David: What fun and what dedication.
Jan
On 11/4/15, David Goldfield <david.goldfield@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jan,You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
DS9 may well be one of my favorites in the Trek franchise. I am
currently in the middle of watching season 6, as I missed seasons 6 and
7 when they originally aired and I'm now catching up and am really
enjoying them. I also just finished reading a series of prequels which
show details of the Cardassian occupation of Bejor, covering a 50-year
period before season 1.
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
www.DavidGoldfield.Info
On 10/27/2015 3:17 PM, Jan Lattuca wrote:
Hi, David. This reply is weeks late in coming, for reasons already
given; but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your excellent
summary of the Star Trek series (I'd like to say serieses, but I know
that isn't a word). My hubby enjoys Star Trek. I, personally, am not
a big sci fi fan, though I have read and enjoyed many of Asimov's
books. At any rate, I liked Deep Space Nine the best; that and the
original series.
Jan
On 10/13/15, David Goldfield <david.goldfield@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Christina,You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at
First, don't feel badly that you couldn't get into Star Trek. Lots of
people with disabilities don't particularly care for science fiction,
Star Trek or otherwise.
Here's what I know about Trek in descriptive form.
The original series, which aired from 1966 until 1969, is the most
well-known and is often referred to as TOS or the Original Series,
although it was just referred to as Star Trek. I believe there were 78
episodes, not including the original pilot titled "the Cage" which never
aired until 1988. I believe that the original 78 episodes were described
for British television but I'm not sure if "the Cage" was described
along with them. I doubt the described episodes were ever released on
DVD. I have seen them online but you have to know where to look for
them. Without description, they are available via Hulu and Amazon
Prime's Instant Video service, if you are a subscriber.
Next, we have TAS or the Animated Series. This lasted for two seasons
and aired from 1973-1974. It featured the voices of most of the original
crew. As far as I know, they have never been audio described.
Next, we have "Star Trek: the Next Generation" which began in 1987 and
lasted for 7 seasons. TNG supposedly took place 78 years after TOS but
it's probably safer to say that it took place 78 years or so after the
last final TOS movie, "the Undiscovered Country" since the five-year
mission of TOS took place from 2265 until 2270 and TNg begins in the
year 2364. Many of these episodes were described for UK television but
the episodes are extremely hard to find as audio downloads. I have also
never been able to locate entire seasons.
Next, we have "Star Trek: deep Space Nine" which takes place on board a
space station rather than a starship and is a personal favorite of mine,
beginning its broadcast run in 1993 and taking place during the TNG
timeline. Like TNG, a smattering of the episodes were described but they
are very hard to locate.
Next, we have "Star Trek: Voyager" which I believe began airing in 1995
and also takes place in the TNG timeline in the 2370s. Like DS9 and TNG,
I've heard some Voyager episodes with audio description but they are
also hard to locate.
Finally, we have "Enterprise" which began airing in 2001 and takes place
around 100 years before the original series. I have never heard any of
these episodes described.
Hulu and Amazon Prime currently allow for streaming of all of these
various shows but without description. While the description is
interesting and admittedly helpful, you will find that most episodes are
as verbal as they are visual and the focus is more on characters and
plot rather than visuals. I think it's safe to conclude that many blind
people have been enjoying Trek for decades, without the benefit,
although it is a nice benefit, of audio description.
I am currently listening to both Voyager and DS9 on Amazon Prime as I
missed many of the episodes when they originally aired. If an episode is
particularly visual, I usually visit Memory Alpha for help, which is a
community-based Star Trek encyclopedia. Memory Alpha provides details on
every character, race and planet in the Trek universe, along with
details and behind the scenes info on every episode in the series. The
link is
http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Main
I will often just go on Google and search for an episode when I need
more info, such as
Encounter at Farpoint Star Trek episode memory alpha
and the appropriate Memory Alpha entry will likely come up as the first
entry in the list.
"the Next Generation" is probably quite a hit with blind viewers as one
of the main characters is Geordi la Forge. Geordi, who became the
Enterprise's chief engineer in the show's second season, is blind and
uses a device called a Visor to help him to see. What he sees is just a
jumble of images which, to a sighted person, would make no sense but
Geordi has learned how to interpret what he sees into normal images.
What is also interesting about the character, which was never really
explored, was that he feels pain every time he uses his Visor. While
they have done some interesting episodes involving the character, Geordi
was the least developed character on that particular series and they
could have done so much more with him. If I had the time, I'd love to
write a fanfic piece where we learn more about his life and what he had
to overcome in order for him to join Starfleet, which is the
interplanetary service on Star Trek which deals with both military
support as well as with space exploration in all of the various series.
Fanfic is short for fan fiction and is where fans write original stories
involving the characters.
The BlindyTV service has a science fiction feed which streams many of
these shows.
www.blindy.tv
If you have any additional questions, feel free to write me offlist as I
am, as you may have guessed, a fairly dedicated Trek viewer and novel
reader.
