This episode is often said to be one of the best episodes in the franchise. I certainly think the concept is excellent but is it the best? Lets find out.
The beginning of the episode is the weakest part. It relies on an accident coupled with incompetence. I think they could have come up with a better way to get us to the story.
The Enterprise is at red alert. They are passing through ripples in time. These ripples shake the ship. They come to an unknown world that is the focus of the time ripples.
After Sulu’s console explodes, McCoy is called to the bridge. He injects Sulu with Cordrazine – a potentially dangerous medicine administered by the drop.
When the ship is rocked again McCoy accidentally injects himself. This part doesn’t really work for me. If cordrazine is measured by the drop why was there so much in the hypospray? That little nitpick out of the way Deforest Kelly does portray this very well.
Subjects failed to recognise acquaintances, became hysterically convinced that they were in mortal danger, and were seeking escape at any cost. Extremely dangerous to himself or to anyone else… Spock, on the effects of Cortrozine (TOS: The City on the Edge of Forever)
Given this description McCoy wants to get off the ship. That makes sense. Even a barren planet might seem appealing in those circumstances.
What makes less sense is how easily McCoy does this. The Enterprise is already at red alert. Despite this there is no extra security in the transporter room. Without any real effort McCoy knocks out the transporter chief and beams down.
Kirk leads a landing party to search for McCoy. For no particular reason, except the plot needs it, this seems to be a literal search – they can’t just pick McCoy’s life signs on the tricorder – or from orbit for that matter.
They discover extensive ruins. Spock calculates that they are 10,000 centuries old. His, and Kirk’s, attention is quickly drawn to a pulsating doughnut shaped object. I suppose I should call it a torus.
The doughnut introduces itself as the guardian of forever. It is a portal to the past. When asked if it is ‘machine or a being’ it states it is ‘both and neither’. Clearly the guardian attended the Royal Vorlon Collage of Not Giving a Straight Answer. Spock is irritated. I agree. I don’t like riddles either. (With the exception of the Voyager episode with that name.)
Kirk wonders if they can use the guardian to prevent McCoy’s accident. This feels like using a laser to remove a hangnail.
Unfortunately the doughnut doesn’t have an iris or a Walter Harriman. McCoy runs past and dives into the past. This is where the episode loses me a little. It is a pretty serious design flaw to allow any one, especially a drug-addled man, to get through.
Suddenly the landing party is all alone. McCoy has changed history. The Enterprise no longer exists. They are people out of time.
Time travel stories are always liable to create paradoxes. If McCoy changed history then the landing party shouldn’t exist either, but also McCoy would never have been born, and so on. (Wibbly Wobbly timey wimey)
Also none of the landing party manages to stop McCoy! You do have a stun setting!
Kirk and Spock head into the past. The doughnut cannot send them to the exact same point. It can only show the passing centuries at one speed. So it is less user friendly than a VCR!
Kirk and Spock arrive in 1930. They are there less than a minute before they commit a crime – stealing clothes off a fire escape. Literal seconds later they are caught by a police officer. Spock nerve pinches him but not before Kirk explains Spock’s ears: ‘He caught his head in a mechanical rice picker.’
Why didn’t Kirk bring Scotty? Surly having Spock along could create unnecessary complications. To show that there is no nitpicking depth I will not plunge – it was very lucky that the stolen clothes included a hat to cover Spock’s ears!
All kidding aside the episode is efficient at getting the characters where they need to be. After making a run for it they end up at the 21st Street Mission.
The first priority is to discover what McCoy did. Spock was monitoring the doughnut when he jumped through. Unfortunately, for reasons the episode doesn’t explain, he can’t access the data on his tricorder.
They are interrupted by Edith Keeler. She offers them work for $0.15 an hour. They start by cleaning the basement.
Keeler gets up on stage and talks about her, for want of a better word, philosophy. For all intents and purposes she is talking about the world Kirk and Spock know. I have to agree with Sfdebris. If I was homeless and hungry I don’t think that knowing that there would be a bright future would help me much.
The reason this is here is because the story depends on Kirk falling in love. Edith, therefore, has to be an intelligent and forward thinking woman. Despite the reputation Kirk is not the womaniser he is often said to be. That applies far more to Riker. (Look no further than his favourite planet.)
