#if they don’t like Star Trek they need to make their own original show and call it something else PLEASE

[hang-on-lil-tomato]

Rhys Darby on Faux Trek

ok…my emotions are so opposed. I am so happy for Rhys to get such a prominent role on this show…for a season opener. Yay Rhys ! The overnight sensation that took 30 years! On the other hand, I’m an old skool ORIGINAL REAL Star Trek. The new stuff isn’t trek at all. The trailer has a cgi space battle and the big solution they arrive at is ramming the ship. I can’t count how many times they did that in Berman Trek. It’s a cliche of chiches. It’s NOT at all like a real Star Trek battle. It’s more like Star Wars, with the ship ramming thing shoved in. The images are dark, not bright like the TOS by necessity had to be lit.

they’ve only told us Rhys will be a “legacy character”. Because gawd forbid they invent a new concept or character. Gotta get those memberberries in at every opportunity.

Here are my guesses: he’s going to be a Q, some kind of all powerful god being. Maybe a Trelane type.

Faux trek writers don’t have very much imagination, so that my initial idea.

when Cumberbatch announced he was Kahn—ugh… ludicrous idea. So that tells me the writers don’t know much about Star Trek except for a couple movies and maybe they saw Space Seed, but I doubt it. They’re writing really bad fan fiction, because at least fans KNOW the material they’re writing about.

bottom line: happy for rhys; disgusted with calling this stuff “star trek” when the showrunners and writers have such disdain for the original source material.

[zee-rambles]

Lets. D0. This.

(Please note: Post will be updated as I find more resources and think of more strategies)

(Please do not re-use gif without permission…unless it’s to save Rise…)

Mutant May

YOU can watch Season 1 and Season 2 of RISE right HERE!

So I’ve seen a a lot of people still wondering if Rise of the TMNT can be saved.

There’s is a lot of hope, especially with the boom of fans joining the fandom after the movie dropped last year, people making more art on tumblr, twitter, tik tok, and so on. But also a a lot of doubt, especially after JJ Conway’s post on twitter.

BUT…I still think there is a chance…a GOOD chance. WITH ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW! Why?

We live in the internet. Information is more then easy to get out now thanks to social media. There is all kinds of ways to get the word out to people. Let’s abuse it. 😎

Fans have brought back shows before.

We need a MAJOR push through social media, more fans, more art, it’s up to us…and I think we can do it!

Fans convinced Netflix to bring Sense8 back for a finale

Fans convinced fox to bring back “Futurama” after it was cancelled in 1999.

Hey Arnold got the jungle movie thirteen years after the show was cancelled

Animaniacs got a 3 season revival 22 years after it stopped airing.

Brooklyn 99 was cancelled in 2018, and the fans convinced NBC to pick up the series.

Arrested Development was canceled after 3 seasons, but AFTER it was cancelled, it grew an audience and they made it come back!

Fans saved the original Star Trek in the 60s with letters.

They did it. Why can’t we?

So what can we do?

Well…

1. PETITIONS TO SAVE RISE that we can all sign…

PETITION 1 (The strongest one, but the more petitions signed, the better!)

PETITION 2

PETITION 3

PETITION 4 (save the content that was cut/we missed)

PETITION 5! (Make an ROTTMNT season 3)

2. Pester Nickelodeon and Netflix on social media (THE BIG ONE Y’ALL, THIS IS THE MOST DIRECT AND IMPORTANT)

Be polite, be non-toxic (don’t be rude or mean, the boys would not want that, and the Nick/Netflix won’t listen), but be LOUD, PASSIONATE, AND ANNOYING! Ask for DVDs of the show/movie, and then BUY THOSE DVDs!

MAKE SURE TO ASK FOR THE FULL ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW TO COME BACK, INCLUDING ANDY SARIANO AND ANT WARD.

Sample DM/Letter (but try to come up with your own. Too many repeats and they will ignore it)

“Dear Nickelodeon/Netflix/Viacom, I can’t tell you how much Rise means to me, and I really love that you put the show on air. But it was not fair that the show was cancelled before it got the chance to reach the audience it deserved, only because of a few bad reviews and a lack of advertising. The show is great, there’s tons of fans, tons of art, and people, including me, want so much more! Please bring it back! We want the original crew to come, Flying Bark, for the show to get it’s full second season restored, and it’s five season run like it was originally intended. People hated the 2012 TMNT when it came out, but it got it’s chance and now there are people that love it. Why can’t Rise of the TMNT have the same? It’s clear that the creators love their work and there’s a growing fan base for it. Rise just came out at the wrong time, but it deserves it chance to shine.”

The more personal you made the letter, the more you say what Rise means to you, the better.

As for me? I’m sending them a picture of Pizza Pigeon with the #wewantmoreriseoftheTMNT and #saverottmnt

Request movies/seasons on Netflix.

Ask for Rise Season 2, another season, another movie. Just keep asking!

Nickelodeon’s facebook page (Look, I know that facebook is a relic at this point, but the more people go there and PESTER Nickelodeon, the better!)

Rise’s facebook page

Leave good reviews. Share. Leave TONS of comments

Nickelodeon’s instagram

Nickelodeon’s Twitter page (treat carefully, there be Musks out there…only use if you are over 18)

Nickelodeon’s TikTok

Niceklodeon’s letter inbox

Nickelodeon, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

Rugrats was brought back because fans bombarded Nickelodeon with letters saying they wanted it back. Might as well cover our bases. This one is a BIG DEAL!

Nickelodeon’s Corporate Number

1-212-846-2543 Call them! Annoy them! Ask how we can get their attention! Tell them why you love this show! Why it deserves to come back.

Contact Paramount

Paramounts Request form

Official Fan Page Rise’s Instagram

The more followers the better.

Netflix’s instagram

Netflix’s facebook

Netflix’s Twitter (Treat carefully. There be MUSKs out there…only use if you are over 18)

SPAM NICKELODEON’S EMAILS!

feedback@nick.com

contactus@nick.com

Letterbox@nick.co.uk

help@paramountplus.coM

If anyone has any more, any deeper more direct points of contact, or more ideas, please share!

3. Leave good reviews for Rise anywhere and raise awareness everywhere you can!

One of the key reasons Rise did not do too well because it was unfairly review bombed before people could give it a chance…so get out there on tik tok, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and ESPECIALLY youtube.

Make reviews! Analysis! JOKES! Support other content creators! When the Rise Reanimated video comes out, share it like no tomorrow!

No one paid attention when How to Train Your Dragon came out, but word of mouth and people saying it was good, made it the success it was. Let’s repeat history!

Anytime there is NEW RISE CONTENT on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel, watch it, share, spread it.

Share this post on social media, across various sites, use the information here to spread awareness about how people can help and what they can do. Be relentless! (Like Leo in Lair Games)

Ask influencers to review, react, and give RISE a chance without placing judgement.

4. Make. ART!

Draw, Write, TWEET, Make MERCH, Sell MERCH, Make Tik Toks, Videos on YouTube, posts on instagram, discord, what pad, demanding more Rise, spreading the word, and just showing how much you love this show! Not only will it attract attention, but it’s also good for all of us. There will be more Rise content either way.

Make sure to @ nickelodeon on ALL of your art! SPAM THEM! ANNOY THEM! DROWN THEM IN LOVE FOR THIS SHOW! Demand DVD’s and Blue rays of the SHOW AND THE MOVIE! It’s not fair that we can’t have access to it!

PLAY THIS GAME!

If you see official Rise MERCH in the while, buy it if you can! Also support as many rise content creators as you can. If you can’t draw? Write! If you can’t create! Like! Share! Comment! Support each other!

Rise April ART Challenge

Keep in mind…there WILL be pushback.

Companies as big as Nickelodeon and Viacom care about their bottom line: $$$…money. BUT pushback, whether they are taking down your videos on Tik Tok, striking artists on twitter, mean that they’re taking NOTICE. So don’t. Give. UP!

