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Outlining a Theory of General Creativity . .
. . on a 'Pataphysical projectory
Entropy ≥ Memory ● Creativity ²
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Study of the day:
. . "(...) L'objet en quoi s'inscrivent les pouvoirs, de toute éternité humaine, c'est le langage. Ou pour être plus précis, son expression obligée : la langue. Le langage est une législation, la langue en est le code. Nous ne voyons pas le pouvoir qui est dans la langue parce que nous oublions que toute langue est un classement, et que tout classement est oppressif.
(...) Jakobson l'a montré, un idiome se définit moins par ce qu'il permet de dire que par ce qu'il oblige à dire. (...) Ainsi, par sa structure même, la langue implique une relation fatale d'aliénation. Parler, et à plus forte raison discourir, ce n'est pas communiquer, comme on le répète trop souvent, c'est assujettir. (...)
La langue est tout simplement fasciste ; car le fascisme, ce n'est pas d'empêcher de dire, c'est d'obliger à dire. Dès qu'elle est proférée, fût-ce dans l'intimité la plus profonde du sujet, la langue entre au service d'un pouvoir. En elle, immanquablement, deux rubriques se dessinent : l'autorité de l'assertion et la grégarité de la répétition. D'une part la langue est immédiatement assertive. (...) Ce que les linguistes appellent la modalité n'est jamais que le supplément de la langue, ce par quoi, telle une supplique, j'essaye de fléchir son pouvoir implacable de constatation. D'autre part, les signes dont la langue est faite, les signes n'existent que pour autant qu'ils sont reconnus, c'est à dire pour autant qu'ils se répètent ; le signe est suiviste, grégaire ; en chaque signe dort ce monstre : un stéréotype. (...)
A nous qui ne sommes ni des chevaliers de la foi, ni des surhommes, il ne reste qu'à tricher avec la langue, qu'à tricher la langue ; tricherie salutaire, esquive, leurre magnifique qui permet d'entendre la langue hors-pouvoir, dans la splendeur d'une révolution permanente du langage. (...)
The purpose in which the powers of any human eternity are inscribed, is the language. Languages are legislations, each language is a code. We do not see the power that is in the language because we forget that any language is a classification, and that any classification is oppressive.
(...) Jakobson has shown it, an idiom is defined less by what he can say than by what he forces to say. (...) Thus, by its very structure, the language implies a fatal relationship of alienation. Talking, and so even more discoursing, it is not "to communicate", as repeated too often, it is "to subdue". (...)
The language is quite simply fascist ; for fascism does not prevent speech, it compels speech. As soon as it is uttered, even in the intimacy of the deepest respect of the subject, the language enters the service of a Power. In it, inevitably, two topics are emerging : the authority of the assertion and the gregariousness of repetition. On the one hand, the language is immediately assertive. (...) What linguists call the mood, is nothing but additionals of the language, by which, such a petition, we try to flex its power of its implacable determinations. On the other hand, signs of which language is made, signs exist unless "they are recognized", that is to say "they are repeated". The sign is a follower, gregarious, in each sign sleeps this monster: a stereotype. (...)
To us who are neither knights of faith, nor supermen, it only remains to cheat with the language, to cheat the language. Healthy cheating, wonderful lure which can hear the language out of power, in the splendour of a permanent language revolution.
( Roland Barthes - Extrait de la Leçon inaugurale au Collège de France, le 7 janvier 1977 )
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rectO-persO | E ≥ m.C² | co~errAnce | TiLt
Justin poses in his Spider-Man costume during Comic Con in San Deigo.
Spider-Man, Spider-Man... you know the rest. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (not Jack Kirby, as so many assume), the face of Marvel Comics started life as a true original: a teenage boy with money problems, girl problems and family problems, who's imbued with extraordinary powers that make things more rather than less difficult for him. Peter Parker was very different from the Supermen, Batmen and Fantastic Fours running around the comics world at that point. Since then, of course, Spidey has matured, learning that with great wotsit comes great something-or-other, and becoming a husband to Mary-Jane. He's died and come back with enhanced powers, he's been cloned (that was a popular arc), he's been attacked by alien symbiotes and irate newspaper editors, he's even revealed his secret identity in the recent Civil War crossover series, and yet Spidey retains his sense of humour at all times, firing off often genuinely witty wisecracks in the heat of battle (a trait the movies have finally learnt to capture), while striking iconic poses that must be many a top artist's dream (Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen, to name but two, became superstar artists thanks to their work on Spidey). The character and comics have often ventured to dark places, but soul-searching and brooding introspection doesn't really suit your friendly neighbourhood webslinger. This is one spider that thrives in the bright light.
Trademarks: Red-and-blue costume (usually), daubed with webbing and large white eyepatches. Spider-Man has the proportionate strength and agility of a spider, a fully functional spider-sense which warns him of danger. He also manufactures his own webbing. Smart kid. *
* Empire Staff. 2016. "The 50 greatest comic-book characters" Empire. MEDIA WEB SITE 2018-07-22. www.empireonline.com/movies/features/50greatestcomicchara...
MCB_0956
One of the Devil Chojin (Supermen), Atlantis truly dominates any fight in or near the water. If you face him, don't let him trick you into going for a swim!
Doomsday is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as one of Superman's deadliest foes.
Created by writer-artist Dan Jurgens, the character had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992).
Doomsday ranked as #46 on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time. He is best known as the character that killed Superman in The Death of Superman story arc "Doomsday!". He appears in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where he was portrayed by Robin Atkin Downes through voice acting and motion capture.
Doomsday was conceived in 1991 during an annual brainstorming session with the editors and writers of Superman comics, in response to a concern by some writers that most of Superman's foes at this point either relied on technology or their intellect to outmaneuver Superman or had some natural advantage against him, wanting to create a new foe with great physical power to match him.
It has been well noted that Doomsday bears a similarity to Marvel's Hulk in bulk as well as attitude
Several writers proposed having Superman die at the hands of a "bestial foe", and editor Mike Carlin scribbled this idea on the wall chart as "doomsday for Superman". Inspired, they chose "Doomsday" as the name for this villain.
Doomsday had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992).
Character Biography
Doomsday is a monstrous genetically engineered being from the depths of prehistoric Krypton. The geneticist who engineered him imbued him with few feelings, mostly hate and desire for destruction, which led to his destroying worlds and eventually finding Earth, where he met Superman.
The character is best known as Superman's killer in the 1992 storyline, "The Death of Superman".
The Ultimate Killing Machine
Originally known as "The Ultimate", Doomsday was born in prehistoric times on Krypton, long before the humanoid Kryptonian race gained dominance over the planet.
Krypton was at that time a violent, chaotic world, where only the absolute strongest of creatures could survive.
In a cruel experiment involving adaptation, intended to create the perfect living being, the alien scientist Bertron released a humanoid infant (born in vitro in a lab) onto the surface of the planet, where he was promptly killed by the harsh environment.
The baby's remains were collected and used to clone a stronger version. This process was repeated over and over for decades as a method of accelerated natural adaptation.
The agony of these repeated deaths was recorded in his genes, driving the creature insane and to hate all life.
As it adapted, the child eventually became able to survive the high temperatures and searing atmosphere, only to be quickly slain by the vicious predators that inhabited the planet.
Over time, and without the assistance of Bertron's technology, he gained the ability to thrive on solar energy without the need for food or air, to return to life and adapt to overcome whatever had previously killed him.
The Ultimate hunted and exterminated the dangerous predators of Krypton. He then killed Bertron, whom he had come to identify as an enemy.
The Ultimate escaped Krypton via a ship that regularly arrived to deliver supplies to Bertron (who had wanted little contact with the planet's natives) and went on a killing spree across several planets.
It began on planet Bylan 5, where Apokoliptian prince Uxas (the future Darkseid) was about to wed a princess (to obtain that planet's chemical deposits for Apokolips's weapons factories).
The Ultimate killed Uxas' ally Master Mayhem almost instantly and instilled great fear in Uxas, having watched their fight. Just as the Ultimate and Uxas were about to meet in combat, Uxas was forced to flee; the Ultimate's rampage had caused the planet's atmosphere to become toxic, thereby rendering the chemicals worthless to Apokolips.
