Mostly set dressing, stuff that you could find in stores with some light modifications like labels.

And, y’know, a whole-ass turbolift for $10k.

Tragically, I’m pretty sure that particular piece of memorabilia was included in a previous auction. I’m not prepared to go out of my way to find proof, though.

Even so, I’m surprised there are no Starfleet phasers, tricom badges, and the like.

The stellar irony here is that in the Star Trek universe, the United Federation of Planets is a post-scarcity, post-capitalist society where money is obsolete and its enlightened citizens work instead for self-improvement and the betterment of humanity. Hautlence didn’t get this memo, as each Retrovision ’64 will retail for an out-of-this-world $165,000. Only three ardent Trekkies will be able to get one, though, as that’s all that will be made.

Sounds like it’s a matter of their distribution license expiring.

I’ll join the chorus of people recommending it - it’s a lot of fun.

Well, it technically was - they were just given enough runway to wrap it up.

But season 5 will just be six episodes.

To be clear, it’s been in place for three years.

Correct!

YouTube is taxed under the act, and Google has vocally opposed it.

The Technical Manual explanation is that replicators save storage space by using statistical averaging techniques in the molecular patterns, resulting in single-bit “errors” that some people swear they can taste.

I don’t really get his position on this issue.

“This notion that somehow we’ve got these large U.S. companies that don’t contribute has just never been factual. The reality is these companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on film and television production in Canada,” Geist said.

Geist said he’s comfortable with regulations around discoverability, ensuring platforms better promote Canadian content, but ultimately he’d like to see the free market operate like a free market.

I think that woefully underestimates the effects of American dominance in the entertainment landscape, and would only serve to ensure that Canada becomes even more of a place for Hollywood to outsource their own productions, while stifling home-grown content.

According to the Canada Media Fund’s website, an applicant (generally the producer) must be Canadian “and have full creative and financial control over all aspects of the project, from development through production and exploitation.”

I don’t want to give false hope, because I really don’t think it’s going to happen, but “dismantled” doesn’t necessarily have to mean “destroyed.”

It’d be nice if they kept some of the larger pieces, if only to put on display or something.

There’s certainly a lot of pressure to move productions back to California right now.

Then again, they do own (one of) the buildings in Toronto, and Canada isn’t likely stop being an attractive place to make sci-fi any time soon.

The bigger question is likely the “if it happens” bit.

Seven’s bisexuality was definitely an invention of “Picard” (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

In Mariner’s case, I wouldn’t be surprised if her bisexuality was intended from the beginning.

That’d be a provincial survey, not a federal one.

But we need a lot of time and much deeper ties before we’d jump into eu membership.

Yeah, it’s very easy to be “open” to the idea. I’m interested myself, but I know next to nothing about what the effects of that sort of integration would be.

Let’s not expect miracles…

It’s probably worth noting that this is what he had to say about fiction in general, and Star Trek in particular, a few years ago:

I dislike social commentary. Like… I really hate it. When I’m reading a book, I just want to be entertained, not preached at by the author. Plus, it ruins the wonder of the story if I know the author has a political or social axe to grind. I no longer speculate about all possible outcomes of the story because I know for a fact that the universe of that book will conspire to ensure that the author’s political agenda is validated. I hate that.

Yeah, I didn’t really like the political message aspects of those stories [Stranger in a Strange Land, Brave New World, 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale]. Not that I disagreed with the political point. Just that I didn’t like the political points being there at all. Now, those writers are so good they make compelling and addictive stories despite the political messaging. But that’s often not the case with other stories and other authors.

You’re not mis-reading me, though. I deeply dislike social commentary. For instance, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed “responsibility” within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues. I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.

I would argue that very little good science fiction tries to have nothing to say about humanity or the human condition.

I’ll take it a step further and say it’s impossible for any fiction, let alone sci-fi.

If you’re writing a story, you have something to say, and to claim otherwise is either a cover-up or profound ignorance of your own work.

From her publicity blitz for the episode, I don’t think she’s too excited to go through the prosthetics process again.