Star Trek

[Sparky Prime]

Vox in Excelso

Spoiler

The Doctor begins instructing the cadets on debate in preparation for an upcoming competition. Jay-den, finds the task especially difficult due to a fear of public speaking. News arrives that a Klingon transport, carrying the 8 remaining Houses, has crashed, and Jay-den's family may have been aboard. Turns out, Qo'noS was rendered uninhabitable when the dilithium reactors on the planet exploded during the Burn, and the remaining Klingons have become nomadic hunters. Jay-den remembers how his brother was the only one who understood his desire not to be a warrior, and would acquire Starfleet technology for him. Eventually he was killed when he tried to get a dermal regenerator. After failing to make his first kill during a hunt, and his father angerly failing to hit his mark, the family abandoned Jay-den.

The cadets decide they want to debate on the topic of the Klingon refugee crisis, which the Doctor is apprehensive about, but ultimately agrees, warning the cadets to keep to the facts of the situation, given the recent tragedy. Meanwhile, the Federation has a planet, Faan Alpha, that matches all the conditions as Qo'noS, which would be perfect for a new Klingon homeworld. But the leader of the remaining Houses, Obel Wochak, refuses, as the Klingons don't want Federation charity. Darem shows Jay-den a Khionian breathing technique to help him calm for the debate, but the debate still doesn't go well for the Klingon when things get personal between him and Caleb. Lura Thok talks to Jay-den, and tells him his father wouldn't have missed the shot just because he was angry, and that it was his way of allowing him to follow his own path. Jay-den retakes the debate stage, arguing if they want to help the Klingon's, they need to do it in a way that respects their culture.

Inspired by the cadet's argument, several Starfleet starships warp to Faan Alpha, where they inform Obel Wochak the Klingons are trespassing into Federation territory. Realizing the ploy, Obel calls in the Klingon fleet to battle Starfleet. Despite only causing a 5% drain to their shields, the Stafleet ships retreat, and the Klingons claim the planet for their "victory". Obel gives Jay-den a Klingon bow to symbolize his role in the conflict making him a Klingon warrior and tells him his family is still alive. Jay-den and Caleb reconcile.

I've seen some people complaining about the language used in this series... I haven't commented on it because the occasional modern day slag or curse word isn't obtrusive enough to bother me that much usually... But this episode had a scene that felt a bit heavy handed with it, culminating with the Doctor going out of his way to explain to a cadet his right to be able to call him a "chickenshit".

Not a fan of the idea that the Klingons were nearly wiped out by the Burn. The writers are basically doing the same thing they did to the Romulans having their homeworld destroyed by a super nova, while forgetting both of these races had vast Empires that rival the Federation. And also somewhat reminiscent of Star Trek 6. Only, the Klingons were willing to talk and accept help in that situation... Anyway, the loss of their homeworld would be a big deal, but it shouldn't make them an endangered species given all the colonies and whatever else they'd have throughout their territory.

Daniels told Archer in an episode of Enterprise that the Klingons had joined the Federation by the 26th century. This episode would seem to indicate they remained their own separate Empire...

I don't understand why the Klingons in this episode reject any and all Federation technology. Sure, it plays into this episodes theme of the Klingons not wanting it to appear they are taking any charity... but a communication device (which simply plays a recording that Starfleet Academy is recruiting) and a dermal regenerator aren't exactly they most advanced of items. What happened to the Klingon's technology? They still have ships capable of warp, yet this episode makes it seem like they've regressed technologically. I think this is the first time we've seen a Klingon bow and arrow. Seemed odd we don't see a bladed weapon, although Jay-den's brother apparently got stabbed by a poisoned blade off screen.

Klingon families generally share the same forehead ridges, but all the members of Jay-den's family had different patterns. Apparently Klingons have also adopted last names. I wasn't sure before, with Jay-den being somewhat of an outsider, but this episode confirms it.

The episode makes a big deal about this one Klingon ship that crashes, which apparently had the last 8 Klingon Houses. I'm assuming they meant the last 8 Great Klingon Houses, given a whole Klingon fleet shows up at the end of the episode.