I think Edith is a little too on the nose. Talk of space craft and atomic power isn’t much good when you don’t know when, or if, you will eat tomorrow. I think the episode would have been better if she was a progressive thinker – not a seer. She is not literally a seer but that is how it comes across.
Some time later Spock has managed to build a computer. I don’t see how, but Spock is a genius.
Spock is also logical to a fault. He states, in a matter of fact way, that he needs platinum. I tried to look up the value of 5 lbs of platinum in 1930. I couldn’t find a result. However it is safe to say it would be beyond their means.
Kirk walks Edith home. (Spock works and Kirk gets a date. Now that does sound typical) They take a moment to look at the stars. Kirk talks about a writer who lived on a faraway planet. It is things like this that make Temporal Investigations label him a menace.
By the time Kirk returns Spock he has discovered that Edith Keeler is the focal point in time. (Apparently the platinum wasn’t important)
Meanwhile McCoy arrives and is yelling at the sky. He spots a homeless man stealing milk. He yells that he won’t kill him, grabs the man’s head, and passes out. The man checks McCoy’s clothes and finds his phaser. He accidentally kills himself.
The episode spends no time on this man. McCoy probably wasn’t even aware that he died. And I wasn’t aware he had a name. (Rodent according to Memory Alpha) His death, apparently, had no effect on the timeline one way or the other. This leads me to a tangent.
I don’t want to get into the behind the scenes stuff, at least not in depth, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say something. I am given to understand that the original version of this script was very different. If I am understanding correctly that draft did have a homeless character who would have been more important to the story. The script as written has the man’s death not matter at all. I suppose that is true of most of us.
McCoy finds his way to the mission. The cynic in me wants to say it was very convenient. Edith helps get out of sight into a back room. For her the only important thing is that he is in need.
Spock discovers what happened. Edith Keeler became the leader of a peace movement. This delayed the US’s entry into the second world war – which Germany then won. Edith had the right idea – but at the wrong time. To preserve the timeline Edith Keeler must die.
At the top of the stairs Edith stumbles. Kirk catches her saying it is not yet time – it is also not the way that history reported that she died.
McCoy seems to have a hard time believing he is in the past. This seems odd given the events of ‘Tomorrow is Yesterday.’
Quickly everything comes together. Kirk and Spock are reunited with McCoy. Edith crosses the street and is hit by a van. The horrible tragedy is that not only can Kirk not save her he also has to prevent McCoy from doing so.
The presentation of the ending never quite worked for me. It looks like the van had plenty of time to stop and chose not to. However that is getting into some real nitpicking territory.
The trio return to the present, which is the future, and for Scotty no time has passed. The final line of the episode: ‘Let’s get the hell out of here.’, was a big deal at the time. It is hard to imagine that now.
This is an excellent episode. It is one of the best of TOS. Kirk having to weigh personal feelings against larger considerations is very well done. The death of Edith Keeler allowed for the future to happen.
Star Trek is about a positive future. In order for that to happen an innocent woman had to die – not to mention millions of others in the three world wars. This story is very well told and I recommend it if you have not seen it.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Have you ever come to a realisation that you should have come to a long time ago? This happened to me recently. It was so simple that it really should have occurred to me earlier. It is this: Writing this blog should be a three step process. As realisations go it is not exactly ground breaking but it is true.
The three steps are:
Write the words. (I am using a Freewrite Alpha for this.)
Edit the words. (I use Google docs)
Put the words on to the site and make them look pretty.
Before I always picked a picture before typing. Sometimes this works but often my words go in a different direction and the picture is no longer relevant.
The other thing I am going to do is to try and limit myself to around 500 words. It is a more manageable length for you and for me.
As mentioned above I am using a Freewrite alpha (not pictured) for the drafting stage. Here is a link if you want to get one: https://getfreewrite.com/products/alpha (Not sponsored and all that)
I bought the Alpha after my Freewrite Traveller gave up the ghost. It is wonderful to type on. The click-clack of the keys is very satisfying.
If you’ve followed that link, and seen the price, you might feel it is ridiculous. I get that completely. I did have to think for a long time about it. For me it makes sense as distraction is very easy.
Anyone who has used the internet for research knows this problem. The rabbit warren, as they say. If you’re a writer I am sure you have had this happen. It goes like this…
Let’s say you have a Spanish character in your story. (I am picking Spain at random.) The character just needs a name. You want to be different. You don’t want to put another Lopez or Gonzaras in your story. So you google for Spanish names – it should be a simple matter just to pick one…
Then before you know it you have spent half an hour reading about a Spanish guitar play and bought two of her albums! (This specific example didn’t happen but I am sure you get the general idea.)
