Star Trek: Enterprise Retrospective

I know it's not the most popular take, but I love Enterprise. It's the only Star Trek series that I have watched in its entirety, much of it when it first aired from 2001-2005. I love the raw, 'low-tech' ship with the submarine interior, the function-before-form bridge, the cramped quarters where everyone has to duck to avoid banging their heads... yeah, that's the era of Star Trek I would want to live in.

I've been rewatching the series with my son, who has a unique perspective on the show: It's the only Star Trek he's ever seen. I just asked him if he knows who Mr. Spock is, and I got a blank look. So, it's really fun to watch this show with him, as everything is fresh and new to him, while for me I'm always picking out the callbacks to previous series. It's going to be interesting as we go through the series to see how he reacts to some of the more jarring callbacks (the Ferengi episode and the Borg in particular). He likely won't even notice them. Much like his first run-through of the Star Wars movies, which he watched in chronological order (so the big reveal of Empire wasn't so big to him), seeing Star Trek from this fresh perspective should be an interesting experience.

The only episodes I don't plan to watch with him on this run-through are the Mirror Universe episodes (In a Mirror Darkly) and the series finale (which, let's face it, totally sucks as an Enterprise episode). I'm going to save the Mirror episodes until we watch the two pertinent TOS episodes (Mirror, Mirror and the Tholian Web), so he has the necessary context to understand them. I might watch 'These are the Voyages' when we get to TNG season 5. Otherwise, we're going to watch the whole series in chronological order.

So far, we're most of the way through the first season. We've seen some great episodes (Andorian Incident, Dear Doctor) and some not-so-great episodes (Unexpected, Terra Nova). I think the first-season quality is higher than a lot of people give it credit for. Especially for someone new to the Trek universe. I'm considering asking Tanner to give his thoughts on the episodes as we go through the series. Even just a capsule review of each episode would be nice. For now, though, I'm going to give my thoughts on the best Star Trek pilot episode ever, Broken Bow.

Broken Bow establishes the embryonic Star Trek universe very well. Ninety years after First Contact, the Vulcans are the elder statesmen and 'big brother' of the humans, keeping them mostly confined to their own neighborhood of space because of all the big nasty dangers out there (and because humans are impulsive and dangerous themselves). When a chance encounter with a Klingon courier threatens to delay the launch of the first Warp 5 starship, Enterprise, new captain Jonathan Archer takes on the mission of returning the Klingon to his people alive, giving humanity its first taste of real deep space adventure.

The crew are well-established from the beginning, and there are some callbacks to the original series; this time around, the helmsman is black and the comm officer is Asian, a switch from the Sulu-Uhura situation. There's a full-blooded Vulcan science officer, but she isn't good friends with the crew; she's basically a chaperone who thinks the humans are wasting their time and incapable of handling any real dangers in deep space. The armory officer (tactical and security, so he's Worf) is a stiff-upper-lip Englishman, and the Chief Engineer is a good-ol' boy from the south, much like a certain doctor. The Denobulan doctor Phlox rounds out our main crew.

There are a few moments in the pilot where the humans are clearly out of their depth; their trip to Rigel is a good example of this, as T'Pol, the Vulcan, has to give them basic etiquette instructions on how to deal with the myriad cultures there. The new enemy, the Suliban, seriously outmatch the Enterprise in their tech, with cloaking devices on their little ships and genetic engineering that makes them into supervillains. But human perseverance pays off, and the crew not only disrupt the Suliban plot to destabilize the Klingon empire, but also convince Starfleet to let them continue on their mission of exploration.

After years of watching 24th-century Trek, with holodecks, luxury-liner ships, technobabble galore, and all kinds of aliens, watching Enterprise felt like a breath of fresh air. It's human-centric; the Federation doesn't exist yet, and humans haven't even met two of the other founding races yet (Andorians and Tellarites). There's tension, even conflict, between the human crew and the Vulcans, particularly the ones back on Earth whispering into Starfleet admirals' ears about how much of a screwup Archer is. The tech is laughably weak compared to what we saw over twenty-one seasons of TNG, DS9 and Voyager; no deflector shields, no phasers, lame little torpedoes, and a transporter that nobody trusts. The crew member with the most space experience is the helmsman, who grew up on a cargo transport that spent years between ports. The comm officer is jumpy and uncomfortable, the doctor uses animals and slugs as homeopathic medicine, and there's a definite sense of wonder to go along with the trepidation. This feels like a show about exploring the unknown, at least in this first season.

