Hearth of Britannia: The Future of the Hearth is in Limbo
Well, we didn’t have to wait long to find out what Rustic Dragon’s countdown was leading up to. And sadly, it’s not the best of news:
Hail all! The most loyal among you may have noticed a lull in the Hearth’s activity of late. There are several reasons for this, many of which need not be disclosed. However, the most significant reason is that I no longer have steady employment at a wage level that allows discretionary investment in passions like The Hearth.
Given this, I have put together a survey to try to gather interest in the Hearth’s activities in attempt to gauge whether or not continued investment is desired and if so, where best to focus that effort. It should take less than five minutes to take (unless you want to write a novel)
It’s anonymous and your feedback/criticism/encouragement will be greatly appreciated and all comments will be read and considered.
The survey in question can be found here; I would encourage you all to answer it, as it really will only consume five or so minutes of your time and will directly impact the outcome of Rustic’s deliberations over whether to focus his efforts on hosting more Dragonsmeets, or on producing the Hearth of Britannia cookbook (and possibly holding a Kickstarter campaign to finance same).
Yikes. I thought countdowns were supposed to be for good things.
Unless it’s HoB or Star Trek, they usually are. Computer, disengage self-destruct sequence, authorization Riker, uh, uh, shit…
Yeah, but c’mon…a password like “Riker Alpha Alpha One Beta” and the computer can’t crack that in seconds?
I always thought it was strange that senior bridge officers’ authorization codes were spoken out loud, even though the computer could authenticate their vocal inflections and proximity of com badges. Federation “convenience” features made for a lot of good plots, I suppose.
This is a bit off subject, but so far I’ve seen every episode in sequence of TNG, DS9 and Voyager and have seen the first four episodes of Enterprise. I thought I’d hate Enterprise and read the Wikipedia article regarding its cancellation, but so far I think it’s pretty awesome. The effects are better, the acting surprisingly good, it’s HD and 16:9, has a good premise (before TOS, when humans are just beginning to explore outside their system), and the episodes are set up like typical Star Trek. It also seems much more realistic and grittier. Maybe it gets really shitty later, and that’s why it was cancelled? So far so good.
Couldn’t tell ya; I’ve barely seen any episodes of the show…though from what I’ve read on Memory Alpha, some of it does sound interesting.
I’m more of a DS9 fan myself, with Voyager a close second.
I liked that DS9 was more militaristic, cynical and that the Bajorans’ religion (real, political and in faith) played a strong role. It was a refreshing change from TNG, where religion was always seen through an anthropological lens. Benjamin Sisko, Gul Dukat and Garak were interesting characters with excellent performances. The end was appropriate as well, being neither tidy nor leaving too many loose ends.
Voyager I also thought I’d hate, but after a rocky start became something I couldn’t stop watching. Tuvok, Janeway and the doctor gave decent performances, but there was nothing truly outstanding like in TNG and DS9. The ending was disappointing, as they went into “you don’t know what’s going on…must have to do with time travel or alternate dimensions” thing, which is not what you want to see when there are only two episodes left in the series after seven years. The last scene where the camera showed the bridge crew’s reactions to finally getting home was woefully underplayed; only Harry Kim’s tear-brimmed eyes was remotely powerful.
Enterprise, as much as I prematurely abhorred the actor from Quantum Leap, is surprisingly good. I actually enjoyed the first few episodes more than I did the first few seasons of both DS9 and Voyager. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop as I continue to watch the first season.
Also, I took the survey and filled out meaningful comment forms. Anyone who knows what a Dragonsmeet is or who loves Ultima has an equal obligation to do so. Those who do not betray a friend, Rustic Dragon, and there is no greater wound than betrayal: http://mordi.ziphoid.com/data/music/originals/Mordi%20-%20Unrequited%20Affection.mp3 To all who betray the Virtues, may thy leisurely endeavors find fulfillment in the dungeons of demons, splayed out like untanned hide upon the stone of torment. Nothing is more dispassionate than cries unanswered but by echo of flesh, stone and blade.