One last thing to remember: DO NOT harass fans for enjoying other versions of TMNT

Even though Rise is the first and only TMNT I have ever loved, I don’t believe in shaming other fans for looking forward to, or enjoying other TMNT series. Gatekeeping like that was what stopped Rise from (heh) Rising as high as it should have. All Rise fans are welcome, and all TMNT fans are welcome. Rise deserves to reach more fans, it deserves another season, and it does not need to knock down other TMNT series to do it. Show them your love and your need for more Rise, without making other TMNT fans feel unwelcome.

Share, spread the word, give it your best shot! A village can move MOUNTAINS! SO let’s do it.

So that in the near future…we can MAKE THIS JOKE!

[tigereyes45]

A missing Mcspirk scene about Sybok, from Star Trek V. That takes place after the party but before they make it back to Yosemite. This fulfills two of my bingo prompts for the Mcspirk Bingo being hosted on the @mcspirkevents blog.

Summary:

Jim decides to check on McCoy a few hours after the party ends. Bones is alone, and upset. The tension in the room is palpable as Jim decides to risk bringing up the whole Sybok fiasco now. He needs answers. There's a deep-seated need to know why McCoy never told him and Spock about his father before.

Start:

With a familiar roll of his eyes, McCoy leans back in his chair. His knuckles turn white as he grips his knees. “Kirk, just ask already.”

“Kirk?” It sounds strange hearing his last name come out of Bones’ mouth rather than Jim. Kirk steps a little closer until he’s standing by McCoy’s shoulder. All within reach in case the doctor felt so inclined to reach out. “What should I be asking, Bones?”

“Don’t act innocent.” Bones rolls his eyes before turning back towards the window. Starlight shines against his face. It cast small spots of lights scattered throughout the shadows about him. Deep blue eyes twinkle, as they look out. “I know better than your usual acquaintance.”

It’s an unfair dig. Jim folds his hands behind his back in a parade rest. “And yet after everything that happened today, I feel as if I’m getting to know you for the first time.” When McCoy raises his head, Jim twists just enough to face him. He offers an amused smile.

Bones drops a hand onto the arms of the chair. “You know me Jim.” McCoy never looks away. His gaze is steady, and tone certain. However, Jim can see the sadness in his eyes. The lack of shaking in his voice does very little to hide the grief, and fear evident in the curl on his lips, and the light shaking of his leg.

Jim should comfort him. If this were any other time he would have done just that, but hurt rears its ugly head, and he asks the one question that has been bothering him since Sybok’s sudden show.

“Do I?”

Curled lips fall into a flat line. Water wells up along the corner of already wet eyes. “Does this really change so much?” This time the shaking shifts from McCoy’s leg to his voice.

Before he can answer that, Jim must know. “If I say it does?”

McCoy hangs his head. For a moment it stills. Time slows down as Bones takes a deep breath, lost in thought. Jim squeezes his wrist within his hand. Why didn’t you tell me? Is there a reason you didn’t trust me? Have I ever proven to be disloyal, or judgemental? Tell me Bones. Why? Jim could ask, but why wouldn’t McCoy just tell him? There has been so few secrets between them in the past, and maybe that’s the problem. Kirk deliberately inhales. All the secrets that have ever lied between them were Jim’s or Spock’s. Bones has always been an open book. They were blinded by their perceptions, the disguise McCoy dons. If it was a disguise then what has been the truth? Were they ever friends? Ever more? Did he even have the right to call himself anything but a stranger?

“Then you should find a new doctor.” Jim takes a step back. Bones refuses to meet his gaze. That’s for the best because there was no way for Jim to control the pain rushing through his body. It feels as if the enterprise was splitting into. As if the warp core was shattered right in half and about to melt down. It might as well, for what is life without McCoy, or Spock for that matter?

It would be even worse than his time as admiral.

“Bones,” Desperate for a bit of normalcy Jim reaches out. He rests a hand on the doctor’s shoulder. Rather uncharacteristically, McCoy pulls out from beneath Kirk’s grasp with a glare on his face. More like a cornered animal than a man, he pushes his chair back, standing unsteady, eyes trained on Kirk’s. The captain’s voice was far fainter than he wanted. “Why?”

And here's my updated bingo card:

I decided to color code the stars based on whose P.O.V. the story is in.

[lostyesterday]

I really enjoyed the Discovery finale! As Star Trek finales go, it was definitely on the stronger side. I’m not sure if I would call it my number one favorite Star Trek finale, but maybe I’ll change my mind on eventual rewatch. I was skeptical as to how the writers were going to pull off a convincing series finale when, from what I understand, the whole season had already been filmed when the cancellation was announced, but I think in most ways they did as good a job as they could have under the circumstances.

I liked the conclusion to this season’s plot with the Progenitor’s technology. I was hoping they’d go the route of destroying the technology, and I think it very much fit with Michael’s character arc. I’m also glad that Michael didn’t end up staying as the steward of the technology. That would have been, as I’ve seen several people point out, really similar to Sisko’s ending in DS9 which I have… mixed feelings on personally. I also liked that the technology wasn’t capable of bringing people back to life. The choice to have the Progenitors not be the original creators of the technology is an interesting one, which I think I like, since it leaves the technology as much more of a mystery than it would have been otherwise, and I personally prefer when not everything is explained.

Unsurprisingly, I loved Michael in this episode so much. Seeing her journey over the course of Discovery has been incredible. She’s one of my all-time favorite characters, and I genuinely believe she’s one of the best characters in Star Trek history. I’m so, so happy she got a happy ending – if any Star Trek character needs to have one, it’s her. And I loved the Michael/Book ending!!! I was so hoping they’d get back together, and all their scenes in the epilogue were wonderful. I love that they found healing and happiness together, and that they had a child. I’m not one to want all of my favorite characters to get married and have kids – far from it. But Michael is a character I do think it genuinely makes sense for.

I liked the parts of the episode with the other characters too. The finale is pretty strongly Michael focused, which I don’t personally mind, but all the other major characters got their own moments. The only major thing I actively disliked in the finale was the part with Zora at the end. I really don’t think it was necessary to make an explicit connection to the Short Treks episode, and the way that whole thing was framed felt really weird to me because it denied Zora any sense of agency in the decision. So I’m just going to go ahead and ignore that part of the episode.

Overall, Star Trek Discovery has been a really phenomenal show, in my opinion. It’s far from flawless, but most of its flaws come about through earnest attempts to take risks and tell interesting stories. I love Discovery – it’s my favorite NuTrek show and one of my favorite Star Trek shows overall. Season 5 isn’t my favorite season (that would still be season 4), but I still think it was a strong season to go out on. One thing I’m sure of is that Discovery will have a lasting legacy, and that it will be appreciated in the future for its strengths.

