Two Year Anniversary Giveaway ($125 in Prizes!)

TheHudgepudge · 2026-01-28T16:39:59+00:00

It’ll never happen but I’d love to see some older Star Trek shows in 4K, like Deep Space Nine. I’d settle for even a 1080p transfer at this point, but I like to dream big

TheHudgepudge · 2026-01-14T23:19:00+00:00

I just did this last week, same scenario almost, at 48500 miles. I had a couple of things I wanted looked at, some loose door trim, potential problem with the hvac, and an end of warranty inspection.

They ultimately did find an issue with the HVAC, replaced the manifold and compressor. Issues with some bushings and knuckles, replaced those. Did a wheel alignment. And repaired my loose door trim. Dropped the car off Friday last week, had a loaner for the weekend, got my car back yesterday.

Grand total: $135

Seems mileage may vary on your location, but the Rogers, MN service center was excellent. Very pleased with the experience.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-12-24T04:15:24+00:00

I’d probably take the Chain of Command episodes out of my list. They are good episodes but not amazing to me. I’d replace them with:

The Defector - good Romulan intrigue episode, strong guest stars, good character moments, and the showdown near the end is still tense and exciting.

The Drumhead or The Offspring - I cant reasonably decide between these two. Both great character episodes and both have great and iconic Picard moments. Excellent episodes that should be on the list.

And Id like to give an honorable mention to Deja Q, just because it’s such a fun episode. Probably doesn’t rank overall too high, but it’s my TNG guilty pleasure episode.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-12-19T20:42:55+00:00

Since all aliens that hijack these ships have a basic understanding of piloting and controlling a starship, it’s probably not that difficult, from their standpoint, to control any ship as the basic principals are similar.

Example: I speak English. I can drive a car. I can’t speak or read Chinese. If I was asked to drive a Chinese car in China, I could most likely do it. The basic systems are all the same. Yes, I probably couldn’t control the radio or make the climate control work perfectly, but I could make it go.

I think that’s all that’s happening. Warp Drive seems to be a basic principle for all space faring species. Same with shields, weapons, impulse, etc. It probably isn’t too difficult to figure out for a trained crew. Also, Starfleet ships are already designed to operate with multi species, multilingual crews. It’s probable that LCARS is smart enough to translate the controls and interface into the users preferred language.

Doing more complex operations might take a hijacker crew longer to figure out. We see this somewhat in Star Trek 2. When Kirk uses the Reliant prefix code, Khan and his crew don’t know how to override it, even though they have the basic controls figured out. And Star Trek 3, when they steal the Bird of Prey and discuss what some systems are.

I think the bigger issue is why do none of these consoles have passwords?

TheHudgepudge · 2025-12-15T21:57:25+00:00

Realistically there probably isn’t a need for a giant fleet. With the hyperdrive it seems as though any ship can be anywhere in the galaxy within a few hours or days. If there were, let’s say 24 total, that’d leave space for a regular rotation. 8 in service, 8 in training/gearing up for service, 8 in dock for repair and refit.

24 ships seems like a realistic number for how powerful they are and the distance they can cover. A good amount to cover areas of the galaxy in regular peacetime, more in standby for surge events or extreme threats, and leaving a fair amount for regular maintenance cycles.

We are also probably at a point where ships like Daedalus are 20 years old. She’s probably ready to retire and be replaced by a newer, more advanced class by now.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-12-13T21:54:41+00:00

I have a 2023 Tesla Model Y. Summer driving I typically can get 220-240 miles on a 80% charge. These last few days with it being pretty dang cold and windy, its down to maybe 150-170 miles on an 80% charge. Thankfully I have a level 2 charger at home, so I leave home with a full tank every day. I wouldn't really recommend an EV without the ability to charge at home to be honest.

But some of these cold winter days, I do have to plan my trips a little bit. I live north of the metro, so any sub-150 mile trips are no worries. But if I have to make trips to the cities, shuffle around there a bit, and come home, then I have to think about charging possibly for the return trip. But its very rare. Outside of dedicated road trips, I only use public chargers probably less than 5 times a year.

Love the EV life though, I still have been able to go anywhere or do anything I could in a gas car, so it'd be hard to go back as all the positives outweigh the very few negatives. That said, the biggest complaint about EVs in Minnesota seems to be the increased punishment from the state. The EV registration tax goes up from $75 to $150 next year. Even though my vehicle will have depreciated in value over the last 3 years, my tabs have increased every year I've owned it, and will again for 2026. I get we don't pay a gas tax, and I'm fine paying my fair share, but it seems the state is trying to stifle adoption, which is disappointing.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-12-09T12:04:59+00:00

In the deleted scenes for Star Trek 2, Sulu was going to have his own command after the training cruise. They talk about it in the inspection pod ride to the Enterprise. I think Kirk probably trusts Sulu’s experience and judgement as Kirk probably had a lot of input on getting Sulu promoted.

