Ask the Mormon

[Chozon1]

I made the mistake of making my dragon scales out of foam core, with the belief that the interior foam was the plasticy kind of foam, and not the "I melt if you look at me wrong" styrofoam. -_- Painting it will be fun. I've found a spray varnish that--miraculously--doesn't melt it, so I'ma give it two or three coats of that before painting it. It's done well in tests, but if you hear someone wailing in anguish in a week or so, don't worry. It's just me. -_-

Have I asked you about Kings of War yet?

[ArcticFox]

I don't think so. (Or I've forgotten in my old age.)

Kings of War is pretty fun. We've come to the realization that Kings of War is what Warhammer Fantasy Battles would have been if it hadn't been shackled by having to maintain backward compatibility with existing army books. It was designed by the same designer who had worked on several editions of WHFB so we can see what he had in mind.

[Chozon1]

Cool stuff. ^_^ I know a lot of people went that direction when Age of Sigmar was unveiled, and I love Mantic's models. I'd given some thought to getting into Kings of War, but I figure I should actually start playing Warmachine first.

Is it less complex, or just play better, or what?

[Sstavix]

You like Games Workshop... what are your thoughts about the Weeky Humble Bundle?

[ArcticFox]

Cool stuff. ^_^ I know a lot of people went that direction when Age of Sigmar was unveiled, and I love Mantic's models. I'd given some thought to getting into Kings of War, but I figure I should actually start playing Warmachine first.

Is it less complex, or just play better, or what?

Both. WHFB's problem was that each new edition had to remain compatible with older army books. Eventually that led to a hot mess. KoW is what WHFB would have been without that.

You like Games Workshop... what are your thoughts about the Weeky Humble Bundle?

Some great stuff in there. Some of it is new to me though. I loved Dawn of War II.

[Chozon1]

Warhammer 30K?

[ArcticFox]

Love the story, not bothering with the game.

[Chozon1]

Exhaustion caused by steady work and being sick?

[ArcticFox]

Heh welcome to the last 3 weeks around here for everybody.

[Chozon1]

I'm good, actually. I was just heading back to the airport. >_>

The day the empire fell?

[ArcticFox]

20 January, 2009

[Deepfreeze32]

What is it you want to see out of this new Star Trek series?

Personally, I'm hoping that they see the pull of character-driven shows (such as Game of Thrones) and make this new show somewhat different in that they have a stronger commitment to getting better actors and writing better stories for them. Star Trek was (In my opinion) at it's peak when it humanized the characters (See: The Inner Light, Darmok, The Visitor, In The Pale Moonlight, The Siege of AR-558, and so on), and had them learn something or showcased their flaws.

My hope is that we see more of what made DS9's stories and characters great with the same sense of wonder and exploration that made the Original and Next Gen so awesome.


Bonus question: If you could write a single episode of Star Trek, what would it be about?

For me, I already know what I'd want to do. I'd want to make a Star Trek interpretation of themes explored in Solaris by Stanisław Lem. If you've not read it (Or seen the great Tarkovsky film or the ok American retread with George Clooney), I won't spoil it, but it's a bit like Darmok in that it ponders on communication. I would use this as a way to showcase that, for all our intelligence and technology, sometimes we are just not able to comprehend the mysteries of the universe. To swing it more positive, I would add some final dialog (Not in Solaris from my recollection) about how "That futility does not mean we should stay home and hide under the bed. By trying and failing, we are growing, and that growth is what defines us as sentient lifeforms." If there were an AI of some sort in the crew, I would probably involve them in this conversation too.

I dunno, I come up with story ideas all the time. Maybe I'm just off my rocker.

[ArcticFox]

I agree that the best episodes are about characters, and The Inner Light is my favorite of them all.

I don't know that I could limit myself to a story for a single episode. I guess what I have in mind would be an arc in which a character begins to lose their faith in the utopia that is the Federation, because for all of its bright, shiny Noblebright image, it has some very serious flaws, warts and contradictions. In this story arc, the character would learn to come to terms with it, since it's still better than living on Quo'nos or Romulus and dedicate himself/herself to doing whatever they can to fix the problems.

[Deepfreeze32]

Hmm. Sounds like it could be good, provided this isn't some out-of-character revelation for the character in question. For instance, it might not befit a character such as Picard. I could see that being used as (Assuming we drag ourselves into existing continuity) an impetus for someone either joining the Maquis, or strongly sympathizing with them. Heck, that would have made a great Ensign Ro story before she left TNG. Could even have added to her final dialog with Picard. Or better yet, could have been use to help make Chakotay an actually interesting character. lol.

Sorry, Chakotay and Kim are criminally underdeveloped in my opinion. I know more substantial information about frickin Neelix than I do either of those two, and as much I dislike Neelix, he at least had some decent stories from time to time. Chakotay's shining moment (In my opinion) was when he disagreed with Janeway over the Borg in Scorpion. Kim...where to begin with him. I think they had a chance to make him a fascinating character in Year of Hell (They could have had Kim come back from the temporal bubble, but he remembers everything and has PTSD because he could help save the ship or whatever), but they blew it. Voyager played things too safe.

/rant

I've had an idea in my head for some kind Philip K. Dick-inspired episodes, such as exploring the past of the mirror universe and finding a Man in the High Castle-esque history divergence, or an episode with a Barclay-esque guy who is paranoid about Starfleet intelligence spying on his every move (With the episode hinting that he may be right, in a sort of political shout out).



So we know what your favorite Star Trek episode is...what are your least favorite ones?

(I personally think Threshold takes the cake, but I'm curious what you think)

[Chozon1]

Launching into a political rant?