And I was worried about somebody coming up with something like “The Magellan Affair” AFTER we started to get it out there…

So, I’m sitting at my cushy government job surfing for any mention of “The Magellan Affair” like a needy puppy and come across this. I’ve kept myself from looking at much, but it seems like there’s a 90’s videogame that bears a scary retro sci-fi resemblance to what we did. It’s creepy, and to a copyright nazi like myself, a little disturbing. To show that I’m not just a copyright nazi but also a hypocrite, here’s a pic of the game I lifted off the net.

It’s strange. I’ve dabbled in PC games in the past.  Sam & Max Hit the Road and Grim Fandango were pretty awesome. Later on, I played the hell out of Freedom Force and Battle for Middle-Earth. Now, I’ve got Bob’s copy of Sam & Max: Season One that’s been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year. Not having the time to play it burns at my soul like a thousand packs of matches. On top of which, almost all of my friends are video game junkies. How the hell had I never heard of Tex Murphy?

I came up with The Magellan Affair during a party at Adrian’s (which I may or may not have named The House of Sin). It was just after Mosquito, and a drunken Adrian, Bob, and myself were leaning on the same wall hold us up. Bob (a CG wizard and sci-fi super freak) says, “what’s the next project?” Fedora wearing Adrian pipes in with, “Yeah, man, but it’s gotta have some blues in there!” In my drunken stupor I put both of those comments in a bowl with the fact that I’m an absolute nut for Bogart movies and Flash Gordon serials, mixed well, and served. The script was written in less than a week, and without any knowledge of Tex Murphy.

Odd? You bet. Maybe there is a collective consciousness and there really aren’t any new ideas.

I’m gonna go out of my way to not learn any more about Tex Murphy (other than an eventual post on that message board) and carry on with Magellan as is, just to see how close the end results end up being.

Holy crap, that was fun!

Now, I’ve been an over the top Trek fan since The Next Generation: Season Three. I even submitted some scripts way back when (an anger inducing and embarrassing story for another time). I lived and breathed that world.  I understood the technobabble. I choked a little when they started breaking rules the second after Roddenberry checked out. I loved TNG and liked DS9 right up til that Klingon War stuff when they fleshed out Garrek. I preferred the mystery around that character by far, and it felt kinda strange when it turned out he wasn’t gay. I couldn’t watch Voyager and hear Janeway without seeing Jane Curtin in her Conehead get up yelling, “Unacceptable! Unacceptable!” Enterprise was briefly interesting and soft-core pornish. All in all, the franchise needed new blood.

So, I’m watching this new movie and it feels fresh and reminiscent and charming as all get out. I ignore the prancing through Black Holes like it’s 1979, the supernova that catches everyone off guard and sneaks up on a planet unawares, and the whack-a-doo cadet cruise promotion to Captain. I ignore this all because it’s fun, and it’s make believe. I used to like reality in my sci-fi/fantasy as much (or more) than the next guy, but let’s face it, the late Ricardo Montalban never managed to take over a quarter of the Earth as emperor in the 90’s, so… you know… you gotta let it go.

I was never a huge fan of the original series, but it’s really hard not to love these new cast as the old characters. It was a well scripted, wonderfully paced, and fun adventure. It’s great escapism and surprisingly clean. I’m very glad Star Trek is kicking Wolverine’s ass (95% approval vs. 36% on Rotten Tomatoes). It gives me a little more faith in humanity. A little.

All in all, I’d give Star Trek 6 ridiculous promotions out of a possible 7.