Star Trek (TNG): Time's Arrow

[isom3re]

When Lt.Comm. Data says Lore is an L-type (something), but I am an R-type -- I thought, oh, he's mixing his terms. On purpose.

"D" and "L" are the old way (1880s) of describing the isomerism [yes, like my username] of sugars and amino acids (for example DNA): 'D' basically means right-handed, and 'L' left-handed. Isomerism means two molecules can have the same atoms and the same shape, but not be the same. The two other systems (with some overlap) used to describe isomerism are +/- and R/S.

"It turns out that most naturally occurring sugars are D-, and most naturally occurring amino acids are L- . There is a tremendous amount of information compressed in that statement, and there is no competing system (R/S, +/–) which could replace the L- and D- with a single character." http://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/2 ... -l-sugars/

So Data deliberately mixes "Lore is an L-type, where I am a (D) R-type." If he hadn't said it this way, we might not notice the chemistry, and think, oh, L for Lore (vs. left-handed chirality) and D for Data.

"At this point we should point out that the overwhelming majority of sugars in Earth-based life forms are D- sugars, including D-ribose as the backbone of RNA. Why and how all organisms on earth ended up with D-sugars is a mystery, as one presumes that L-sugars would have worked just as well... Interestingly, L-glucose has been explored as a sugar substitute. Its taste is indistinguishable from naturally occurring D-glucose, but provides no nourishment since it cannot be broken down by our (chiral) enzymes. As it turns out production is just too expensive..." [same source as above]

[PerrySimm]

So Lore is a Turian? A Quarian?

No no wait...

HE'S GETH! It all makes sense now!

...

I have to say, I really liked Time's Arrow. And I think it matters to say that because this is an episode that takes a lot of heat.

Data sending Jack London around on errands and locking horns with Mark Twain. The crew bluffing their way through rent payments and piling into a horse-drawn wagon. Meeting Guinan!!

It was fun! Sometimes the fun episodes don't always make the most sense. And the stakes were a little higher than a mere Holodeck episode.

[Koshundheit]

While watching this review, it got me thinking about Twain's voice. I found this video, which includes a clip of this: "One recording, considered to be the most reliable example of his manner of speech, was made at Harvard University in 1934 when William Gillette, a celebrated actor and former neighbor of Twain, performed his long-practiced imitation of Twain to a class of students." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqHPN4lW6tI

To my ear other impersonations of Twain do have some amped up similarities to it, but it also sounds rather "off", like a drunk older person. Maybe that it just a matter of a slower pace of speech. When getting together with older generations of family it is noticeable that each younger generation speaks a bit faster. Whether that it more to slower aging brains or younger people being so in a rush and getting into a habit of rapid speaking with each generation, I don't know.

As for the double episode, I recall quite enjoying it the first time, though yes they made Twain an annoying and mostly unwelcome character, and that was sad. It doesn't hold up so much on rewatch though when one is able to reflect more on the story, which honestly is true of too much TNG (let alone Voyager or Enterprise). It is a challenge. I'm watching DS9 with a friend who has seen almost nothing of the Trek series, and we started with it because it was most likely to keep his interest. I'm not sure he'll appreciate the other shows as much though, especially compared to the great show DS9 grows into, but perhaps since it will be his first watch of each it will be fine as long as I don't mention flaws if he doesn't.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I watched this with my Ex and they fucking lost it when we reached Chuck's colorful description of the Twain voice.

[TrueMetis]

I really enjoy how nonchalant Geordi is when telling Guinan about them finding Data's head. With all the crazy shit they've been through there's absolutely no need to preface it with a "You're not gonna believe his but".

[bronnt]

I really enjoy how nonchalant Geordi is when telling Guinan about them finding Data's head. With all the crazy shit they've been through there's absolutely no need to preface it with a "You're not gonna believe his but".

Makes me wonder about some of the other plot reveals that happen at the bar.

"Man, the day I've had. Worf freaking murdered the heir-apparent to the Klingon empire and the Captain had to give a stern warning that we frown on that sort of behavior."

"So anyway, after that, Dr. Crusher decided to go off and have sex with the ghost."

"It seems like Wesley Crusher didn't tell the Academy about his extended leave of absence due to his wandering the multiverse for the sake of practicing his godlike powers. I think his mom told them he went into drug rehab. But the good news is that the colonists worked things out with the Cardassians and they shouldn't have any more problems in the Demilitarized Zone!"

[MyUserName]

Oh trust me, the TNG weirdness level goes off the scale if you count the books as canonical. Especially the X-men crossovers. Though Q shooting the breeze with Uatu the watcher was plenty chuckle worthy,

[Deledrius]

Oh trust me, the TNG weirdness level goes off the scale if you count the books as canonical.

Thankfully they are not, as Star Trek has a pretty sane rule for canon, all things considered.

I like the books, but they are good as "what if" stories. Same for all the other non-screen media.

[G-Man]

Testing... testing.....

UPDATE:

Good, the posts are working.

[Karha of Honor]

testing