Deep Space 9 Superior

[the Fifth Race]

DS9 season 2 episode discussion:
The Siege:

The weakest of the overall stellar three-parter wraps the plot up nicely, but unlike the first two parts there's more a sense that the story's events were pre-planned by a writing team than they followed inevitably from the setup of the story.

"The Siege" documents a Bajoran coup d'état that backs the Circle's planned takeover of Bajor. The military operation is led by General Krim who plans to take control of the station. Since internal Bajoran politics are out of the Federation's hands and the Circle's coup wants nothing to do with the Federation, Starfleet Command orders Sisko to evacuate all Starfleet personnel from the station. Sisko evacuates his crew, but hides himself and his team on the station to delay Krim's forces long enough so that Kira and Dax can deliver crucial proof of the Cardassian involvement to the Bajoran Chamber of Ministers.

"The Siege" is an entertaining and credible wrap-up of the situation that benefits from plenty of interesting intrigue, but there's also a great deal of lackluster action mired in here. The bloodless phaser fight on the promenade lacks punch, and scenes where Quark hauls his latinum through the air shafts are needless wastes of screen time. On the other hand, the fresh action sequences where Kira and Dax fly to Bajor in a run-down craft that's been sitting since the resistance days are both engaging and humorous, and incredibly well done. Kolbe's direction is spot on and the production is impressive, although the story's ending is less than what it could've been. The danger recedes a little too quickly, the Circle's coup disintegrates a tad too neatly, and the roles of characters like Jaro and Winn in the plot feel somewhat unfinished. Also, the arbitrary death that gets Li Nalas "off the hook" - while effective as closure for his character - highlights how much potential has been lost by simply deleting the character. The overall effect of this finale is good, but not up to what came before.

"The Siege" moved slowly and much of it just tried to find things for the neglected major characters to do; Dax hadn't said much all season until the giant spiders showed up, Julian saved Kira but that's about all he did, Odo turned into a rat, Quark's plotting seemed stereotypical even for a Ferengi. But I like the unresolved ending, with no clue what was going to happen next on the station or Bajor. Season one of Deep Space Nine ended with the brilliant, moving "Duet" and "In the Hands of the Prophets," which this trilogy followed up on superbly; this looked to be the beginning of a season-long arc, which unfortunately it did not end up becoming. Still, those five episodes together are my favorite DS9 from the first 2 seasons.

[USS Defiant]

One thing I am realizing while re-watching the first and now the second season of DS9 - is that Kira shined the most early on (if not for the entire series). Here is part of an interview done about a year after DS9 finsihed its run:

I just read and really appreciated that Nana Visitor (Kira) interview you posted up the other day brother Fifth Race:

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthrea...ew#post6700386

Do you have one with Louise Flethcher (Winn Adami) where, like the Nana Visitor interview, was done after the series was over where she reflects on playing the role of Vedek/Kai Winn?. If so I would love to read it, thank's.

[the Fifth Race]

Do you have one with Louise Flethcher (Winn Adami) where, like the Nana Visitor interview, was done after the series was over where she reflects on playing the role of Vedek/Kai Winn?. If so I would love to read it, thank's.

LOL, deja vu. I was wondering WTF happened to yesterdays posts?, then I read where they had to rollback the forum because of data-base errors Oh well, here is the Louise Flethcher/Winn Adami interview. And like I stated before - I have a huge library of most all Trek actor/characters (major, minor, part time & guest stars), writers, directors, producers ...etc... So make a request and I pretty sure I have it.

Becoming Kai

Fletcher - whose easy laugh and unassuming demeanor must come as a surprise to fans who know only the antagonists she has created - says she regrets the end of Deep Space Nine because she enjoyed playing the dauntless Kai. "I'm sorry it's over, because it was a great deal of fun for me being able to be broad and over the top when I felt like it. It was sort of permissible over-acting...well, I don't think it was really over-acting, because it's operatic." Unsurprisingly, the actress describes Winn not as a villain, but a tragic figure in the classical sense: "She has at least two tragic flaws, pride and ambition." Then, with a laugh, "Most Shakespearean characters only have one!"