The Ultimate hitched a ride on an escaping shuttle, which crashed on Khundia. The warring Khundian clans united to build protective armor for a warrior named Kobald, who they hoped would survive long enough to force the Ultimate onto a rocket.
Once the rocket was in space, the Ultimate killed Kobald and the resulting explosion sent him hurtling through space.
He next crossed paths with a Green Lantern named Zharan Pel, beating him to death. The Ultimate took the Lantern's power ring and, sensing the power of the Guardians of the Universe, headed towards them.
The thousands of Green Lanterns that were sent to stop him were slaughtered. He continued to Oa, where a single Guardian fought him. Wary of the others joining the fight, fearing the Ultimate would absorb their powers as he believed was happening to his powers, he, as a last resort, sacrificed himself in battle to defeat him.
The release of energies by the Guardian caused a tear in space through which the Ultimate fell.
Eventually arriving on the planet Calaton, he ravaged that world for three years.
With only the capital city left, the royal family combined their life forces into a single energy being, the Radiant.
The Radiant killed the Ultimate with a huge blast of energy, laying waste to over a fifth of his planet in the process. In common Calatonian burial procedures, the Ultimate's seemingly dead body was suited and shackled to prevent his spirit from escaping into the afterlife, and he was shot into space because the murders he committed made him unworthy of burial on Calaton.
Eventually, his metallic casket crashed on Earth, the force of the impact driving it deep underground.
The Death of Superman
After freeing one arm and breaking out of his buried vault, The Ultimate went on a rampage in Midwestern America, where he first encountered the Justice League. He defeated the entire team of superheroes in a matter of minutes, which attracted the attention of Superman.
Most notable is that the creature fought the whole time literally with one hand tied behind his back (due to his ancient burial cables), yet was still able to lay waste to all opposition and much of the surrounding area.
The only Justice Leaguer who could defend herself against the creature was Maxima. The creature gained its new name when League member Booster Gold remarked that the rampage resembled "the arrival of Doomsday".
The comment reached the broadcast media and led to the creature becoming known by its new name of Doomsday. Five Leaguers, including Superman, combined their energy powers to take down Doomsday, but succeeded only in destroying the last of his burial cables, allowing him to use both hands, thus worsening the crisis.
During his rampage, Doomsday's interest was captured by billboards and television spots advertising violent wrestling competitions held in Metropolis, which appealed to his blood lust and enticed the otherwise mindless creature to head towards the city.
In counterattacking the creature, Superman found that his opponent's power was more than a match for his own and was getting stronger.
He realized that if Doomsday actually reached Metropolis, the resulting battle could conceivably destroy the city and kill millions of innocent people.
Doomsday developed a strong desire to murder Superman, a desire that was later explained in the Hunter/Prey miniseries: "from the agony of continually dying during his creation process, Doomsday developed in his genes the ability to sense anyone Kryptonian, as well as an overriding instinct to treat any such being as an automatic threat".
In the space of a few issues of the Superman comic book series, Doomsday battled Superman in a titanic struggle, leading the hero to conclude that the creature would continue to attack relentlessly and endlessly, with no fear or compassion.
Matters came to a head in Superman (vol. 2) #75, wherein both Doomsday and Superman beat each other to death in front of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis.
Following the battle, four super-beings appeared and took up Superman's mantle, two of them declaring themselves to be the real Superman.
One was a half-man/half-machine who greatly resembled Superman with cybernetic implants where Superman had sustained the greatest amount of damage from Doomsday's blows.
This "Superman" took custody of Doomsday's body. After strapping the body to an asteroid with an electronic device attached, the cyborg flung Doomsday into deep space on a trajectory supposedly certain to never intersect any other planet.
The issue ended with a panel of a reawakened and laughing Doomsday, still chained to the asteroid but otherwise alive.
Rematch: Hunter/Prey
After passing through a wormhole, Doomsday's asteroid was found by a deep-space scavenger ship. Upon examination of the peculiar-looking drifting rock, the ship's crew retrieved the object, hoping to find something of value.
The scavenger vessel happened to be on a route to Apokolips, the home of the now-powerful tyrant Darkseid, now empowered by the fabled Omega Force long after his first encounter with Doomsday.
Doomsday was fully rested and, after slaughtering the crew of the salvage ship, found himself landing on the harsh world.
This was to be the setup for a final showdown between Doomsday and Superman, who had been uneasy about the possibility of Doomsday's resurrection.
With the help of his Justice League contacts, Superman procured a Mother Box, a sentient computer, after Darkseid's servant Desaad contacted Earth about a problem on Apokolips.
Unknown to Superman, Doomsday had faced and beaten Darkseid in single combat, even after withstanding the full effect of Darkseid's Omega Beams, and was laying waste to Apokolips.
Before Superman could deal with Doomsday, Desaad opened a boom tube to Calaton – the first world where Doomsday was successfully defeated – and sent Doomsday through to what he believed was his defeat at the hands of the Radiant.
Doomsday was able to adapt, however, and overcome any opponent because of the process by which he was created, so, although the Radiant had defeated him once, he would not be able to defeat him again.
Likewise, even though Superman had killed Doomsday once before, he was unable to do so again. Superman, while knowing this – having learned Doomsday's history by the time-manipulating Waverider – was obsessed with stopping Doomsday and followed him to Calaton.
He fought Doomsday again with the help of the Mother Box, but, despite it providing him with extra weapons such as an ultrasonic gun and an energy sword, Superman met with defeat as Doomsday's progressive adaptations rendered him immune to Superman's attacks, such as his auditory channels being sealed by new bone growths or his knuckle-bones being able to shoot out of his body to 'pin' Superman in the air.
Eventually, with his left arm having suffered a compound fracture and most of his weapons lost, Superman was forced to use one of Waverider's time travel devices to leave Doomsday stranded at the End of Time, where Doomsday met the one force he could not overcome: entropy.
Upon returning Superman to the present, the Mother Box healed Superman's injuries and then "died". On Apokolips, Darkseid, despite being beaten to near-death by Doomsday, became fascinated with him after witnessing his abilities first-hand and learning his origin from Waverider.
The Doomsday Wars
Doomsday returned yet again in the miniseries The Doomsday Wars.
In this series, Prin Vnok, an underling of Brainiac, uses his technology to travel to the End of Time to retrieve Doomsday to combine the beast's massive power with Brainiac's formidable intellect after Brainiac's original body was badly injured in his last fight with Superman (this was explained as having taken place at the time of the timeline's reconstruction following the events of "Zero Hour"; the reconstruction of time meant that Brainiac was able to change the events of Doomsday's defeat).
He was unable to erase Doomsday's consciousness with drugs, however, because he reacted too fast for the process to work.
With Doomsday's strength of will too strong for Brainiac to permanently overwhelm him on his own, Brainiac instead chose to use a human host to genetically engineer a Doomsday clone without the mind of the original, while temporarily lodging in Doomsday's head to use the creature's strength until he would be forced out.
He chose to use Pete Ross and Lana Lang's newborn baby, born eight weeks premature and transported by Superman to a hospital. Brainiac intercepted Superman and stole the baby to hurt his long-time foe, correctly deducing that it was the child of someone close to Superman and feeling that the baby's still-malleable DNA would make him ideal for the plan.
In the end, Superman thwarted Brainiac's plot by driving him out of Doomsday's body via the use of a telepathy-blocking "psi-blocker", simultaneously rescuing the baby from Brainiac's equipment after his foe's treatments brought the child to full-term before infusing him with Doomsday's DNA.
He then lured Doomsday to the moon, where he placed him in a kind of stasis with four Justice League teleporters. Perpetually transporting between those four booths, Doomsday would never be more than 25% integrated, and was thus unable to escape.
Our Worlds at War
Following these events, Doomsday was released by Manchester Black's Suicide Squad to battle Imperiex, a threat judged to be greater than Doomsday himself.
