{ed Yes, another Star Trek: The Pepsi Generation parody. I think it was International Trek Parody Month.} Okay, somebody asked for it, saying they were looking for Star Trek parodies. Now that the Next Generation has been seen on BBC, I think the time has come to reveal the original scripts for Encounter at Farpoint. I present to you: Star Trek: The Degeneration. ======================================================================= Space - the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise - her continuing mission to seek out new worlds and civilisations, to find yet more terrible jokes to write into Star Trek parodies, and to boldly go where no man has gone before - the ladies' loo in Security. Captain's log, stardate 41123.8. Captain Jean-Luc Pickaxe reporting. I have been posted to the Enterprise, a Galaxy class exploration, combat, discovery, combat, training, combat and attack vessel. This new vessel is many times larger than the previous cruiser to bear her name under Admiral James T. Kirk - may his TMs rest in peace - comprising a main 'saucer' section, and a smaller command 'cup' section. The main saucer section has distinctly greater space for personnel, families, and friends of my staff. The reason for this increase in personnel carrying ability is that people started to notice in the last series that security guards were dying faster than we could possibly get replacements. We are under orders from StarFleet command to head toward the planet of Denim 4, where the construction of the Farpoint space station and drive-in burger-bar is to be reviewed. We have been specifically asked to check the availability of the free offer crystal tumblers. My crew seem fairly competent - Nasher Yar, security officer, is pretty sexy in that skin-tight regulation thigh-gripper, and the Klingon doesn't look too bad either (thought - is that why they call them Kling-ons?). The ship's counsellor, Day'n'a Night, is keeping herself employed by wearing a short enough mini-skirt to give personal problems to all men over the age of twelve, and Data, the ship's android, is currently experimenting with a new variety of gangrene for his face. My first officer, Captain William Stryker ("Strike 'er?" <SLAP> "Thank you captain.") is currently awaiting our arrival at the Farpoint fast-food joint, along with Dr. Crusher - our medical expert. Maybe not the real McCoy, but a lot more attractive. During my younger days, I had an affair with Dr. Crusher - this leading to her signing off all her transmissions with "From Crusher with love." I suppose you could say I had a crush on her. We are now merely a few parsecs from the Denim system, and preparing leave tickets for members of my crew. "Captain - I have an anomalous reading up ahead." "Put it on main viewer ... Good grief - it looks like a section of chain-link fence." "It registers as solid, Captain. Shall we stop?" "No, Ensign - we plough straight into it, with the loss of thousands of lives. Try thinking for a change. All thrusters to reverse. Counter all our forward motion. All hands - prepare for a possible 'super-powerful alien' script." A sudden flash lit up the bridge. "Not now, Nasher. Leave that till next episode." "That wasn't me, Captain - look." "You're right - it looks nothing like you. Good thinking." "Greetings to you Captain. I would advise thee not to worry overly much about yon dead security guard - he was doomed as soon as he left camera-shot. I appear to thee as a Captain of another ship, so as to appear more normal to thee and thy crew. Besides, it keeps the costume budget up, and I get to talk with a funny accent. But enough of this ribaldry, jocularity, and any other word I can think of to sum up my humour. We must now come to the main reason of my boarding your ship. You must go back to your crummy little solar system - you are unworthy of what exists out there in the endless void. I know your history almost too well - you are a savage race." "What's so savage about the 2.15 at Newmarket?" "Shut up, Data - this is no time to try out your comedy routine. So, alien being..." "Please, call me Q." "Ah, a James Bond fan?" "No, Steve Davis. I require that you and your crew leave this area immediately - you are too barbaric to continue your exploration." "How dare you judge us! No species that refers to its individuals with single letters should judge those with reproductive proclivity sufficient to generate multi-syllabilic names!" "An apt choice of words - but your sentence remains unaltered. Either go back now, or die in the vacuum of space." "Couldn't we just tell you how good we thought your poem was?" "Enough of this obscure quoting - the next time we meet, you shall be judged for what you are - under one of your ancient judicial systems - trial by scriptwriter." And with that, another great explosion of light fills the bridge of the Enterprise, and the alien being is gone once more. "Mr. Data - I need warp drive speed now." "The engines willnae take it, Cap'n" "What did you say, Data?" "Oh, sorry Captain - I just thought someone had better say that sometime during this episode, or they won't think it's Star Trek. Warp factor 6 now, sir." "We are out-running the hostile, sir. Commands?" "Yes, they're orders related to a junior by a senior, intended to be carried out - but that's not important right now. Ensure all personnel not directly noted in the opening credits are safely on board the saucer, then disconnect it." "Aye aye sir. Ejecting saucer now." There now follows a scene in which the families, etc, are herded across hundreds of passageways into the saucer, which then ejects, revealing only seven connecting passageways. Someone shoot the continuity director. The Enterprise turns back, and heads for the chain-link fence, which closes itself around them. A flash of light, even brighter than before, illumines the bridge, until, with a raucous noise of crowd, it fades once more to reveal that our heroes (and heroines) have been transported to a strange hall. "Sir, I recognise this from the history tapes, as being from the post-atomic age of Earth - the infamous CS hearings. It appears we are to be judged on our own terms of centuries ago." "Thank you, Data. Well, at least we seem to be acquainted with the judge." and with this, a huge gong resounds across the room, and