Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
So I'm just going to come out and say it: My favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "Conundrum." It's episode fourteen of season five, and I just deeply love it.
I don't know if it's because I literally just assumed Erich Anderson's Commander McDuff was a random Enterprise officer of the week (which we saw quite often during the show) when I watched it as a kid during the original run, so the twist actually worked on eleven year old me. I don't know if it's because I just like a good "everyone has amnesia" story. I don't even know if it's just because it's a good Ro Laren episode. I don't know if it's just because we learn that Starfleet doesn't give a crap about lasers.
I just like it. It's neat.
And I rewatched it last night, and feel that it holds up -- which is why I found it deeply weird that the folks who wrote the episode actually think it's not that good. My favorite episode of the entire seven season run of the show was a failure according to the folks who wrote it.
And maybe, as a writer and creator, I should remember that.
Like the hardest part of releasing creative works to the public is that often, after a while, I'll start to judge those things far more harshly than when I first made them. Or I'll compare it to the potential I thought an idea had in my head. And if I don't reach that potential, I'll think of it as "bad" -- when it might just be slightly different than that idea. I have one hundred percent published stories that I thought were just sort of okay and later had someone tell me how much it meant to them to read it.
*cough*I Hate November*cough*
So I should make sure I remember Conundrum. That one of my favorite things to rewatch is considered one of those failures by its creators. That the things I make might have value, just not in the way I originally thought they should.
It's just sort of how things work out.
Remember that on April 5th at 11AM Eastern/10AM Central you can join me for the Critical Thinking Witches' Collective's April Brew virtual event! Attendance is free, and you can register here!
![Nerd & Tie[dot]Social Forums](https://www.nerdandtie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/natsocial-nicepreview-square-300x300.png)
She is just about the most adorable drunk ever.
Captain Cute to the rescue!!
This entire arc reminds me of NebrasKon one year, where an attendee (cosplaying in Racoon City riot gear) went into a bank with his fake guns…
Cops were called, guns were verified as fake, he was let go with a warning. Some people just don’t think of the “outside world” or “mundanes” when they do stuff like this.
I remember doing a play once where I was Jesse James (long story). I’d also come down with a cold (which I do whenever I do a play at the same time I’m working a 40-hour week, something about over extending myself) and I’d decided to get myself an orange juice at the bodego next door. In full costume and make up (western outfit, three day growth of (fake) beard and two six guns). The next day I went into the same bodego BEFORE the performance to get the orange juice and the owner said; “That was YOU last night, wasn’t it? Man, I almost kicked your ass out of my store coming in looking like that!”
I can sorta understand it. You’re just doing your thing and don’t think how it looks to other people. Couple years ago, went to see a movie on halloween. As I came out, took a moment to figure why people were looking at me funny. Had forgotten i was in costume.
Con i went ti this weekend had a booth next to the general lee at the entrence selling confederate flags…. ill trade them