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phantom-le6 · 3 years ago

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Film Re-Review - Star Trek: Nemesis

As I’m very much feeling a case of Trek fatigue at the moment, and because I’ve been neglecting other projects to focus on completing these reviews, I’ve decided to make this weekend a quick two-for-one posting weekend, and I present my re-review for the fourth and final TNG movie. For those now following me on Tumblr who don’t see my posts on Facebook regarding these reviews, just to let you know this won’t be the last bit of Trek I do. I did Deep Space Nine years ago when I used to post my reviews on Facebook, and while I’m not aiming to repost those reviews, I am planning to review the Voyager series after I take a break with some non-Trek films and the Batman animated series. Also, in the very short term I’ll be making up lost time on some novel prep, so if my posts are bit infrequent for a little while, don’t worry. Now, with that bit of house-keeping out of the way, let’s have a look at Nemesis.

Plot (as given by Wikipedia):

During a session of the Romulan Imperial Senate, the military offers the plans to join forces with the Reman military and invade the Federation, but the Praetor refuses. As such a green thalaron radiation mist is released into the room by the military and everyone is killed. Meanwhile, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E prepares to bid farewell to long time first officer Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi, who are soon to be married on Betazed. En route, they discover a positronic energy reading on a planet in the Kolaran system near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Commander Worf, and Lieutenant Commander Data land on Kolarus III and discover the remnants of an android resembling Data. When the android is reassembled it reveals its name is B-4, and the crew deduce he is a less advanced earlier version of Data.

Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway orders the crew to conduct a diplomatic mission to Romulus. Janeway informs Picard that the Romulan government has undergone a military coup and is now controlled by a Reman named Shinzon, saying he wants peace with the Federation and to bring freedom to Remus. This is a surprising development as the Romulans had regarded Remans as an undesirable caste used principally as slave labour and shock troops during the Dominion War, due to their long history of prejudice.

Upon their arrival on Romulus, the crew learns that Shinzon is actually a clone of Picard, following a secret experiment conducted by the Romulans to take Picard's place in Starfleet as a spy; however, he and the project were abandoned after a political change in the Romulan government left him cast away to Remus as a slave. It is there that he meets his Reman brethren and effects his rise to power. It was also on Remus where Shinzon constructed his flagship, a heavily armed warship named Scimitar, with a completely undetectable cloaking device, an arsenal of weapons, and virtually impregnable shields.

Though the diplomatic mission seems to go smoothly, the crew discovers that the Scimitar is emitting low levels of extremely dangerous thalaron radiation (the same radiation used to assassinate the Romulan senate), several unauthorized computer accesses take place aboard the Enterprise, and Troi is mentally attacked by Shinzon while she is having sex with Riker. Shinzon captures Picard for reasons he does not make clear, though later Dr Beverly Crusher informs Picard that Shinzon is slowly dying from the accelerated ageing from his cloning process, and thus needs Picard's blood to live. Shinzon also transports B-4 aboard the Scimitar, revealing that Shinzon was behind the placing of B-4 on Kolarus III in order to lure Picard to Romulus. However, the B-4 Shinzon transported is actually Data posing as B-4 — he rescues Picard and they make their escape back to their ship. Realizing that the Scimitar is a weaponized thalaron emitter with enough power to destroy all life forms in a fleet of ships as well as an entire planet, Data deduces that Shinzon is using the warship to conquer the Federation and destroy Earth.

The Enterprise races back towards Federation space, but is soon ambushed by the Scimitar, disabling the Enterprise's warp drive in the process. In the ensuing assault, the Enterprise is outmatched. Two Romulan warbirds arrive and assist in the assault, but Shinzon destroys one warbird and disables the other. Refocusing his attention on Picard, Shinzon further damages the Enterprise.

Refusing to surrender, Picard uses his heavily damaged ship to ram the Scimitar, causing moderate damage including disabling the disrupter banks. Shinzon then initializes the Scimitar's thalaron weapon in a desperate attempt to take the Enterprise down with him. Picard boards the vessel alone and faces Shinzon. Unable to prevent the weapon's activation, Picard kills Shinzon by impaling him through the abdomen with part of a metallic support strut. Data arrives with a single-use personal transporter, using it to quickly beam the captain back to the Enterprise before destroying the ship at the cost of his life, shutting down the weapon in the process.

While the severely damaged Enterprise is under repair in a space dock in Earth orbit, Picard bids farewell to newly promoted Captain Riker who is off to command the USS Titan, to begin a true peace negotiation mission with Romulus. Picard then meets with android B-4, whereupon he discovers that Data had succeeded in copying the engrams of his neural net into B-4's positronic matrix not long before his death.

Review:

Having re-watched Nemesis, and then looking back at how I reviewed it originally when I was considering these films just as a film series, I can’t say my feeling about this instalment in the franchise has really changed much. It’s not the best TNG film, but I think some of the negative rep it has gained isn’t deserved. Only some, mind; I have to agree that the film was a bit too dark in places, especially the ‘psychic rape’ scene Troi is subjected to mid-film. Not only was that excessively dark in the film that had little light to it, but the show had already done this kind of thing before, albeit more metaphorically. It wasn’t necessary and spoke to the fact that the director Stuart Baird was the wrong choice. Frakes, or failing him another Trek actor-turned-director like Stewart or Burton, should have been at the helm. Baird’s poor performance as director proves that Trek is best handled ‘in-house’ when it comes to behind the camera talent.

Now as to what makes Nemesis good, I’m going to begin by quoting a couple of paragraphs from my original review;

“So, what is it that makes Nemesis a good film? Well, aside from quality action and special effects, the plot examines issues relevant in modern society, which of course is what the best of Trek always does. In this case, Picard and Data are confronted by would-be duplicates of themselves in the characters of Shinzon and B-4, and this brings up the issue of whether or not we’re seeing two of each character or four separate characters. In essence, Picard facing his clone is a metaphor for our current-day issue of whether cloning is acceptable, whether such a science robs us of our individuality or not.

Of course, the answer is it doesn’t – as Data points out in one scene, B-4 and Shinzon lack the desire to better themselves possessed by Picard and Data. For all their similarities, too much about the circumstances in which each character was created and raised is different for them to be the same, and the same applies to any clone. If you cloned an adult, that clone would have to go through their own childhood, and the difference in environment, from the people in their life to the culture they’re exposed to, would be too different from what the DNA donor experienced growing up, and consequently you would end up with a new, different individual. Cloning may produce a genetic replica of someone, but it can never replicate someone in their entirety, can never copy that which makes any one person truly unique.”

The film also brings a lot of closure to the TNG franchise, which is strange considering a fifth TNG film was supposed to be in development at the same time Nemesis was in production. Riker’s promoted and off on the Titan with Troi, Data sacrifices himself, and I can’t really see B4 as a substitute Data, nor Riker serving under Picard now that they’re the same rank. To do a fifth film with just the TNG cast, you’d have to demote Riker and either not use Data at all or pull off some last-minute cross-time beam-out on Data. However, it seems that the fifth film might have included more alumni from the spin-off shows, and that’s an idea that I think could have worked. In fact, at some point I really want to try and write my own version of such a story, because I think Trek hasn’t really capitalised on its own cross-over potential much down the years.

