We, as geeks, have entered into somewhat of a golden age where a comic book movie can be nominated for an Oscar. Where an actor like Robert Downey Jr. can make a phenomenal comeback in the film industry as a man with a robo-suit used to beat up bad guys. Naturally, but perhaps naively, of me I thought that these movies were introducing the younger generations to the marvelous world of comic books. But here we are – “do they still make comics?” This question weighing on my mind like a bloated Fin Fang Foom after Thanksgiving dinner. He proceeded to tell me that though he liked Batman, he’d never actually read a Batman comic. Not a one. This kid had never read an actual, honest to Krom Batman comic. This is just plain and simply WRONG. I don’t know how else to say it more bluntly than it just being wrong. For a kid who when he’s older will get over the awkwardness of teen-hood and embrace his love of all things geek, I can’t think of anything sadder than not once delving into the gothic world of THE BAT. Not once holding a fresh adventure of the dark knight in your hands, experiencing that ever so finite seven to ten minutes of bliss when you sit down with your latest issue in hand.

Now, I’m not here to give you a list of the top 5 best comics, or the top 20 writers, or the best artists of 2009 or anything like that. I’m simply here to tell about love. About something more than a hobby or some sort of hip new trend. As a man who reads comics and waits patiently for his new issues to arrive, I’m here to tell you about the experience, the heartache, and the love that goes into reading comic books. It’s something that requires patience and time, money and happiness, disappointment and at times frustration. Perhaps I’m being dramatic about a medium that stars a man who flies around in his underpants, but it’s a medium that carries with it such depth in storytelling I dare you to find anywhere else. A single comic book can have a story that spans years or even decades, you may not get to the end of a story for a good chunk of your life. This isn’t something to make you want to never pick up a comic, but something that should make you stand back and admire the diligence of the writer, the loyalty of its readers, and the perfect crafting of a narrative done through pictures and word balloons.

I first started reading comics when I was seven years old, eighteen years of my life, and I appreciated it every single year. Not like a film, novel, or music which you have to cultivate sometimes a certain taste, grow into it, mature with it. Comics have always been something I could dive into, have an adventure, and what was probably the most wonderful is that as time went on comic books seemed to mature with me. Over the years I’ve gone through three comic books stores I’ve called “mine,” been to maybe six or seven conventions, and even written my own comic script, and ironically it took me nearly those 18 years to realize that no matter how much I loved movies, comic books were my passion. It’s the one thing I love more than nearly anything else, the one thing I would do for a living if I could, the one thing that can always always always make me happy when I’m feeling bummed out. These are the feelings I wish kids these days knew about, I want these kids seeing Iron Man to go out and find a comic book store that they can spend even just a few bucks at once a week and maybe open up them up to something they never even knew existed. And apparently don’t.

THE TOP 10 CREEPIEST EPISODES OF STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION:

(YE BE WARNED: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD)

#10. “Clues” – Season 4, Episode 87

Now this episode begins with the entire crew, save for Data, passing out and reawakening after thirty seconds. They think nothing of it, get checked out by Crusher and continue on their way. Suddenly though, Picard and the crew begin to realize that little things on the ship aren’t making any sense. Just little things here and there that seem to be out of place with logic. Dr. Crusher’s plants have grown rapidly, and Worf has a hurt wrist, that when scanned appears that it was at one point broken and treated without his knowledge. Picard becomes intrigued by these events and soon realizes Data is acting strange as well.

Now, this is one of my favorite episodes of TNG, especially for the creep factor it has. Memory loss, missing time are all things I find to be chilling. Finding pieces of a puzzle here and there, putting them together slowly, to see a malevolent force at work is definitely something that creeps me out. The weird factor upped by Data’s suspicious behavior, and ominous answers to Picard’s questions. The ending is satisfying with a wonderful speech by Picard, and like most darker episodes of TNG, has a happy ending, if not a tad creepy unto itself.

#9. “Remember Me” – Season 4, Episode 79

One of the very few Dr. Crusher-centric episodes of the entire series, this one has always stood out as probably my favorite. The story is simple enough, crew members aboard the Enterprise begin disappearing, but only Crusher can remember who they were, it’s as if they’ve been wiped from existence. It becomes a race against time to figure out what is going on as more and more crew members vanish.