Unfortunately, when it comes to my internet distractions, I have never found something so interesting as a new piece of music. For me it is much more likely to just be a YouTube video – and one that I will have forgotten all about by the end of the day.
The new plan is still a work in progress. This draft has been going on for over a month!
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Have you ever heard about this silent room. Reportedly it is so quiet you can hear the blood moving in your head. I must admit I have often been curious what it might be like to be in such a room.
I find both silence and sound to be somewhat difficult to deal with – maybe it would be more accurate to say I am addicted to YouTube.
There is a tendency nowadays to fill all moments with sound. It could be music, the aforementioned YouTube, or even an audio book. I am aware that with the use of the word ‘nowadays’ I sound like an old man.
As I am writing this now I have a YouTube video paused. When I finish this session I will unpause, listen for a little bit longer, and then pause again. Often that is how I operate over a day. I am sure it is not particularly effective.
Would silence be better?
I am not sure what it is about silence but it can be hard to deal with too. The funny thing is it is not even that I have too many thoughts. Mostly my mind is rather blank.
It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. I think that I have been embodying that for a while.
Breaking out of a bad habit can be hard. I suppose I am thinking about that now, in particular, as we get towards the end of the year. (Now we’ve started a new year. I started this on 2024-12-11)
New habits can be embarked on at any point, obviously, but there is something about a new year that makes it seem like it is the right time to do it.
On the other hand, ‘New Year’s resolutions’ are doomed to failure. It is an often repeated fact that such resolutions rarely make it out of January.
They say that the better thing to do is to set a general intention. I am not sure how to do that. To be more accurate I need to find the discipline to do it.
What I have found is that there are always impediments. The parts of my life out of my control sometimes lead to not being able to stick to a routine. I have set an intention to wake up at 0700 each day. However I sometimes have trouble sleeping. On those nights, if I don’t have to be up in the morning, I cancel my alarm, wake up late, and then the whole day is thrown off and I am back to square one.
It is now January and this post is only just being completed. Maybe I should work on doing these in one go. Each time I come to it I write just a little more. Therefore it is long past time to wrap it up.
Lately, to help with being productive, I have been using dice. I write out a list, select a dice, and roll it down a dice tower to decide what I will do next. It makes choosing just a little more fun. So far so good.
I often seem to say, even if only to myself, that I have a new plan. You might say a cunning plan. Unfortunately my cunning plans do tend to go other about as well as those invented by Baldirck.
In my drafts for this blog I have many unfinished posts. I sometimes struggle with articulating what I want to say. I have one that was started in late September. Since we are now in November (We were when I wrote this.) I think it is fair to say that that post is not going to work out.
The current cunning plan is a new do-to list book. I use a website called So Typical Me . This site allows you to design a diary, or note book, from the ground up. I designed one back in May but I have slowly started to realise I made a mistake.
I miscalculated how much I could do in one week. Nature abhors a vacuum and so do I. I find I cannot leave blank spaces. If there is a line in the book I want to fill it. Therefore I have been setting myself too much to do in one week.
My new plan, elegant in its simplicity, is to have a notebook which doesn’t assign tasks to a specific day. If a piece of work can be done at any point then it can’t possibly be late can it?
(2024-11-24) Since I started this post I have also purchased a standing desk. I have been thinking about doing it for quite some time and it arrived a couple of days ago. It is supposed to be better for you, it helps with the problems associated with sitting for too long, and I think I heard it helps you focus better.
So it may be that a new diary coupled with a standing desk will help me be more productive. It may also be that I am announcing another cunning plan a few days from now. (It is now 2024-12-06. So far so good.)
Last time I talked about one of my favourite episodes of TOS. This time we’re looking at one at the other end of the spectrum.
When people talk about bad TOS Spock’s Brain is often talked about. I submit that Spock’s Brain isn’t that bad. The Alternative Factor, to the best of my memory, has no redeeming qualities. It is boring and stupid.
As we go through this lets see if that descriptor holds up…
The Enterprise is in orbit of a planet engaged in the dull side of exploration. They are performing a scan. While doing this there is a sudden, and to my mind, ill-defined disaster. Spock reports that everything within range of the sensors ‘winked out’. This is represented by overlaying stars across the screen.