Lura Thok tells Jay-den her father is a member of the free Jem'Hadar. I'm hoping they continue to develop her backstory, because that sounds like an interesting development with the Dominion.

The USS Athena can separate the inner top section of the saucer from the rest of the ship, which apparently has its own warp drive, despite only having a visible impulse engine. So, why do they need nacelles?

I liked the solution they came up with at the end, but I wish they had dressed it up a bit more. It was too easy, and I don't think the Klingons would have been satisfied with such an easy victory.

This was the best episode of Starfleet Academy so far. A bit simple with the plot at times, but it felt like the most Star Trek-like story they've done.

[andersonh1]

I've seen a picture of the Klingon in a skirt, which just looks ridiculous. The Captain pulling her feet up and lounging in the captain's chair while not displaying any professional dignity or decorum is just as dumb. I've also read about the profanity in the series. There's such a thing as judicious use of swearing in drama for dramatic impact, and then there's not understanding Star Trek at all.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/s ... -trek.html

"That’s the ultimate problem with the vulgarity in Starfleet Academy: rather than talking like 32nd-century characters who are studying to be the best of the best, they are swearing every other word like characters in the 20th century. Kirk himself identified this as behavior so archaic that visitors from the 23rd century can barely understand the vulgar phrases people are saying. But in Starfleet Academy, characters alive nearly a millennium later are constantly cursing like sailors and generally reminding us how much this franchise has regressed.

Star Trek fans, it’s time to get real: the distractingly modern dialogue has already dated Starfleet Academy, and the constant cursing makes no sense within the canon of the franchise. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the show on its own merits, but it’s far past time the fandom stops making excuses for poor writing. The bottom line is that this show doesn’t sound like Star Trek on any level, making it increasingly difficult for anyone who has seen a single episode of The Original Series or The Next Generation to take any of this very seriously."

[Ursus mellifera]

This is definitely Star Trek as done by the CW.

[andersonh1]

This is definitely Star Trek as done by the CW.

Very much so!

[Sparky Prime]

I've seen a picture of the Klingon in a skirt, which just looks ridiculous.

He wears a skirt? I haven't seen that in an episode yet. *google search*. Huh. That's not what I was expecting. I was thinking it'd be something Klingon inspired, like how Worf wore a baldric. But just a standard Starfleet uniform skirt? It looks really out of place on Jay-den.

The Captain pulling her feet up and lounging in the captain's chair while not displaying any professional dignity or decorum is just as dumb.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with her being Lanthanite. Pelia (Carol Kane) in Strange New Worlds is... quirky as well, and is the only other Lanthanite we've seen. I wish both of these characters would be professional at least when they are in a professional setting.

I've also read about the profanity in the series. There's such a thing as judicious use of swearing in drama for dramatic impact, and then there's not understanding Star Trek at all.

The last episode especially took me out of it with how far they went with it then even called attention to it by having the Doctor defend it. I feel like the EMH would be the last character to defend using profanity given his origins from a legacy series.

This is definitely Star Trek as done by the CW.

Yeah, for sure.

[Sparky Prime]

Series Acclimation Mil

Spoiler

The Kasqian creators of the Series Acclimation Mil program aka SAM, the holographic cadet, are not happy with the progress she has been making in learning about organics, and order her to take "Confronting the Unexplainable". Because she sees herself as an emissary of the Kasqian to organics, she immediately identifies with the story of Benjamin Sisko when she learns he was the Emissary to the Prophets, and sets out to solve the mystery of what happened to him. She begins to learn all about The Sisko, asking Bajorans about him, giving food from Sisko's restaurant to her fellow cadets, visiting a holographic representation of the Sisko museum, and the cadets all go the The Academy, a bar that is in the same place The Launching Pad used to be that Sisko visited in his cadet days.

Ultimately, SAM learns nothing new about Captain Sisko and gives up trying to solve the mystery. It turns out, the instructor for the "Confronting the Unexplainable" class has the only copy of Jake's book, Anslem, that he finished but never published. She allows SAM to borrow it to read and, somehow, SAM has a conversation with Jake that gives her the insights she's really been looking for. Despite Sisko's life being predetermined by the Profits, he still lived his life for himself, and SAM decides she must do the same, despite her purpose being predetermined by her Kasqian creators. Asking the instructor how she got Jake's book, she reveals her full name is Illa Dax.

