Star Trek

[andersonh1]

I think they misjudged the tone the show needed as well. I'd like to have seen a grim, serious commanding officer, as Pike was written in The Cage. A cramped ship, space exploration that's dangerous and takes a toll on the crew, and bizarre aliens and other threats. And they had characters that we barely got a chance to know: Dr. Phil Boyce, Lt. Jose Tyler, Yeoman Colt (and what happened to the captain signing orders, as Kirk always had to do?), Communications officer Garrison, and of course Spock and Number One, who did make it to SNW. There's untapped potential with those characters and a duplication of the ship and conditions depicted in that first episode, potential that will continue to be untapped, sadly.

[Sparky Prime]

Yeah, the tone is certainly a problem with Strange New Worlds as well. I still can't believe they did a musical episode in season 2. Not that Star Trek has to be grim or serious all the time, but it's just so jarring to see something as over the top as a musical, compared to the tone Star Trek series generally have, or even compared to other SNW episodes. But even though that episode is somewhat of an exception, the show in general does seem to lean more towards comedy. It takes me out of the story.

[andersonh1]

Almost done with my rewatch of Star Trek, and one thing that I had never paid attention to before as an indication of the reduced budget in season three is the lack of crew filling the corridors. The ship generally looked busy in seasons one and two, and there were always crew members walking the corridors. Landing parties tended to have people other than Kirk and Spock regularly. In the later episodes, it's almost always Kirk, Spock and McCoy, with the occasional extra crew member if the plot calls for it. I guess they could no longer afford to hire extras for that type of scene. It's a pity, I enjoyed seeing the ship packed out with personnel.

Scotty also gets a lot more to do in the third season. I'd say he's almost elevated to main character status with the big three, while Sulu, Uhura and Chekov remain second tier characters in terms of how much they get to do (though Chekov occasionally gets more time in episodes than the other two). Makes me wish the show had been more of an ensemble show, because every actor is so good that they all deserved more screen time. Think of "Mirror, Mirror" which is probably the best ensemble episode of the series, and then imagine far more episodes that used the secondary characters just as well. I'd love to have seen it.

[Sparky Prime]

It has been announced Strange New Worlds will be getting a 5th season... However, it will also be its last, and be 6 episodes rather than 10 that the other seasons have gotten. Season 3 is set to premier next month July 17th.

[Sparky Prime]

Strange New Worlds finally returned this week with 2 new episodes. I've only watched the premier so far, finally wrapping up the cliffhanger from the end of season 2, 2 years ago.

Hegemony part 2

Unwilling to leave the colonists and remaining away team behind, the crew come up with a plan to ram the Enterprise into the Gorn ship in order for their shield frequencies to cancel each other out an allow the Enterprise to tag the Gorn with a wolkite beacon. The Enterprise then retreats back to Federation space. So... already off to a bad start for me. The idea that just ramming their shields together would cause the frequencies to cancel each other out? Those wouldn't be very good shields if it was that easy to get past them. At any rate... Pike argues with April that if they don't make a stand against the Gorn they'll just keep pushing the hegemony line deeper into Federation space. Officially, April can't authorize it, but unofficially he allows Pike to take the Enterprise to rescue the people captured by the Gorn.

Using Scotty's device that disguises the ship from Gorn sensors, the Enterprise is able to track the Gorn ship to a binary star system, where the radiation belt apparently creates sort of a natural cloaking field. This scene was confusing, because visual don't match the dialog. The Gorn ship doesn't disappear like a cloak, it clearly jumps to warp going between the two stars. Anyway, Pike speculates this is where the Gorn homeworld is located (not sure how scientifically, that'd put the planet in very close proximity to the two stars) when suddenly a huge wave of Gorn ships emerge and are headed for Federation space. Unable to warn Starfleet and save the colonists at the same time, the crew instead come up with a plan to use the Enterprise's shields to generate a solar flare (Scotty initially says it's impossible to get a star to do anything, even though we've seen plenty of methods to trigger a flare, albeit that was in TNG and DS9, but still...) that signal the Gorn to enter a long hibernation. With the Gorn threat pacified for now, they're able to beam aboard the surviving colonists and away team. Pike worries they've just made the Gorn someone else's problem down the road, an obvious reference to when Kirk will encounter the Gorn in TOS.

