#i know i went hard here on the tng crew

[gaykarstaagforever]

TNG, Season 6, Episode 18, "Starship Mine".

Terrorists seize the Enterprise-D for some stupid reason, Picard gets captured, whatever, who cares.

I want to talk about Hutch.

He is played up as this super-annoying guy who "talks about nothing" all the time, to such an extreme that even this episode's Butt Head Aliens hate him. Worf and Geordi both try to get out of hanging out with him. Picard only gets captured as part of some ploy to avoid him. He also tells Data to learn small talk from him, which leads to Data mimicking him, which Riker and Crusher find so funny, Riker introduces Data to Hutch and then they stand there at a distance, making fun of both of them.

Here's the thing - Hutch did nothing wrong.

You horrible space nerds. This guy is warm and funny and friendly, he has a million stories, he knows everyone, and trivia about tons of planets and species, and he nonchalantly tells you where cool horseback-riding trails are.

This guy is fascinating and awesome! This is 100% the best guy at any party! I guess they cast this badly, because Hutch isn't remotely annoying. He seems like a fun, fascinating guy, who you could talk to about anything, forever. Who the hell hates that!?

"It's all small talk." "He talks about nothing." Oh sorry, important Galaxy-class crew, that Hutch doesn't talk about the one specific thing each one of you specifically cares about. GOD FORBID anyone engage you people on a sub-doctorate level conversation about alien weather or funny ancedotes about people you don't know personally.

I swear to god..

SORRY, Riker, that he got in the way of you finding yet another woman with low standards to have a meaningless one-night-stand with.

SORRY, Beverly, that someone expected you to engage with a conversation not about obscure alien diarrhea for 10 minutes.

SORRY, Geordi, that the captain made you be nice to a guy you don't know, instead of you being creepy and then striking out with a woman you've been feeding drinks to all evening.

Hutch is by far the most emotionally well-balanced and interesting person in this room! If you actually listened to his conversation where Data was innocently copying him, you'd learn a hundred different interesting things!

Leave Hutch alone, you jerks. He's better than all of you!

Update: ...You guys are not going to believe this.

[mylittleredgirl]

Least favorite Star Trek character in each series?

i love all my children equally how could you do this to me!!!!

slightly more rational answer: i have been thinking about this since yesterday when i got the ask and it's like every time i think i have an answer i immediately go "oh but i love them for XYZ" and they move up in the ranks. ultimately most treks are ensemble shows and removing anybody from the ensemble makes it all fall apart!

gun to my head, though, bearing in mind that i love all of them:

tos: gun to my head it's chapel i'm afraid and i feel bad about it. she doesn't really get to grow much and the other most-static character is probably chekov and i had a massive crush on him. in 1967 when they went "you know this show should add a mop top for the teenyboppers out there" they were talking specifically about me 30 years later.

tng: i would take the bullet for real.

ds9: man i'm going through main characters and then secondary characters and then tertiary characters and how are they all so essential and good????? literally i have gone thru a list of characters and a list of episodes and am coming up blank. even the villains are fantastic. eddington is annoying but he's supposed to be and his episodes are all great. sloan himself is fun it's just what section 31 did to star trek in general that sucks. like????? there's not a single name that shows up in the credits that doesn't make me go YEAHHHHHH.

voy: if we can count recurring characters i'm saying barclay. i liked him a lot as a character in tng and but go "for fuck's sake" whenever i see "guest star dwight schultz" on the voyager credits. i dislike pretty much every earth-contact episode after "message in a bottle" so maybe i don't like voyager-barclay because he just happens to be there?? for main cast it'd be neelix shut up shut up i love him in the ensemble but sometimes when they give him his own episode it's too much.

ent: sorry malcolm lovers this was the only show that was an easy choice. like we SHOULD dig into the fact that essentially his greatest wish is to sacrifice himself and he won't be happy until he dies on the job. klingon behavior but not at all for the fun and glory of it just because he kind of just doesn't enjoy being alive???? archer is terrible in so many ways but he's also much more enjoyable to watch being terrible.

disco: this is actually a very weird show to even know who to choose from. the cast changes every year! we barely even know the bridge crew! who is interesting enough to count as a main character?? of the main title cast i'm kind of hot and cold with adira. i like them but the sheer amount of anxiety radiating off them at all times makes me tense up whenever they come on screen. (i just realized it's kind of ironic to say adira because they're basically a mix of wesley and ezri, who would probably make this list for most other trekkies but are two of my absolute faves.) (i will think long and hard about this)

snw: i don't know that i have enough of a read on any of them? i still haven't finished it. chapel (again?? oh no) is the one i had the hardest time warming up to early on because she seemed the most wink-y and out of place in a franchise that usually takes silly things very seriously, but i did warm up to her!

lower decks: if we can go with guest characters i hate badgey (only one on here that gathers the "hate" rating!!). i don't find him (it??) funny and i know i SHOULD find it funny which means whenever it shows up i am both not having a good time and feel bad about not having a good time. the main characters are all brilliant. gun to my head it's boims but it's a close one i love them all.

i don't even know what other shows we have i've run out of steam???

oh right picard. captain shaw??? why is such a large subset of fandom so horny for him??? and shipping him with seven of nine of all things???? is it just White Guy With Trauma because there are like. a lot of other white guys with trauma in this franchise to choose from.

[sshbpodcast]

Coming in for a landing: Finales in Star Trek

By Ames

Last week, A Star to Steer Her By talked about the first bites we got of each Star Trek series in our pilots and premieres blogpost. This week, we’re moving onto desserts to compare and contrast the lingering taste that each show’s finale leaves in your mouth. Do they wrap up their series in a satisfying way, closing out each plot arc that the show promised to give us, or do they whiff hard and kill off everyone’s favorite character for no good reason? Or did they even have a real finale at all?

We’re just covering the shows and films through Enterprise for now, so read on for our thoughts on each series’s final installation and/or listen to us argue incessantly about where Voyager’s finale should fall on the list over on the podcast (the end starts at 1:08:58). with guest star James Rossi. The sky’s the limit!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

TOS: “Turnabout Intruder”

Okay, so The Original Series should really get a pass here because not only did they not necessarily know they were getting canceled (again), but also putting together a big series-ending finale wasn’t as much of a thing back in the 60s as it is now. TOS was the most episodic of the shows, with next to no continuity between weeks to keep track of, so what exactly was there to wrap up?

Ultimately, it’s a pity that the episode that they went out on was such a trainwreck though, as it sours the final impression you’re left with when the show ends. “Turnabout Intruder” closes out the first three years of the Enterprise’s five-year mission by revealing that women cannot become captains, and depicting the one woman we get to see in the role as a hysterical, manipulative sicko. So in addition to not ending in a satisfying way, the final episode taints the idealistic future of equality that the show was going for by introducing more sexism. Couldn’t we have just ended it at “All Our Yesterdays” and called it a [yester]day?

TAS: “The Counter-Clock Incident”

It’s probably not even worth it to include The Animated Series’s finale on this list, but I’m going to anyway. Like The Original Series, the cartoon show didn’t have a planned finale by any stretch. It’s just another normal episode of the show that just happened to be the last. And in this case it was from an extremely abbreviated season of only six episodes, which seems to be pretty much how Filmation did things back then.

And also duplicating its parent show’s practice, the cartoon show also goes out with a whimper. “The Counter-Clock Incident” has the crew of the Enterprise starting to age backwards inexplicably, and the more you think about it, the more your brain will regress as well. Really when you think about it, TAS went out the same way it came in: barely animated and hardly worth your time.

TOS Films: The Undiscovered Country

Finally, our original hero crew gets the send off they deserve when we reach the films, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country leaves us feeling satisfied at how we’ve seen the last of them. Until Generations, I guess. But the final foray of the crew of the Enterprise (no A, no B, no C, no bloody D!) together as a singular unit really does them justice. The film closes out their adventures by having them fighting to keep the peace and protect the lives of people on both sides of yet another Federation-Klingon skirmish. It’s one of the core Trek pillars: always do the more ethical thing.

After our little adventure with Chang and Admiral Cartright (hey, remember him from Jake’s evil admirals list we bring up all the time?), the bridge crew has a closing moment on the bridge that feels final, like they’re saying goodbye to us in the audience and thanking us for following along throughout the years.

TNG: “All Good Things…”

We begin The Next Generation with a Q riddle, and we end it on another Q riddle. And it’s somehow part of the same Q riddle. It’s ingenious! Say what you will about weird time travel and revisiting previous moments from the show for the audience to recognize, but “All Good Things…” executes it all so well that even tropey ideas that could have fallen flat feel fresh and inspiring. The finale is mostly a culmination of the pilot we talked about last week, but it works. And boy, does Patrick Stewart bring it!

As a close to the show, the TNG finale delivers the kind of episode it’s always promised: an ethical debate about how humanity should act in the face of disaster. And while the show as a whole doesn’t have the most noticeable arc, seeing versions of the crew from the past and the future allows us to still appreciate how far we’ve come together. Having Picard join his crew at the poker table is the perfect lasting image for this show and its characters to promise us that while we’ve finished this chapter of their adventures, they will go on.

TNG Films: Nemesis

But what they go on to is the TNG movies, necessitating another close to their journey by the time we get to Star Trek: Nemesis, arguably the worst of all the Trek films. Unlike the cast of The Original Series, everyone on team TNG knew they were producing movies, and quickly, so their poignant and satisfying ending to the television show could barely linger before the crew was up on the big screen. And the second time we said goodbye to our Starfleet friends is a slap to the face.

While The Undiscovered Country sends off our heroes in a heart-warming and optimistic fashion, Nemesis goes for gasps. In the final moments, everyone left is depressed and with no direction. The Wrath of Khan makes Spock’s sacrifice meaningful and powerful, but this movie is no Wrath of Khan, which also had future movies being planned. Data’s death, on the other hand, leaves the audience asking “what the hell?” I don’t know when it became such a commonality to kill off a beloved character at the end of a show or movie, but it’s also not the last we’re going to see of this rather un-Trekkian stunt.

DS9: “What You Leave Behind”

Deep Space Nine had a LOT of threads to tie up by the time it reached “What You Leave Behind.” And some of those threads tie off cleanly, while others are pretty frayed at their ends. There may have just been too many things going on to wrap up. The Dominion War: good. A really good conclusion there. The Changeling disease: also shakes out in a satisfying way, with a farewell to Odo that brings a tear to your eye without destroying the integrity of the character.

And then in the middle of a party at Vic’s, Sisko remembers out of the blue that he still has to wrap up the fire caves! It feels like an afterthought, which makes no sense because the show had a ten-part arc to work all this out. Dukat has his sight back out of nowhere. He and Winn rush through their scenes so that more time can be spent in the space battle, I guess. Don’t get me wrong: Deep Space Nine is stellar, and it’s a lovely change of pace to see that its characters will be moving on to very different lives. But they maybe bit off more than they could chew.

VOY: “Endgame”

Of all the finales we’re discussing, Voyager’s is the one we agree the least on. I personally love time travel and Borg (you saw that First Contact is my favorite Trek movie, right?), so I’m a big fan. So much of a fan that I can overlook some of the flaws the other SSHB hosts bring up on the podcast. Like how Admiral Janeway’s plan is questionable at best, and selfish and criminal at worst. Or how we never actually get any closure on the Maquis plot, which probably should have been resolved somewhere in the last season.

I’ll admit that we don’t get as good of a final moment as we get in “As Good Things…” The Voyager makes it back to the Alpha Quadrant and… then the show just sorta ends. I’m not saying that we should have had a bunch of epilogue moments with all the characters (that would grind the pacing to a halt), but an ending in which the crew sets foot on Earth would have felt more cathartic. Janeway gets to hug her dog. Paris introduces his father to his daughter—and they actually exchange dialogue, for crying out loud! But whatever. The goal of the finale is to get Voyager home, and it delivers that in a clever sci-fi story. And Kate Mulgrew rocks this episode so hard that I forgive it for any of its issues.