Let’s talk for a moment about stakes. The stakes in this episode is the entire galaxy maybe the entire universe. In my opinion that is far too much. It is hard to get ones mind around those kinds of consequences. Not to mention that if our heroes can save the universe it makes it look silly that anything can challenge them.
This type of story can work in some circumstances. Doctor Who has done a universe in peril story a few times. I feel this kind of story works for Doctor Who in a way it doesn’t for Star Trek. The Doctor is, for all intents and purposes, a demigod. He understands time in all its wibbly-wobbly glory and can go anywhere in the universe. The Enterprise is very limited by comparison.
When I see an episode like The Alternative Factor I can’t help thinking about the other races in the universe. The Romulans must have detected the winking out too. Yet they can do nothing about it and, I realise this is personal taste, that never quite sat right with me.
After the ‘winking out’ they detect a life form on the planet. Kirk, Spock, and four security men head down. They discover a small craft. To borrow from Doctor Who – if the Doctor has a sports car this thing is a space hopper. (I know making fun of how this thing looks is a cheap shot.) They find the pilot, Lazarus, and he collapses, hinting at some great danger, after falling off a rock. (I was going to say mountain but that is rather more fatal.)
Scotty is absent from this episode so the engineering duties (technically science) are fulfilled by Lieutenant Masters. It is an odd omission as the story deals with an engineering matter. Nevertheless Janet MacLachlan does a fine job in the role. It is also wonderful to see another black woman being in a position of authority – even if only for this episode.
Lieutenant Masters reports that the effect drained the ship’s dilithium crystals. Kirk orders her to ‘Re-amplify ‘ the crystals. I don’t know enough science to know if that makes sense. I am going to guess it doesn’t – technobabble isn’t just for Voyager! Since the lack of crystals would cause the orbit to decay you would think re-amplifying would be standard practice. Also when something is in orbit doesn’t it stay in orbit? I don’t know. Again I know nothing.
Spock cannot explain what is going on. In other words they are screwed! The one thing he can say it is strongest on the planet below.
More good news is received when they are contacted by Starfleet. They believe that the ‘winking out’ is a prelude to invasion. And yet they will not give Kirk any additional ships. (What could be more important than the possible end of everything?) Also how can someone invade an entire universe?
Incidentally the dialog indicates that Starfleet has a presence, or is at least aware of, goings on outside of the galaxy. This would not be true later on. I am not blaming the episode for this. TOS was not a show where continuity was important.
I am supposed to be explaining this episode’s plot. I am not 100% sure it has one…here’s a stock photo of an angel and a devil.
Lazarus is brought to Kirk’s quarters. He says that he is perusing a being that destroyed his entire civilisation. He escaped because he was inspecting ‘magnetic communications satellites’ – I don’t think that makes sense but it does in the world of Trek.
I don’t think it makes sense both in terms of the words but also in an advanced civilisation wouldn’t there always be many people off world?
Kirk arrives on the planet with Lazarus. Lazarus now has a cut on his forehead that wasn’t there before. Then we get the first of many appearances of a blue effect of two figures fighting. I think it is supposed to be in some null space. The planet is shaken by what every it was. Lazarus (or Robert_Brown, his actor, if you prefer) gets to over act. Which is quite a statement as he is next to William Shatner. (Sorry SFdebris but you’re right.) He gets to say kill over and over – that’s always fun.
The biggest stumbling block in this episode, as mentioned up top, is the sheer scale of what is going on. Even if they do lampshade it, Kirk says it is hard to believe. It doesn’t make it work.
Suspension of disbelief is going to be a factor in any science fiction story. For some people a ship powered by crystals might be too much. For me that was grandfathered in. I started watching Star Trek when I was 7. A ship powered by mushrooms breaks my stupid meter.
So does this episode. The universe is in peril from one person? It is not like the anti-Lazarus has a doomsday weapon. He is just some guy.
We get a scene with McCoy and Kirk where the former uses the phrase ‘As you know’ twice in as many minutes. One of them was ‘as we both know’ but let’s not slit hairs. I don’t hate that phrase as much as others but it certainly is over used. (And rarely makes sense in any context.)
What McCoy does say that is interesting (in theory) is that he treated Lazarus for a wound. Then, a little later, the wound was gone.