This one was always scary to me for a very simple reason – vanishing from existence. Everything you did everything you were, blinked from existence. Is there anybody who isn’t afraid of being forgotten? It speaks to a very deep seated fear in humans, that after we’re gone no one will remember us, our lives so inconsequential that we might as well have never have been. Effecting no lasting impression on those around us and the world we live in only to be completely erased from life itself. We all hope that when we die, we will live through the memories of others because if we are forgotten, then we will truly be gone.

Yes, there is another Dr. Crusher episode that you may argue is more scary. “Sub Rosa” (season 7, episode 166) which is about Dr. Crusher attending her grandmother’s funeral, and spending time in her “haunted house.” I don’t find this episode creepy, frankly, and it has always been one of my least favorite episodes of TNG. I think it’s boring, and kind of goofy. This is where the creepy factor just didn’t translate very well, it was about ghosts and haunted houses in a hardcore science fiction show.  It felt like a script for another show that TNG just happened to pick up. “Remember Me,” on the other hand, is fantastic and real stand-out episode for Dr. Crusher.

#8. “Frame of Mind” – Season 6, Episode 147

An episode that messes with the mind of the audience is always going to be a fun ride.  One of the trippier episodes of TNG, “Frame of Mind” begins with Commander Riker rehearsing a play being put together by Dr. Crusher about a man trapped in an insane asylum. But the fun really begins as fantasy becomes reality. Riker actually is insane and locked in an asylum, the Enterprise and his friends a psychotic delusion, at least that’s what the doctors would have him believe. Riker goes back and forth between these two realities, never knowing which is real and which is a figment of his imagination, and we the audience are never sure either.

The best part of this episode is probably the first half where Riker seems to be going out of his mind. I always love when they put Riker in these bizarre situations, like “First Contact” or “Future Imperfect,” and this one is no different. What I find the creepiest about this episode is that he really does seem to be going insane and no one will help him or, more accurately, can help him. That is a horrifying state, to be losing your mind and no one can help. To see yourself losing grip on reality, the helplessness of that situation is one many people can understand. Of course by the end of the episode the lies are unwoven and the truth is exposed in a very Star Trek way, but the initial spiral into madness is a well done and incredibly eerie.

#7. “Identity Crisis” – Season 4, Episode 92

When I was a kid this was one of my all time favorite episodes, basically because Geordi was our focus and he rarely got an episode that revolved mainly around him. Most of the time he was paired with Data, who besides Picard, probably had the most episodes focused on him. The story of this episode is that an old colleague of Geordi’s, Lt.Cmdr. Leijten, comes on board the Enterprise. The two of them had gone on an away mission together with a few other officers years ago and apparently all of the others have gone missing. They’re the only two left. Suddenly Leijten begins going through a transformation into some kind of creature. Geordi takes it upon himself to investigate just why this seems to be happening to the members of this away team, and if he may be next.

I found this episode particularly creepy mainly because of Geordi’s investigation. Using the holodeck he recreates the away mission and notices a shadow that doesn’t belong to any of the officers. A shadow in the shape of a man. This alone is just creepy as hell, and always gave me the chills as Geordi discovers that he and his team were not alone on that dark planet just as he himself begins to change.

#6. “Masks” – Season 7, Episode 169

I had a tough time placing this episode on the list. This episode always gives me the willies, most of which I think has to do with Brent Spiner’s performance. Spiner could play freaky and evil like nobody else. I don’t know if it was just the combination of the pale skin and yellow eyes, but when Data was not acting like himself, when he was merely a puppet to whatever force was controlling, damn was he terrifying.

This episode saw an ancient culture forcing itself from out of extinction, turning the Enterprise literally into a jungle. An almost Mayan-like alien culture begins to emerge ruled by a vicious sun goddess, and as Data says, “Masaka is waking.” It seems that an entire civilization has been downloaded into Data’s positronic mind, giving him a sort of multiple personality disorder

Data’s possession by this civilization and its supposedly all powerful, malevolent Goddess is what gives this episode it’s creepiness and what cements its spot as number six on my list. Spiner’s performance, as a being from another time, a being with immense power it could unleash at any moment is what really gives this episode an edge.

#5. “Phantasms” – Season 7, Episode 158

Another creepy Data episode, this one has to do with one of my personal favorite fears – nightmares. Months earlier Data discovered that a “dream program” within his positronic brain has been activated. Data doesn’t need to sleep, but in an effort to explore what it means to be human he has begun this new venture. Nine months into his “experiment” Data begins having disturbing nightmares that include being ripped apart, Dr. Crusher drinking from a straw coming out of Riker’s temple, and Worf eating a living Deanna Troi cake. Data begins acting erratic and eventually violent to the point of stabbing Deanna (a rather violent sequence reportedly edited out of the British airing). No one can understand his behavior until they decide to hook his “subconscious” up to the holodeck and have a peak themselves as to what’s going on when Data dreams.