Once freed, Doomsday slaughtered the Squad, then went on to battle Imperiex's numerous probes (his mind having been altered by Black to regard them as the threat he normally perceived Superman to be), which had thus far managed to seriously injure or kill most of Earth's heroes.
Doomsday tore through numerous probes with seemingly little effort, while aided by Superman – the only time the two enemies would come close to teaming up – before finally confronting Imperiex.
Imperiex proved too much for Doomsday – he blasted the creature, reducing him to a glowing skeleton.
Sentience
Superman (vol. 2) #175 commemorated the 100th issue since the death of Superman in battle with Doomsday, by staging a rematch.
Doomsday's skeleton was retrieved and his flesh regrown by Lex Luthor using Superman's Kryptonian DNA, who gave Doomsday to Darkseid to repay Earth's war debt to Apokolips (Darkseid sought to control Doomsday since their last encounter).
By this time, Doomsday had adapted to a higher intelligence and sentience.
Luthor arranged for the Joker to set Doomsday loose in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate that he was "in good working condition".
It also happened to be the anniversary of the day that Superman had died while stopping Doomsday.
Despite being weakened by kryptonite exposure when Luthor attempted to exploit Doomsday's Kryptonian origins, Superman's heart was restarted by Black Lightning and he reached Doomsday just as the monster was struggling with the Martian Manhunter.
Learning from J'onzz that Doomsday wanted to kill Luthor because he blamed Luthor for his "death" in the Imperiex War, Superman would soon fight Doomsday again and, this time, humbly defeat the creature by knocking him out and proving to himself and the world that Doomsday would never again be Superman's equal:
"You're different now. You can think for yourself. So think about this. Before, you were a mindless thing. Nothing could hurt you. You couldn't feel pain, much less understand it. But once you have felt it—it changes you—forever. And you'll begin to understand something new. Fear. I've lived with it all my life. You don't want to die again, do you? The agony of what's happened to you affects your speed—your strength...and that little bit of doubt—that you cannot win today—grows. You understand now, don't you? You will never hurt me again. You will never kill me again. Never again!"
Darkseid attempted to replicate Doomsday, producing an army of Doomsday "clones". Darkseid was unable to duplicate perfectly the creature in all its raw power but still used the replicates as his foot soldiers, typically for diversions or intimidations.
They were defeated by a combination of heat vision and Batman's explosive batarangs during an attack on Paradise Island, while Darkseid kidnapped the newly arrived Kara Zor-El/Supergirl.
When Superman traveled to Apokolips to reclaim the life of Steel, Mortalla (Darkseid's wife) ordered his troops to release Doomsday to help Darkseid.
Doomsday's short freedom was quickly halted by Steel in the Entropy Aegis, an armor with incredible power that had been built out of the remains of an Imperiex probe.
Doomsday disappeared and was seen wandering the harsh lands of Apokolips.
With his newfound intelligence, Doomsday managed to escape Apokolips and return to Earth. Upon his arrival, Doomsday encountered a series of emotions previously alien to him: love, compassion, and kindness.
Exploring the full range of these new emotions, Doomsday made his way to Metropolis once more, though not in the destructive manner he had before.
Upon his arrival in Metropolis, Doomsday found Superman at the brink of death at the hands of Gog and intervened to help Superman in an ultimately futile fight against Gog's army.
In a new future, Doomsday was remembered as one of Earth's greatest heroes, who continued Superman's legacy by leading an army under his name against the army of Gog.
This new timeline ended when it was revealed that Superman was still alive, trapped and tortured with kryptonite by Gog.
Ultimately, Superman managed to convince Gog of the error of his ways. Gog offered to correct the past by returning Doomsday to an earlier point in the timeline but, in the process, Doomsday would lose his intelligence and humanity.
Returned to the present, an unconscious Doomsday was transported away by a younger version of Gog to an unknown location for an unknown purpose.
Infinite Crisis
During Infinite Crisis, Doomsday was freed from captivity in a cavern near the center of the Earth by Doctor Psycho and Warp. Doctor Psycho mind-controlled him and used him as the "spear-carrier" of a super villain assault on Metropolis.
As he came into full view in front of Green Arrow, he was stopped by Kal-El and Kal-L, who made quick work of the villain as, for the first time since the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the two Supermen acted as a team.
New Krypton
Doomsday returned in the final page of Superman #681, crashing in Metropolis shortly after the representatives of Kandor met with the President.
Doomsday was then apparently killed on Earth's moon when Superman, Supergirl, and many of Kandor's inhabitants combated him in Action Comics #871, with the conflict crushing the monster's skull.
After the fight, Doomsday's mangled corpse ended up in the hands of General Sam Lane, who was in charge of a mysterious government agency determined to halt the Kryptonian "invasion" of Earth.
It has been hinted at that General Lane sent Doomsday after the Kandorians in the first place, and the creature is only one of the "weapons" at Lane's disposal.
General Lane put Lex Luthor to work on apparently "improving" Doomsday who, by the end of New Krypton, had still not awoken from his most recent death.
During the fight, Zor-El (Superman's uncle) told him that Doomsday was created by Kryptonians on ancient Krypton through "forced adaptation" and, as a result, the creature hates all Kryptonians.
Reign of Doomsday
Doomsday returned to carve a new path of destruction throughout the DC Universe. His journey started in the Steel one-shot and continued into Outsiders (vol. 4) #37, Justice League of America (vol. 2) #55, Superman/Batman Annual #5, Superboy (vol. 4) #6 and into the milestone Action Comics #900.
Doomsday, exhibiting an increased, broadened power set which seemed to adapt to each of his opponents, attacked, defeated and abducted Steel, the Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator, Supergirl, and Superboy, before taking them to a cloaked satellite at the former location of New Krypton.
Superman discovered that this was all part of a plot by Lex Luthor. After locating the satellite, Superman attempted to free his allies, only for them all to discover the apparently still-inert body of Doomsday, as well as three separate clones, each with a different power set.
Attempting to flee from the clones with Doomsday, the Superman Family discovered that their ship was on course for Earth with the potential to trigger an extinction-level event if it were to strike.
Their attempt to divert the ship was interrupted by a being called "Doomslayer", who resembled a cyborg version of Doomsday and was later revealed to be a Doomsday who was tossed down an infinite tube that gave it time to adapt.
Doomslayer effortlessly tore Eradicator apart and proclaimed that Earth must die for the future.
Doomslayer believed the original Doomsday to be an infection, so it planned to destroy Earth, as it considered Earth to be ground zero for Doomsday's "infection".
Superman and his friends escaped the ship with the original Doomsday and stopped the ship from crashing onto Earth, pushing it into Metropolis's bay.
Afterward, Doomslayer attacked the city with the Doomsday clones, determined to erase all trace and knowledge of Doomsday from existence.
The clones spread across the world, wreaking havoc, while Doomslayer's second plan was to entice the Doomsdays to reach the Earth's core so that he could expand the universe inside the ship's tower and destroy the planet from within, thus erasing all knowledge of Doomsday from the universe.
In S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman's allies used the original Doomsday's body to try to find a way to stop the Doomsday clones.
Doomsday awakened, but Eradicator (who was thought to be killed by Doomslayer) was in control. As Eradicator and the heroes attacked the Doomsday clones, he warned that Doomsday's mind was beginning to awaken.
In the final battle, a weakened Superman made contact with the ship's artificial intelligence before it reached Earth's core, hoping to have the tower teleport away.
Meanwhile, the Doomsday clones were defeated by Earth's heroes and sent back into the pit in which the tower was located.
Eradicator arrived and defended Superman, now very weak, from Doomslayer, quickly throwing Superman out of the tower and allowing himself to be trapped with Doomslayer before the tower teleported away.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
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A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: N/A
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Cameo:
Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992)
Full appearance:
Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992)
Created by: Dan Jurgens (Writer & Artist)
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Outlining a Theory of General Creativity . .