ENT: “These Are the Voyages…”

This one belongs on the bottom of any list of finales. “These Are the Voyages…” is deep in the running in our Bottom Five Episodes of Enterprise list, and for good reason. It’s not even an episode of Enterprise, so it obviously isn’t going to be received as a good finale for Enterprise. Jumping ahead six years is jarring. Having everything onboard the Enterprise be a holodeck program makes the whole thing ring false and easily discountable. And framing it as an installment of The Next Generation is a slap in the face to the show and its fans, if there were any.

And Trip’s death seems even more unearned here than Data’s was in Nemesis. We’re forced to lose another fan-favorite character… for this? Even if the team had just learned they were canceled without much time to prepare, apparently they had this option in their back pocket, and it should have stayed there collecting lint. “Terra Prime” was a perfectly fitting way to wrap things up without shitting on your own show. In the words of George Takei: “Way to kill the franchise, Bakula.”

—

One of these days, we’ll come back for the finales of the shows of the streaming era (some of which are fast approaching as I write this!), but we’ve got lots of other topics to cover until then, so make sure you’re following this space. You can also listen along as we watch through episodes of Discovery over on the podcast on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts, and sit down with us at our poker table over on Facebook. Set your heading to the second star to the left, and straight on ‘til morning.

[talesfrommedinastation]

Redneck Neighbor Doug: Why Belters are Space Cajuns

If Mandalorians are space rednecks, then Belters from The Expanse are space Cajuns. This is not up for debate, according to the nerdiest Southern man of all time, my neighbor Doug, who, it turns out, loves this show too. I'm 99% sure he's also a TNG and Battlestar fan, but that would just kill me with exhaustion if we went into full deets about it.

Onto our friends in the Belt and why they have so much in common with the French-Americans who reside in the wilder parts of the deep American south of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

I will elucidate now, via Doug, on what Belters and Cajuns do that make them…them:

They make do: First thing we see in the entire series is how much the Belters are royally crapped on by life. They live in space, which permanently alters their bodies, to the point where they can not survive on a planet. To quote, “Belters work the docks, loading and unloading precious cargo…never meant for us”. They don’t have the wealth of Earth or the incredible military drive of Mars, but they’re scrappy, innovative, and do what they can to survive, whether it’s by smuggling, pirating, or allying themselves with powerful folks. Like the French folks in Acadia who got flung from their homes to the bayous of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, who scrape a living by fishing, boatmaking, bartending, and/or serving as a member of the X-Men. Cajuns and Belters do what they can to survive, giving them an edge that others do not have.

They party hard: Belters love drinking, having parties on their ships and in port, banging everyone on the crew, and overall just being wild. After all, you never know when you’re going to get your air or water cut off by the Inners, might as well live it up. And Cajuns, well, they invented Mardi Gras and their saying is ‘Laissez les bons temps rouler’ or ‘let the good times roll’. Life isn’t easy on a swamp that is constantly wacked by floods or hurricanes, but they party as much as they can. Just like the Belters.

Their women: Some of the best damn characters in the series are the angry ladies of the Belt (Camina Drummer and Naomi Nagata). Man, they something else. They’re loving, fierce, smart, crazy, and can go from Bambi to Banshee in five seconds. Cajun women love to host parties, help with church, and cook and make an amazing roux from dirt and crayfish, but God help you if you piss one off. Those pot carrying arms can snap a neck quicker than a blue crab shell. 

They speak in patois: Ever heard Cajun French? It ain’t from Paris, that’s for sure. It’s mixed up and raw and beautiful in its own right, and for many generations, it was looked down upon by English-speaking neighbors. Belter creole is similar, a smashed up beauty of a language that has come out of life in space, filled with English, Chinese, Farsi, German, Hindi, and other languages. It even has a similar lilt to the bayou! 

They are ungovernable: There’s a reason the Cajuns were never quite able to fully rebel against the various governments that took over their swampy goodtimes. They’re loyal to each other and their land, and that’s about it. Belters are the same–they’ve tried with the OPA, and even then, there’s different factions and squabbling (Anderson Dawes vs Fred Johnson, for example) and it’s only until there’s a genuine, alien threat to they get all united (plus Camina Drummer comes to power, but that’s neither here nor there). 

They’re good at figuring out solutions: Cajuns live in gator and snake infested swamps that flood and hurricanes smash through routinely. But they live and thrive regardless, with their pirogues and their bridges and their houses on the water. Same with Belters: their lives are lived in space, with crappy gravity and air. But they’re scrappy and tough and figure out how to survive. A Redditor pointed out that many of the more ambitious, driven Earthers left generations ago to live on the Belt, as the option was staying on Earth and living on an increasingly overcrowded, shitty planet. Not unlike the ancestors of the Cajuns who left France. 

The Spice Must Flow: Belters have to pack their shitty food full of peppers and spices to make it palatable, to the point one of the nicknames for their most famous dishes is called ‘red kibble’. And have you ever had proper Cajun food? Crawfish, alligator, boudin, and frogs are freaking amazing when done properly, although my fancy British friends were horrified that I enjoyed them. Pass me them mudbugs with some Cachere’s seasoning, collards, and corn, I wanna feel the pain. 

They work in weird and hard places: See above for both Belters and Cajuns. Jobs Cajuns have had range from oil fields to swamps to cities filled with yellow fever. But they take it and have a good sense of humor about it. Same with Belters–they work on rough ships, in radiation filled places in space, and don’t bitch about it. To quote the gaunt Belter, ‘They built the solar system on our backs’. 

Everything and anything can be used as a weapon: A gun? Peshang! Guns are for fancy Inners. Belters will use guns, AND pipes, chairs, each other, elevators, fists, a toothbrush, shives, you name it, they’ve killed with it. They’re tough and scrappy, and so are the Cajuns, whose fights are notorious in the bayou and beyond. Don’t mess with them. 

So yeah, Space Cajuns.

[walkman-cat]

hands up tell me abt Your star trek au right now!! on the double bro. what are the tensions it all looks too kind & magical i don’t trust it yet

(if it is literally kind & wonderful i am grateful i am thankful i am honored i’d just like to hear more)

-@jack-kellys

i'm ngl my star trek au au is mostly running on vibes wbwbwb so it is pretty kind and happy and warm (i just really like how much everyone in the enterprise's crew has such a respect and care for each other yknow. found family and all that innit).

that being said, here are some funky things about the characters ive been thinking about lately (under a cut because i'm incapable of being concise):

the stars were essentially jack's santa fe. he grew up surrounded by stories of starship captains and space and it became his lifelong dream and ambition to captain a starship, something which he dropped everything to attain. now he is captain of a starship– one of the youngest in starfleet's history– and it's wonderful and fantastic and he's never felt more alive! but there's always something gnawing at the back of his mind (he's based his entire life up until this point around this moment, it was a driving force and a beacon to look up to when times were tough. what if the experience is nothing like his dreams and he ends up disappointed? what happens when the mission's over? what'll become of him?).

also starfleet's assigned him a galaxy-class starship with families onboard and he's having a Time because of it (what if they get hurt under his watch. what if he gives the wrong order and a child dies. starfleet officers know the risks of space travel and are aware of this but the families. the children). other than that he's having a great time !!

kath's half-betazoid on her mother's side, but she never knew her mother nor has she ever been to betazoid (i really went woe! being mixed and only connected to one of your cultures but still being unable to fit in even there because of the fact that you're mixed be upon ye!). she's trying real hard to learn more about betazoid and who her mother is even though she knows she won't really feel like she "belongs" in betazoid either. she's working on understanding and using her empathic/telepathic powers more.

oh also!! pulitzer is a notorious and not-well liked admiral, when kath joined the acedmy she officially had her name changed to plumber and has since told no-one that they're related (this surely won't backfire terribly on her in the future)

also because this is the spot (cat) show, kath loves spot (cat) and wants to babysit her and play with her but alas. she is allergic to cats

race cannot catch a break– he's got a massive losing streak at senior officer poker night, spot (cat) hates him, he can't grow a beard but every time theres an impostor/clone/mirror universe situation the other version of him always has a beard (this is half in jest but also it amuses me wbwb)

jokes aside, i've been having a whole bunch of race as first officer thoughts (and a lot of riker and race parallel thoughts but. that's another story). i don’t really know how to explain it other than the way riker acts in the last episode of tng season two (yes, the riker montage episode) when facing death (joking around and keeping up the appearance of flippancy and courage in the face of agonising death because he’s first officer and there are people who look up to him and he has to set an example) seemed very race and very kony to me, in a way. (youve got this to blame for riker beard race. im not sorry)

race is also one of the first people to advocate for les becoming acting ensign. he makes it very clear that he's in les' corner and makes himself responsible for his studies and sometimes his training (and he teaches him poker).

OH ALSO! sarah and davey didnt know les ws going to be onboard and only found out about his presence after they'd set off. did he sneak onboard?? mayyyybeee (he just really wants to be a starfleet officer). after the initial shock (and notifying their parents) sarah and davey start the Let Les on the Bridge campaign (letting him watch the bridge from the turbolift, helping out in sciences and engineering, etc etc) the that eventually leads to les becoming acting ensign. it reaches a point where most of jack's senior officers would probably mutiny all for this kid.

there's more stuff but i'll stop rambling now because, again, i have a problem with being concise wbwbw. thankyou soso much for the ask rizz once again i love your star trek au so much and am always eager to hear more wbwbw!!! :D

[nebulouscoffee]

for the ask game star trek voyager!!

Thank you sm friend! I already answered a couple of these, but the great thing about being very indecisive is I can give different answers each time <3

Favourite character: B'Elanna Torres, although Kathryn Janeway is a close second (I do have a Janeway-themed url, after all😌)

Second favourite character: okay, I'll talk about Janeway here! Gosh what a deeply flawed individual. She's awesome, and yes, incredibly charismatic and badass, but she's also haunted, complex, and scarily capable of hurting those closest to her (which she does. Like, a lot.) She ends up in charge of a seemingly endless mission, and she cannot afford to crack- not in front of her crew, and not even really in secret- so she begins this seven-year process of what basically amounts to dehumanising herself. Her arc is almost like a long-form merging with Voyager the ship- she is Voyager, and Voyager is her! She will protect her crew and bring them home. She will ensure they get to survive. (What happens to her? Well, she knows she can and will never be the same, but she can't and doesn't think about that right now). She made a mistake and her crew paid the price and the guilt of this eats at her every day, but she cannot afford to acknowledge it or she'll go insane. She tries so hard to stick to her principles but once she's violated a few she starts thinking of her soul as this already-corrupted thing- she knows she can live with it, so why not do something else that's a bit messed up! Better me than any of my crew, right! Like- no wonder she couldn't move on with her life once Voyager reached the Alpha Quadrant in the Endgame timeline. No wonder she had to travel back in time to die in the past. She is so changed by the events of this show that the past the only place she can truly belong. Ugh!!!! I have so many feelings about her!!