In terms of Data’s part in the story, I think he gets a good ending to his story within the world of Trek. Self-sacrifice for friends, family, duty and the service of a worthy cause are one of the defining attributes of humanity, and given that Data has always been about exploring the human condition, it is fitting that he goes out in the most human way imaginable. However, some aspects of his story are somewhat flawed in terms of continuity. First, we find a random brother of Data’s and what does the crew do? Do they stop and think ‘hang on, we don’t know anything about this android, let’s give it a real work over’? No, they just reassemble it, which in the series was exactly how the crew was almost destroyed by Data’s other brother Lore. Picard’s crew must have a flat line for a learning curve to have not learned the error of their ways by now.

Second, this film makes absolutely no reference to Data’s emotion chip, something all of the past three movies did to some extent. In Generations it was a key plot point, and in First Contact, while in Insurrection it got one mention before presenting a point of inconsistency in Spiner’s performance as Data. In this film, it’s neither heard from nor seen, and it seems annoying that Data’s final appearance essentially regresses him to an earlier point in his evolution as a character. Even more disappointing is that he never got to return to any concepts that failed in the series because he lacked the emotion chip. A proper Data romance of some kind would have been nice to see in the TNG films before he was killed off, for example.

On the plus side, the film doesn’t lack in terms of the quality of its guest cast; you’ve got Whoopi Goldbery and Wil Weaton giving their final performances as Guinan and Wesley Crusher, for starters, as well as Kathryn Janeway from Voyager making an appearance. Add to that a brief appearance by Alan Dale and the inclusions of such notable actors as Tom Hardy (then at the start of his acting career), Ron Perlman (he of Hellboy and Blade II fame, among other things) and Dina Meyer (who I mainly know from Starship Troopers and guest-appearances on Friends and NCIS), and it’s a decent compliment to line up alongside the main TNG cast.

However, all the great casting in the world and all the wonderful issue exploration that is the heart of good Trek can fully redeem Nemesis. Leaving aside outside factors like releasing alongside the fourth of the Brosnan Bond films and the second Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings films, the film is mostly undone by writing flaws and a bad choice of director. I also think it’s strange that instead of putting the failure of Nemesis down to all of this, the powers-that-be further linked in the poor performance of prequel series Enterprise and the previous TNG film to conclude it was a case of ‘franchise fatigue’. With the correct writers and directors, and if Trek had moved forward with its shows instead trying to regress backwards with a pre-Kirk series, not to mention a better choice of release date, more Trek could easily have been done and accepted gladly. This wasn’t franchise fatigue; it was creative blunders plain and simple. For me, Nemesis scored 8 out of 10 originally, and while I am inclined to mark it down this time, I only do so to 7 out of 10.

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journeythrough-impossiblethings · 6 years ago

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Impossible Things and Strange New Worlds

Jon Symbiont – #Bookworm – A worm – Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis, Trekverse / Star Trek: Remake Film, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek: Beyond, the Kelvin Timeline / The Mirror Universe

The Jon symbiont was born on the planet Trill in the year 2128. They were 22-32 during the Enterprise NX-01’s mission (Star Trek: Enterprise). Their host at the time was Tenn, who was 35-45 at the time.

Jon was the only offspring of the Don symbiont. Their parent symbiont has had a total of five hosts, two of whom had spouses. Mina Don, the first host, had a husband who was an unjoined Trill named Nathan, and they had a son named Quin, who is Jon’s brother. After Mina was Jasper, who had a wife named Alison, and they had a daughter, Jon’s sister, named Hailey. After that, there was Carrie, Clara and Yasmin.

Jon so far has had a total of eight hosts, as well as being briefly joined to a wolf, later named Eyolf, between his second and third hosts, and his sixth host was briefly merged with that same wolf due to a transporter malfunction. His hosts were Tenn, Beyrd, Eyolf (the wolf), Smyth, Frazyr, Sylvest, Kara, Karolf (Kara and Eyolf transporter malfunction), Myrln, and Jonas.

The Jon symbiont had only one biological offspring, named Blume, who was later joined to the son of one of Jon’s hosts with his wife, Anna. The symbionts Bae and Nel were also joined to sons of Anna and Jon’s hosts. The only symbiont to have had hosts before Anna and Jon’s sons was Bae, who had two hosts, one was a female named Erosa and the other was a male named Coop, before being joined to the son of Anna and Beyrd Jon, Tavin. Bae's host after Tavin was named Wilbur. Anna had nine (so far) biological children with various hosts of Jon, and has adopted ten children with him in addition to that, as well as of course Jon’s own biological offspring who was joined to one of their sons, and the two unrelated symbionts also joined to their sons, and their subsequent hosts. Kara Jon also had a daughter with a version of Anna from an alternate reality (referred to as Sean or “Sean II”), named Rosalyn. More details about the children of Jon’s hosts will be found below.

Anna Winden was married to the symbiont, and by extension, all of Jon’s hosts, despite the taboo against reassociation that could get Jon exiled and not allowed to have any more hosts. They kept it a secret from the Symbiosis Commission and other Trill until the law was repealed during the time of Jon’s sixth host, Kara. Anna is a Fae, an alien seemingly native to Earth despite the knowledge of the species being mostly obscured to humans, the dominant species of the planet. The Fae are an intelligent, sentient race, and seem to be highly advanced, though they like to keep hidden. Anna was originally a human who got turned into a fae. She has only met one other fae, her late husband named Finn, who was the one who turned her into a fae by accident. He was supposedly born as a fae, as far as Anna knows.

Tenn Jon – #Jon-I – David Tennant – Star Trek: Enterprise, Trekverse

Tenn Antinem was born on the planet Trill in 2116, and was 35 during the time of Enterprise NX-01’s mission (Star Trek: Enterprise). He was joined to Jon in the 2144 at the age of 28, and was the first host of the Jon symbiont.

He was born to Basil and Idris Antinem. He became a history teacher before being joined to the symbiont Jon. After Tenn was joined, he met and married Anna Winden. They had three children together, two daughters named Diana and Connor, and a son named Lowell. They are half Trill and half Fae. Tenn Jon continued to be a history teacher after being joined. Tenn died in the year 2224 at the age of 108. He was joined to Jon for 80 years. Before his death (of old-age), he and Anna got to meet Beyrd, who would be selected as Jon’s new host.

Beyrd Jon – #Jon-II – Peter Capaldi – Star Trek, Trekverse

Beyrd Cae was born on the planet Trill in the year 2184. He is joined to Jon in 2224 at the age of 40, which is fairly old for a host to be first joined.