The end solution to the puzzle returns us to the world of Star Trek, the creepiness gone, but this episode is still fantastic for the disturbing imagery and nagging feeling that it all means something, even if that something is terrifying.

#4. “Conspiracy” – Season 1, Episode 25

One of the only episodes broadcasted with a warning for content. “Conspiracy” is easily one of the best episode of the first season and a creepy, Star Trek, take on a classic sci-fi theme. Alien possession, mind control, paranoia, this one had it all. Fairly unlike any episodes of the series at the time, this early gem really hit a bulls-eye in its creepiness. The story goes, simply put, that the bizarre behavior of high-ranking officers lead Picard to uncover a sinister alien conspiracy within Starfleet. One of my favorite sci-fi thrillers of all time is Carpenter’s “The Thing” and this episode plays heavily on the idea of not being able to trust that anyone is who they say they are.

Starting with a secret meeting from some of Starfleet’s finest warning Picard of a hidden danger lurking within Starfleet, this one is a nice slow build to the real horror that comes in maybe the last twenty minutes of the episode. The good stuff really begins with Admiral Quinn’s sudden Bob Barker-like beatdown on Riker, culminating in the discovery of a wriggling tail protruding from the Admiral’s neck. From this, Crusher discovers a parasite inside the old man, latched onto his brain. Picard, meeting with a few other Admirals and Lt.Cmdr. Remmick back on earth, treads lightly until it’s time for dinner where they unveil the main course, a bowl full of mealworms. Probably the best part of the episode, for me, is an uncharacteristically gory look at the Mother Parasite living within Remmick, his body burning open, revealing the grotesque creature inside. I don’t think there’s been a more graphic scene in TNG then the headless, hollowed out chest cavity of Remmick sitting in that chair. Also a favorite of mine for probably the most ominous, creepy ending in the entire series: a shot of vast, empty space, the alien parasite’s homing beacon broadcasting into the blackness from earth. They know where we are.

#3. “Schisms” – Season 6, Episode 131

How can you do a sci-fi show without playing with the idea of alien abductions? One of my favorite areas of interest as a kid was aliens and specifically alien abductions. Of course I was into all areas of the paranormal, but alien abductions were my favorite. I found them simultaneously horrific and wonderful, as with varying reports they could be either. But the idea of being experimented on, being watched by cold, black eyes was a horror I could never imagine, and frankly never wanted. Sure I’ve always wanted to see a ghost, but no matter how much I love aliens, I never want to be abducted from my bed in the middle of the night. The helplessness, the violation of an alien abduction is what I find the most chilling. That’s why “Schisms” will always stand out to me as a real piece of horror in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Crew members on the Enterprise are having terrible nights sleep. They are unrested and are even freaking out at the littlest things. As if they are having flashbacks to some kind of trauma. Finally some of the crew get together and try to sort out these episodes on the holodeck where they are able to reconstruct a kind of surgery table complete with disturbing implements of torture. They discover that they have been the subjects of alien abduction. The blunt horror of this fact alone and the slow revelation of this is what will always chill me to the bone.

#2. “Genesis” – Season 7, Episode 171

One of the very first episodes I ever saw, this one always stuck with me and thoroughly freaked the hell out of me so much that it was a while before I ever went back to it. The story is that Captain Picard and Data return to the Enterprise to find the rest of the crew have de-evolved into primitive forms of life, depending on what they’re DNA may be holding.

That description really doesn’t do this episode the slightest bit of justice. Everyone’s de-evolution is so strange and disturbing, but the winner here really is Worf who sprays VENOM into Dr. Crusher’s eyes at one point and bites Troi’s face, marking her for mating! The venom thing gets me every time, check it out at the 8 minute mark. The screams of excruciating pain never cease to make me cringe and just feel so bad for Crusher. When I was a kid and first saw that, I thought Worf had killed her. It just sounded so horrific, and it still does. Not to linger on this scene but, even Nurse Ogawa says that she’ll need RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY, he freakin melted her FACE OFF! Anywho, when Picard and Data return to the ship it’s drifting, just twirling in space, dark and ominous. Dwight Schultz, who plays the always awesome Barclay, has one of the best and most disturbing transformations, next to Worf’s Klingon beast of course. But Barclay’s particularly freaked me out as a kid. I really don’t want to spoil any more of this episode, but the fear and anxiety is really packed on in such a brilliant way, I had a very hard time not putting “Genesis” as number one.