We first met Vedek Winn back in the first season in the episode "In the Hands of the Prophets," when she used a religious controversy over the station's school as an opportunity to make an attempt on the life of rival Vedek Bareil. In subsequent episodes, Winn allied with corrupt Provisional Minister Jaro, threatened to expose the former Kai's wartime collusion in an effort to destroy Bareil's bid to succeed to her title, and took the credit as Kai for a treaty with Cardassia negotiated by the dying Bareil. She became First Minister and tried to have a Resistance hero imprisoned; then she sabotaged a Prophet's struggle with a Pah-Wraith by disregarding the Emissary's order not to interfere.

It was not clear until the end whether Winn was a megalomaniac incapable of seeing beyond her own self-interest or a leader with a conservative agenda that might have accomplished some long-term good for Bajor. It was also not clear whether Winn honestly believed she was fulfilling the will of the Prophets or if statements to that effect served to hide her spiritual emptiness. We learned the truth in the seventh season episode "Till Death Do Us Part," when the Kai admitted that the Prophets had never spoken to her. Subsequently, she renounced her allegiance to the gods of her people - unaware that the understanding lover to whom she confessed her ambitions was really Occupation architect Dukat, perhaps the only man in the galaxy she despised more than Benjamin Sisko. Or perhaps not: the discovery of her partner's identity did not stop Winn from releasing the Pah-Wraiths which would have destroyed her planet as well as the Emissary.

"I thought she was trying to believe," says Fletcher. "She made that speech about how she pretended to believe because that was what was expected of her, and when people said they heard the Prophets' voices, she just smiled and pretended she did too. She would say different things depending on who she was talking to. Except when the Emissary started to hear them, she was so jealous! She was contemptuous that he would have been chosen."

Thus the Kai followed the path to which the Gul had led her - straight into the Fire-Caves. Despite her vocal loathing towards him, could Winn have been diverted by love for Dukat, who appeared to be infatuated with her up until the moment he realized she had poisoned him as a sacrifice for the Pah-Wraiths? "I think she was fascinated by the whole idea, you know? Probably she had never had this experience," reflects Fletcher, laughing at the repeated mentions in the dialogue of the Kai's bed. "He was obviously programmed to say and do the right thing to get to her. I think he was faking it, because there were moments when he had kind of a snide look. But it was so much fun!"

Though it seems as if it would be complicated to play a woman from another planet in a position of ultimate authority - let alone one who's having a dark night of the soul - Fletcher says, "I don't really play any of those things. I just play. That's the only way I know how to work, just try to believe what they've asked me to say...which in the case of some of that language is very difficult!" Despite the infamous Trek technobabble and the Bajoran prayers Winn had to recite, "given who I've learned that she is over the past few years, none of this was difficult, because the ends justify the means to her. She was one of those people who just believes she's right no matter what. She's doing it for either her own good or the greater good, and if those two things happen to gel, then fine; if not, then we know which side she's going to come down on!"

It also wasn't at all difficult for Fletcher to find role models for Winn. "The world is populated by people who don't doubt their own motives; we encounter them on a daily basis, people who say, 'I'm doing this for your own good,'" she notes. "I do love using politicians and religious leaders. I love flicking through TV watching some of these 'miracle workers.' It so enrages me! And I find it so hilarious that right-to-life people often believe in the death penalty. It just amazes me that they can hold those views so strongly, that they can just stand there and say it and feel their feet are based in what's right. Hypocrisy is just rampant in our world."

"And those things are fun to play," continues Fletcher. "The writers just gave me the greatest things to say! It's a pleasure to play people who think that way, because they're so irritating in real life. I've played it before, and I've no doubt I'll play it again."

Nurse Ratched is the consummate example of such a character, a woman whose belief in her own methods leads to the lobotomization of a quintessential rebel. Fletcher's favorite line from Deep Space Nine has unintentionally funny echoes of those events. In the episode Life Support, Winn needed the badly injured Bareil to help her negotiate a treaty. "When Bareil was on his deathbed, she turned to the doctor and said, 'You replaced all his vital organs; can't you do the same thing with his brain?'" Though she declines to name a favorite episode, she says she loved working with Frank Langella at the beginning of the second season on "The Circle" and "The Siege." "That was kind of a baroque dance we did...that was fun."