[walks-the-ages]

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[hopecomesbacktolife]

so I rewatched this episode recently and I am now Thinking Some Thoughts TM about The Librarians season 2 episode 9 And The Happily Ever Afters

namely, I was thinking about how I feel like there’s been discussions about the general plot, admiration for the funny bits and Fleve moments (as there should be!) a general appreciation for the overarching plot of the episode, how it’s compelling that they turn away from their “happily ever after” or, as Ariel put it, “their heart’s desire” right? and, while I’m sure we could even discuss whether these AU lives shown in the episode would really be these characters’ most secret, deepest wishes, given what we know about them—

I want to set that aside for a minute and really think about the premise. Ariel was saying that no human has ever been able to turn their back on that willingly, right? and my first thought was some abstract idea— humans being unable to turn their backs on true love, on the person they want to be with, or perhaps on the job they want most, or even something like having their own peaceful home, right?

but then I thought, okay, what would this be for me? My deepest desire, the thing that makes my heart ache with yearning— is it belonging? love? What would it actually look like to have the offer of your wildest hopes to be real, and to, for the good of the world and to save you and your friends’ (and the entire world) lives, to walk away from that?

and it’s that last bit of the question that really stopped me in my tracks because. and I don’t know if this is just because I’ve been thinking of STIV a lot recently, but. really? truly? if we’re being honest? deepest, fiercest desire? thing I would long for most in the world? fictitious alternate life that would be hardest to give up as it constitutes a happy ending? like, for me, that’s a Star Trek world, no question even about it. A hopeful optimistic future where humanity is among the stars, racism, sexism, homophobia, human xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry have been virtually eliminated, everyone’s basic needs are met and we’re no longer seeing constant and insidious human rights violations? humanity come together to create an equitable, fair, good world for all that has done away with money and everyone’s needs are met, medical care is free, incredibly accessible, and available to all, people are free to pursue their interests with no capitalistic control upon them, we’ve reached the stars and are caring for our earth, each other, and making friendships with new species?

like, ough. It’s Gillian Taylor being able to come with Kirk and crew back to the 23rd century and live there, you know? It’s that scene in Diane Duane’s TNG novel Dark Mirror where [redacted] is in awe at the prime universe’s wondrous hope and equality and loveliness! it’s The ultimate fantasy, this post-scarcity post-bigotry equitable utopia, you know?

If I was stuck in a life AU like the others in the show, I’m almost certain it would be being put into Star Trek. and I just. can you imagine, being placed into a Star Trek life, and then being asked to give that up, to save the world? how do you give up a future beyond hatred, beyond bigotry, beyond systemic inequalities and oppression and war and capitalistic medical systems and. and. how in hell could someone give that up? how is saving the world the very giving up of the better-future-dream made real, made tangible? when saving the world is somehow going back to the one that seems Worse, where we’re still dealing with all of these hates and bigotries and money-originated-violences? how is that saving the world? and, to be selfish, to give up a world free of homophobia, with instantly available medical care?

I just. god, with the self-reinforcing nature of the AU life spell I just. I don’t know if I’d be able to give it up. Would anyone be able to convince me that it’s not real? And even if, somewhere in my heart of hearts, I know that it isn’t real, that I’d been stuck into a materialized Star Trek AU that isn’t real life… could I give that up? to be completely serious, you know, envisioning that as a real life situation… could I truly look at that life, and say yes, this is exactly what I want, in this life I would never be denied medical care and have no need to work under capitalistic society and am fully accepted and cherished in my queerness and in space… and to say yes, it’s everything I’ve ever yearned for, and then to shut the door on that, and knowingly return to the world of our current day?

I don’t know, y’all. I mean. Even if I did do it, which isn’t 100% certain—but looking within myself I think I could have the strength to do it, but I’d need some time to bid farewell in my heart, it couldn’t be sudden— the very act of seeing a Star Trek future and being in it and then… to willingly leave… it would break my heart so deeply, I just. how does one recover from that? my throat hurts with the sheer emotion and sadness at the very thought; how could one knowingly, informedly leave such a place and not have your heart forever changed? I think I’d always feel a little wounded, a certain especially tender spot somewhere deep within myself. To have held that future and then let it slip from your fingers…

I think this is especially poignant and moving to me given that this comes immediately following And The Point of Salvation and we know that Ezekiel remembers everything, and even though he seems to be fine because the writers don’t let his character breathe and give him the space and respect he’s due / Julian Bashir-ify him / are racist and don’t let him express it onscreen, there’s no way that didn’t majorly fuck him up psychologically, and I feel like, as sweet as this episode is presented onscreen, it’s kind of the emotional narrative successor to the previous episode because it’s like, the other side of the forever-changed-self coin. to really, truly walk away from what you most desire?

for me, to walk away from a brief moment of living in a Star Trek world? to quote another story, I think I might be brave enough; but I don’t think I’d ever feel the same and, I think there would be so much indescribable sadness to the aftermath of this.

Even if we argue that each of their life AUs were vastly more personal than worldwide-altering hopes and dreams, still, and even given that these events were followed up by the season finale (which was very good as well!!) I think the characters would all really, really need time to sit with and process the grief of losing… whatever their heart’s-desire-lives were, whether we agree with the accuracy of the ones we saw on screen or no. I think they’d need to really mourn those brief flashes of an alternate life; and even after they went back to work and proceeded “as normal” I think these sadnesses would crop back up from time to time as a certain sound, certain name, certain object or scenery or other occurrence briefly brought their memory back to those brief flashes of another time, another life. And they’d help each other through it, of course, but. what a particular sadness that would be.

I dunno, I guess I just got to thinking about how incredibly difficult and heartbreaking it would be to be placed into a Star Trek future and then have to make the choice to give that up, and how I don’t think any of the Librarians or Eve would bounce back to normal immediately, how they’d need to give themselves time to feel all of the emotions and process the losses of the time when they inhabited their hearts’ desires because, ough, I would be such a mess.

maybe sometime I’ll write a fic about this because there’s so much unexplored emotional potential and angst/hurt/comfort territory going on here, but I had to get these thoughts out because the concept of being handed your deepest, dearest wishes and then being asked to recant to save the world is so, so much more intense, more heartbreakingly bittersweet, more layered than we really got screen time for, and is (to me at least!) so worth exploring in terms of how it would affect the characters in the weeks/months etc beyond the events of the episode. ough, just. so many feelings about this♡

[fancoloredglasses]

Star Trek, part 7: The TNG Movies VII-X (so a show that lasted more than twice as long as TOS gets just over half as many movies?)

[All images are owned by Paramount. Please don’t sue me.]

[QUICK NOTE: This is a bare-bones review of the films rather than my usual tongue-in-cheek blow-by-blow review since I’m trying to cover four movies in one review. If you would like to see any of the films reviewed in-depth, please let me know]

With the final film starring the Original Series crew and the season finale of TNG in the past, it was only a matter of time before the TNG crew would hit the big screen. How would Picard and Company make their mark on movie audiences?

The answer is “It’s complicated.”

While not every film with Kirk and Company was a masterpiece (in fact, one could say that only every even-numbered film was good) they were more-or-less (I’m looking at you The Final Frontier!) entertaining. In the case of the TNG films, only one of the films is unanimously considered "good", while the rest…well, at least they weren’t The Final Frontier, but not by much in some cases.

I should also note that none of the TNG films have number designations, showing that they’re not from the same time frame as the previous films.

There were only 4 films due to the final one not being well-received both in reviews and at the box office, forcing Paramount to scrap plans for a fifth film to tie up any loose ends.

Those that were waiting for DS9 or Voyager films would unfortunately be disappointed, as following the final TNG film there would not be another film in the series for 7 years (and that was a reboot to the franchise)

But now, onto the films! If you would like to watch them, they’re available on Paramount+ or behind your favorite paywall.

The first film was a “passing of the torch” moment, transitioning the eras for the big screen.

As such, Kirk, Chekov, and Scotty were in attendance for the beginning of the film, which was the maiden voyage of…

…the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B), an Excelsior class starship. This was a publicity stunt where they brought in Kirk (now retired), Scott, and Chekov for the press to gawk at.

Suddenly, they receive a distress call as a strange “ribbon” of temporal energy was about to envelop a transport. Unfortunately, as this is a dog and pony show, there were a lot of systems that weren’t yet online and the Enterprise was ill-equipped to deal with this crisis.

They manage to save some of the crew, but the Enterprise is caught in the ribbon’s gravity. Scotty has an idea how to save the Enterprise (because of course he does), so Kirk (because he has to be the hero) goes to pull off Scotty’s hare-brained plan. It succeeds (because of course it does), however…

The section of the Enterprise Kirk was working in is hit, causing a hull breach that blows him into ribbon’s grasp, killing him (that will NOT look good on the captain’s resume!)

