#jerome bixby

[weirdlookindog]

Devil’s Scrapbook by Jerome Bixby. ‎ Brandon House (1964).

[cantsayidont]

Mirror, Mirror

I said before that STAR TREK TOS is explicitly not a post-scarcity socialist utopia, but rather a liberal imperial state preoccupied with resource extraction, which is a central issue throughout much of TOS. One of the clearest statements of the tensions this produces between the Federation's expressed values and its actual strategic priorities is in "Mirror, Mirror," the Mirror Universe episode, written by Jerome Bixby, where a transporter accident sends Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura to a parallel universe where the Federation is a brutal Terran Empire and Starfleet full of ruthless backstabbers who seem to rise through the ranks primarily via assassination. What viewers (and later STAR TREK writers) seem to take from this episode is mostly the way it lets the regular cast ham it up as sluttier, more evil versions of themselves, but it's instructive to also consider what's actually happening in the plot.

At the very beginning of the episode, Kirk is negotiating with the Halkan Council regarding the possibility of the Federation mining dilithium on their world, which the Halkans refuse to permit. Kirk's arguments have hinged on offering historical evidence of the Federation's benevolence and commitment to peace, but the Halkans aren't convinced, making the reasonable argument that even if the Federation is presently benign, it may not remain so, and that they are firmly morally opposed to fueling the Federation's war machine "even to the extent of the taking of one life." Kirk is plainly frustrated by this, and I think we're supposed to sympathize — by the time this episode aired in October 1967, viewers had been conditioned to reflexively impute likely counterarguments (e.g., "Starfleet weapons are defensive!" or "The Enterprise defends innocent Federation colonists from alien aggression and monsters!") — but the Halkans make a compelling point, and there's nothing in TOS to meaningfully contradict it.

When the characters shift to the Mirror Universe, we learn that mirror-Kirk is dealing with substantially the same dilemma: His Enterprise has also been sent to secure access to Halkan dilithium, and the structure of the plot strongly implies that just before the transporter accident, he's had a similar confrontation with the Halkan Council which presumably left him as frustrated as prime-Kirk is. "Mirror, Mirror" repeatedly emphasizes that the Mirror Universe is a close parallel to the Prime Universe in most respects (down to McCoy's realization that his counterpart had spilled a beaker of acid in the same place prime-McCoy had days earlier), and that the Terran Empire is a close counterpart of the Federation, differing primarily in (superficial) ideology and methodology rather than in strategic objectives. The Empire needs dilithium for precisely the same reasons the Federation and Starfleet do: to expand and secure the borders of the imperial state and to maintain its internal order. (That's what the entire franchise is primarily about!)

The plot of "Mirror, Mirror" creates a ticking clock with the revelation that mirror-Kirk has orders to use the Enterprise to bombard the Halkans from orbit if they don't cooperate, committing genocide as an example for other worlds. This raises unsettling questions about what prime-Kirk's orders say, which we're never actually told. Presumably, prime-Starfleet, as the good guys, would never explicitly order a retaliatory genocide to secure a strategic resource … but, we see throughout TOS that Starfleet gives starship captains a great deal of leeway to accomplish their missions, and is willing to accept or overlook a certain amount of shenanigans if the strategic objective is achieved. Indeed, in "The Omega Glory," Ron Tracey, captain of the Exeter, is firmly convinced that the "fountain of youth" he thinks he's discovered will be of such value that his deliberate violation of the Prime Directive (along with the literally hundreds of natives he has killed in that violation) can and will be reconciled. So, even if prime-Starfleet has not told Kirk that genocide is on the table, they have likely told him to get the dilithium however he deems appropriate, leaving the means to Kirk's discretion. It's clear throughout STAR TREK that the Enterprise and ships of its class would be formidable terror-weapons, and in several TOS episodes, Kirk uses explicit threats of planetary bombardment as a negotiating tactic. "Mirror, Mirror" essentially confirms that the Enterprise IS equipped and its crew trained for that purpose, even if prime-Starfleet is more reluctant than its Mirror Universe counterpart to exercise it.

Kirk's eventual argument in this episode for doing things the Federation's way (i.e., peacefully and cooperatively if possible) is not that it's more morally righteous, but that it's more efficient as a means of resource extraction and of securing the survival of the imperial state. As Kirk famously argues to mirror-Spock:

SPOCK: You have two minutes and ten seconds. KIRK: In that time I have something to say. How long before the Halkan prediction of galactic revolt is realized? SPOCK: Approximately two hundred and forty years. KIRK: The inevitable outcome? SPOCK: The Empire shall be overthrown, of course. KIRK: The illogic of waste, Mister Spock. The waste of lives, potential, resources, time. I submit to you that your Empire is illogical because it cannot endure. I submit that you are illogical to be a willing part of it. SPOCK: You have one minute and twenty three seconds. KIRK: If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn't logic demand that you be a part of it?

