Bad Shakespeare Takes Ireland: Dublin Lullabye

I originally wrote this post about five days ago, in Dublin, as I sat on my bed (carefully of course… more on that in a minute.) I reflected on my time as the month had passed. I reflected on all the adventures I had. I reflected on the people I spent my time with. 

It was actually quite terrible.

I needed time to process just what Ireland meant to me. Like anything, it’s a wonderful experience, but it was not yet over. The classes were over and I was a scant six hours away from boarding an airplane, but for the time being, the event wasn’t over. I didn’t have time to come back to the United States and think about what my time over there meant. 

Let’s back up for a few minutes. My final day in Dublin wasn’t spent in the Jameson factory, or even touring the city. My final day in Dublin was spent doing something I’d wish I’d done in London. I got a tattoo. As long time readers know (and short time readers are just now finding out) I have quite a few tattoos. I have a Shakespeare Quote, a Neil Gaiman quote (recently, with his signature underneath it!), a Doctor Who design, a Supernatural Design, and a Superman “S” because all proper nerds need a Superman or Batman symbol at some point in their lives. I chose Alex Ross’s version, which is black and symbolizes Superman’s transformation as time passes him by.

But that’s all a lot of information about nothing. But it’s something I like to talk about, because I like tattoos. They’re a permanent mark. A lot of people don’t understand them, and for a time, I didn’t, either. I thought they looked cool. But I didn’t understand the meaning behind them. Each one is a personal story, and you want a reminder of it. For instance, my Neil Gaiman Quote is from my favorite book, Good Omens. I got it for my birthday, and I remember my buddy Jon and I drove all over the DC Area looking for a place that would do it. We finally found it, and it was going to be too expensive, but he paid for half of it. Later, when I got a chance to meet Neil Gaiman, my friend Kim made sure i not only met him, but that i had a pen and he signed underneath in the perfect spot. I don’t think he was done with the “n” in his name before she was on the phone with an Uber to take us to the tattoo place I’d pre-selected. It wasn’t a great time, it was an epic time.

Stories. That’s what I’m about. So, yes… I had to get a tattoo to remember the time I spent in Ireland. One of the most epic stories I’ve ever experienced.

I went to Snakebite Tattooing in Dublin (which you should go to) and I got a symbol that is a modified version of last year’s Doolin Folk Festival symbol. I thought it important to get a mark in the country that left a mark on me. I didn’t want a celtic cross or a harp or something traditional. The awesome people there actually redesigned it, and it looks beautifully awesome. I’d post pictures of it today, but it’s still healing so it looks… not so great… and the only other pictures I have are when it was first done, and those just look angry. I also want to point out that the only other person brave enough to come with me was Tim, my intrepid roommate for my time in Ireland, who got his tattoo before mine. 

But, I went and did something I’d always wanted to do. It was important to me. So I did it. Snakebite Tattoo was an awesome place, even if it’s off the “tourist area” and you have to ring a bell to go up. The word for it when you walk us is “sketchy” but once you’re inside it’s actually a very beautiful studio. Everyone’s super friendly, and they are quick. They also stayed open an extra hour to finish my tattoo, knowing I was flying back to America in a day. So they’re pretty awesome people. Oh, and they take only cash, which is interesting, but doable. 

My next adventure in leaving Dublin came when the luggage I got a great deal on decided to stop working as I walked out ot the plane. First, the bottom completely failed. After several failed attempts to purchase a new bag (it’s the 21st Century, folks. TAKE CARDS) I eventually had to say goodbye to several books and jam back my bag so tightly that the top also collapsed when I got off the plane. But all is well. It’s actually quite comical in the long run. 

But then I got back to the United States.

A buddy of mine spent some time for work in Boston. He set me aside one day and said, “Michael, I never felt out of place in Virginia, but I felt at home in Boston.” (Note: I could have easily stolen that line. I still might one day, but for now I’m attributing it to a brilliance other than mine.) I want to echo that. I’ve never felt out of place in America. It’s my home. I’ve lived all across the country. I love this great Nation of ours, just so everyone is clear. But… I felt at home in Ireland.

Firstly, there was a our trip to the Writer’s Museum in Dublin, which talked about how Irish writers were mostly troublemakers. From Oscar Wilde to James Joyce to Flan O’Brien, they’re mostly people who either fled to England to gain a wider audience, or people who did what they wanted and let the chips fall where they may. James Joyce played with things so much there is an entire day dedicated to him. Oscar Wilde was sent to America for the sole reason that people would get a joke in a musical, and people ended up loving him so much the musical ran into… let’s just say problems. 

Then… as much as I loved Dublin and wish I had more time to explore, I have to say I loved the times we spent in the Aran Islands and Doolin, small places with vast fields or near the Ocean, places that inspired my imagination. I told my professor this, and I’m going to re-write it here: The words fell out of me. It’s unlike anything I experienced before. I was writing and creating in ways I didn’t know possible. The class was great, don’t get me wrong, but it was impossible to not be inspired as we passed by old castles, as we got lectures about Celtic Rituals, or even as we passed by the Doolin Donkey every single day. 

(Yeah… I’m going to do my last Bad Shakespeare in Ireland Post without mentioning the Doolin Donkey. That’ll happen.) 

The thing is, I’m still processing how this country affected me. I can tell you that the person who boarded that plane a month ago (I almost wrote “a few months ago”. It felt like a few months ago) is not the person who is writing this post, right now. I made strong connections, not just with the land but with the people who went with me. All great people whom I’m glad to have known. I was able to sit and think without the distractions that accompany my routine here in America. 

And ultimately, maybe part of it was just shaking up my routine again. I certainly was inspired by my trip to London, this was just a little bit different in that it allowed me more of a connection to who I am. It allowed me more reflection time. It allowed me more time to slow down, and think about the words I’m typing. 

