blade before it is stained with blood (referenced the beginning).
• Oh theater people... they're so dramatic.

What I liked about this episode is, once again, the human rights aspect of the episode. I think of so many of the dictators in the world today, or ones that have passed out of this world in the last twenty years, and how they chose to rationalize their behavior. I think the most jarring and needed comparison are some of the warlords in Africa and the kinds of things that are going on. I couldn't help but think of the leaders who lead their people to commit mass genocide in Rwanda based off of a label.

There are some MST3K connections that are new and exciting!

• Director Gerd Oswald directed the film used in Episode 815: H.A.R.M.
• Barbara Anderson (Lenore Karidian) was Carla Stanley Episode K13: SST Death Flight.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 12: The Menagerie, Part 2

Episode 12 - The Menagerie, Part 2

•  OMG This really did become a season finale. . . in scope of waiting to watch Part 2, that is. Shame on me and my subconscious modern need to wait long periods of time between two part episodes!
• Last Time. . . on Star Trek!
• WHY SPOCK, WHY?!?!?!
• Is that eyeshadow on Spock?
• Well, we already have the death penalty upon us, might as well keep watching.
• What? No HD in the future? You can really see the restoration, though. 
• "IT'S A TRAP!"
• Collections of specimens.
• It's a Menagerie!!! A Cage!!! Both episode titles... DONE!
• No human can resist the Orion Slave Girl Vina! 
• Awe man. . . everyone is against Spock! He didn't even stand a chance. (GUILTY!!)
• Flagrant emotionalism. . . Spock feels insulted.
• All's well that ends well. 
• No Sulu or Janice.... 

I don't have much to say about this episode, other than the interest I have in the background of its creation and how they used all the stock footage from the failed pilot to help out the intense filming schedule of shows at that time. I love the t-shirt I found, though. I almost would order it if I had expendable income for it. How cool is that?

But in addition to finding that shirt, I found one for "Mirror, Mirror." Funny thing. . . I knew about the whole "bizarro" world and all that stuff, but I have never seen the episode. I have seen parodies and heard the story (Sealab 2021 anyone?), but then on The Big Bang Theory (Season 3: Episode 1 - "The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation"), where Sheldon comes home from his Magnetic North Pole expedition to test his theories, he shows up with a Bizarro Spock "beard." I made the connection after having seen the bottle of wine for "Mirror, Mirror" and seeing the t-shirt on the website. I feel super special for knowing, because knowing is half the battle! Woots!

Um... as a digression... the label for the picture I have of Sheldon calls his "beard" a goatee. I don't consider it a goatee. So I asked my husband, who has a beard, what is what he has called? We are not experts on male facial hair. What Sheldon has is not a goatee. A goatee does not include a mustache. We thought it was a Short Boxed Beard, but apparently he needs sideburns. We then thought it was a Van Dyke Beard, but those need a separation between the goatee and the mustache (ala Johnny Depp in 2011 or Christian Bale in 2010). Essentially what we discovered is that he just has a mustache with a goatee, known as a Circle Beard. Oh the things we'll talk about. Funny thing is, we aren't even board. We just really needed to know. 

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 11: The Menagerie, Part 1

Episode 11 - The Menagerie, Part 1

• Shirts look more yellow and less puke. Awesome.
• Something happened to Pike?!?!?! This isn't good!
• Kirk and Pike met when he was promoted to Fleet Captain. (Future reference, Pike is in the J.J. Abrams new Star Trek movies as being a little bit more than just a meeting.)
• Spock has served with Pike for 11 years, 4 months, 5 days.
• Pike Saved kids! He's a hero! (duh.)
• THE WHEEL CHAIR!!! OMG CLASSIC!!! (South Park/Futurama) 

• Christopher Pike would be brilliant at ghost hunting (1 beep for yes, 2 beeps for no).