Among the survivors are Guinan (future Ten Forward bartender)

…Tolian Soran, who desperately wants to go back to the ribbon.

Fast forward 70-ish years. The Enterprise-D is given new uniforms to match DS9, Worf gets a promotion to Lt. Commander (just in time to be transferred to Deep Space Nine), and Data decides it’s time to try installing an emotion chip he acquired near the end of the series (unfortunately, Data was not prepared for the onslaught of emotions the chip would grant him, leading to rather forced “humor” as he adjusts)

(Thanks to Krebber)

(Thanks to enessis)

However, all of this frivolity needs to wait as Soran has developed technology that can extinguish stars, and he intends to use it to divert the ribbon to the planet Veridian III so he can finally rejoin it (Guinan explains that part of her is inside, and it’s a paradise)

Picard attempts to stop Soran as the Enterprise is attacked by a pair of Klingon renegades they’ve had dealings with in the past. Not only does Picard fail (drawing him into the ribbon as well), but…

(Thanks to Wolftime Gaming)

However, all is not lost, since the portion of Guinan tell Picard he can leave any time, and place. What’s more, there’s someone who can help!

Yep, Shatner just has to be the hero one last time!

Anyway, they go back to stop Soren again (why? Why not go a bit further back to before Soren was ready?) and stop him this time, but…

Well, at least Shatner can’t return to hog the spotlight in future films.

With the awkward passing of the torch, we need to replace the Enterprise, so…

Meet the new USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), a Sovereign class starship. The ship has a crew of 700, but not families (and after what happened to the Enterprise-D, who can blame them?). Additionally, the Enterprise now has its own EMH (that Dr. Crusher despises) Most of the command crew (except Worf) have transferred to the Enterprise-E (making casting the film a lot easier)

One other change between films is in the uniform…

(Thanks to EVIL ED)

We see the second Starfleet uniform change over the course of a decade. I’ve already covered the change in my review of DS9. You will also note that ocular technology has advanced between films, as La Forge has bionic eyes rather than needing a VISOR.

But enough about the differences, on to the film!

First Contact is the first of two Trek films directed by Jonathan Frakes (though he has directed episodes from all three TNG-era shows, as well as three of the Paramount+ Trek shows and a Trek parody series)

Earth is once again threatened by the Borg. Once again, the Enterprise is able to sweep in and Save The Day.

During the battle, the USS Defiant (commanded by Lt. Commander Worf) is critically damaged. Fortunately, the surviving crew is beamed to the Enterprise (allowing Michael Dorn to get a paycheck from the film)

However (what, you didn’t expect it to be this easy, did you? It would be a rather short movie otherwise)…

…a sphere inside the cube escapes and opens a temporal rift, which causes Earth to assimilate in the present (wouldn’t that make all the humans on the Enterprise suddenly become Borg as well?)

The Enterprise travels slightly farther back in time (the far-flung future of 2063, to be exact) to stop the Borg, which allows them to meet…

Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the Warp Drive (or at least Earth’s version of it; better get on it, you have less than 40 years to pull it off!) The crew manages to defeat the Borg, save Earth, and witness Cochrane’s historic flight, in which he makes First Contact (hence the title of the film) with the first aliens Earth has officially encountered.

(Thanks to Binge Society)

First Contact is by far the best of the TNG films (and could surpass The Wrath of Khan as the best overall) It also sets the stage for the next Trek series (more on that in a future review)

Unfortunately, it’s pretty much all downhill from here.

Insurrection was also directed by Jonathan Frakes. This film went for a light-hearted approach after the violent First Contact. Unfortunately, no one thought about the fact that The Final Frontier was also mostly humor and look how THAT turned out!

Worf has once again joined the crew, despite the fact that Deep Space Nine is in the middle of a war with the Dominion (and he should be mourning Jadzia Dax’s death), but there he is because he just happened to be in the neighborhood.

The Enterprise and crew investigate a planet that emits particles rendering its inhabitants effectively immortal. Additionally, the crew enjoy benefits from their brief exposure, including Geordi’s eyes temporarily being able to see, Worf more or less going through Klingon puberty again, as well as…

(Thanks to April 5, 2063)

…the rekindling of Riker and Troi’s relationship. Of course, Riker had to make a tiny concession.

(Don’t worry, the beard will return in time for the next film)

An alien race (with the help of a Starfleet Admiral) are attempting to move the indigenous people to harvest the particles for themselves. The Enterprise manages to expose and thwart the plot in time for Worf to return to Deep Space Nine for the final season.

Which brings us to the final TNG film

Jonathan Frakes did not direct this film. It was instead given to a director who never watched TNG, and boy howdy did it show!

The film starts happily enough…

(Thanks again to April 5, 2063)

Yes, Riker and Troi manage to continue their relationship from the last movie and get married! (the first of two, as they will be having a traditional Betazoid wedding later…in which everyone in the wedding party is nude!

As you can see, they managed to shoehorn Worf in once again (this time as a wedding guest, but that doesn’t explain why he sticks around after)

Meanwhile, the Romulan Empire is being overthrown by a subject race, the Remans (get it? Romulus and Remus? READ A BOOK!) The Enterprise is sent to assist the Romulans. Along the way, they encounter…

…a prototype android, designated B-4 (get it? Before? The writing is definitely top-notch here!) which they bring aboard.

Upon arrival at Romulus, they encounter the Reman leader…

…Shinzon (played by Tom Hardy, who would go on to play Bane and Venom), a clone of Picard the Romulans had planned to use to infiltrate the Federation but later abandoned. Shinzon intends on invading the Federation and poisoning Earth, killing all inhabitants.

Picard uses the Enterprise as a battering ram, crippling Shinzon’s ship and boards to defeat him…

(Thanks to Omega Trek)

Before too many of you are up in arms about Data’s death, Brent Spiner had been wanting a death scene for Data since Insurrection due to the fact that he felt he was getting too old to continue to look like he did in the series. However, he was given an “out” to continue playing the part…

(Thanks to Rotten Tomatoes)

Data had made a backup of his memories into B-4, meaning Data could continue in another (slightly older-looking) body had there been a fifth film.

This ends the Star Trek films before JJ Abrams lens-flared the franchise up nine years later.

If anyone would like me to review any of the films more in-depth, please let me know!

[adultswim2021]

Soul Quest Overdrive #2: “Meals on Wheels” | February 25, 2010 | S01E01

Soul Quest Overdrive continues to be bad, but this one’s not quite as bad as the original pilot. It does take a hit from the inclusion of noted retard Gavin McInnes as a soccer ball doing a Scottish accent. This one, at the very least, has a plot that sorta resembles a typical absurd Adult Swim style plot. 

The plot: the bible guys are doing Meals on Wheels, but they are just cheaply delivering dog food to senior citizens so they can steal from them. When they arrive at the house of one of the oldsies Bert tries to steal pills, only to discover they are flea meds and aren’t altering his consciousness effectively. The old man behaves more and more dog-like until it’s revealed that he actually is a small dog controlling a human robot body. He escaped dog planet, and a spaceship with dog soldiers on it come down to apprehend him. The soccer ball removes him and his fellow outreachers’ ribs after watching all the dog soldiers successfully lick their own nards. They show the blood!!!

I gave this one tepid praise for resembling the humor of–I’ll just say it!!!–Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I mostly mean this as far as the plot is concerned. The intimidating dog soldiers showing up and immediately tying themselves up by grooming their groins is fairly ATHF. Speaking of ATHF, they show the original Bible Fruit episode on the TV at one point. How fun.

That also sorta hints at the main issue this show has; so much of it, and I mean, SO MUCH OF IT, reminds me of other cartoons. The elderly man rapes Bert like Handbanana. Mortimer quotes “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” from Star Trek, which was a South Park joke over a decade before this. And the intelligent dog in a robot costume is ripped directly off from Rick and Morty. These craven psychos went into the near future to steal. How dare they.

