Owen J. North

Okay so, here's the deal. I know I don't need it until I get out of the academy, but I had what I feel is a really cool idea for a character background while discussing ideas with another member on msn, and I'm starting to write it out so that, when the time comes, I'm ready to go... but I need some help fleshing out a few facts (esp. considering memory alpha isn't being much help). I'm trying to discern how and when humans first made contact with an alien race. Who was the first race they encountered? How and when did it happen? What was the result? (Memory alpha has given me a bit of info on each of the first contacts: first contact with Vulcans, with Klingons, etc. but I can't seem to find any info regarding what happened first.) Also, it seems to me that in such a discovery there would be controversy - namely, people objecting to the process of inter-mingling with alien races and things like that... is there any canon information to confirm or deny such an idea?

In doing my research for these sims, I've started downloading and watching all the old original films. I'm not exactly doing them in order (since the first one won't seem to download, and I started with First Contact, because of specific info I wanted)... and I couldn't help but wonder why everybody says "Wrath of Khan" is the best of the TOS films. Honestly, I just don't get it. It wasn't BAD, per say... but I certainly didn't get the hype. I was particularly disappointed by the "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" scene, since I've heard so much about what a great moment it was, how memorable it was, seen it quoted so many times... I was waiting, and waiting and... then, like a balloon when you let go of the end, my hopes deflated. THAT WAS IT? REALLY!?!?! Now, I'm probably gonna spark a big debate here... and knowing my opinions, I'll probably stand alone in thinking so... but I really feel that following up this one with "The Search For Spock" just made it look even worse. I'm not a Trek expert, so I can't say much for how it handled the franchise... but, with a few glaring omissions (the Klingons WERE a tad on the lame side, and what the hell was their pet thing?) I found this to be an INFINITELY more enjoyable movie. The story was far more original (that's one "back from the dead" story I've never seen!), seeing them flying around space in leather jackets and the like was a nice break from convention (esp. since those new "everybody's red" uniforms were so terrible)... and truth be told, it was nice to see them use the main officers for everything FOR A REASON instead of going "we have a hundred or more people on this ship, but lets just send the ones who really matter", lol. I also, for the FIRST TIME had a legitimate sense of suspense from anything involving the TOS crew (wondering how Kirk was gonna get himself and Spock off the planet, though admittedly I wasn't a big fan of how they decided to do it. I had what I feel was a much better idea in mind). Especially with this film (currently tied with First Contact in my mind the most enjoyable of the old ones) following so soon after, I don't understand why ANYBODY makes such a big deal about "Wrath Of Khan". Now... dare I ask? Thoughts, anyone?

Well, frankly, here's what I think of the only one's I've seen so far... Wrath of Khan - watchable... but not all that great. I didn't have one legitimate emotional reaction to the whole thing. I might have to Spock dying, if I didn't know he was coming back (thanks to his older self appearing in the new one, and the title of the next movie.) But with that twist spoiled, I just really didn't see anything all that hype-worthy. I find it strange that this is the only one I'd heard about enough to know the title. Search For Spock - Trek or not, this was just an awesome movie. The whole cell regeneration/advanced aging thing was simply genius, the whole idea of Klingons exploiting the machine as a weapon was just a brilliant plot twist... if only they'd slightly tweaked Kirk's way of getting himself and Spock up into the Klingon ship, this could borderline on being a perfect film... at least, in my mind. (Well, and maybe recast a couple roles to get slightly better actors). The Voyage Home - This one was good... but in a completely different way. Where the last one was like, a good actionish/semi thriller.... Voyage seems to be intended more as a comedy (I mean, come on, the conversations with Spock using "the hell" in everything? Lowering the plexiglass into a cloaked ship? And OF COURSE Chekov was the only one who could have possibly been caught in a nuclear powered ship during those days, lol). It was good, but hard to compare to the others because of it's deliberate campiness. First Contact - This is more what I expect from Trek. Still a good movie, but there's a certain unexpectedness to 'Search' that kinda pulls it up a little. I can't really decide which one I like more. This one has, in my mind, the better crew... obviously better effects, but I do like the story from 'Search' a bit more. ...Just finished the download on Generations, and The Motion Picture and Final Frontier are about half way.

Okay so, while watching a DS9 episode, an interesting question about chain of command came up in my mind. According to normal chain of command procedure, I understand that officers in any given department report to their chief, who reports to command, and vice versa... but let's say a member of another department sees something that requires the immediate attention of another department? Ex. AENG comes across a fight breaking out, and needs to notify security. Would he then have to report it to his own department head, and go through all the normal chanels (i.e. AENG to CENG to XO/CO, to CSEC, to ASEC?) or would is there some kind of exception made in the case of an emergency, allowing the AENG to directly contact security?

'Not available in your region'. Stupid American companies. First that SNL link somebody posted, now this. I miss out on everything, lol.