His parents were Gerald and Nancy Cae. Beyrd is a Trill musician and got a Doctorate in Music before being joined. Just before he was joined to Jon, he met the previous host, Tenn, and Jon’s wife, Anna, who wanted to continue to be married to Jon. Beyrd and Anna went on one date before he was joined to Jon. After he was joined with the Jon symbiont, he and Anna got married. They kept it a secret from the Symbiosis Commission and other Trills because of the taboo against reassociation that could result in him being exiled and the Jon symbiont no longer allowed to have any hosts after him. He and Anna had a son named Tavin. Tavin was half Trill and half Fae. Tavin was joined to the Bae symbiont, who previously had two other hosts, the first one was Erosa and the second was Coop.

Beyrd and Anna crash-landed on a planet called Symarill in the year 2254, when Beyrd was 70. Beyrd was severely injured and there was no chance of him recovering. He couldn’t stay alive long enough for them to be rescued, but the symbiont was unharmed inside of him. Of course, if Beyrd dies and Jon doesn’t get a new host, Jon would die with him, but Beyrd and Anna were the only two on the planet and she couldn’t perform the operation on herself. There was an injured wolf nearby, and Anna helped heal the injured wolf and he agreed to host Jon, which kept Jon alive long enough for them to be rescued.

Eyolf – #Wolf-Jon – A wolf – Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis, Trekverse

The First of the Sentient Symarillion Wolves was born on the planet Symarill in the year 2250, and briefly joined to Jon in the year 2254. He is alive and with Anna and Jon for hundreds of years (throughout DISC, TOS/TAS, TNG/DS9/VOY).

The wolf didn’t have a name before he met Anna and Jon after they crash-landed on his home planet of Symarill. He was four years old when he met them. When he first met Anna, he was injured by the same meteors that made Jon and Anna’s ship crash, and it killed most of his pack. His parents, the pack alpha male and female, and his brother, were killed. He and his sister survived, but he didn’t know that at first. Anna found the wolf and she helped heal his injured leg and with his permission, he took on the Jon symbiont temporarily after Beyrd’s death, until they were able to be rescued. He was able to keep Jon alive long enough for the rescue ship to get there, and they were able to get Jon into his next host, Smyth, in enough time that it did not kill the wolf.

He was changed by the experience, though, smarter and completely loyal to Anna and Jon. He stayed with them, and they gave him the name Eyolf, which meant “Lucky Wolf.” He’s a very important part of their family. He helped them raise their children Aiden, Calder and adopted Changeling son Pete. He also had a family of his own with a female wolf from Symarill named Patience. They had five puppies together, three sons named Alfred, Albert, and David, and two daughters named Esme and Georgia. Anna and Jon helped them raise them, as well as his sister, her mate, and their children, who they discovered had survived the falling meteors when Anna, Eyolf and Smyth Jon first returned to the planet. Their children, their children’s mates, Eyolf’s sister and her mate’s children, and the family’s descendants are who go on to create an entire species of sentient wolves on Symarill who later become warp-capable and join the Federation. Anna, Jon and Eyolf still visit the planet often.

Anna, Smyth Jon, and Eyolf met versions of themselves from another reality. At the time it was the Doctor (The Twelfth Doctor) and Anna (fobwatched!Patience II). When Eyolf’s wolf body dies, they go back to that universe, where they meet the Twelfth Doctor again, as well as Sean I (Patience III), and HoloJohn (formerly fobwatched!Doctor’s personality that is really an alternate version of Jon, in this case taking the form of their current host, Smyth. He had a human body but his body died and they saved his consciousness inside of the TARDIS, their living ship, and she’s projecting him as a hologram. Twelve and John are both married to Anna, or Patience, who in this case is actually Sean), as well as Bill and Nardole, the Doctor’s companions at the time. Nardole has at least some robotic parts and John is a hologram, and the Doctor has been thinking about how to transfer John’s consciousness from inside the TARDIS to a robotic body, and he agrees to help them save Eyolf by trying the procedure on him first, and they successfully transferred Eyolf’s consciousness from his dying wolf body into a robotic wolf body. Eyolf stays with Anna and Jon for hundreds of years after that in his robotic wolf form.

Eyolf and Jon’s sixth host, Kara, were accidentally merged into one being, called Karolf, in a transporter accident and had to stay like that for several months before they were able to figure out how to reverse it.

Smyth Jon – #Jon-III – Eddie Redmayne – Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Trekverse / Star Trek: Remake Film, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek: Beyond, the Kelvin Timeline

Smyth Artemis was born on the planet Trill in the year 2229 and he was joined to the Jon symbiont in the year 2254 at the age of 25. He was 27 during the Discovery’s mission (Star Trek: Discovery), 37-42 during the Enterprise NCC-1701’s five year mission (Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series) and is 44-64 during Enterprise NCC-1701’s additional adventures and Enterprise NCC-1701-A’s mission (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).

Smyth was 29-34 during the Enterprise NCC-1701’s missions in the Kelvin Timeline (Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek: Beyond)

His parents were Sydney and Verity Artemis. Due to the sudden death of Beyrd, Jon and Anna were unable to meet Smyth before the joining, but he adapted well anyway. After he was joined with the Jon symbiont, he and Anna also got married in private and they had two children together, identical twin sons named Aidan and Calder, and they adopted a third son, a changeling named Pete. Smyth is an astrozoologist with experience in stellar cartography, as well, and was on the Enterprise 1701 briefly in stellar cartography and in exobiology. He was a lieutenant in Starfleet at the time, and got as far as commander in his lifetime, but never wanted to be the captain of a Federation Starship, only his own small private one he has with his wife that is not much larger than a shuttlepod. Smyth Jon met Frazyr Hines, who would become Jon's next host, briefly before he died from an illness due to old age in the year 2349.

In my game on Star Trek Online, John Smith went to the academy with Chekov, and he becomes captain of the USS Ambrosius.

Frazyr Jon – #Jon-IV – Hadley Fraser – Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis, Trekverse

Frazyr Hines was born on the planet Trill in the year 2322 and he was joined to the Jon symbiont in the year 2349 at the age of 27. Although he was a citizen of the 24th century, Frazyr was recruited by time travelers from the 31st century to be a Temporal Agent, enforcing the Temporal Accord and preserving the timeline from those who seek to change it, during the Temporal Cold War. He was given a 31st century timeship made to look like a small personal ship from the 24th century, his home timezone, and given a job working for the 24th century Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations.

During Enterprise NCC-1701-C, Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and Enterprise NCC-1701-E’s missions (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis), during the investigation of the Wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant and the war with the Dominion (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and during the time the Starship Voyager was lost in the Delta Quadrant (Star Trek: Voyager), Frazyr would’ve been 42-57, but he was traveling throughout different time periods, so that time is a bit fuzzy and he was not there through all of it.

Frazyr and Anna traveled to many different points in time and space during this time. One time, Frazyr traveled back in time to 2289. He was sent to stop an enemy from the Temporal Cold War from committing a Temporal Incursion, killing people in the past and messing with the timeline. He successfully preserved the timeline, but was fatally injured in the process. They were able to get him to Trill in enough time so that Jon could be joined to another host. They explained to the Symbiosis Commission the odd circumstances, with enough proof (his 31st century timeship) to convince them, and they were able to get him a new host in time before Frazyr died. Frazyr also told them that he would temporarily be retiring to another planet to avoid interfering with the timeline too much, since his timeship was damaged enough so it would no longer be able to travel in time, and he had no way of contacting his superiors from the future.

