User:Mak Thorpe

I don't expect that I shall be especially active on this wiki, but I do enjoy this sort of Science Fiction.

I am a heavy contributor to Wikimedia Commons, (14K edits, 750 uploads- with very few contested). I am capable of Bot operation and have used the python wikibot toolset for various maintenance tasks approved by administrators. I am also a sometimes contributor to Wikipedia (user page) on technical subjects.

For more info on my contributions there: please see my User page at Commons:User:Makthorpe.

Enterprise was the best Series
Though I grew up with the original Star Trek and I occaisinally watched next generation, my favorite series is Enterprise.

The cast did an exceptional job, playing their parts not as comic heros but with realism- For example Archer- the guy just wants to explore, stuff happens, very hard situations force him to bend the rules and these events bring him to understand who he is and what he really stands for. For anyone who has gone through similar events, that's reality- not what we see the Kirk or Picard doing. If my son looks on Bakula's Archer as a hero, then I'll know I did something right.

I am a big fan of Billingsley. He brought great poignancy and humor to the series and created some very imaginative characterizations. Very well done indeed.

Blalock- I have three daughters and if any of them become actors, I would hope they never be asked to wear the crown of thorns this actor had to endure. What is it with the trek franchise that they felt compelled to subject a female cast member to various indignities- eg ultra high mini skirts or in later series- wearing body suit? I know that the producers were marketing to the adolescent male audience but jeez- the intellect vs sexuality justaposition could have been handled with a little more subtlety. And dang- you kill off Tucker and there's nothing from the T'Pol character? There's all this capital built up in their relationship and it would have made for some powerful drama there. But instead the episodes focuses on superficial crap about Riker? Anyway, really dumb moves from the producers but I guess we should be happy about the good episodes where we have an intellectual woman who is believably in command of a situation.

I admire that the trek guys tried it with Janeway, but that role always came off as phoney and forced to me. But Blalock, like Barkula established a excellent role model. As a straight A student/ geek growing up, I knew a lot of intellectual gals who had a hard time dealing with their emotions. In my post-geek period, I also came to know a lot of impulsive girls equally would have benefitted from T'Pol, since they would have seen how they could be cool like her, taking control of a situation rather than allowing events/ overbearing men control them. Outstanding work.

Anyway, since this sort of commentary doesn't belong in discussions or articles, I thought I'd just dump it here. Anyone want to argue/agree violently with me, feel free to comment on my talk page.

Links of interest

 * Category:Memory_Alpha_pages_needing_attention
 * User:Cid_Highwind/Incomplete_episode_summaries
 * User:Vedek_Dukat/Episodes