Hey Kilby. As the next to most recent noob (unless somebody else joined that I didn't notice), welcome... and trust me, I have never watched a single episode or movie or anything until this last weekend... so if I can do it, your "rusty knowledge" won't mean ######, lol. By the way, where did you find the online episodes? Been looking for a good resource... but all the youtube ones have chunks that have been removed due to copyright ######, and the few other sites I've found take 3 days to load an episode, lol.

Meh... everything's an opportunity. If you can find a way to RP a Janitor and keep things interesting, that's a true show of skills right there, lol.

LMAO. I love a well placed Roberts reference. Thanks for the laugh, Will.

Okay so, still flushing out the background from my character, and there are a few more questions I have regarding Trek canon and/or reasonable deduction... 1. It's obvious that phasers and weapons of the like are the preferred weapon in space, but what about for people who're still on earth? Are these things being used down there as well, or are they still using conventional projectile style weaponry, or what? 2. What are the generally accepted time lines for the academy? (As in, what age do most people enter, how long does it generally take to graduate, etc?) 3. I know that Kirk is known and praised throughout like, all of Starfleet... but how well known are the rest of the shows characters? Is there any sort of precedent of any of the others being known and talked about? Also, I've been doing a lot of reading around the site to prepare to take my first steps into this world, and there are a couple things I'd really like to know before I do... 4. Regarding logs, I understand the difference between a duty and personal log... but what I don't get is the formatting for logs done by minor characters. For example, on the shows, they would generally begin with "Captains log..." etc. Well, what if you're just a lowly, say, security officer? Is it then "Security Officer's Log"? Or something else entirely? On the same topic, what exactly does the log term "supplemental" signify? 5. Regarding stardates, I've done a bit of reading on memory-alpha and other sites, and it seems like the method of determines stardates is inconsistent at best, and borderlining on random at worst... and yet I see a number of people using stardates in their posts. Is there a system behind how they're determined here, or are people just making up numbers? (P.S. Sorry to be such a pain... but one thing you will all learn about me is I'm a perfectionist. I want to make sure I don't end up being "that guy who makes a million and one errors every time you see his name pop up".)

No, I wasn't referring to the characters being played, per say. It was more to do with a recognition and admiration of those who had come before. For example, in the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribbleations" Sisko mentions the enterprise in a meeting with Temporal Investigations, and there's an instant recognition. Temporal: "HIS ship. James T. Kirk." Sisko: "The one and only." I wasn't asking if canon characters were played as much... more if other characters in the canon had that same sort of name recognition and reverence, or just Kirk. Yeah, that makes sense in that regard, but again I think my intention was lost in the actual writing. Where my confusion came from was seeing on memory-alpha and other such sites that phasers were a Starfleet/Federation related invention, and I wasn't sure if they would be made available to the general public on earth, or kept within Starfleet.

Atragon & V'Roy - I never said that my character was anti-Federation (infact, when that was insinuated, I flat out said that wasn't what I was going for)... I simply said that the presence of an Anti-Federation element is involved in my background story. All will be explained when I post my bio. V'Roy - Lol, well I was referring to a more personality-based loveliness... but technically, there IS a Sims pic on her personel profile, so she has a face... just not in that window, lol. Atragon - The reasoning behind that was that by the time it posted the thread, there had already been several posts to old threads befor then, and shoved it way down the page... and from the perspective of somebody with lots of experience watching how forums work, a lot of times people jump right into the higher threads and don't notice ones further down the page. (and honestly, what is it really wasting? It's not like there are a limited number of posts in a day that I'm eating up or anything... and if people didnt have time to notice it the first time,then really, where's the difference in time, either?)

Nah, that's not quite what I was going for... but I think I've more or less figured it out by talking to the lovely Ms. Kent, lol

Yes Sam, that's pretty much EXACTLY what I was looking for. I didn't think there was, nor did I WANT there to be evidence of a group exactly like that... because I like to consider myself an original thinker, I was simply looking for evidence that not everybody takes to the Federation and inter-species mingling with the same sense of "All's good in the universe" which I could use as a precident to create my character's background. As far as being less public and violent... that's exactly what I was going for. Basically imagine a group who feels the same way about space exploration and alien interaction that the Ahmish do about electricity and the like. No violent resistance, they just want no part of it.

Hmmm... alright, thanks Sorehl. What I'm thinking though is that, based on human nature, there must have been at least a small contingent of the human population who was against this, as humans have a tendency to fear even small changes, much less big ones like that. So, to those who feel they know the franchise well enough, the question I pose is: Would you consider it likely at all that a certain small group could have been so against the inter-mingling of species that they could have taken steps (i.e. moving to less populated parts of the planet, to avoid contact) to keep their way of life in tact?

