Star Trek

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Today we embark on the final season of Discovery. I’m going make a simple request: whether you love it, hate it, or are ambivalent about it, it would make me so happy if everyone could just be cool. Online discussions about Discovery tend to devolve into circlejerks or two minute hates, and some see the latter in particular as justification to moderate the places where these discussions happen with a heavy hand.

I’m not interested in that kind of community. Online discussions are healthier when everyone is respectful and moderators only need to employ a light touch. So in the words of an ace pilot from another great sci-fi show: I am a friendly, okay? We're all friendlies. So, let's just... be friendly.

Further speculation and erstwhile hope: might a time displaced Trip possibly appear?

edit: so, upon getting home, there is now an update to at least part of the film's content taking place during the "Lost Era"

From Memory Alpha: The "Lost Era" concept was developed by Pocket editor Marco Palmieri, who defined it as the period of history between the apparent death of James T. Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B in 2293 and the launch of the Enterprise-D in 2363 .

So now if nothing else, we have the inclusion of a younger Captain Rachel Garrett of "Yesterday's Enterprise" fame.

While going down the rabbit hole on IMDB, I decided to look at Mark Allen Shepherd, the actor for Morn's credits. 4. Just 4 and 3 of them are uncredited as Morn across the golden age Trek shows. Technically, there's a fifth as the bar patron who sits in Morn's chair in "Who Mourns for Morn?," but that's just the same actor without makeup. The last is some film called "Babylon Vista" which, based on the cover, looks like a low budget soft-core porn disguised as an indie comedy. No trailer, no pictures, no reviews (despite the 8.0/10 rating), and no box-office. Best guess is that it was slapped together and shelved for the sake of recouping losses like WB has been prone to do of late. Altogether weird shit.

In TOS, the Enterprise encounters Trelaine, the self-titled Squire of Gothos. A seemingly omnipotent being that toys with the crew for his own amusement.

In TNG, the enterprise encounters Q, a seemingly omnipotent being that toys with the crew for his own amusement.

Trelaine was a child of his species and Q was an adult, but they had a similar "humans are toys" attitude. Q's came with an added cynicism that you might expect from an adult of Trelaine's species.

It has been pointed out that Trelaine seemed to rely on technology, which allowed Kirk to defeat him. But Q also always gave his playthings a chance one way or another and, again, Trelaine was a child.

So was Trelaine a Q? Was he from a different god-like species?

And here's a real curveball for you- Was Trelaine a child Organian?

He also ended up living in a trailer in a field after Star Trek was cancelled.

He can be arrogant and a jerk, but he's nothing if not charming.

I'd also like the number of his plastic surgeon.

Re-enactment starts around 9 minutes... definitely a better line reading than what was in Generations.

With the benefit of 11 years of hindsight, lets talk about Star Trek Into Darkness. Cards on the table: I don't like this movie at all. It's probably my least favorite Star Trek story across the entire canon.

While this movie was being promoted, no one would confirm that Cumberbatch was Khan despite rampant speculation. He's not even introduced as Khan, for the first half of the movie he's "John Harrison," and the Khan reveal is played as a big dramatic moment.

JJ Abrams' entire shtick is that he crafts "mystery boxes." So... is that it? Is Star Trek Into Darkness just a mystery box where the identity of the villain is the mystery, and Abrams & co. just worked backwards from there?

Lets be generous and say that's not it: Into Darkness had something to say. We have a conspiracy, a rogue admiral, an automated super-warship, the death of a mentor... it seems like we can pull something out of here, right?

... right?

David Carson was not the most accomplished feature film director. He only directed one minor film before Generations, so maybe he wasn't the best choice... but he did direct four episodes of TNG- including Yesterday's Enterprise- and four episodes of DS9 before filming Generations, so I think he had a pretty good understanding of what makes a Star Trek movie.

Maybe Bill is just not the actor he thinks he is.

