Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

In truth I've been working on this homage to hairless bare chests, men with long, be-fringed salt-and-pepper hair, and (of course) the Original Series for such a relatively long time that it is borderline embarrassing. WHAT BETTER OPPORTUNITY to celebrate such things, though, than at the tail-end (ahem) of Valentine's Day? That is this project's saving grace (I hope.)

The Untamed Eroticism of the image/this sort-of holiday aside, however, I also feel that Khan is a character who (prior to being enveloped by the Genesis Project-related nebular explosion) really taught us (the Audience) a little something about the dangers of loving something Too Much (i.e. getting a tad over-enthusiastic about revenge, especially when it was against The One Man who could clearly Never be beaten, el capitán J.T. Kirk.)  

A moment of quiet consideration, please.

Elementary, My Dear Readers

I'm sorry to report that the updating fire nearly (NEARLY) died in the Internet-related portion of my creative heart, as the scanner which once felt so near suddenly seemed to be light years away (and only reachable with the assistance of a mysterious being called The Traveller, whose mission appears to be to wander around the universe until he meets someone as awesome as Wesley Crusher (NB: Nobody is as awesome as Wesley Crusher, except the Man(?) Himself, so this seems like a frustrating endeavour)).  Lucky for all 5 of this blog's loyal followers, this Sadness did not come to pass and I present to you three not-particularly-recent creations. 

Number one is the pipe that Data uses when he's playing the part of Sherlock Holmes, in what is quite possibly my least favourite TNG storyline trope (see: a story from a book played out in a holodeck on a ship in a TV show I'm watching in my living room. I don't care what kind of wacky effects the goings-on in the holodeck have on the Enterprise as a whole, I demand more aliens! (Unless those aliens are giving Riker yet another chance to be smarmy in which case you can keep them to yourself and, okay, I'm fine with Data wearing Tweed and affecting an accent)).  I'm going to go out on a limb here, actually, and say that my embroidered, embuttoned representation of the pipe is actually better than the episode that inspired it. 

Moving on, the second button depicts the Klingon battleaxe that Worf uses on the guy in the green mask, whom you will no doubt recall has already been so lovingly rendered and shared on this blog. Not much to say here except Worf talks a big game about training and being a warrior, but when any kind of fighting takes place he sure goes down quickly and with little effort. I'm just saying.

The final button is the goopy black tar monster that ***SPOILER ALERT*** kills Tasha Yar on the Sad Sand Planet of Styrofoam Rocks in the episode Skin of Evil (and in so doing somehow made me cry. Who knew such a thing was possible?) This Tar Guy was extra grumpy and acting-out because his people had all ditched him there when they left for another home planet, due to his being thoroughly unpleasant and embodying all of the evil in their world. Clearly by the time he killed Tasha he had not yet looked within to find life's answers, and was instead still blaming everyone else. 

Will he ever become self-actualised and find redemption? Will any of us? 

Honour is a Good Feeling at Any Time of the Year

Ever wondered what kind of mask is featured on the monster that Worf fights in the holodeck when he's training to be a Klingon Ninja (Klinja)? That would be the first button on the left. 

Have you had nightmares about Data's arm being removed in the court when that jerk was trying to get permission to take him apart by proving he was not really a sentient being, but was instead property of Starfleet? Well, are you in luck with that middle creation! 

"Hey," you say to yourself, "what was that crazy weapon that killed the bystander when Tasha Yar went to the 'African' planet and had to fight off the ruler's First Wife in a fluorescent light-enhanced gladiatorial battle, after the ruler decided he wanted to Get With Her (in the biblical way)?"  That's right! Button number 3!  

You'd think that I would have more to show for the last two weeks, but I've actually been cheating on Star Trek with a Different Embroidery Project of an Entirely Different Nature (photos probably not forthcoming).  Hopefully these delays won't continue!

Et voila - the four most recently completed buttons. Of these, I think my favourites are the shuttlecraft and the uniform top - the other two just didn't quite Make It.  Live and Get Better, though, hopefully.

(From L-R) The first is a shuttlecraft from an episode in Season 1 that I can't remember just at the minute - my heart says Code of Honour but my Internet searches tell me otherwise. Maybe some other Nerd will recognise it and let me know. "FULLY FUNCTIONAL" is of course a key quote from (everybody's favourite episode) The Naked Now, when the Drunken Virus fills the ship, Tasha goes and steals all of Troi's most alluring scarves to safety pin into an outfit in which to seduce Data (who is apparently programmed in a variety of techniques, if you get his drift), and after the antidote is found everybody works somewhat fruitlessly to de-awkward the Bridge environment and move on to something more PG. The third button is Tasha's regulation uniform, and is a little homage to her inspired by her (SPOILER ALERT) Death By B-Movie Quality Tar Monster (that button to come!) in Skin of Evil. The final work of Art is an Eiffel Tower with a space ship in honour of We'll Always Have Paris, where Picard has to save the universe AND get over a decades-old previous heartache (in Paris, obviously). Romantic!

Star Trek Buttons 1, 2, 3

Here are my first three efforts - all season 1.  The first is the Terallian Ship from the episode called Haven.  The next two are from the first-ever episode, Encounter at Farpoint (these aren't being done in any particular order). 

When I was first watching TNG at 12 or 13 I approached every show with a seriousness that was somehow undiminished by the general silliness of the special effects and plot lines. Now I spend much of each episode giggling, and noticing interpersonal dynamics and acting ... techniques, which I'm sure I did not see at the time.  Neither is a better approach. The show is still Genius.