Least favourite character: I dislike voyager!Q so much I actually skip all his episodes on rewatch lmao. And I'm someone who actually quite enjoys him on TNG! He's this all-powerful all-knowing omnipotent being who could literally be off anywhere any time doing anything he wanted, and yet he chooses to keep coming back to this one starship just to flirt with the most boring man alive. He literally got kicked out of the Q Continuum for having too much of a hyperfixation on his blorbo. That's funny! And compelling! Unfortunately the Voyager writers did not understand what made this work and decided his only trait was *irritates everybody* (including the audience lol). What he and Picard had was a funny back and forth, a snarky Quodo-style "these horrible old men deserve each other" rivalry. What he and Janeway have is sexual harassment played for laughs 🙃

The character I'm most like: Kes - I went into more detail here :)

Favourite pairing: B7 if we're talking non-canon ships! From canon, uhhhh I guess whatever was going on between Janeway and Chakotay in 'Resolutions' & Tom/B'Elanna before they got together

Least favourite pairing: I don't know if I have one? C7 is the popular answer but I literally straight up forget it exists because it's such a small part of the show, like it doesn't even show up for reals until the finale. I'm not a fan of the way they wrote Tom/B'Elanna for basically all of S5 and S6, and the damage control they did in S7 wasn't bad imo but also felt too little too late. I also dislike Kes/Neelix, though I do think it had potential to be a really interesting breakup arc lol

Favourite moment: That scene from 'Year of Hell' where Janeway has given the order to abandon ship and everyone else is so reluctant to desert the bridge and it looks soooo banged up but she still won't abandon it.... and then Tuvok gives her that hug goodbye..... and she glances at that little gift Chakotay made for her which she didn't have the heart to recycle..... and she talks about what Voyager means to her, and why she has to go down with the ship...... my heart😭

Rating out of 10: Objectively an 8/10, I think the early seasons are GREAT and around midway through they do sort of run out of ideas thanks to their commitment to being as episodic as possible and sidelining more than half the main cast as well as refusing to let the guest cast build up or develop. The show genuinely suffers for it imo! There's a lot of wasted potential, as well as biases of the time that prevented it from reaching true heights- I also wholeheartedly think this show ruined the Borg lol, now 75% more human and 200% less intimidating! However it's also got so many positives- I adore all the main characters so much, and the premise itself gives me so many feels that in my heart it's an 11/10🥰

[getoutofmyjaneway]

Beta Cannon: the Pre Voyager Era of Kathryn Janeway | Mosaic v The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

This weekend, I got a copy of the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway from a local book store. For how frequently we speak about Mosaic in the community (despite having some flaws) I was shocked that I had not heard a lot about this book and assumed it was a bad thing. And yeah in some regards it was (see @mia-cooper’s post on the subject). I have a lot of feelings (I’ll post a proper review at a later point) but one thing that did stick out to me is the divergence from what we have considered Beta Canon, aka, the extended universe of Star Treks told through novels, short stories, video games, etc. After completing the novel, I jumped right into my old standby copy of Mosaic, which has dictated a lot of Janeway’s back story since 96. Both of these novels cover the beginnings of Janeway’s life and how she was shaped into the woman we know. 

TLDR The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway changes a lot of things for no reason. Some of these are for the good. Some for the bad. And some, for like no good reason at all, like it was fine as it was, and was accepted cannon for like 25 years, but sure fine whatever.

I will mention that, as Mosaic has been a book in my library and I have read it too many times, so of course, I do have a bias toward it. Additionally, I feel like it is fair to mention here that authors of Fanfiction have leaned on this as their bibles since 1996 as Mosaic is written by Jeri Taylor, one of the show-runners for Voyager. Because of its connection with a showrunner, Mosaic is also integrated into the canon of the show. It seems that most points that are taken from Mosaic in the Autobiography are only included because of their existence in cannon material.

Anyway, this review is going to focus on the characters that shape Kathryn and I will end with my final thoughts. This is long so to respect your dash, you are going to have to click keep reading. You’re welcome.

Obligatory Spoiler Warning for ALL of Mosaic, chapter 13 of Pathways, and chapters 1-7 of The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

Edward Janeway

In all media, I feel like we can safely say that Kathryn Janeway is in fact a daddy’s girl. Her relationship with her father is very important to her, so it is interesting to see how it is portrayed very differently in both novels. In Mosaic, a lot of the highlights of Janeway’s earlier years revolve around time spent with him. From giving her special attention after ‘Your Sister’ was born, to consoling her after her losing tennis match and subsequent walk home in the rain, and trips to Mars, Kathryn mentions great fondness of quality time spent. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway he is more described as an absent father, one that she always wanted to see and please. When he was home, she wanted all of his attention and to impress him greatly. She wished to follow in his footsteps after gaining a love of flight and the stars with a plane ride and a telescope he gave her. He tried to prepare her by detaining the events of the current conflict with Cardassia and inviting Starfleet brass over for dinner. Overall, in her early childhood, it makes more sense for Edward to not be around often. There is not a lot of conflict between the sources, other than the details of the aforementioned tennis match and different childhood nicknames.  

Edward is in a crash aboard an experimental ship on Tau Ceti Prime which leads to his death. This is where the big differences begin. In Mosaic, Kathryn and her fiancé are also on board. In  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, Kathryn is still on the Al-Batani. The fall out of this event has a great effect on Kathryn of course in both novels. As this is a missive shaping event of Kathryn’s life, I felt it very jarring to be changed. This moment shaped Janeway and gives us good context for why she handles situations the way she does. I see this trauma and I understand her character better, for dealing with the loss of two of the most important people in her life all at once.

Gretchen Janeway

The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway was good to Gretchen Janeway as her character is basically a blank slate. We know little about her from Mosaic as it mostly focuses on Kathryn’s relationship with her father (and other male influences in her life). It is nice to learn more things about Grechen as with Edward’s job, it is likely that Kathryn was mainly raised by her. Other than being an artist, she also wrote some of the Flotter holos and wrote a number of children’s stories about the people of Bajor during the occupation. She does a lot of humanitarian work with the refugees from Bajor during the occupation. She loves to garden and get her daughters involved. She has a close bond with Phoebe due to their overlapping interests, but you can tell that she strives to support her in what she does. Overall, I like getting know Gretchen to be someone of than Kathryn’s mother.

Phoebe Janeway

 I was shocked when researching Memory Alpha for this review, Phoebe is never named in any Cannon media up to this point (Star Trek Prodigy could very well change this). We know Janeway has a sister and she is an artist, but that is it. Both novels keep her very similar personality-wise. In both stories, Kathryn is not looking forward to being a big sister. They also both mourn the loss of their father together. In Mosaic, she is not mentioned much. Kathryn tells her she is not old enough on an off planet trip and Phoebe plays pranks on her. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway goes much more into depth. They don’t get along when they are younger. They fight a lot. I feel this is a very realistic portrayal of real siblings, vying for attention and approval, snapping when they don’t get their way.  They both excel at what they do, Kathryn in her studies and Phoebe through her art. They seem to need to one-up each other at every turn.  As they grow up, they grow closer together, as many siblings do. Points added for giving Phoebe a wife, something which has been included in a lot of fanfiction. Overall, there are no big conflicting points.

Mark Johnson

Kathryn’s fiance at the time of the Voyager’s disappearance, Mark is a very different part of Kathryn’s life in both novels. In Mosaic, he is a childhood friend and went by his middle name Hobbs. Seemingly always two steps behind Kathryn, he did a lot of the same activities that she did, tennis and swimming in the underground cave systems. He did these poorly, and this makes Kathryn always look down upon him. They reconnected after her father’s death and she fell head-over-heels for him. Personally, I always felt this was a little uncharacteristic of Kathryn, to run away from her responsibilities to be with a man. It just seems very out of character and has always bothered me. The  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway takes a completely different approach. She meets Mark as a friend of Pheobe and her wife as a widower. They hit it off and they fall hard. You can see the conflict in Kathryn as she debates how to move forward with a relationship as they have different outlooks on life. She has a drive to explore but does not want to be an absent parent. She debates quitting, which I don’t think is something Janeway would have ever done. Overall she decides to accept Mark’s proposal just before taking command of Voyager. This makes the Dear John situation a lot more believable as it makes sense that he would want to move on with his life much quicker. Overall, I have to just ask, why? I know Mark doesn’t have a lot of character, but why change basically their whole relationship dynamic? 

Justin Tighe

Justin is a character I actually like for selfish reasons. This explains why I was very miffed that he was nowhere to be seen in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Justin is Kathryn’s first love, they were coworkers, engaged and in love, and dies in the same accident that takes her father. As a person who always wanted Chakotay and Janeway to get together, this incident perfectly gives the reason. She is afraid to get romantically involved with a crew member because of the nature of the job. This dynamic is seen between Picard and Nella Daren in TNG very well. Kathryn has learned the hard way that she can lose a person under her command and how it feels when you are in love with that person. In early Voyager, you can see she isolates herself from the crew and it takes time for her to get comfortable. And during Night she relapses to her old ways. This is the way I have always justified Janeway’s reluctance to have a romantic relationship during their time in the Delta Quadrant. By understanding her background, I have a lot of respect for that choice. Her relationship with Justin really shaped how she handles relationships and without the impact he had on her life, it actually makes her character weaker.

Owen Paris

Owen is Kathryn’s mentor. In Mosaic, they meet as he is reviewing her junior honors thesis advisor on massive compact halo objects. From here they gained a relationship built on respect and learning. It makes sense that, as he was her personal mentor, that she would be close with his family, and why she would seek out Tom as a person to bring with her to the Badlands mission. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, she does not meet him until she is on the Al-Batani. This doesn’t only weaken her relationship with Admiral Paris, but moreover weakens her relationship with Tom. If he was her superior officer, why would she develop such a ‘big sister’ mentality to Tom if she didn’t have as many opportunities to meet him?

Tuvok

Mosaic does not go too much in depth with Tuvok and Janeway’s relationship, but its sister novel Pathways does. In Pathways, Tuvok meets Janeway when he is an ensign under her command of the USS Bonestell. The Bonestell and the Billings, two ships that Janeway served on, tend to get confused a lot. Most sources have Janeway’s first command as the Voyager, Including Voyager itself -  “It doesn't seem like my first command is shaping up the way I expected,” Janeway Shattered. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway has her and Tuvok meet on the Al-Batani. I actually really like the dynamic between them, as they grow to respect each other over a much longer period of time. I also like that, though Janeway climbs through the ranks, it does not change their relationship dynamic as she still relies on him and asks him advice as if they were equals. I think giving them a longer time to build their relationship. Also would like to note that Janeway and Tuvok also had a friendship with the original CMO of Voyager, Dr. Fitzgerald. I always wanted to know more about the Pre-Caretaker crew and I would have loved to see this dynamic and how the grief of losing a close personal friend in the Caretaker incident would impact them both.

Also I feel obligated to shout out the Janeway and Tuvok story in Star Trek Waypoint One-Shot. I need to get around to doing a series retrospective, but this short story I have not seen anyone talk about and I love it so much. Please read Waypoint. Okay next.

Other characters

Cheb - Janeway’s boyfriend in Mosaic. He was kind of an asshole and got her into trouble. He is not in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway and I see no problem with this.

Boothby - “[he is the] head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy. When I was a cadet, he used to give me fresh roses for my quarters,” Janeway Revulsion. Boothby is not in Mosaic. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, it is explained that her mother loved to garden and this was something that Boothby did as a gradian figure to make her feel at home and destress. Makes sense.

Aisha - A childhood friend of Katheryn’s. Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Mosaic has this weird thing about highlighting the relationships with only the men in her life, so it is nice to see her have some other female friends.

Nexa - Katheryn’s roommate at the Academy.  Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Nexa helps broaden Kathryn’s horizons by helping to learn about Exoliguisticts, first contact, and the Betazoid culture. Again nice to see her have other female friends.

Riker - Yes they go on a date in Mosaic. He is not mentioned in the  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. I know he is a gag character but I still liked it.

-----------------------

Final Thoughts

A lot of characters were changed between these two novels. There is a lot to like and a lot to hate. I really like what the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway did with characters like Tuvok and Gretchen Janeway. Other characters were not so lucky (Justin, sweetie I’m so sorry that they would erase you like that, oh my god). It’s a mixed bag, but one thing I need say is... why?