“Everybody thinks if you're an actor, and certainly if you're an actor and on a television series, you must be doing very well,” Koenig said. “Well, I was barely making more than minimum the first season. The second season I was on the show … I had a contract. I was paid a week's wage whether I worked a day or a week. So I made a little bit more. Whereas I made $10,000 for the whole year in 1967, I made $11,000 in 1968. Well, that'll only go so far.”

I can imagine a show without a doctor. But in all the shows the doctor plays a big role.

I'm trying to think this back and McKoy was such a brilliant character I can see that starting the entire trend. I'm unsure if there was a trend in TV before that for a medical doctor. Anyone know?

There are countless amazing ones but just curious if there are any that are burrowed in deep and won't leave. For me there are two.

"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether scientific truth, historical truth or personal truth. It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based so if you can't find it within yourself to stand up for the truth then you don't deserve to wear that uniform." -Picard

"‘Why me?’ It’s the question you ask yourself every morning and every evening. No one else gets a second chance so why me? That led you to the idea that there was a reason for your survival, a purpose you’re meant to fulfill, right here, right now. And that led you to a savior complex because if there is no reason, if there is no purpose, then your very existence is a middle finger to anyone who has ever lost someone. Which is everyone. How’s that for brutal honesty?" -Kovich

O'Brien is a "chief," Jonas and Cutler hold the rank of "Crewman," and I think those are the only enlisted personnel who have lines and appear in more than one episode. Starfleet seems ridiculously officer heavy.

Is the enlisted/officer distinction different in Starfleet from traditional armed forces? And where are all the warrant officers?

Sorry for the super sporadic posting. Still in the process of moving and everything. I am giving updates on my Mastodon and [email protected] if anyone is interested but there's really no reason to be.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday. Live long and prosper, you glorious bastards.

I don't think there is a relation to these two, but they do have some similar characteristics (wanting to create better/perfected beings, though in very different ways), on top of their similar names.

Any deep lore/canon that link this two?

I had this on LP and listened to it multiple times as a kid.

Bonus: The Star Trek Bloopers LP I also had-

Side 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZy2NLiKZiw

Side 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqkxYlEjK0k

Good video, fun channel. But it unearthed a memory in me: does anyone else remember a website, probably from a while back, that let you superimpose various sci-fi ships over Google Maps? I swear this was a thing, and it was great for getting a sense of scale of these ships.

What other visual aids for ship scale have you come across?

Terry Matalas was hired as an executive producer to work on the final two seasons of Picard, which included being brought in early in the development of season 2, which was transitioning showrunners from Michael Chabon to Akiva Goldsman. Together, those three three executive producers, along with writer and co-creator Kirsten Beyer, worked out the initial outlines for season 2. In his Master Replicas Collectors Club Zoom chat in February, Terry Matalas said the show was immediately under pressure to bring costs down after an expensive first season. Matalas suggested they could take a page out of Star Trek IV and incorporate time travel to bring the characters to modern day, which would save a lot of money for the production. His other thought was to bring back Q (John de Lancie) as he was so linked to the character of Jean-Luc Picard. Matalas says both of those ideas were immediately adopted: “This was all day one.”

Filed under "Shut Up and Take My Money!"

It's one of the most bizarre episodes of the original Star Trek, filmed in a way that you could cut out all the Star Trek scenes and be left with a short pilot episode of this "Gary Seven" spinoff. Did it belong in the Star Trek universe? Would it have even worked?

When I watched it again recently, it almost felt like a Doctor Who rip-off (with the time-traveling genius, sonic screwdriver, and young female sidekick), but after looking into it some, apparently there isn't any evidence that it was influenced by Doctor Who (which wasn't all that big at the time, and was only shown in the UK).

All that aside, it's a fun episode, and I think Gary Seven made for an interesting character to watch. I can't help but wonder if we missed out on another classic series.

Really too bad. I was hopeful, but it sounds like it's not happening.

I'll start things off with this effects shot from Star Trek IV.

And for the newest show...

That is from Season 2, but it doesn't say which episode and I am bad at this stuff.