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Blake Stacey is a physics boffin and science-fiction writer who wandered the Earth and eventually settled in the nation-state of Denial.

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What Happens When You Reboot a Franchise with a DVD in the Drive

Category: VideoWobosphere Silliness
Posted on: September 21, 2009 12:02 PM, by Blake Stacey

In the next movie, we will find out who was James T. Kirk's real father. I mean, the emperor Tiberius was born Tiberius Claudius Nero; how much more obvious could it get?

(I'm reading and commenting upon a friend's PhD thesis right now, so anything I say on the Interwebs will likely be rather frivolous.)

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Comments

1

He's a horn dog and a time traveller. Guess who's really the most likely candidate?

Posted by: abb3w | September 21, 2009 1:11 PM

2

So, he also lacks the delta brainwave? ;-)

Posted by: Blake Stacey Author Profile Page | September 21, 2009 1:21 PM

3

Who?

Posted by: Sili Author Profile Page | September 21, 2009 4:05 PM

4

The argument is that Kirk's case is analogous to that of Philip J. Fry.

Posted by: Blake Stacey Author Profile Page | September 21, 2009 4:10 PM

6

So, wait, you're saying that Kirk's father is Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus?

Posted by: HP | September 21, 2009 6:13 PM

7

There were four people in the Julio-Claudian family tree named "Tiberius Claudius Nero," three of whom became emperor. "Nero" also appeared in the names of three other family members, and "Tiberius" in at least one (albeit more distant).

The point here is that if you're going to invoke comparisons to that dynasty, you need to be more careful where you're going with it. Although I doubt many would be unclear as to what your intended meaning was, you can pull relationships out the wazoo with that family.

(Incidentally, the three emperors with the "T-C-N" name are known to history as "Tiberius," "Claudius," and "Nero" respectively, although only the last one regularly used the single-part name while they held the title.)

Posted by: M | September 21, 2009 7:19 PM

8

BTW, @ #6, That was only the father for the third "Tiberius Claudius Nero" to be emperor, better known as simply Nero. Blake explicitly mentions "Tiberius," a reference to the first emperor by that name. His father was another (and the only non-emperor) "T-C-N."

Posted by: M | September 21, 2009 7:27 PM

9
He's a horn dog and a time traveller. Guess who's really the most likely candidate?

a) himself
b) Zaphod Beeblebrox
c) this guy, except his methods are a little ineffective

Posted by: windy Author Profile Page | September 22, 2009 4:12 AM

10

Seeing this makes me hate the J.J. Abrams version of Star Trek even more (although I still haven't seen it). In the original series, Kirk has no backstory to speak of... because we don't care about that, because the story's not really about him.

Posted by: Nemo | September 26, 2009 4:59 AM

11

I still can't believe what they did to Star Trek. It's like the Onion headline.

You have to completely destroy a franchise with every episode or film ever made in order to revive it? Ah, it's a parallel universe ... where Vulcans use Rambaldi artifacts.

I still can't understand why people love a movie with a bad, not exactly new story. ... OK, I do have an idea: Young actors like Pine and SaldaƱa in tight underwear/clothes (and Adams' clever marketing). Same strategy as in Transformers, written by the same people.

Posted by: ChrisE | September 26, 2009 4:57 PM

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