We have had a good thing going here with the established canon as is. Mosaic (and Pathways) is the foundation of which the last 25 years of fanworks and the relaunch novels are based on. Why change history when it is already written?

Always, would love to hear your thoughts and thank you for reading my novel of a post. I will see you in the full review.

[lrgcarter]

Over the past few decades, it's become comparatively easy to fill your TV screens with space ships. And I think this has become something of a story telling problem. I'll explain what I mean:

[Turns out I went on for a bit, so here's a Would You Like To Know More break]

  Back in the 90s, a space ship battle might have only one or two ships on each side. This meant you would usually know who was in them, and you could expand the character of the crew onto the ship itself.

For example:

The TNG Enterprise had a top of their game crew who would work hard to find that extra edge in any situation. Thus, this became the character of the Enterprise itself. A champion fighter, always pushing itself to come out on top.

The crew of the Defiant, on the other hand, were a group of people much lower down in the social hierarchy. They were a team of vicious bastards with (often conflicting) convictions. And so that became the character of the ship. You see the Defiant, you know it's going to do some sneaky bastard stuff and possibly some terrorism, all for the long term good.

The aliens of that time all had an easily understood factory setting, and this would be transferred to their ships. You see a Klingon, Romulan, or Borg ship, you know what you're getting.

So, if you watch a space battle, you know the players, you know the rules. You'll see what each side is doing and understand it. You'll also understand the retaliation actions taken by their opponents. Thus you get the same sort of drama that comes from spectating a game.

Even when Babylon 5 and later Deep Space 9 led the way in using CGI to make these battles bigger, they carried over the old rules. Before the start of the battle, the objectives of each side would be laid out. Also, they would use a limited number of ship models so you could understand a fleet in the same way that you can understand a selection of chess pieces. And the plot and writing established that this was the lot. These massed battles were the commitment of so many ships that  if the battle was lost, then so was the war.

These narrative rules continued into the 2000s. Battlestar Galactica, for all its many many writing crimes, was really good at establishing the ships as characters. I'm sure you can all think of good examples.

But somewhere along the line, media money men came to demand an End of Show Firework Display. Regardless of whether the story needed one. So the writers don't necessarily lay down the groundwork for the big ship battle, because to them its just a producer's note box ticking exercise, rather than being key to the story.

For example, lets look at the end of Picard series 1.

At the end, some of the good guys are in a ship.

Then, an enemy fleet turns up. Like, fuck loads of ships. What can these ships do? Don't know, never seen them before. But that doesn't matter, because there's fuck loads of them. Whatever the good guy's ship can do, it won't be enough. That's what causes the drama.

Then a fuck load of good guy ships turn up. Ah ha! now the two sides are evenly matched! At least, I think so? In terms of numbers I guess. And then they just sit there shooting at each other. You're now watching a firework display rather than a game of chess.

And while that's happening in the background, the good guys continue on their quest, unimpeded by the firework display in the background.

And unlike the DS9 massed battles, you get the felling that even if the good guys lost the battle, their animators would be fine with just pasting in a new identical good guy fleet in. Because the firework battle isn't the source of the story drama, it's just a pretty light show. It's only there because it's expected.

Discovery has a similar battle at the end of series 2. It's much, much better than the Picard one, because the plot has actually led up to it, but it is still mostly a firework display of expendable non-entity ships to make the background colourful for the main characters. (And I like Discovery, so don't come at me with anti-disco bullshit)

Even the end of SNW had a bit of this. But at time of writing that's still really new so to avoid spoilers I'll avoid discussing that.

Contrast this with Lower Decks. Which has now had a fair few fights where you can count the number of ships on an average human hand. And so benefits from all the drama things from the first half of this post.

So, in conclusion, I'll say this to space ship battle choreographers. Please use smaller numbers of ships, but make those ships better understood in terms of character and stakes. If a ship gets destroyed, we want to feel that it's a loss to the survivors. If a ship does something awesome, we want to understand how that has bought the battle closer to ending.

Anyway, that's my controversial shipping opinion.

[phoenixfeathersinfall]

The Dax Debacle: Re-Imagining S7 of “Star Trek Deep Space Nine”

*This post came about after a few discussions with Lee @creativilee on how the stories of Jadzia and Ezri could have been adapted to better serve both of those characters and respect the work of both actresses! Thanks to them for all their help, encouragement, and serving as a springboard! Anything in italics is theirs!

For all of us DS9 fans, the finale season can be rather fraught for several reasons, many of the biggest revolving around the transition from Jadzia Dax to Ezri Dax, henceforth called “The Dax Debacle.” Many folks seem to love one and hate the other, which is a huge shame because both characters brought amazing potential and storylines to the table, but the writers really fumbled in some key aspects. This sure-to-be-long-winded meta is an attempt between myself and Lee to fix some of those fumbles and give both characters the storylines they deserved. So, let’s get to it!

First, a little behind-the scenes context.

Why Two Dax-es?

To begin with, it’s important to acknowledge that the Dax Debacle was largely unplanned, and the writing often reflects the ways in which Nicole de Boer was shoehorned in as Terry Ferrell’s replacement, just as the character of Ezri was deliberately put forward as Jadzia’s replacement as the next host of Dax. What happened?

It is widely believed, based on various interviews Terry gave during the show’s run, that the set of DS9 was inhospitable to her, placing her in situations of harassment and abuse. By the time of S7, due to this as well as the sheer grueling schedule of the show, she wanted to be moved from a permanent member of the cast into a reoccurring role like that of Andrew Robinson. When it proved fruitless to negotiate this, Terry decided to leave the show, though she explicitly stated she had not wanted Jadzia’s character to be killed on her departure.

Though the writers went through with the decision to kill Jadzia, they still wanted the character of Dax to remain on the crew, and due to the way Trill physiology was designed, they decided to do this with another host, similar to how Jadzia was initially seen as the continuation of Sisko’s old friend Curzon.

Enter Nicole de Boer as Ezri Dax, a young unjoined Trill who had never intended to be a host at all, and the story of her adjustment to carrying on the Dax legacy.

The Story’s Seed

It’s definitely worth noting that the initial conception of Ezri’s story, the young suddenly-joined Trill joined under trying circumstances who has to re-discover herself has a lot of potential! It could have been extremely poignant and moving, in something of the same vein as Seven of Nine rediscovering herself on “Voyager.” Unfortunately, the choices made regarding how she became the next Dax make it hard to appreciate Ezri on her own merits. Both we as the audience and the other characters are constantly seeing Jadzia in her place. It stymied who she was able to be as a character and how the audience was able to receive her. The way she was written invites constant comparisons, often to Ezri’s detriment in her initial interactions with the crew.

Lee said some things extremely well here: “Ezri as a character was hindered a lot by being made ‘Jadzia's replacement’ instead of ‘the next Dax,’ a Dax in her own right. While Jadzia definitely had Curzon's legacy to live with, it was absolutely not all she was, and she interacted with it as such, but Ezri wasn’t written with the same care. She isn't ‘Ezri Dax’ she's ‘Ezri, the one who replaced Jadzia.’ She was entirely written as a replacement, and it shows.”

Fumbles, Fumbles, Fumbles

Let’s review some things that went sideways in Ezri’s arc, so we can see it for the purposes of our rewrite.

The “I'm the new host of your dead friends symbiont" aspect is very difficult to watch. It’s hard to say if the writers wanted to lean into this aspect deliberately, but even if they did, I don’t think they ended up hitting the emotional notes they wanted to.

Ezri doesn’t seem to get much training from what we can tell, and being joined is a huge change! We learned from Jadzia’s arc that initiates often train for years. It’s wartime, but she still really did get thrown into the deep end!

The audience can’t approach Ezri on her own merits, but quite often, the crew isn’t doing that, either. There’s the caveat that they’re grieving and it’s an odd situation to be in, but! Sisko initially tries to interact with her in the same way he would Jadzia (calling her old man, which upsets her a great deal,) Julian flirts with her with the same intensity he did Jadzia in early seasons, Worf seems to only be seeing his dead wife any time he looks at her.

Ezri is given a role as ship’s counselor when she is in no way emotionally able to handle the psychological difficulties of others when she’s going through so much herself.

Her return to Deep Space 9 (the station) seems to contradict what we know about Trill culture. Joining is meant to give the symbiont as many life experiences as possible, and re-association (to various degrees) is anything from strongly discouraged to forbidden. Ezri goes right back to living Jadzia’s life in some ways, in the same place with the same people. Jadzia wasn’t able to resume her relationship with Lenara Khan, but Ezri finds herself being intimate with Jadzia’s widower.

Our alternatives and fixes for the arcs of Jadzia and Ezri fall into three broad categories, which we’ll break down here:

1. Ezri Not-Dax? (Ezri is still joined unexpectedly, but rather than the Dax symbiont, she is host to another symbiont which needed her.)

2. Where in the World is Jadzia Dax? (If Ezri isn’t a Dax, we have to figure out what to do with the Dax we know!)

3. The Legacy Question (The age-old Trill questions of new hosts, old hosts, and interpersonal relationships.)

Ezri Who? Ezri Not-Dax!

The best solution Lee and I were able to find was the idea that Ezri was joined under similar circumstances to canon, but not to Dax itself.

This is still largely workable for the story we want to tell, because, as Lee explains: “The Dax symbiont isn't key to her character, except to affect her relationships with the crew. Her main personal conflicts are about being joined before she was ready, not about being joined to Dax. She still would have worked without the Dax symbiont.”

For the sake of convenience, let’s call this hypothetical new symbiont Nal. So, Ezri Tigan —> Ezri Nal.

Where in the World is Jadzia Dax?

Theres 3 different paths we could take with Jadzia!

If Terry was made a reoccurring member of the cast, the writers could easily have put Jadzia into the position of being given a transfer assignment. Though Jadzia might initially struggle to accept this because of her loyalty to her friends, “with things picking up in wartime, it's believable that Starfleet would want the people more familiar with what dangers are on the other side of the wormhole to be spread around and maximize the number of ships and stations that are prepared for it. Maybe Jadzia acts as a representative and goes around giving lectures/debriefings on that stuff. This situation puts us in a position to get frequent updates about Jadzia, even if we don't see her again!"

If Terry did not stay on at all, Jadzia as a character could still have died, but the Dax symbiont finds a new host back on Trill, away from the station. Maybe we get updates about this Dax because Ezri trained with them for a bit, or the new Dax reaches out to Sisko from time to time, since he was well-acquainted with two previous Dax-es.

The option I like best for purely self-indulgent reasons would be if Terry stayed on for one more season and was present on the station when Ezri arrived, serving as a mentor to her.

The Legacy Question

Since the “TNG” days, Star Trek likes to experiment with Trill, and what happens in relationships between joined Trill and non-Trill, particularly in the case of a symbiont with a new host. We might assume this was part of the writer’s intent with the Dax Debacle, but it went over much better in the move from Curzon to Jadzia then it did in the move from Jadzia to Ezri.

Other options for exploring “the legacy question:”

“If they wanted to explore the whole ‘new host when the previous host was close to you’ thing, they could have had an episode that went into detail about Sisko meeting Jadzia for the first time after the death of Curzon.” Or, just having Sisko reflect more on the changes and developments in their relationship as time passes. They did this quite well initially when Jadzia first came aboard, but dropped it soon after the first season for the most part and left it to our amazing fic writers to pick it back up.

The character of Curzon is often used as a vehicle for explaining Jadzia’s connection to Klingon culture, but he also gives us access to a wealth of relationships which could be used to explore the legacy question. “Curzon had so many friends, and we see a variety of reactions from them, particularly with his Klingon friends. Some of them immediately fall back into that friendship, some of them struggle to recognize that Jadzia may not be Curzon, but she is still Dax, and has a lot of Curzon in her.” Keeping that thread going would have been intriguing also.