• It's stuck on No, except for Spock.
• Oh, wait, no, it is still stuck on No. That previous yes was an anomaly.
• It's a five year mission? That's kinda crazy. I guess it's that whole "tour of duty kind of thing."
• Kirk and Commander reviewing if Spock is. . . out of line.
• Oh Spock. . . no . . .betrayal? What are you up to?
• Pike's chair can move based on brainwaves and he can beep yes and no, but that's all... you would have thought a bit more technology would have evolved by then. Such as red and green lights instead of multiple beeps.
• Spock is getting loose with his vulcan neck pinch.
  
• Pike sits, lonely, beeping no, no. Wait... or is that yes, yes.
• Vulcans are incapable of lying. But what about Spock's human side?
• Talos IV: No crew for any reason can go there and no one knows why!
•  Logic and Madness walk a thin line, Spock.
• McCoy cannot be right, because he is not the Logical Spock.
• OH CRAP!!! Mutiny Spock? Oh geez.... 
• "Arrest me." You have baffled McCoy in a moment he could have relished. Was that a slight you designed by making sure he was back on board?
• I'd like to take a moment and say Mr. Scott's haircut is HORRENDOUS!
  
• A COURT MARTIAL! 
• Mendez: "Whatever he's up to, he's planned it well."
• Spock: "This is 13 years ago." So it has been 2 years since Spock served with Pike and, potentially, 2 years since starting to serve with Kirk.
• Those are some incredibly detailed tapes (oh, Kirk agrees!).
• Class M - Oxygen Atmosphere
• (Now we're into The Cage footage.)
• They are sending a transmission of the episode! That... is... awesome!
• To be continued NEXT WEEK!!! (oh thank goodness classic TV is reliable and does what it promises. Additionally, this was NOT a season finale... I don't have to wait all summer to find out what Spock is up to. I think that would have incited the loss of fans back then. They didn't put up with your crazy games.)
• Wait. . . where's Sulu?

I am very intrigued with this episode. It has some great history to it with tons of interesting tidbits. Everything from the history behind the pilot episode, to how Roddenberry came up with the idea for the creation of this episode, to the oft-parodied elements. Even the pieces of information about Vulcan's and Spock's past are notable fodder. Even these formal uniforms are looking really well done and the show is really starting to round out into a consistent groove. I am really quite excited to watch Part II.

As for MST3K connections, there are the same The Cage references, but some new ones with new information.

• John Hoyt (Dr. Phillip Boyce) appears in Episode 208: The Lost Continent as Rostov.
• Peter Duryea (Lieutenant José Tyler) appeared in Episode 204: Catalina Caper. 
• CHANGE: Bob Johnson (voice of Transporter Chief Pitcairon instead of the voice of Talosian #1) was the narrator, among other voices, in Episode 113: The Black Scorpion.
• Adam Roarke (Chief Petty Officer Garrison) was Harris in Episode 104: Women of the Prehistoric Planet.
• Tom Lupo (Security Guard) from Episode K19: Hanger 18 who was a stunt coordinator for the movie.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 10: The Corbomite Maneuver

Episode 10 - The Corbomite Maneuver 

Just to jog your memory about this episode. . .

• Spinning Rubik's Cube of Color (We've never been out this far before).
• Lt. Bailey tries Spock's Patience
• Oooo... Captain Kirk working out. Really amping up the sex-appeal.
• Spock recommends Lt. Bailey have his adrenaline gland removed, because it is hindering his work performance.
• Woah! First whole-ship rockin'! First Phaser Fire.
• OMG those ear things are bothering me! 
• Constantly questioning Spock gives Kirk emotional security. (A personal connection.)
• So when McCoy is bored, he comes and hangs out on the Bridge? 
• OH! Lt. Bailey was promoted too quickly. Wants to be too much like a young Kirk. 
• Success rate 94%. . . Let's try for 100%.
• Wait... wait... I thought pounds didn't matter.
• Hey, hey, the gang's all here! I think this might be a first for everyone being together in an episode.
• McCoy is just as smug as Kirk about things. Then again, so is Spock... Maybe Smugness is par for the Bridge. . . but not the women on the Bridge.
• FASCINATING!
• Screen can zoom out or in on objects. That is kind of cool.
• United Earth Ship - Enterprise
•  Commander Balok of the Fesarius. A flagship of the "First Federation".
• OH! It was a Marker Bouy.
• Huh. . . what do you do when you encounter others who do not fall under the FFF? If they are beyond the understanding of what their doing.
• Shirts are looking a little more yellow, but still kind of a puke-yellow.
• Chess vs. Poker
• McCoy and Kirk love Poker. ha!
• Women. . . serving coffee when you don't realize you need it.
• Omg. . . watching people try to shake themselves is HILARIOUS!!! Effective, but McCoy wins the prize for Best Shake. (Even though, Spock looked a little masturbatory at one point.)
• THE DUMMY looking Alien REALLY IS A DUMMY!  
• TRANYA!!! 
  