Sylvest Jon – #Jon-V – Sylvester McCoy – Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Trekverse / Star Trek: Remake Film, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek: Beyond, the Kelvin Timeline

Sylvest Hugh was born on the planet Trill in the year 2255. He was 1 year old during Discovery’s mission (Star Trek: Discovery), he was 11-16 years old during the Enterprise NCC-1701’s five year mission (Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series), and he was 18-38 during the Enterprise NCC-1701’s additional adventures and Enterprise NCC-1701-A’s mission (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).

Sylvest was 3-8 during the Enterprise NCC-1701’s missions in the Kelvin Timeline (Star Trek: Remake film, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek: Beyond)

His parents were Molly and Percy Hugh. Sylvest was a xenoentomologist, astroarthropodologist, and xenoparasitologist as well as a parasite conservationist. Sylvest doesn’t condone deliberate parasitism in sentient species, he is merely studying them to find ways to give them non-harmful alternatives or to help the hosts (if they are willing) so the parasites no longer cause harm to them while they still provide the ex-parasite now-commensalistic symbiote with what it needs to survive. Jon was transferred to Sylvest at the age of 34. Sylvest barely met Frazyr and Anna before he was joined. Anna and Sylvest got married in a private ceremony on the planet Symarill, where they remained, watching over the development of the Symarillion Wolves, and Sylvest worked on his own research of how to help parasites to stop needing to harm their hosts with the help of Anna and the Symarillion Wolves. He briefly met Kara in the year 2379 when Sylvest was dying of old age. Anna went on a date with Kara before Kara was joined to Jon. Many of the wolves on Symarill have continued Sylvest's work with parasites and other symbiotic lifeforms.

Kara Jon – #Jon-VI – Melissa Benoist – Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis, Trek-verse

Kara Sanders was born on the planet Trill in the year 2341. She was 24-37 during Enterprise NCC-1701-C, Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and Enterprise NCC-1701-E’s missions (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis), during the investigation of the Wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant and the war with the Dominion (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and during the time the Starship Voyager was lost in the Delta Quadrant (Star Trek: Voyager).

Kara Sanders, who will become Jon’s sixth host, was born in the year 2341 to parents Julie and Jim Sanders. She has a sister named Alex and a cousin named Clark who she is close with. She’s always known what she wanted. She wanted to work for Starfleet and to become a Joined Trill. She starts preparing herself right away and spends her childhood getting herself ready for Starfleet Academy and the Symbiosis Commission. She always gets top grades in school, and she goes through the Academy to become a Starfleet engineer serving aboard starships and exploring strange new worlds.

In the year 2365 during the second season of TNG, Kara successfully goes through the Symbiosis Commission’s screening process and is chosen to be Jon’s sixth host. She meets Sylvest Jon and goes on a date with Anna to get to know her future wife. Sylvest dies at the age of 70, and Jon is joined with Kara, their sixth host, at the age of 24, the youngest host to have ever been joined to Jon.

Kara and Anna get married in secret, of course. At some point, I’m not exactly sure on the details of where in her timeline it is, a bee-like alien who is a part of a hivemind implants its eggs into Kara. They know nothing about what kind of alien it is apart from what little they can tell from their scans. Kara and Anna decide to see it through and host the eggs and care for the babies, especially if the parent or parents never come back. There are four eggs. Their ship’s doctor said if there are any signs that the babies will severely harm or kill Kara at any point they can always take the eggs out and hope (or not hope) they can survive without her, but they never need to. The eggs hatch and they raise their four beautiful beebies together. Eventually the beebies are reunited with the rest of the hivemind and teach them to only implant their eggs in people when they have their permission, and Kara and Anna take them to Symarill where the wolves gladly agree to host the eggs of the bee hivemind. Kara and Anna visit Symarill a lot. Kara probably borrows Frazyr’s time machine more than once when he is in their time period. Since she was him, she’ll remember when and where to go. She always returns it.

Also at some point, Anna and Kara visit their other selves from the Doctor Whoniverse, and Kara and Sean II (Patience VI) have a baby together named Rosalyn, who switches off between realities and is raised by Kara Jon and Jon’s Anna, John IV, Sean II and the Eighteenth Doctor. Anna and Kara also probably have babies where they are pregnant together at some point, and probably not but Jon’s Anna might also at some point have John IV and/or Eighteen’s baby/babies.

During Voyager seasons 6-7, a transporter malfunction combines Kara and Eyolf into one person, Karolf, for several months. When they are finally separated again, they can both still remember each other’s memories.

Sometime after Nemesis, the law against Reassociation is repealed and Kara and Anna have a public Trill wedding with Kara’s family to celebrate.

In the year 2441 Kara dies at the age of 101. Kara and Jon were joined for 76 years. She briefly meets Myrln, who will be Jon’s next host, before she dies. She lived the longest any of Jon’s hosts have lived.

In my game on Star Trek Online, Kara was an engineer and she becomes captain of the USS Kryptonius.

Myrln Jon – #Jon-VII – Colin Morgan – Star Trek, Trek-verse

Myrln Jeth was born on the planet Trill in the year 2416 to parents Ambrosius and Aurelia Jeth. He met Kara, Jon’s previous host, and Jon’s wife Anna in 2441, shortly before Kara died. He was selected to be Jon’s next host and was joined with Jon when Kara died. Myrln was a scientist and became a Federation Ambassador. He died met Jonas Frere, who would be selected to be Jon’s next host, in the year 2491 at the age of 75. He was joined to Jon for 50 years.

Jonas Jon – #Jon-VIII – Nick Jonas – Star Trek, Trek-verse

Jonas Frere was born on the planet Trill in the year 2467 to the parents Denise and Paul Frere. He met Myrln and Anna in the year 2491 at the age of 24, shortly before Myrln died and he was joined with Jon. He eventually became a captain of a Federation Starship and later a Starfleet Admiral.

________________________________________________________________

Jon and Hosts in the Mirror Universe:

Noj Krad – #Mirror-Smyth – Eddie Redmayne – Star Trek: The Original Series, Trek Mirror Universe

Noj Krad was the Mirror Universe’s version of Smyth Jon.

Noj Arak Krad – #Mirror-Kara – Melissa Benoist – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Trek Mirror Universe

Arak Krad was the Mirror Universe’s version of Kara Jon.