What You Leave Behind

As she proved in the final Deep Space Nine episode, there's no reason for her to think about retiring. Louise Fletcher is sexier in her sixties than many actresses are in their twenties. Considering how non-erotic Star Trek has been accused of being - Voyager's Robert Beltran complained to the magazine Sci-Fi Universe that "holding hands is supposed to be thrilling," and Captain Janeway has not had a romantic relationship in five seasons - Kai Winn was part of one of the most passionate pairings in franchise history. During the final episodes, she kissed Dukat amorously to seal their alliance, fed him fruit as they lounged indulgently making jokes about her disapproving assistant, and threw off her robes when she denounced the Prophets. "She was dying to get those things off!" chuckles Fletcher. "That was a very good bit, throwing the clothes, the hat...the vise that she was in.

It's not clear from the ending of "What You Leave Behind" whether Winn was obliterated by the flames of the Fire-Caves, or whether - like Dukat among the Pah-Wraiths and Sisko among the Prophets - she's still alive in disembodied form, conceivably waiting to come back to haunt the universe. "Of course the Kai is not dead," insists Fletcher. "She will be equal to the sum of her parts as soon as Paramount calls."

Although she's a bad girl and not even a Starfleet officer, Winn has been extremely popular among fans. "I haven't done many conventions, I've only done two or three, it's just been amazing," Fletcher says. "One of my sons drove me once to the one in Pasadena. He and I were both astonished at the length of time people would stand in line to get a picture. I was sort of amazed! I haven't done many conventions so I'm not used to it; I was sort of blown away by it."

In contrast to series actors who are intimidated by the intensity of Trekkies, Fletcher finds Kai Winn's followers quite grounded in comparison to the some of the fans of Nurse Ratched who write to her. "Star Trek fans are so nice. I think they're a special breed of people," she notes. "They like the bad guy and the good guy, they know what's what, and they have a penchant for fantasy. I don't get any fan letters from people in jail from Star Trek. But fans of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are writing from all kinds of institutions." The actress laughs. "I got the most incredible fan letter yesterday from some guy in prison who claims to be a fall guy for the Bush-Reagan years, you know?"

Fletcher certainly doesn't fear typecasting from having appeared on Star Trek, as some of her peers on the series have expressed. The show may be contemporary myth, but Mildred Ratched is a cultural icon whose influence the actress is unlikely ever to live down - which is fine with Fletcher.

"The greatest thing is, she's in the lexicon. There was a column in The New York Times I read while I was in Europe, when Elizabeth Dole was suddenly going to run for President, and this was the comment: 'Nurse Ratched for President. It's about time our cuckoo's nest got a good tidying up.' And she backed that up with all of [Dole's] control issues. So when I got home, I sent the columnist this photograph of Nurse Ratched which I had taken in the dormitory when the guys were at lunch - I wanted to give them all a present, so I took off all my clothes except I put on Jack's boxer shorts, and I had my hat on. I was topless, and I did it like the Betty Grable pose, looking over my shoulder so it was a back view. I sent her this picture, and I wrote, 'Be careful what you wish for. Love, Mildred.'"

Asked what she is proudest of, Fletcher gets quiet for a minute. "I guess just keeping on, waking up in the morning and facing it again," she says finally. "It is a roller-coaster, life, and my career is an important part of my life, but my life is made up of so many things - my children, my friends. I guess I get a kind of sad sound in my voice when I talk about what am I most proud of, because I really don't know. I'm not a very proud person."

Not even when her fans call her 'Eminence'? "To me that's just funny!" laughs Fletcher. "I loved doing that to Kira, 'You may go now, my child.' There are these highlights when I'm working, feeling good, in the moment. There is this other thing that I'm proud of. Actors have nightmares about what can happen when you've got to work on something and your heart is somewhere else. I've had that, I've had problems in my life and working was very hard for me. But somehow, something else takes over, which is the training, or just conditioning, and I'm proud that I have that kind of concentration."

"So the fact that I have the work that I can do, that I've found what I really like doing, and that it can give me peace in a way, it's a joy to me," concludes Fletcher. "I'm proud that I've found something in my life that means as much to me as it does."

[Starbase]

There is a new Star Trek special on the History Channel tonight. It looks preety darn cool. Here is the header I got for it.....

Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier:

For forty years Star Trek has engrossed our imaginations and sent us on voyages across the galaxy. Through ten films and five series this entertainment juggernaut has become a pop culture icon and a window to our society. We will look at the impact that Star Trek has had on fans around the world. From the conventions in Europe and Las Vegas to the billionaire collector who scours the world for memorabilia, we will try to find out just what it is about this supposedly "silly" series that has meant so much to so many. Leonard Nimoy hosts.