• It was a test? A test for Friendship? huh. I don't think it works like that.
• But at least they found a place for Bailey.

Just a cool fact that learned. The little alien guy is Ron Howard's brother, Clint Howard, who was only 7 at Futurama, in the episode that draws directly on Star Trek, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." In Venture Bros., episode "Assisted Suicide," Henchman No. 21 pours a drink for himself and Dr. Mrs the Monarch, calling it tranya. She responds with "I hope you relish it as much as I" before mentioning how creeped out she was by Ron Howard's little brother. Awesome!
the time. Kind of a cool bit of info. Also, this episode has ties to both Futurama and Venture Bros. The dummy alien is in an end still for

Geeking on a Field Trip

I had been volunteered by my coworkers to be one of the sixth grade representatives for the end of year Honors Level All-Stars field trip to the YMCA. I can't complain really, considering I get to go on my first field trip as an official teacher AND leave the school for the afternoon. When I woke up that morning, I decided to wear my Red Star Trek T-shirt.

First of all, I thought it would be good to wear red on the field trip. Why? Because our school colors are red, white, and black and I didn't really want to wear my school shirt (which is not as cool as a red Star Trek shirt). Plus, I was like "ooo... I'm leaving the primary vessel for new territory to explore and report back!" Since it was also my first year as a teacher, I thought the status of "red shirt" would be kind of funny, as well.

Then Ray decided to tell me that the red shirt becomes an honorary color and yellow gets bumped down later on in the series/films. So technically, by wearing red I was distinguishing myself as one of the superior officers on the trip! Yeah, that was an awesome thing to hear.

One of my students then asked me about the red shirt and we swapped geek stories about red shirts and Star Trek, because my student ended up being a trekkie.The sad thing was, though, I was in the pool area and it was a million degrees and that shirt was definitely not for such extremely hot temperatures. I thought I was going to go back to school with sweat stains showing up everywhere! Luckily I survived, unlike other Red Shirts. Hurray! The geek lives to geek another day!

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 9: Dagger of the Mind

Episode 9 - Dagger of the Mind

• Tantalus Penal Colony
• Red shirts are such N00Bs. You need the Captain to help transfer cargo? Strike 1!
• Didn't check the cargo and a crazy guy climbed out? Strike 2!
• What kind of research are you doing on this Tantalus Penal Colony?
• They're not cage colonies. . . they're resort colonies. 
• Research = Violent Offender
• One red shirt screws up. . . all red shirts will suffer!
• "Where there is no emotion, there is no motive for violence."
• Why isn't the Bridge more secure? Every violent schmuck of an offender gets on the Bridge.
• Spock is creeping over with a neck-pinch. I saw him!
• NO KIRK!!! NEVER GLANCE AT THE GUY OVER THE SHOULDER!! That's a rookie mistake.
• These ID tapes are brilliant! So much helpful information.
• Experimental colony for the mentally unstable. 
• For goodness sake, woman, I remember! Let's keep this professional. The Christmas Party was a long time ago.
• Surprise elevator! Forcing uncomfortable moments to become more uncomfortable.
• Women don't need titles. We'll stroke your male egos with those titles, since anything else would be inappropriate.
• So they cannot remember things and if they do, they will experience the most severe pain ever! It seems to be more of a hypnosis strategy that some new research.
• Ancient Vulcan technique! YES! THERE IT IS!
  