The Life of Ezri Nal

Here’s how some elements of Ezri’s story might look with the “Nal” symbiont.

Ezri is joined rather unprepared when a medical emergency puts the life of a symbiont at risk and the host is unable to be saved. For convenience, let’s call this symbiont Nal.

Ezri was always interested in Starfleet Service, especially in working as a counselor (which she studied on her own rather than gaining the knowledge through the memories of past hosts.) She assigned to the station by the Trill Symbiosis Commission largely because there are people there who will know how to help a newly-joined Trill; namely Sisko, Julian, and Jadzia.

Jadzia+ Ezri

Being the only other Trill on the station that we know about, Jadzia puts herself in a mentor role to Ezri, helping her adjust to her new life and consciousness. Her personality and experiences make her perfect for the job!

As a bonus, we get to see how the mentor and mentee relarionships between joined Trill and initiates work.

We also set up some fun parallels! Take Jadzia, who had to try so hard to be joined, and it was a huge goal in her life (to the point where she applied again to the Symbiosis Comission after being rejected once, which is played as something that basically never happens,) versus Ezri who was perfectly happy to be just herself and ended up taking on this responsibility without being ready and without feeling like she had much choice because of how Trill culture regards symbionts.

From the little we know about Jadzia before she was joined, she was somewhat like Ezri-bookish, shy, anxious-and she initially struggled to adjust to the likes of Curzon. But now, she’s gown so confident in who she is, for the most part, and she’d be the perfect person to guide Ezri and help her find joy in her new life.

But, she also understands having difficulties with aspects of being joined, for example, her conflict in whether she should rejoin with Lenara Khan, or how she struggled in the aftermath of the discovery of the cover-up regarding Joran.

In short, Jadzia helps keep Ezri as mentally and emotionally healthy as she can be.

Julian+Ezri

Being CMO, Julian helps look after Ezri and ensure she’s physically well; after all, it’s what he does best! “Having Julian as the Chief Medical Officer on board would be a big draw for the Trill. He's even performed a symbiont joining and removal procedure. He had to be very familiar with Trill biology, meaning a newly joined host would be relatively safe and well-cared-for on board. And, I’m sure that there's a big chemical change in Trill when the get joined, and adjusting to that would be hard!”

Julian can also sympathize having something done you didn’t want or weren’t ready for, and can help her process those feelings. “ They both have complicated relationships with their parents regarding their parents’ expectations and their own desires and feelings, which would be interesting!”

In some ways, Julian can serve as another mentor to Ezri. It would be an interesting shift to watch Julian, who is often portrayed as the the youngest or most “green” be able to mentor and guide someone else. “This is also a good way to show Julian has grown and matured, without having to have other characters just say it.”

If we still followed their romance route, having Ezri as Ezri Nal rather than Dax could have make the relationship between her and Julian sit a lot better with audiences. With a rewrite, Julian is not chasing the “ghost” of Jadzia; rather he’s meeting Ezri for the person she is, on her own terms. This also prevents a regression of his character back to the way he chased Jadzia in the early seasons, and instead honors the relationship of treasured friendship that Julian and Jadzia built.

Sisko+Ezri

As he is with many of his younger crew, Sisko takes naturally to the role of a mentor and father figure with Ezri, again meeting her for the person she is, on her own terms. He serves as a valuable guide to ship life and helps her get acquainted with station staff and residents.

Like with Jake, Sisko encourages Ezri to find herself by being her own person.

Ezri tries to take up cooking as a hobby with Sisko, but the experiences of past hosts mean her skills vary wildly depending on what they are making.

Other Relationships

Garak helps Ezri figure out how she wants to dress, often integrating different styles from past hosts. (He rather jumps at the chance.) Ezri still has her difficulties helping him as a counselor, but her additional training and the lack of complications from the Dax symbiont make things easier. They also get to know each other through Julian.

In this Ideal Timeline, Ziyal survives and meets Ezri. They relate well to each other, both of them not really knowing where they fit and grappling with someone else’s legacy, but they have each other for support. Ziyal has given her portraits as gifts.

She has a similar dynamic with Jake, who is trying to figure out how to honor his parents while being his own man. Ezri starts writing memoirs of sorts about her past lives on his suggestion.

Surprisingly, she gets on with Nog, too. They’re both doing things unexpected and feeling like they’re going to be the first in something big.

She isn’t especially close to Worf, but he assures her that the sacrifices she made for Nal are ones to be honored, and becomes rather fond of Ezri due to Jadzia’s influence.

Thanks for reading this super-long meta! Please tell Lee and I your thoughts on this rewrite!

[qwertyfingers]

Not to be too forward but please drop your TNG watch order.

okay tng is. complex. here’s how i’d do it I think. I’m jumping about a lot, and I’m also struggling to remember a lot of it because my first watch was 7 years ago and my rewatch w friends we just did Sherlock Holmes and then went straight into chronological order. so this is like, combo of a handful of eps I remember being plot important and just stuff that makes me laugh.

Elementary, My Dear Data (S2E3) and Ship In A Bottle (S6E12). a) introduces you perfectly to the concept of holodeck episodes, which will be important later b) DaForge married gay energy off the charts c) Picard is really fun. the only failing of this as a start is the tragic lack of Guinan

ALL of the Q eps. Speedrun the Qcard nonsense and get a lot of the overall show plot

Encounter at Farpoint (S1E1 and S1E2)

Hide and Q (S1E10) - unnervingly babyfaced Riker. you could skip this one but it lays some good basis for who the Q continuum are, but it’s kind of fun

Q Who (S2E16) - borg introduction! absolute must watch. The insanity of ‘to learn about you is frankly provocative… but you’re next of kin to chaos’ as a line alone, let alone the voice Patrick Stewart gives to it. Iconic episode.

Deja Q (S3E13) - Q getting turned into a human as punishment for being a naughty boy. V funny, must watch

QPid (S4E20 babeyyyyy) - MUST WATCH one of thee funniest episodes and experiencing the QCard speedrun from farpoint to qpid is a very special kind of brainworms

True Q (S6E6) - this one is skippable tbh, but it is pretty fond and I’m personally fond of running a full Q supercut

Tapestry (S6E15) - this one isn’t as fun as most Q eps but it is VERY TNG-ish and therefore a must watch. If you’ll forgive the pun, it really gets at the heart of Picard’s character

All Good Things (S7E25 and S7E26) - as with most Star Trek finales it’s not the best. You don’t have to watch this here but it can be a fun bookend for the Q speedrun

You could also go watch DS9’s Q-Less (S1E6) if you’d like to see Q get punched in the face, it’s really very satisfying

You kind of have to watch The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26 and S4E1). If you’ve seen TNG before, you don’t need to worry about when you watch it. If you haven’t seen any TNG yet, watch it here.

Darmok (S5E2) - THEE most star trek of all star trek’s. hmu if you ever want me to rant about Darmok I have a whole badly-structured personal essay about it ready to go at all times

Disaster (S5E5) - Geordi and Crusher teamup is really fun, and ‘executive officer in charge of radishes’ is the best line in all 7 seasons of TNG

Schisms (S6E5) - you could just watch from the opening until Data’s poetry recital ngl. The ep is decent and I’d personally watch it all but this ep is mostly about Data’s poetry.

Sub Rosa (S7E14) - Crusher fucks a ghost. iconic behaviour

Dixon Hill eps! They’re fun and silly and much like watching TOS’ A Piece of The Action

The Big Goodbye (S1E12)

Manhunt (S2E19) - Lwxana. I’d do anything for Lwxana

Clues (S4E14) - Guinan as Gloria is so much fun I love her and she should have got a full episode!!!!!

The Measure of a Man (S2E9) - important Federation and Data lore. Very emotional.

Yesterday’s Enterprise (S3E16) - Tasha’a back!!!!!!!! Just a very cool ep imo

Hero Worship (S5E11) - Extremely good Data ep, good content about Federation attitude to mental illness

Datalore (S1E12) - another important Data ep, and Lore is laways fun

The Offspring (S3E16) - Data wants to be a dad!!!

I, Borg (S5 E23) - HUGH!!! IT’S ALL ABOUT HUGH!!!!!!!!! (I like to watch this right after The Offspring because it’s direct parallels of geordi and data just wanting to take care of people)

Brothers (S4E18) - more Data (And Lore) content

Descent (S6E26 and S7E1) - not required watching, but Lore is fun and evil

Fistful of Datas (S6E7) - EXTREMELY SILLY GOOD FUN ALLROUND. CAN NEVER GO WRONG W ACOWBOY EP

Sarek (S3E23) - I can’t remember the plot I just know Sarek shows up in a lavender robe and has mad chemistry with Picard. I’m  pretty sure they mind meld really hard??? Lord help me the old men you put on this spaceship to do politics are exploring eachothers’ minds in the most intimate manner possible <3

Unification (S5E7 and S5E8) - Spock attempts to re-unify Romulus and Vulcan. Iconic 2-parter, but definitely the kind of episode that benefits from watching with a friend so you can add commentary

if you like Romulan episodes you could watch the full Sela arc before this one (The Mind’s Eye S4E24, Redemption S4E26/S5E1, Unification)

Face of The Enemy (S6E14) - I can’t remember the entire plot but I’m pretty sure it was good and I love a good Romulan ep

The Host (S4E23) - Trill introduction!!!! So good.

The Game (S5E6) - profoundly stupid but worth it for how funny the graphics for the game are

Cause and Effect (S5E18) - just a pretty cool one

Time’s Arrow (S5E26 and S6E1) - One of TNG’s strongest plots imo

The Inner Light (S5E25) - another banger plot; Picard gets hit by a psychic probe and lives an entire life in a history that has already happened. there’s a really good Spones fic based on this episode and I could read an au like this for any ship I swear

Relics (S6E4) - Scotty!!!! It’s fun

Chain of Command (S6E10 and S6E11) - another one of TNG’s strongest plots. The origin of the ‘there are FOUR lights’ meme.

Birthright (S6E16 and S6E17) - this is an infamous double parter but all I actually remember is Julian Bashir appearing and meeting Data

Ensign Ro’s intro ep Ensign Ro (S5E03) i LOVE her

The Next Phase (S5E24) - cool ep where Ro and Geordi get stuck out of phase and are invisible from the crew, pretty fun

and the end of her arc with Preemptive Strike (S7E24)

I personally love Barclay and just choose to live in a universe where the misogyny wasn’t happening and he was just a weird little man, but if he bothers you, you can skip his arc. Don’t skip Genesis tho it’s good

Hollow Pursuits (S3E21)

The Nth Degree (S4E19)

Realm of Fear (S6E2)

Genesis (S7E19) - perfectly batshit star trek fake science. I love it

Masks (S7E17) - extremely silly and therefore fantastic

after this point I’d go back and watch in order all the way through, or look up a watch order for eps that are actually important plot-wise :’) 

[rotationalsymmetry]

General gripes about DS9 and gender (some spoilers) (content notes: some references to sexual abuse/trauma, and specifically spiritual abuse/sexual misconduct in religious leaders, also death/murder):

I swear to fuck these people do not know how to write female characters without shoehorning them into romance plotlines. (Or weird fucked up stuff, like when that Cardassian serial murderer kidnaps Kira.) Especially noticeable with Ziyal -- when Kira takes her to DS9, the writers apparently can't think of a single thing to do with a young woman other than ship her with a much older Cardassian. Then, she's starting to get her own life and make a name for her as an artist, and they fucking refridgerator her. The fuck. (And: the focus is on how her death affects Dukat, that fucker. Which, obviously sure it's going to affect him...but it's also going to affect Kira, who sees Ziyal as like a younger version of herself and was trying to protect her. And then Ziyal dies. That should have some sort of effect on Kira! And did no one else on the station make any sort of connection with her when she was there?) This is arguably not primarily a gender thing, but it is partly a gender thing: the show keeps demanding Kira find sympathy for her oppressors, over and over again. (This is a gripe fest: of course there's a lot of things about Kira's character that are done really well.) She keeps getting thrown in situations that show (some) Cardassians in more nuanced lights and that more or less force her into relationships with them, while meanwhile her old resistance cell friends all get killed off, her parents are dead, if she has any other family we don't hear about it, and she's basically left with no Bajoran friends even, as far as we know. She gets Bajoran lovers who... OK, about that. First, Vedek Bareil. Now, Bajorans are shown to have a pretty relaxed attitude towards their clergy (eg Kira is frequently rude to Winn even after she becomes Kai with apparently no consequences) -- but still. Vedek is roughly equivalent to, what, cardinal? He's high up in the heirarchy. And, he's put himself in a role of spiritual authority relative to Kira: she gets access to one of the Orbs through him. They've got a power imbalance and one that's connected to Kira's ability to do her religion. I don't care what the social norms are on Bajor that is 100% sexual misconduct on Bareil's part. If something went wrong in their relationship, it could fuck up Kira's connection to her faith. And in the show it's presented as no big deal.