Yikes. I'm not even sure where to begin with my comments. This episode was the epidemy of Star Trek done by CW, being presented with a lot of fourth wall breaking, and juvenile graphics. This may date me a bit, but it reminded me of shows like "Clarissa Explains it All". Easily the worst episode of Starfleet Academy so far IMO... SAM deciding to investigate the mystery of Benjamin Sisko's disappearance because he was the Emissary to the Prophets, and she considers herself to be an emissary for her people, was a pretty weak to base the story of the episode around. And what she investigates is just who he was as a person, making the episode more about her own road to self discovery, having nothing to do with Sisko's disappearance. I liked it, but it was a sloppy way to set it up.

Cirroc Lofton reprises his role as Jake Sisko in this episode, which was the one highlight of the episode. He first appears as a hologram, giving an interview about his father. Later on, he somehow appears to SAM and they have conversation. How they're able to have this conversation is not explained. I mean, they imply it's all in SAM's mind, but she doesn't seem to realize this. She even asks him if he'll disappear when she closes his book. It's a printed paper book, not a holo-emitter.

Speaking of his book... This episode established Jake became an accomplished author, yet the one novel he wrote he never published, which everyone in the 32nd century somehow knows about anyway. Sure, he may have written various articles and shorts, but I dunno, just doesn't seem like that accomplished of a writer if he didn't even publish one novel.

Oddly, Jake started wearing a Bajoran earring and is the same design as the 32nd century Bajorans, not the 24th century earrings.

Illa Dax is played by Tawny Newsome, who also played Beckett Mariner in Lower Decks and Strange New World. And wrote this episode which explains some of the comedy. Illa is a Cardassian/Trill hybrid. The Cardassian makeup was pretty bad, and I'm assuming they only did it just to disguise her Trill heritage for the surprise reveal at the end. Not sure how SAM didn't already know her name just from the class directory or something. This makes the Dax symbiont 1177 years old. Not sure how this works continuity wise... Previously, its been established 550 years is typically the lifespan of a symbiont, and the Bix symbiont in Discovery had lived longer than most, being around 800 years.

Strangely, we never see Benjamin Sisko's face in this episode. Every time they show him, it's in shadow or silhouette. There's a line about the Bajorans not wanting his face to be seen anymore because he transcended his physical form or whatever...So, is Starfleet respecting the Bajorans beliefs by not showing his face? I haven't seen any real world explanation for it. There is some dialog from Avery Brooks at the end of the episode, apparently from a Jazz album he released in 2006 that he gave his blessing for them to use.

Disappointing that Sisko apparently didn't return in Jake and Kasidy's lifetime. I'm guessing it isn't common knowledge that Sisko appeared to Kasidy and told her he would return someday, despite not knowing when in time. They only seem to know for sure that he disappeared in the fire caves, and it's just commonly believed he joined the Prophets in the Celestial Temple. Seems they forgot that Kasidy was pregnant at the end of DS9. The Sisko family tree in the Sisko museum is missing that child, and Jake never mentions having a sibling. Captain Sisko's mother is also wrong. They label Jenna Sisko as his mother and a non-corporeal (which they misspell) being. But it was Sara who was his mother, and was fully human, albeit possessed by a Prophet.

Apparently the Bajorans allowed one of the Orbs of the Prophets to be displayed in the Sisko museum on Earth. Kinda doubt they'd allow them go after the Cardassians stole most of them during the occupation. SAM talks to it, believing it to be like a communication device, even though she should know this isn't the real Orb. Strangely, they had a typewriter displayed as well that looked like something Sisko's Benny Russell persona would have used... If so, it shouldn't be in this museum.

Jay-den wears the skirt uniform for the first time in this episode. I had hoped they'd give some context for it, but nope. It appears they are developing a love triangle between him, Kyle Djokovic (one of the War College cadets) and Darem Reymi. I thought it would have been a great allegory to see a Klingon conflicted about not being a warrior and is gay, but nope, these last two episodes made all of that a non-issue.