________________________________________________________________

The Orville-Verse (can also be modified for other similar Sci-Fi universes, including Star Trek)

(Partially inspired by the plot of the novel and movie 'Every Day')

The Jon Entity has no memories before sharing the mind of a newborn baby named Smyth on the day of his birth. He has no idea how he got there or if he was alive before the child's birth. Perhaps he was created with him. All his life Smyth would be visited by what he was told was an imaginary friend, but felt more like a part of himself. Sometimes his friend would be gone for weeks at a time, and only ever stayed one day before disappearing again, and come back at random intervals, but he would always come back to him. Smyth always knew he was real. Jon told him that when he was gone from Smyth, he would share someone else's mind, but it would always be a random person, he hopped from mind to mind every night, and it was never like how it was with Smyth. He would always either have no control at all over the body he was inhabiting, being only an observer in the back of someone's mind, or he would have too much control, where he couldn't contact the body's original inhabitant at all, and they would have no memory of the day he was there when he left. He discovered this when he hopped into the body of people who knew each other back to back. During the times he had total control, he had no idea what to do. He would do his best to blend in, do what they would've done and not mess anything in their life up. It was never like that with Smyth. They had equal control and total communication when they were together. When Smyth was a teenager, they started experimenting with it, and the Jon Entity began to be able to control whose mind he hops into. Once Smyth and Jon were sure Jon could control who he hops into, they went to the Academy. When they were accepted in, they got a doctor from the Planetary Union (or Starfleet, or whatever) to examine Smyth while Jon was there and actually detect him. It wasn't an imaginary friend, or schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder, as he was sometimes told when he was younger, it was an energy lifeform cohabitating inside his neural pathways, sharing his mind and control of his body in a symbiotic relationship. The Planetary Union (or the Federation or whatever) has never come in contact with Jon's species before. They request special permission to find nine other people willing to work with Jon as stable hosts, as they found that ten hosts was the smallest amount possible for Jon to be able to consistently hop into without problems. The ten hosts, and of course Jon, all became very close, almost like family, and once they all graduated they were all assigned to the same ship so that Jon wouldn't have to find new hosts. Sometimes Jon hops into Smyth's dog Eyolf.

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book-picks-for-pride · 7 years ago

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PRIDE MONTH SUPERHERO PICKS FOR YA

Superior by Jessica Lack

A superhero's intern falls in love with a supervillain's apprentice in this star-crossed LGBT YA story from The Book Smugglers.

Here's the thing about being a superhero intern: there's a lot less crime fighting than you think there will be, what with the whole liability issue and the administrative headache of constantly monitoring the Heroic Help Hotline. The most action that Jamie sees happens when he is kidnapped by the supervillain of the week--and then waits for his boss, Captain Superior, to show up and rescue him. Again.

On his most recent nabbing, Jamie gets to meet Tad, Terrorantula's new villainous apprentice. Even though they are supposed to be on opposite sides (or are they?), sparks fly almost immediately. So, when Tad offers to give Jamie much-needed self-defense classes, how could Jamie pass the opportunity to hang out with the coolest (and hottest) guy he knows?

But Tad has a secret--one that threatens the budding relationship between the two teenage sidekicks, and could destroy Captain Superior forever.

Young Avengers, Volume 1: Sidekicks(Young Avengers #1) by Allan Heinberg (Writer), Jim Cheung

In the wake of Avengers Disassembled, a mysterious new group of teen super heroes appears. But who are they? Where did they come from? And what right do they have to call themselves the Young Avengers?

Hero by Perry Moore

The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father's pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he's been asked to join the League - the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he's gay.

But becoming a member of the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes, including Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger; Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch; and Ruth, a wise old broad who can see the future. Like Thom, these heroes have things to hide; but they will have to learn to trust one another when they uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League.

To survive, Thom will face challenges he never imagined. To find happiness, he'll have to come to terms with his father's past and discover the kind of hero he really wants to be.

Batwoman, Vol. 1: Hydrology (Batwoman #1) by J.H. Williams III (Writer, Illustrator), W. Haden Blackman (Writer), Amy Reeder (Illustrator), Richard Friend (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Colourist)

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics—The New 52 event of September 2011, Batwoman's new series finally begins! The creative team of J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman launch the ongoing Batwoman series, as Batwoman (a.ka. Kate Kane) faces deadly new challenges in her war against Gotham City's underworld–and new trials in her personal life.Who or what is stealing children from the barrio, and for what vile purpose? Will Kate train her cousin, Bette Kane (a.k.a. Flamebird), as her new sidekick? How will she handle unsettling revelations about her father, Colonel Jacob Kane? And why is a certain government agency suddenly taking an interest in her? These are some of the questions that will be answered in this long-awaited series.

Runaways Deluxe, Vol. 1 (Runaways Deluxe #1) by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona (Illustrator), Takeshi Miyazawa(Illustrations)

In Pride & Joy, six young friends discover their parents are all secretly super-powered villains Finding strength in one another, the shocked teens run away from home and straight into the adventure of their lives - vowing to turn the tables on their evil legacy. In Teenage Wasteland, the Runaways find a kindred spirit in a daring young stranger and welcome him into their fold. But will this dashing young man help the teenagers defeat their villainous parents... or tear them apart? Plus: who do you send to catch a group of missing, runaway teenage super-heroes? Marvel's original teen runaway crimefighters, Cloak and Dagger, make their first major appearance in years In The Good Die Young, the world as we know it is about to end, and the Runaways are the only hope to prevent it Our fledgling teenage heroes have learned how their parents' criminal organization began, and now they must decide how it should end. As the Runaways' epic battle against their evil parents reaches its shocking conclusion, the team's mole stands revealed, and blood must be shed. Which kids will still be standing when the smoke finally clears? Collects Runaways (Vol.1) #1-18.

Not Your Sidekick (Sidekick Squad #1) by C.B. Lee

Welcome to Andover… where superpowers are common, but internships are complicated. Just ask high school nobody, Jessica Tran. Despite her heroic lineage, Jess is resigned to a life without superpowers and is merely looking to beef-up her college applications when she stumbles upon the perfect (paid!) internship—only it turns out to be for the town’s most heinous supervillain. On the upside, she gets to work with her longtime secret crush, Abby, who Jess thinks may have a secret of her own. Then there’s the budding attraction to her fellow intern, the mysterious “M,” who never seems to be in the same place as Abby. But what starts as a fun way to spite her superhero parents takes a sudden and dangerous turn when she uncovers a plot larger than heroes and villains altogether.

Dreadnought (Nemesis #1) by April Daniels

Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero.

Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.

It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.

She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Junior Hero Blues by J.K. Pendragon

Last year, Javier Medina was your average socially awkward gay high schooler with a chip on his shoulder. This year, he's . . . well, pretty much the same, but with bonus superpowers, a costume with an ab window to show off his new goods, and a secret identity as the high-flying, wise-cracking superhero Blue Spark.

But being a Junior Hero means that Javier gets all the responsibility and none of the cool gadgets. It's hard enough working for the Legion of Liberty and fighting against the evil Organization, all while trying to keep on top of schoolwork and suspicious parents. Add in a hunky boyfriend who's way out of Javier's league, and an even hunkier villain who keeps appearing every time said boyfriend mysteriously disappears, and Blue Spark is in for one big dollop of teenage angst. All while engaging in some epic superhero action and, oh yeah, an all-out battle to protect Liberty City from the forces of evil.

Welcome to the 100% true and totally unbiased account of life as a teenage superhero.

