30 Days of Trek - Day Six

How many of you didn't even need to think about this one?

I actually did. Would I choose Khan? Would I think of the Borg Queen as the greatest villain that Star Trek ever produced? Well no. I went for another option and chose...Gul Dukat.

UH?

Yes, the evil, swaggering, slimy despot Cardassian overlord from Deep Space Nine is my selection for Greatest Villain. While Khan and the Borg Queen were pretty hardcore, Dukat managed to stick it out for seven whole seasons and then took Sisko with him when it all came to an end. This guy changed allegiance as fast as the wind changed direction as we saw in The Way of the Warrior when he switched loyalty to the Detepa Council. Not to mention his chopping and changing between Cardassia, the Dominion and the Pah-Wraiths either to save his own hide or further his own self-indulgent goals.

Marc Alaimo was superb from Emissary although I never expected him to be there at the end. While I did think about Weyoun as a great villain, he doesn't have a patch on the resourcefulness of Dukat who uses everyone and everything he comes into contact with through the series for his own aims. Even the arrival of an unwanted daughter is twisted to his advantage to try and win round Major Kira. 

Dealing him with such a multi-layered and faceted backstory certainly helps and in comparison to those aforementioned super-villains of Star Trek he certainly has a bit edge. He may not be immortal, a genetic superman nor always be in command of the biggest and strongest army but Dukat is so much more than that. Perhaps the greatest brilliance is that at times you actually cared what happened to him and some of the "tragedies" that befell him during the fourth through sixth seasons from losing his place in the Cardassian Empire, losing Terok Nor again to the death of Tora Ziyal, he certainly didn't have it cut and dried easily. 

To be fair Gul Dukat should probably get his own post at some point and we can cover all his issues in more details but for now, he's my choice. So, who's the first one to suggest Khan today?!

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30 Days of Trek - Day Five

Fifth day and stepping outside the TV and movie universe for a second, let's turn to the expanded universe.

Whether it's fan fiction in the 70's between the TV series and The Motion Picture or the continuing novelisation series which has taken in every aspect from Archer to Admiral Janeway and then some, there's been a story which has grabbed everyone.

I have a couple which stand out as being among my favourites and both are by renowned Star Trek author Peter David. The first, Imzadi, I read in my teens in a weekend. A brilliant story focusing on the Riker/Troi relationship in a (now) alternative future including a Captain Data on the Enterprise-F. Great story and I recommend if you've not then buy a copy off eBay. Imazadi II wasn't quite as good but still a nice story.

To my favourite Star Trek non-canon fiction of all-time though and it has to be David's super-novel Vendetta. Again a story I read in my teens and recently managed to find a copy for 99p in some second-hand book store/thrift shop place. There were a ton of other older novels but I HAD to have this one. At some point I'll re-read it because I'm hazy over some of the points but I just remember the Borg being handed their asses on a plate in some hugely overblown battles that showed what "could" have been if Star Trek had a ridiculously infinite budget and an imagination to match. 

Strange to think this was from a very different period in Star Trek's literary history when anything went and there was no real structure to what was being produced. Now everything post-Nemesis is structured into a timeline and adhering much more to the continuous arc themes which have become universally popular for storytelling. If you want standalone Star Trek that doesn't influence anything else then it's best to dabble in The Original Series stories...

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30 Days of Trek - Day Four

Perhaps a bit easier than yesterday but still one that might present a few possibilities.

True indeed because I started off with three - one fairly obvious, one along similar lines and then I finally settled on my third.

Just to clarify this can be something you saw and wanted to see again, an invention that dropped into the mists of never, a story that just went, well, nowhere.

I'll drop the ones I thought of into the comments later but my final choice is...the telekinetic powers possessed by the Vorta.

The what? Yes, the powers displayed by Eris (Molly Hagan) in The Jem'Hadar and then never seen, spoken or even whispered again. Now it could be that they were a technological addition produced purely for that encounter in the Deep Space Nine season two closer but it's just a little bit of a head-scratcher what the reason for dropping them might have been. Eris was supposed to have appeared in The Search (21 years old in September) but didn't so we might have found out if she was the only Vorta with the powers/genetic defect/something else.