I hate this type of prequel writing. So with the Gorn now hibernating, I guess the writers are suggesting everyone will just conveniently forget they existed, so that in a few years time they can encounter them seemingly for the first time in TOS. This is just terrible writing. It sweeps the Gorn under the rug as villains for this series in an unsatisfying way, and fails to address the continuity. How has no one heard of the Gorn when half the Enterprise crew have been traumatized by them in this series?

There's also a b plot with Nurse Chapel trying to save Captain Batel from the Gorn eggs in her body. Turns out Batel is allergic to the medication for cryo-sleep, so they're forced to remove the eggs. Guess the writers forgot M'Benga kept his daughter in transporter suspension in this very sickbay for the majority of the first season. Because of the simulated treatments fail, they end up having to use Una Chin Riley genetics to give Batel's body a chance for survival... So, like Into Darkness, magical genetically enhanced super blood saves the day.

And finally there's a c plot about the away team escaping from the Gorn ship. Honestly, this didn't add anything to the episode for me. Ortegas basically dies the moment they're transported back to Enterprise, but I'm sure she'll be fine by the next episode, despite missing half her hand and got run through by a Gorn and bled out while piloting a Gorn attack ship. Actually, no, that scene really annoyed me. She claims she has to be the one to pilot the ship because she flies the ship. The writers literally have nothing else to define this character. It comes off more as a parody of Star Trek at this point. It reminds me of Galaxy Quest, where Gwen DeMarco repeats the computer because that's all that her character did.

So yeah... To me, the writing made this the worst episode of Strange New Worlds thus far.

[Sparky Prime]

SNW - Wedding Bell Blues

Little bit of a time skip with the Enterprise having spent 3 months under repair at Starbase 1. Seems to be becoming a reoccurring event in this series, every season has had the Enterprise getting significant repairs. Spock is looking forward to seeing Nurse Chapel, but she turns up with her new boyfriend, Dr. Korby. Dejected, a mysterious bartender (in a reflection and to the crew he appears Vulcan, but the audience sees his true appearance) offer Spock a special drink, and when he wakes up the next day, Spock finds it's his wedding day with Chapel. During rehearsal, Dr. Korby keeps sabotaging things, although their wedding planner (the bartender, now appearing to everyone as an Andorian) is able to subtly use his powers to correct any problems. Spock later finds Korby in his quarters, where he admits to trying to sabotage the wedding, explaining he's the only one that remembers this isn't what their reality is supposed to be. Eventually Spock gets angry and punches Korby, which restores his memories.

Together, Spock and Korby try to restore others memories, but their attempts fail. Eventually they track down the bartender/wedding planner who explains he will kill everyone if they don't play along. At the ceremony, Korby attempts to object but is turned into a dog. Spock gives an impassioned speech which snaps Chapel out of it. Frustrated his farce has failed, the bartender/wedding planner/officiant goes on a rant about ending everyone's existence... when his father (an energy being voiced by John de Lancie) shows up to reprimand his child's behavior and bring him home. Everyone snaps out of the illusion and after an awkward speech from Captain Pike, the group switches to celebrating Federation Day. Ortegas leaves early, and we see she is suffering from PTSD after her recent experience with the Gorn.

--
Despite the episode never actually naming him, the bartender/wedding planner/officiant is obviously meant to be Trelane... Which is more terrible prequel writing if you ask me. I hate when writers think that simply by not naming a character/species, it negates any potential conflict with continuity. This episode needed to be clearer about Trelane. They never address why Trelane decides to alter reality to give Spock his desire. It's implied none of the characters ever see his "true" human form that we the audience see, but I'm not clear if that remains true for all of his scenes or not. Having John de Lancie voice his dad in this episode implies the long standing fan theory that Trelane is actually a Q. At least, that's what Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman said in an interview. Having de Lancie call him son implies he might be Q jr that was introduced in Voyager, but the aforementioned interview says that's not their intention. Rather, Goldsman suggest Trelane and Q may be one in the same, which I am not a fan of. Don't get me wrong, I do like the idea Trelane is a Q, but I think he should be just another Q. Like maybe the first Q born after jr, explaining why the Continuum is so keen on watching over him after what happened with jr in Voyager.

