One thing I realized discussing TNG Booby Trap with the folks at @trekmarrykpod is that it’s not just LaForge being a creep that’s the problem. The computer is purposefully making Leah Brahms affectionate and seductive in a way the actual person would never be. 1/ If you think about it the holodeck is basically chatgpt. It fakes creativity by belching out content gleaned from the vast amount of information it’s been trained on based on verbal prompts it’s given. And like chatgpt its function is to please the user above anything else. 2/

Welcome to the fifth last #TMPRead of the week! Can you believe we've made it this far? Don't know what the heck a "conic section flight path" is? Well, this certainly isn't one! Chapter 16. Kirk wants all sensors off while approaching the cloud. He's worried about what the Epsilon 9 did to get blasted. They are still transmitting friendship messages via "Linguacode". #TMPRead

I am back for part four of #TMPRead. Today we find out if Kirk was really that stupid for ordering phasers instead of torpedoes. (Hint: he wasn't). Capter 12. The time distortion the crew faces in the film is here, but thankfully seems much shorter in writing. It's only a littler more than page total. Kirk orders phasers, Decker countermands, and the asteroid is destroyed. #TMPRead

Welcome to part three of #TMPRead. Today will see a few more familiar faces join the crew and the Enterprise's launch. The live broadcast of the Epsilon 9 station was frightening enough to make 31 crew members request reassignment. So Star Fleet lets you bow out of a critical mission a few hours from launch? #TMPRead

Welcome back to part two of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture novelization read through, #TMPRead. Today we'll be learning more about future Earth, Kirk's years as an admiral, and his relationship with Admiral Heihachiro Nogura all straight from Roddenberry's pen. Chapter 4 finds Kirk on approach to Star Fleet headquarters which is nestled in the redwood forest that is what was San Francisco. Its a lone building on a planet where most stuff in now underground. #TMPRead

Welcome to the first day of #TMPRead where I'll be reading Gene Roddenberry's novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and commenting on the interesting bits that aren't in the film. You can read along, but it's not necessary. I'll be adding plot details as well. The book starts with a preface written by Admiral Kirk. He starts with explaining his name. "James" is the name of his father's brother as well as his mother's "first Love Instructor".