So, maybe Tanner will give his thoughts on the series. If so, I'll definitely share them here; otherwise, I've still got some thoughts to write up. And yes, I even like the theme song.

Winter is Coming...

No, I'm not doing a Game of Thrones review; I hated the books, and have never seen so much as a trailer from the show. This week has been a tease for what's to come: lots of wind, lots of precipitation, lots of snow.

Well, in my defense, my wife did say before we moved that she wanted white beaches. She just didn't specify 'sand.'

We were warned over the weekend that we would be getting high winds and rain for three days. Well, we did get the winds on Monday, but they mostly died down yesterday and today. The rain has been pretty consistent, but we didn't get the 100 mm we were promised. I feel let down somehow. Although there was some snow showing up, it hasn't stuck around. Still, snow tires are definitely in the plans for the weekend.

We're hoping to get our rink built this weekend; we're going to need some more wood, since last year's rink turned into a chicken coop. We learned a lot from our experiences last year, and if things go well this year, we'll have a nice, full 30' x 60' rink to play on. I don't know if I'll do much skating, though; I haven't skated in years, and the one time I tried it last year, my feet hurt like the fiery pits of hell. I'm way out of skating shape. But Tanner is looking forward to getting back into it, even if he won't be playing hockey this year. We can't afford it, and there are other factors, as well.

This time of year is always busy for us; aside from Christmas, there are three birthdays within a month: Ashton turned nineteen almost two weeks ago; Dannielle turns...one year older next week, and five days after that, Garrett will be nine. And then it's Christmas, New Year's, and so on. Busy, busy, busy.

There's not a lot  to say tonight. It's been quiet, which is normal for PEI. Maybe tomorrow will prove to be more interesting.

Arabian Nights at the Gaming Table: Arabian Adventures, Part VI

We had our first taste of snow this morning. A cold, wet, insta-melt snow powered by winds strong enough to blow the trampoline halfway across the yard, or about a hundred feet overnight. So, it seems only fitting that I continue our examination of the Arabian Adventures rulebook and get back to desert stuff.

So, we're looking at priest kits. No specialty priests; there aren't any in Zakhara. So, regardless of what god a Zakharan priest worships, he gets the same, standard clerical abilities based on his kit. There are seven kits to look at: the Clerics of Order (three kits) and the Free Priests (four kits). The Clerics of Order are the Pragmatists, the Ethoists, and the Moralists; the Free Priests include the Hakimas (wise women), Kahins (idol-priests), Mystics, and Outland priests (the outsiders).

We'll start with the Clerics of Order. The Pragmatists are the most common cleric of the Land of Fate, wandering about and preaching tolerance and mediation instead of kicking followers of other religions in the shins. They can and will fight when necessary, but it's not their go-to tactic for the most part. Any cleric (race, gender, etc.) can be a Pragmatist. They get Religion as a bonus proficiency, of course, and their most popular church is the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods. They get the standard spell spheres that clerics get, regardless of which deity (or deities) they serve. Basically, they're as close to a bog-standard D&D cleric as Al-Qadim has to offer.

Next up are the Ethoists, or Clerics of the Faith Ethical. These are the temple workers, the ones who maintain the mosques and monasteries, sort of like a parish priest. They can't be chaotic, but that's the only restriction on the kit in terms of who can take it. Eventually (around 8th level) they are the ones who set up new mosques and temples. They're less tolerant than the Pragmatists when it comes to religious ecumenism, insisting that those who don't follow the same faith they do are misguided. But they won't push people around about it, either. They get Religion and Bureaucracy as their bonus proficiencies, as well as a few special benefits from the kit. Safe haven, food and board within the temple, borrowing money, fighter-servants when needed, and an assistant once they've gained a few levels. Like the Pragmatist, the Ethoist gets the standard cleric spheres, and they can, of course, turn undead.