Not only is the wound gone but so is Lazarus. McCoy is rather blasé about that. Here’s a wild idea. Maybe a visitor to a military (I will die on that hill.) ship, who you know nothing, should have a security escort. Granted Starfleet security couldn’t stop a toddler from stealing from the cookie jar but still. Turns out he is just in the mess hall.
Kirk and McCoy find Lazarus. This is not from a coordinated search they just happen upon him! He does have the plaster on his forehead. McCoy takes it off and the wound is back.
Kirk seems to think that McCoy is just kidding around. I have to ask just how dumb is Kirk? Does he really think that McCoy would do that in a crisis? I don’t know that just doesn’t sit right with me. Then again in The Corbomite Manoeuvre he doesn’t tell Kirk about the red alert lights. McCoy is also seen drinking on duty…never mind.
On the bridge they have detected a rip in the universe. Spock was able to find it using the dilithium crystals crystals. Okay, people. Ready for a geeky diversion?
As I said I have been watching Star Trek since I was 7. I started with TNG and saw TOS much later. As such I might have a rather skewed view of things. TNG, DS9 and Voyager are more consistent with each other than they are with TOS. I cannot recall another time when the dilithium was used to find something. I am guessing it was acting like a compass. I don’t know. I’m just a writer not a science officer.
Lazarus wants the crystals to trap the other one. Kirk, naturally, refuses as they are essential to the operation of the ship.
Lazarus leaves the bridge with a security guard but when we next see him he is alone and no explanation is given. How did he get away from the guard? Incompetence?
That is the real problem with this episode. The story they are trying to tell is stupid but, on top of that, we have these little extra things of the crew being idiots.
Even doing this review I am having a hard time fully understanding what in the hell is going on.
The injured Lazaruses – has an episode (For want of a better term – I mean this in the clinical sense of the word.) and then we see the uninjured one. I think they are switching places each time.
The uninjured one goes to engineering and attacks Masters and her assistant. Security reports that Lazarus is missing. See what I mean about incompetence?
Kirk meets with the injured Lazarus in the briefing room. He says it was the other one who is guilty. Kirk also asks how the other got aboard. I am guessing that because they can switch places where one goes the other goes.
Back on the planet the crew investigate the ship. The crystals are not aboard. Lazarus ends up in the blue zone – with the back up fight music playing (That is my term it is not the famous Trek fight music) – after this fight the injured one emerges and… well he falls off the mountain…again.
In sickbay they get more information. Lazarus says he is from Earth but from another time. The other Lazarus is also a time traveller.
McCoy objects to the security officer – for reasons.
Then Kirk and Spock are illogical. Admittedly I might not have caught this myself. (Thanks Sfdebrs) They say that because the Enterprise’s sensors are designed to scan everything in the universe, and that they are not getting a clear scan, that the radiation they have detected must be from another universe. They conclude the existence of a parallel universes occupying the same space and time. A minus universe. (Rather than concluding that they have discovered something new. Something strange. A strange new world you might say.)
They figure out that Lazarus is two men. I feel it was too subtle – or maybe I am just an idiot.
Spock says ‘Madness has no purpose…but it may have a goal.’ That might be the dumbest thing Spock has said. Purpose and goal are pretty close in definition. I am not quite sure if they are synonyms or not.
There is an anti-matter and a matter universe and they cancel each other out. If the two Lazarus meet there will be annihilation. Not just of them but of the whole universe. How can a few kilograms of a person be a universe level threat?
Injured Lazarus removes something from a panel causing a fire. The crew evacuates and he sneaks in to steal the crystals.
Lazarus knocks out the transporter operator, beams down, and clips the crystals into his space hopper – I mean ship.
Kirk arrives and he ends up in the blue zone. He emerges on another planet. Here he meets the uninjured Lazarus who greets him. So Kirk is now in the antimatter universe.
Kirk agrees to help. The blue zone is an interconnection between the two universes, a corridor. A plan is put together: force the other Lazarus into the corridor and destroy his ship.
For some reason Kirk tells the guards to stand back. Kirk wins, duh, they take the crystals back, and blow up the ship. Lazarus is now trapped forever with his mad doppelganger. The implication is that they will not age.
