Looking for the Heinlein Quote of the Month for December, I ran across this great site. Hit refresh to cycle through the 375 quotations assembled there.

I love the Internet.

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Between guest-blogging and Thanksgiving last week, I completely failed to tally the votes from our last poll, update the Gallery, and set a new poll up Thursday. I was getting tired of that time-slot anyway, so we'll start running this little feature every Tuesday, beginning tonight.

This week we have a trio of Vulcan lovelies from the Star Trek universe:

T'Pring, portrayed by Arlene Martel in the original series episode Amok Time.

Lieutenant Saavik, portrayed by a young Kirstie Alley in the best Star Trek movie of all time, The Wrath of Khan.

T'Pol, portrayed by Jolene Blalock in the current series Enterprise.

Results (Posted 7 December 2004):

Posted by: JohnL at 09:03 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Oh, come on, that one isn't even close. Saavik is the hottest woman in the history of Star Trek; there's just no way to compete. Challenge us next time!

Posted by: Timothy Sandefur at November 30, 2004 10:19 PM (j2BsO)

2 Oh, come on, that one isn't even close. I second that.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at December 01, 2004 07:46 AM (LwLkw)

3 Oh come on! T'Pol! T'Pol I say! That whole "decontamination" scene from a few seasons ago. Whoa! After seeing that I had to take a cold shower and pour myself a drink.

Posted by: The Maximum Leader at December 01, 2004 07:54 AM (jmfvP)

4 Saavik almost didn't make the list, as she is technically only half-Vulcan (her other half is Romulan as anyone who read the novelization of the movie would know). I like the exotic, vaguely Latin look of T'Pring; I would split my votes between her and Saavik. T'Pol, while easy on the eyes in a 7-of-9 way, has to do something about the haircut to beat out the other two. You know, I may as well just go shoot myself...

Posted by: JohnL at December 01, 2004 08:03 AM (YVul2)

5 That whole "decontamination" scene from a few seasons ago. Aw, c'mon. That was cheap exploitation---not like we haven't seen that before, especially from Roddenberry's brain child---and it was more annoying than amorous. At any rate, the vote has to go to Lieutenant Saavik, without question.

Posted by: The Country Pundit at December 01, 2004 03:28 PM (Y6cRj)

6 While I don't mind that actress as Saavik, and not wanting to split the Saavik vote (I claim the first one! ) shouldn't, uh, there be two pictures there? Or should I file that in the same black hole that stands between ST:IV and ST:VI? Lysander

Posted by: Lysander at December 01, 2004 10:23 PM (ht9UE)

7 Lysander, please educate me. Kirstie Alley played Saavik in Treks II and III. The traitorous Vulcan lady in ST VI was supposed to be Saavik, but was changed to Valeris/Kim Cattrall after fan uproar based on leaked scripts. Is there another Saavik/actress I should have included?

Posted by: JohnL at December 01, 2004 10:55 PM (gplif)

8 I'm with the Llama Butchers...write in vote for Valeris! Otherwise Saavik...without a doubt.

Posted by: Kin at December 02, 2004 06:54 AM (MXgCT)

9 Well, there was a second Saavik, hired for Star Trek III due to the fact that Kirstie Alley's agent wanted more money than Shatner, Nimoy, or Kelley were getting. (Or so I heard...) Exit Kirstie, enter Robin Curtis; apparently, she went over like a lead balloon such that Star Trek IV relegated her to a single appearance, and only a sentence or so at that. Piffle to Valeris!

Posted by: The Country Pundit at December 02, 2004 08:29 AM (Y6cRj)

10 Well I'll be doggonned. That'll teach me to go by memory alone. I could have sworn Kirstie was in ST:III (probably because there is a scene in the novelization involving teenage Spock's Pon Farr with Saavik on the Genesis world; funny that my memory interpolates that scene into the movie). IMDB doesn't show Saavik in ST:III at all, and indeed played by Robin Curtis in ST:IV. Thanks for all the feedback!

Posted by: JohnL at December 02, 2004 09:23 AM (YVul2)

11 How could any man confuse Robin Curtis with Kirstie Alley? And being half Romulan only makes her better in bed, I suspect. (God, I'm such a pig.)

Posted by: Timothy Sandefur at December 02, 2004 12:45 PM (7IiMS)

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Gene Expression, a facinating site covering topics related to human biodiversity and genetics (one of my daily reads), has created a spin-off site covering science fiction. Check it out.

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Robert Heinlein is, obviously, one of the unifying themes of my blog. I first became acquainted with what I would eventually come to understand as "libertarianism" through his juvenile fiction such as Between Planets, Space Cadet, and Tunnel in the Sky. Later works such as Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Friday, and Job: A Comedy of Justice all greatly informed my views on government, religion, and society.

I recently finished reading The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein. Until I ran across a review of a short story from this collection at New Troy a few months ago, I never even knew Heinlein wrote fantasies. But then these really aren't "fantasies" in the traditional elf, swords, and sorcery sense.

I ran across a real gem in this collection, entitled "Magic, Inc." I would love to see this story included in high school government class curricula since it shows the monopolization of a profession (magicians) by a large magic corporation's pushing through legislation to license the professionals. (I won't tell how the story ends).

It's well worth your time just to read the twelve-page sequence covering the protagonists' journey to the capitol to try to kill or water down the enabling legislation that would lead to licensing and professional standards for magicians. Every detail, from the underhanded inclusion of magical regulations in the agenda of the legislature's special session, to the bloviating legislators referring to Mosaic, Roman, and common law, to the defeat snatched from the jaws of victory when the original legislation is passed, unaltered, as a rider to a public works appropriations bill.

Magic, Inc. was originally copyrighted in 1940, but still remains relevant, and, most importantly for any fiction, a good read. Check the whole collection out.

(Cross-posted at Freespace).

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This week's poll takes us back to a velveetalicious Irwin Allen Sci Fi series that premiered the year I was born: The Land of the Giants.

I loved this show as a kid.

The two contenders are Valerie Scott (portrayed by the still-quite-attractive Deanna Lund) and Betty Hamilton (portrayed by Heather Young).

Check out last week's results and the updated entry to the Gallery of the Babes.

Results (Posted 30 November 2004):

SF Babes: The Land of the Giants
	Valerie Scott 31 votes 67%
	Betty Hamilton 15 votes 33%

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Great Dutch website for Trek pics (including some photoshopped pics, comic strips, and fan art).

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This week we leave the vast wasteland of TV and venture into the cinema house, where the classic Blade Runner is playing.

If you've got Vangelis' atmospheric synthesizer soundtrack, put it in the player and consider this week's candidates: the lithe (and deadly) Pris (Daryl Hannah), the lovely (if dim) Rachel (Sean Young), or the exotic (but deadly) Zhora (Joanna Cassidy).

Be sure to check out last week's winner, along with all previous winners at the new Gallery of the SF Babe Weekly Poll Winners.

Results (Posted 11 November 2004):

SF Babes - Blade Runner
	Pris 16 votes 23%
	Rachel 30 votes 42%
	Zhora 25 votes 35%

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