In this ethical schema, not seeking to punish the Prime Universe Halkans for their refusal to cooperate with the Federation is not primarily a moral decision, but a practical one: It's in the Federation's strategic interests to maintain its veneer of benevolence and civility because doing otherwise would eventually trigger costly resistance that the state would not ultimately survive. If the Halkans continue to refuse to cooperate, we can probably reasonably assume that Kirk will argue to Starfleet that allowing the Halkans to say no will have strategic advantage, demonstrating to other worlds the Federation's beneficence, just as annihilating them would demonstrate the Empire's ruthlessness and resolve — a parallel objective rather than an oppositional one.

We aren't told what comes of Kirk's negotiations with the prime-Halkans, but the episode is nonetheless very revealing of what role prime-Starfleet and the Enterprise play in promoting and defending the economic and strategic interests of the imperial state, which is quite explicitly a liberal vision rather than a progressive one — and a fairly ugly one if you look past the speechifying.

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"It's a Good Life" is available to read here

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

DOVE TALE

Again and again I find myself sheepishly admitting that Star Trek, as in the original series, is my all-time favorite TV show. It's a little embarrassing to acknowledge that, north of sixty years old, I keep going back for comfort and refreshment to the corny sci-fi show that I loved as a kid.

Worse yet, for all the show's sophomoric heavy-handedness and cultural chauvinism and ludicrous science and inconsistently applied social values, I keep finding relevance, even prescience in it.

For instance, this past weekend I watched the third-season episode, scripted by the redoubtable Jerome Bixby (also author of the story that became the Twilight Zone favorite "It's a Good Life"), called "Day of the Dove..."

You may remember it: Both the Enterprise and a crew of Klingons arrive at a planet, lured there under false pretenses by a powerful incorporeal alien Entity. Through a variety of mind tricks and matter transmutation, the Entity gets the Federation crew and the Klingons trapped together aboard the Enterprise, which is hurtling out of control on course to leave the galaxy.

Onboard, the factions are allowed their own turf, armed with swords--Scotty admires "a Claymore..."

...and psychically aroused to furious hatred toward their adversaries and even toward each other. They soon discover that the conflict between them is self-renewing; their wounds heal miraculously and the Entity allows neither side complete victory.

As a kid, I always thought it was a pretty cool episode. It had plenty of action, including swordfights, and the coolest and most badass of all the original series Klingons, Kang, played by the rumbly-voiced Michael Ansara...

...towering over Shatner...

It was also the only glimpse we ever got, in the original series, of Klingon women, notably Susan Howard as Kang's wife and science officer Mara...

In the course of the show Chekov, under the Entity's evil influence, attempts to violate Mara, although it looks like she could smack his little ass across the corridor with one hand.

Along with Chekov, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura all get to work themselves up into highly entertaining angry lathers in this one. Shatner's in particularly hilarious, wound-up form here: "Look at me...Look. At. Me." And there's the great moment when the hysterical Scotty, responding to Spock's attempt to calm him, says "Keep your Vulcan hands off me," but it sounds like he said "Keep your f**kin' hands off me."

But watching it the other night, it occurred to me that this episode seems unusually relevant these days. I noticed this a few years ago about the second-season episode "The Omega Glory" as well. The theme, about the dangers of fetishizing and theocratizing America's foundational documents and other objects of patriotic regard like the flag, seems like a pedestrian, basic civics lesson. But it turns out that our society needs to be reminded of it regularly.

Similarly, with "Day of the Dove," the message might seem, at a glance, like the usual honorable but ineffectual Star Trek platitudes about the horrors of war and the bondage of bigotry and the liberating virtue of tolerance. But now, in light of the revelations from the Dominion lawsuit, it has a strikingly specific subtext. Because, of course, the reason the invading Entity is attempting to create this hellish eternal conflict on the Enterprise is that it feeds on violent hatreds, turning from yellowish-white to a happy shade of red...

...when it sucks up some delicious fury.

It creates false narratives in people's minds to stir up their bloodlust--Chekov claims his brother was killed by the Klingons; Sulu later explains that the brother is imaginary, as Chekov is an only child--and feeds both sides with propaganda to gin up enmity. Essentially, the Entity is a farmer, planting outrage so that it can harvest rage.

In other words, the Entity is Fox News, and the "news" media machine of which Fox News is the most successful and egregious example. I mean, isn't it, kind of?

In this context, some of Bixby's lines take on an extra resonance, as when Kirk speculates "Has a war been staged for us, complete with weapons and ideology and patriotic drum beating? Even...Spock...even race hatred?"

Or, when Kirk says "It exists on the hate of others," and Spock replies "To put it simply. And it has acted as a catalyst, creating this situation in order to satisfy that need."

Or, again, Kirk's desperate appeal to Kang, in the climactic minutes: "...and it goes on, the good old game of war, pawn against pawn! Stopping the bad guys. While somewhere, something sits back, and laughs, and starts it all over again."

In the end, Kang is persuaded, a truce is ordered, and the weakened Entity is chased off the Enterprise to hearty laughter from both sides...