As long time readers know (and short time readers again, are finding out) I’m a big fan of Star Trek, specifically Deep Space Nine, which was the greatest Star Trek Series ever and anyone who argues doesn’t understand Star Trek. (Another little joke for my nerds out there.) Anyway, there’s an episode where Captain Sisko is talking to his son, Jake, who wants to be a writer. He tells him “When you’re writing, stick your head up every once in a while. That’s life.” To me, that’s what Ireland was. It was this perfect combination of “writing” while still putting my head up and looking around. It was about making a connection to a place that has a long history, not just as in “what really happened” but a history of magic. A history of making things work. 

Ok, so, I’ve made references to Superman, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the Doolin Donkey, this post has gone on way too long. For those of you who are still here, I appreciate it. Regardless, I should probably consider wrapping this up. 

The bottom line is: I enjoyed myself. It was what I’ve wanted, which was an epic quest and learning experience, all wrapped up into one. It was a chance to not only find myself, but lose myself at the same time, which we all need to do in order to move forward in our lives. Ireland affected me a lot. I loved every minute of it. Now I’m back, and the real challenge is not to re-create that feeling, but to use that feeling to inform the rest of my life, and to make me a better person. To make me a better writer. 

I’m looking forward to creating my own epic quest.

He Was Spock

Time once again to pull the curtain back on how I work on Bad Shakespeare. I do these about a week in advance. So, I wrote all about my adventures watching George Takei... and then Leonard Nimoy passed away. Sometimes, I’ll have time to go back and  rewrite things, but the whole Grad School thing will get in the way. I debated with myself if I was going to do a Leonard Nimoy tribute. Then I thought about it and realized it was my blog, and I can pretty much do what I’d like with it. Boom Don’t like it? Start your own blog. That’s just one of the things that make me so great.

Back in the 1960’s NBC had a bit of a problem on their hands. This really cool new show was about to debut, then get cancelled, then get renewed, then get cancelled again, the spawn a television, cartoon, movie, book, and convention franchise that would span past 40 years. I don’t think they knew that last part. But there were two giant problems. This strange vision of the future featured a woman as second in command of the ship, back when the idea of women wearing pants was strange (it’s ok, they got around it with moon boots and ridiculously high mini-skirts that I guess make space-travel easier) and a strange alien on the crew that, when viewed in black and white, looked vaguely like the Devil. (Although McCoy might agree.) 

But, Gene Roddenberry stuck to his guns and made sure we still got the alien on the bridge of a futuristic starship as it went on it’s star trek. 

Joking aside, Star Trek was the very first science fiction show I watched. It was with my dad, and this was back when wearing a starfleet tunic to school would get you beat up rather than “hey, cool shirt? Which character is J.J. Abrams going to sneak into the next movie and unnecessarily hide from everyone?” So, I guess the first experience I had with science fiction aliens was Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy.

Mr. Spock was an important character for me growing up. I was always kind of weird. I didn’t even fit in with the theatre kids most of the time and they pretty much accepted everyone. But Mr. Spock was of two worlds... to Vulcan to be human, too human to be Vulcan. But you know what Mr. Spock did? He did what he wanted. He did what he “felt” was right. He didn’t allow himself to be bullied or swayed. He stood up for himself, and he did so unapologetically. Mr. Spock was important.

I bring this up because, in Leonard Nimoy’s passing, it is important to look back on this iconic role and realize what it meant for a generation. Yes, on the one hand it was kind of cool.... look everyone! An alien mixing it up with a Russian guy, a Japanese Guy, and a cool, suave, All-American Boy! It’s the future! There’s hope we’ll all get along one day. Maybe. We’ll all need to go into space and almost get killed by genetically engineered supermen, but we can do it. 

I get that he was more than this one role... he was a talented actor who did Shakespeare... but this was more than a role. It was an iconic performance. Anyone can take a role, but it takes someone special to have an iconic performance. And one that meant so much to so many. Especially to a kid, watching reruns of a 20 year old show on Saturday afternoons with his dad. 

I think that’s why we turn so much to Star Trek, even today. Yes, the older episodes have cheesy special effects... the newer ones have so many lens flares... and let’s not get started about the Benedict Cumberbatch/Kahn situation. But for all the hope in humanity and green skinned alien chicks, there was Spock. There was that outsider who did what he needed to do, not because he wanted to do it... because it was him. I don’t know that anyone other than Leonard Nimoy could have done that. We’ve seen other Vulcans pop up on the various shows... no offense to Tim Russ or Jolene Blalock, who brought their own Vulcanness to the show. But Spock... Spock was just different. He was the first. 

So, it’s with this heavy heart that we have to say goodbye to Mr. Nimoy, a talented actor and friend to the fan. We have to say goodbye to the man who spent so much time on a role, playing it pretty much until he died. I mean... what can you say about a man who is the only thing to survive the complete reboot of a franchise? 

Life, Wesley, and Time Traveling Aliens

I’ve long chronicled my absolute love of Star Trek on this blog. I first got into it a little bit with re-runs of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, boldly going to gangster worlds or cowboy worlds. I reveled in the adventures of Picard and Riker. I really loved the complex writing and characterizations with Sisko, Odo, and O’Brien. And I certainly tolerated the adventures put forth by the rest. (Voyager and Enterprise weren’t as bad as everyone said, but that’s another post for another day.)

I also have been chronicling my adventures in figuring out just who I am. It started this year with the confirmed revelation that I didn’t want to be a high school teacher, something that I allowed myself to be defined by for so very long, whilst getting into graduate school (again) for more study in the field of English, getting my masters degree in Literature. I was surprised, the other day, when the two things dovetailed together in an interesting way, and I learned something I probably should have thought about a long time ago.

All of this introduction brings us to how my life was forever changed by everyone’s least favorite character, Wesley Crusher.