I don't really understand this SAM character. So, she was created to learn about organics by the Kasqians, because they were once used as tools by organics, and they want to see if it's safe to open up to organics again. So... why exactly does SAM need to be in Starfleet Academy for that? And why did they make her so... inadequately programmed for her apparent age? I mean, there is potential for the character, but I don't like how they're writing her. It feels like a rehash of what we already saw with the EMH on Voyager, only those writers did it better.

I guess alcohol laws have changed by the 32nd century? Some of these cadets are supposed to be 17-18 years old, yet they can get drunk at a bar? And what happened to synthehol? I guess holo-emitters are everywhere? SAM is able to go to the bar, off campus, no problem. I would have liked some reference to it, or maybe a mobile emitter.

There's a b story where Ake, the Doctor and Reno help Kelrec prepare for a meeting. It felt like a waste of time.

[Sparky Prime]

Come, Let's Away

Spoiler

The Athena is conducting a joint training mission between Starfleet Academy and the War College to the USS Miyazaki, a derelict ship in the middle of a starship graveyard. The Miyazaki had an experimental singularity drive that apparently failed to work and killed the entire crew. The training mission involves a team going aboard and restoring power. Caleb is able to restore life support in record time, but the away team is quickly captured by Furies, a group of human/alien hybrid pirates. They demand a ransom and set up a jamming field to prevent communication and transport. The cadets fight their captors, resulting in Commander Tomov sacrificing himself, and they are able to lock themselves on the Miyazaki bridge, making them safe... at least until the Furies are able to cut through the door. So they start working on getting the computer operational.

Startfleet, based on past experience, knows the Furies will probably kill the hostages either way and need a plan of attack. The only one that has successfully fought them off, apparently, is Nus Braka, so they call him in to negotiate a deal for any help he can provide. Meanwhile, Genesis finds a means to locate the Furies cloaked ship in the debris, but it'll take time for a probe to pinpoint the location. Tarima is able to tele... "mind speak" with Caleb thanks to their, earlier relations in the episode, and. Ake suspects Braka still has problems with the Furies, but gives into his demands anyway. Admiral Vance calls in the USS Sargasso, armed with a sonic weapon the Furies are weak to because they're essentially part bat, from its post protecting Starbase J-19 Alpha to assist. Tarima tells Caleb to get the singularity drive operational, because it can disrupt the jamming field, just as they locate the cloaked ship. Which turns out to be Braka's ship. It quickly fires on the Sargasso and Athena, as the Furies break into the Miyazaki bridge. Tarima unleashes a telepathic sonic scream, killing the Furies. Braka's ship leaves, the entire situation being just a diversion in order to steal the classified technology on J-19 Alpha, and the cadets are beamed back, although B'Avi is killed, SAM suffers some damage to her program and Tarim is in a coma.

This mission should have taken place on a holodeck. Being the first year for these cadets, it doesn't make sense they'd be in space on a real ship, especially one that has an experimental drive that somehow killed the entire crew. And even if/when they get to real world training, it would be under staged circumstances in order to minimize the risks to the cadets.

Why does Commander Tomov say he's been stuck on the ship for months and is desperate for shore leave? Given the Athena is on Earth most of the time, I find it hard to believe he hasn't had any time off the ship.

The USS Miyazaki is clearly a 23rd century era ship. The CGI model appears to be a new design, but it reuses elements of the Strange New Worlds Enterprise. And the interiors are clearly redressed SNW Enterprise sets. The episode even has a comic book that is based on the adventures of the Miyazaki, which uses TOS era uniforms. Yet, the episode would have us believe this ship has a 31st century era registry number and was testing out an experimental singularity drive? I could forgive reusing sets, at least they mostly disguised that, but they went out of their way to make it look like a ship that should be 900 years out of date.

The Miyazaki computer starts to listen to the cadets when they tell it they are its new crew, and show it the comic book to I guess prove that the old crew was dead... And I know it's malfunctioning, but this made no sense.