. . on a 'Pataphysical projectory
Entropy ≥ Memory ● Creativity ²
__________________________________________________
Study of the day:
. . "(...) L'objet en quoi s'inscrivent les pouvoirs, de toute éternité humaine, c'est le langage. Ou pour être plus précis, son expression obligée : la langue. Le langage est une législation, la langue en est le code. Nous ne voyons pas le pouvoir qui est dans la langue parce que nous oublions que toute langue est un classement, et que tout classement est oppressif.
(...) Jakobson l'a montré, un idiome se définit moins par ce qu'il permet de dire que par ce qu'il oblige à dire. (...) Ainsi, par sa structure même, la langue implique une relation fatale d'aliénation. Parler, et à plus forte raison discourir, ce n'est pas communiquer, comme on le répète trop souvent, c'est assujettir. (...)
La langue est tout simplement fasciste ; car le fascisme, ce n'est pas d'empêcher de dire, c'est d'obliger à dire. Dès qu'elle est proférée, fût-ce dans l'intimité la plus profonde du sujet, la langue entre au service d'un pouvoir. En elle, immanquablement, deux rubriques se dessinent : l'autorité de l'assertion et la grégarité de la répétition. D'une part la langue est immédiatement assertive. (...) Ce que les linguistes appellent la modalité n'est jamais que le supplément de la langue, ce par quoi, telle une supplique, j'essaye de fléchir son pouvoir implacable de constatation. D'autre part, les signes dont la langue est faite, les signes n'existent que pour autant qu'ils sont reconnus, c'est à dire pour autant qu'ils se répètent ; le signe est suiviste, grégaire ; en chaque signe dort ce monstre : un stéréotype. (...)
A nous qui ne sommes ni des chevaliers de la foi, ni des surhommes, il ne reste qu'à tricher avec la langue, qu'à tricher la langue ; tricherie salutaire, esquive, leurre magnifique qui permet d'entendre la langue hors-pouvoir, dans la splendeur d'une révolution permanente du langage. (...)
The purpose in which the powers of any human eternity are inscribed, is the language. Languages are legislations, each language is a code. We do not see the power that is in the language because we forget that any language is a classification, and that any classification is oppressive.
(...) Jakobson has shown it, an idiom is defined less by what he can say than by what he forces to say. (...) Thus, by its very structure, the language implies a fatal relationship of alienation. Talking, and so even more discoursing, it is not "to communicate", as repeated too often, it is "to subdue". (...)
The language is quite simply fascist ; for fascism does not prevent speech, it compels speech. As soon as it is uttered, even in the intimacy of the deepest respect of the subject, the language enters the service of a Power. In it, inevitably, two topics are emerging : the authority of the assertion and the gregariousness of repetition. On the one hand, the language is immediately assertive. (...) What linguists call the mood, is nothing but additionals of the language, by which, such a petition, we try to flex its power of its implacable determinations. On the other hand, signs of which language is made, signs exist unless "they are recognized", that is to say "they are repeated". The sign is a follower, gregarious, in each sign sleeps this monster: a stereotype. (...)
To us who are neither knights of faith, nor supermen, it only remains to cheat with the language, to cheat the language. Healthy cheating, wonderful lure which can hear the language out of power, in the splendour of a permanent language revolution.
( Roland Barthes - Extrait de la Leçon inaugurale au Collège de France, le 7 janvier 1977 )
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rectO-persO | E ≥ m.C² | co~errAnce | TiLt
365 #301 - 4 - June -2008
mood: happy
music: superman theme - john williams + super hero - stereo fuse
ladies and gentlemen your one and true superman... Stephen Poff. *had to present him like this or he would kick me more.* aside from super he's got mad kung fu skills *as you can see here what happens when someone takes over his phone booth / changing spot* :-)
this is my collab with Stephen Poff, done for this week's podcast minichallenge.
i got really excited when Stephen said yes about this collab. and i wanted to somehow pay him tribute for his inspiration so i pitch him this idea where he would use his famous superman shirt :-) Stephen was really nice and he guided me on the details such as location choice and lighting conditions :-) thanks again Stephen
now the other part of this photo: it was like when you want to impress someone and everything goes wrong - let me explain. i was supposed to have my pants down and be showing blue tights, but they dont have them here unless in children's sizes :-P then when i came to the location i start taking photos: my batteries start to die.. no problem right?! yeah until they end you realize you left the spares back home.. noooo..
talk about bad luck.
and i also want to thank my friend Daniela for being a good sport and helping me on this one by being on the look out: "hey there's no one comming you can put your pants down" and "quick there's someone cover your undies" lol. fun night and fun photo.
May 13 2004 HersheyPark Star Pavilion
Great show over two hours long! One of my memories was an annoying lady who was holding up a sign that said it was her birthday and wanted to hear the song "Let's Dance". Anyway the song was played later in the show and afterwards Bowie kind of sneered at the woman and said "There you go lady". Everyone else was laughing because it was the funniest thing in the world. If anyone has any photos/recordings from the show please get in touch. RIP David Bowie
Rebel Rebel
New Killer Star
Cactus (Pixies cover)
Sister Midnight (Iggy Pop cover)
Hang On to Yourself
All the Young Dudes
Fame
China Girl (Iggy Pop cover)
The Loneliest Guy
The Man Who Sold the World
Panic in Detroit
Hallo Spaceboy
Sunday
Heathen (The Rays)
Under Pressure (Queen cover)
Station to Station
Ashes to Ashes
The Supermen (One verse)
Quicksand
White Light/White Heat (The Velvet Underground cover)
Let's Dance
Modern Love
I'm Afraid of Americans
"Heroes"
Encore:
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust
So I've almost hit 150 followers and when I do im think about doing a contest I don't know what the theme will be yet but the 1st place prize will be a digital copy of Venom or a digital copy of Reign of the Supermen winner pick.
That's all folks thanks
.Like with my Reign of the Supermen I decided that rather than just try and do an exact purist copy of Superman Blue (which is near impossible keeping to purist rules) I wanted to make an original version.
So here he is, "what if Superman Blue appears in the movie world."
I'm actually quite happy with him. He looks nuts.
Six more additions to the collection.
I finally cracked and got a 'Returns' Supes, mainly cos he was really cheap. Two Super ladies have joined the collection, Superwoman from an alternate universe and the much sought after Mattel Supergirl.
For anyone who is vaugely interested, the Supermen that still elude me are;
Hasbro Superman Red
Kingdom Come Superman
New Frontier Superman
Red Son President Superman
Darkside Evil Superman
Darkside Good Superman
And the daddy, Cyborg Superman...
Or should it now be the League of Superpeople? My first Supergirl makes an appearance in the form of the Elseworlds Finest Kara, great figure but a total pain to stand, with or without base, due to a weird foot configuration.
Also, another rarity is added; Superman Blue...
Time-traveling UFO’s jerk our hero one million years into the future and launch him on a trans-galactic venture, brightened by such incidental items as an attractive post-homo sapien race of evolved simians, and an Ultimate Spaceship.
Chasing mysterious celestial phenomena was part of Zack Halleck’s Air Force duties, so it wasn’t strange that he was assigned to assist in his brother’s experiment. For his scientist brother had devised a method of deliberately attracting and trapping any such sky objects. But the experiment backfired – and the Hallecks themselves were its victims.
When Zack opened his eyes again, it was on the Earth of a million years in the future. And Zack learned that the only way he could rescue his brother and return to his own time would be to accept a role as a human pawn in a conflict of galactic supermen.
réf. p011277 Nonant le Pin.
.
Source: The Allison Collection of World War II Photographs.
Photo N° 77.09.4611a.
Ten Thousand Hungry “Supermen”.
France – In this compact mass, stretching far into the background, are ten thousand German prisoners, captured during the Allied drive in France. It’s “chow time” here, and they’re lining up for their lunch in their stockade somewhere in France..
Credit: Signal Corps Photo from ACME.
www.arkmilitaryheritage.com/_private/images/wwii/DISC_22/...
Supermen browsing the art books. Pity it's not that good a shot, but I was serving at the time!
Their show's called Matinee:
The ranks swell.
The holy grails of the Cyborg Superman and Teen Titans Con-El ellude me...maybe one day. But there's still Supergirl, Bizzaro and a few more to chase down...
