So on one of the TV's at work the last few days they've been playing a marathon of Star Trek - TNG.
I was never really a fan, never owned a TV and so missed it when it first came out and was popular and had to endure it when other people had it on.
Now's my chance to catch up and see what all the fuss was about. Only the TV's in the restaurant, we don't play them with volume or Close Captioning, I'll just have to figure it out, and given that I'm forever to and fro (the nature of service) this isn't working so good for me.
Never mind, I can figure it out.
Watch it. I can see why I never got into it. The authority of Jean Luc Picard undermined by his ridiculous "strut of authority" - arms stationary at side as he walks about bridge, planets - wherever. WTF? It looks unnatural. Riker's "Devastating" good lucks and wholesome close ups, that dumb ass empath and the prodigal young Wesley Crusher. My God I dodged a bullet.
Still, not much going on in the afternoons and so I make a note of what's going on on screen and when I go for a cigarette ask Ken.
"Ken, There's a dead Picard lying on a table and a live Picard standing over him and Councilor Troy has just entered the room..."
- "That's episode ... where Picard has to time travel to save then Enterprise and then kill himself to avoid violating the time-space continuum..." Ken explains.
I'm in awe. I was lighthearted in my testing of his fandom but he's rising to the test. I try him again several times:
"Ken, a bunch of people are trying to talk to this crystal..."
- "That's the episode where they meet the Crystalline Entity and are introduced to Data's evil twin, Lars...."
"Ken, Wesley is getting in trouble for getting off the Holodeck wet..."
- "That's the "Encounter at Farpoint..."
He gets them all. I get increasingly vague in my descriptions, with things like:
"The Enterprise is circling a green planet"...
- "They used that footage for a number of episodes. Give me a minute..." and he come out, glances at the TV, the scene has changed and quickly summarizes the plot.
I get emotional:
"Ken, Ken, Picard has just died" or "Wharf is getting mad" and "How did that darned Wesley Crusher get to be so smart!!??" and it excites him to come out from the kitchen and see what the fuss is about, update me as to the episode and plot.
The man is a genius in all trivial things...