Events on the Athena and the Miyazaki feels disjointed. Once the cadets get trapped on the Miyazaki bridge, it feels like minutes go by for them, yet over on the Athena, it feels like hours as they're having discussions, bringing in Braka, who I guess happened to be nearby even though they go out of their way to point out they have no idea where he is and how long it'd take to get him to them, which should be a red flag for them, negotiating with him, Admiral Vance says he has to consult the Federation President with Braka's demands...

They never explain the singularity drive. Presumably, it was one of the drives they were hoping could replace conventional warp drive following the Burn. I wonder if this is meant to be like the Romulans warp drive, which used an artificial quantum singularity. In which case, I'm not sure why they weren't able to get it to work. It's also not clear how it resulted in the crews death. They make it sound at one point like it destroyed the ship, but that's clearly not the case. Braka makes it sound like the systems shut down one by one, until they all died. But if that were the case, couldn't they have evacuated? But then, Braka also says the same thing happened to Ake's son, but he was supposedly killed during the Burn, when his ship exploded. So I doubt we can take his word for it.

The away team wear these suits with built in "plasma-shields", which they deactivate when they get life support back online. So... how come they don't use these shields when the Furies attack them?

The Furies are apparently part Lynar, which doesn't make any sense. The Lynar are species of bat on Celtris III, not unlike Earth bats. They weren't evolved enough for it to be possible for them to have mixed with humans. They also have this phase shifting effect on their heads that is never explained.

Once again, they have the Betazoids wrong, with Ocam explaining they can only "sense stuff", while a rare few, like his sister, have full telepathy. I don't know how the writers could get that so wrong. And for some reason, Tarima also has a sonic scream, which I guess is why her father is deaf. And she can transmit it though telepathy? So they're just making up powers for well established aliens now. Also, it's way too convenient she just so happens to have this ability to kill the Furies, their own weakness.

Not sure why Genesis had to slowly and manually use a probe to track the movement of debris in order to find the cloaked ship. I mean, wouldn't that be pretty easy for the computer to extrapolate? Also seemed odd she and Darem stayed on the bridge for the whole crisis. Why didn't more experienced officers take over?

How exactly was the sonic weapon the USS Sargasso supposed to have going to work in space? They invent technology by the 32nd century that allows sound to travel in space?

Braka's ship takes out the Sargasso way too easily. The Athena and Sargasso were both poised and ready to attack the enemy ship when it decloaked... Yet just a couple hits and they say the Sargasso was completely disabled. Although the fireball makes it look like it was destroyed. They make it seem like they were caught by surprise, which doesn't make sense just because it turned out to be Braka's ship instead. If it was that easy, not sure why they felt the need to lure it away from the J-19 Alpha space station. And didn't the Athena destroy Braka's ship in the first episode? Or is this another ship of the same design?

How exactly did Braka get onto and off of the Athena? I mean, they show him arrive from an airlock, but I didn't catch any explanation about a ship arriving, or anything at all about him leaving. And... did they really even need to call him of all people for help? They know the Furies are human/alien hybrids, but what, their sensors couldn't figure out the other half?

There's also no security escort detail on Braka while he was on the Athena, which seemed strange given they know he's a threat and don't trust him.

So the thing Braka asks for is for the Federation to stop supplying Taygeta 1 with dilithium because he has access to two unstable wormhole that had allowed FTL travel between it and Taygeta 4. Having their own warp drive again is cutting into his business. But, given the names, these should be two planets in the same solar system. That'd only take like 4-5 hours at impulse, they don't need FTL travel for that. And if these are unstable wormholes Braka is using, they'd be temporary and potentially dangerous to use anyway. Not to mention, with how rare wormholes are, it's very unlikely there would happen to be not one, but two for coinvent travel between these two planets and Braka's "Raktajino stand" between them.

Not sure how SAM could be damaged by phaser fire, when phasers usually pass right through a hologram. And they really need to explain how her program works when she doesn't appear to have a mobile emitter and I doubt everywhere she goes, even in the 32nd century, in in reach of a holographic generator.