#1. “Night Terrors” – Season 4, Episode 91

This is it! My number one creepiest episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and perhaps to you TNG fans out there, you’re not the least surprised. Maybe it’s a little predictable, but I can not think of an episode creepier, or just plain scary as “Night Terrors.” When I first watched this episode as a kid it scared the bejeezus out of me, and to this day if I watch this one by myself, door closed, house empty, all alone, it still scares the crap out of me.

The Enterprise gets stuck by a binary star attempting to find the USS Brittain, a science vessel that’s gone missing. They finally find it only to discover the entire crew is dead except for the ship’s Betazoid (a telepath) counselor who’s catatonic. After a few days of investigation, Crusher discovering the crew all died by each other’s hands, and Data and Geordi discovering the ship itself is in perfect condition decide to move along and report to Starfleet. Unfortunately there’s one little problem – they can’t move. No matter how hard they try the ship will not budge and inch, just like the Brittain.

Soon they discover that the crew is having a hard time sleeping, gradually to the point where something is apparently interrupting their REM cycle of sleep. Without REM sleep the brain can’t function and the entire crew begins to have horrific and terrifying hallucinations. Some even begin acting violent and suicidal. Picard hallucinates that the turbolift is collapsing on him, Riker sees snakes in his bed, and Dr. Crusher sees the dead bodies in the morgue sitting straight up, still covered by their white sheets in what I find to be the most terrifying scene in this episode. Without REM sleep, the entire crew will all eventually go completely insane. Besides Crusher’s hallucination, this episode also has one of my favorite ideas in horror, given to Counselor Troi. The idea of looking into the mirror and your reflection not being your own, it’s you but at the same time there’s a stranger staring back at you, this is something that gives me chills even as I type the words.

The descent into madness, the nightmarish visions, and Troi’s own dreams of “eyes in the dark” culminate in making this the most creepy, eerie, and straight up scariest episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I hope everyone gets a chance to check this episode out because it will always stand out for me as a brilliant episode where Star Trek wasn’t just about the wonders and courageousness of space exploration, but also the horrors that sneak up on you when you least suspect it.

I say “tragic” because we all know how little money a geek in their mid-twenties possesses and how many books, and DVDs, and trade paperbacks exist in the world. What is worse is that this penniless predicament hits the teenage geek even harder having to wait for birthdays, Christmases, Hanukah’s and the like for their next hit of the greatest drug any geek can ever get: Pop-Cultre Goodness. But even when you find some Goodness you know it will only open the floodgates. You find more, different Goodness. You find Goodness you never knew existed, brilliant, unique, bright spots of Goodness that you can’t believe existed in this reality and you never even knew. You just sat there for years and years never knowing it existed and then suddenly it hits you, a knockout punch that sends you spiraling into frenzy of obsession. Finding the DVDs, seeing every episode, reading every issue, playing every sequel, waiting patiently for packages to arrive. It never ends. And all the geek can do is hope that there will be some way to take your collections with you at the End.

I have fallen into this spiral many times before. “Cable & Deadpool,” “Preacher,” “Sandman,” “Veronica Mars,” “Red vs. Blue,” “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” These are just a few of the titles I have become obsessed with. Never enough to just get one trade or one DVD box set. No. I must have them all. All or nothing. Some might say this is insane, ridiculous, maybe even a psychotic compulsion of some sort. Perhaps, but then, those who would say that are not of our ilk, they don’t understand this relentless pursuit of knowledge. This relentless pursuit of entertainment information is what drives so many geeks. If there is one common thread between every single geek in the world it is the desire, the obsessive need to know. To know, to see, and to be a part of, if this wasn’t true the San Diego Comic-Con would not exist and neither would any of it’s counterparts. Say what you will about geeks, but we don’t do anything half-assed. I have fallen down the rabbit hole of geek love many times before, but only now do I see before me the greatest undertaking I have attempted. A pop-culture well nearly fifty years deep expanding into every format a geek may love. I can only be speaking of the iconic, the seminal, the required DOCTOR WHO.