For those of you who don’t know, Wesley Crusher was introduced in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation as the son of the ship’s doctor, Beverly Crusher. His father had served with Captain Picard back when he wasn’t so-Captain-Picard, and well, some of his command decisions resulted in his father’s death. It’s also important to note that while Wil Wheaton is a very cool guy now, Wesley Crusher really wasn’t that accepted by a lot of fans. Let’s put it this way: Yeah, Star Trek is cool now, but there was a time when it wasn’t and you hid your fandom away. But even Star Trek nerds (back when nerd was a bad thing) made fun of Wesley. 

Wesley’s path was laid out pretty early on in the show. He started as a kid, fascinated with how a Starship ran. Things changed around the first season “Where No One Has Gone Before” where the Enterprise encountered a being named “The Traveler”, because his name was unpronounceable by humans. (Bear with me on this… I have a point.) In any event, there was some spaceship shenanigans and the Enterprise was thrown to the edge of the universe where everyone started suffering from space madness or something. Wesley was able to help get the ship back, and the Traveler told Picard, “He’s going to be important. Don’t tell anyone.”

Of course, then Picard told everyone, apparently, but that’s beside the point.

Picard, taking this to mean that he should encourage Wesley’s natural talent, promoted him to acting ensign where he had to wear an even dorkier sweater, but nonetheless was on the path to join Starfleet. Eventually, Wesley does join Starfleet, and does what everyone expects of him: tries to be the best that everyone thinks of him.

Here’s where I start to empathize. Later in the series, he comes back for a visit and he’s moody, depressed, and not really sure where he fits in. There’s an episode that features the Enterprise trying to remove a colony from a planet that had been negotiated back to an alien empire. Wesley thought it was wrong to remove these people, and resigned from Starfleet Academy. Against the expectations of well… everyone.

See, the thing is, he had a ton of support. I had a ton of support when I was going to be teacher. More support than I ever thought I would get. And I can understand how easy it is to get caught up in the “rah-rah” ness of it all. Just like in Star Trek, Starfleet is the ultimate goal for a lot of people, and it’s not easy to get in. Several times over the course of the series, Wesley would try to get into Starfleet but Wil Wheaton’s contract as a regular wasn’t up he would get rejected. This wasn’t easy.

Rewatching “Journey’s End” was important to me at this point. Wesley doesn’t quit Starfleet for some concrete reason. He doesn’t quit what’s supposed to be the best thing in the galaxy that millions of different aliens tried to get into for a solid purpose. He quit it because it “wasn’t for him”. But the important thing, and what I struggled with and couldn’t really articulate for a while, is that he quit for the unknown.

Teaching provided a clear path for me. I took XXXX class which fed into XXXX class, which fed into an internship, which fed into teaching, which fed into whatever. Like Wesley, I took a leap of faith when I exited the internship program. Granted, I wasn’t following a mystical alien onto other plains of existence, but sometimes it felt like that. I didn’t have a full time job, I didn’t have a real plan other than I knew that teaching wasn’t for me. And now, I’m enrolled in an English Program and I don’t have a full time job, but a series of part time jobs that are cobbled together into a full time job. (And I’ve never been happier, mind you.)

This episode just randomly aired one day while I was flipping through the channels. What was odd was that I don’t normally watch that much television during the day… this was an exception. But for the first time, watching Wesley remove his uniform, become his own man… I started to understand my own feelings about what I was scared of in my new path. Having something set in front of you that’s pretty stable then changing it for a wide open adventure… that’s the definition of leap of faith. 

I’ve often said that literature and inspiration come from many different places. It just surprised me that it came from this unlikely source. It surprised me that I was finally able to articulate what I wanted from life. It surprised me that something I watched so many years ago then put away would have this much influence on me. But it did. A lot. And I’m glad it did. And while I do wish that my new worldview came from the sooth baritone of Captain Sisko, or the Universal worldliness of Captain Picard… I’m glad it came from the guy who was trying to find himself. The guy who just wanted to do what was right. The guy who wanted to live up to his potential, and got caught up in what that meant. Wesley Crusher. 

Star Trek: The Final Frontier. And the Final Movie in the Marathon

Space. Some have called it “The Final Frontier.” Fortunately, there’s a lot of it to explore, get lost in, and aliens to attack and cause cool space battles so we can be all like, pew-pew! Boom! Beam me up, Scotty! Vooosh!

This blog’s love affair with Star Trek is long, longer than the recently discussed love affair with Simon Pegg. Which is why watching 2009’s Star Trek was perfect way to end today. You all know the story, five year mission, Kirk, prequel, reboot, Spock, you have to wait until the sequel to see Benedict Cumberbatch, blah, blah, blah. Simon Pegg only makes a really brief appearance in this movie as Scotty, the miracle working Engineer who keeps the ship running with a little bit of duct tape and some hope. But it’s enough, he makes an impression that was large enough to give him a much bigger role in the sequel. (Which seems to be standard with most Simon Pegg roles.)

And of course there’s the whole debate about remakes or reboots and how it means that Hollywood is out of ideas, but of course if that were the case everything’s been out of ideas for about 400 years now. But more on that, later.

Sadly, this bring us to the end of our little trip down Simon Pegg lane, and an end to a Very Simon Pegg July Fourth Movie Marathon. So what did we learn today? We learned that while it may not be practical to dive through the air whilst firing two guns, but it’s fun. We learned that aliens are already on Earth, and they invented Agent Mulder. We learned that maybe the pub isn’t the best place to go when the zombies attack. We learned that sometimes changing the room numbers so the bad guys meet in the wrong place can be just as exciting as hanging off a very tall building. And we learned that if you accidentally beam Admiral Archer’s prized Beagle into oblivion, then you should expect to be marooned on an ice moon until Captain Kirk and a future version of Spock comes and beams you onto the Enterprise.