So yeah... I did not like this episode. The visuals didn't make sense. The writing was severely lacking and convoluted. The pacing was bad. Any research they did into Star Trek lore was clearly lacking to non-existent. It was a mess on pretty much every level.

[Sparky Prime]

Ko'Zeine

Spoiler

About a month after the events of the previous episode, the Academy is celebrating "all-worlds day", which I guess is like spring break. Tarima apparently woke up from her coma and is recovering on Betazed. SAM is still glitching and goes to what she describes is a spa for holograms. Ake wants Caleb to go spend time with a sponsor family, but he convinces her to allow him to stay on campus as he struggles with his feelings with Tarima. Ake tells Genesis after the break she's going to put her on the pre-command track. Genesis is supposed to go home, but cancels the trip and remains on campus. Jay-den is supposed to go with Kyle to Ibiza, but when he sees Darem get kidnapped, he follows him. Darem, it turns out, has an arranged marriage that he thought he wouldn't have to deal with for several more years, but his bride decided it was in her best interest for it to be now.

Caleb and Genesis goof around on the Athena, eventually breaking onto the bridge and they are caught. It's revealed Genesis wanted to get access to her personnel file because she had manipulated her letters of recommendation when she applied to the Academy. Ake decides not to expel them, but wont recommend Genesis for command, and sentences them to cleanup duty. Jay-den ends up as Darem's ko'zeine (best man), and gives a speech about how he always sacrifices what he wants to support those around him. His new bride tells him to abdicate and they will annul the marriage so he can return to the Academy. Caleb finally sends a message to Tarima.

I feel like the whole Darem arranged marriage plot of this episode was wasted potential. We know from previous episodes, he's got some issues with his parents. Would have been nice if that had played a role in this episode. I'm not even sure if some of the background actors were meant to be his parents or not. I kept expecting some like, "Amok Time" type twist, but it never happened either, and it's all just quietly undone. There's no consequences, no weight to the situation at all, making me wonder what the point was meant to be.

All of the Khionians appear as humans in this episode. They even hand-wave away that the planet they go to used to be under water, but the ocean dried up...

While it is nice to see Caleb and Genesis spend some time bonding, it felt like an opportunity to develop background on Genesis that, like the other plot of the episode, ultimately went no where.

The Khionians have technology roughly the size of a phaser that creates a person sized wormhole/portal, and doesn't set off the ships alarm. I get the writers needed a way to quickly get Darem and Jay'den off Earth, but I don't think the writers thought this through. Why didn't that become a predominant technology during the Burn era? And they don't establish any limitations for it, which is problematic because it potentially would make it over powered as a method of travel - like the Iconian gateways or "Transwarp beaming" in the JJ films. But, they'll probably never even bring it up again.

There's a "galactic meteor shower" at the end of the episode. It's just a pretty visual effect, but I have to question how it's "galactic".

Don't really have anything else to say about this one. Very skippable episode, which is a shame since the set up was a solid way to give us more background on a couple characters, but they fail to deliver on it.

[Sparky Prime]

The Life of the Stars

Spoiler

Tarima returns from Betazed, equipped with a new neural inhibitor. It is decided that rather than going back to the War College, she will join Starfleet Academy, so that she can focus on the sciences, for her own safety. The cadets are still traumatized by the events on the Miyazaki, so Chancellor Ake brings in Lieutenant Tilly to be a therapist for them, but to do so without them realizing it. Tilly hold a class to teach them drama, and Our Town is selected as the play they will focus on. SAM is excited by this, but her glitches return and get worst. The Doctor doesn't have a treatment for her, and the "hologram spa" patches haven't held. With no other options, the Doctor and Ake take SAM back to her homeworld, Kasq, in hopes her creators can fix the problem in her programming.

Turns out, SAM's programming error has nothing to do with the phaser hit she took on the Miyazaki, but is the result of not having a childhood, not giving her program the resilience/context it needs to process her growing emotional awareness. The Doctor reveals he's been so evasive around her because she reminds him of the holographic family he'd created for himself on Voyager 800 years ago, the death of his holographic daughter being a trauma he apparently never got over. In order to fix SAM, he volunteers to be her father on Kasq for 17 years, which he can do because time on Kasq moves faster than the rest of the universe.

