More sights of Ann Arbor

The plan for today was yet another away mission, roaming around the sights of Ann Arbor and enjoying the falling snow. But what's that the Andorian Sock Monkey has picked up on the main viewscreen? A Borg vessel? We must investigate!

Day 6 photos:

Snowflake!

Snowman window art, Arcade Barbers, in Ann Arbor

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Streets of Ann Arbor, and Michigan Theater

Dawn Treader Books, Ann Arbor

Literary luminaries on this mural by Richard Wolk, painted 28 years ago, near the corner of
East Liberty & South State Streets. With Woody Allen, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Hese (Hermann Hesse),
Franz Kafka and Anais Nin. It was recently restored by the original artist.

Ann Arbor's beautiful State Theatre

A good day's haul of goodies.
Reed and I unwittingly started a feeding frenzy with reduced-price Hallmark "Star Trek" ornaments!

Star Trek Year Four comics finale - and Borg Spotlight

I felt so greedy! Two IDW Star Trek comics yesterday! I picked up my copies of the final issue of the first "TOS Year Four" mini-series, and "Alien Spotlight: The Borg", in the CBD and devoured them in the 50-min. train ride home. I thoroughly enjoyed both issues!

Visually, "Year Four" #6 reminded me very much of the type of TV SF stories being told in the 60s but, with US child labour laws, it would have been an impossible script to film as live action. Star Trek comics can really excel when achieving things the original show couldn't have ever managed, SPFX makeup budget- or time-wise. A great TAS cameo appearance - and two Andorians!

"The Borg" was also very enjoyable and thought-provoking. For Admiral Janeway and "Voyager" fans, another good guest appearance! And, as promised, another Andorian cameo.

I haven't had such an absorbing Trek comics ride home in a looooong time. Thanks IDW!

Frantic times, ho ho ho *

I was worried I hadn't posted this week but since everyone else is probably frantically doing last-minute Christmas things, too, I'll assume no one's looking for new blogs.

In case I don't get back to this until the New Year, Merry Christmas everyone!

I just finished reading the new "Star Trek: The Next Generation" novel, "Before Dishonor" by Peter David. It's a sequel to "Vendetta", which was written many years ago, and allows the author to flex his authorial muscle over the Borg and some key characters from "Star Trek: Voyager", a show Peter David was often very critical about.

I really enjoyed the fast pace of this book; it was only my busy end-of-year work commitments that kept me reading it in more isolated, one-hour chunks - otherwise this was easily the kind of ST novel to which I used to lose an entire weekend. (I recall, with great affection, "The Entropy Effect", "Final Frontier", "Metamorphosis", "Vendetta", "Sarek" and "Stone and Anvil"!)

I've also been updating my web page which celebrates the recent IDW "Alien Spotlight" comic, "Andorians: The Old Ways".

Sunday's magic number: 90.1 - not too bad, especially considering all the yummy party foods on offer this week. Wish me luck with Tuesday's pork crackling.

* Who cares if it's supposedly politically incorrect!

Runepp of Rasiinia: going, going, gone!

John Paul Lona's Rasiinian costume, from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", was up for sale on eBay last week. The guys at "It's a Wrap!" weren't able to identify the costume, so it was just listed as a DS9 Promenade alien costume.



John was the winner of Playmates' "Design-an-Alien" contest, back in the day when that company held the action figures licence. For his prize, John got to be an extra on DS9 ("The Muse") wearing the alien mask and - thanks to the costume guys - the rest of the outfit, which they got him to complete as new sketches. And Ambassador Runepp of Rasiinia was born.

I did send John an email to the only old address I had, but I don't know if he actually put in a bid. The rubber pieces on the costume are perishing badly, and it wasn't being sold with the Rasiinian mask, which is the original part of the design with which he won the contest. The costume sold for $US 177.50. I was going to place a bid of $200, so I probably would have won, but I was worried I'd get stuck by Aussie Customs problems, knowingly importing perishing rubber.

The whole "Design-an-Alien" story is here on my Oocities site.

Thanks for the heads-up on the auction, Jörg.

And hey! I just found out that the Borg had once encountered and assimilated some Rasiinians. An image of one such Borg drone appeared during one of Seven of Nine's guilt-induced hallucinations in "Infinite Regress", an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager"!

Andorians old and new - and Spider-man, too

I'm still attempting to do some housework, but I keep finding things with which to play "Show and Tell".

I recently discovered that "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" made its own curious guest appearance in a 1980 issue of Amazing Spider-Man #203. Spider-Man's alter-ego, Peter Parker, and his friends were excited about going to see the premiere of ST:TMP (itself a Marvel cross-promotion at the time, since Marvel was doing the tie-in comic based on ST:TMP). As soon as the Klingon ships began to fire torpedoes, the supervillain du jour sends an energy blast right through the movie screen...

"Amazing Spider-Man" #203, 1980

Cool, eh?

I regularly get to add new Andorians to my Star Trek Rogues' Gallery of Andorians pages, but if they are in novels, there aren't usually any new portraits to share. A few months ago, a Japanese-influenced graphic novel anthology, Star Trek: The Manga: Shinsei Shinsei (2006), included an Andorian (and other aliens), who'd been seemingly assimilated by proto Borg (below, left). The story is "Side Effects" by Chris Dows, illustrated by Makoto Nakatsuka.



An earlier comic - a parody this time by Peter David & Richard Howell and illustrated by John Heebink & Jim Mooney - is Soulsearchers and Company (1995), issue #15. I recently ordered this (previously unknown) title from the amazing online comic seller, Mile High Comics. In "To Boldly Search", David & Howell's regulars end up on a studio set of the fictitious Cosmic Convoy: Venturer, a starship very like the USS Voyager. Many of the actors resemble "Voyager" characters; the captain looks like Kate Mulgrew (as Janeway), but is called Genevieve (as in Bujold). One actress (above, right), whose hair and costume make her resemble Kes the Ocampa, is wearing Andorian antennae.

There's also a new Andorian due in IDW Publishing's Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #2 (2007). Schwin is an Andorian archeologist colleague of Captain Picard's. I can't wait to preview him here, so please watch this space...

Meanwhile, back to the housework and filing tasks...