Ortegas seems to have regrown her missing fingers. Would have been nice if they'd addressed that. And now we have two characters suffering from PTSD after their encounters with the Gorn. I'm happy to see them finally give Ortegas some characterization besides 'I fly the ship', but giving the character the same exact PTSD as another character seems a bit lazy.

[Sparky Prime]

The first images of the upcoming Starfleet Academy series have been revealed via Entertainment Weekly. This series is set in the 32nd century, following the events of Star Trek Discovery.

Edit: And the first teaser trailer is online.

To be honest, not sure how I feel about this series. I think Starfleet Academy is interesting as a concept for a series, but I think setting it in the 32nd century is a bit of a mistake, being so far removed from most of what we know about the Star Trek universe, and the creators of nuTrek (save for the animated series) have constantly struggled with world building, even in already established settings.

Is.. is that a photo of a Jem'Hadar female? Odd enough to see a Jem'Hadar in a Starfleet uniform but... The Jem'Hadar were genetically engineered by the Founders, they don't have females. I suppose it's possible the Founders gave them independence in the subsequent 800 years and created female Jem'Hadar to allow them to procreate on their own. I hope that's something the explain in the series at any rate. Edit: So it has been confirmed that she is a Jem'Hadar/Klingon hybrid. No idea how that'll work...

Odd that they don't show Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman's character). She left Discovery to be an instructor at the re-established Academy. I thought she was supposed to be a main character for this show, but she's apparently listed as a guest star.

Looks like Starfleet Academy is once again based on Earth in San Francisco. Seems they park a starship above the Academy grounds. The bridge I have to say is disappointing. It looks like a redress of the Discovery or SNW sets, but is minimal with new stations/displays. It doesn't look like what I'd expect a 32nd century ship to be.

Apparently Sisko hasn't returned after 800 years. One of the displays shown asks if he died in the fire caves of Bajor or if he actually went to live in the celestial temple. There's also a huge wall that displays the names of many famous... er... I would say Starfleet Academy graduates, but then, Garak is listed as an Ambassador, and we know he never went to the Academy, and some of Voyager's crew that never actually graduated the Academy are listed as well. Some neat Easter Eggs... Harry Kim apparently became an Admiral. Nog is unfortunately listed as a lieutenant, when he should be at least a Captain. Also... I know this is just supposed to be a fun, oh look at all these famous Starfleet people type thing but... It's odd to see so many names of characters from the various series when, in this series, they've been gone for 1000, 900, 800 years...

Edit: Strange New Worlds has a teaser for season four. It looks like they're going to do an episode where the cast is portrayed... by muppets. I don't know why they seem to think these types of gimmick episodes are a good idea. This isn't the sort of show Star Trek is.

[Sparky Prime]

SNW - Shuttle to Kenfori

Spoiler

Captain Batel is about to get her new commission when the Gorn tissue in her body makes a resurgence. Spock and M'Benga suggest using the rare Chimera blossom as a treatment. But the flower is only found on Kenfori, which had a research facility abandoned during the Klingon war and is off limits due to the peace treaty, so the Enterprise must go on an unauthorized mission to retrieve it. Pike and M'Benga go down to the planet, when a Klingon battle cruiser arrives and sends down a party of their own. They're attacked by zombies... a result of a lab experiment gone wrong using the Chimera flower, making Pike realize the treatment will make Batel a hybrid with the Gorn DNA. Complicating things, the Klingons are after M'Benga specifically (apparently they slipped him something they're able to track across lightyears). Bytha was the daughter of Dak'Rah that M'Benga killed last season, and she needs to kill him in order to restore her family honor. They fight, M'Benga spares her life, and she sacrifices herself to the zombies, and Enterprise beams them up while dodging the battle cruiser. Una relieves Ortegas of active duty for two weeks for insubordination, while Pike lets M'Benga off the hook for admitting to Dak'Rah he hadn't killed Bytha in self defense.

