Also helpful was learning how to pronounce her name, with the accent on the second syllable.
John signed up for the Shipyards Vessel Building competition to be held toward the end of the voyage, but we never came up with a good set of materials to use. Or any time to work on it. Maybe next time.
Armin Shimerman held a class on rhetoric and Shakespeare, and a trend started of us being way surprised at the information, talent, and entertainment that every actor brought to the cruise. Who knew this could be such an interesting topic? I'm ready to sign up for his class (he's actually a professor at USC these days). We learned so much in that hour, stuff that is applicable to real life, and he could have gone on talking for another couple hours and we would have stayed to listen.
We missed the Klingon vegetable karving demo on the pool deck. Apparently the chef carves fruit as well, very nice:
A brief stop to listen to Karl Urban talk with host Jordan next to the Borg cube:
On to the next highlight (everything was so good!) - John de Lancie's Scopes Monkey Trial reading, based on the real text from the trial about teaching evolution in Tennessee in 1925. Robert Picardo acted the part of William Jennings Bryan:
Ethan Phillips read (and even kind of looks like) H. L. Mencken:
Casey Biggs as a lawyer and John de Lancie reading the part of Clarence Darrow (also notable, a cruise guest dressed as Colonel Sanders did an amazing job as the judge reading scripture):
A bit of background on John de Lancie's interest in the subject and some of the words in the trial:
https://ffrf.org/faq/state-church/item/30433-scopes-trial-narrative-would-be-same-today-by-john-de-lancie
And since I'm going down a rabbit hole this morning, here's another link in case you want to come with me:
https://thehumanist.com/features/interviews/i-was-always-skeptical-an-interview-with-star-treks-john-de-lancie
John de Lancie stayed on stage to answer questions and provide more details about the trial and his interest in it. More learning on a fascinating day on the ship!
I think we must have grabbed a little food in the next few minutes, good thing there's a lunch buffet.
Next up, a Q&A with Jordan, Robert Picardo, and Ethan Phillips. They talked about Voyager, how they have been friends for a long time, and how the snowstorm in New York almost made them miss the start of the first week's cruise.
And happily, someone asked for a song. Robert obliged with a rendition of this (and if you open only one of my links in this series of posts, this is the one I most highly recommend):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPnZQIkSNmU
Pool deck party! We wore our new cruise garb and hung out with a bunch of "red shirts" - it's a wonder everyone survived:
Wait, no time to linger, bring the drinks to 13 Forward to listen in on astronaut Rick Searfoss's talk about the human side of space exploration. It was neat to think that he was the one person on the ship who actually has BEEN TO SPACE, and he showed fun slides and described some of his experiences.
I didn't get a good photo of him, but this is a view of the lovely space in 13 Forward where the more intimate talks were given:
Including! A cooking demo with Nana! Since we were already in the room after Rick finished, we slid on down to the front row for our first up-close experience. It was totally worth it.
Our favorite cruise emcee, JT, along with Nana and the chef. All 3 have a great sense of comedic timing, and plus they can cook (well, JT can serve at least). Loved it!
Nana didn't have a copy of the recipes that had been handed out, so I offered mine and she borrowed it. And gave it back later! Should I have asked her to autograph it?
The front of the room got samples of the crab with avocado relish, wow that was good. The other 2 items went to other parts of the room, so I'll just have to make them myself to try them:
We dropped back in our room to get dressed for Captain Sulu's Soiree - formal uniforms that Kip decided we should have. This is my kind of dress-up.
I had kind of been stalking this guy who looks a whole lot like James Doohan when he came to RPI back when I was in college. He was gracious enough to pose with us, thank you!
Oh wow, I just realized I have photos from back then (approximately 1987-88):
The actual ship's captain (I think?) and Tall Spock. The band Information Society calls him Vegas Spock. And he can dance really well. I think this isn't his first Star Trek event:
A quick walk outside on the way back to the theater:
The main show featured Ethan Phillips, Denise Crosby, and Rene Auberjonois doing an "overdub" (like Pancake Theater at the Alamo Drafthouse) where they showed an episode of The Original Series. Instead of the original sound, the 3 did they own version, kind of an improv that included a lot of humor, sound effects, and overacting. It was a quirky episode to begin with - The Way to Eden with space hippies, singing, and Spock playing a harp. Ideally it would have been more polished and less ad lib, but it certainly was fun to watch. I think Ethan did one entire scene (all the voices) himself.
Artist J.K. Woodward with his painting of a Klingon warbird - that he created in front of an audience while chatting about Star Trek. Very cool:
On any other cruise we (or certainly at least Kip) would have entered the poker tournament for a chance to sit at the final table with Jeffrey Combs. But there just wasn't enough time!
One more amazing show to finish off the night - The Rat Pack! It was late in the evening but highly recommended, and I loved it so much I went back for the encore several nights later. Max Grodenchik has rewritten a bunch of well-known songs to make them Star Trek related. Casey Biggs and Vaughn Armstrong have excellent voices, Jeffrey Combs is such a ham plus plays guitar well, Ethan Phillips played along with his sax, and Armin Shimerman seemed amused that they had included him but was game to try singing now and then.
One of my favorites: "Soft Tribble, warm Tribble, little ball of fur, happy Tribble, sleepy tribble, purr, purr, purr"
Others - "Everyone Knows It's Xindi", "Hey Mr. Sulu", "I Left My Quark with Captain Sisko" and "On the Trekkie Deckie" - and I really wish I could remember all of them. Maybe a little notebook and a pen next time.
A nice little compilation (short clips of a few songs) from their show in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6F9SZ4W2Bs
Ooh, I found it! My favorite song, a mashup with a neat ending, filmed on the first week of the cruise this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_SSdbXnAE
OK, now it's late again! Good thing we're docking at Roatan tomorrow and there's nothing scheduled until later in the afternoon.
Live long and prosper:
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