a voice announces: "THE COURT WILL NOW RISE FOR HIS SUPREME COURT-NESS, Q THE WHITE." Immediately, Pickaxe and his crew seat themselves, as a gigantic Microsoft mouse enters the room. Seated atop the control button is the alien, Q. "So, earthlings, you have decided to stay and face me. Good - I like a challenge. You shall stand in my presence, please." There is a pause of some 5 frames, before a se-Q-rity guard approaches the prisoners, with a cup of foul smelling liquid in his hand. He motions to throw the effluent over the assembled cast, but is prevented by Q. "The prisoners must not be harmed. You are out of order." "But I work perfectly well." This sentence is cut short by a loud volley of machine gun fire from all directions, aimed at the se-Q-rity guard. "I do so hate a smart-ass. You are now out of order. Clerk - the charges must be read." "Criminal - you must read the charges to the court." There is a pause, as Pickaxe scans the paper he has been handed. "I see no charges here directed to us." There is another pause, as the paper is turned over in his hand, so the writing is uppermost. "Oh. Those. Ah, well, that was a long time ago, and she was handsomely paid. By the time we'd cleared up the blancmange nobody knew anything about it. I ask you to judge us, not on what we were, but on what we are, and what we can progress to become." Again, we switch to a description of the action. Not too boring? Good. Nasher Yar notices that one of the se-Q-rity guards is approaching her with his gun ready to fire, and acts with the speed and precision available only to a master of the martial arts. She kicks him between the legs. Despite the massive amount of armour being worn by the guard, he crumples immediately to the floor, singing the descant line of the Hallelujah Chorus. "You, woman, are out of order." At this cry from Q, she suddenly stands straight, and closes her eyes as a group of stage hands spray her with aerosol snow, and she falls, stiff to the floor. "The first one to make a joke about her being frigid gets the same treatment." "You have gone back on your word - you stated quite clearly that the prisoners would not be harmed." "Oh, very well, this court is merciful. See - she is now out of cold storage once more. So, you wish me to judge you for what you are? In that case, I shall allow you to complete your mission, and will observe your pathetic attempts to deal with the script I have concocted for you. Now, I let you back to your ship. But remember - you're on Candid Camera!" A short flash of light later, and the crew are once again on the battle bridge of the Enterprise. A security guard, who wasn't with them in the courtroom, is manning the navigation console, with the sort of grin on his face that implies he either knows something about his chief that he is not telling, or he grows some strange plants in his quarters. "Navigator - what course are we headed on?" "To Denim 4 - the same course we've been on all the time. And I'm going to get there first, because I'm flying now. Wheeeeeee!!!!!!" At this, Nasher Yar relaxes as she realises he knows nothing of her and the Cortina fan-belt. We now switch to the planet surface, where Stryker and Crusher, tonight's main wrestling attraction, are engaged in conversation. But before this, we get a beautiful panoramic view of the city, just to emphasise that no-one is skimping on the special effects budget. "It's truly amazing how quickly the Bandys have built this space-way service station. It's almost magical - the way in which they have constructed it in the time between the opening credits and now. And don't you find that they bend over backwards to please you in every way?" A knowing smile plays over Crusher's lips, before she replies "Yes, I agree - it's almost worrying the way they seem to be able to produce anything we require at a moment's notice. Take that Blues Brothers T-shirt I just bought. I could swear it wasn't there when I entered the street of silver, and yet there it was on display." A crackle sounds from both their chests, as their communicators inform them of the impending arrival of the Enterprise. "The Enterprise's arrival is impending. The saucer and combat sections are arriving separately." "Separately? Something must have happened." Full marks to Stryker for observation there. "I must beam aboard immediately. Stryker to bridge - beam me up." A flickering light plays across his body, as the new-style transporter beam takes Stryker onto the combat section of the Enterprise. "Welcome aboard, Mr Stryker. I'm Captain Jean-Luc Pickaxe." "Yes, I recognise the hair-style from Federation records." "Thank you. As you can probably guess, we had a small adventure here a while ago. Play the tapes back to yourself in the video lounge." "You call that a small adventure?" "Yes - you wait till you see the rest of the script! Now, to prove your skill as a pilot, I require you to manually dock with the saucer." "Yes sir. Helm - three degrees to starboard. Up a bit, left a tad, there. Now press 'C' to dock." "But sir, this isn't Elite." "Oh, right. Well, reduce velocity to zero - our momentum should do the rest." "But sir, we don't have any momentum with zero velocity." "Quite right, helm - just testing. Okay, slow down to one half-meter per second." We now switch to a view of the two sections approaching, at a rate that suggests if their relative velocity is one half-meter per second, then the Enterprise is only two meters long. "Easy, easy, and slow down ... now. Damn - we're three inches short. Okay, when I say now, everyone jump. Now!" There is a crunching noise, and the Enterprise docks with its saucer section. The captain congratulates Stryker, and they lever his knuckles from the rail he has been holding on to. "Stryker - you and Day'n'a must come with me and Data down to the planet's surface - we need to find out more about this place that claims to serve edible Big Macs. For a start, why is their head man a look-alike of Slartibartfast?" ======================================================================= Now, If you're all really lucky, I'll send the rest of the original script in a few days/weeks/months. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alun Jones - Unix Development Engineer - Welcom Software Technology Int'l.
(From the "Rest" of RHF)