America, Vol. 1 (America (Single Issues) (2017 - ) #1–6) by Gabby Rivera (Writer), Joe Quinones (Illustrator)

At last! Everyone's favorite no-nonsense powerhouse, America Chavez, gets her own series! Critically acclaimed young-adult novelist Gabby Rivera and all-star artist Joe Quinones unite to shine a solo spotlight on America's high-octane and hard-hitting adventures! She was a Young Avenger. She leads the Ultimates. And now she officially claims her place as the preeminent butt-kicker of the entire Marvel Universe! But what's a super-powered teenager to do when she's looking for a little personal fulfi llment? She goes to college! America just has to stop an interdimensional monster or two first and shut down a pesky alien cult that's begun worshipping her exploits before work can begin. Then she can get on with her first assignment: a field trip to the front lines of World War II - with Captain America as her wingman!

Stranger (The Change #1) by Rachel Manija Brown (Goodreads Author), Sherwood Smith

Many generations ago, a mysterious cataclysm struck the world. Governments collapsed and people scattered, to rebuild where they could. A mutation, "the Change,” arose, granting some people unique powers. Though the area once called Los Angeles retains its cultural diversity, its technological marvels have faded into legend. "Las Anclas" now resembles a Wild West frontier town… where the Sheriff possesses superhuman strength, the doctor can warp time to heal his patients, and the distant ruins of an ancient city bristle with deadly crystalline trees that take their jewel-like colors from the clothes of the people they killed.

Teenage prospector Ross Juarez’s best find ever – an ancient book he doesn’t know how to read – nearly costs him his life when a bounty hunter is set on him to kill him and steal the book. Ross barely makes it to Las Anclas, bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had before, and a whole lot of trouble.

#superhero pride #pride books #queer books #lgbt superheros

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fatcatmediamoguls-blog · 8 years ago

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Candidate Dagon: NO SHOW

Spokesminions from the Cthulhu campaign report that while their camp has in good faith shown up at every cataclysm and rending of reality, Dagon, the coastal candidate and long-time nemesis of His Unviewableness, has not risen to the surface to debate, battle, or even warp sanity.

A despondent Dagon supporter contemplates the abyss.

As our readers probably know, Dagon’s key campaign platform has been to bring the Innsmouth Look (tm) to all of humanity, even those dissenting desert dwellers currently worshipping Cthulhu as their leading candidate. “No more will I be shackled to the Trilithion of Cthulhu!” he was last reported declaiming as the waves closed over his head, and he has not been seen since. Cthulhu’s spokesminions aver that they will still attend every campaign apocalypse sources indicate that staffers are referring privately to the revered sea deity as “Chicken of the Sea.” Newcomer oddball Peabody Mugglesworth III was questions in connection to Dagon’s absence, but claimed ignorance.

Cthulhu pleased at his dominance.

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 1 Easter Eggs and References

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers for “Second Contact.”

Individual episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks will only be about 30-minutes, sometimes a little bit less. But don’t let that fool you. This series has Trekkie Easter eggs the way the Deep Space Station K-7 has Tribbles. Just when you think you’ve found the last one, there’s another one. The new animated comedy series is clearly lovingly crafted with the fans in mind, and showrunner Mike McMahan has slipped in more than just a few loving nods to the giant Trek canon.

Because Lower Decks is so meta and self-referential, it’s very possible we didn’t catch everything. But, just like Mariner and her buds, we tried to be scrappy underdogs and do our own research. So, at the risk of being wrong, here’s (probably) every Easter egg and reference we spotted in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1, Episode 1, “Second Contact.”

The classic Spacedock

The opening shot of Lower Decks shows us a style of Spacedock that should be very familiar to longtime fans. Though this exact Spacedock is not supposed to be the same one that is in orbit of Earth, it looks identical to that specific design of space station. First seen in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, this style of Spacedock would reappear in stock footage for several episodes of The Next Generation and was referenced in the Voyager episode “Non Sequitur.” In the Discovery Season 1 finale, “Will You Take My Hand?” we saw the classic Spacedock under construction above Earth, but it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen this exact design in canon.

Romulan whiskey

This one you know. Mariner is drunk on Romulan Whiskey, which seems to be as potent — if not more potent — than Romulan Ale. Starting with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Romulan Ale had a reputation for getting you so drunk that it was made illegal. Boimler suggest that Romulan Whiskey is “against regulations,” which is close enough. But, Mariner’s comment that “you’d think it would be green,” might reference all the green Romulan ships, but could also be a reference to Scotty getting drunk in the TOS episode “By Any Other Name.” In that episode, when Scotty found a bottle of booze he couldn’t identify, he just said: “It’s green.”

Mariner swings a TNG-era bat’leth

Like the old-school Spacedock, it’s actually been a while since we’ve seen the classic version of the bat’leth. First appearing in the TNG 4th season episode “Reunion,” this curved sword became a staple of Klingon culture throughout the franchise. And though we’ve seen bat’leths in both seasons of Discovery, and in the film Star Trek Into Darkness, it’s actually not been since the Voyager era that we’ve seen this classic design.

Klingon with an eyepatch

Mariner says she got her bat’leth from an “Old Guy with an eyepatch.” While this could be a random reference, most fans probably think of the Klingon General Chang, from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Chang, of course, is dead (maybe?) so Mariner can’t be talking about him. General Martok from Deep Space Nine has one eye, so maybe it’s him?

Black hole is from Discovery (and real science)

The opening title sequence of Lower Decks obviously pays homage to the openings of both TNG and Voyager, but that yellow oval-looking spatial disturbance is actually a black hole. In fact, this is how an illusionary black hole looked in the Discovery episode, “If Memory Serves.” The design of this black hole is based on physicist Kip Thorne’s conception of black hole, and the design was first seen in a big sci-fi production in the 2014 movie Interstellar.

The USS Cerritos pulls a Voyager

The moment where the Cerritos skims the surface of an icy planet is very reminiscent of the opening of Voyager. The difference here is that Voyager didn’t actually scrape the ship on the planet.

Space creature is a TNG shout-out

When we see that there’s a little (actually huge!) space critter attached to the back of the Cerritos’ warp nacelles, this feels like a reference to the TNG episode “Galaxy’s Child,” in which a space bourne lifeform attaches itself to the Enterprise because it thinks the starship is its mother.

TNG era font and the name of the episode actually listened in the credits

The blue font is instantly recognizable to most fans as the exact same kind used throughout TNG. But, on top of that, this is the first new Star Trek series since Enterprise to actually put the name of the episode in quotes, and in the on-screen credits. Other than Short Treks, none of the post-Enterprise Trek series have shown the name of the episodes in the opening credits.

Shuttlecraft names reference DS9 and the name of the Cerritos itself

All the shuttlecraft on the Cerritos appear to named after forests in California. We see shuttlecraft with the following names: Redwood, Yosemite, and Joshua Tree. The Cerritos itself is named for the city in California of the same name. Later in the episode, we see that Captain Freeman has the state flag of California in her Ready Room. And, naming small spacecraft after locations comes from a solid Trek tradition: In Deep Space Nine all the runabouts were named for rivers on Earth; i.e the Ganges, Orinoco, and Yangtze Kiang.