This Chimera flower sounds a little like the orchid Voyager discovered in the delta quadrant, which resulted in Tuvix. Apparently the Federation was trying to use it to make hybrid plants to eliminate food supply problems, but accidently made zombies when the Klingons attacked the facility. I don't think this episode needed zombies and Klingons. I've seen a lot of people online reacting like zombies is a big deal in Star Trek but this isn't the first time Star Trek has had zombies of some sort. The way that they introduce Dak'Rah to force M'Benga to admit what really happened last season felt tacked on. And the way they swept it under the rug again makes me question why they felt they needed to tack it onto this episode. It doesn't add anything. So I guess we're going to see some sort of Gorn/Human hybrid at some point? I hope they don't use that to explain the in-discrepancies with the Gorn,

SNW - A Space Adventure Hour

Spoiler

La'an has been selected to test out the new "recreation room" (or holodeck for short) while the Enterprise studies a neutron star that's on the verge of exploding. La'an decides on running a detective series (similar to Picard's Dickson Hill) called Amelia Moon set in the 1960s, and asks for a plot capable of defeating her (ala Moriarty). Scotty uses the transporter logs to base the characters physical appearances on (sorta like "Dr. Bashir, I Presume"). The story it gives her turns out to be the murder of a studio executive who was about to cancel a show called... The Last Frontier. There is no subtly here, it's a (bad) parody of Star Trek. The suspects are the shows creator, 3 of the actors, and the dead guy's wife. When the wife is also murdered, La'an realizes the holodeck is adapting and brings in Spock to help her. The Enterprise is threatened when the neutron star sends out a huge burst of radiation, and the holodeck is sapping up too much of the ships power and computer processing. Scotty is able to transfer enough power to get the ship out of danger (despite the ship is clearly hit by some of the radiation rays), but he can't reach La'an and he can't shut down the holodeck. With a clever suggestion from Uhura, Scotty is able to get a message to La'an that she needs to end the simulation as quickly as possible. La'an realizes Spock isn't the real Spock (he's the murderer! even though he's not part of the holodeck story going on) and is able to end the program. La'an and Scotty recommend that the holodeck not yet be put into use on starships yet, with Pike quipping they bury the technology in a box for 100 years. Scotty says all it needs is an independent power source and dedicated server room, and Una talks to Scotty that it's ok for him to ask for help. La'an dances with Spock, explaining she figured out the fake Spock because he was too emotionless, and they kiss...

So... I had a lot of problems with this episode. The writers clearly wanted to have a fun holodeck episode but unfortunately it felt like they didn't want to put in any work to make it make sense with the Star Trek continuity. I don't mind the idea of early holodeck technology being a thing pre-TOS, but it needed to be notably less advanced compared to the 24th century holodecks, give it somewhere to develop to in 100 years, instead they almost went out of their way to say it's exactly the same technology. The idea that it only needs its own power source and server is wrong. In TNG, the computer shut down the holodeck to save on ship's power ("Booby Trap"). It wasn't until Voyager they established the holodecks had its own independent power supply. Also, it's really dumb that they decided to test out this technology that is known to be power hog while studying a neutron star they know is unstable. They do point out they want to test the holodeck during an actual mission to see how viable it is, but they should have found a mission where it wouldn't have put the crew in danger, especially when this is something they were anticipating could happen. As for the holodeck scenario... I think the writers were going for a lighthearted parody of Star Trek, but the way it comes off is meanspirited to me. The over the top Shatner acting. How they portray the series creator. The overall writing of The Last Frontier... It's the sort of thing I'd expect from an SNL skit making fun of Star Trek, not a good natured parody. And where is the real Spock for the majority of this episode? If he's not in the holodeck with La'an, why wasn't he on the bridge? It bothers me that holodeck Spock is the way Spock should be, more logical and in control of his emotions. To be honest, I think that's been Ethan Peck's best portrayal of Spock so far. Not that it's his fault, that's not usually how these writers write the character. Oh, and the La'an/Spock relationship? It makes a little more sense to me than Nurse Chapel, but I don't see why they seem to think Spock needs to be in a romantic relationship with another member of the crew.

It feels like they've given up even trying to write a good script.