On this weeks episode of Starfleet High... The kids are forced to join the drama club. It may all be a deception to trick them into getting some therapy, but this was such a weak explanation towards that end. Tilly tries to cover it as something good captains are versed in, but only two of these particular cadets have shown any interest in becoming a captain. Some of them aren't even in the command division. It'd be nice if there was some sort of realistic curriculum in this series, rather than these random classes that pop up as necessary for the plot.

Seems odd that Tilly would be called in for this. Wasn't she a scientist/engineer on Discovery? She's not a trained therapist or a drama teacher. I was also under the impression that all of the cadets of the newly re-established Starfleet Academy were on the Athena, so I'm surprised to learn there are 3rd year cadets who apparently are on extended missions in space already.

It was jarring to see the cadets more triggered in this episode than they were in the previous episode. It was fine for Tarima and SAM given their circumstances... But why was Darem so much angrier and confrontational in this episode? He didn't behave that way at all in the previous episode. And then this episode didn't even focus on his character. Seemed like elements of these two episodes should have been swapped. And on that note... knowing there is only 10 episodes in this season, it feels a little odd to have two episodes dedicated to the aftermath of the events on the Miyazaki.

Jay-den has a cold and Tilly tells him to go quarantine in his quarters until he's better... I'm guessing this was their excuse to not have him feature that much in this episode in order to focus on other characters, but it makes no sense in-universe. Why wouldn't she send him to sickbay, where a simple hypo-spray could cure it instantly?

Voyager's "Blink of an Eye" is referenced because Kasq is somewhat similarly displaced in time... for some reason. So 5 years on this planet is 3 days for the rest of the universe. This came off as lazy writing to me. It's literally just a shortcut the writers use to give the Doctor 17 years with SAM in a fraction of the time. It felt totally unnecessary because these writers seem to forget they're holograms, despite focusing on them being holograms. They could have, I dunno, intermingled their programs to stabilize hers or something. Don't know what Ake was doing while the Doctor raised SAM, the episode doesn't address that at all.

And Voyager's "Real Life" is referenced because apparently the Doctor never got over the death of his holographic daughter, that SAM somehow reminded him of. This felt really forced to me and is disingenuous to what we saw in Voyager. Sure, his holo-daughter's death was difficult for him to deal with, but the Doctor's holo-family was not portrayed as this significant in Voyager. They were meant to help the Doctor learn to better relate to the crew, not be a real family for him, which this episode ends up glossing over to make it seem like they were something they weren't in that Voyager episode. I also think it's a little insulting they make this holo-daughter out to be more significant to him than his relationships to the Voyager crew, or apparently anyone else he's known in the last 800 years.

SAM needing a childhood to fall back on to give her program context for her emotions, and no way to repair her doesn't make any sense to me. She's a computer program, and that isn't how these writers seem to writer her. At one point in this episode, she goes to "sleep", simply sitting down with the computer reporting she's gone into "sleep mode" rather than her program shutting down. It makes her seem more like an android rather than a hologram. This episode also felt like a missed opportunity to explain how she (and the Doctor) don't seem to need any sort of holographic projectors. They do show some sort of device forming that the Doctor picks up before he begins parenting SAM, I assume is her emitter that is just hidden within the projection, but the episode doesn't actually explain it.

In theory, SAM should have a totally different personality, now that she's lived this whole second life. This episode ends before we see any changes, but I hope they keep it in mind for future episodes...

Unfortunately, they don't address SAM's defiance against her creators a couple episodes ago. I think it would have been better if the glitches was their way to force her to come back to them.

So... another messily written episode.