David Goldfield,
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
www.davidgoldfield.info
On 10/12/2015 5:58 PM, Christina Stolze wrote:
David,You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at
Thank you very much for sharing this tear jerker, heartwarming and very
true story with me. I hate to say it but I never could get into star
trek
but I might have to give it a second chance after reading this by the
way
is it available in descriptive?
Christina
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David
Goldfield
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2015 5:46 PM
To: blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-philly-comp] Activist and Advocate for the Disabled
Inspired by Star Trek
From Startrek.com ...
Activist/Advocate for The Disabled Inspired By Star Trek
Activist/Advocate for The Disabled Inspired By Star Trek
By Scott Palm - October 04, 2015
I began to watch Star Trek when I was only 6. I was too young to
realize
the profound impact it had on my life. I never have given up in my
life.
Gene Roddenberry once said, “A man either lives life as it happens to
him, meets it head-on, or licks it, or he turns his back on it and
starts to wither away.” I was born with cerebral palsy and have always
faced challenges. When I started my business, Palmtree Enterprises --
which advocates for those with disabilities -- people said that it
wasn’t feasible. But I started it anyway. When business wasn’t doing
well, I asked the same people for some assistance. They said no because
they were aware I was going to need money for assistive technology in
order to obtain a side job. I knew it would take time to get my
business
going again. They felt that I should forget it. I rather compared this
to how many times Kirk and crew save the universe. The odds always were
against them, especially Kirk, but he and the crew always found a way.
The original Star Trek series was cancelled in 1969. It became
syndicated in the 1970’s. I was living with my grandma at the time. She
didn’t want my body turn into a giant ball all curved up. So she had my
doctor perform a series of tendon releases on my knees and hips. There
were 17 surgeries that I underwent for this procedure. So, I was in the
Children’s Hospital a lot. I was poked, blood drawn and felt like I had
no escape. Everybody thought I was "retarded" because I couldn’t speak.
My grandmother and my Alphabet Board were the only forms of
communication I could use. In a hospital they like to move things, and
my Alphabet Board seemed to always be out of my reach.
But one thing helped me through.
A local TV station was running Star Trek reruns every night. It
provided
me an escape. When I wasn’t in the hospital for tendon release, I was
dealing with something more serious. When I was eight, I had what
everybody thought was the flu. It was weird. I was throwing up every
hour on the hour. After two weeks, I was not getting any better. I was
dying. You could see my ribs. My grandma took me to my family doctor,
but he didn’t know what it was. We went to the ER at Children; the ER
doctor had no clue. Then another doctor was walking by. She said, “I
know what it is. He is a Neurological Vomiter. We need to start an IV
for 24 hours and he’ll be fine.” Starting an IV was rough. I used to
wish the Enterprise would beam me up and warp to a planet that could
fix
me.
I am here today because I saw beyond my disability. I saw what was
possible beyond the limits of my body. I saw myself in the Captain’s
Chair aboard the Starship Enterprise. I believed because of the wise
words spoken by Gene Roddenberry. This connection is what brought me to
Palmtree Enterprises. I wanted to share my experiences in a way for
others to understand. I created a presentation to share with people
working with the disabled. In my presentation I address the key issues
of communicating, mine and theirs. I have been gaining recognition
because of this presentation. I receive speaking engagements from State
Agencies all across the state of Washington. This is something I am
passionate about -- and I enjoy being a public speaker.
My other passion is attending Star Trek conventions and being a
Trekkie.
I was at a convention in Seattle two years ago, and was approached by a
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast member. She was very interested in my
ECO2 communication device, which allows me to communicate, dream and
connect. To this day that chance encounter brought a friendship that I
couldn’t begin to explain the impact of. It's with Chase Masterson.
Chase and I have stayed in touch through emails and conventions. She
has
truly become an endearing friend whom I cherish and value. She looks
beyond any disability and sees the real person. There are not a lot of
people out in this universe that can do that.
Maybe that’s why I believe so much in Star Trek, because Star Trek --
in
its science-fiction stories and the characters, and in the reality of
some of the actors who bring those characters to life -- is always
looking out into the unknown universe, where life is merited on
abilities and not differences.
Thank you for your feedback. An administrator will review your request
to remove this content from the site and take appropriate action.
WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
for additional resources and information about assistive technology
training
services.
To unsubscribe from this list, please email
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the
subject line.
To subscribe from another email address, send email to
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word subscribe in the
subject line.
To contact the list administrator, please email
blind-philly-comp-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info for additional resources and information about
assistive technology training services.
To unsubscribe from this list, please email
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the
subject line.
To subscribe from another email address, send email to
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word subscribe in the
subject line.
To contact the list administrator, please email
blind-philly-comp-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
for additional resources and information about assistive technology training
services.
To unsubscribe from this list, please email
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the
subject line.
To subscribe from another email address, send email to
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word subscribe in the
subject line.
To contact the list administrator, please email
blind-philly-comp-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