I remember seeing this back when, and was puzzled by the inclusion of the soccer ball character, and had to look up Gavin McInnes, probably pissed off that there was seemingly an interloper in this cast of comedy people I sorta respect. I forget what the exact chronology is here, but I recalled seeing "Dos and Don’ts" videos (A Vice feature dedicated to mocking people wearing uncool fashion; a concept that does worse than nothing for me) hosted by Gavin featuring nearly all of these people. I remember Kristen Schaal saying she hated dudes with a lotta bad tattoos, and then going “oh, wait, sorry” because she was talking to one. I recall Jay “January 6th” Johnston being in one of the videos… (solemnly) a portent of things to come.

Fun fact: My Fox-News-obsessed father once told me he admired Gavin McInnes which really puzzled me because the only thing I knew him from was this and a handful of Vice videos that repulsed me. This is how I learned that McInnes went right-wing. I have to give the guy credit: I can’t think of a single other person who did such a 180° turn politically and remained exactly as hated by me as he was before.

What’s worse is his character sorta adds nothing to the show. Bert is basically the Master Shake of the show and McInnes is like, a second Master Shake but worse? He’s just a drunk guy who, at one point, screams “PUNK’S NOT DEAD!” and thrashes around. It sorta seems like they were literally trying to make an actual COOL character. It’s the sort of comedy that people who aren’t funny try to write. “What if there was a crazy guy who did crazy stuff who liked all the same bands as me”. 

Those following along will note that this is the second of two "pilots" they used for this show for this contest. When the show aired for real, it aired as the second of four episodes (not counting the Gavin-less pilot episode). Like the not-for-television pilot episode, it's half the length of a quarter-hour Adult Swim show. And yet, still too long.

[c-m-li]

Plotlines that need to die already:

Abusers getting a redemption arc & abuse victims forgiving their abusers.

(i will not be taking any arguments, questions, or hate for my examples below)

(please note that this in no way diminishes how much i like some of these fandoms bc it’s not always a deal breaker for me, i’m just throwing out examples to show how prevalent these plotlines are)

Both of the Matilda movies did this at the end, the musical was more explicit with it, but both gave one of the parents a little redemption squeeze at the end.

In Supernatural, you will not be able to convince me that John Winchester was not abusive to Dean and, to a lesser extent, Sam.

Batman/Bruce Wayne to many of his children, but Dick and Jason in particular, depending on which issue you’re reading.

The Joker, particularly in relation to Harley Quinn. He’s not her love interest, he’s her origin story.

If we’re taking the Jedi Apprentice novels as canon, Qui-Gon Jinn was abusive to Obi-Wan at least two times. The man needed therapy, not the responsibility of a minor.

Shang-Chi’s father was one of the best MCU villains thus far excluding Killmonger, but his tiny redemption arc at the end didn’t negate the years of abuse to both of his children.

Speaking of the MCU, it still baffles me how much time was spent on trying to make Thanos a sympathetic character when he was a warmongering genocidal abuser who stole the plotline from star trek who literally tore Nebula apart over the years and murdered Gamora.

Rogue in X-Men, in particular to when she left Gambit to die in the arctic bc she saw that he was complicit in the Morlock Massacre. (this one hurts bc they were my otp before i even knew what an otp was)

Petunia & Vernon Dursley in Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore to a lesser extent for leaving Harry in that situation.

Claudette in 9-1-1 in her completely unprofessional behavior towards May. Giving the bully a traumatic backstory does not mean they should be forgiven, it just means they should probably be in therapy.

 Also in 9-1-1, Chimney punching Buck and facing zero consequences w/ a dead-ass off-screen apology.

Gibbs constantly head-slapping people in NCIS is a call for workplace harassment.

In The Originals, I don’t even remember his name, but the guy that was obviously the main character was such a clearly abusive asshole to both his siblings and his baby mama that I couldn’t even get past the third episode.

The Twilight Saga, just all of it, movies and books.

Danny’s parents in Danny Phantom. The older you get, the more you realize how negligent his parents were.

Reblog w/ your own example!

[noodlebelli]

Star Trek Multi-Pollination Technician Mod

Maxis sims 2 aliens and Star Trek Aliens have one thing in common, they don’t necessarily have powers. Just like sims 2 Aliens, Star Trek aliens are humanoid and can even create hybrids with humans or other alien species. I have made my own Star Trek based Pollination Technical replacement that uses the facial structure of 4 famous female characters from various Star Trek alien races. I used fwiffo’s tutorial from MTS Here which was pretty straight forward and very helpful, so you can easily make your own.

I made this in Fall 2022 for personal use and was asked to upload my Multi PT Set. I’m not interested in making custom pollination technician sets (although I might make another star trek one no promises), and I will not be making a maxis alien version (with the green skin and alien eyes).

Some notes about Multi PT mods in general:

These are a type of default replacement, they replace the Maxis made Pollination Technician.

You can only have ONE Multi-PT Mod in your game at a time.

If you have a multi PT mod and want to switch to this Star Trek Multi PT mod, remove any other Multi PT mod you may have, but keep any alien sims that may have come with the old Multi PT mod in your downloads folder.

Put the unzipped “Noodlebelli_S2_StarTrekMultiPTMod” Folder directly in your Documents/Sims 2/Downloads folder, Inside are 4 named folders for the 4 different characters, and the Multi PT mod itself.

While I’m linking to the Sims I based the pollination techs on, you do not need the sims from the link, only the skin tones I mention and link to are required to download for the aliens babies to show up correctly. Find them after the cut, and the download is at the very bottom.

Meet the races:

Bajoran: Kira Nerys

I used Crunk_Kitty’s Sim on MTS as a base and edited the facial structure for a more flat bridge of a nose. The skin tone referenced is Bajoran light by Crunk Kitty on Mod the Sims. The eyes will be one of the maxis defaults. Once downloaded and extracted, put bajoran light in the Kira Nerys folder in my multi PT Mod.

Trill: Jadzia Dax

I believe I used MistyBlue’s Jadzia as a base, but did edit the face structure to be even more similar to Terry Farrell the original actress's, the super realistic facial structure does look out of place and “alien” in the sim’s world. Any sliders used are “baked" into the sim, so the sliders aren’t needed. The skin referenced is Trill Medium from Crunk Kitty.  The eyes will be one of the maxis defaults. Once downloaded and extracted, put Trill Medium in the Jadzia Dax folder in my multi PT Mod.

Klingon: B’elanna Torres

I used Crunk_Kitty’s Sim on MTS as a base and modified facial structure to more emphasize the forehead and ridges. Any sliders used are “baked" into the sim, so the sliders aren’t needed. Her Skin is included, as the original Klingon skins are not available from the original source anymore. The eyes will be one of the maxis defaults.

Cardassian: Gul Liez

This is actually a completely original sim, I used extra sliders to make the ears seemingly go into the jawline, enhanced the brow line and around the eyes, and a slightly turned up nose. Any sliders used are “baked" into the sim, so the sliders aren’t needed, jut the Cardassian Skin from Crunk Kitty. The male skin will not have the blue in the forehead, just like in the show. The eyes will be one of the maxis defaults. Once downloaded and extracted, put Cardassian Skin in the Gul Liez folder in my multi PT Mod.

Download Here (SFS)

If you ever want to use a different Multi PT set than mine, leave the Sim Folders in your downloads and only delete the actual mod package

[phatburd]

violence!: 4, 14, 22

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

If we’re talking about my most recent block, it was on Reddit where the dude tried to argue gender essentialism at me. Basically, he asserted that my call to write women like people was bullshit and that women should be written like women (weak and helpless). Yeah, I did not and do not have the emotional bandwidth to deal with that shit.

