Trek 2 Will: Thoughts from Barrow

Seventy-five years ago today, my hero died. And today, on that anniversary, I’m making a life-long mission come true: visiting far north Barrow, Alaska.

For it was here on the Arctic Ocean coast, this northernmost point of all America, where Will Rogers—and aviation pioneer Wiley Post—died in a freak plane accident on Aug. 15, 1935.

What does that have to do with Trekland?

Well, it’s only been the last couple years that I have figured out that very question for myself. And it’s a much firmer connection than Star Trek IV, where the Earth “landing” of the Bird-of-Prey “HMS Bounty” was actually on Will’s polo field at his Pacific Palisades ranch, now a California state park where I am a docent.
Yep, I’ve about decided part of the appeal for me personally is that Will Rogers was Star Trek before Star Trek was cool —much less invented.

How so? Well…pick your favorite angle from Gene's universe:
—You want exploration? Will pushed the wild blue yonder, nagging locales to build airports and nailing the Feds for an independent Air Force. And his globe-trotting amounted to three orbits of the world over his 55 years, beginning in his early 20s : the Far East, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and twice across Soviet Russia.
—You want IDIC—“Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations”? Will, a quarter-blood Cherokee who grew up with the kids of former slaves, says: “We will never have true civilization until we learn to respect the rights of others.”
—You want the Prime Directive? Will says: “When you get into trouble 5,000 miles from home, you’ve got to have been looking for it.”
—You want gadgets? Will could “duct tape-‘n’-baling wire” anything together, but he’s the one with the surround-spray nozzles in his 1930 shower, or the hand-crank “hurdy-gurdy" piano music box in his home.
—You want a thirst for knowledge? Will had a pull-down classroom map set mounted over his desk, besides his book library; he would have been the first guy on his block with a modem, if he’d lived to the 1980s.
 
Throw in the fact that Doctor McCoy is about as sage and keen a country wit as Will is—and that he and De share the same big, friendly, lined smile—and the link is complete. Suddenly, all is clear. I need no longer keep my two loves separate from each other any longer.

Not only that, but I knew Will invented both the “nightly monologue” on timely topics, and the concept of a “goodwill ambassador.” But now it hits me: Will started his little “Daily Telegram” of 1-3 paragraphs in 1926 in over 600 newspapers. He was the original blogger!
And here in Barrow, site of the world-stopping death of Aug. 15 that was every bit the shock of Pearl Harbor or JFK or 9/11 in its day, we ask the old question once more:

Oh, Will, where are you when we need you today?
And with that, the follow-up thought is not far behind: Surely, there has to be a new name out there someplace to fill that all-in-one, irreplaceable gap… and boldy go where only Will has gone before.

The Great Vegas FEEDBACK LOOP Poll results

Never reported on a poll out here, but since this is so timely:

Over the last two weeks, I asked this question at
FEEDBACK LOOP at my LN.COM home page, with these choice options:

"It’s Vegas week, baby! Counting THIS YEAR, how many times have you attended the big show since it began in 2001?"

0—but want to                      31.82%

0—and don’t care to               0

1—my first year!                   22.73%

1—last year, post-"ST 09"      4.55%

1—any other year                   0

2-3—in a row, now!                9.09%

2-3—random years                9.09%

4-9—in a row, now!                9.09%

4-9—random years                9.09%

All 10, baby!                           4.55%
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This says as much about who visits LN.com as it does the Vegas con history, but illuminating nonetheless: The biggest single block, after no-show regrets, is first-timers!

'Trekland, Supplemental"—and startrek.com is LIVE again

Almost lost amid the crush and glare of Vegas Trek headlines was the chance to declare this startling statement:

I'm back on startrek.com, and I'm in good company.

For a while there it was beginning to look like no one could ever utter those first words again. But yes: Check out my debut piece—musing about fandom today and tomorrow, as well as the franchise—in a series we artfully christened "Trekland, Supplemental." I guessed we pricked a nerve somehow; the commenters are hopping already, too.

The grand ol' site has been on autopilot since the staff—and yours truly as a consultant—was let go in a 300-some mass layoff by CBS Interactive late in 2007. Startrek.com, which existed initially in the early days of the World Wide Web as "Star Trek Continuum" on MSN, had been around in roughly the same format since 1996 til then.

The retooled, redesigned site with a New York-based CBS crew has been open for business again in beta version since July 15—did you catch the news at trekmovie and trekweb and trektoday, for starters? (BTW: As sometimes happens, I'll let the main Trek news like that streak by at TREKLAND until there's something past the press release to add—and here's one of those times.)

Now, there's a series of guest bloggers each taking their own slant. After Leonard Nimoy penned a debut greeting, Doug Drexler went next July 30, sharing some of his personal Drexfiles video shot around the lot and FX houses over the years; Propworx' new auction king Alec Peters had the week before. For my part, TLS will be taking an occasional look at Trek topics both backward and forward in focus.

ST.com and staff have always been under the domain of first Paramount, then CBS, via their online/interactive units. But as a rare legacy site for either entity—being about a classic, not current movie or prime time show—it's always been an odd fit.

Now, CBS's licensing side has the keys, and is back spreading news about both productions and products—and keeping much of the raw database alive; the forums boards never stopped. There's also a news feed being tapped from all three of those fan news sites, as well, plus original news too.

I miss having all things Star Trek not being in LA, where it was made, but it's good to have the body of that URL back with blood pumping again. There's already a lot up and running, so go over and take a look—and watch those beta-version baby steps grow to full stride once again.

Spelunking down-under: "Q'apla!"

Yes, this story hit the interwaves a couple of  weeks back... and if you did miss it, it's worth a smile and a read—and my added note, below:

nuqneH! Australian cave tours available in Klingon

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian cave system is offering tours in Klingon, the alien language featured in cult science fiction series Star Trek, in what is believed to be a world first.

Jenolan Caves west of Sydney, the inspiration for Star Trek spacecraft the USS Jenolan, will offer audio guides in the fictional language from August 22, catering for the show's fans who flock to the attraction.  ...

BTW--Then-TNG writer Ron D. Moore had vacationed there in Australia over the 1992 hiatus, then came back and did name Scotty's transporter-loopy craft after the caves he had visited—but he misspelled it accidentally in the script for "Relics." Thus, that ship is officially the Jenolen, while the caves are actually Jenolan.

But how far have we come such that even the tourism folks see fit to play up that obscure Trek connection? The Intertubes is an amazing thing, even Down Under....where they apparently read the TNG Companion, too.

Roger & Me MONDAY: It's live Trek call-in on Blog Talk Radio

Squeezed in between Comic-Con and Trek Vegas: Crazy time, or perfect time, to talk Trek on the radiola tubes?

YES.

Blog Talk Radio is a LIVE Internet radio channel you can call in to—and "NBD Media" host Roger Noriega is having me back at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific time THIS Monday to address the State of the Trekland. (Go to his page for the player: there you can share it, and even set a timer.)

Con season is indeed hot, but there's still plenty to talk about as we all get used to the current flus of the Trek landscape. Last time I was on, Klingon language creator Marc Okrand made a surprise "appearance"—who knows what will happen this go-round.