Oh Myyy! Read Online Free PDF Page A

carried with them a common guiding set of values. While critics often wring their hands over the presumed superficiality of these icons and values, particularly given the poverty and afflictions of most of the rest of the world, they fail to offer up a workable alternative. If leadership requires a fired-up sense of purpose and imagination, it also demands a profound connection to the society to be led. Like it or not, this is our culture, and we should embrace and celebrate it, even while we strive to refine and shape it.
    Meanwhile, I’m going to go watch some Muppet Show reruns and work on my best Yoda.

The Star Alliance
     
     
    About a year ago, I received a tweet from a fan informing me that the Chicago Sun Times film critic, Roger Ebert, had called upon me to broker a peace. It was intriguing, to say the least. Mr. Ebert had been following a growing online feud between two of sci-fi’s heavyweights — Carrie Fisher and William Shatner (no pun intended, Bill).
    Bill had begun the spat by ridiculing the Star Wars franchise during an interview. He claimed that Star Wars was less original than Star Trek , and that Trek had a leg up over Wars when it came to character development and story line. “ Star Trek had relationships and conflict among the relationships, and stories that involved humanity and philosophical questions. Star Wars was special effects,” he stated. “ Star Wars was derivative of us by - what, 10, 15, 20 years?” He then took the character of Princess Leia on directly: “As beautiful as she was, and as wonderful an actress as she is, (she) can’t compare to the marvelous heroines we had on Star Trek. ”
     

     
    Now, Bill likes to stir the pot, particularly if he has a new show coming out, and he does not do things without knowing the consequences. You can’t fire a photon torpedo across the bow of an Imperial Destroyer without some kind of response. It wasn’t long before Carrie Fisher hit back with her own interview, “ Star Wars was sooooooo much better than Star Trek ,” she said. She compared Klingon to a laundry detergent (I confess, I chuckled when I heard this), and noted that the original series appeared to lack any kind of budget for special effects. To add some personal insult to injury, she mocked Bill’s weight gain since retiring as Captain of the Enterprise , then cheekily added that her own “space buns” were superior to Spock’s ears.
     

     
    The Shat then fired back, in yet another video, claiming he could in fact still fit in his uniform with a bit of pushing on the stretch material, but that he doubted Fisher could still fit into her bikini worn in the third movie. Yes, it had turned quite personal.
    Of course, it was all in good fun, but beneath it all a nagging question remained: Was Bill correct that Star Wars ’ use of special effects detracted from the story and characters? Was Ms. Fisher far off the mark in criticizing the admittedly shaky effects of the original series?
    It didn’t take long for the Internet to grow abuzz, with sci-fi fans rushing to the defense of their favored “Star” series. While Star Trek had lasted through the ages, Star Wars concededly had gained far greater pop culture penetration. Geeks everywhere were taking sides, and a rupture in the sci-fi continuum seemed possible. So when Roger Ebert’s blog covered the feud, he wondered aloud whether a peace could be made between the two warring sides: “One can only hope George Takei ( Star Trek ’s Lt. Sulu) can be brought in to broker a peace settlement before blood is shed.”
    I’m not exactly sure why Ebert chose to ask for my assistance. Did he know that I had worked on Star Wars as well as Star Trek and thus stood in some unique position? Did he pick me because I had already successfully begun an online presence, and had a few viral videos under my belt? Or was there something authoritative about my delivery that he believed could quiet the growing storm?
    I jest of course.