16 February 2013

Birthdays
Sarah Clarke b. 1972
LeVar Burton b. 1957
Ardwight Chamberlain b. 1957
Jeremy Bulloch b. 1945

For those keeping score at home, today we have birthdays for actors from Twilight, Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Star Wars. Levar Burton gets the photo op. His exact birthday boy pal is the voice for Ambassador Kosh. Jeremy Bulloch was the original actor inside the Boba Fett costume, though he didn't do the voice, a common situation in the Star Wars franchise.

Prediction: In 1992, The Eugenics Wars begin, giving rise to different factions of genetically enhanced “supermen” ruling over one third of the Earth. The most powerful of these rulers was Khan Noonien Singh.

Predictor: Space Seed, a first season episode from Star Trek, written by Gene L. Coon and Cary Wilber, aired 16 February 1967

Reality: Okay, let's do a little math on this one. How old are these genetic supermen in 1992? Ricardo Montalban was 47 when he played this role, but he always looked terrific and could easily pass for ten years younger. (Note: he did not look mahvelous. He is Ricardo, not Fernando, let's not confuse the two.) Khan was frozen four years later in 1996, so even if he was in his early thirties in the early 1990s, he would have been born in the early 1960s or late 1950s.

That would mean the genetics program that created these despots had already begun before the Star Trek episode was written. No program like this existed then.

In defense of Coon and Wilber, let me say "Math is hard."

Looking ahead one day... INTO THE FUTURE! Do you think one blog post is enough to deal with the legacy of Khan Noonien Singh? Oh no, my friend, this story has an end as well. (And a sequel, but we won't be getting in to that.)

Join me then... IN THE FUTURE!