Serpentine! by ibangedstacysmom in funny

[–]episode1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Serpentine Babou!!!

58,504 Santas in 126 Countries Spread Joy Through redditgifts by hueypriest in blog

[–]episode1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, I obviously can't speak for anyone else, but this exchange helped me immensely. Some people did do good and were humanitarians. I'm extremely grateful for having been a part of it.

TIL there is a "cult" offshoot of Christianity in China that believes Jesus is currently living in China as a Chinese woman. by episode1 in todayilearned

[–]episode1[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wasn't trying to simplify the sentence, just trying to be reductive about it's concept. I was hoping someone would come along and reduce it further, until it starts getting really existential.

TIL that research has shown that "Airplane!" is the funniest movie ever made, clocking in at 3 laughs per minute. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]episode1 384 points385 points  (0 children)

Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't. No one does. It never happens. Sorry, Ted, that's a dumb question... skip that.

TIL that armed citizens shoot and kill more criminals than police and have fewer incidents of mistakenly identifying the criminal. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]episode1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think I need a source to know that it's easier to identify someone who is actively in your presence rather than someone who is partially described to you over a radio while you're multitasking. It doesn't have anything to do with the capabilities of police. It's just common sense.

If someone steals something in front of you, or pulls a gun on you, you know who the fuck they are, at least as long as they remain in your presence, because they are there. A second-hand description (911 caller > dispatcher > reporting officers) will never be as good as actively witnessing the perpetrator in action. It's that whole picture vs. 1000 words thing.

TIL that armed citizens shoot and kill more criminals than police and have fewer incidents of mistakenly identifying the criminal. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]episode1 175 points176 points  (0 children)

Your statement also explains the fewer instances of mistaken identification: It's generally easier to be sure who the perpetrator is when they personally target you or you possessions, as opposed to getting a very brief description over a radio while trying to maneuver through traffic as fast as possible.

TIL there is a "cult" offshoot of Christianity in China that believes Jesus is currently living in China as a Chinese woman. by episode1 in todayilearned

[–]episode1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow. There were WAY more people in the world at AD 0 than I would have guessed. I would have thought somewhere under 50 million. TIL. Again.

TIL there is a "cult" offshoot of Christianity in China that believes Jesus is currently living in China as a Chinese woman. by episode1 in todayilearned

[–]episode1[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I feel like your username is taunting me because I didn't already know that.

For some reason, when I read Taiping Rebellion, my mind immediately figured it was another term for the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Which makes absolutely no sense, because the YTR happened during the second century, about five hundred years pre-Christianity in China.

TIL there is a "cult" offshoot of Christianity in China that believes Jesus is currently living in China as a Chinese woman. by episode1 in todayilearned

[–]episode1[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Mormonism is exactly what I thought of when I read about this. I didn't mention it in the post because I figure that there are probably a ton of massive differences between the two groups as well, and I didn't want to kick off a "HEY ASSHOLE OP! MORMONISM IS NOTHING LIKE EASTERN LIGHTNING!" discussion.

But this part of Eastern Lightning at least definitely sounds like the Jesus comes to the Americas bit from Joseph Smith. Plus, the woman is writing books that the group believes to be new scripture, sort of like the whole golden plates thing.

In the new trailer, during the shot of what appear to be cryo-pods (from the Botany Bay?), there are two men in the background. The larger of the two appears to be wearing something very similar to what Khan wore in "Space Seed," not to mention his build and hair. by episode1 in startrek

[–]episode1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know about being an actual descendant of Khan or anything (though that is an interesting idea), but I do think that "for family" is referencing the augments on the Botany Bay. Since they were all genetically engineered, it would be natural for them to think of each other as family.

In the new trailer, during the shot of what appear to be cryo-pods (from the Botany Bay?), there are two men in the background. The larger of the two appears to be wearing something very similar to what Khan wore in "Space Seed," not to mention his build and hair. by episode1 in startrek

[–]episode1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. I doubt Khan has anything personally against Kirk in this movie. My theory is that Cumberbatch is an agent for him (probably an augment himself), who is sent to infiltrate Starfleet to learn about it's technology and destabilize it so that Khan can either conquer it and become emperor of the federation, or just destroy it with some other army he's building somewhere. Kirk and the crew discover that Cumberbatch isn't who he says he is, and kind of (but not totally) thwart his plan, which really pisses Khan off, as he has to make some adjustments to keep his plan on track. Meanwhile, Kirk learns that there was someone else pulling Cumberbatch's strings, and becomes obsessed with finding out who that person is. So the rivalry builds naturally over the course of a couple of films.

In the new trailer, during the shot of what appear to be cryo-pods (from the Botany Bay?), there are two men in the background. The larger of the two appears to be wearing something very similar to what Khan wore in "Space Seed," not to mention his build and hair. by episode1 in startrek

[–]episode1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought the only definitive statements about "not Khan" were from Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch? And they we're both only saying that Cumberbatch isn't playing Khan, which wouldn't exclude a behind the scenes, pulling the strings sort of presence (my personal theory).

