User:ARTaylor

ARTaylor, or ART for short, stands for Aaron R Taylor. I was born on June 27, 1987 in Florida, and grew up in California occassionally spending summer and/or Christmas in Wisconsin. I am currently studying cinema at San Francisco State University and am looking for an internship somewhere in the industry. More than anything I would like to write and direct movies in Hollywood.

I enjoy playing video games, watching movies, reading books, and just getting into the car and driving somewhere. I find most of my enjoyment from anything science fiction or adventure. I enjoy anything related to Star Trek, Star Wars, Halo, Alien, Predator, Spider-Man, X-Men, and so much more.

I've been a Trekkie all my life. My great-grandmother watched the original series back when it was first airing. TNG came out the same year I was born and I have been watching it for as long as I can remember. After my great grandmother died she left us a shell and stand just like the one Picard has in his office. I actually checked to see if it was the same one, but it has a different design.

I signed up on April 23, 2007.

Preferences
Although I love all things Trek, I also feel that not all Trek is equal. I stick mostly to the movies and television shows. I will read the novelization of movies but typically do not read anything from the expanded universe. My simplified opinion on the various shows and movies are as follows:


 * Star Trek: The Original Series - A revolutionary show that changed the world. Many moments of excessive camp and many more that left me wondering "What the f**k?" But it's so much fun that you can't help but enjoy it.
 * - It was good to see the crew on the big screen but it just wasn't interesting. A bit too much like 2001: A Space Odyssey but without the deep thought. The best part was simply the redesigned USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).
 * - I cannot describe just how great this movie is. From the wonderful Khan Noonien Singh to the death of Spock it is well made in every way and holds up against any sci-fi film that has come afterwards.
 * - More for Trekkies than anyone else. Plenty of fun moments but suffers from needing STII as a set up. The destruction of the Enterprise wasn't as shocking as it should have been. And Robin Curtis is a poor substitute for Kirstie Alley.
 * - Proves that a good sci-fi movie doesn't need phasers and torpedoes and fist fights to be entertaining. It provides more than enough humorous moments and excellent dialogue. Plus I go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium often and live in San Francisco and love seeing the filming locations.
 * - It has the best humor in all of Star Trek. Unfortunately it was one of the worst stories. Everything with the Klingons, Sybok, Sha Ka Ree should have been changed. Plenty of great character moments and I love how the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) doesn't work, it reminds me a lot of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. But it's all marred by William Shatner's self-indulgence.
 * - The Original Crew's best portrayal. An excellent send-off. This is the perfect Star Trek film. Exciting action, interesting characters, brilliant social commentary. Everything Star Trek ever was or tried to be.
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation - Probably the best show ever made. The first two seasons are far too close to the original series, and the last season got a little weird, but overall it was pure gold. It was everything the original series was trying to be.
 * - Vastly underrated. The perfect film to bridge to two series. Every moment is entertaining. Every time I watch it I am reminded of how much I love the movie. It may be a little difficult for non-Trekkies to understand the characters, but the die hard fans should be loving this more. And the death of James T. Kirk is not quite the same as Spock's, but both of his are certainly touching.
 * - Doesn't get much better than this. One of the most brilliant films ever made. The Borg truly are the greatest villains in Star Trek, both mentally, physically, and in theology. The portrayal of Zefram Cochrane is what Star Trek is about, getting people to think about the real world.
 * - It isn't bad but it isn't interesting. Just blah. Having Jean-Luc Picard and company fight against the Federation is an interesting premise, but it wasn't executed properly. Ru'afo makes a poor villain. I know his motivation and acknowledge his villainy, but I just don't care.
 * - What were they thinking?
 * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Interesting addition but they must have gotten bored with being on a single station the whole time. The early seasons feature the same uninteresting story retold over and over. While the later seasons feature one long storyline that makes it almost impossible for newcomers to jump in and enjoy. There were times it seemed Avery Brooks was inserting modern day black issues into episodes, which is exactly not what Roddenberry was doing.
 * Star Trek: Voyager - Interesting premise, but came off as a TNG rip-off rather than its own series. I would have preferred if Kathryn Janeway actually broke some regulations, if the Maquis actually were separate from the regular crew instead of just altered ranking pips, or if there was an actual mutiny. That would have made it interesting. It has its moments but it doesn't have anything to make it distinct.
 * Star Trek: Enterprise - An interesting idea just not done right. The opening song was atrocious, should have been an orchestra piece like all the others not some pop song the producers found on iTunes. The Klingon augment virus was just a lousy way to explain production changes, and just didn't work. Why were they always rubbing lotion on each other while half naked? And why do they need to hide and then explain what pon farr is? We got it in the original series. Doing the exact same thing in VOY and ENT was dumb.
 * - Star Trek in name only. Creating an alternate universe was completely unnecessary. It could have been rebooted a hundred better ways. The movie was more Star Wars becoming a generic sci-fi flick that contains nothing that made Star Trek distinct, and was a slap in the face of everything Gene Roddenberry fought tooth and nail for. It's an entertaining movie but it's not Star Trek.

Wacky Unfounded Theories

 * George and Gracie were really the last two whales able to reproduce. Because Kirk took them into the future the humpback whale died out which in effect necessitated his going into the past to get those whales. Had Kirk never gone into the past the humpback whales would have lived and the Whale Probe never would have to come to Earth. In a way, Kirk was destined to kill off then revive the humpback whale.


 * Kirk and Picard never truly left the Nexus. In fact it is impossible to leave. Soran destroyed Veridian IV, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), and its crew. Picard simply wanted to leave so the Nexus made Picard think he did. Everything after that point was the Nexus interpreting real world events and allowing Picard to think he was participating. That would mean the Borg won the Battle of Sector 001 meaning there was no need for the Borg to go back in time.

Links I'd Be Surprised If You Clicked On

 * Marvel Animated Universe Wiki
 * YouTube