OT: Sci-fi (was RE: Ultra-portable terminals)

[Bill Campbell]

On Wed, Aug 02, 2006, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
>On Thu, Jul 27, 2006 at 08:50:13PM -0400, Fairlight wrote:
>> Obviously titled by someone that didn't give thought to the fact that
>> Roddenberry was actually the man with the ideas, Shatner was just the actor
>> that brought one role to life.
>
>Go pull the Q ratings on Shatner and Roddebnerry.  I dare you.  :-)
>
>>                                I'm not a huge Roddenberry loyalist like
>> some.  Actually, I'm surprised he was never maliciously accused of being a
>> Communist, given his views on some things.  But the man deserves the credit
>> he's due for creativity and vision.  I like Shatner more than a lot of
>> people seem to, but damn, people need to get their priorities straight when
>> crediting people.
>
>Roddenberry was an asshole who inspired the right people.

I don't know if I would go that far.

There's an excellent piece in the September 2006 Reason magazine, ``Happy
40th Birthday Star Trek''.  There's an interesting bit on the Federation
society:

     As Univerity of Virgina professor of English Paul Cantor has
     explained, the society of the Federation is the kind of thing
     that might spring fully grown from the hernia scar of Lyndon
     Baines Johnson -- a galacticized Great Society.  A vaguely
     militarized government makes all decisions.  Any time the
     Enterprise crew encounters a private entrepreneur or
     contractor, that person will almost certainly turn out to be a
     thief, a swindler, a coward, or all three...

Bill
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