Subcommander Tal
@subcommandertal.bsky.social
Mostly here to riff on Original Series Star Trek.
The better comparison for Dark City is The Matrix, which came out right around the same time. I think Dark City is the better film…
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
The better comparison for Dark City is The Matrix, which came out right around the same time. I think Dark City is the better film…
“In the shadow of duty, he cherished the hearth; in the silence of the stars, he carried his daughter’s name.” That’s quite beautiful!
November 9, 2025 at 12:48 PM
“In the shadow of duty, he cherished the hearth; in the silence of the stars, he carried his daughter’s name.” That’s quite beautiful!
Thanks! Now I just somehow need to get tennis and playing oboe into the mix… 🤔
November 9, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Thanks! Now I just somehow need to get tennis and playing oboe into the mix… 🤔
Anyway, enough rambling! My appreciation for Star Trek and my love of Mesoamerican archaeology in general stay in their own lanes but there are a couple fun overlaps for me. Sorry if I’ve posted about all this before!
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November 8, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Anyway, enough rambling! My appreciation for Star Trek and my love of Mesoamerican archaeology in general stay in their own lanes but there are a couple fun overlaps for me. Sorry if I’ve posted about all this before!
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I also like that a couple early TOS episodes explicitly had scenarios with Federation archaeologists working in the ruins of alien civilizations. It was also generally the time of outlandish theories about extraterrestrial influences on Earth cultures.
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November 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I also like that a couple early TOS episodes explicitly had scenarios with Federation archaeologists working in the ruins of alien civilizations. It was also generally the time of outlandish theories about extraterrestrial influences on Earth cultures.
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And don’t get me started on TNG’s “Masks”, which is often reviled but I have a fondness for because of its riffing on ancient Puebloan and Mayan iconography…
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November 8, 2025 at 11:52 PM
And don’t get me started on TNG’s “Masks”, which is often reviled but I have a fondness for because of its riffing on ancient Puebloan and Mayan iconography…
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The decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing took some big steps forward in the 1960s and 70s, and I always loved the alien scripts Star Trek came up with, mostly in the third season.
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November 8, 2025 at 11:49 PM
The decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing took some big steps forward in the 1960s and 70s, and I always loved the alien scripts Star Trek came up with, mostly in the third season.
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And of course there actually was an Animated Series episode that references Kukulkan, which is the late Maya variant of the Feathered Serpent deity which originated in Central Mexico at such sites as Teotihuacan and Toltec Tula.
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November 8, 2025 at 11:47 PM
And of course there actually was an Animated Series episode that references Kukulkan, which is the late Maya variant of the Feathered Serpent deity which originated in Central Mexico at such sites as Teotihuacan and Toltec Tula.
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In the films with the Original Series cast the years of service numerical convention is the same one used by the ancient Maya (i.e. bars = 5, dots = 1).
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November 8, 2025 at 11:46 PM
In the films with the Original Series cast the years of service numerical convention is the same one used by the ancient Maya (i.e. bars = 5, dots = 1).
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The little statue in Kirk’s quarters is (probably) Xochipilli, the Aztec God of love and creativity. Its name literally means “Prince of Flowers.”
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November 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
The little statue in Kirk’s quarters is (probably) Xochipilli, the Aztec God of love and creativity. Its name literally means “Prince of Flowers.”
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Interesting point
November 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Interesting point
True, we never actually see it, but Kirk clearly looks up at it to check how much time is left. I’m guessing it looks like this ;)
November 5, 2025 at 7:25 PM
True, we never actually see it, but Kirk clearly looks up at it to check how much time is left. I’m guessing it looks like this ;)
If you read his “On Fairy-Stories” he sees human imaginative world building as a reflection or a refraction of the divine, but ultimately derivative. I don’t find that view personally convincing, but it’s clear that’s what Tolkien himself meant.
November 5, 2025 at 12:49 PM
If you read his “On Fairy-Stories” he sees human imaginative world building as a reflection or a refraction of the divine, but ultimately derivative. I don’t find that view personally convincing, but it’s clear that’s what Tolkien himself meant.
Tolkien used the term “sub-creation” rather than “creation” because he had a religious framing for the concept (which is reflected in The Silmarillion). Whether one agrees with him or not, he imagined God as the only true Creator. It is pretty fundamental to his thinking…
November 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Tolkien used the term “sub-creation” rather than “creation” because he had a religious framing for the concept (which is reflected in The Silmarillion). Whether one agrees with him or not, he imagined God as the only true Creator. It is pretty fundamental to his thinking…
Everybody likes The Tholian Web!
November 4, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Everybody likes The Tholian Web!
EARLY STAR TREK. There’s a definite distinction to be made between the first half of TOS season one, when it was establishing itself and Roddenberry was the most directly involved, and everything that came later…
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November 4, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Pros and cons. Ultimately I think Kirk-Spock-McCoy was the secret sauce of the show…
November 4, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Pros and cons. Ultimately I think Kirk-Spock-McCoy was the secret sauce of the show…
Precisely! I also like the shot also because it’s one of the few times we see just the three gold/green shirt regulars together, who also happen to be the only remaining surviving cast members…
November 4, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Precisely! I also like the shot also because it’s one of the few times we see just the three gold/green shirt regulars together, who also happen to be the only remaining surviving cast members…
I think it was Marc Daniels’ last episode as director. Each time we saw the rear projection of the main viewscreen, I think he was behind it.
November 4, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I think it was Marc Daniels’ last episode as director. Each time we saw the rear projection of the main viewscreen, I think he was behind it.