Monday, July 18, 2011

the pregernaut + the importance of the star trek title sequence

I am the pregernaut.
Boldly going where no man has gone before.
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When I was young(er) (12 perhaps?), my parents always watched Star Trek reruns that showed at 10pm on weeknights. I think it was the James T. Kirk, but might have been Next Generation. Either way, everytime I'd walk by my parents door around that time at night, I'd hear the opening title sequence, or bits of it (this one from Kirk):
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Soon, I had it memorized. One day I typed it up and put it on the door of the refrigerator. My father was studying Latin at the time, and within a few days the Latin translation of the title sequence had shown up on the fridge also. It became a family joke. My parents are pretty big Star Trek fans. My mom even has some framed star trek picture with Leonard Nimoy's signature (you know, Spock). Whoa. And lets not forget the Christmas ornament in the shape of a shuttlecraft that, when you press the button, says (in Spock's voice), "Shuttlecraft to Enterprise, shuttlecraft to Enterprise: Spock here. Happy Holidays. Live long and prosper."

Meanwhile, time passed. I discovered the changes in the wording used in the title sequence for Kirk's Star Trek versus Next Generation. The most important part being, "to boldly go where no one has gone before." Apparently "one" is more politically correct.

The Latin translation was semi-forgotten. Then one day, out of the blue, a new Latin translation shows up on the fridge. My dad had a lot more Latin study under his belt, and had decided that his first stab at translating the star trek sentence was sub par. We wouldn't want that.

And thus, the story of the Latin translation of "Space, the final frontier..." earned its place in family legend.

the end.

3 comments:

Reija said...

When do you find out if your nugger it a boy or girl? Will you name him Scotty if he is a boy?

LRH said...

I could potentially find out in 2 weeks, but we're not sure yet if we want to know. We'll probably have the ultrasound technician write it down and put it in an envelope for us. That way we can look whenever we want.

Rebecca said...

Yes, it is true. Love your entry. William Shatner's signature is on the postal art, too. Last week we watched 2001 A Space Odyssey (worth watching for the cool Strauss music effects alone), Apollo 13, Star Trek First Contact, and disc one of Eureka season 4. We are incurable. -\\//

So long, and thanks for all the fish.