[Trek_Girl42]

Woah.....I see some posts went.....well, I dunno where they went, but anyway, thanks Fifth for re-posting the interview.

[the Fifth Race]

Woah.....I see some posts went.....well, I dunno where they went, but anyway, thanks Fifth for re-posting the interview.

My pleasure Trek_Girl. I kind of did a double take when I saw about a page and half of posts gone.

I noticed you guys mentioned Star Wars and the 30 year anniversary of the franchise on some posts that got deleted. Either brother USS Defiant or Starbase had asked you whether you think George Lucas is going to get the itch to start making new sequels. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing another couple movies done that pick up where Return of the Jedi ends in the Star Wars time-line. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas starts making new Star Wars movies, the franchise is a cash cow and the lure of big money coupled with the fact he seems to truly love the Star Wars saga, might just suck him back in.

[USS Defiant]

There is a new Star Trek special on the History Channel tonight. It looks preety darn cool. Here is the header I got for it.....

Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier:

For forty years Star Trek has engrossed our imaginations and sent us on voyages across the galaxy. Through ten films and five series this entertainment juggernaut has become a pop culture icon and a window to our society. We will look at the impact that Star Trek has had on fans around the world. From the conventions in Europe and Las Vegas to the billionaire collector who scours the world for memorabilia, we will try to find out just what it is about this supposedly "silly" series that has meant so much to so many. Leonard Nimoy hosts.

I Tivo'd it last night. I believe it aired for the first time a couple of months ago but I had missed it, so thanks for the heads up brother Base. I nopticed Leonard Nimoy is hosting it and it supposedly is maninly about interviews with cast members from all 5 series (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT).

[Rac80]

DS9 season 2 episode discussion:
The Siege:

The weakest of the overall stellar three-parter wraps the plot up nicely, but unlike the first two parts there's more a sense that the story's events were pre-planned by a writing team than they followed inevitably from the setup of the story.

"The Siege" documents a Bajoran coup d'état that backs the Circle's planned takeover of Bajor. The military operation is led by General Krim who plans to take control of the station. Since internal Bajoran politics are out of the Federation's hands and the Circle's coup wants nothing to do with the Federation, Starfleet Command orders Sisko to evacuate all Starfleet personnel from the station. Sisko evacuates his crew, but hides himself and his team on the station to delay Krim's forces long enough so that Kira and Dax can deliver crucial proof of the Cardassian involvement to the Bajoran Chamber of Ministers.

"The Siege" is an entertaining and credible wrap-up of the situation that benefits from plenty of interesting intrigue, but there's also a great deal of lackluster action mired in here. The bloodless phaser fight on the promenade lacks punch, and scenes where Quark hauls his latinum through the air shafts are needless wastes of screen time. On the other hand, the fresh action sequences where Kira and Dax fly to Bajor in a run-down craft that's been sitting since the resistance days are both engaging and humorous, and incredibly well done. Kolbe's direction is spot on and the production is impressive, although the story's ending is less than what it could've been. The danger recedes a little too quickly, the Circle's coup disintegrates a tad too neatly, and the roles of characters like Jaro and Winn in the plot feel somewhat unfinished. Also, the arbitrary death that gets Li Nalas "off the hook" - while effective as closure for his character - highlights how much potential has been lost by simply deleting the character. The overall effect of this finale is good, but not up to what came before.

This trilogy has what I enjoyed BEST about DS9 ... political intrigue! I am the type of person who enjoys watching CSPAN and I find the inner workings of political power fascinating. I loved the way Sisko had cast himself as more than the emissary; as the protector of Bajor. Throughout the series he took the role of guardian of bajor and it was fascinating to watch those around him (jake, Kassidy, dax) react to this.
I loved when it was proven the Cardassians was behind this coup attempt. They were so eager to reclaim Terrok Nor once the wormhole was discovered. Dukat semed to take an especial interest in Bajor (ok we know he had a thing for bajoran women ) and Major Kira ( ). I found these few episodes set the stage for the political intrigue that ran throughout all of DS9.

Fifth, thanks for the Louise Fletcher interview. It had been obvious to me throughout the series that she enjoyed the role of Winn, glad to know that was true!