Oh and Angelinawb still remains perplexed and mildly infuriated, "But...they all look the same! Except he's got glasses on...you just keep buying THE SAME FIGURE!"
Tsk, girls!
On Hollywood Boulevard -
near the Chinese Theater -
scores of costumed characters
parade for the tips of tourists
and others -
and there have been many
Supergirls, as there are many
Supermen (and can anyone explain
to me what happened to Supergirl
in the comics - i mean, why
didn't she become Superwoman
ever? Where did she go?) -
and this one is
maybe the prettiest of all.
Jonah liked her as much
as I did.
As to why I chose this angle,
in all honesty,
I have no idea.
A female Vulcan sits in the command chair on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise. While the senior crew and some cadets work at their consoles, the officer, Saavik (Kirstie Alley), makes a log entry, then orders Commander Sulu (George Takei) to project a course to avoid entering the Neutral Zone at the Klingon frontier.
Suddenly, Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) receives a distress call from the Kobayashi Maru, a ship that has struck a "gravitic" mine near Altair VI, inside the Neutral Zone. Despite warnings from both Sulu and Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Saavik orders the ship to enter the Zone in order to beam the survivors aboard. Upon entering the Zone, the Enterprise is confronted with three Klingon battle cruisers, which open fire. The Enterprise is heavily damaged; many of the bridge officers are killed. Saavik has no alternative but to order the surviving crew to abandon ship.
Then the filtered voice of Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) is heard. The bridge viewscreen slides aside, revealing a lighted room beyond. The Kobayashi Maru was a Starfleet Academy test, one Saavik does not believe to have been a fair test of her abilities. Kirk explains that the no-win scenario is a situation every commander may face, and that how one faces death is equally important as how one faces life. Saavik seems ruffled at the advice, but Kirk offers that now she has "something new to think about." As he leaves, McCoy asks Kirk why the Enterprise will not receive an experienced crew. Kirk replies that space exploration should be left to younger crews, a remark that puzzles Uhura.
Outside the simulator room, Spock awaits Kirk's opinion of the cadets' performance. Kirk notes that the trainees wreaked havoc with the simulator room and Spock alike. Spock recalls Kirk's own Kobayashi Maru, noting that Kirk himself took the test three times and that his final solution was "unique." Kirk then thanks Spock for his birthday present, an antique copy of Charles Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities." Spock then leaves on a shuttlecraft to board the Enterprise and await Kirk's arrival--he will later inspect the ship.
Kirk then retreats to his apartment, to be greeted by Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), who presents him with two gifts; a bottle of finely-aged Romulan ale and a pair of antique eyeglasses. Noticing Kirk is going through a mid-life crisis, he questions whether Kirk really wants to carry on the duties of an admiral, or to be "galaxy hopping" in a starship. McCoy urges Kirk to get back his starship command, and the two share a drink sitting by the fireplace.
Meanwhile, Commander Chekov (Walter Koenig) is on board the U.S.S. Reliant, which is orbiting the planet Ceti Alpha VI. The crew is searching for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the "Project Genesis" experiment, a terraforming program proposed to the Federation by a group of scientists. Although Ceti Alpha VI should be incapable of supporting life, Chekov detects a minor energy reading on a scanning device. Chekov and Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) beam down to the surface to investigate. Upon arrival, they fight their way through a blinding sandstorm until they discover and enter what appears to be a crashed derelict vessel.
They soon discover that the derelict is actually cargo containers assembled together from the S.S. Botany Bay, a ship Chekov remembers all too well. Panicking, he rushes a confused Terrell toward the exit, only to find that a group of people are waiting outside. Chekov and Terrell are taken prisoner, and their captor reveals himself as Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban). He identifies the rest of his group as the remaining survivors of his crew. Khan reveals that 15 years earlier, Captain Kirk exiled Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V after the genetically-engineered supermen nearly captured the Enterprise. Khan says that six months after they were marooned, Ceti Alpha VI exploded, destroying Ceti Alpha V's ecosystem and shifting its orbit and position in space. The crew of the Reliant thought they were orbiting Ceti Alpha VI, when in reality they were orbiting Ceti Alpha V instead.
Khan blames Kirk for the death of his wife (presumably Lt. Marla McGivers, an Enterprise crewmember who joined Khan in exile) and plans to avenge her. In order to find out why the two are there, Khan forces juvenile Ceti eels (unpleasant-looking creatures) into their ears. Once inside their victims, Khan explains, the eels wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex of the brain, rendering the victim subservient to any command. Khan explains further: As the eels grow and mature inside the brain, the victim is slowly driven insane, followed later by death. Using Chekov and Terrell as his servant, Khan and his henchmen to seize control of the Reliant and escape Ceti Alpha V.
Under the command of now-Captain Spock, the Enterprise is being used to train Starfleet Academy cadets, and Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu come aboard to assist in a short training cruise. Kirk is inspecting the trainee crew, who are learning the ropes on Enterprise. Later, Kirk receives a distress call from Regula I, a research station that is the Project Genesis base. Kirk orders the call to be patched through to his quarters, a communication he is nervous about since he and the head of the Genesis project, Dr Carol Marcus, (Bibi Besch), were romantically involved in the past, a relationship that went sour and resulted in the birth of their son, David.
A furious Carol asks him why he is taking the Genesis Project away from her. Kirk is confused and incredulously denies having any involvement with it. The transmission becomes garbled and communication is soon lost: Khan is luring Kirk to Regula I by having a now-brainwashed Chekov inform Carol that Kirk had ordered them to take possession of the Genesis Device. The Reliant will be coming to the station in three days to take the Genesis equipment. Carol contacted Kirk to confirm the order, but the signal is jammed by Khan, with only bits and pieces of the message going through. Kirk, after consulting with Starfleet Command, assumes command and orders Enterprise to set a course for Regula I.
While en route, Kirk asks Spock and McCoy to join him in familiarizing himself with the Genesis project. A video, hosted by Carol Marcus explains that the project involves the sophisticated terraforming of dead planets, making them habitable. Because the video was produced a year before, Kirk assumes they've reached "Stage Two" of the project. McCoy asks what the result of using such a device on a living world would be and Spock concludes it would destroy any existing life. McCoy sees the project as a dangerous venture that could be turned into a deadly weapon. Just at that moment, Saavik calls them over the intercom and tells them that they've made contact with Reliant.
The Enterprise approaches Reliant. Despite being unable to contact Reliant, Kirk is unconcerned at first and is reluctant to raise shields as, Saavik reminds him, regulations prescribe. He orders a yellow alert. The Reliant raises its shields, powers up its weapons, and opens fire. The Enterprise is caught off-guard and is badly damaged. Khan knows exactly where its weak points are, disabling the Enterprises' main energizers and warp core, leaving only auxiliary power on the ship, and mortally injuring several cadets, including Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston (Ike Eisenmann), Scotty's (James Doohan) nephew. Engines are down, shields inoperative, and there is only enough power for a few short phaser shots, which isn't enough against Reliant's shields.
Khan hails Kirk, who is shocked to see Khan in command of the Reliant. Khan arrogantly announces his plans to destroy the Enterprise, to which Kirk pleads with Khan to take him as prisoner and spare his crew. Khan agrees, but also demands all information on the Genesis Device. Kirk pretends to comply, but he actually has Spock transmit a signal using Reliant's prefix code that causes Reliant to lower her shields. Despite Khan's intelligence he is still very inexperienced with a starship. When he realizes what Kirk is doing he is unable to immediately locate the controls to override the command lowering the shields. With the few shots auxiliary power can give him, Kirk is able to fire at the Reliant, damaging photon control and the warp drive. Khan is reluctant to withdraw, but his followers remind him that Enterprise, with its disabled power systems, can't escape. Both ships limp away for repairs and the match ends in a stalemate. Sulu congratulates Kirk on his victory, however Kirk admits that he'd misjudged the situation and encourages Saavik to quote Starfleet regulations.