(Star Trek seems to be aware of this when it comes to ship's captains! For all that Kirk notoriously fucks everyone, he never voluntarily (/outside of the mirror universe, outside of odd transporter malfunctions that split him into two parts, etc) came on to a crew member. But it's no less important for religious authorities.) (Also: this has nothing to do with celebacy. I'm fine with Bajoran religious figures being allowed to have sex and being allowed to have sex outside of marriage. But: a religious leader having a sexual relationship with someone who they're in a pastoral relationship to is wrong, and while Bareil isn't exactly Kira's pastor I think there is some level of, he's providing spiritual guidance to her. That means she's off limits to him, or should be. In the same way that bosses shouldn't fuck their direct reports, college professors shouldn't fuck their students, therapists definitely shouldn't fuck their patients, etc. Regardless of how they handle their sex life outside of those restrictions. And regardless of whether there's love involved or not -- romantic love absolutely does not make it better.) And then there's Shakaar, the former leader of her resistance cell. That she joined as a teenager. It's...yeah, it's been many years, yeah she's not directly under him any more, and yeah goodness knows a band of resistance fighters is probably not going to have a clearly written up sexual harassment policy so it's not necessarily unrealistic...it's not as blatantly "oh god no" as Bareil, but it's got some...is anyone thinking of potential abuse of power issues here? Anyone?

There was one episode where Jake and Nog were double-dating and it goes badly due to Ferengi, uh, gender roles not meshing well with Federation egalatarianism. And, then the rest of the episode is all about how they're going to repair their friendship. And I was thinking: we didn't see either female character either before or after, and why is a sexism issue being shown from the lens of "how can I, a nice guy, stay friends with my male friend who has sexism issues" and not "how am I, a young woman, going to deal with this affront to my basic personhood" or "how am I, a young woman, going to repair my friendship now that I talked my friend into a double date so I could date the guy I liked but his friend turned out to be garbage?" Like...out of all the potential relationships there, why is Jake's friendship with a guy with sexism issues (who's made it clear he's not going to change, at least as far as dating goes) the one presented as being in most need of preservation? I know, it's because Jake and Nog are more central characters and their friendship has been significant in the show for seasons now. But...that just brings up more questions. Like why does this show have a significant bro friendship between two teenage boys, but there's no friendship between two women (or between a woman and a man for that matter) that's given as much weight? There's some bonding between Kira and Dax, but it doesn't have the same presence and significance as Jake and Nog or, say, Miles and Julian. (I'm having first name/last name inconsistencies here. Ah well.) Keiko has no on-camera friendships. Kira has no on-camera friendships that have Jake & Nog or Julian & Miles weight. Dax maybe does with her Klingon buddies from Curzon's lifetime. (Benjamin Sisko also doesn't.) Ziyal could have, but doesn't. Molly could have, but doesn't. Miles doesn't seem to have any (on-camera or otherwise acknowledged) parent friends (like...there's one couple mentioned who can babysit Molly at times? That's it? We never even see them?), which is weird because fuck knows parenthood can make it hard to have any friends who aren't parents. Odo's got his weird frenemy thing with Quark. Garak has his standing lunch with Julian (if you read that as platonic, which ... yeah, there's not a lot of arguments for seeing it as platonic beyond "they're both men.") I am, don't get me wrong, extremely for showing male friendships. Very much for it. It's just...I want friendships that aren't between two guys also. And I want them to be shown as significant and meaningful and worth overcoming obstacles for. Friendships between women, friendships between people of the same race or culture (or alien species, since we are talking Star Trek here), friendships between men and women that aren't just a precursor to romance. And...parenting that isn't just...I want to see Keiko have problems with parenting that she overcomes with help from other people. I want to explore the emotional ramifications of Kira being a surrogate mom to Kirayoshi or being a semi adopted mom to Ziyal and then having her die. I want Kira to talk about how her own upbringing in times of famine and war and occupation affects her sense of her ability to potentially be a parent. I want a female character to calmly talk about her decision to not become a mother and have that decision be treated with the utmost respect. I want the sort of struggles that male characters have with parenting on the show, like Worf's difficulty connecting with his son or Benjamin's conflict over watching his son grow up and get less interested in spending time with his dad, be shown for female characters as well. And the joys, like when Benjamin remembers holding Jake as an infant, like when they reunite after Jake gets caught in a war zone. Rather than parenting be this thing that mom characters apparently do on autopilot without any internal conflict or feeling out of their depth or particular moments of joy and amazement. There's so many plot lines and moments and bits and pieces that could be amazing moments that give

mother characters balance and nuance and characterization, but they only ever get shown for fathers. (And this is not just Star Trek either...look at all the kids movies that are about father/son or father/daughter bonding, and somehow the moms...just aren't there. It's so good when there are single father storylines, just...where are all the mom storylines that could be like that?) And why do teenage boys get focus and their own stories (especially with Jake in DS9, but also TNG has Wesley Crusher and Alexander, and TOS had one story centering on a teenage boy) but girls either aren't there at all or don't get to have stories that are about them? Ziyal's stories aren't about her, she doesn't get to form her own friendships and only barely gets to develop an interest of her own before her life is taken away from her. Molly doesn't get stories that are about her. (And yeah, Molly's a lot younger than Jake, but those are still choices: DS9 could have been set when Molly was a teenager, or the show could have introduced a different teenage girl as a significant character, or Jake could have been a girl rather than a boy, or Benjamin could have had two children...)

[gaykarstaagforever]

TNG, Season 6, Episode 18, "Starship Mine".

Terrorists seize the Enterprise-D for some stupid reason, Picard gets captured, whatever, who cares.

I want to talk about Hutch.

He is played up as this super-annoying guy who "talks about nothing" all the time, to such an extreme that even this episode's Butt Head Aliens hate him. Worf and Geordi both try to get out of hanging out with him. Picard only gets captured as part of some ploy to avoid him. He also tells Data to learn small talk from him, which leads to Data mimicking him, which Riker and Crusher find so funny, Riker introduces Data to Hutch and then they stand there at a distance, making fun of both of them.

Here's the thing - Hutch did nothing wrong.

You horrible space nerds. This guy is warm and funny and friendly, he has a million stories, he knows everyone, and trivia about tons of planets and species, and he nonchalantly tells you where cool horseback-riding trails are.

This guy is fascinating and awesome! This is 100% the best guy at any party! I guess they cast this badly, because Hutch isn't remotely annoying. He seems like a fun, fascinating guy, who you could talk to about anything, forever. Who the hell hates that!?

"It's all small talk." "He talks about nothing." Oh sorry, important Galaxy-class crew, that Hutch doesn't talk about the one specific thing each one of you specifically cares about. GOD FORBID anyone engage you people on a sub-doctorate level conversation about alien weather or funny ancedotes about people you don't know personally.

I swear to god..

SORRY, Riker, that he got in the way of you finding yet another woman with low standards to have a meaningless one-night-stand with.

SORRY, Beverly, that someone expected you to engage with a conversation not about obscure alien diarrhea for 10 minutes.

SORRY, Geordi, that the captain made you be nice to a guy you don't know, instead of you being creepy and then striking out with a woman you've been feeding drinks to all evening.

Hutch is by far the most emotionally well-balanced and interesting person in this room! If you actually listened to his conversation where Data was innocently copying him, you'd learn a hundred different interesting things!

Leave Hutch alone, you jerks. He's better than all of you!

Update: ...You guys are not going to believe this.

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 1 Easter Eggs & References

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This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 1: “Strange Energies.”

The mission of the USS Cerritos is to do the jobs other Starfleet ships can’t; following up with all sorts of minutiae and boring outer space logistics, long after the Enterprise or the Defiant has warped out. But whether it’s Lower Decks or Picard or Discovery or Strange New Worlds, the mission of hardcore Trek fans is the same: Pause the screen and see what deep-cut Easter eggs got slipped in this time!

In Season 1, Star Trek: Lower Decks earned the reputation for the most meta-textual Star Trek ever. There are layers and layers of Trekdom within every frame of this series, making it hard to look at one episode and catalog all the references. But if you thought Season 1 went deep into the wells of Trekkie references and Easter eggs, Season 2 is here to make Season 1 look tame. The Season 2 premiere of Lower Decks — “Strange Energies” — is one giant Easter egg with a bunch of reproducing tribble-ish Easter eggs inside of it. Unless you’ve got ESP powers on the level of Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, there’s no way you caught all of these. 

Cardassian ships

The episode has a cold-open on some kind of prison inside of an asteroid field. This is surrounded by two kinds of Cardassian ships, the Galor-class and the smaller Hideki-class scout ships.

“The Keep Showing Me Lights”

Hologram Boimler says the Cardassians “keep showing me lights.” This line, and the existence of the secret Cardassian facility references the famous Next Generation two-parter, “Chain of Command,” in which Picard was kidnapped and tortured by the Cardassians. If you somehow haven’t seen that episode, the whole idea is that the Cardassians try to gaslight Picard into thinking there are five lights in front of him when there are only four. Lower Decks referenced “Chain of Command” in Season 1, too! In Season 1, Episode 7, “Much Ado About Boimler,” Mariner joked about the Cerritos getting a “Babysitter Jellico-type,” for a subsitute captain, which referenced the temporary captain the Enterprise got in “Chain of Command.” Freeman, Shaxs and Ransom whore the all-black special ops outfits in that episode, too, and Tendi did the same in “Veritas.” 

Too Many Ships to Count 

As Mariner escapes from the Cardassian facility, there are soooo many ships being stored in this particular hanger. It’s all the ships. Here’s just a few we caught

A Federation runabout

Jem’Hadar fighters

A Nemesis-era Romulan warbird

An old school Romulan Bird-of-Prey from TOS

Federation fighter craft (like the ones seen in TNG’s “Preemptive Strike.”)

And many, many more.

Miranda-class USS MacDuff

Mariner steals a Miranda-class Federation starship with the registry NCC-1877, and the name “USS MacDuff.” There’s a lot going on here.

The Miranda-class was first seen in The Wrath of Khan, in the form of the USS Reliant. That film also featured someone stealing a ship like this with ease.

The bridge for this ship is basically identical to the Reliant.

Lower Decks showrunner Mike McMahan said in 2020 that he was inspired by the Reliant for the design of the Cerritos. 

The name “MacDuff” might reference the TNG character, Kieran MacDuff, from the episode “Conundrum.” In that one, the crew has temporary amnesia and MacDuff manipulates them into fighting a war they’re not supposed to be involved in.