Third, we have the Moralists. These are the Taliban-types, the hardcore, strict types who follow every dietary law and consider themselves the 'purest' of all priests. Militant and arrogant, you're either part of their faith, or you're a godless heathen. Their favorite colors are black and white. Moralists must be lawful, and of any race or gender (although the Moralists do segregate men and women). They also take vows of celibacy and chastity, and give their lives entirely to the mosque. They are not at all fun at parties, and even the lawful-good ones can be implacable enemies of a group of PCs if they don't measure up. They get Religion and Debate as their bonus proficiencies, as well as the same benefits the Ethoists get. Their spells are cleric-standard. They also have some serious clout within their temple, able to push around lower-level moralists. However, this cuts both ways; higher-level moralists will tell them what to do, and they'd better get it done. Oh, and the temple gets 50% of whatever money they earn adventuring or whatever.

So, those are the 'traditional' clerics of Zakhara. Next up, we have the Free Priests, starting with the Hakima, or wise woman. These are not pacifists, but they aren't bloodthirsty fighters, either. These women (no men allowed) have a special ability to see the truth, which makes them valuable advisors to rulers and leaders. They don't do a lot of fighting, having only a few weapons to choose from, and while they get no bonus proficiencies, they are considered to have access to all NWP groups, meaning they don't pay extra slots for any proficiency regardless of who normally has access to it. Their primary power is their truth-sight, which allows them to detect all sorts of things, including disguised shapeshifters, depending on their level. They get a limited selection of spells, and can't turn undead. They also can't use any class-specific magic items, only the general-use ones. Only human and half-elven women can become Hakimas.

The Kahin, or idol-priest, worship powers that predate Zakhara's enlightenment, and thus are considered uncultured and uncivilized by the majority of the people. They are as close as Zakhara gets to having druids, but they aren't quite the same. They are always some variation of neutral in alignment, and there are no other restrictions on who can become a Kahin. They are wanderers and teachers, rather than settling down, and tend to preach a doctrine of moderation in all things in tune with the environment. No, they aren't Greenpeace. They get Survival as a bonus proficiency, but only get to wear hide armor and no shields. Their special abilities don't kick in until they get to 16th level, at which point they start collecting immunities to various things (weapons, elements, creatures, etc.). Their spells are limited, mostly the same as a druid would get. They don't turn undead, either.

Mystics are hermits in the desert, sort of like the desert dervishes of Arabian tales. They can use additional weapons beyond those a cleric normally can, and get Religion and one other bonus proficiency. The other proficiency has to relate to how they receive their spells; dancing, meditation, singing, etc. are typical methods to get spells. They get the standard clerical spells, and can turn undead. They even attract followers at high levels like standard clerics do. However, their spells can only be retrieved through their particular method, and Clerics of Order don't like them (2-point reaction penalty for Pragmatists and Ethoists, 4-point penalty for Moralists). Any race or gender can become a mystic, and demihumans with this kit can exceed their maximum level by 2.

Outland Priests are the outsiders, yadda yadda yadda, like the other 'non-kit' kits for non-Zakharan characters. They can even be specialty priests and have outsider kits. However, they get reaction penalties in Zakhara, which get worse with native priests (-2 for most people, -3 for pragmatists, and -4 for ethoists and moralists). Other than that, there's nothing special about these guys; they're visitors from another land, nothing more.

And that concludes our overview of the various kits of Zakhara. Next time, we'll tackle the new proficiencies of the Land of Fate.

The Lord Giveth...

...and the Lord taketh away. One thing about life on a farm: Life and death are a lot closer than they are in the city.

First, the good: We actually have three baby chicks in our kitchen, and not previously-hatched birds that we bought and brought home. No, these are sitting in our incubator on the kitchen counter. The first one, a black Cemani named 'Pumpkin', was born yesterday morning while my wife was outside doing farm chores. I was sick in bed; don't judge.

Pumpkin was discovered by Tanner, who heard his peeping and called me downstairs to see. I threw open a window and called Dannielle, who jumped for joy as she came back in, the farm chores forgotten momentarily. I opened the incubator and snapped a picture while everyone marveled over the tiny miracle.

Pretty exciting, isn't it? I know, I know...we're total newbies here. But it's still quite a moment.