I like Simon Pegg. I liked him before this movie marathon, I like him even more now. Let’s face it, he’s a nerd who gets to live the dream. He’s fought zombies, sat on the bridge of the Enterprise, hung out with aliens... he’s even done some light romantic comedy and worked with the Dude in movies that we didn’t watch today because we decided to limit it to only 12 hours. And it’s a good way to get us in Simon Pegg/Nick Frost time before his new move, At World’s End, opens at the end of the month. I don’t count that as a shameless plug, but really what I’ll be doing in a few weeks. I’m not paid by the studio... not just yet. Oh, the cars they’ll fly that day...

I certainly hope you enjoyed this marathon down Simon Pegg lane. I know I did, but right now  I’m seeing Nick Frost, like, everywhere. It’s probably time to go watch something else.  Thank you for reading and spending this time with us! Join us next July Fourth as I find something equally as ridiculous to blog about.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Star Trek Bad Shakespeare Approved Meal: Klingon Gagh. Fresh.

So... How We Doin'?

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Non-Dr. Who fans, I bid you welcome to the final week of June. What does the final week of June mean to those of us here at Bad Shakespeare, Inc. (Right now “us” at Bad Shakespeare, Inc is just me writing the blog. The Christmas parties are fun, but the Secret Santa exchange is ultimately disappointing.) For us, it means we are about halfway through our Holiest time of the year: Summer Movie Season.

                It has been a fruitful and an interesting one. Somehow a superhero with PTSD from stopping a nuclear bomb from destroying New York City was deemed less dark than an alien who crashed into a few buildings while saving the world. Jesse Eisenberg became a bigger star than Will Smith for one, brief shining moment. The twist that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing Khan managed to fool three people who promptly got into trouble because they managed to stumble into a movie from their Amish commune somewhere.  Maybe the third time and a flying giraffe head was over the limit for a group of heavy drinking, hard partying friends. We got to see cars go zoom-zoom in the prequel to Fast and the Furious 7.  Leonardo DiCaprio proved that he’s unlucky in love and in not dying in yet another movie. Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, and a bunch of others screened some home movies for everyone. (At least I believe that’s what it was. Who knows.) And we get to complain that there were a million remakes and sequels, but somehow pretend that Much Ado About Nothing wasn’t actually a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake based on a play written well before Madonna put out her first single.

                But me being the friend to the reader that I am, I went out and saw as many of these movies as I possibly could. I say as your friend, but we’ve already established that I actually love this time of year, and I went out and saw them because I wanted to… in the case of Man of Steel and Star Trek, I loved them twice. (Possibly a third time. My love is deep. I’m a carer.) And while I have reviewed or referenced few of these movies in past blog posts, I’m rounding up my thoughts here, mostly because I’m not done with that new Neil Gaiman book like I thought I’d be so I’m short a post for the week. Enjoy, everybody!

                Iron Man 3: Tony Stark is back in his Iron Maniest adventure yet, dealing with the PTSD involved with stopping aliens in Avengers, a ruthless Asian terrorist that speaks with a Midwestern accent for some reason, and guys that can breathe fire! It’s ok, he befriends a little kid and builds like, 900 suits to jump into. Decent movie, tried way to hard to reference The Avengers without actually saying “Avengers”. (Except once. And a cute “Superfriends” reference, thus giving more movie screen time to a Justice League movie than DC Comics ever will.)

                The Great Gatsby: Your English class comes alive in this 3-D spectacle focusing on rich and famous people doing horrible things to each other in the name of being rich and famous. Baz Lurhman directs in the best Baz Lurhmany style, ever. If only there was a way to make the material relatable, English Teachers! Easily one of the best movies of the summer

                Star Trek Into Darkness: Seriously, people? Seriously do you not know what it’s about at this point? It’s Star Trek. I did like a whole week on it. The bad guy is Khan. Someone yells it. Go see the movie.

                The Hangover, Part 3: Can you believe it’s been a full three hangovers since we first met the Wolfpack and their wacky adventures of piecing together of their even zanier adventures of the night before? Can you believe that maybe they should have stopped at one?

                Now You See Me: Like Ocean’s 11, but with only four people, and with more MAGIC! Also Jesse Eisenberg. And Woody Harrelson. It’s like the Zombieland reunion without the humor, and without the other two characters and surprise cameo from Bill Murray. Morgan Freeman is in it, and he gets some exposition, and listening to him talk is always exciting. Yay, Morgan Freeman!

                Man of Steel: I actually reviewed this one. Great story. Great action. Not as depressing as everyone seems to think it is. I kind of think this is the sort of thing where everyone was like “Hey it’s David Goyer, so it’s going to be sad” and looked for the sad and depressing, like we look for the twist in one of M. Night’s movies, but the twist never actually comes and we’re just getting sadder because he even managed to make Zooey Deschanel seem not cute for an entire movie. What was my point? Oh, yeah, great movie.

                This is the End: One of the funniest movies about the end of days starring celebrities as themselves who do horrible things to each other that I’ve ever seen.

                Much Ado About Nothing: I reviewed this one on Monday. You should go back and read it. Twice maybe, my view count for this month is kind of low.

                So, that’s the wrap up of what I’ve seen and done for this particular Summer Movie Season. I missed a few I wanted to check out, like After Earth and Monsters University, but the summer movie season is young, there will be plenty of chances to check them out. And there’s still many, many other movies to look forward to as the movie season moves forward! I just wish the weather was worse. It’s so much easier to justify spending more time in the theater when the weather sucks. Oh, well we all have our burdens to bear. Here’s hoping for another two good months!

Deep Space Nine Fridays: Jake Sisko

Welcome to the first real week that we will be discussing Deep Space Nine and ask that eternal question, “Is it literature?” My answer is yes, but then this is my blog and I can say what I want. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull holds up on multiple viewings. There. See? I’m going to have to back it up, of course. So, I ask again, “is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine literature?”

    Nope, I’m still going to have to answer yes.

    This week we’re going to start out with a character that had the potential to sink the entire franchise from the get-go: Jake Sisko. A young boy that was the Commander’s kid had the ability to sink the show... we should all feel sad for the smart boy with the dead mother, tragically killed in a Borg attack lead by Captain Picard. He had the ability to Wesley Crusher the first couple of seasons.