Jennifer 

Jennifer is back! Mariner is interrupted during her holographic work-out by Jennifer, an Andorian crewmember from last season. In the Season 1 finale, “No Small Parts,” Mariner runs through the halls and pushes this character out of the way, saying, “Move Jennifer.” As far as we know, Jennifer is the only Andorian named Jennifer, but you really have to wonder, was this an Andorian name, or a human name? 

“I know we’re not supposed to have interpersonal conflict”

Mariner’s dislike of Jennifer is punctuated by her talking to herself saying, “I know we’re not supposed to have interpersonal conflict…but I really hate that Andorian.” This references a long-standing rule from the TNG–era of Trek TV; that Starfleet officers weren’t supposed to have petty differences with each other. This rule was apparently implemented by Gene Roddenberry and drove several writers, including Ron Moore and Jeri Taylor, nuts. 

Slightly new opening-credits

In Season 1, we saw the Cerritos running away from a battle involving a bunch of Borg cubes and Romulan Warbirds. Now, that same battle includes a Pakled ship from the Season 1 finale, a few Klingon Birds-of-Prey, and seemingly, fewer Borg. 

Fred Tatasciore’s name in the credits?

Although Shaxs died in the Season 1 finale, Fred Tatasciore’s name appears in the opening credits…hmmm…will this ever be explained? 

Rutherford’s date with Ensign Barnes

“Strange Energies” directly parallels the 2020 Season 1 debut, “Second Contact,” in several ways. The crew is involved with a second contact mission that goes horribly wrong and Rutherford starts dating Barnes for the “first” time. In the Season 1 finale, Rutherford lost his memory, which is why his relationship with Barnes seems new to him. This is why Mariner says “that sounds familiar.” 

Hating pears…a Doctor Who reference? 

Tendi is concerned that Rutherford used to hate pears, but now he doesn’t. This is possibly incorrect, but this could be a Doctor Who reference. In the Doctor Who episodes “Human Nature,” “Twice Upon a Time,” and “Hell Bent,” the Doctor (both David Tennant and Peter Capaldi) mention hating pears. In fact, in “Human Nature,” when the Doctor’s memory is erased, he asks Martha Jones to “never let me eat a pear.” 

Sonic power washing 

“Sonic showers” have long been a thing in the Star Trek universe, making their debut in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But, we’ve never seen sonic power-washers before!

“Ever heard of Gary Mitchell”

Ransom’s possession is very much a tribute to Gary Mitchell’s god-like powers in the second TOS pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Dr. T’ana’s insistence that Kirk beat Gary Mitchell with a “boulder” is accurate. For whatever reason, the very first canonical Kirk-adventure ever, established that rock beats god-like powers any day of the week. It should also be noted that Mariner referenced Gary Mitchell in the first episode of Season 1, too.

Possible Harlan Ellison reference?

While Ransom is starting to work out, you can briefly hear him say, “The trick isn’t becoming a God. The trick is staying a God.” This could be a reference to the axiom attributed to Harlan Ellison: “The trick isn’t becoming a writer. The trick is staying a writer.” Ellison wrote “The City on the Edge of Forever,” for TOS. In Star Trek: Picard Season 1, Soji traveled on a ship called the Ellison, which Michael Chabon revealed was an Easter egg meant to reference Harlan Ellison. So, you never know? 

“The Trick isn’t becoming a god, the Trick is staying a god”

Harlan Ellison reference?

Ransom on the Mount

Mariner says that Jack is “going all Ransom on the Mount.” This almost certainly references a hilarious fan video called “Shatner on the Mount,” in which a group called Fall On Your Sword remixed a behind-the-scenes interview with William Shatner (promoting Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) into a hilarious kind of talking-rap song. It has to be seen to be believed. 

Giant God Head

A giant God head coming out to grab a starship might seem silly, but there are several precedents for this kind of thing in Trek canon. In the TOS episode “Who Mourns For Adonais?” a giant green hand grabs the Enterprise, which is later revealed to be the hand of the god Apollo. In the TNG episode “The Nth Degree,” the giant head of a Cytherian finds its way onto the Enterprise-D bridge. And, of course, in The Final Frontier, the crew meets “the God of Sha Ka Ree” which also, is a giant floating head. 

My older sister got a symbiont 

Barnes and Rutherford joke around that her Trill sister has a symbiont, but she doesn’t. This references the idea that not all Trill are joined, which was established in both TNG and Deep Space Nine.

Cetacean ops

Barnes mentions going swimming in “Cetacean ops,” a part of the USS Cerritos that we’ve never seen, but we have to assume has something to do with sea creatures. This is the second time Lower Decks has referenced Cetacean ops, which itself derives from an overheard line in TNG’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” Again, with yet another parallel to its Season 1 debut, “Cetacean ops” was last referenced by Lower Decks in Season 1, Episode 1, “Second Contact.”

“LDS thing”

Rutherford incorrectly refers to SMD as “LDS.” This references a few things. First, for most fans, the official abbreviation of Lower Decks is LDS. But, that abbreviation also references a joke from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in which Kirk incorrectly refers to the drug “LSD” as “LDS,” saying that Spock “did a little bit too much LDS back in the ‘60s.” 

Nightengale Woman 

At the end of the episode, Stevens tells Ransom he’s going to read him “Nightengale Woman.” This too is a reference to “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which Gary Mitchell quotes from the poem “Nitengale Woman,” from memory. In Trek canon, the poem was written in 1996 on “the Canopus Planet.” In real life, the poem was written by Gene Roddenberry, who originally wrote part of the poem to describe flying a plane. 

Riker’s jam session

As the final moments of the episode cut back to the USS Titan, Captain Riker says “This jam session has too many licks and not enough counts.” In jazz, a “lick” refers to a pattern or musical phrase which is predetermined, but open to interpretation. Usually, a lick could result in a long jazz solo.  A “count” on the other hand, is more about the beat and form of a piece of music. Riker’s obsession with jazz began in the TNG episode “11001001.” In the season finale of Lower Decks Season 1, Riker’s catchphrase for sending the Titan into warp was a jazz count.

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Lower Decks Season 2 airs new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays.

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 1 Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S4 Watchthrough Episodes 6-9

Legacy: We have ended up on the home planet of Tasha Yar… and wow it’s not a nice place. We also find out that she has a sister, welp. So… it was alright. Ishara is very similar to Tasha in demeanor, but also very different. I tilt my head at the crew being so willing to trust and accept Ishara into their midst when they know nothing about this woman. I could see the ‘she’s using them’ plot a mile away. But to be fair, the episode addresses it. They wanted to see Tasha. They wanted to see the brave, loyal, strong-willed Security Chief that they lost so callously in her sister… and in the end, that took over. While I can see why Ishara acted as she did, she didn’t know these people and hasn’t seen Tasha in years so she’s under no obligation to care about them, it really has to hurt that she used them and almost committed mass murder and make them take the lame. Her world is a hellhole so her actions make sense, but that doens’t change the betrayal. Especially for Data. Riker sums it up well, with trust comes betrayal… but without trust, there is no friendship. That’s just the cruel truth. Anyways, it was a fine episode. I like that we have a pot-mortem for Tasha even if late… but it just makes me wish that tasha herself didn’t get killed sos he could have had her own plot and feeligns focused on. It still pisse sme off and is just a reminder of so much wasted potential. But ah well, for what they had to work with, they did it welll. 3/5.

Reunion: K’Ehleyr is back… and with a child. Worf’s child, to be exact. Huh. have been waiting very patiently for a follow-up to Sins of the Father and this was an excellent one! Back in K’Ehleyr’s first episode, she was unwilling to take the Oath and Worf wanted to so much and follow the Klingon traditions. Here? K’Ehleyr is ready and doens’t care that he was discommendated… but now Worf can’t. he’s been dishonored and even if it means nothing to K’Ehleyr, it means a great deal to him. He can’t let her or his son bear that shame. It’s so hard to watch him here. How anguished he feels, the way the other Klingons treat him despite it being their damn fault that he accepted it, to begin with, just knowing that he did nothing wrong… but for the greater good, he has to bear it. He doesn’t even want Alexander to be known as his son not because he’s unwilling to accept parental responsibility but to spare him of the dishonor. Just… freakin’ ouch. I was so happy to see K’Ehleyr back and her character is just so freakin’ good and her wanting to allow Alexander to find his life path? Excellent parenting. So… needless to say, her being killed off pisses me off. They at least allowed her character to shine, but… it feels like they only did it to make Worf suffer more. It was well-executed, I was about ready to tear up and Worf being driven to kill Duras for all the suffering that he put him through and now killing the woman he loved (which btw the romantic chemistry was MUCH better here than last time)? I can’t blame him at all. I get why he got reprimanded since Duras was a political figure and this can cause a whole host of problems and clearly Picard was sympathetic… but I just felt so bad for Worf. At least he admitted that he was Aexander’s father and hopefully the poor kid will have a good life with Worf’s parents, bu… yeah. K’Ehleyr’s death stops me form giving this a perfect score, very least I wish we had gotten to see her fight instead of goign to commerical and them walking in on her bloody corpse… but at least they got the tone down. I just hope that one day, Worf and his brother can truly expose the conspiracy because Worf deserves a Hell of a lot better. 4.5/5.

Future Imperfect: Let’s perform a thought experiment, shall we? Imagine going on assignment on your birthday, business as usual… then some kind of mishap happens. You wake up… and discover that you have lost sixteen years' worth of your memory. You can’t remember significant life changes, special moments for yourself and your loved ones, or even your spouse and child. Then just as you begin getting used to things and accepting this new life… you find out that it was all a lie and you were in an illusion all along. You were captured and tricked… and then you find out that was also a lie and it was all due to a lonely alien child left on a barren planet/within a highly advanced Holodeck system that can give him anything that he wants, everyone he knew had died and he did all of this just to have a friend. Congratulations folks, you have now experienced what Riker went through this episode! Yeah, this episode was crazy. I feel bad for the poor kid, while he shouldn’t have done what he did we’re talking about a lonely child essentially forced to live in a Holodeck and just wanted to interact with someone real. Also, I loved how Riker got clued in on how the future word was fake, excellent call-back to Season One! Not much else to say, but good episode! It was wild, that’s for sure~ 3.5/5.

Final Mission: Well folks, this is the curtain call for Wesley Crusher. I know that he pops back up once or twice, but this will be his final episode as a main character as he finally enters the Academy. We’ll get to my final thoughts on Wesley here in a bit, but l focus on the episode itself first. And… it was fine. We have Picard, Wesley, and some third guy crash land on a desert planet, the Enterprise unaware of if they’re alive or not. Thus the three struggle to survive which not only is the third guy essentially a paranoid asshole… but a cave-in seriosuly injures Picard. Thus Wesley is more or less on his own and has to keep Picard alive. Thankfully we avoid killing him off, and thus they make sure to give Wesley a proper send-off. They let him showcase his strengths with his intellegence, fast thinking, and compared to in the beginning he’s much more mature and capable of handling an Away Mission. This convinced me that yes, Wesley is ready for the Academy and that he will be a great Starfleet Officer someday. Meanwhile the Enterprise are dealing with their own issues because of course they are. Nothing can ever just go easy for these people. can it? It’s fine. The Enterprise plot didn’t have me invested aside form worrying about Dr. Crusher. The poor woman just burris herself in her work to deal with her worry about Wesley and evades Troi when she tries to assure her Otherwise the plot is there sot hat it can be a solo Picard and Wesley adventure without hem interfering. Which while I havn’t been the biggest fan of their dynamic, it’s clear how much Welsey admires Picard such as recounting their Samaritan Snare adventure, and Picard admititng that he brought him along because he was going to miss the kid. It’s a nice moment between the characters and allows Wesley to truly open up… though I wish it focused more on him and his mother since that’s been seriously lacking, but ah well. It was still a good send-off episode for Wesley and that’s how you want to treat your characters, whether they stay ont he show or not. 3/5.

