FIRST OFFICER'S LOG

        Appearently in deep desperation to find the
killers of his wife OJ Simpson has bought several
thousand Tricorders, Medical Scanners, truth detectors
and phasers. These are to be given to the LAPD so that
they might be better equiped to find the person who
commited the terrible double murder.
        LAPD response was very unusual. Appearantly
they think this is some type of PR scheme dreamed up my
Mr. Simpson. Some officers have gone as far as to say
they don't believe that the Tricorders would help. When
asked why most responded that they weren't real. They
were of course fired for thinking without departmental
permission. A spokesperson for the department said, "We
are grateful that Mr. Simpson has seen fit to give us
the tools to catch his sorry ass."
        Johnny Cochrane, who came up with the idea to
donate the Star Trek technology, was amused by the idea
that people seemed to believe Mr. Simpson was doing
this for personal gain. "OJ is one of the best men I
know. Most people don't realize how much one of these
toys....er important scientific tools cost. They cost
25 bucks at a Trek convention. Not to mention the
phasers with the blinking lights." Mr. Cochrane was
later heard to be filling a lawsuit against Paramount
for using his name in associtation with Zefram
Cochrane.
        Response from most LA Trekkers was imeadiate
and severe. A demonstration line has formed outside of
OJ's house. Most of the demonstrating Trekkers were up
in arms at Mr. Simpson's discount on the Trek
merchandise. The rest were just really pissed that the
trial got more coverage than Trek's 30th Anniversary.
        And now, on a more serious note, do you think
Rick Berman is at fault for Trek's problems?
        I don't think that he is. I think that since
Gene Roddenberry's death he has taken Trek, and DS9 in
particular, to new heights. Gene died before TNG truly
hit its stride. I think that his narrow view of what
Trek should be(particularly his views on religion and
human behavior)  might actually have hindered TNG for
the first couple of seasons. Rick Berman did help bring
us one of the all time most popular trek episodes: Best
of Both Worlds.
        I also think DS9 wouldn't be what it is today
if Gene were still alive. Alot of the conflict and
personalities we see are almost the opposite of Gene's
original Trek vision. No offense to the Great Bird and
all but he was ahead of his time back in TOS's day but
in the ninties he his kinda behind.
        As for Voyager's mediocrity, it cannot be
blamed on any one individual. It would seem more of a
cluster fuck. Everything from the casting, which was so
PC they had to pass over better actors and actress so
they could get token characters to the writing, which
also is overly PC and lacking in originality. I am not
saying that Berman is a peach of a guy who shares none
of the blame in Voyager and Ds9's faults and failings
but I think it is somewhat unfair to blame him for
Voyager's faults and anything else that might go wrong
and not see see his good work on DS9 and (hopefully)
FC.

33. Republicans blow, Democrats suck.
Capt. Cronan Thompson