Several classic Trek aliens are seen throughout the ship

When Tendi arrives on the Cerritos, we see crewmembers who are Benzite, Andorian, and possibly a Napean. That last one might not be familiar, but there was a Napean named Daniel Kwan who was central to the plot of the TNG episode “Eye of the Beholder.” The Benzites first appeared on TNG in “Coming of Age,” and the Anodrians first appeared on TOS in “Journey to Babel.” And, of course, Tendi is an Orion, who first appeared in “The Cage.”

At least two crewmembers are rocking VISORS

When Tendi first boards the Cerritos we see a crewmember wearing a VISOR just like Geordi’s from TNG. Later in the episode, we see a second, different crewmember also wearing a VISOR.

“Banana, hot”

The replicator malfunction, which is causing it to spit out bananas, seems to reference Picard ordering “Tea, Earl Grey. Hot” in The Next Generation.

“We don’t wash our hands”

Mariner jokes that the ensigns in the “lower decks” “don’t wash our hands…we’re doing kickflips.” This might be a reference to the TOS episode “The Naked Time,” in which a “redshirt” crewmember fails to follow correct decontamination protocols, and, as a result, the entire crew is infected with a virus. So, Mariner’s line could reference both “The Naked Time,” and the rest of the episode, since the entire plot revolves around the ship getting infected by a zombie virus, partially because Commander Ransom didn’t really pay attention to a bug that bit him.

Pattern buffers and Cetacean ops

While Mariner gives Tendi a full tour of the ship, she mentions several things that should be familiar to fans. The “pattern buffer maintenance access,” is connected to how the transporter works. For example, in the TNG episode “Relics,” Scotty was discovered inside of a pattern buffer from a crashed starship.

But, the more hilarious super deep cut here is the phrase “Cetacean ops.” This was heard over the intercom in the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” but in the episode “The Perfect Mate,” it was also mentioned that there were dolphins on the Enterprise.

“We sleep in a hallway.”

Mariner points out that the ensigns on the Cerritos don’t have their own quarters, and basically sleep in a row of bunks in a long hallway. While this may seem spartan for the swanky 24th century, there is a precedent for this. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, we saw several young crew members sleeping in bunks in what looked like a hallway.

Sonic showers

Boimler mentions that the showers are musty, which shouldn’t make sense since they are “sonic.” The idea that the showers on Starfleet ships use “sonic showers” has existed since Star Trek: The Motion Picture, in which the V’Ger probe transformed into Ilia in a sonic shower.

Boimler appears to reference… Anakin Skywalker?

When Tendi, Boimler, and Mariner are on the beach in the holodeck, Boimler complains that sand “just gets everywhere and gives you a rash.” The idea that sand “gets everywhere” feels like a reference to the infamous Anakin Skywalker speech in Attack of the Clones in which he said “I don’t like sand. It’s rough and coarse, and it gets everywhere.” Is Star Trek clowning on the Star Wars prequels?

Freeman’s secret assignment to Boimler is a wink to the OG “Lower Decks”

When Freeman pulls Boimler into her Ready Room to give him a secret assignment, it seems to reference the original TNG episode “Lower Decks” in which Picard gives Ensign Sito a secret assignment in much the same way. The difference, of course, is that Picard wasn’t asking Sito to spy on another crew member.

Freeman stole a hat from… Chris Pine?

In addition to the flag of California in Freeman’s Ready Room, she also has a sword, and what looks like one of the officer caps worn by members of Starfleet in the reboot movies. Did those hats exist in this timeline, too?

Picard’s favorite ride is back

Previously spotted on a map of the ship, it appears that the Cerritos carries several versions of the “Argo” land vehicles driven by Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis. In that film (which takes place just one year prior to Lower Decks) the Argo seemed to be a new addition to Starfleet ships. So, by 2380, it seems like they’re fairly common. Either that or the Enterprise got theirs late?

Starfleet regulations

Boimler references regulations 498 and 756. Meanwhile, Mariner counters by alluding to regulations 25, 15, and 348. She also says Boimler is breaking “76 for just pointing that at me!”

As far as we can tell, all of these regulations have never been referenced in Trek canon before. We could be wrong, but it really seems that way.

“I was here for First Contact”

Mariner reveals that the reason she’s aware of the plight of some of the farmer aliens is because she was on the planet for the first contact, a year prior. This is kind of like in “A Private Little War,” when Kirk is familiar with the inhabitants of the planet Neural, having previously visited the planet during a scouting mission, years prior.

Klingon prison

Mariner says she’s “been in a Klingon prison where I had to fight a yeti for my own shoes!” This seems to reference the Klingon prison Rura Penthe, made famous in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In that movie, Kirk had to fight a giant blue alien who wanted his coat.

General Order 5

This also does not seem to be one of Starfleet’s rules that we’re already aware of. That said,in the TOS episode “Turnabout Intruder,” General Order 4 says Starfleet “forbids the death penalty.” But then again, General Order 7, says you can get the death penalty if you go to Talos IV, as we learned in “The Menagerie.” So, maybe General Order 5 has something to do with punishments?

First Contact-style spacewalk

When Rutherford and Ensign Barnes take their date outside, their entire journey along the saucer section of the ship’s hull is a direct reference to the film Star Trek: First Contact. This is only appropriate since the episode is called “Second Contact.”

“I’m a believer”

Barnes mentions she’s really into a “classical band” called the Monkees. This, obviously, references the band the Monkees, but the idea that pop or rock music would be called “classical” kind of derives from Star Trek Beyond when Bones asks if the Beastie Boys is “classical music.” And, beyond that, the Monkees reference could be an indirect reference to the character of Chekov in TOS, who was accused on more than one occasion, of having a haircut styled to look like the Monkees. (Who were ripping off the Beatles.)

“Why didn’t the door recognize our com badges?”

Rutherford has a full freak-out over the fact that the automatic doors did not let he and Barnes into a specific area. He also mentions that it seems like the doors have a one 1 in 4 chance of even opening properly. This seems like a giant joke connected to the fact that throughout the entire canon of Trek, the doors never seem to open consistently or with any kind of consistent rules.

Mirror Spock

For one instant, a Vulcan crewmember on the Cerritos is covered with black goo from the space zombies. This gives him the brief appearance of having a goatee like Spock from the Mirror Universe in the classic TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror.”

Admiral Mariner… we presume?

At the end of the episode, we learn that Mariner is the daughter of Captain Freeman and this Admiral, who, we have to assume is named Mariner, since Mariner’s last name is not Freeman. Either that or Mariner has a last name that is different from both of her parents for entirely different reasons. In fact, we don’t really have a good sense about how human naming conventions work in the 23rd and 24th centuries, mostly because we tend to meet humans that serve in Starfleet more than “civilians.” Although it’s not actually canon, the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (written by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry himself) features a prologue from James T. Kirk in which he explains that having a surname at all is old fashion in the 23rd Century, and that the idea of having a family last name is something people in Starfleet tend to do because they are old fashioned.