[Sparky Prime]

SNW - Through the Lens of Time

Spoiler

The Enterprise is assisting in an archeological dig on an alien world and uncover a large structure. The away team finds two dead aliens inside, but because they've apparently been dead for centuries, the team decides to continue, despite Spock's objections. Looking into their possessions, Nurse Gamble finds an orb which begins to glow, explodes and... burns out his eyes. He's beamed back to the ship, but the away team continues to press on, only to get trapped when a member of the local M'Kroon freaks out and is vaporized trying to leave, which also causes the door to close and lock. Forced to continue exploring now, the team pass through another doorway but find themselves in the same chamber, but separated into different quantum realities. On the ship, M'Benga is perplexed something is preventing Gamble's eyes from regenerating... With further scans, M'Benga finds no activity in Gamble's brain either, despite Gamble being fully conscious. Captain Batel comes to sickbay and exchange some alien words with Gamble before the two start to fight. He runs off when security shows up, and they place him in the brig as something is clearly taking over his body. Meanwhile, the away team replace a piece of a console the alien grave robbers removed, as well as a piece Dr. Korby somehow happened to find on another planet, which brings them back together to the same plane. Then they have to take a leap of faith for a bridge to appear to the exit. Gamble, or rather, the creature possessing his body, is able to walk right through the brig force field and kills the guard. M'Benga finds him in the engineering lab threating some crew members for their command codes so he can take over the ship. M'Benga hesitates, hoping to reach Gamble, but Pelia shoots and kills him. As the entity begins to leave the body, Scotty scoops it up in an orb like they discovered on the planet and dematerializes it, leaving it in the transporter buffer. In the mission debrief, the crew decides this facility must of been some sort of prison for these noncorporeal beings, and that the transporter buffer is a good enough prison for the entity for now. Although, we see a monitor indicate that it may not be...

I thought this was the best episode of this season so far. Unfortunately, that's a pretty low bar for me, and this episode still had plenty of issues. It was nice to see the crew actually doing some exploration/science stuff. Technically they were on a mission to study a neutron star in the previous episode, but we didn't actually see anything in relation to that study, besides the unnecessary danger it put the ship in. I don't understand why so many of the nuTrek shows have done something gruesome to a character's eye(s). M'Benga doesn't help the situation either, telling him his eyes were blown out, even though that's not what we saw. And then he tells him he has no brain activity? M'Benga really needs to work on his tact. But, if not for the entity inhabiting his body, apparently they have the technology to completely regrow eyes. Better not tell Geordi he didn't need the visor or robotic eyes... And since they apparently could regrow Ortegas's fingers, did Nog need to prosthetic leg? Did Picard need an artificial heart?

Seems to me the away team should have contacted the Enterprise when they discovered the two corpses, rather than making the call to proceed amongst themselves. And why wasn't Pike or Una part of the away team? Why was Chapel in charge? Not sure of her rank, but given she's with Dr. Korby in whatever program she's in, I think she'd technically be considered a civilian. But then after Spock and La'an joined the away team wouldn't they be the ranking senior officers regardless? Why'd they send nurse Gamble? There's no reason this away team needed a medical officer.

It's interesting Beto Ortigas returns. I like the idea of a civilian documenting the mission, and his flying drone camera reminds me of the Kino's in Stargate Universe. But In just 2 minor appearances, they've already given this minor character more characterization than they've given his sister Erica, a series regular, in 2.5 seasons.

Unfortunately, we don't actually learn what the real story is behind these noncorporeal beings is. It's implied they have some sort of connection to the Gorn, given the reaction we see between the entity in Gamble and Batel. Spock also sees the same vision in one of the orbs containing an entity as when he'd mind melded with Batel a couple episodes ago. There's ominous talk of these creatures being pure evil in an attempt for some species to achieve immortality. Pelia talks about these things being old even by her standards and how good and evil truly exist in the universe... but then she undercut it with a joke, which I thought was funny but now it's hard to know if we're supposed to take her seriously.

Not sure why Korby happened to have an artifact from this planet he apparently found on another planet. How did this artifact even leave the planet in the first place if the two grave robbers didn't make it out and they seemed to be the only others to have gotten inside? Korby mentions that it helped lead them to this discovery on this planet, but... It just seemed like needless back story to explain why they were on this planet, that raises more questions than it answered. They could have just said the M'Kroon asked for the Federation's help to study these ruins.

Oh hey, they remembered that they established in season 1 they could keep something in the transporter buffer indefinitely, even though that isn't how the transporter works. I was thinking he did something like left it partialized when he said he hadn't sent it anywhere. Or maybe something like "transporter code 14". But no. I guess they're going to do a ghost in the machine type episode. Also... where did Scotty get the orb to trap the entity in?

Edit: People are speculating the noncorporeal beings are precursors of the Q, because Trelane said he saw Korby digging around on "the old homeworld".