Okay so, here's the deal. I'm new here (obviously), haven't even done my first academy session yet (since I had the bad luck to show up just as it seems everything is shutting down for the holiday). I have about 10 years of roleplaying experience in all sorts of different settings... but this is my first venture into the Trek universe. As a matter of fact, I had never even watched an episode of any of the shows or anything until this week (seeing the new movie got me curious, lol). What I'm wondering is... is being a new comer to the franchise going to throw me completely out of whack, and leave me stuck in the academy forever? I've been doing a lot of research this last little while and have come to understand things like the ranking systems, screw positions, a certain degree of ship equipment, etc. but I'm still FAR from an expert. For example, when reading the "How to Sim" section of the main page I would see phrases like "transport room 3" and think "How many transport rooms ARE there?" So basically my first question is, are not knowing things like that going to hurt my chances? Also, if anybody has some advice on things I should look up, and possibly some good resources, it would be much appreciated. Also, I noticed on another new person's post that a member made a comment about playing characters from specific timelines. I'm a little confused as to how that would work. Are different sims based in different timelines? Are you expected to establish what timeline your character exists in, or is it just something some people do for their own amusement? Lastly, since I'm just starting out, i don't quite know the order in which to do things. Do I write up some kind of profile for my character first, so he can be used in the academy, or do the academy first and worry about stuff like that later?

Oh and for the record, anybody checking back here... I did have another question, but it's more regarding Trek knowledge than the game itself, so I posted it on the 'Community & Trek Discussion' board. If your Trek knowledge is good, please do me a favor and check it out.

players, yes... but thats what I'm saying. By your reasoning, it wouldnt matter how long someone had been on the board, because when they start a character for that ship, they would start off as an ensign... thus, everybody on the ship should be an ensign. See what I mean? That's why I asked the question in the first place.

No, no, I wasn't talking about on the same ship. I meant in terms of say I have a character who I've worked up to Lt. on one ship, and I decide to start a new character on another ship. Trying to determine if that character starts off from scratch or not (cause then it seems to me that each new game would, by that reasoning, be a ship populated entirely by ensigns).

Yes Sam, I understood what he meant by different time periods... the question was how one determines what time period their character exists in. I just assumed the different sims were mroe or less different ships, etc. co-existing with eachother, and thus having different characters based in different timelines wouldn't make much sense. So I asked if the different sims were based in different timelines, etc. Yes and no. I WAS referring to online roleplaying for the most part (there've been isolated incidents of friends trying to get me into the whole basement, nerds, and dice seen but they didn't last, lol) ...but teamwork? Not quite so much. The sorts of roleplaying I've done so far were almost more of a competition, really. It's hard to explain to those who haven't done it but basically for example, my last one was based in a comic book-ish world, similar to the TV show 'Heroes'. Each character had their own motivations, quests, etc. and each week we would be presented with challenges related to our storline, for example "Person X fights Person Y" or "Person A is persuing Person B" and over the week we would each write sections of the events leading up to that challenge. For example, in the persuit example... Person B, a villain, might write a scene in which he steals something, Person A could write where he sees the crime in progress, etc) then at the end of the week, the organizers (similar to your GMs) would read over the "roleplays" written by each person involved, and the person who impressed them the most would "win" (thus determining if A catches B, etc.) ...so no, teamwork wasn't exactly the name of the game, and will take some adjustment, but I'm sure it won't take me long to integrate, as different RP sites I've been in have all functioned differently, so I'm used to having to adapt. To everybody else, thanks for the tips, and I can't wait to hop into the academy. It's my intention to hit every academy session possible, to try and graduate and get to the real deal as soon as possible. I fully intend on trying to be one of the best, most dedicated students the academy has ever had. Hope to see you all in the advanced sims very soon. O.J.N. P.S. - I just thought of another question. With this whole promotion business... how does that effect the actual roleplaying end of things? It was said that when you graduate from the academy you're promoted to ensign, so does that mean your character in the advanced will be an ensign until somebody sees fit to promote you again? What about if a single player decides to run two characters, do they have the same rank then?

Sam, thanks for the in-depth reply. With regard to the timeline question, this is the post that raised the question: ....and yes, I've been to Memory Alpha. I'ts good, I just feel like there's so much info to process, I didn't know if I would be able to get above the level of "useless noob" any time this century, lol. But for what its worth, I'd never seen an episode until yesterday and since then I've done enough reading on M.A. to understand ranking systems, the divisions, uniforms and how they work, and basic concepts of a few key races. Guess I'll just continue with my process of "pick an aspect and read" lol

Yeah, Memory Alpha was wear I've gotten most of my information so far. My concern comes in when it comes to situations like I've seen in Moose's tips and stuff. Like, the hypothetical I saw was "An asteroid is moving toward a station, what do you do?" and my knowledge would be limited to tractor, phasers, torpedos... the basics. Just hoping I don't end up in the academy forever simply due to lack of Trek knowledge.