The Legoland Convention

So last night I went to 7-11 here in Langley to get some "dinner." I walked into the store, and it was pretty much empty, except for one large gentleman talking to the two store clerks. Their conversation centered entirely around Star Trek, and particularly the Star Trek movies. They had hilariously nerdy voices, and I could tell that they were avid, perhaps even rabid, fans. I missed the early parts of the conversation, as I was getting food. But here's the parts that I caught and remember:

Large Gentleman: Yeah, the science of Star Trek has always been a little bit questionable.

Large store clerk: Ha, yeah.

Skinny with glasses store clerk: Yeah, I always thought it was funny how almost any problem could be solved by "reversing the polarity." Like "Oh no! We're headed for a wormhole, let's reverse the polarity!!" And there's your problem solved. (Editor's note: the example above is fabricated, but they did use a similar example).

All: Ha Ha Ha.

Skinny clerk: And then there's that thing they always have.

Other two guys: Oh yeah, the umm . . .

Skinny Guy: (Ok, so here the conversation gets a little blurry. But he pulled out some name of some kind of equipment the Enterprise had that did stuff.)

Other guys: Oh yeah. Ha, that's it!

Skinny Guy: Whenever people would ask how that works, the Star Trek people would always say "very well thank you."

All: Ha Ha.

Skinny Guy: Like at the conventions people would ask "How does the (whatever the hell that thing was called) work?" And the Star Trek people would always be like "It works well, thank you. Next Question."

Large clerk: Ha. Yeah. You know, I always thought Star Trek Voyager would have been a great show, except suddenly they had these alien species that no one's ever had contact with before, and they can all speak English?? I mean, what's up with that.

Large customer: Yeah, it's like they had some kind of universal translator or something.


By this time I was on my way out the door, trying not to laugh hysterically. Man, I wish I had some kind of Star Trek knowledge. Then i wouldn't have felt so out of the loop. These guys were intense. I just smiled and bought things. And left.