[Sparky Prime]

SNW - The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail

Spoiler

The USS Farragut is on a planetary survey, and Kirk is bored because his Vulcan Captain refuses to take any risks and plays everything by the book. As he's trying to make the case to send an away team, the planet is suddenly ripped apart, debris severely damaging the Farragut. The Enterprise arrives and beams over an away team consisting of Nurse Chapel, Spock, La'an, Scotty and Uhura. The injured and La'an are beamed back to Enterprise as Kirk explains their captain gave the evacuation order, but he kept a skeleton crew to prevent the ship from becoming salvage. Pike tells him it's time to go, but the transmission is blocked, as the enemy ship returns. Enterprise attempts to battle it, but their phasers have no effect on the hull, and they are captured. Kirk tells Scotty to get the engines working, so they can get between the scavenger ship and the next planet they're headed to. Scotty warns if they push the engines, they'll be damaged beyond repair. Meanwhile, Enterprise is unable to escape, as the ships power is being drained by an umbilical and that corridor is being flooded with toxin gases. The rest of the crew work on solving the communication issues with Pelia coming up with an idea of using her vintage phones. Suiting up in space suits, the find their weapons ineffective against the scavengers, the energy absorbed into a gadget on their belts, and Pike retreats when one of the security officers is injured by the scavengers guns. La'an suggest they come up with a plan that makes the scavengers want to disconnect the umbilical themselves. Elsewhere, The Farragut's engines give out, and Kirk realizes his mistake as Scotty explains they'd have to put into a starbase to replace the damaged parts, there is no fixing it. Kirk freaks out and goes into the ready room, leaving the future Enterprise crew to discuss. Spock decides to give him a pep talk. Inspired, Kirk comes up with a new plan. Farragut fills the nacelles with antiprotons to make it seem like they're powered by aldentium, and when the scavenger ship catches up to them, they eject the nacelles, disrupting the scavenger's power systems. Pike and La'an once again attack the scavengers onboard, and flood the umbilical with baryons. Using the phones, Ortegas is able to navigate the Enterprise out (with some help of Number One venting an airlock when her controls stop working). Farragut fires torpedoes into the open maw, destroying the scavenger ship. Both ships then discover the scavengers were humans. Turns out, they were descendants of a group that left Earth shortly after WWIII, fearing that the environmental damage was too great to recover from.

I liked the premise of this episode, in that circumstances leads to Kirk commanding Spock, Uhura, Scotty and Chapel on the Farragut. Unfortunately, I felt like a lot of this episode felt a bit half-assed. I knew that after season 2's "Lost in Translation", where they acknowledge the continuity of Kirk saying he'd only met Pike the one time that it'd come back to bite them. Well, they meet again in this episode, with zero acknowledgement of continuity. Not that I'm surprised by this, but common writers... make an effort. I find it hard to believe that Kirk would crumble so easily for his first time in the big chair. I mean, this is what tests like the Kobayashi Maru at the academy are all about. Also not a fan of how Kirk says he doesn't want to go by the book, but write the book himself. Kirk isn't that flagrant about not following the rules. The ending really left a sour taste but I don't think it was for the reason the writers were going for. So the scavengers turn out to be humans, and they give a pretty weak explanation that they can't save any of them because there's too much debris. And then they try to make us feel bad for them because they were the descendance of a group of astronauts just trying to save humanity that somehow lost their way. I'm sorry, but you don't put a giant skull on the front of your ship like that if you've simply 'lost your way'. These people knew exactly what they were doing. One of them does stop short of killing Pike when he realizes he's human... but I mean common, after 200 years, these people never stopped to consider Earth maybe survived and are exploring that galaxy? They didn't even look at the hull markings on the Farragut or Enterprise to know it was English? I almost thought the writers were going for a precursor to the Borg, or maybe the Pakleds, which I'm glad they didn't do either of those... But making them human at the end felt cheap when they hadn't really set it up. And destroying the scavenger ship was way too easy. They kept making a big deal out of now ineffective their weapons were, only to shoot 3 photons into it's maw and destroyed it completely. Farragut didn't see Enterprise try photons, or shooting inside the scavenger ship, so it struck me as odd how Spock just assumed their weapons were completely ineffective. But even so, it was way too easy to destroy the ship.