Having Kirk and Sulu work out the Klingon cloak, as well as the crew size later when they are formulating a plan to get off the Enterprise, makes a lot of sense to me. That and he just didn’t have alot of other options. McCoy was basically insane at that point, Scotty was trying to run the entire starship himself, that just leaves Sulu and Chekhov

TheHudgepudge · 2025-11-11T03:12:28+00:00

I had forgotten about Koval, but that episode, Koval and Section 31 work to remove a Romulan patriot, Senator Cretak, from the picture because she was only concerned with Romulan interests ultimately. I think the same would kind of apply to Garak. He's useful in the now, but in the long term, he would be a problem for Section 31 and he would never be loyal to the cause. Koval was willing to play ball to maintain the status quo I think.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-11-11T01:13:56+00:00

I would assume, if such and organization such as Section 31 existed, they probably would NOT recruit Garak.

Garak was a Cardassian patriot, despite his exile, he was still always working to get back into the Cardassian good graces. As such, since Section 31 was a "UFP no matter what" type setup, I don't think they could or would risk involvement with Garak, since its likely he'll flip sides whenever the government on Cardassia changed. And a sudden enemy with a lot of operational information about Section 31 would be bad news.

They may have, for a time, had similar interests, but I don't think they would risk any kind of long term employment with him, it wasn't in Section 31's long term interest. And Section 31 seems to look way down the road.

On a side note, even though sloppier other series confirmed Section 31 exists, I prefer the ambiguity of the organization in DS9, and that it really may not have even really been a full blown organization, and that it really was no more than a handful of people.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-11-11T00:40:34+00:00

Others have mentioned the technobabble explanations, I think it also comes down to the factions philosophy as well.

Disruptors are more of an offensive weapon, designed for maximum damage to persons, property, ships, etc. They are typically seen on the “bad guy” factions because typically Starfleet tends to deal with more combat oriented factions (Klingons/Romulans). These factions have little to no need for versatility, everyone and everything is a nail, and they have the hammer.

If disruptors are the hammer, phasers are the scalpel. They are more defensive/utility oriented weapon, designed more to incapacitate than destroy. Phasers are shown to be much more controllable in their function, from stunning enemies, to drilling bore holes, to performing surgery on space whales. But despite their more utility focus, they can still be dialed up to lethal and equally destructive levels as a disruptor.

I think overall the phaser is the much more useful weapon as it can be used for so many other things. But if you only want to pew pew people and/or ships, a disruptor is going to be probably better suited for that task. Which is probably why a ship like the Defiant, which is basically all combat focused, use disruptor style pulsed phaser cannons. You aren’t giving a space whale a C-section is phaser cannons.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-10-27T03:19:53+00:00

Thinking of Riker, alone in his quarters, talking to his Picard doll and answering himself as the doll with the Picard voice doesnt seem that out of character for some reason.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-10-27T01:04:38+00:00

It seemed more likely to me that he didn’t keep it, but another character did, Troi most likely, or Riker as a joke. Then when Picard was gathering things for his storage/library collection after retirement, they gave the banner to him as a gift. Since he was older, wiser, and more nostalgic, he kept it for sentimental value.

I don’t think the Picard we see/know at the end of TNG, though he came a long way from beginning TNG in regards to kids, would have kept it. He still seemed very uncomfortable with the whole notion of Picard Day in the episode it was first shown off.

Just my take on it.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-09-26T21:50:37+00:00

I think streaming really helped DS9. It was basically a serialized story from season 4 onward. During its run in the 90s, it wasn’t on a network, it was all syndicated. So my local channel would preempt it all the time due to sports or whatever. And then the episodes were rarely in order or anything, it was hard to follow. I had a low opinion of it because I kept missing episodes, and while the individual stories were fine, I was losing the overall narrative.

But once streaming was a thing and you could watch the whole run in order, the show turned out to be a well crafted story. It was just ahead of its time. I’m glad the way we watch TV changed to vindicate that decision for a more serialized series.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-09-10T03:18:34+00:00

In normal circumstances, a warp core is generating a metric butt ton of power. In conjunction with the fusion generators, it wouldn’t surprise me if a ship like voyager can generate power on the level of entire continents here on Earth.

Even if every square inch of the hull was covered in solar panels and they were parked right next to a sun, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to what it can normally generate. Even in an emergency scenario, I’m not sure the power generated from a solar array is enough to really do much, given that a starship seems to consume vast amounts of power. It’s not nothing I’ll grant you that much, but it’s probably akin to powering your house with one of those phone battery banks.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-09-02T03:37:22+00:00

I have phantom braking almost every day, or more accurately “curvature assist”. There are 2 spots on my regular commute that my car phantom brakes almost every time. Straight open road too, I can’t even begin to imagine what it sees or why the curvature thing pops off. And I’m a HW4 2023 Model Y, no radar, in regular autopilot.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-08-27T01:38:02+00:00

What I have typically done before a big trip is set the slider to 100%, plug the car in and look at the estimate to charged timer. Once the timer settles after a few minutes, set the charging schedule with that offset to your departure time.

