Tag Archives: scifi

“Star Trekkin'” by The Firm – From Self-Published Single to International Chart Topper – Goofy Video With Puppets and Stop Frame Animation

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Back in 1987, The Star Trek franchise had established a strong cult following after a string of successful motion pictures and decades of reruns of the original series on TV. Public enthusiasm was so strong that the now ubiquitous reboot, Star Trek: The Next Generation. began in the Fall.

But this song is not about TNG. A British novelty music act called The Firm created “this song”Star Trekkin'” with lyrics based on catch phrases and dialog from Star Trek: The Original Series which originally aired in the 1960s.

They tried to get the track published on a major label but they all declined. So the band decided self-published single on 7 in 45 RPM. The original run was just 500 copies. These original pressings are highly collectible today.

The song caught on, but not in North America, It hit number one in The UK and charted in Australia, Japan and parts of Europe. The group subsequently included the song on their first album.

The music video is weird and goofy. It utilized crude puppetry and stop frame animation. It’s so bad that it’s good. It kind of reminds me of Robot Chicken. The original print is believed to be lost today. YouTube has a a few attempts at recovery. The best one I could find is included at the top

Back in North America, “Star Trekkin'” was released on Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty CD of All Time in 1988, Dr. Demento: 20th Anniversary Collection in 1991, and Dr. Demento: Hits from Outer Space in 2006.

I had a very cool and strange roommate my sophomore year in college. He was lucky enough to own one of the compilations. I had never heard the syndicated radio show, but I had seen music video specials, so I was aware of the good doctor. This was not quite the beginning of my love affair with novelty records but Dr D has obviously been a huge influence on me and this radio channel.

Of course we also love Star Trek around here too.

An Odd Continuity Error – White Uhura And Black Sulu on Peter Pan Records – Fascinating

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The role of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, a beautiful and talented bridge crew-person of African descent was originally played by the iconic Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek. She’s made countless appearances in the franchise as the character.

It’s hard to imagine that Lt Uhura could be portrayed as a Caucasian woman but here we have it. Wrap your heads around it. It also seems that the role of Chief Helmsman Sulu is depicted as a Black or perhaps Pacific Islander.

In 1975, Peter Pan, a long-time children’s record publisher, created eleven Star Trek stories. These took the form of both 7 and 12 inch vinyl records and often with a read along comic book.

Presumably, a Black voice actor was not hired to play Uhura. Rather than have a White voice actor perform a Black character, they simply depicted the character as White instead. The ethnicity of the voice actor playing Sulu, however, is unclear. None of the original TV series actors did voices for these recordings. With these unexpected changes, it get’s a bit uncanny. You might think we’ve been zapped over to an alternate universe.

The story on the actual record is charming or course. We won’t spoil it for you.

If you liked this episode, check out the CHDanhauser YouTube Channel . They uploaded several of these about two years ago. I’ve checked out a few and they are all pretty good. I can only assume that none of these are considered official cannon.

courtesy of discogs
courtesy of discogs

“Theme from Star Trek” by Nichelle Nichols, Recorded in The Early 90s

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What makes this track interesting is the production value. It firmly locks the sound into the early 1990s. Clearly the backing track was created on budget synthesizers. You can hear the influence of 1980s new wave, but now it’s a midi sequence. It has a general-midi video game music vibe.

What is your favorite song by Nichols? Do you have a favorite song that mentions Star Trek? Let us know in the comments!

-Wacky Alex

NOTE: The image above is a screen shot for Star Trek The Original Series.

“Highly Illogical” by Leonard Nimoy

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Vaguely channeling his Star Trek character, Mr Spok, Leonard Nimoy gave us a sarcastic critique on western capitalism and hostile marriages. Was he angry about something? The background music is deceptively whimsical with harp, saxophone, and flute.

I can barely interpret human body language as it is. For Vulcans, I am at a loss. So tell me, Does he look irate? Is he holding back a laugh? Is he hella surprised? Let me know in the comments.

-Wacky Alex

NOTE: The image above is a screen shot for Star Trek The Original Series.

“Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft” by The Carpenters – Cover of Canadian Weirdos Klaatu

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Today is National Space Day! We celebrate it on the first Friday in May. Ponder the mysteries of the universe with us for the rest of the day on our live stream.

A Canadian Progressive Rock band called Klaatu first recorded this rather bizarre soft-art-rock number back in 1976. The band got it’s name from the alien visitor character in the classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The Day The Earth Stood Still, still frame

“The idea for this track was suggested by an actual event that is described in The Flying Saucer Reader, a book by Jay David published in 1967. In March 1953 an organization known as the “International Flying Saucer Bureau” sent a bulletin to all its members urging them to participate in an experiment termed ‘World Contact Day‘ whereby, at a predetermined date and time, they would attempt to collectively send out a telepathic message to visitors from outer space. The message began with the words…’Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!'” (John Woloschuk, member of Klaatu)

E.S.P. by Klaatu

Klaatu’s version was released as a 7 inch single and then included in their album E.S.P. This radio station would love to get first pressings of these. It’s on the “grail list”.

The version by The Carpenters was recorded in 1977. The session crew consisted of 160 musicians. The track charted in both the US & Canada. The full length version clocks in at over 7:00 minutes. That’s amazingly long for a charting single.

“Seagulls! (Stop It Now)” by Bad Lip Reading

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Attention über-dorks! It’s finally here! Every May 4th, we celebrate Star Wars Day. May The FORTH be with you!

The day has been observed unofficially since the 80s, but in 2011, a group of fans in Toronto held the first organized event. The event included an Original Trilogy Trivia Game Show, a costume contest, fan- films, mash-ups, parodies, and remixes. In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm and now the holiday is celebrated at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Bad Lip Reading is an anonymous music and video producer who intentionally lip-reads video clips poorly for laughs. They then go on to produce music to go with the nonsensical lip-reads.

There are endless musical production that touch on Star Wars. Maybe I should do a top 10 list. As it stands this would be the number one track on that list.

Remember, There is no “try”. Do or do not.

-Wacky Alex

PS: The image used at the top of this page is a still from Rogue One.