As for Wesley himself… it’s been a bumpy road. Do I agree with the consensus that Wesley is an annoying child character that even his actor agrees with (albeit I think jokingly but still)? No. Wesley isn't a bad character. He’s a smart young kid, tries his best, makes mistakes but tries to do his best, and he grew. He’s a perfectly likable kid and this episode especially shows the best of him. Do I agree that the character's role and execution were annoying and contributed to his reputation? Yes. That is ultimately what it boils down to decent character, poor execution. In S1 Wesley was elevated far more than he needed to be. He was given privileges that no other character his age would have been granted no matter the competency level that borders on blatant favoritism. Whenever he made a serious error, he got praise for fixing it, never scolded for his actions with The Naked Now being the worst example. He still had good episodes like Coming of Age, but alas. I think having a kid character who aspires to be in Starfleet, has a parent who is a prominent crew member, and being able to use his skills to help was a perfectly fine idea… but there were just issues with how they did it. S2 and 3 were. While I disliked him at the end of The Dauphin and he still got showed some blatant favoritism, it was better balanced. I didn't feel he earned to be an Ensign until this episode… y’know, the one that shipped him off to The Academy. Crusher being written out in S2 and then brought back in S3 also really killed any and all potential that their dynamic could have truly brought which also hurt. It really feels like by S3 they just didn’t know what to do with the character anymore, limiting him to mainly Helmsman duty. He wasn't being elevated anymore… but he wasn't adding anything anymore either. Maybe promoting him was to help give him something… but Wil Wheaton decided to go, and that ended that. I can’t say I’m sad to see Wesley go because his potential just got squandered to the point that keeping him just felt pointless, and having him go to the Academy feels like the best natural end-point for him, so might as well be now. Nevertheless, Wesley was still part of the crew and for all that I criticized, he certainly didn’t deserve the hate that he got. If people like or even relate to the character, that’s great! He just didn’t work for me unfortunateley. Wil Wheaton obviously moved on to bigger, better things and is well-liked in the fandom, so that’s good cause he certainly did the best that he could. He just wasn’t given a lot of good material. Hopefully Welsey’s later guest appearances will give him somethingg ood and heck maybe they’ll convince Wheaton to come back in Picard one day, but for now… farewell Wesley. Can’t say I’ll miss you, but it wasn’t the worst ride either.

[brujeria-histeria]

Beckett

a ficlet kinda for @s-trip-tease here’s a little something for you, I’ll upload to AO3 sometime or later, I decided to hold the more shippy fic because I decided to wait until there’s some more established canon. Also the timeline on this a little off lol, TNG OOC too

Beckett remembers being a little girl of 8 years old visiting aboard the U.S.S Enterprise with her mom and dad. She got to meet so many officers who were already legends in their own right. It was one of the coolest things her parents had dragged her to and it made her want to be in Starfleet.

There was a party going on to celebrate the retirement of an admiral, her mother promised her that there would be other kids around to play with, but she was more interested in meeting the heroes of the ship.

However it was a little hard to do so when all of the adults were bigger than you and often just told you to go play, so she couldn’t get a word in.She sulked in the corner until she heard a friendly voice.

“Hello. I sense a bit of frustration from you.” A beautiful woman smiled down at little Becket and she knew who it was.

“You’re Deanna Troi!” Beckett gasped, her little gap toothed mouth smiling widely.

“I am, and what’s your name?” she asked her.

“Beckett! I’m Beckett Mariner!” she hopped.

“What a cute name for a cute girl. I have a feeling you want to meet the bridge crew.” Deanna assumed.

“Yes!” Beckett hopped again.

“Ok, come with me.” Deanna led the small girl through the crowd of people and brought her up to a circle with a bunch of adults, some sitting some standing, but sitting right there in a chair was none other than Commander Riker.”Captain Picard is off somewhere, but you can meet everyone else.”

“Hey who is this?” one of the adults asked.

“This is little Beckett Mariner.” Beckett walked up to them shyly.

One of her heroes, Commnder Riker waved. “Ah Commander Mariner and Lt. Freeman’s daughter.”

“I wanna be like you all some day.” She said sweetly.

“I heard you’re a bit of a scamp, which is perfect to serve on the bridge.” Riker said lifting the girl into his lap. “You wanna be a captain?”

“Mmm, Daddy said he’s gonna be a captain some day too!” Beckett kicked her legs.

“I’m sure he will, one day I will be too. Who’s ship will you serve on Daddy’s or Mine?” Riker asked.

“That’s too hard a question!” Beckett answered honestly. The adults laughed at her, what a cute little girl.

That was 16 years ago and since then Beckett’s idolization of the high ranks had soured. She thought it would be filled with adventure like the days of Captain Kirk or Admiral Picard, but instead not everything was a kooky encounter, or a battle well won. In the 5 years she’s served, at 24 years old she’s seen so much shit that she no longer wants to anything to do with the heavy lifting. She’d rather make second contact, chill out and do her thing.

Sometimes she wakes up in nervous sweats, sometimes she can’t sleep at night which is why she’ll nap in the day time, this only happens a couple times of week. Her parents don’t know about the atrocities she’s seen. They already treat her like a baby.

She has a love hate relationship with Star Fleet. She loves the adventure it offers, but not the psychological torture it brings. She loves being up in space traversing the stars. She can’t keep still, she has to drain her “battery” daily. She needs something to do which is why tedious task must become a game to fill the void of her no longer serving on any bridge crew or until she’s allowed to help with a second contact. Beckett is whip smart, she went into the academy at 16 and was earning top marks, and her parents still don’t know what the hell happened that she went from that to the projected lazy character she puts out. She knows she’s a disappointment…….

She hates that she was stuck in a cave that knew things that she now wish she didn’t know. She has nightmares about her friend’s dying, about her mother and father dying. She’ll lock herself in a room sometimes and she can’t stop crying when the panicking starts. That’s rare.

Despite all of that, she’s braver and bolder than people think, she’s stronger than she gives herself credit for. She’s more often willing to run head on into a fight than she is scared. Her dealings and feelings towards Death is a two sided coin as well, she’s scared for others, but not herself.

People incorrectly assume she’s an asshole because she doesn’t get too close sometimes or because she openly mocks the bridge crew. Good, she hopes they don’t get too close, the higher ups that is. She does whatever to stay demoted.

She cares more than anyone knows, she cares about her adorably naive yet uptight know it all friend Bradward Boimler, her surrogate older brother Rutherford who gives the best hugs and listens to her about her problems with dating, until D’Vana Tendi came along and she now gives the very best hugs and doesn’t tell anyone about Beckett’s secret video playlist of beauty tutorials that she looks at when she’s doing her hair. She cares about her parents, even if she makes them so mad they blow a fuse. She even cares about that stupid stupid shiny haired broad-shouldered jackass Commander Ransom.

Maybe one day she’ll be up to having responsibility again. Right now?........ Not now. Maybe never, she doesn’t know. She feels like she can’t part ways with Star Fleet, she knows it’s the only place that’ll give her what she needs. Her craving for adventure and mystery is so strong, nothing else satiates it. The great vast of the galaxies is her lover, and she loves to wake up in it.

One day she’ll figure out what she wants.

[mirrorfalls]

Lego Liveblogs ST: TOS, part 10 (of who-the-hell-knows-how-many?)

Things I should’ve done last night: read at least a Sparknotes of Macbeth so I know what Dagger of the Mind is supposed to imply.

Things I didn’t do last night: that.

* Prisons? In my enlightened 23rd century? How depressingly plausible. * Now this is some straight-up Beagle Boys shit. I love it. ** Guy, I sure hope you know what it means to put on a redshirt on this ship. * "A cage is a cage, Jim.” Again, how depressingly resonant. * Don’t know if this is supposed to be deliberate foreshadowing, but: the warden never gives a name (or even a number) for the fugitive so the crew can look up his record. * “Where there is no emotion there is no motive for violence.” What Earth history have you been reading, Spock?! * Oh, the crew is in rare form today. Not even the first ad break and the guy’s caught. * Bones, try not to let your mad-scientist show so much. * Ah, here’s our real plot: go down and explore Ye Olde Space Prison, boys, and decide for yourselves... are the inmates running it now? ** ~Wacky Sitcom Music Cue~ * Okay, Kirk, I know she’s not Nurse Christine (Barrett’s schedule couldn’t fit this in, I guess?) but that’s no reason to get snippy. * That’s one accommodating warden. Too accommodating... * Okay, whatever effect they used on this lady (glass eye? Contact?) it’s creepy as fuck. * Important Theme: Can someone be rehabilitated not by being convinced to live with their wrongdoings, but by having those wrongdoings outright erased? ** Spoiler: Probably not. * Knock it off, Kirk. I guess this is supposed to be banter, but it just comes off as spiteful. * Spock, I appreciate your needing to Get To The Truth and everything, but if he’s in too much pain to talk just give him a keyboard or something to write with. * ... say, was this before A Clockwork Orange came out? * Somehow it never occurred to me this’d be the Mind Meld’s debut. ** I have to wonder what audiences back in ‘66 thought of this - today even non-fans are casually aware of it as a part of Trek lore, but in the context of the episode it comes with no foreshadowing. Hell, people probably expected Bones to be the one with the fancy mind-massage techniques. * Probably continuity-by-accident, but I do love how Kirk’s a lot more reluctant to trust the Big Scientific Authority after how things went on the last planet. ** That said: Jesus Christ man at least radio in your situation before you "test out” the Lobotomy Beam! ** Aaaaand this has turned straight into the Unprofessionalism Olympics. Someone’s got it bad for the Captain. * Gasp. Shock. Who could’ve seen this coming. * Aww, our villain ships the heroes! ** Wonder how many fans rewrote this episode so Spock was the companion... * Again - probably not by design, but Shatner’s trademark overacting really highlights how artificial all the emotions created by the beam are. ** Hinging a cliffhanger on it, though, is good for nothing but laughs. * Uh, you alright, Kirk? ** Uhh. *** Uhhhhhhhhhhh. **** Oh thank God. * Anyway - this is more proactive than anything the other ladies have gotten to do in the last nine episodes, which is nice. Alas, it still involves a hot girl crawling around on hands and knees ‘cuz Roddenberry gonna Roddenberry. * Okay, how did you guys not see him shoving her into the vent?! * Can’t believe it took me this long to realize this was where TNG got the iconic "FOUR LIGHTS!” scene from. * Tsk, tsk. Shoulda strapped him down, doctor. * Holy shit, is this the first time one of the heroines killed a villain? You go, girl. * Ah, here’s our villain’s Karmic Fate: to be reprogrammed by the same machine- ** Oop, no, wait, it just plain killed him. Another point to Mr. Spock. * Also: every second of these lovey-dovey scenes is mutually nonconsensual. Pipe down the jolly music, guys. * “Hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness.” Bit silly as a line, but it’s a deft enough show of how Kirk’s now knows penal cruelties that Bones can barely imagine.

Act for act, this episode manages to feel even pulpier than the last one - the fanservice is still cranked just north of creepy, none of the Big Themes get off the ground, and the villain barely even pretends he has some higher motive behind lobotomizing everyone (with a spinny sun lamp, yet). And yet, somehow I’m more excited at the prospect of rewatching it two or three months down the line. Maybe it’s a matter of the script being more self-aware, maybe I just want to watch Dr. #Girlboss frying that mook again and again...

Next: Our third character-based title! Will she manage to succeed where Mudd and Charlie failed? Let’s hope so.