Kirk surveys the wounded in sickbay and attends to Peter Preston on his deathbed. With impulse power restored, the Enterprise arrives at Regula I. Kirk assembles a landing party, and Saavik reminds him of General Order 15 barring him from beaming into a dangerous situation without armed escort. They find several of the station's scientists murdered, and discover Chekov and Terrell, semi-conscious and abandoned inside a storage compartment. Terrell and Chekov, still quite dazed, relate their experiences with Khan and tell Kirk that Khan is quite insane. When asked where the crew of the Reliant are, Terrell says they were marooned by Khan on Ceti Alpha V. They find that the station's records of the Genesis Device have been erased by the Regula staff. Exploring the station leads them to a transporter that has recently been activated. Checking the coordinates, Kirk realizes they beamed into the Regula asteroid nearby. Kirk asks for a damage report from the Enterprise. Knowing that Khan is listening to their communications, Spock exaggerates and reports that "by the book, hours would seem like days" and that transporters will be available in two days, hinting to Kirk that they will be beamed back in two hours.
Using the transporter coordinates, they beam down to the asteroid and materialize inside a chamber. The Genesis Device is there, but before Kirk can move, he is attacked by his and Carol's son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), who accuses Kirk of trying to steal Genesis. Carol tries to defuse the situation, but before she can elaborate, the team is threatened by Chekov and Terrell. Terrell and Chekov reveal they are still under Khan's control. The Genesis Device is beamed away and Terrell is ordered by Khan to kill Kirk. Terrell, however, resists Khan and the eel causes him extreme pain. To escape it he turns his phaser on himself and is vaporized. Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel slurps out of his ear and is promptly destroyed by Kirk. Khan, shocked to find Kirk alive and well, vows to leave him marooned on Regula for eternity.
Kirk avoids Carol and David's questions about Khan by asking for food. Carol and David show Kirk, McCoy and Saavik the Genesis cave, which was created by a smaller Genesis Device: deep within Regula a stable ecosystem now exists, having been created in one day. Before Kirk and Carol join them, the two talk briefly about their past relationship and reach a moment of reconciliation.
In the cave, Saavik asks Kirk, who is casually eating an apple, about his performance on the Kobayashi Maru scenario. McCoy tells her that Kirk is the only one to beat the no-win scenario. However, Kirk admits he reprogrammed the simulation. David chuckles and says he cheated, and Kirk qualifies that he "changed the conditions of the test" also citing that he'd received praise for "original thinking" and that he does not believe in the "no-win" scenario of the Kobayashi Maru test. Kirk then promptly contacts Enterprise and Spock says they should prepare for transport. Kirk smiles at a dumbfounded Saavik and asserts that he doesn't like to lose. Saavik questions what happened throughout the transport and Kirk reminds her of Regulation 46A: Spock had modified his report to deceive Khan because their adversary may have been monitoring Enterprise's transmissions.
Unfortunately, the Enterprise cannot defend itself against Reliant. Spock suggests the Enterprise set course for the nearby Mutara Nebula, whose ionized gases will disrupt the sensors and shields of both vessels, essentially rendering them blind and evening the odds. Khan orders Reliant to pursue, but his crew is reluctant, as they know the shielding and sensor systems will be rendered useless.
Back on the Enterprise, Spock notes that Reliant is reducing speed and seems to be backing away from the pursuit. To ensure that Khan will follow him, Kirk has Uhura contact Reliant and proceeds to taunt his nemesis, saying "We tried it once your way, Khan. Are you game for a rematch? Khan ... I'm laughing at the superior intellect." Enraged by the mockery, Khan acts irrationally and orders full impulse power and despite Joachim's (Khan's most trusted lieutenant) protests, recklessly launches into the pursuit again. The Battle of the Mutara Nebula ensues. Both ships are quite hampered by the conditions whereas in open space Enterprise would have been the more vulnerable vessel.
A game of cat-and-mouse follows. Computer targeting does not function, so both crews must rely on manual firing commands based on their view of the opposing ships on the visual display, which is mostly static. Sulu, being more experienced, is able to make better guesses and inflict slight damage but both vessels largely miss each other.
As they maneuver half-blind around the nebula, suddenly the static on the Enterprise screen clears enough to reveal that the ships are about to collide. They veer apart and narrowly miss colliding, and at such point-blank range even manual firing is sufficient for each vessel to inflict key hits on the other. The Reliant manages to destroy the port torpedo launcher of the Enterprise, which then returns fire and damages the Reliant's bridge, causing an explosion that kills several of the ship's bridge crew including Joachim, whom Khan vows to avenge.
Kirk is nevertheless able to ambush the Reliant because of his superior starship combat experience. When Spock suggests that Khan is inexperienced, Kirk orders the Enterprise to drop below Reliant. Reliant glides past above Enterprise. A shaken, but physically recovered Chekov enters the bridge and offers his assistance. Kirk asks him to go to the weapons station. Khan, thinking on a 2-dimensional scale, isn't prepared for Enterprise to descend before he passes overhead and then ascend directly behind him. Reliant is hit with several phaser blasts, and a torpedo breaks off its port nacelle. Reliant is crippled and drifts away, trailing plasma. Most of Khan's crew is killed in the process, and Khan himself is left crippled and barely alive.
In a final attempt to kill Kirk, Khan activates the Genesis Device, knowing that the blast wave from it will destroy the Enterprise and its crew. The Enterprise's warp drive is off-line from the earlier battle, and she cannot escape the large explosion that the device will trigger. Spock exits the bridge and decides to sacrifice his life by entering the radiation-filled engine room and fixing the broken warp drive, while Kirk orders a withdrawal at "best possible speed." On Reliant's bridge, Khan, believing the Enterprise cannot escape the blast, quotes Moby Dick: "From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." Spock arrives in engineering, only to be stopped by Dr. McCoy from entering a lethally irradiated compartment that is part of the warp drive system. After initially appearing to comply with McCoy, an apologetic Spock nerve-pinches McCoy, and mind melds with the doctor, saying simply "Remember..." He then dons work gloves, enters the chamber, and begins to repair the main reactor. Shortly after, McCoy regains consciousness and he and Scotty plead in vain to Spock to stop what he is doing.
Spock is successful and the warp engines come on line just in time, and Enterprise streaks away just as the Genesis Device, and the Reliant, explodes. The Mutara Nebula condenses around the explosion, creating a new planet. Kirk contacts engineering to congratulate Scotty, but he is unconscious due to the radiation. McCoy gravely replies that Kirk needs to come down; Kirk notices the empty chair at the science station. A look of complete horror fills Kirk's face as he rushes down to Engineering to find Spock, dying. Kirk calls out for Spock and follows as the Vulcan staggers to the side of the transparent radiation barrier, finally resting against it.
Spock attempts with difficulty to explain to Kirk his reasoning: "Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh ..." to which Kirk finishes, "the needs of the few," and Spock nods. "Or the one ..." Spock states that he himself never took the Kobayashi Maru simulation "until now," and asked Kirk, "What do you think of my solution?"
Kirk, stricken with grief, can't reply. "I have been and always shall be your friend. Live long and prosper." He holds out his hand, in the traditional Vulcan salute, and Kirk presses his hand up to the glass as well, watching as Spock slumps to the floor, and dies. It takes all of his resolve to keep his composure as he sees his closest friend die in front of him. This time, there is no going back.
Spock's funeral is held later, on the torpedo deck. Kirk says a few words in Spock's honor, concluding with a befitting statement: "Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human." While Scotty plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes, Spock's body is launched in a torpedo casing into the atmosphere of the newborn Genesis Planet.
Later, in his quarters, Kirk tries to read his copy of A Tale of Two Cities. He sees that the glasses given to him by McCoy are broken. David visits him and the two reconcile, accepting that they are father and son. Kirk is humbled, especially when David mentions that Kirk had faced death before but never the death of a close and trusted friend like Spock.
On the bridge, the crew and Carol Marcus look at the new world formed by the Genesis Wave. McCoy expresses the feelings of Kirk by saying "He's not really gone as long as we find a way to remember him." The Enterprise sets it's course for Earth, with a stop at Ceti Alpha V to pick up Reliant's crew.