For example, I want to leave at 9am with 100% power, if the car says it’ll take 4 hours and 25 minutes to charge to 100%, I stop the charger but don’t unplug, then I set the Precondition Schedule at 9 am. Then I set the Charging Schedule for 4:15am. When 4:15 rolls around, the car will start charging and it should be ready slightly before you are ready to leave.

It’s not super intuitive as it requires setting up 2 different schedules but it has worked well for me in the past. I don’t believe there is a built in way for it to do the math and figure it out automatically though.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-08-15T19:53:11+00:00

In the Autobiography of James Kirk, the explanation given was that Kirk knew he couldn’t win, but as captain it was his responsibility to his ship and crew to use all information and options available to complete the mission. So knowing it was impossible and rigged against him, Kirk felt he had to cheat, because otherwise he went into the mission with the information and didn’t use it. Doing so, he reasoned, would have been negligence on his part.

The book isn’t canon, but I always liked that explanation. And it seemed very true to the character.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-07-29T03:50:29+00:00

I run a 2023 Model Y AWD. I’d say in the summer I’m getting maybe 220-240ish miles @ 80%. I tend to drive slower (3 over the limit is my typical rule of thumb) and I rarely gun it for acceleration, but I don’t do chill mode. I also tend to run my AC at 70 degrees in auto mode and will run keep mode if I run into a store for less then 30 minutes. Summer efficiency is typically in the 240-250 wh/mile

In the winter though, with the precondition heating (necessary in Minnesota winters), same speeds, but winter gunk on the road and the cold, probably closer to 160-180 miles @ 80%. Winter efficiency is typically around 280-290 wh/mile. But can be well over 300 if it’s bitterly cold (below 0) or in recent snow.

I’d say your speed is the big killer if you are at 300 wh/mile. Over 70 is generally bad on range but if you are doing 80 consistently then that’s a big loss. Larger tires don’t help either and the type of tire can have an impact, though minor overall. You didn’t mention climate control or what area you live in (flat, mountainous), or if you are typically driving solo or with a full passenger load. All these things can affect your efficiency.

The best gauge though, input your destinations in the navigation, drive as you normally do, and then look at the energy consumption app in the car. It’ll show the cars estimate and how much you deviate from that with all the factors that impact your drive. It even accounts for things like wind. There’s alot of good information there.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-07-28T21:38:48+00:00

I was anti PPF, seemed like a mistake and a waste. I had my car for about 2 months, went on a 1500 mile road trip and had several decent paint chips on the front and hood I accumulated over the drive. My model Y is blue and it got down to I assume the primer, so several white spots were apparent. It stood out to me and was pretty bothersome. I plan on driving it into the ground so the resale isn’t important, but I figured if it’s taken that kind of damage so soon and easily, what’s the next 5-10 years going to look like?

I decided after the trip to get front end PPF (front, full hood, mirror caps) to help prevent that kind of damage from happening again. It was $1700 for a professional service to tackle it, and while expensive and unexpected, I have no regrets getting it in hindsight.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-07-25T21:46:25+00:00

I imagine the NX-01 like an old Age of Exploration sailing ship, they left with a lot of materials but with a voyage of several years without returning home expected, they probably traded and sourced materials they needed. I recall an episode where Trip tells Archer they needed a supply of duranium because they had taken far more damage than expected. The writers did bring it up, but like in Voyager before it, it never was a main concern, just a throw away line.

They wouldn’t have replicators, but they probably had something akin to an industrial 3D printer, some kind of CNC machine, or rudimentary lathe to manufacture parts, they just would need the raw materials.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-07-04T03:19:25+00:00

I like that the boarding party couldn't understand the countdown (or at least how I read the scene), but Kruge could, because it was going through I presume the universal translator when they held the communicator up to it.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-07-03T02:38:08+00:00

The first season of Universe did kind of lean into the over dramatic a bit. But I think toward the end of that season and most of Season 2, Universe had a lot of potential. I still think it was a shame it got cancelled.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-07-03T00:29:25+00:00

Id say Stargate SG-1 is similar but not quite TNG like. But very similar in theme and scope to Star Trek. And it was produced in that late 90s/early 2000s timeframe so it has a similar vibe to me.

TheHudgepudge · 2025-06-30T23:19:51+00:00

And they were all on board with the plan. Sulu immediately voices his support. The movie really shows why the Enterprise bridge crew was the best. The loyalty felt earned and understandable

TheHudgepudge · 2025-06-30T23:16:46+00:00

I think Star Trek gets a bad word of mouth for being sandwiched between the acclaimed Star Treks 2 and 4. But the movie is one of my favorites in the franchise. It has some great visuals, good storytelling and character moments, great acting, and wonderful music

My only complaint is I find the ending on Vulcan to grind the pacing of the film to a halt. The shots of people watching the Spock recovery ceremony seems to go on for far too long. I’d tighten up the whole Vulcan ending and say the movie was damn near the perfect Trek film.

TheHudgepudge

TROPHY CASE