This afternoon, another egg started to crack, and Pumpkin was right there to help the newcomer to break free from its eggy prison and out into the wide world of the incubator. Tanner immediately named this one 'Pie.' Because why not? Pie is a brown chick, and we don't know nearly enough about these birds to know what breed she is. We're assuming (and hoping) that most of these birds are female, because we've got plenty of roosters. Oh, did I forget to mention that the Crazy Chicken Lady got six more this week? Seven, actually, but one was a lone rooster who spent a week being chased into the rafters by the Highland girls, who are just mean to newcomers. So we found him another home with friends of ours, where he's the only roo and gets to hang out with six girls that aren't trying to tear him apart with their beaks.

The third one showed up only a few minutes ago, and hasn't gotten a name yet. It's black, but not Cemani black, so we think it might be an Orpington. This is based on a complete wild guess. Still, it's been a pretty exciting weekend on the chicken front.

Now, for the bad...

Sadly, our beloved Flemish giant bunny, Daisy, was found stiff as a board this morning in the bunny kennel. We're not sure what it was, but we're afraid she didn't get enough food; Bugs is a piggy of a bunny, and she must not have been getting enough to eat. Tanner is devastated, because he's the one tasked with feeding them, and he's missed a few meals for them because of his general lackadaisical attitude and rush to get his chores done as quickly as possible regardless of how complete they might be. We warned him repeatedly about this, asking how he would feel if one of the animals died because of his neglecting his chores. Well, now he knows.

It may seem harsh, but he's thirteen and a half years old now; his childhood days aren't over, but they are waning, and adult responsibilities are growing. It's a hard lesson to learn, but it's a necessary one. We will see if the lesson takes.

Speaking of adult responsibilities, a Happy 19th Birthday to Ashton, our oldest here at the farm. He celebrated with his first 'legal' beer, chosen carefully from the brands he's tried before. In a decision that satisfies irony in every possible way, he had a Corona.

So, that's the weekend on the family farm. The garlic's in the ground, the animals are tuckering in for the winter, and there's snow on the horizon. It's going to be a fun winter. 

Time's A Wasting...

They say time flies when you're having fun. It also flies when you're doing stuff that isn't so fun. But it flies faster when you're distracted by everything else, taking you away from what really matters. In my case, there are a few things that have fallen by the wayside, including this blog. Not that this blog is the most important thing in my life; my family is far higher on the list. But I need to get things back on track, and this blog is one of the things that has been derailed.

It's funny...turning 51 a couple of months ago didn't really seem...real. I mean, obviously it happened; I can read a calendar and do basic math, so yeah, I'm 51 years old. To put that in perspective, if I'm scheduled to live for a century, I'm already on the second half of that. If I've got less, then time is winding down. Either way, it's time to take serious stock of where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going.

Where I've been is simple enough; I've talked about that before, and won't go over it again now. Where I am is smack-dab in middle age, looking backward and forward at the same time. Where I am going...well, that's the real question, isn't it? I haven't done much writing whatsoever since moving to Prince Edward Island; I've done farm stuff and work, but not much on the creative side. And that does frustrate me.

This farm is important to our family; it's a chance to start over in a new home, a new way of living, and a new part of the country that I hadn't seen in nearly fifty years (and had no memory of whatsoever). But my writing matters, too. And I've let myself get too distracted by everything under the sun. It's easy to get distracted in today's world; distractions are all over the place, even in your own home. The internet, in particular, is a big distraction. I've toyed with the idea of just canceling it altogether; we've got plenty of entertainment to keep us busy for the rest of our lives if we wanted to, and arguing with strangers on the internet really isn't a productive use of time. In fact, after a discussion with my family tonight, the arguing with strangers is over and done with. I'll lurk about in a few places, but I'm no longer going to be an active, anonymous commenter on political or religious matters.

So, what's next? I want to get back to regular blogging, and especially regular writing. I was working on a pulp short story that I need to get back to, so I'm going to sign off here and revisit that. The Arabian Adventures read-through/review will continue once I get myself back on track. And of course, the farm. Winter is rapidly approaching, and we've got work to do. The skating rink will be back, bigger and better than before.

And if all goes well, the second half will be an improvement over the first.