The shot dissolves to various scenes of the ecosystem of the Genesis planet, finally arriving at Spock's photon tube. In voiceover, we hear Spock's voice reciting the Star Trek motto.
A female Vulcan sits in the command chair on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise. While the senior crew and some cadets work at their consoles, the officer, Saavik (Kirstie Alley), makes a log entry, then orders Commander Sulu (George Takei) to project a course to avoid entering the Neutral Zone at the Klingon frontier.
Suddenly, Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) receives a distress call from the Kobayashi Maru, a ship that has struck a "gravitic" mine near Altair VI, inside the Neutral Zone. Despite warnings from both Sulu and Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Saavik orders the ship to enter the Zone in order to beam the survivors aboard. Upon entering the Zone, the Enterprise is confronted with three Klingon battle cruisers, which open fire. The Enterprise is heavily damaged; many of the bridge officers are killed. Saavik has no alternative but to order the surviving crew to abandon ship.
Then the filtered voice of Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) is heard. The bridge viewscreen slides aside, revealing a lighted room beyond. The Kobayashi Maru was a Starfleet Academy test, one Saavik does not believe to have been a fair test of her abilities. Kirk explains that the no-win scenario is a situation every commander may face, and that how one faces death is equally important as how one faces life. Saavik seems ruffled at the advice, but Kirk offers that now she has "something new to think about." As he leaves, McCoy asks Kirk why the Enterprise will not receive an experienced crew. Kirk replies that space exploration should be left to younger crews, a remark that puzzles Uhura.
Outside the simulator room, Spock awaits Kirk's opinion of the cadets' performance. Kirk notes that the trainees wreaked havoc with the simulator room and Spock alike. Spock recalls Kirk's own Kobayashi Maru, noting that Kirk himself took the test three times and that his final solution was "unique." Kirk then thanks Spock for his birthday present, an antique copy of Charles Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities." Spock then leaves on a shuttlecraft to board the Enterprise and await Kirk's arrival--he will later inspect the ship.
Kirk then retreats to his apartment, to be greeted by Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), who presents him with two gifts; a bottle of finely-aged Romulan ale and a pair of antique eyeglasses. Noticing Kirk is going through a mid-life crisis, he questions whether Kirk really wants to carry on the duties of an admiral, or to be "galaxy hopping" in a starship. McCoy urges Kirk to get back his starship command, and the two share a drink sitting by the fireplace.
Meanwhile, Commander Chekov (Walter Koenig) is on board the U.S.S. Reliant, which is orbiting the planet Ceti Alpha VI. The crew is searching for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the "Project Genesis" experiment, a terraforming program proposed to the Federation by a group of scientists. Although Ceti Alpha VI should be incapable of supporting life, Chekov detects a minor energy reading on a scanning device. Chekov and Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) beam down to the surface to investigate. Upon arrival, they fight their way through a blinding sandstorm until they discover and enter what appears to be a crashed derelict vessel.
They soon discover that the derelict is actually cargo containers assembled together from the S.S. Botany Bay, a ship Chekov remembers all too well. Panicking, he rushes a confused Terrell toward the exit, only to find that a group of people are waiting outside. Chekov and Terrell are taken prisoner, and their captor reveals himself as Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban). He identifies the rest of his group as the remaining survivors of his crew. Khan reveals that 15 years earlier, Captain Kirk exiled Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V after the genetically-engineered supermen nearly captured the Enterprise. Khan says that six months after they were marooned, Ceti Alpha VI exploded, destroying Ceti Alpha V's ecosystem and shifting its orbit and position in space. The crew of the Reliant thought they were orbiting Ceti Alpha VI, when in reality they were orbiting Ceti Alpha V instead.
Khan blames Kirk for the death of his wife (presumably Lt. Marla McGivers, an Enterprise crewmember who joined Khan in exile) and plans to avenge her. In order to find out why the two are there, Khan forces juvenile Ceti eels (unpleasant-looking creatures) into their ears. Once inside their victims, Khan explains, the eels wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex of the brain, rendering the victim subservient to any command. Khan explains further: As the eels grow and mature inside the brain, the victim is slowly driven insane, followed later by death. Using Chekov and Terrell as his servant, Khan and his henchmen to seize control of the Reliant and escape Ceti Alpha V.
Under the command of now-Captain Spock, the Enterprise is being used to train Starfleet Academy cadets, and Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu come aboard to assist in a short training cruise. Kirk is inspecting the trainee crew, who are learning the ropes on Enterprise. Later, Kirk receives a distress call from Regula I, a research station that is the Project Genesis base. Kirk orders the call to be patched through to his quarters, a communication he is nervous about since he and the head of the Genesis project, Dr Carol Marcus, (Bibi Besch), were romantically involved in the past, a relationship that went sour and resulted in the birth of their son, David.
A furious Carol asks him why he is taking the Genesis Project away from her. Kirk is confused and incredulously denies having any involvement with it. The transmission becomes garbled and communication is soon lost: Khan is luring Kirk to Regula I by having a now-brainwashed Chekov inform Carol that Kirk had ordered them to take possession of the Genesis Device. The Reliant will be coming to the station in three days to take the Genesis equipment. Carol contacted Kirk to confirm the order, but the signal is jammed by Khan, with only bits and pieces of the message going through. Kirk, after consulting with Starfleet Command, assumes command and orders Enterprise to set a course for Regula I.
While en route, Kirk asks Spock and McCoy to join him in familiarizing himself with the Genesis project. A video, hosted by Carol Marcus explains that the project involves the sophisticated terraforming of dead planets, making them habitable. Because the video was produced a year before, Kirk assumes they've reached "Stage Two" of the project. McCoy asks what the result of using such a device on a living world would be and Spock concludes it would destroy any existing life. McCoy sees the project as a dangerous venture that could be turned into a deadly weapon. Just at that moment, Saavik calls them over the intercom and tells them that they've made contact with Reliant.
The Enterprise approaches Reliant. Despite being unable to contact Reliant, Kirk is unconcerned at first and is reluctant to raise shields as, Saavik reminds him, regulations prescribe. He orders a yellow alert. The Reliant raises its shields, powers up its weapons, and opens fire. The Enterprise is caught off-guard and is badly damaged. Khan knows exactly where its weak points are, disabling the Enterprises' main energizers and warp core, leaving only auxiliary power on the ship, and mortally injuring several cadets, including Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston (Ike Eisenmann), Scotty's (James Doohan) nephew. Engines are down, shields inoperative, and there is only enough power for a few short phaser shots, which isn't enough against Reliant's shields.
Khan hails Kirk, who is shocked to see Khan in command of the Reliant. Khan arrogantly announces his plans to destroy the Enterprise, to which Kirk pleads with Khan to take him as prisoner and spare his crew. Khan agrees, but also demands all information on the Genesis Device. Kirk pretends to comply, but he actually has Spock transmit a signal using Reliant's prefix code that causes Reliant to lower her shields. Despite Khan's intelligence he is still very inexperienced with a starship. When he realizes what Kirk is doing he is unable to immediately locate the controls to override the command lowering the shields. With the few shots auxiliary power can give him, Kirk is able to fire at the Reliant, damaging photon control and the warp drive. Khan is reluctant to withdraw, but his followers remind him that Enterprise, with its disabled power systems, can't escape. Both ships limp away for repairs and the match ends in a stalemate. Sulu congratulates Kirk on his victory, however Kirk admits that he'd misjudged the situation and encourages Saavik to quote Starfleet regulations.
Kirk surveys the wounded in sickbay and attends to Peter Preston on his deathbed. With impulse power restored, the Enterprise arrives at Regula I. Kirk assembles a landing party, and Saavik reminds him of General Order 15 barring him from beaming into a dangerous situation without armed escort. They find several of the station's scientists murdered, and discover Chekov and Terrell, semi-conscious and abandoned inside a storage compartment. Terrell and Chekov, still quite dazed, relate their experiences with Khan and tell Kirk that Khan is quite insane. When asked where the crew of the Reliant are, Terrell says they were marooned by Khan on Ceti Alpha V. They find that the station's records of the Genesis Device have been erased by the Regula staff. Exploring the station leads them to a transporter that has recently been activated. Checking the coordinates, Kirk realizes they beamed into the Regula asteroid nearby. Kirk asks for a damage report from the Enterprise. Knowing that Khan is listening to their communications, Spock exaggerates and reports that "by the book, hours would seem like days" and that transporters will be available in two days, hinting to Kirk that they will be beamed back in two hours.