    Yes, I know that Wil Wheaton is the bomb now, but I think his newfound coolness tends to make people forget just how horrible the character was. Go back and watch an early episode of Next Generation. Watch it. You can’t escape it.

    But I come not to bury Wesley Crusher, but to praise what they ended up doing with Jake Sisko. When they started the show, it was obvious they wanted him to be a way for the viewer to connect with Commander Sisko and see him as a different kind of lead character. We weren’t just seeing a man with baggage... he was a man with baggage and a son. The writers could have easily just slapped him into Starfleet and had him follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead they teamed him up with a Ferengi and decided to make him a writer, letting viewers take a look at the non-Federation people. (SOMEONE has to clean the space-bathrooms. It’s not all green skinned alien sex.)

    I wanted to start out talking about Jake Sisko because one of my favorite DS9 episodes featured him. “Nor Battle The Strong...” was an episode that was featured during the Klingon/Federation War. In it, Jake follows a group of young soldiers headed to do battle with Klingons on a distant planet, along with Doctor Bashir. (We’ll get to him in a few Friday Posts.) In this time he finds a soldier who shoots himself in the foot to get out of battle, he abandons the Doctor at the first sign of trouble, and then he manages to trap himself by firing blindly at a bunch of attackers.

    This was an important episode (and a contender for Star Trek Week) because it shows us not just the other side of the Federation and space-battles, but it shows us another side of war. Too often we get either the side of war that’s all glory and honor, or the other side that’s nothing but blood and guts. Here we get a unique middle ground... a story of war that’s told from a complete outsider’s perspective, one that tries to tell a more personal story. Jake is initially horrified by a guy who would wound himself to avoid battle, until the first time he finds himself faced with the same choice.

    It’s a strong statement. Yeah, it’s told under the guise of phaser battles and Klingons... but it’s still an interesting way to get across something that could easily be dismissed if told “traditionally”. While Star Trek is sometimes about these heavy sci-fi concepts, one could argue that it’s best when it focuses on the human element. DS9 was like this because it had the backdrop of war, so it was allowed to focus on the human element of the show often times.

    Jake allowed the viewer into a new way of seeing the world that Star Trek was trying to create by showing us someone who wasn’t a warrior, captain, or engineer. He was just a regular guy, caught up in life-changing events. He was also a big part of an episode I need to discuss on it’s own, “The Visitor” which we’ll get to while we discuss Deep Space Nine this summer. But his “everyman” status allowed him a unique glimpse into photon torpedos or warp cores. I think people tend to forget that as they critique the show, and his character gets moved to the sidelines. It’s a nice reminder that for every Hamlet, there’s a gravedigger who is going about his job, just sort of watching the events.

Where's Your Deep Space Nine Post?

   All this week I have been writing about the various episodes of Star Trek series and their relationship to stories. There were quite a few covered, I recommend you go back and read them. But there was a glaring series left out: Deep Space Nine.

    Some of you have asked me why this series was left out. It’s simple. It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite for a lot of reasons. I sat down to pick and episode to write about, and I couldn’t. Which one should I write about? “Far Beyond the Stars?” “Nor Battle To the Strong”? “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night”? The list kept growing. While it was easy to pick out an episode of Next Generation or Enterprise and play with that, I kept getting stuck. I couldn’t pick just one and leave it there. I needed to write more. The original draft for Wednesday’s Post (The original Deep Space Nine post) was four pages long. FOUR PAGES. I get to a page and a half on a good day of writing Bad Shakespeare.

    Last year when I started this blog, I asked the question as to whether we want to count movies and TV shows as literature. I answered that with an in depth look into the world of Breaking Bad, and those tended to be the most popular posts. (That and the Life of Pi review during the Oscar Movie Marathon. What’s up with that, people?) I think partly because people enjoy Breaking Bad, and I think partly because people were looking for spoilers. I hope they stuck around for some of the other posts.

    So, I’m going to do that again with Deep Space Nine. Which I’ll start referring to as DS9, because Deep Space Nine will increase my word count, it’s a lot to type. I want to look at a series that was doing serialized drama and large casts back when it wasn’t cool. It was a series that took risks, told stories that other series, much less Star Trek series, wouldn’t tell. Let me put it this way, one of the main characters is a terrorist. I have a feeling that might not play so well today.

    For those of you who are unfamiliar, Deep Space Nine is about a space station that orbits Bajor, a planet first introduced in The Next Generation. It follows the crew as they help Bajor become part of the Federation, and as they do battle against a dangerous enemy from the Gamma Quadrant. (The earliest literature featured monsters and gods eating their kids. This isn’t so weird, people.) I plan on exploring characters, themes, and various episodes for the duration of the summer.

    This post is going to be short because this is an introduction, but stay tuned for Deep Space Nine Fridays on Bad Shakespeare.

"These Are The Voyages..." and How Stories Impact Us

               

              Here we go. Day four of Bad Shakespeare’s ode to Star Trek, which is slightly better than Data’s Ode to Spot. While both have great literary merit, I think it’s best if we explore the non-feline version of odes.

                We’ve explored stories that that don’t end as neatly as we expect with “City on the Edge of Forever.” Picard learned how to play the flute (and how stories need to be passed down) in “Inner Light.” And Voyager’s Doctor was a “Living Witness” to how stories can get twisted around. But, what can we do with those stories?

Star Trek: Enterprise – “These Are The Voyages…”

Archer, Picard, Kirk: "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange, new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before."

                The last episode of Star Trek: Enterprise was met with a lot of negative reviews. A lot of people weren’t happy that Riker and Troi from The Next Generation “stealing the spotlight” so to speak, of a crew that they’d grown to love over the years. Some even argued that Enterprise had found it’s voice, and this took it away. Me, personally, I enjoyed it. I thought it was kind of the perfect ending for a prequel series that didn’t really need to be prequeled.