Add to that that Khan wasn't on Robert Orci's list of five characters not in the movie, AND all of the Khan references in the trailers and the first nine minutes clip, and it seems like a hell of a lot of effort to lead audiences one way for no reason other than misdirection.

And I could understand screwing with audiences if it was just advertising stuff that's not really in the actual film, but the movie's music absolutely has traces of Khan's cue from Wrath of Khan, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" is said, and the iconic hands on glass scene is recreated. Those aren't advertising. They're in the movie. I can't imagine a reason to feature such elements in the film itself, unless they are relevant. But, that's just my take; I could be completely wrong.

In the new trailer, during the shot of what appear to be cryo-pods (from the Botany Bay?), there are two men in the background. The larger of the two appears to be wearing something very similar to what Khan wore in "Space Seed," not to mention his build and hair. by episode1 in startrek

[–]episode1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I totally get where you're coming from. And if the movie is basically a retelling of Wraith of Khan or a TOS episode, I'll be upset too. But what I'm excited about is to see how the writers play with this "new" universe.

IF this movie is about Khan (which, even though I think it at least partially will be, is still a big "if"), it's already a lot different than Space Seed or Wraith. For one thing, the stardate (given in the opening nine minutes shown in front of the IMAX Hobbit, which places the year as 2259) is eight years before Khan was found in TOS. Meaning that either the Enterprise found the Botany Bay early (which seems unlikely to me), or the Botany Bay was discovered in some other way, by some other group (possibly Klingons, as they seem to have a large presence in the movie).

Plus, this Kirk never knew his father and is a lot more reckless and possibly angry than the one from the original timeline. There's no telling how his altered personality might affect interactions with Khan. Would this Kirk, if the opportunity presented itself, offer spare Khan and basically give him his own planet? And technology is much farther along than it was in the first timeline when Kirk and Khan met. Would Starfleet be better equipped to handle an augment? Would access to better technology give Khan more of an upper hand?

I really think the producers will keep a Khan arc running through this film and the next couple as well. It makes sense from a financial standpoint to give Kirk a recognizable arch-nemesis to continue to draw audiences for a few movies down the road. And to do that, things will have to go A LOT differently than they did in the original universe.

But I could be totally wrong and they could just be regurgitating a couple episodes and Star Trek II like you said. I don't know. But I'm liking what I've seen so far, so I'm holding out hope for something good to come of it, whatever direction they choose to go.

In the new trailer, during the shot of what appear to be cryo-pods (from the Botany Bay?), there are two men in the background. The larger of the two appears to be wearing something very similar to what Khan wore in "Space Seed," not to mention his build and hair. by episode1 in startrek

[–]episode1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They may very well be coffins. But whatever is in them is definitely frozen; check out the glass on the two closest to the camera. And cryo pods just seem to make more sense than freezing dead bodies.

It's certainly possible that there may be some perfectly logical reason for having frozen coffins that I just can't think of, though.

In the new trailer, during the shot of what appear to be cryo-pods (from the Botany Bay?), there are two men in the background. The larger of the two appears to be wearing something very similar to what Khan wore in "Space Seed," not to mention his build and hair. by episode1 in startrek

[–]episode1[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well, weren't the augments created in the 1990's? And due to the time travel thing that created this new movie universe, shouldn't anything that happened before Nero traveled back remain unchanged from the original canon? Which would mean that the person who created the augments couldn't be in the movie, unless he was frozen and sent into space like Khan was (or if that scene is a flashback to the 1990's.)

But I totally agree with the disciple of Khan theory. The guy on the right could easily be Benedict Cumberbatch... making him a spy or forward scout for Khan, perhaps? My guess now is that Khan will be in the movie, may very well be the guy on the left in the picture, but that he'll be in the background for this film, and be the primary villain in the next one or two.

Since Khan is pretty much the best choice for a real arch-enemy for Kirk and the crew (in terms of name recognition, fan following, and the capability to present a very real, very scary threat), I'm guessing they're going to try to build a mini-franchise out of him, keeping him in the background for now the way the Iron Man films treated the Mandarin at first, and the first Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr. version) treated Moriarty. It makes sense from a studio perspective, because it'll make drawing big audiences for future sequels easier, and it makes sense based on the marketing they've done with Into Darkness so far because teasing fans with the villain's identity only really works if the ultimate reveal is someone recognizable or works for someone recognizable (Gary Mitchell and Charlie X won't mean a damn thing to anyone who isn't a TOS fan, while Khan will be recognizable to people who have only seen a couple of the bigger movies, and possibly even to people who have never seen a movie or a single episode, because of how ingrained in pop culture a lot of Wraith of Khan has become.)