This episode is a mess. I think it could have worked if the script had been given another pass and a polish but, as it stands, it is a mess. As is this review. I have done a speed run to the end here because I want to get to a more interesting episode. Which isn’t saying much as they are all more interesting than this one.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
The other day I needed some light bulbs and a toilet roll holder. I know that that is not the most riveting beginning to a blog post but it is the one I am going with.
Those two items together were not enough to get me over the free delivery threshold. To get there I added the Lego Star Wars Captain Rex micro fighter.
Ironically Amazon couldn’t deliver it all together. So, technically, I could have cancelled the Lego and still had the free delivery! I didn’t do that. I still wanted the set. I have to say the mini figure in particular is beautiful.
When I was a child there were a few times, over a typical year, where I got presents. As an adult this happens less and less. I imagine it is true for most of us that when we get a delivery it is probably something we ordered for ourselves. The funny thing is even so it can still be exciting.
Why is that? Why is opening a package fun? Even if you know what it is. Even if you spent the money – and even if it is something mundane.
I don’t know. I want to talk more about Lego.
I was in the Lego store the other day. There were several sets that I wanted. The thing is I can only budget for one or two major Lego sets a year. If I suddenly came into some money… well that would be an interesting question…
My current wish list is a little over £3,000! My dream is to have the money for a Lego room. If I ever had the space I would do that. There would be trestle tables with lots of builds! It would be a Lego city complete with a Star Wars theme park!
As it stands I don’t have that much space. I am having to deconstruct some of my sets to make room for new sets. I also need to get rid of junk for more Lego. Getting rid of stuff is hard but that is a topic for another time.
Thanks for reading.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Sometimes, when writing, annoying questions come to my mind. I’ll be writing my story and everything seems to be going fine then, suddenly, I discover a plot hole.
Funnily enough this can come in the form of a character asking a question and then I have to deal with the question.
Plot holes are an almost inevitable part of writing. In the real world the unexplained can happen. In a story every part should have some value.
In 2008 my brother and I were in Paris. We saw an old man on the metro. He was a little scruffy looking and kept standing up, gesticulating, speaking quickly, and then sitting back down. I don’t speak French so I have no idea what he was saying. My impression, from the reactions of those around us, was that he was probably predicting the end of the world. (It could have be literally anything else.)
In a film, or a book, including such an event would have to have some kind of point. Although I suppose, and I am defeating my own argument here, he could just be a curiosity in a wider adventure. I suppose it is more proper to say most things have to have a point.
The final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, Restless, takes place in a dream world. Everything in it has a meaning with one exception. A bold man offering slices of cheese. The meaning of this is that it is meaningless. The idea being that all dreams have elements of meaningless.
As an aside I have never been a fan of this episode. I like it as a piece of art but not as an episode of television. I shouldn’t have to know philosophy and ancient Greek just to understand something of this sort. Perhaps I am just an uncultured so-and-so.
As another aside my dreams are, I am fairly sure, completely meaningless. I once had a dream that someone sent me a living baby in the post. The dream me didn’t seem altogether surprised with this development. I just made sure the tiny baby was taken care off.
In my novel a group of centaurs are rescued from slavery. My astute, intelligent, and kind protagonist is going to ask awkward questions about this. She will want to know why more slaves aren’t rescued in the story. I have some ideas of how to answer but not a complete one. I think I will go with plan B…write the story and let reviewers, if reviews there be, come up with lore to explain my shortcomings.
I hope you are doing well. Thank you for reading my blog.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Did you ever see that Simpsons episode where Mr Burns goes to the doctor? In brief, for those that haven’t, the doctor concludes that he has everything. The episode is called ‘The Mansion Family’.
I bring this up because in the age of the internet, he said like it was invented last Thursday, it is very easy to believe you have everything.
For me the ‘everything’ is connected with my mental health. I know that there is something going on in my brain. I can’t put my finger on what it is. Like Mr Burns I wish I could be tested for everything.
Having a label for something is invaluable. If you know what’s wrong you can seek help. Without knowing it is far more difficult.
When I look up symptoms, or just see someone talking about their lived experience, it is very easy to think that you too have the same thing.
I am deliberately keeping my wording vague. It would be disingenuous of me to give myself a label that I don’t know I have. I know something is wrong. I know that, sometimes, I react to things in an odd way. Sometimes the day-to-day is hard to deal with.
The funny thing is that I feel I would do well in a crisis. For the purposes of this example I am assuming the crisis doesn’t involve swimming, public speaking, wasps, eating courgettes, being alone, being in a group, or having to watch the Star Wars squeals.
