WB 5

Dear English 110 students,

You have a long quarter of first year English ahead of you, and I believe there are a few crucial keys to success. First and for most, stay on top of your assignments. The work load is very manageable and well spread out, and will not pile up on you if you do your blogs on time and work on the larger papers a little bit at a time. Next I would like to tell you to take the blogs seriously, they are great practice your writing, task risks with your writing and voice your opinions. Another great way to improve our writing (and your grades) is to read, understand and use the comments Leslie gives you about your writing. If you think about her comments and take her advice, your writing and grades will improve. Finally, I would like to say that you shouldn't judge the course before you get into it. I was quite averse to sci fi before this class and I could not believe I actually had to watch shows in English class. But if you keep and open mind about the course material, you will get a lot out of it.

Good luck,

Trevor Stengel

Firscape

I think Firscape was the worst show that we watched all quarter. I thought everything about it was what could go wrong with a sci fi. Tacky aliens, lost astronaut, I just did not like the characters. As it started I thought it might have been an interesting show. With the astronaut taking off from Earth I figured that it may be a sci fi that was actually based on Earth. It turned out to be nothing like this. I could also barely stand looking at the aliens, not only were they tacky but they were gross. One thing I did like was that the one alien did not trust the human. I thought the lack of trust of humans was an interesting twist. Normally it is humans not trusting aliens.

I was unable to relate to Firscape at all. This quarter completely surprised me in that I was able to relate to old Star Trek more then the modern sci fi's that were made in my lifetime. The sci fi's that occurring in present day, like Buffy and Angel are interesting, but I have found that I was more interested in the old Star Trek and Firefly due to there story lines. The settings of the shows we watched were essentially irrelevant to my ability to relate to the show. It is the story lines and the issues that the characters go through that made all the difference in me relating to the shows.

Star Trek Next Generation

I really liked the episode we watched in class. I think I must just prefer the sci fi episodes that have conflict that involve an actual story line rather then just explosions and special effects. I found the issue at hand a very fascinating topic. The impact of creating more machines like Data could be extremely helpful. However is it really okay to risk the "life" of Data for this benefit. This episode brought up the issue of the value of life. It was decided that Data offers all the a human with a soul offers, and therefore was not property and his life could not be risked to try and duplicate him. He may not understand human emotion, as seen in the game of poker, but he feels human emotion, he can love. I found this episode relevant because I think that people that blindly support war are not actually thinking about what is being risked. I think that people frequently make the mistake of viewing this nations brave service men and women as property of the government. People see war and look past the fact that men and women just like us actually have to engage in battle when war is being waged. I never thought I could draw all of these important and relevant issues from a sci fi. I think that respect for human life is such an important issue in today's society, and somehow gets looked past.

I like Star Trek: Next Generation and Star Trek the original better then basically all of the things we have watched this quarter. I can't really say which show I like better though. The issue in the episode we watched in class was so interesting. I just have to say I am a big fan of the themes that are presented in both series. The are timeless and relevant today which engages me without being flashy, which shows that the story line are well thought out.