First Thoughts on Enterprise Finale

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Disjointed thoughts and spoilers follow.

To my annoyance, the VCR had stopped recording “These Are The Voyages” just as Riker and Troi had said “End program” and were walking out of the holodeck. Still, I had seen practically all of the episode, and I was left open-mouthed, and, as Jolene Blalock would put it, appalled.

Character development: six years later, everyone’s the same rank and duty station. Even Porthos looked exactly the same. The only thing that’s really changed besides hairstyle is a couple of extra screens on the bridge. Progress!

What a crummy way for Tucker to die: suddenly and frantically mock-snivelling to a bunch of stupid alien smugglers so he could pull off an arbitrary plan to explode a room?

And this whole episode builds up to Archer’s speech — which they don’t even show. Or was it in those final few seconds where the “Final Frontier” spiel is recited?

It was an okay Next-Generation holodeck episode, perhaps, but that was a pretty pathetic episode of Enterprise. Yuck. Never mind. I’m going to sleep. Here’s Michelle Erica Green’s review of the finale episode, but as far as I’m concerned, Terra Prime was my finale. Now that was some real Star Trek: real conflict, real sci-fi, real character development, a real climax, and no bloody holodeck.

But the Enterprise finale? It belongs right in the dung heap with Star Trek: Generations. I’d let Star Trek V into the canon before either of those pieces of junk.

More from Peter David and James Lileks.

Movabletype 3.16 login bug

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I upgraded to Movabletype 3.16, and it has an annoying bug for users who have it installed in the root directory of a domain or subdomain, as I do: it refuses to stay signed in, kicking you back to the login form between every click and every action. The problem is a few lines in lib/MT/App.pm, but the fix suggested in the MT support forum is rather cryptic. Thankfully, Wishingline.com has a mofidied App.pm ready to download.

The Horrors of National Police Week

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Hey, Washington, it’s National Police Week, and you know what that means? That’s right: off-duty cops come from around the country to party hard all weekend, then roam through downtown DC drunk as skunks, bawling, brawling, and generally making noisy, boisterous fools of themselves. Last year they were drag racing up and down North Capitol Street, setting off car alarms all over the area and keeping people in nearby hotels and apartments awake till dawn.

This archived email on a humor site describes National Police Week as “law enforcement’s version of spring break.” Only it’s not in Florida or Cancun, but in Washington, DC, centered on The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. While I respect and honor the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to “protect and serve,” that certainly doesn’t give them a free pass to act like churlish idiots in our nation’s capital.

Here’s hoping they behave better this weekend than they did last year.

Wayward Plane Sparks DC Panic

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DC had a bit of evacuation action yesterday, when a single-engine Cessna wandered into the DC no-fly zone and triggered alarms in the Capitol, House and Senate office buildings, and the White House. People were evacuated, fighter jets and helicopters were scrambled, warning flares were fired, the plane was diverted, two confused amateur pilots were detained, and the news outlets had a field day.

I IRC’d briefly with someone whose daughter was on a DC field trip to the Capitol at the time. The students were hastily cleared out along with everyone else, but apparently tour groups have to leave their cellphones, cameras, and other pocketables at a security check-in before entering the Capitol, so a lot of concerned parents were unable to get in touch with their kids when the panic started.

Meanwhile, the President was out biking in Patuxent Wildlife Research Center after arriving last night from his visit to Europe. According to this NYTimes story, “Mr. Bush’s Secret Service detail … decided not to inform him of what was unfolding.” Make of that what you will.

Up here in Dupont Circle, we were completely unaware of anything happening, and when the news started popping up, the reflexive response was, “Another false alarm.”

More links:

DCist has the roundup.

Tom Bridge was there.

DCSOB didn’t notice it either.

Pandora Yawning

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It’s actually sort of hard to photograph Pandora yawning. She’s very camera-conscious, and her yawns, though wide as any cat’s yawns, are often faster than the camera’s ability to catch the moment. I got lucky this time, though.

(Pandora Yawning uploaded by brownpau.)

Baltimore Consort at the National Gallery

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I’m a big fan of The Baltimore Consort and their faithfully researched renditions of early music played on authentic instruments, and their performance at the National Gallery Sunday concert did not disappoint. With lutes, citterns, rebecs, flutes, recorders, a crumhorn, and richly-voiced countertenor Jose Lemos, the Consort wove a lovely, mellow tapestry of polyphony, evoking images of Middle Age Europe, sometimes rural, sometimes royal. In the spirit of Elizabethan-age improvisation, however, they make it a point not to adhere too rigidly to convention, and introduce their own brand of modern variation into the music — especially while playing toe-tapping excerpts from Playford’s Dancing Master. The result is a lively, almost country-music-like counterpoint, whose rhythm resonates with both the traditional and the contemporary.

Program Notes here (PDF format).

(Now, of course, I find myself wanting to get my hands on all their albums.)

Military on the Mall

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Looks like the armed forces was having some kind of expo on the National Mall today; there were tanks, F-16s, and various other cool hardware out on the grass. They were already packing up as I passed by on my way to the National Gallery, but I got these photos:

Tanks and Fighter Jets on the Mall

Tanks and Fighter Jets on the Mall

Tanks and Fighter Jets on the Mall

Update: A note from Tim; those aren’t real F-16’s, just collapsible mockups for shows such as this.

Windy Planespotting

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Planespotting at Gravelly Point

I hiked over to Gravelly Point yesterday to do some planespotting. It was rather windy and overcast, and unfortunately the planes were taking off in the direction of the park rather than making their landing approaches over it, so the photos weren’t quite as dramatic or as close as I would have wanted. But if you want to see them, see the “gravellypoint” tag in my Flickr photostream. I’ll try for better planespotting shots some other weekend.

Also, a little ladybug that landed on me:

Ladybug on my jacket at Gravelly Point

Duck On the Sidewalk

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This bold mallard was about to cross 1st St NE outside Union Station earlier today.