Most likely it was a little too powerful a plot device to give to the Vorta and was immediately forgotten as they developed the servants of the Founders for the third year and beyond. Having them stronger than the Founders might not have been wise!

So what didn't Star Trek finish off? What didn't it explore after that initial encounter?

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30 Days of Trek - Day Three

Welcome to Day Three and a bit more of a challenging question. 

When I was looking at doing a 30 Day Challenge I reviewed ones that had been attempted before and realised they were all "Best" and "Greatest" but this just seemed a bit too nicey nice. So here's the first in a bit of variation!

Also a big thanks to a few people. I didn't know how this was going to turn out so to bobmat343, skrrll, sabreclass and art_mduley78 on Instagram, Warp Factor: Geek, Alexander and Marceline on Twitter and finally James Rye, Dan Foster, Nils Walter Khan and Matt Goddard directly on here for playing along - just 27 days to go and it's really appreciated that you're taking the time to answer. On another point if you're not following these guys, click their links and check them out. Twitter guys I have a question you're gonna love later that comes off the back of a rather extensive chat last night...

So to today's brainteaser. For clarity the definition of Visual Effect from Google is - In filmmaking, visual effects (abbreviated VFX) are the processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shot. The definition of Special Effect is an illusion created for films and television by props, camerawork, computer graphics, etc.

This gives us a lot of framework to play with and for me there are two really blatant examples which grate with me everytime I see them. The first is the horrid stop-motion puppetry of Sylvia and Korob from the end of Catspaw but I let that off since it was 1967 and these things were pretty basic. The second makes me want to chew my own fist and it's the Corvan Gilvos hand puppet from The Next Generation's New Ground. OK, you might say it's cute but once it's taken out of the case it's cringingly obvious Jonathan Frakes has his hand stuck up it's - and I'll stop there.

The Corvan Gilvos did show up again in The Nagus in Deep Space Nine and was still one of the worst creations ever. I suspect that you guys out there will have an equally memorable hand-in-mouth moment to share. Was it CGI? Puppet work? A bad live action/green screen mix? Now's your time to have a think...

Follow 30 Days of Trek and join in with the daily challenge across the SKoST social media platforms! I'll be back at 1pm TOMORROW with the fourth question right.

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30 Days of Trek - Day Two

We started slowly but here's a more challenging one for Day Two.

I was hooked from about the age of six mainly because my Dad was a fan and watched it every week. I just followed suit to begin with and loved the spaceships, the phaser fights and the action. It also might have been because my teacher at primary school was a fan and would remind me that it was Wednesday and Star Trek would be on at 6pm!

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30 Days of Trek - Day One

Here's Day One and an easy starter for ten...

It's the question we all ask and the one we all have an immediate answer to so for the first time on Some Kind of Star Trek I can state that my favourite episode of all time is...In the Pale Moonlight. 

The reason? Well, it's Star Trek's darkest, most bleak hour and the time we truly get to the see the very centre of the soul of Sisko. A deeply moving episode wherein a main character goes against everything we would usually expect them to live by.

If you want to take part, simply drop by one of our social media platforms and have your say or add your comment below!

You can keep track of the 30 Days of Trek Challenge by clicking over this link which will take you to all the related posts for the month!

The 30 Day Challenge!

BOOM!

Here we are in October and I fancied doing something a little different as we head into the final third of 2015 so, for the next 30 days I'll be posting a challenge question for readers to answer. It'll be available across the social media channels we have and I might even do a mini YouTube introduction if I'm in the mood!

I'll post the first question up HERE later today and let the conversations begin! For sanity's sake I've made today's nice and easy just to warm you up! Don't worry because there will be the usual mix of reviews, opinion and other ramblings too. Just for clarity you can expect...

MORE Starships Collection reviews

MORE Attack Wing waves

Thoughts on Star Trek Continues episode five (later...!)

Breaking Borg

Sacraments of Fire from David R George III

AND

that Larry Nemecek interview I need to finish editing!

AND

probably a ton of other stuff I haven't even written...

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