                Star Trek was a brave new vision of the future. We really didn’t need to see Dr. Sam Beckett and his backwards adventures of pre-Kirk, moving slower and finding all the alien races we’ve already grown to love. Or tolerate, in some cases. But towards the end of the series, it really made it work. I hated seeing it go when it was just getting good.

                But that’s part of the point of the last episode: it’s the prequel to everything we’ve seen before. Meaning, in the history of the show, Riker when to Starfleet Academy and learned all about the adventures of Captain Archer, Trip Tucker, T’Pol… all those people who came before him. (presumably. Maybe he just failed history?) He learned their stories. So when he’s given a difficult choice, given within the framework of the Next Generation Episode, “Pegasus” it would make sense that he’d go back to those stories to draw strength and find inspiration.

                “These Are the Voyages…” (I really shouldn’t be writing this so short after my Voyager post, I really want to keep typing “These Are the Voyagers” which would have been a cool name for an episode. Why didn’t they get on that?) features Riker having to make a bold choice: rat out the Admiral that had him do something highly illegal, or be honest. He goes back to the stories of Archer and the founding of the Federation and watches it in Holograph form. At one point, he watches the sacrifice that Trip Tucker would ultimately make, and was able to ask him about it. It’s actually a fitting sendoff for the show.

                But it also concerns itself with the idea of stories, and how we can draw inspiration from them. As we know, Riker would eventually ask that he be put under arrest, along with the Admiral, for his actions. Now, the original episode didn’t feature anything Star Trek: Enterprise. At this point people were more concerned with creating Voyager, so it does require suspension of disbelief that he would have time to go and do all of this during the original “Pegasus.” However, once you believe that we have starships that visit alien planets with green skinned women, well… you have to start accepting other things. Riker had to focus on his belief in stories (or history… I’m going with stories. I’ll be honest with you, when I started this I’d hoped to focus on literature, but ended up focusing on stories. Literature is tomorrow.) to find what he wanted to do.

                “City on the Edge of Forever”, “Inner Light,” “Living Witness”, and “These are the Voyages…” all showcase an aspect of stories that are important. Whether it’s the idea of a twist ending, or how we pass on  stories, or how those stories can get changed, or finally, how stories change us, they all focus deeply on what it means to have a story, or be a storyteller. Star Trek is a series that understands that. It uses the idea of stories to its advantage. Deep Space Nine even has an episode called “The Storyteller” and focuses on the importance of that role. It’s not just green skinned alien girls and phasers. It’s real people, affected not only by the stories they’re creating, but also by the stories that have come before them. Not bad for a series that started out being cancelled after two seasons, revived, then cancelled again.

                Tomorrow: We discuss Deep Space Nine… the Star Trek series ahead of its time, and one of the more literary things to grace our television. You’ll note, I’m not going to be discussing one episode. I’ve been looking forward to discussing Deep Space Nine for a while now, and considered following Breaking Bad Shakespeare Fridays with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Fridays. I still might.

                Some point in the future: this isn’t a movie blog, but what the hell, a review of both Star Trek Into Darkness and The Great Gatsby are on their way for you. The last one isn’t Star Trek related.

Computer: Activate the Emergency Medical Story Generator

Those of you who have been following for the week, you know the drill. I’m writing about an episode of each of the Star Trek series in order, with one glaring exception that you’ll note today. Rather than covering Deep Space Nine, I’m jumping right to Voyager. There’s a reason for that, and we’ll get to it on Friday. But each of the episodes we discuss have some significant literary element I want to discuss.

    To recap, on Monday we explored the “City on the Edge of Forever” from the original Star Trek, and the fact that it doesn’t have a standard, “good guys win” ending. Then, we kept our Wesley Crusher jokes to a minimum as we discussed “Inner Light” a fantastic hour of television that explored the importance of stories, even if it involves being zapped with a beam of light. Originally I was going to discuss the underrated Voyager episode, “Prototype” but then I realized there was one even better that explored the themes I wanted to discuss. How important are stories?

    Star Trek: Voyager - “Living Witness.”

    The Doctor: “What's going to happen to me now? Will you put me on display? The holographic Rip van Winkle?"

    Star Trek: Voyager was one of the more... let’s say “problematic” Star Trek series. Not exactly beloved by fans, it had it’s share of problems. While I never felt it was horrible, I could see where some of those problems came from. But overall I enjoyed it, one episode in particular that sticks with me even today.

    We’re all concerned with our legacies. What will the world think of us once we’re gone? What kind of impact will we have made. Star Trek: Voyager asked that question once. Voyager was about a starship that was cut off from Starfleet and hurled 75,000 light years away from home in their first episode. (Sort of like Lost in Space, but with more Klingons and less robots flailing their arms uselessly.) One of the more interesting characters is that of the Doctor. When Voyager was thrown that far away, most of the important senior officers who names weren’t in the credits were killed. When the doctor was tragically killed by an exploding somethingorother, and for some reason a ship of 300 people only had one doctor on board, the logical solution was to build a holographic one.

    I like Star Trek. A lot. But I’ll be the first to admit that some solutions don’t make sense. It’s science fiction. As the song says, “repeat to yourself it’s just a show, you should really just relax.”

    “Living Witness” asks the question, “what impact did Voyager have while it was flying through space, trying to get home?” 700 years in the future, the Doctor (or his backup program... it’s all very fuzzy on what exactly happens) is activated in a museum and told about Voyager’s path of destruction through their world. Of course, we, the viewer know that something is up; Voyager is a peaceful ship, if prone to stumble upon things. Never once did they send a Borg attack army against people, at least not on-screen. Apparently they got involved in a dispute between two alien worlds, and through the years they got a reputation as destroyers. The Doctor does everything he can to change their minds; eventually the museum is destroyed because the Doctor attempted to tell the truth; people wanted to stick to their stories of martyrs and claim themselves as the “good guy.”