Using the transporter coordinates, they beam down to the asteroid and materialize inside a chamber. The Genesis Device is there, but before Kirk can move, he is attacked by his and Carol's son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), who accuses Kirk of trying to steal Genesis. Carol tries to defuse the situation, but before she can elaborate, the team is threatened by Chekov and Terrell. Terrell and Chekov reveal they are still under Khan's control. The Genesis Device is beamed away and Terrell is ordered by Khan to kill Kirk. Terrell, however, resists Khan and the eel causes him extreme pain. To escape it he turns his phaser on himself and is vaporized. Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel slurps out of his ear and is promptly destroyed by Kirk. Khan, shocked to find Kirk alive and well, vows to leave him marooned on Regula for eternity.
Kirk avoids Carol and David's questions about Khan by asking for food. Carol and David show Kirk, McCoy and Saavik the Genesis cave, which was created by a smaller Genesis Device: deep within Regula a stable ecosystem now exists, having been created in one day. Before Kirk and Carol join them, the two talk briefly about their past relationship and reach a moment of reconciliation.
In the cave, Saavik asks Kirk, who is casually eating an apple, about his performance on the Kobayashi Maru scenario. McCoy tells her that Kirk is the only one to beat the no-win scenario. However, Kirk admits he reprogrammed the simulation. David chuckles and says he cheated, and Kirk qualifies that he "changed the conditions of the test" also citing that he'd received praise for "original thinking" and that he does not believe in the "no-win" scenario of the Kobayashi Maru test. Kirk then promptly contacts Enterprise and Spock says they should prepare for transport. Kirk smiles at a dumbfounded Saavik and asserts that he doesn't like to lose. Saavik questions what happened throughout the transport and Kirk reminds her of Regulation 46A: Spock had modified his report to deceive Khan because their adversary may have been monitoring Enterprise's transmissions.
Unfortunately, the Enterprise cannot defend itself against Reliant. Spock suggests the Enterprise set course for the nearby Mutara Nebula, whose ionized gases will disrupt the sensors and shields of both vessels, essentially rendering them blind and evening the odds. Khan orders Reliant to pursue, but his crew is reluctant, as they know the shielding and sensor systems will be rendered useless.
Back on the Enterprise, Spock notes that Reliant is reducing speed and seems to be backing away from the pursuit. To ensure that Khan will follow him, Kirk has Uhura contact Reliant and proceeds to taunt his nemesis, saying "We tried it once your way, Khan. Are you game for a rematch? Khan ... I'm laughing at the superior intellect." Enraged by the mockery, Khan acts irrationally and orders full impulse power and despite Joachim's (Khan's most trusted lieutenant) protests, recklessly launches into the pursuit again. The Battle of the Mutara Nebula ensues. Both ships are quite hampered by the conditions whereas in open space Enterprise would have been the more vulnerable vessel.
A game of cat-and-mouse follows. Computer targeting does not function, so both crews must rely on manual firing commands based on their view of the opposing ships on the visual display, which is mostly static. Sulu, being more experienced, is able to make better guesses and inflict slight damage but both vessels largely miss each other.
As they maneuver half-blind around the nebula, suddenly the static on the Enterprise screen clears enough to reveal that the ships are about to collide. They veer apart and narrowly miss colliding, and at such point-blank range even manual firing is sufficient for each vessel to inflict key hits on the other. The Reliant manages to destroy the port torpedo launcher of the Enterprise, which then returns fire and damages the Reliant's bridge, causing an explosion that kills several of the ship's bridge crew including Joachim, whom Khan vows to avenge.
Kirk is nevertheless able to ambush the Reliant because of his superior starship combat experience. When Spock suggests that Khan is inexperienced, Kirk orders the Enterprise to drop below Reliant. Reliant glides past above Enterprise. A shaken, but physically recovered Chekov enters the bridge and offers his assistance. Kirk asks him to go to the weapons station. Khan, thinking on a 2-dimensional scale, isn't prepared for Enterprise to descend before he passes overhead and then ascend directly behind him. Reliant is hit with several phaser blasts, and a torpedo breaks off its port nacelle. Reliant is crippled and drifts away, trailing plasma. Most of Khan's crew is killed in the process, and Khan himself is left crippled and barely alive.
In a final attempt to kill Kirk, Khan activates the Genesis Device, knowing that the blast wave from it will destroy the Enterprise and its crew. The Enterprise's warp drive is off-line from the earlier battle, and she cannot escape the large explosion that the device will trigger. Spock exits the bridge and decides to sacrifice his life by entering the radiation-filled engine room and fixing the broken warp drive, while Kirk orders a withdrawal at "best possible speed." On Reliant's bridge, Khan, believing the Enterprise cannot escape the blast, quotes Moby Dick: "From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." Spock arrives in engineering, only to be stopped by Dr. McCoy from entering a lethally irradiated compartment that is part of the warp drive system. After initially appearing to comply with McCoy, an apologetic Spock nerve-pinches McCoy, and mind melds with the doctor, saying simply "Remember..." He then dons work gloves, enters the chamber, and begins to repair the main reactor. Shortly after, McCoy regains consciousness and he and Scotty plead in vain to Spock to stop what he is doing.
Spock is successful and the warp engines come on line just in time, and Enterprise streaks away just as the Genesis Device, and the Reliant, explodes. The Mutara Nebula condenses around the explosion, creating a new planet. Kirk contacts engineering to congratulate Scotty, but he is unconscious due to the radiation. McCoy gravely replies that Kirk needs to come down; Kirk notices the empty chair at the science station. A look of complete horror fills Kirk's face as he rushes down to Engineering to find Spock, dying. Kirk calls out for Spock and follows as the Vulcan staggers to the side of the transparent radiation barrier, finally resting against it.
Spock attempts with difficulty to explain to Kirk his reasoning: "Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh ..." to which Kirk finishes, "the needs of the few," and Spock nods. "Or the one ..." Spock states that he himself never took the Kobayashi Maru simulation "until now," and asked Kirk, "What do you think of my solution?"
Kirk, stricken with grief, can't reply. "I have been and always shall be your friend. Live long and prosper." He holds out his hand, in the traditional Vulcan salute, and Kirk presses his hand up to the glass as well, watching as Spock slumps to the floor, and dies. It takes all of his resolve to keep his composure as he sees his closest friend die in front of him. This time, there is no going back.
Spock's funeral is held later, on the torpedo deck. Kirk says a few words in Spock's honor, concluding with a befitting statement: "Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human." While Scotty plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes, Spock's body is launched in a torpedo casing into the atmosphere of the newborn Genesis Planet.
Later, in his quarters, Kirk tries to read his copy of A Tale of Two Cities. He sees that the glasses given to him by McCoy are broken. David visits him and the two reconcile, accepting that they are father and son. Kirk is humbled, especially when David mentions that Kirk had faced death before but never the death of a close and trusted friend like Spock.
On the bridge, the crew and Carol Marcus look at the new world formed by the Genesis Wave. McCoy expresses the feelings of Kirk by saying "He's not really gone as long as we find a way to remember him." The Enterprise sets it's course for Earth, with a stop at Ceti Alpha V to pick up Reliant's crew.
The shot dissolves to various scenes of the ecosystem of the Genesis planet, finally arriving at Spock's photon tube. In voiceover, we hear Spock's voice reciting the Star Trek motto.
A group of super villains that all mirror the Man of Steel himself Superman from L to R
Buzzard
Eradicator
Superboy Prime/Superman(Regime Injustice 1)
Cyborg Superman
♫♪♪ [The Supermen Lovers - Starlight]
so many french groovers goodness knows why! maybe they just understand house music...
(benjamin1179)