Even better though, when other people in the thread brought up Ellen Ripley as an example of where a role was originally written for a man but Sigourney Weaver was cast instead. The dude then stated he had never watched any of the Alien movies, but he read the Wikipedia article on Ripley and assumed she must be a boring and poorly written character because she was a woman.

Yeah, dude … delete your fucking account. All of your accounts, everywhere.

Tumblr blocks? Yeah, it was the Nth blog that posted the TOG van speech verbatim and declared JoeNicky to be the most perfect thing ever. Went into the blog, found their AO3, blocked that, then blocked their Tumblr. Because clearly this person and I have nothing to say to each other, and I’m tired and I get petty when I’m tired.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

Making the bottom in an m/m ship extremely feminized, sometimes straight up infantilized. This isn’t to say there aren’t feminine gay dudes in RL, because there are. I’m talking about fan works.

I don’t know if it’s out of ignorance, sexism, misogyny, or just boring-ass heteronormativity, this idea that someone has to be the “girl” in a same-sex pairing. And every time I see it, I’m reminded of this little cartoon:

I don’t really get top/bottom discourse and especially the need to assign specific personality traits to the top or the bottom. It was something I set out to not do in my m/m Bessimu fics. I wanted to write them as equals, and I think I succeeded.

(FWIW, I see Bessimu as both being switches, because that’s more fun. I also find it hot to write Bessières as a power bottom dom and Murat as the submissive service top, and it’s not what one would expect when judging them by their public personas.)

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

From The Old Guard? Those three and a half thousand years that Andy spent alone as the only immortal on the planet (as far as anyone knows).

I’ve been wanting to explore that period and, yes, it’s fucking intimidating. Historical documentation is more miss than hit once you start going back to certain points in human history.

Three and a half thousand years is a really fucking long time. What did Andy do, where did she go? What did she see? There’s a lot of potential to mine there, and maybe I’ll do it someday.

For the Napoleonics? Joseph Fouché is a fucking amoral bastard, but I think people forget he tried to save Marshal Ney. Ney, being Ney, was either politically naive, stubborn, and/or he just wanted to fucking die already when he refused Fouché’s offer of fake papers and an passport to sneak out of France in the aftermath of Napoleon’s second abdication.

(I’ve also read that Laurent de Gouvion St. Cyr was the one who offered the passport and papers, so take the above with the proverbial grain of salt. St. Cyr did vote for exile in the final trial, which lends weight to that too.)

I also have a shitload of question marks around Bessières’ final years and the way it gets treated by academics, but that may be better off in a post of its own.

For Star Trek ... no one ever really talks about what kind of influence Sisko might have had on the Bajorans other than just being the Emissary/Space Jesus. Like, did baseball become a national sport and baseball leagues spring up all over the planet? Is there ticky-tacky Emissary merchandise one can purchase, like humans have in real life of the Pope?

(Sisko did show up on a pack of Bajoran tarot cards in Lower Decks, and I squealed over that, ngl.)

Thanks for asking! 😘

[prue84]

White sheets, Space Threesome version

Fandom: Star Trek (reboot) Timeline: AOS (2.0) Series: White sheets

The Power Trio of the U.S.S. Enterprise in bed.

Post-Into Darkness, both Spock and Nyota find themselves torn about their feelings toward Jim, feelings awakened by James's tragic brush with death. Feelings growing as days pass, and closeness with a weak James facing rehabilitation. Each of them face their conflicting feelings on their own, until Nyota decides it's time to talk to Spock. It's a shock for her to discover that he too is feeling pulled in two opposite directions, the one who leads to Nyota (the woman he loves) and the one who leads to James (a man for whom he's harboring many different emotions). Neither wish to break their relationship, neither feel they'll be able to stop the growing love for James Kirk. Eventually they find a solution to the conundrum: include James in their romantic life. If James agrees, that's all.

———————————————————————————————

Based on a prompt at @ksspringfever by Anonymous:

KSX! That means Kirk/Spock/someone else. Give me some polyam fics! Personally, I'm partial to Kirk/Spock/McCoy and AOS Kirk/Spock/Uhura, but you can make anyone the third, even an OC. All that I ask is that you make sure it is a polyamorous relationship - don't break them up to pair them up, I want all three (or more?) to be together, no one sidelined.

———————————————————————————————

Yes, they are in a very balanced polyamorous relationship and they are very happy about it.

This manip had been planned back in 2015 (or even before). All necessary pics were collected back then. Skip to 2023. One of the people I follow in Tumblr reblogs a post from @ksspringfever. The curiosity killed the cat and I took a look at the prompts. I happen into one asking for a Spirkxothers, with a preference for either McSpirk or Spihura. Bam. I love the threesome so much that I jumped on the idea... completely missing that the person asked for a fic. ahahah. But at least, not without hurdles, I sat down and made a manip - the first in months. Which makes the effort worthy. A kind admin reached out to reassure me I could post it anyway, so here I am.

I have other pics that, in an alternate timeline in which I am productive, would be turned into Space Threesome. There might be a chance for another from the same tv show, same setting (a bed) but different shooting set - possibly different season. But the one I irk to do the most, and I hope to make, will be an explicit bisexual threesome with pegging. Don't hold your breath though.

Name from a series featuring all the four flavours of Spirk (TOS, TOS Mirror, AOS and AOS Mirror) that was started in 2015. One is finished and ugly, one needs some retouches so at least two could see some light in the future.

———————————————————————————————

Tec stuffs (aka Behind The Manip) Most of the time expensive part of manipping had been already take care of in 2015, I already had a couple of pic per actor ready to select from. Not to say the manip was easier. The original pic featured a big copyright logo that had to be removed by painstaking and precise use of cloning brush. Then it was the selection of the best faces and the irking action of actually fitting the faces. Zoe and Pine were easy, all things considered (the woman's hair had to be fixed, the man's face partially covered, shadows fixed). But then comes Zachary Fucking Quinto, the guy with the most brushy and biggest brows this side of Hollywood. The original actor held his head in a very unique position, and fit Zachary wasn't easy, especially on the neck. But then... Spock-ize Zachary *insert crying emoji here*. The worst were the hair. I'm still not happy, but I tried the best I could. I'm still torn on this manip. One on side I like it, on another I'm not convinced of it. But I know it's all fault of the original pic, which had bad light.

Credits

———————————————————————————————

Crossposted Livejournal: prue84.livejournal.com/96763.html Dreamwidth: prue84.dreamwidth.org/88222.html Deviantart: deviantart.com/prue84/art/White-sheets-AOS-OT3-955321116 AO3: archiveofourown.org/works/45574972

[yusuke-of-valla]

"Fans noticed one character missing" actually I noticed 4 and all of them have pretty decent reasons NOT to be there. Akechi's status is currently unclear, Sumi is not a Phantom Thief, Zenkichi is a cop from another precinct, and Sophia... not sure why she's not here but I'm sure Ichinose and her are off doing their own thing. Not every Persona-User has to be present in every game we saw what happened in pq2.