Kang slaps Kirk on the back and for a second it looks like Kirk is going to pass out. A lovely moment; I would highly recommend it for our nation right now. But as the Entity goes flittering off the ship into space, it's all too easy to imagine it scurrying down to some TV "News" Network on some unsuspecting planet.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Jerome Bixby - Call for an Exorcist (truth… or fiction?) - Brandon House - 1974

[movie-titlecards]

The Man from Earth (2007)

My rating: 7/10

I remembered really liking this when it was new, so it was with some vague trepidation I started the rewatch - and I have to say, it does look like absolute dogshit, having been filmed with mid-2000s consumer grade cameras in somebody's living room. That being said, the script is still very, very compelling, so it really doesn't matter much.

[jayfinch]

The Man from Earth

[oldmanyellsatspaceship]

The new episode of Old Man Yells At Spaceship is up! I read "The Crowded Colony" by Jerome Bixby, writing as Jay B. Drexel.

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Good Pods, CastBox, and probably a whole lot of other places.

[spacecrew]

[famousdeaths]

Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby was an American short story writer and scriptwriter. He wrote the 1953 story "It's a Good Life", which was included in The Science Fic...

Link: Jerome Bixby

[esonetwork]

Curse Of The Faceless Man | Episode 379

New Post has been published on http://esonetwork.com/curse-of-the-faceless-man/

Curse Of The Faceless Man | Episode 379

Jim discusses a cult classic from 1958- Edward L. Cahn’s “Curse Of The facelss Man,” starring Richard Anderson, Elaine edwards, Adele Mara, Luis Van Rooten, Felix Locher,Gar Moore, Jan Arvan and written by Jerome Bixby. An ancient gladiator who was killed in Pompey during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. comes to life and seeks his long-lost love. Find out more on this episode of MONSTER ATTACK!, The Podcast Dedicated To Old Monster Movies.

[mywingsareonwheels]

Men Endeavour Morse definitely slept with and other related matters...

(This is a selection of headcanons, obviously YMMV. :D )

Definitely slept with:

Tony Donn, when they were at Oxford together, probably a lot

Ludo Talenti

Jack Swift

Probably slept with:

Jerome Hogg, when they were at Oxford together

Peter Jakes, either prior to "Arcadia" or in s9

Would definitely have slept with if bad things hadn't happened to the man in question first:

Joss Bixby, and how

Nick Wilding

Would probably have slept with very frequently if the other man weren't in a monogamous marriage for the duration of their friendship:

Robbie Lewis

Didn't sleep with but probably should have done:

Jim Strange (it would have done a lot for both of them I think)

Didn't sleep with but I suspect the other man would have liked to:

George Fancy

Should not merely have slept with but got married to:

Max DeBryn (we know this to be true)

Not platonic or romantic or sexual but a secret fourth thing that was far more intense than everything else in this post, bloody hell:

Fred Thursday

[st-guliks-fnord]

Tagged by @auspex , thank you!

This is gonna have an even split of “genuinely good” & “I didn’t say it was good I said it was my favorite”. If anyone else has even seen all of these I am kissing u on the mouth

Honorable mentions to Hereditary (2018) & Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth (2007) but these 5 encompass all my most rewatched

Tagging @lilicohirukoma @goreador @dreadbirate @vampiricegirl & anyone else who wants to do it!

[cilginfizikcilervbi]

Jerome Bixby's Man from earth - Dünyalı

Jerome Bixby’s Man from earth – Dünyalı Jerome Bixby in senaryosunu kaleme aldığı düşük bütçeyle tek ortamda çekilmiş ancak her saniyesinde seyiriciyi ele geçiren bir film Türkçe adıyla ”Dünyalı” Senarist Jerome Bixby insana birçoklarının dediği gibi geçmişini,bug��nünü,geleceğini bir şekilde anlatmayı başarmış ve  bir gün görüşeceğiz mottosuyla bu dünyadan geçip gitmiştir… Düşük bütçeli çekilen…

[movie-titlecards]

The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017)

My rating: 5/10

As unnecessary sequels go, this is up there, but I guess it's okay in and of itself?

[theneighborhoodwatch]

*thinking emoji*

it's been pointed out before that almost every neighbor Conveniently has a backstory that involves them having existed Somewhere Else before they arrived in home... but it seems unlikely that those backstories are the whole truth. i think the question here is whether or not they are Mostly true and it's a matter of lying by omission OR if they were fabricated entirely. or in other words: is there a world out there in that plane of existence that home keeps its population isolated from as a result of human interference (i.e. the show)? or are they all just Completely made up and home is all there is. what does it mean if some backstories are more vague than others? alternatively: it's an "it's a good life" by jerome bixby situation and there Used to be a world outside of home, but well. Not Anymore.

also - i know i've ragged on this idea before for being overplayed as fuck in puppet horror - but i have to admit that the idea of there being Some kind of haunting/possession/transmutation bullfuckery is becoming more plausible. something something dehumanization/erasure of one's identity for the convenience of the status quo being taken to its logical extreme. that said i'm still banking on them having Always been puppets for various reasons so i'm putting that theory on the "FINE i GUESS i can roll with it if it ends up being canon" shelf for now. alternatively: some kind of SOMA-esque situation where a base personality/set of traits is derived from a human puppeteer but bc of the environment/being at the jurisdiction of the studio/having totally different memories, they develop in Radically different ways than their source? so many possibilities...