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.
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Is this the disaster con you’ve been talking about doing or is that still coming?
I’m saving that particular storyline for Chapter Seven.
I saw this kind of train wreck happen at TWO conventions in Los Angeles. One of them rented a big chunk of the same space that Anime Expo uses, but barely promoted the con. The big draws were celebrity concerts and a film festival, but they didn’t actually make sure their tech worked for the film festival, or that they had an audience for the concerts. It was painful to watch, but I got my admission for half-price through an online coupon, so I got my money’s worth and more.
The other con, the convention chair insisted on doing the publicity himself, then had a family emergency, so nothing got into the media until the first day of the con. At THAT con, the registration system didn’t work, and they had no backup plan, not even lined paper. So they let the few people who showed up in for free on the first day of the con, which turned out to be the only day I could go.
Reminds me of one that occured here in Omaha not more than 3 or 4 years ago.
Advertised this one huge guest and a whole lot of little guests no one cared or knew about in the Omaha Metro, decided to host at THE biggest venue in the state, stated that they had over 3,000 attendees where seasoned staffers of other cons estimated that it was probably closer to 600…
Yep, me knows the feels.
I’ve just spent the last two days or so reading through the archive and I’ve really enjoyed the story so far. Looking forward to adding this to my regular reads.
This reminds me of how, in the Eighties, Spirt Of Light would rely primarily on word of mouth to promote their conventions. Never mind that by the time word of mouth reaches anyone in regards to a three day event, said event tends to be over, especially in those pre-internet days.