[Rac80]

There is a new Star Trek special on the History Channel tonight. It looks preety darn cool. Here is the header I got for it.....

Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier:

For forty years Star Trek has engrossed our imaginations and sent us on voyages across the galaxy. Through ten films and five series this entertainment juggernaut has become a pop culture icon and a window to our society. We will look at the impact that Star Trek has had on fans around the world. From the conventions in Europe and Las Vegas to the billionaire collector who scours the world for memorabilia, we will try to find out just what it is about this supposedly "silly" series that has meant so much to so many. Leonard Nimoy hosts.

I saw the show and enjoyed it, especially the interviews with cast members from all versions of trek! (at the same time it was on a second time - sunday late night-Brent Spiner appeared in a Law & Order : CI episode as a psychotic psychologist.... he was a natural!)

My pleasure Trek_Girl. I kind of did a double take when I saw about a page and half of posts gone.

I noticed you guys mentioned Star Wars and the 30 year anniversary of the franchise on some posts that got deleted. Either brother USS Defiant or Starbase had asked you whether you think George Lucas is going to get the itch to start making new sequels. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing another couple movies done that pick up where Return of the Jedi ends in the Star Wars time-line. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas starts making new Star Wars movies, the franchise is a cash cow and the lure of big money coupled with the fact he seems to truly love the Star Wars saga, might just suck him back in.

When I dig back, far into the recesses of my memories, in the days before PCs, (yep I be that old!!!) I have a memory of Lucas saying the original trilogy was the "middle three" of a 9 part story. (this was in the heady days following the first star wars when star wars ruled the world ...or atleast the box office and lucas was being interviewed all over the tv, yep all three stations!) He has since said that he wasn't interested in doing more.... but we all know that with some intellects the desire to tell the story grows stronger and stronger... I hope it grows stronger with lucas!

[the Fifth Race]

This trilogy has what I enjoyed BEST about DS9 ... political intrigue! I am the type of person who enjoys watching CSPAN and I find the inner workings of political power fascinating. I loved the way Sisko had cast himself as more than the emissary; as the protector of Bajor. Throughout the series he took the role of guardian of bajor and it was fascinating to watch those around him (jake, Kassidy, dax) react to this.
I loved when it was proven the Cardassians was behind this coup attempt. They were so eager to reclaim Terrok Nor once the wormhole was discovered. Dukat semed to take an especial interest in Bajor (ok we know he had a thing for bajoran women ) and Major Kira ( ). I found these few episodes set the stage for the political intrigue that ran throughout all of DS9.

IMHO DS9 did the "political intrigue" thing as part of the on-going storyline better than any scifi series. BSG and B5 come close.

I think Sisko took a protective role as emissary of Bajor because he really didn't have a choice. The whole reason the Prophets created then called on Sisko was because they knew evil Dominion was coming and they needed an emissary specifically to protect Bajor. Remember, during prosperous and peace times, Bajor doesn't have or need an emissary. Every time Bajor faced imminent danger, the Prophets steered Sisko's decisions towards making sure it stayed safe whatever the task or cost.

Fifth, thanks for the Louise Fletcher interview. It had been obvious to me throughout the series that she enjoyed the role of Winn, glad to know that was true!

My pleasure Lady Rac. This link I found with key Star Trek interviews is huge and awesome. I will post up other interviews when the current discusion involves specific characters.

Good to see you back on the superior thread Lady Rac.

[the Fifth Race]

I saw the show and enjoyed it, especially the interviews with cast members from all versions of trek! (at the same time it was on a second time - sunday late night-Brent Spiner appeared in a Law & Order : CI episode as a psychotic psychologist.... he was a natural!)

I also Tivo'd that Star Trek special on History Channel last night. I read that it was mainly just various interviews with cast memebers from all the Trek series. Which is perfect, some of these Trek specials that have come out over the years that talk about everything Trek without any cast interviews have been rather blase. I also noticed Brent Spiner guest starring on Law & Order, so I also Tivo'd that.

When I dig back, far into the recesses of my memories, in the days before PCs, (yep I be that old!!!) I have a memory of Lucas saying the original trilogy was the "middle three" of a 9 part story. (this was in the heady days following the first star wars when star wars ruled the world ...or atleast the box office and lucas was being interviewed all over the tv, yep all three stations!) He has since said that he wasn't interested in doing more.... but we all know that with some intellects the desire to tell the story grows stronger and stronger... I hope it grows stronger with lucas!