It’s not even like you have to dislike Akechi to see a problem with complaining that he’s not in the P5X trailer, there are several reasons he wouldn’t be there such as:

1) if Goro is in the game it makes no damn sense to put him in a trailer since, you know, he’s a character of major plot importance and is also presumed dead at the moment so it wouldn’t make sense for him to cameo because *why would he want people to notice hime*

2) I don’t think we know yet the extent to which the other Phantom Thieves are in this game and if they’re not more than cameos who also show up in the OP to cement the tie-in then Goro certainly wouldn’t be there

3) Why on EARTH would you want something as plot important as Goro finally coming back to be in a *Chinese spin-off mobile game*

4) Goro would not care about these new Phantom Thieves unless the originals were somehow involved and we all know this. If he’s at the point where he’s like “huh new Phantom Thieves? I’m going to help them for reasons” that’s major character development that would have happened off screen because *GORO IS NEVER ALLOWED TO INTERACT WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN JOKER*

5) “well he doesn’t have to be in a plot important capacity” I refer you back to point 1 he is *presumed dead* at the moment and if We can see him Joker can see him which is the thing he is avoiding at the moment for reasons that should maybe be disclosed in a game getting a worldwide release

Just because a character was important in the game doesn’t mean they have to be the center of fuckign everything do you WANT Star Trek Picard/Rise of Skywalker/*insert bad series that made everything revolve around this one super cool character to the detriment of everyone else*

Goro got a good amount of character focus in both the original and Royal, it’s why Scramble giving Haru, Yusuke, and Ann any attention was so welcome, he doesn’t need to be the center of everything

And anyway this is a pointless discussion because IF HE IS IN THE GAME HE WOULDN’T BE IN THE FUCKING TRAILER

[cinemadaydreams]

A Monster of a Tale

In 1999 there was a movie that captured the balance between borrowing from another older story while also capturing an original idea within its own movie. The movie was Galaxy Quest, a loving parody of the hit Star Trek series but also contained in the film an incredible idea - 'what if the show was seen by an alien race as real? What followed is what I believe is one of the better modern comedies and reimaginations of an old idea.

With Bomani J. Story's film The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, I could not help to think - this is exactly what Galaxy Quest did. How Story executed this film should be seen as an example of how to bring new life into an industry that seems to be more interested to be, as Bilbo Baggins would put it, "butter scraped over too much bread". Let's face it, so many of the films marketed to us as the audience are breathtaking visually but leave you for want of air on the gut-level of quality storytelling. Story's movie is a fresh breath of cinema.

First, how he incorporated the Frankenstein novel is as sharp as a tack - and I don't mean the movies, if you've read the original 1818 novel, you'll see the difference - and does not hold back from the incredible weight of tragedy that saturates the gothic novel. This is the story that has inspired other fantastic cautionary tales in the science fiction universe - from Jurassic Park to Terminator. Story's astute use of Shelley's themes, ideas and story arc is a sight to behold, particularly for a film at this budget.

The second point I want to give is how well the dynamic works within the family onscreen. With dialogue that is smart and well-paced, it would have been easy to fall into the trap of making a movie about 'ideas' rather than an 'experience' (something I often gripe about with friends about modern movies - it's a movie we're watching after all, not an op-ed newspaper piece). Story does well to avoid this, making this story about family and then weaving themes within the family and local community experience. With the genre in the wheelhouse of tragedy, Story spares no emotional expense at reminding you as the viewer, with brutal and at times grisly violence to prove a thematic point - death spares no one, not even those we love most. Mary Shelley knew it well in 1818 with a life lived that seemed even more dramatic and tragic than her novel, and Story tapped into that in a way I can only describe as a palpable 'mood' whose residue lingers like a cold biting wind on an autumn's night. When I watch this film again, I plan on making it a fall tradition for anyone willing to watch.

I'll wrap this review with this one thought - I hope big studio executives and heavy weights watch this film, and not just for the sake of supporting independent cinema in theaters. Hollywood is in desperate need of bigger films taking emotional risks, not simply visual ones. It's been a long time since I've seen a film like The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster where the writer/director is able to balance an old idea and firmly place it in a context where it comes to life in a whole new way. And unlike Frankenstein's monster, it does not seem sewn together in pieces. This is a tale whose director knows the true depth of a story and its timeless relevance and makes it a living breathing thing that is whole and well-made. How fitting, considering this guy's last name. I can't wait to see what he does next.

[sshbpodcast]

Wake me up before you boldly go go: Dreams in Star Trek

By Ames

I’m feeling pretty tired at the moment, specifically tired of dream sequences in various media. They’re a fairly overused trope: seeing some slightly off scenes that either teach our protagonists something they need to know or just toy with the audience to make them believe something is real. Until the characters wake up. Even Star Trek, a show allegedly bounded by science, falls victim to the lazy writing and overused device of the dream episode.

That’s not to say there aren’t some good dream episodes out there, and even in here. So this week A Star to Steer Her By is analyzing some dreams, some nightmares, anything that we might find in the subconscious and wonder if it means anything (even if it’s just to the plot). So get tucked in, snuggle up with Kukalaka, and drift out of consciousness below and/or on this week’s podcast episode (discussion starts at 1:15:29). Let’s see if all of this was just a dream.

Somehow, we couldn’t think of any episodes from The Original Series or The Animated Series that had dream sequences, which is a little funny since you’d think the campier and arguably less cerebral shows would have some true nightmares. But we’re starting off with a whole slew of episodes from The Next Generation instead.

[images © CBS/Paramount]

“Shades of Grey”

Coma dreams are their own subsection of dream episodes, but definitely worth including in our list because they present some interesting examples of storytelling and structure. And then there’s “Shades of Grey.” As far as clipshows go, it’s got an okay wrapper in the form of some Riker dream manipulation, but it has too much going against it to be any good overall.

“Night Terrors”

Mention episodes that aren’t any good and “Night Terrors” will arise from your subconscious. As far as dream plots go, it’s actually got a decent concept in depriving everyone but Troi of REM sleep, so there are some really surreal (if disjointed) scenes, but watching what they put Marina Sirtis through proved to be the real nightmare.

“Violations”

This one’s probably in that grey area between visions and coma dreams, but worth mentioning just to bring up what a messed up thing that bastard Jev does to people – putting skewed, traumatic memories in their heads that leaves them in comas. Like in “Night Terrors,” it’s got some really upsetting scenework and direction that leaves you feeling appropriately disturbed.

“The Inner Light”

One of the best episodes of all of Star Trek is effectively a coma dream that Picard has in which he lives the life of Kamin in the twenty or so minutes that he’s knocked out by the Kataan probe. Talk about great use of the dream structure! We don’t need to deal with surreal nonsense because of the programming, and the effects on Jean-Luc are personal and emotional.

“Tapestry” 

This one is debatable based on your interpretation. On the podcast, Jake likes to spread the possibility that none of this episode happened at all and it was all a dream Picard had while on Dr. Crusher’s surgical table. Which is an interesting way to think about this genuinely thought-provoking episode, although we enjoy the other view that Q’s behind it all as well.

“Birthright”

After a certain visiting doctor zaps him in the face, Data is able to unlock his dreaming program that daddy Soong had left for him as a little present. And it’s all pretty on-the-nose kinda stuff that dream episodes can be guilty of. Every little action is meaningful in some way that is just utterly unrealistic, but Data’s also an android, so realism may already be out of the question.

“Frame of Mind”

I’d say “Frame of Mind” might be our first real example of a good traditional dream episode. It’s not just a story told in a dream or a technique for the writers to convey something without stating it. This Riker mind adventure is meant to be a disorienting experience specifically because it’s all in his head. There was method to this madness and it paid off in spades!

“Phantasms”

This infamous episode is the reason why I wanted to do this post. “Phantasms” commits pretty much every sin a dream sequence can commit: it mainly uses characters from the episode in absurd roles, the dream makes too much sense in world because everything in it correlates to something from real life, and its randomness and surrealness just come across as a formulaic writing device. With mint frosting.

“Dark Page”

Literally on the heels of “Phantasms” is what I’d call a more interesting and effective use of the dream, in this case the coma dream that Deanna visits inside Lwaxana’s head. The symbolism isn’t as overt and at the same time there’s more emotional connection with the scenelettes. I also give it a pass because Betazoid mind powers help this one from feeling too heavy handed.

First Contact

Somehow, we don’t see a guilt-driven dream sequence in Star Trek until First Contact, and it’s just a pretty typical but effective little scene to inform the audience of Picard’s mindset and a little bit of backstory that you might need to understand the movie. Is it the most original way to convey this information? No, but it’s not a terrible offense either and it does its job well.