The original, British sci-fi series ran from 1963 until it’s cancellation in 1989, reintroduced with a 1996 TV movie, and picked up once again as a full series in 2005 by the BBC. The original series ran for 26 seasons, over 140 complete serials, consisting of (normally) 4 half an hour episodes. Currently ten men have portrayed the title character, with an eleventh on the way for 2010. Doctor Who represents a history of imaginative, intelligent storytelling over four decades long, full of exploration, excitement, wonder, and adventure. From the earliest days of low-budget television to the present hour long episodes of crafted drama, comedy, thrills, and pure emotion.

If you’re a geek and you don’t know Doctor Who you seriously need to reexamine your priorities in life. I bring this up today because I have recently realized how much I miss the Doctor. The fourth season ended in 2008 and now I must wait until sometime in 2010 to reunite with the Doctor and the TARDIS and his lovely adventures. It does little good that BBC America finally aired two (out of three) “holiday specials” so now I can see a police box-sized hole in my life left by Doctor Who. Then, suddenly, it dawned on me – there are years upon years of adventures for me to delve into. Here I am waiting to meet a new incarnation of the Doctor when I shamefully could only give you the names of four of the actors to portray the wonderful Time Lord. Why wait another year for new episodes when I have 26 years to catch up on? Alons-y!

Thank Krom for the internet. Without this little piece of technological wizardry Doctor Who would be inaccessible. How would I ever watch any episodes, how would I ever be able to research the history of the Doctor, get the number of companions right, or ever even see a single episode passed 2005. It would be impossible. But thanks to my Netflix account I have nearly the entire library of the Doctor Who serials at my disposal. What I am getting at today is just the utter reverence, delight, and love for this multigenerational trove of Pop-Culture Goodness. Not only does this series have a history of intelligence and imagination, but it does so with such energy I have seen in too few number of television shows.

The Doctor himself is a geek’s fantasy come true. More so than Indiana Jones, Captain Kirk, Batman, or even Han Solo. Yes certainly these characters all inhabit the qualities any awkward male might fantasize about, the bravado, the quintessential bad ass-ness that so many geeks wish they could have, but the Doctor on the other hand is a man after their own hearts. Brilliant beyond words the Doctor is a pacifist, he doesn’t use weapons and would only harm another living creature in the most dire of circumstances seeing violence as only the most final of options. His only “sidearm” his trusty sonic screwdriver, a device that most usefully opens things that are locked, and not all of his incarnations have even carried one. There have been a few who prefer to go “hands free” as the Doctor himself once put it. The Doctor’s only role and only major purpose is that he explores time and space looking for adventure, for which he always happens upon. He’s kind, thoughtful, caring, and always has the tools for the job. The Doctor is not a fighter, he doesn’t use his fists or his guns, he uses his brain which is by far his most dangerous weapon. He has never, once been portrayed as muscular or in the most impressive physical condition, that is to say he’s never been ripped with muscles or blessed with a toned set of abs. But if it was John McClane versus the Doctor, my money would be on the Doctor every time.

Traveling through space with a beautiful companion on your arm, always being the most mind-boggleingly clever one in the room no matter what planet you’re on, living for over 900 years, and having the one piece of tech you’ll ever need. If this isn’t the ultimate geek fantasy, I don’t know what is. But, most importantly I love this series for the ideals it represents, while Batman is punishing the wicked and Captain Kirk is punching a Gorn in the face, the Doctor is trying to figure out a way to convince his mortal nemesis that they can still be friends. Even though “the Master” has nearly destroyed everything the he has ever loved, the Doctor still tries to convince him that he can stop, make it all right, and together they can travel the cosmos together. The Master dies and the Doctor’s heart is broken. This is the essence, this is the soul of this series, the Doctor is full of forgiveness and compassion for every living being in this existence even the ones trying to destroy him. I have never watched a television series that emphasized the importance and virtue of compassion and intelligence as Doctor Who has for nearly 50 years. It is the ultimate geek fantasy, the ultimate geek adventure, with the most heroic geek in the history of pop-culture in this or any country.

Everyone remembers their first Doctor, for me it will always be David Tennant, the tenth Doctor, he will always be my Doctor. Just as the eleventh, played by Matt Smith, will surely be someone else’s, and so on and so on. Doctor Who stands to me in the holy trinity of sci-fi geekdom, with Star Trek and Star Wars, as a legacy, a creation that will stand the test of time long after our generation has passed. A timeless series with a timeless hero, whose ideals will endure, Doctor Who represents the best of humanity that lies inside us all.