I do as well lady Rac. There still is a lot of story to be told, I believe there were 9 original Star Wars books.

I am also of the generation where as kids - cable television hadn't been invented and the biggest electronic invention when I was a teenager was the VCR. Then of course, we can't forget the almighty Commodore 64 which was the only computer available to anyone in High School. Our generation rocked, we didn't spend our days in front of a computer screen or television as kids, we played outdoors a lot more than today's generation. Damn, are we that old Lady Rac.

[Rac80]

I've been on a lovely vacation to the East Coast (new england girl here, the lobstahhh was wonderful! ) and missed "listening" to all the great DS9 discussions.
I always felt that Sisko took more upon him than others expected him too (starfleet) If I remember correctly, starfleet felt hehad too great an interest in the bajorans.
I always loved the use of the word "Emissary" for Sisko. According to my webster's an emissary is "one sent out on a mission, a secret agent" Sisko wasn't a "secret" agent by any means. But he was an agent of the prophets.

[Trek_Girl42]

My pleasure Trek_Girl. I kind of did a double take when I saw about a page and half of posts gone.

I noticed you guys mentioned Star Wars and the 30 year anniversary of the franchise on some posts that got deleted. Either brother USS Defiant or Starbase had asked you whether you think George Lucas is going to get the itch to start making new sequels. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing another couple movies done that pick up where Return of the Jedi ends in the Star Wars time-line. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas starts making new Star Wars movies, the franchise is a cash cow and the lure of big money coupled with the fact he seems to truly love the Star Wars saga, might just suck him back in.

I'd actually like to see more movies set in the Star Wars universe- as long as Lucas wasn't actually writing them. He can come up with the story, but please PLEASE hire someone who can, you know, actually write good dialogue. Or at least get a good script doctor to tidy it up. But if Lucas wants to be on board to come up with a story and produce a Star Wars movie, I say go for it.

[Dark Falcon]

My pleasure Trek_Girl. I kind of did a double take when I saw about a page and half of posts gone.

I noticed you guys mentioned Star Wars and the 30 year anniversary of the franchise on some posts that got deleted. Either brother USS Defiant or Starbase had asked you whether you think George Lucas is going to get the itch to start making new sequels. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing another couple movies done that pick up where Return of the Jedi ends in the Star Wars time-line. I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas starts making new Star Wars movies, the franchise is a cash cow and the lure of big money coupled with the fact he seems to truly love the Star Wars saga, might just suck him back in.

I would be surprised if Lucas didn't make more Star Wars movies. If Lucas did make more movies, it would mean another reason to be in a nice air-conditioned theater during the hot summer days.

[Rac80]

I also Tivo'd that Star Trek special on History Channel last night. I read that it was mainly just various interviews with cast memebers from all the Trek series. Which is perfect, some of these Trek specials that have come out over the years that talk about everything Trek without any cast interviews have been rather blase. I also noticed Brent Spiner guest starring on Law & Order, so I also Tivo'd that.

methinks you like your gadgets! another sign of our age... we love the new gadgets and have to try each of them out!

I do as well lady Rac. There still is a lot of story to be told, I believe there were 9 original Star Wars books.

I am also of the generation where as kids - cable television hadn't been invented and the biggest electronic invention when I was a teenager was the VCR. Then of course, we can't forget the almighty Commodore 64 which was the only computer available to anyone in High School. Our generation rocked, we didn't spend our days in front of a computer screen or television as kids, we played outdoors a lot more than today's generation. Damn, are we that old Lady Rac.

Nope I am not that old...was told that I looked 32 and that is what I am sticking with! Yes, I remember the commodore 64 and the old TI 35 calculators that were soooooooo advanced when I took calculus in high school (once a nerd always a nerd!). I had a friends whose brother got an atari video game one year for christmas... it was waaaaaaaay cool... in those days. I remember when MTV was controversal (ok ok I went to BYU in Provo ) and CNN had just begun. what did we watch before the weather channel????
I am waiting with baited breath for the next star wars... episode 7! (I can close my eyes and still remember sitting in a theather hearing the star wars music for the first time and reading the words scrolling along the screen! I have not since been as thrilled by a movie as I was then. You just KNEW the world was changing!)