Perhaps I am being arrogant. It is just a theory. (That phrase is never going to be usable again is it?)
I operate under the delusion of control. I set myself a to-do list. (It drives me mad but that is a separate issue) So I know what it is that needs to be done. The idea is that when I have completed the list my life will be on track. The thing is it is never done. If, by some miracle, I manage to get on top of things I then start to think of the little jobs that don’t get regular attention.
If I was in a crisis that illusion would be gone. You can’t worry about housework if said house is one fire! The only priority is getting everyone out. I wonder if there a way to trick my brain into coping with life?
This post was inspired by this video.
I hope you are doing well. Thank you for reading my blog.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
I never know the words that are going to come out when I start a new blog post.
I do not have many skills and of the skills I don’t have one of them is planning. I am not a good planner.
The reason is I always have the slight feeling of being chased by a wolf. That is a metaphor I have come up with on the fly.
Intellectually I understand the value of planning but when I think about doing it all I can think is that it is time spent not doing the thing.
Did you ever watch Red Dwarf? There is an episode where Rimmer makes a revision timetable. He puts hours and hours of effort into it. When the time comes for the exam all he has done is make the timetable and not actually done any of the work. This is how I feel.
I also know how ineffective this can be. I have been working on a novel for a long time. Planning might have helped. Now I am so deep into it it feels like it would not help. The novel is going well…I think.
Ultimately the decision on if planning is best or not planning is best is up to each individual. At least it is in writing. If you’re building a bridge you do need to plan.
This came together pretty well today. I have no idea how long the post is but I am guessing it is nowhere near the proposed 500 words. Not least because it hasn’t taken long enough for that to happen. Still I am going to leave it here for now. Maybe more words will occure to me the next time.
Bye for now.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Today I want to talk about distractions. The world today has so many distractions. Right now, as I type this (Ironically on my distraction free writing computer) I have a YouTube video playing. It is a video from the TV series The Orville.
[I am also distracting myself with the editing phase of this post.]
For those that do not know The Orville is a science fiction series created by Seth Macfarlane. I am not a fan of Family Guy, his most famous work, but The Orville is brilliant.
When you watch The Orville it is quite obviously a homage to Star Trek. It has humans and aliens working together, colour coded uniforms, a prime directive, and social commentary.
The first season is a little ropy. I think it was a comedy Trojan horse. Can I put it like that? Am I making any sense?
Let me explain. A science fiction story about exploring the galaxy is, obviously, going to bring Star Trek to mind. However that idea isn’t something Star Trek (specifically TNG) can claim rights too. Nevertheless I think there are those who would question it. It is my supposition that Macfarlane made the series a comedy as a way to make it different and get it green lit. Then, once that was done, he could slowly adjust it to something more serious. In my view each season has been better than the one before. Fingers crossed for a fourth season.
I don’t want to make this post all about The Orville. In order to achieve that I should stop letting myself get distracted.
Technically, I suppose, I have done that as this is a new editing session from the last time I said that.
I saw something on Facebook the other day about life being better before social media and maybe the internet in general. I am inclined to think there might be something to that.
I remember dial-up internet and only having one computer for the whole family.
(This is funny. My grammar checker doesn’t like the phrase ‘dial-up internet. We have come so far even the computers don’t remember that time.)
There is an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, (I, Robot… You, Jane) that deals with the early internet. It is not one of their best episodes. It does, however, have a retrospectively funny line about being able to tell someone wasn’t online because the phone wasn’t busy.
They say that silence is very important. They say that our minds were not designed to be constantly stimulated. Yet that is what we have in this day and age.
104 words of this to go and then I can do something else. I am still distracted. I have had a long day today.
(Only true for the original writing. This edit is being done at 0756.)
104 words of this to go and then I can do something else. How do I keep from getting distracted?
Obviously I can shut off YouTube. For reasons I cannot understand I am not doing that.
(I didn’t then I am now.)
Do you ever have that battle with yourself? Where you are doing something that is annoying you? And you know your future self is going to be annoyed and yet you can’t seem to stop. I know that my future self is annoyed with me right now.
It is now another day – and we are so far adrift from when the above draft was written it is almost completely meaningless. I will leave it be. It can be a monument to my deep personal stupidity.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Unstable Orbit 