This idea is not supported anywhere in canon. But, the Admiral is not actually named Mariner, then it’s possible people in Trek canon can — and often do – just choose their names for themselves well after birth.

“You’re gonna be Cha’DIch from now on”

When Mariner and Boimler become besties at the end of the episode, Mariner says Boimler will be her “Cha’Dich” from now on. This comes from the TNG episode “Sins of the Father.” A “Cha’Dich” is someone who fights for someone else. It’s an honorable title, but you know, Mariner also is saying that she expects Boimler to fight for her.

Mariner’s rant about famous Star Trek characters

In a metafictional move, Mariner mentions several famous Starfleet officers, presumably to see if Boimler knows his stuff. Here’s a truncated version of what she says:

“Do you know about Spock? Dude came back from being dead? Got the Genesis device to fight Khan and some space whales. Sulu, he rocked a sword. That was his thing. That could be your thing, too. We’re due for a new sword guy. Do you know about Kirk? My man Worf?…Gary Mitchell? Do you know Deanna Troi, She went from a jumpsuit…”

So, in this brief triad, Mariner references Spock’s death in The Wrath of Khan, his rebirth in The Search For Spock, the events of The Voyage Home, Sulu fighting with a sword in “The Naked Time,” Kirk, Worf, and Gary Mitchell from “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” And, before the credits cut her off, Marnier is referencing the fact that Deanna Troi wore a jumpsuit on the Enterprise before switching to a standard uniform after the episode “Chain of Command.”

Something funny about this rant is that Mariner gets some of her history slightly wrong. It sounds like she thinks that Spock fought Khan with the Genesis Device, and that the humpback whales were from space. They were, of course, regular whales! They only talked to space probes! This slight hyperbole feels right though. This is the year 2380. Mariner is mostly talking about stuff from the 2280s and the 2260s, meaning a hundred years plus in the past. She’s a fan of the history of Starfleet. But just like this Easter egg list, she can’t catch everything.

Star Trek: Lower Deck airs on Thursdays on CBS All Access.

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 1 Easter Eggs and References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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formatcrocus4-blog · 6 years ago

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Little Known Facts About knights.

The Gray Knights confronted the cult as Sundel stood about the verge of utter destruction, its towns wholly provided about to worshipping the quite Daemons that orchestrated their destroy. From the vacant silence, the only Seems to generally be read were being the bark of Storm Bolters and the crackle of Nemesis Power Weapons as being the Gray Knights purified the World and annihilated any in their route. The Pope conferred around the Templars the correct to dress in a crimson cross on their own white mantles, which symbolised their willingness to experience martyrdom in defending the Holy Land against the infidel. [ten] "A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and safe on each individual facet, for his soul is secured through the armour of religion, just as his system is protected by the armour of metal. He is So doubly armed, and need panic neither demons nor Adult males." The Holy Eucharist continue to seems like bread and wine, feels like bread and wine, tastes like bread and wine, smells like bread and wine, and when damaged or splashed would sound like bread and wine. A different article will go over the Mass like a sacrifice. Here we simply want to point that it's at Mass the improve of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ will take place. A gray Knights squad is considered to stay successful with only 5 of its associates fight-worthy, so with a little number of responsibility reassignment and doctrinal overall flexibility, a Brother-Captain can maintain his Brotherhood at an appropriate preventing energy, Despite up to a third of his warriors from commission. The warriors it disgorged set upon the Wyrm and its servants, cleaning Vause III in a war obvious from Room. In the Hell Rain of Korpolis, blind and deaf Ministorum monks witnessed the Gray Knights banish the Khornate Styrm-Lord. Huddled while in the dripping cellars of their mountain sanctuary, their minds were tormented from the psychic blood rain that drowned the world. These was the glorious presence of the Daemonhunters that even with no eyes or ears the monks sensed their coming, "observing" their deeds as fierce argent flashes inside their minds. The Gray Knights fought their key war where ever the specter of the Dark Gods appeared, trying to find out those areas where the fabric of actuality grew thin and hungry Daemons turned their gaze towards the realm of Male. This was to get the sacred duty of your Grey Knights, and their limitless wrestle from a foe without the need of quantity or remorse. Concealed Chapter It's in these text—”the terms of Consecration” as They are really termed—which the essence with the Mass resides. Once the Master of Mankind appeared on Those people Malcador had brought He realized that there was yet hope for Humanity. Twelve Gentlemen in all had been collected, four noble lords and governors of the best buy, complemented by eight Area Marines. These 8 picked Place Marines all possessed paranormal techniques as psykers that had been retained dormant as necessary by the edicts in the Council of Nikaea -- the Council had dominated during the Fantastic Crusade that the use of psychic powers was forbidden to Room Marines due to the dangers innate to manipulation of your Empyrean. These warriors willingly Solid aside their former loyalties to their specified Area Maritime Legions and Primarchs, either as a result of corruption of these Legions by Chaos, or as they realised that loyalty into the Emperor needed them to sacrifice all ties for their former Fight-Brothers. Laraon understands you can find much much too several Grey Knights to the process of protecting the Imperium, and is loath to squander only one a single. The Higher Seneschal believes that, hanging at the best time and in the ideal put, a handful of Gray Knights can do the job of a whole Brotherhood. seventy five calibre bolt round might have. Grey Knights also employ numerous special ranged weapons such as Incinerators and Psycannons, all of which can be made for optimum usefulness versus daemons, Warp-entities and psykers: By Molay's time the Grand Learn was presiding over no less than 970 properties, such as commanderies and castles while in the east and west, serviced by a membership which happens to be unlikely to have been under seven,000, excluding personnel and dependents, who will have to happen to be 7 or 8 instances that amount. Purge of Jollana (913.M41) - Destruction came to The nice Librarium of Jollana in 913.M41 in the fingers with the thrice-reviled Chaos Sorcerer Ahriman from the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. Identified to take the insider secrets of the Librarium for himself, Ahriman wiped out Jollana's defenders and far of the Librarium was ruined. Top becoming a catholic priest Secrets Inside the wake of Ahriman's assault, the Invaders Chapter dispatched 3 companies of Astartes along with a relief army of Imperial Guard to Jollana to safe the Librarium. Not able to ascertain whether or not Ahriman's forces have been continue to existing in its catacombs, the Invaders However acted with their Chapter's famed recklessness and launched a complete-scale assault -- however Ahriman was lengthy gone. Given that the Chapter's Drop Pods crashed property, they unknowingly induced the elaborate process of sorcerous wards that Ahriman had remaining set up as one last act of devilment. Scouring the hearth-blackened rubble for just about any trace from the foe, arcane energies began to construct and have been eventually produced in a violent cascade of pink Warpflame that incinerated the Guardsmen to a person. The Invaders fared improved, protected against the sorcerous assault by their Power Armour. Nonetheless the dangers to assail the Invaders experienced only started. As being the fires guttered and died, the walls of actuality had been torn asunder and daemons burst through in the Librarium's wonderful hall. A B C D E File G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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