[Sparky Prime]

300th Night

Spoiler

It's the end of the academic year, and the Athena is headed to Betazed to celebrate the opening of the new Federation government complex. Caleb is the only cadet not celebrating as they still haven't found his mother. SAM, having new insights, suggests he try a password he hasn't tried since he was six... which works, giving him 20 years worth of messages his mother had sent, and reveals she's on Ukeck, a planet about to be taken over by the Venari Ral. He goes to tell Ake. However, she's busy now that Starfleet has finally figured out what Nus Braka stole from Starbase J-19... Omega-47 molecule, which could once make warp drive impossible. They've detonated one already, but figure it was a test because it was in an isolated sector. Caleb takes it upon himself to save his mom and plans to take a shuttle alone, but SAM anticipates this and pops in, Genesis arrives demanding to know what they're doing, and Darem drunkenly stumbles in. Genesis is about to leave, but SAM closes the door and launches the shuttle, claiming they have a limited window to get to a transwarp conduit. They arrive at the planet but the shuttle is damaged, so Caleb goes looking for his mom while the others go looking for parts.

Meanwhile, Jay-den and Tarima discover the messages from Caleb's mother and inform Ake. Admiral Vance agrees they need to rescue the cadets, once they drop everyone else off at Betazed, but warns Ake if they have to cross the border out of Federation space, he wont be able to help. They stop where they expect the shuttle to be, but determine they must have taken a transwarp corridor. But they do find another mine armed with the Omega-47 before they head to Ukeck. With the planet currently getting annexed, Caleb and his mom decided to leave on their own, leaving the other cadets to be captured on the way back to the shuttle. Unable to leave his friends to their fate, they go back to help. Caleb's mom is injured but the Athena arrives just in time to save everyone.

Three Venari Ral ships disable the Athena on its way back to the Federation, and Ake orders the saucer to separate, vowing to return for the rest of the ship later. But once they reach the Federation border, they find a massive field surrounding the entirety of Federation space, set to detonate Omega-47 mines if anyone crosses it. Since the fleet had pulled back given the looming threat, they're trapped inside, with the Athena the only Federation Starship trapped outside.

I'm glad they gave SAM a new personality following the events in the last episode. Now, she actually acts her age, although, I still don't see why they couldn't have programmed her that way in the first place.

SAM suggesting the Caleb try codes from when he was a kid to find his mom's messages seemed a little far-fetched to me. I get that they're trying to tell us that he's been trying to find messages from his mom for so long that he's lost perspective on it, but why wouldn't he routinely be going back to the codes his mother told him to use when she originally taught him this stuff?

Very contrived to have Genesis and Darem literally stumble onto Caleb and SAM while they are stealing a shuttle. Why were they even in the shuttlebay? And if Genesis wanted off so bad, why didn't they just beam her off? They should have beamed Darem off the ship given he was drunk and wouldn't have known if he'd be sober by the time they got to Ukeck. I expected Jay-den and Tarima to show up as well, but I guess someone needed to tip off Ake. Feels like the writers don't really know what to do with Jay-den and Tarima outside the episodes that focused on them. They've been largely absent otherwise.

Caleb finding his mom on Ukeck was too easy as well. He's searching and getting frustrated when a woman randomly runs up to him with a knife asking if he wants to get himself killed... and it happens to be his mom.

Only the Doctor, Reno and Ake crew the Athena to save the cadets? Where are all the experienced officers we were introduced to in the first episode? No one else is even in this episode, and their absence is not explained.

Omega-47... Dunno what the 47 stands for, but they say it's a synthetic form of a pure Omega molecule. Whatever that means. But I guess has the exact same properties? Wish they'd explained it better. Why is this something that the Federation had in the first place, given how dangerous it is? What happened to the Omega Directive?

The writers clearly have no concept of how big space is. Picard said in First Contact, the Federation is spread over eight thousand light years. In the 32nd century, I'd have to imagine that has grown somewhat, even with the loss of some members during the Burn. But we're talking years even at high warp speeds to circumnavigate the entire Federation border. And even with Omega explosions disrupting several light years... It'd take thousands if not billions of mines. Even the visual at the end makes Federation space seem way smaller than it should.

This was a better episode than the last couple weeks, but ultimately this is just setting things up for the season finale next week, and they were still kinda lazy with it. I've seen some people online criticizing Jonathan Frakes for it, because he directed this episode, but the problem is in the writing, not the directing.