WikiSurfing!

WikiSurfing — don’t know if that’s an actual term, but that’s what I call it when I look up one thing on Wikipedia that leads me to another, another, and another until it’s 4 hours later.  I was wikisurfing a character from Star Trek when I ended up at the page for a classic Trek episode: Assignment: Earth.  According to the entry, this was meant to be a pseudo-pilot for a new show (of the same name).  It would be about the adventures of Gary Seven, “an Earth human from a far more advanced world. His ancestors are humans taken from Earth over 6,000 years ago and trained to intercede on Earth to help it survive.”

Gary utilizes some very advanced technology, like long-range transporters, talking computers, and a “servo” pen that does whatever he wants it to do when he points it at a person or thing.

It was the servo pen that pinged it for me.

Having not seen the episode itself, maybe my perception is skewed a bit.  But it sounds to me like this was meant to be the American answer to Doctor Who.  (I did note that the wiki article actually compares him to James Bond, and it could be that he has more similarities there.)  It never became its own show, though.

Perhaps this is the fangirl in me, but I think it would have been more awesome, back then, to have the Doctor run into the crew of the Enterprise.  I’m sure this has been done to death in fanfiction.  Still, I can dream.

1 thought on “WikiSurfing!

  1. Oh man Wikipedia is *crack*. When I was reading Toby Buckell’s Crystal Rain, I got curious about Aztec religion, picked up the computer, and 2 hours later I could tell you all about Aztecs, Toltecs, and Olmecs, but I still hadn’t finished the damn book. Um. This happens to me all the time. Maybe this hypertext thing has its drawbacks!

    MKK

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