    I chose this episode over “Prototype” specifically because it has the element of what a story is, but with deeper consequences. (and a lot less killer robots. Except the Doctor. In fake-flashback.) It shows how much we hold onto our stories, and how beloved they can become. In the end, the Doctor... an artifact of Voyager, an actual witness to what occurred.... is able to set the record straight. And when he didn’t say what people wanted to believe, they rioted. When he went against the stories these people believed, they couldn’t accept it.

    The episode ends on a note of hope, showing that eventually the warring alien races put aside their differences and worked together as the Doctor tried to rejoin his friends back home. (or his backup program did. Like I said. Fuzzy.)

    Tomorrow we look at Enterprise’s ending and the importance of those stories we tell with “And These are the Voyages...”

The Next Generation and the Power of Stories (and the Horror of Crusher)

This week, as we count down to Star Trek Into Darkness (an English Teacher’s punctuation nightmare), Bad Shakespeare is taking a look at some his favorite episodes of Star Trek, and how they helped influence his love of literature. Yesterday we visited the Original Series with “City on the Edge of Forever.” Today we look at The Next Generation and Captain Picard’s “Inner Light.”

Picard: “Seize the time, Meribor. Live now. Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.”

    Mention “Inner Light” to any true fan of Star Trek, and it will launch the nerdiest debate ever on whether this episode was the best of Next Generation, or if “Best of Both Worlds” was the best. The answer is simple: “Inner Light” isn’t handicapped by the presence of Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton can pretend he’s embraced now... never forget Wesley Crusher. Those who forget Wesley are doomed to repeat him.)

    “Inner Light” is a fantastic hour of television. It’s actually a pretty simple scenario: Picard is zapped by a magic space beam and lives out his life on another planet. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that simple. In the end, it turns out that the magic space beam is actually the memories of another planet, designed to help preserve the memories of an ancient race.

    Star Trek is usually at it’s best when it’s telling a story that is helped by science fiction, but is understandable to just about anyone, and “Inner Light” is evidence of that. When Picard is zapped, he’s transported to another world, and he ends up living out an entire life, experiencing a culture, learning what it’s like to live on that world. The stories of this world (it turns out that the world died shortly after the probe containing the magic space beam was sent out) needed to be told, they needed to live on. Picard absorbed the knowledge of this world by living in it first hand. (All while his friends ran around, afraid that he was dying. Maybe the people who live on the world had a strange sense of humor?)

    Stories. Stories are important, especially the stories that make us who we are. I always liked the fact that “Inner Light” understood the importance of stories.  At the end of the day, stories will continue long after we’re gone.

    Tomorrow, we visit Star Trek: Voyager’s very strange, very twisty, “Prototype.” (Deep Space Nine is on Friday.)

Bad Shakespeare Presents: Star Trek Week

  

 As you all know by now, I’m excited by this year’s crop of Summer Movies that are making it a prosperous Summer Movie Season. Now that the world has been saved by evil fire breathing terrorists in Iron Man 3 and we got to see The Great Gatsby as I’m sure F. Scott Fitzgerald originally intended, it’s time we start focusing on one of three movies Bad Shakespeare is going to closely celebrate this summer: Star Trek Into Darkness. (The other two will be Much Ado About Nothing, and of course Man of Steel.) I want to take this week to discuss Star Trek and it's Shakespearean Influence, but in a way that didn't involve Hamlet being translated to Klingon.

    I’m a huge fan of Star Trek. I remember watching all of the original series in reruns when I was growing up (this was back before you could just pop a series in a DVD player, or stream it Netflix, or download it directly into your brain. That last one is for future generations that have this blog beamed directly into their heads.) And it’s a great show. It was ahead of it’s time, even going so far as to feature one of the first interracial kisses on television. It also helped introduce the world to William Shatner, who talk-sang his way through albums back before things could be fixed with auto-tune.

    This week, in honor of Star Trek Into Darkness coming to theaters, I’m going to pick one episode from each of the five series, and write about them. Yes, even Voyager. I’m going mostly in order with the exception of one series, and you’ll see why when you read it. Now, onto Bad Shakespeare’s Star Trek Week.

Star Trek: “City on the Edge of Forever”

Dr. McCoy: You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did?

Spock: He knows, Doctor. He knows.
   
    For the original Series, I was wondering which episode I’d write about. There of course was “Space Seed” which may have been appropriate since it features Khan and Benedict Cumberbatch most certainly isn’t playing Khan in the upcoming Star Trek movie (WINK). But I decided to write about one of the classics, “City on the Edge of Forever.”

    For those of you who don’t remember, “City on the Edge of Forever” focuses on a time traveling McCoy who goes crazy, time travels, then stops the death of Edith Keeler, thus changing the timeline so the Nazis won World War 2. Spock and Kirk realize that the only way to save the timeline is to allow her to die. It’s a deep, tragic moment, where Spock and Kirk have to ignore their heroic instincts and allow this woman to die because everything would be all wonky if they allowed her to live. (Time travel! Yay!)

    I can remember watching this one when I was little, and this was the first instance I remember of when the “good guys” didn’t just win. No loophole. No, “hey, let’s bring Edith to the future with us!” No way out, other than Spock and Kirk holding McCoy back long enough for a woman to get hit by a truck. Boom. Episode over. The good guys “win” by allowing someone to die. It was brutal to see someone killed like that. I still remember the gut punch that was that episode of television.

    This is one of the more tragic episodes of television. It also takes a huge risk. By not acting, our heroes restore a timeline (I know... this week there’s going to be lots of references to timelines, spaceships, and tribbles. It’s Star Trek Week. When in doubt, just yell something that sounds technical.) and save the day. I’d have to say that this episode introduced me to the idea of a tragic ending, much of what I’d learn to love later in Shakespeare. Not all endings had to be happy in the traditional sense in order to be best for everyone. Sometimes, someone has to die in order to make things right. Sometimes someone dies to make a point.

