Spock and Data

Posted by Andy Baio

Two strange Star Trek-related tidbits:

1. The short-lived cottage industry of Y2K survival books and videos probably isn’t doing so well these days, but the materials are still available if you’re interested. These ranged from the alarmist Y2K Millennium Meltdown: The Silent Bomb (“science fiction has become a science nightmare”) to the outright paranoid Y2K: Hidden Dangers of Martial Law and a Police State (“Will President Bill Clinton use the Y2K computer bug crisis as a pretext to declare martial law and usher in a brutal Gestapo police state?”). Compared to others in the genre, Leonard Nimoy’s Y2K Family Survival Guide seems almost rational. Almost. Anyway, I uploaded the short introduction video that I found on Usenet (6 meg AVI). If you want to see the rest, you can still buy it on Amazon. ($7.50, cheap!)

2. Another recent Usenet discovery is the little-known album recorded by Brent Spiner, most famously known for his role as Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Maybe he was jealous of Spock and Kirk.) Ol’ Yellow Eyes Is Back, released in 1991, features everyone’s favorite android crooning his way through twelve Tin Pan Alley standards. “It’s A Sin (To Tell a Lie)” features backup vocals by fellow cast members Levar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), Michael Dorn (Worf), and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard). The album is long out of print, but you can hear “It’s A Sin” here (4 meg MP3).


I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I have the full album in MP3 format and the entire high-res Leonard Nimoy video (585 megs, compressed!). If you really want either, it can be arranged. Or you can go grab it off Usenet like I did.

Comments

    Have you ever seen “Trekkies?” There is a woman in that film that was obssesed with Brent Spiner to the point of stalking.

    Good stuff. I bow to your courage in trudging through the usenet binaries for gems.

    I was worked at a bookstore and shelved computer, math and science books when the real boom of Y2K books started happening. I remember one in particular that scared the crap out of me, written by a husband and wife that outlined best-to-worst case scenarios. I think it was so scary because it was like, “This is what will probably happen, but look what could happen.”

    And I think that Brent Spiner stalker lives here. How freaky.

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