• Requires I make pressure changes to your nerves and change blood flow? Woah, that's crazy! 
• It's NOT hypnosis, btw. . . this Vulcan Mind Meld!
• Minds sharing the same thoughts, but this isn't how I remember seeing the Mind Meld in later versions. 
• Wow. . . chick doctors are defensive for all the wrong reasons.
• Reveals that he erases memories and puts his own thoughts there.
• "Yes Captain, I know my profession."
• No reputable organization would have women wear such incredibly short skirts and hope to have a positive work environment.
• Christmas Parties, even in the future. Good to know!
• 2 Phaser Forms. Gun and Remote Control.
• He died alone, with only silence. No one was there to help him. He died of loneliness.
• Moody Kirk. Contemplative Kirk.

There is only one person to make an MST3K connection and not only were his parts minor in the episode, but the roles he played in the two films used on MST3K are minor as well. A connection nonetheless.

Lou Elias (Inmate Guard) was in Episode 319: War of the Colossal Beast as a soldier. He was also in Episode 509: The Girl in Lover's Lane.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Episode 8: Miri

Episode 8 - Miri

• The planet is referred to as a Replica of Earth.
• Approximately 1960
• Janice on the landing party? 
• Red shirt wandered off. 
• ZOMBIES!!! (then again, we said zombies when the doors opened and sure enough, zombies. Oh how common zombies are. . .)
• Oh wait. . . not zombies? Intelligent zombies? Ok. We'll have to find out. Assuming they're not zombies.
• Man, all the red shirts wandered off. Huh. They all came running, though. That's cool.
• Grown Ups don't help? Bummer. (Grups.)
• Kirk, she's only a child! Save your flava for Yeoman Janice.
• More Vulcan talk about green blood being better than red blood. Blah, blah, blah.
• Glandular. . . post-pubescent? Like puberty wasn't hard enough. Thanks disease.
• What a motley crew of kids!
• I swear it was set to phaser!
• Death by "nananaanaanaaa."
  
• It's like a scene out of Peter Pan. Miri is tinker bell and goes and convinces the Lost Boys that Wendy is a bird and should be killed. Tink likes Peter (Kirk) and she thinks Wendy (Janice) and Peter love each other. Now the Lost Boys are going to kill the Wendy-bird. 
• We can't do anything without computers! I only trust them.
• Teachers only say "study, study, study." 
• Another shirt torn up!
• "I never get involved with older women."

A conversation about Yeoman Janice's hair and how long we thought it took for Janice Lee Whitney to have her hair done.  I immediately said it was a wig. It looked too perfect not to be. Sure enough, we learned it was a Max Factor wig. I also learned about the trouble she suffered on the show with the accusations of sexual assault she filed against some higher ups on the show. This was horrific to learn. Sadly, despite what executives say, they clearly saw Whitney as an issue or liability and found a "legitimate" way to take her out of the show. First, they wanted Kirk to have more romances with more women. He's not a one-woman kinda captain. Next, they already had two blondes and then Nichelle, so they opted to get rid of one of the blondes. Whitney was not the blonde engaged to the boss, so she had to be the one to go. Thanks to good ole McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Whitney found her way back into the loving arms of Star Trek and it's fans. At least things turned around for her and her hair.


And while I looked for that information, I stumbled upon an article called "10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Star Trek." And sure enough, I probably didn't know them. The #1 thing was that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a fan of the progressive views of the show. According to this article, he told Nichelle Nichols, “Don’t you understand? When you are there they see you as you should be seen, as an equal.” That is AMAZING! It further reminds me of something my boss said to me during my first-year-review and that was that she LOVES that I expose my kids to things like MST3K, Star Trek, and Bradbury, because tapping into a part of our generation. . . a part of our youth. . . that is potentially lost on these kids. They aren't being exposed to these things. Imagine teaching equality using Star Trek and being able to reference this kind of history! What an intriguing idea for my future unit on Human Rights. Human Rights taught through Star Trek! I'm spinning gold here! Wow! The progressive status of Star Trek has been established in the cultural history of America. (For more information, here is an interesting article that can lead you to even more information and so forth and so on.)

Who cares if it's Photoshopped. . . it was meant to be!