    Tomorrow, we are going to head on over to The Next Generation to check out Captain Picard’s “Inner Light.”

Summer Movie Season Begins Mini-Post! (Because I Was Wrong. Horribly Horribly Wrong.)

In honor of the start of Summer Movie Season, I was going to post my grand unified theory of exactly who Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be in the new Star Trek movie. I had research. I had taken a look at back episodes and back interviews. I scoured different stories on the internet and I was prepared to post my big theory:

Benedict Cumberbatch was playing Captain Robert April, the first Captain of the USS Enterprise. Captain April was responsible for de-aging the crew an episode, he has a grudge against the crew, he was voiced by James "Scotty" Doohan... (that had nothing to do with anything, I was just bragging about my research skills.)

Once again coming up with a victory dance before the actual victory has come back to haunt me.

Then in doing my research I actually found out who he's playing, and I was wrong. I won't spoil it here but...

grumble, grumble, grumble.

So, I guess I won't be posting my theory because I was wrong. The movie looks interesting.

But enough depressing! It's the start of Summer Movie Season! It kicks off with Iron Man 3, starting today! It's the first of the summer movies to come out, and it promises to so awesome. I'm sure I could do some research on Iron Man and the deep history of rich guys donning costumes and becoming the superhero (Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, Hamlet...) or a deep look into the history of theater and what it means but, you know what? It's the Summer Movie Season. I just want to see Robert Downey, Jr as Tony Stark, and a CGI Iron Man fight as many bad guys as he possibly can.

Yay!

Benson, Robert Frost, Firefly, and Star Trek. Possibly the Best Year End Post, Ever.

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”  -Neil Gaiman

So, here we all are, the end of the old year, and the beginning of the new year. It’s a time for resolutions, it’s a time for promises, it’s a time where we reflect on the past year, on past accomplishments and past... well we won’t really call them “failures” so much as “oopsie daisies.” 

I’ve always found it both odd and interesting that we take this time to reflect. On the one hand, nothing really changes. Today is Monday, tomorrow will be Tuesday no matter what the calendar says. Same bills are due. Rent is due. All that really happened is that when someone asks me the date I’m going to type 2012 instead of 2013 for a little while, much in the same way that sometimes I’ll accidentally type “February” when we reach January 31st. Really most of the Earth stays the same.

But on the other hand, it is another year, insofar as we understand time, gone. We do have a need to recognize time gone by, whether it be some kind of anniversary (That I swear I’ll remember this time) or birthday (until you reach 39) or some other significant event that you want to recognize (11 years since Firefly was taken off the air. We want your adventures back, Captain Mal.)

The other interesting concept is the idea of New Years Resolutions. I used to enjoy making these, back when the stakes were lower. I mean, “Hey I want to get in shape” means something different. But I don’t like making them now. Not that I think people should, (especially me) but because they’re so easy to break. Yes, I made a promise to myself I’d write more, but there’s this Firefly marathon on, and I don’t want to miss an episode that I’ve already seen twenty times. (Damn you, Joss Whedon!)

So, this year I have decided I’m not making any resolutions. I’m not making easily breakable promises that I’ll forget in a couple of months and chalk it up to “Not keeping my New Years Resolutions”. No, the Twenty Twelve Michael Bay Explosion Monster really did a number on me. And the only way that things are going to get better is if I make some changes. Real changes that will improve my life and ensure that there’s no Twenty Twelve Michael Bay Explosion Monster Part two. I’m at the point that I need 2013 to be better for my own general sanity. So I’m not making resolutions. I’m making actual promises that I must keep. There is no other option. So...

I promise to actually start do do more with my writing. Yes, I blog here at Bad Shakespeare, and I will continue to do so. And I love each and every one of my readers, thank you for following these adventures. But I need to do more. I need to finish my comedy novel that got mired in my own melancholy and was stalled. (That’s a good line. Remind me to do something with that.)

I promise to finish my degree and become a teacher. I’ve spent a good number of years learning what I’m not good at. I’m an ok editor. I’m a pretty good writer. I’m a so-so government acquistioner. I suck at working at Best Buy and as a Lifeguard. But I’m an excellent teacher. I love literature. Keeping me out of a classroom is bad for me. I have so many ideas, some original and some standing on top of desks like Robin Williams in that one movie.

I promise to do more that scares me and makes me uncomfortable. Like all of life’s big questions, I usually turn to the philosophy imparted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (Two science fiction references in one post! Score!) In it, Constable Odo, who’s a shapeshifter, was a blob of goo that was found by a scientist. The Scientist “tortured” him until he finally showed him that he was a living, thinking creature that could shapeshift into the guy that played Clayton on Benson. The kicker was the scientist wasn’t torturing him. Odo loved being a blob of goo. That was comfortable to him. It was being uncomfortable and challenging himself that allowed him to eventually become humanoid, then help round out the cast of the best Star Trek series on television to date. We all need to be a little uncomfortable or scared. Taking the well-worn path is easy. Look at the Frost Poem “The Road Not Taken”. While people love to quote it and hold it up as an example of adventure! Of course once you read it you find out that the speaker has decided to just call the path he took as the one less travelled. Probably to impress the ladies. So rather than just saying I’m taking the scarier path, I’m going to actually take the scary path.

Star Trek, Benson, and Robert Frost in one paragraph. I’m on a roll today!

There are more, and I will update you all on them as they occur. From me, I hope you all have a healthy, happy, exciting, wonderful, unsafe, book reading, suprising, adventure filled, twitterpaited, gravity-defying, goal breaking, path not taken, Cow and Boy reading, Yippie Kai Yaying, Bad Shakespeare reading, Firefly-watching, Benson-referencing 2013. 

And as for you, Twenty Twelve Michael Bay Explosion Monster... you didn’t win.