Trekkie’s Log, Star Date -314892.30418943544

On Saturday (2/9) Katie, our friend Susanne and I went to the large Dome building at the Queen Mary for Star Trek: The Tour!Finally, a place where I could unleash my inner Trekkie!Yes, I publicly confess that, although I consider myself to be a sci-fi fan in general, I am specifically a Trekkie.No, I have never dressed as a character nor have I taken the time to learn Klingon and vacation at a Klingon language camp, but I have seen all of the movies and almost every episode of the shows (except "Enterprise" of course), and I have attended a few Star Trek Conventions. Star Trek: The Tour was not nearly as geeky as a Convention, in fact it was more Non-Trekkie friendly in that it was more like an interactive museum then a nerd fest.They had all kinds of sets, costumes, and props on display, including a few shows and motion simulators.There was an audio tour available for rent but I assured the girls that there was no need for one as long as I was with them. I proved this by being able to explain just about every prop, costume, and set that we looked at, whether they asked me to or not.I proved my Trekdome even further when we took two different trivia quizzes and I was able to correctly answer every question 100% correct to confirm my status as a starship captain. (And Jesus wept.) But hey, it was more fun than a Jem'Hadar drunk from Romulan Ale on Dabo Night!We had a blast, and I loved being the one who knew more than Katie and Susanne (the honor students) for once in my life.I don’t want to discredit Katie and Susanne, they are Star Trek fans, just not "Trekkies."For about 200 bars of gold pressed Latnum (that’s Ferengi for $17) we were able to buy a photo we had taken of us on the original Enterprise Bridge set.As usual, we needed to dress for the occasion, so Katie made the really cool T-shirts you see us wearing in the photo. And, yes, she does have Vulcan ears! She got them at a costume shop a couple years ago because she played a North Pole Elf at a children’s Christmas party, good thing she never throws anything away! The camera setup is made for group pictures so there is a large gap on the right side of the image. Instead of trimming the image and cutting off some of the set, I decided use my own cheap effects and added some Tribbles to fill in the composition.We also took a picture on the Next Generation/Enterprise D bridge, but we didn’t pay for it so we don’t have any proof that it happened. There was also the option to purchase a holographic beaming up photo that was pretty cool but it was way too expensive for our taste. We also shot a really goofy video where we were "green screened" into a 5 minute scene with Captain Kirk and the original Star Trek series cast. Ours was so fabulously entertaining that we exited the glow of the spotlights to thunderous applause but, again, it was ridiculously expensive to purchase the DVD of said scene so, we passed. We ended the day by watching the famous Trouble With Tibbles episode from the original Star Trek series.

Set a course for the unbridled glorification of hot green alien babes, and the Captain who loved them. Engage!

(Kenfield Trivia: In case you’re curious, yes, that is the correct start date for 2/9/08 10:00AM. Yes, we are that geeky, but not as much as the person who made THIS site.)

Drawings that Fit

Back in October I made these drawings for a comedy short film by Mike Olson titled, “Superpowers!”The film is about a caped crusader called Darko The Night Watchman, and his archenemies, Smiley, set in a 60’s style Adam West (Batman) world. These characters get stuck in an elevator together at a point when their careers are on the way down. The drawings I made are the comic book versions of the characters during their prime years. I designed these characters with Mike before the script and casting was completed.When Katie and I visited the set during the shoot we had a very surreal experience. While my eyes were still adjusting to the darkness of the studio a tall figure in a cap walked up to greet me, I don’t believe I returned the greeting very well because I was in shock. It was Darko in full garb! Now, just to clear things I have done a little costume design work in the past mainly for stage productions, but this was very different. Not only was this guy dressed in a fantastic Darko costume, but it was exactly like my drawing! I thought that the costume designer was just going to use my drawings as a base to work from but never did I expect the costumes to turn out just like them! Matt Biedel, the actor who played Darko, was a very nice guy and he did a great job with his performance.The man who built these wonderful costumes was Randal Sumabat, another nice guy. He comes from San Diego and worked on these outfits during his own free time within a very limited schedule! Randal, in a very giddy way, showed me his work on the Smiley costume, and again I was floored!Matt Gaydos, also a nice guy, played Smiley and pulled off an equally great performance!I am credited as the Concept Designer for this film and I still have more work to do. Currently Mike and I are designing the opening credits of the film which will feature more comic book drawings of the characters. I’ll be sure to tell you guys more about that later!
- Josh