“Distant Voices”

One of our least favorite episodes of all of Deep Space Nine was all just a ridiculous coma dream in Bashir’s head. If this one isn’t the worst dream episode of Trek, I don’t know what is. Like “Phantasms,” it’s got every element of the dream symbolizing something and some very tiring tropey motifs. And I haven’t even gotten to the confounding acting decisions!

“Hard Time”

While Picard got to experience a life’s worth of touching memories in “The Inner Light,” O’Brien gets to experience a life’s worth of suffering in “Hard Time.” It may have only been a couple of hours in real time, but the dream that he sustains has huge impacts on his character and makes for a really thought-provoking and riveting episode.

“Body Parts”

When he’s destined to die to relinquish his desiccated remains to Brunt, Quark at one point has one of those trauma dreams that is a writer’s shorthand for “this is what my character is preoccupied with!” In this case, he dreams of the first Nagus Gint advising him to break the contract because someone needed to propel the plot forward, I guess.

“Business as Usual” 

If “Body Parts” was a little obvious, then the dream in “Business as Usual” is downright heavy handed. Quark is feeling guilty about selling weapons on the black market, and if you weren’t sure he had a conscience, this dream sequence underlines it for you. Normally, I’d poopoo a scene like this, but O’Brien yelling “You killed my baby!” really sells it.

“Far Beyond the Stars” 

Coma dream or prophet vision? I don’t feel like arguing for the Benny Russell  story coming from some supernatural meddling versus from Sisko’s dreams, and it’s such a good episode that it’s worth bringing up anyway. And if we’re counting external meddling like in “The Inner Light” and “Hard Time,” then who am I not to include another really great episode that’s all in your head?

“Extreme Measures”

Similarly, I guess if I include “Dark Page” and “Distant Voices,” then I have to include “Extreme Measures,” though in a perfect world, I wouldn’t give it the satisfaction because it’s a really upsetting and invasive episode that turns Bashir into some kind of brain-robbing monster. And frankly, the inside of Sloan’s mind didn’t even end up being all that interesting!

“Jetrel”

Update 1/28/24: Oh no, we forgot one (or two, or probably more because dammit)! And it’s yet another of our favorite “this character is feeling conflicted about X” plot devices because writers think the audience is incapable of picking up on subtext! This time, Neelix’s history is dredged back up when Jetrel, the creator of the Metreon Cascade” pops by, and for some reason we need to see that Neelix is still having survivor’s guilt through traumatic dream vision.

“The Thaw”

Lotta coma dreams on this list so far, and our first taste from Voyager is the stuff of nightmares, literally. Fear the Clown takes what should be a paradisiacal shared dream for our friends in their cryopods and turns it into a horror movie and you could wake up dead. This one gets points for creativity, and points off for giving us all coulrophobia.

“Remember”

We really liked this one when we covered it in season three, even if it’s some more familiar ground. Reliving another culture through implanted dreams? Sure, it’s yet another instance where we can make parallels to something like “The Inner Light,” but it’s forgivable since this episode is so successful at communicating the Enarans’ story in Torres’s dreams.

“Coda”

I’d probably qualify whatever is going on with Janeway throughout this episode as something like the coma dreams we’ve discussed previously. It’s all alien interference, as happens sometimes, and winds up being like one of those episodes that pulls back the curtain and tricks you because it was fake all along, leaving the viewer ultimately unsatisfied.

“Waking Moments”

More alien intervention, this time into a world where the new species lives and communicates through dreams. Suspend your disbelief for a moment and accept that, difficult as it may be, and we actually do get some pretty original and believable dream sequences. The ones we see don’t try to go too far and mainly seem kinda right for the characters, so this one passes.

“The Fight”

But this one just fails utterly. We discussed in our recent season wrap episode how “The Fight” just seems like a chaotic mess and yet at the same time doesn’t capitalize on the Chaotic Space aliens in a way that is fulfilling. So we’re left with dream sequences that end up just feeling tired and confusing and maybe a little bit boring. Someone bet on the wrong fighter in this ring.

“One” 

While most of what Seven experiences in “One” is all delusion and hallucination, she does have a legitimate dream of being in an Arctic wasteland at one point. And sure, it’s there to convey that she’s feeling alone and desolate and way out of her depth like a pretty standard dream metaphor, but the little sequence does its job. The CGI on the other hand…

“Barge of the Dead”

Like with “Coda,” I’d qualify all of this episode as a coma dream, though instead of being induced by aliens, we’re led to believe that all of this is just some Klingon afterlife nonsense. Setting aside that everyone assumes Gre’thor is real now, the dreams we get of Torres’s personal hell – just people on the Voyager? – are half baked and entirely out of character.

“Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy”

These are more daydreams than subconscious dreams, though the EMH’s program does get out of hand enough that I’d count this episode among the others in this post. The scenes we get are mostly meant to be comic relief so we can giggle at the EMH’s grandiose fantasies, except that some of them are fairly cringey, as usual at Seven’s expense.

“Memorial”

Memory or dream? That’s the question this episode poses in creating an actually pretty intriguing look at how and why we remember history. The dream sequences we get from Paris and Chakotay are very effective at blurring that line between the real and the surreal, and the more we understand that these were real events, the more we treat them with significance.

“Ashes to Ashes”

Update 1/28/24: Whoops, another I’d forgotten until we continued our Voyager watchthrough. It’s a small one, but Lyndsay Ballard’s dream sequence when she returns from the dead and back to the Voyager crew fit the old “show the audience the character is feeling conflicted” trope. She guilt-dreams that her friends are throwing her another funeral because she’s not acclimating back to life as a human. The scene does what it’s made to; it’s just entirely redundant.

“Shuttlepod One”

Let’s move on to Enterprise, starting with a pretty mean trick that dream sequences can do to an audience: manipulating you for a couple minutes into thinking that our heroes have been rescued and everything’s okay, until the rug gets pulled out from under you and it was all just a dream. The scene also leans on another trend we’ll see in Enterprise – objectifying T’Pol all the damn time.

“Fusion”

But the winner of the “objectifying T’Pol all the damn time” award is very obviously “Fusion.” Boy, what an upsetting episode. If you thought it was gross what Jev did to Troi and the others in “Violations,” then “Fusion” should have you gagging, and it all starts with a super gross dream sequence in which Tolaris creeps on T’Pol, and things get ickier from there.

“A Night in Sickbay”

Update 1/28/24: How could we forget yet another time that one of the characters had a wetdream about T’Pol? This time, it’s Archer because Phlox has put it in the cap’n’s head that he’s actually in love with the subcommander like a creep. The nightmare sequence also features another guilt-ridden message (a dream staple!) in which Archer is feeling so bad Porthos is sick that he dreams up a puppy funeral. Ugh.

“Vanishing Point”

Just when you think you’ve watched an interesting transporter accident episode that actually gives Hoshi something to do, this episode laughs in your face and pulls the “it was a dream the whole time” trick on you. The whole thing comes across as just kind of cruel and cop-out-y, though I’m kinda shocked there aren’t many other Trek episodes that consciously pull this stunt.

“Remembrance” 

Say what you will about Picard season one (and we did!), but the dream sequences of Jean-Luc obsessing over the loss of Data are very effective at eliciting an emotional response. They’re just strange enough to provide that surreal quality of dreams but not just tedious nonsense like other episodes have given us. And the scenes are just so touching that it’s hard to fault them.

“The Impossible Box”

Okay, last one I could find. Soji has these recurring trauma-fueled dreams and she can’t tell if it’s a dream or a memory. This whole episode is an identity crisis waiting to happen, and when she sees herself as a wooden puppet being constructed, it all comes together that she isn’t a real girl, and you know what, it’s both one of the better uses of dreams and one of the better moments in Picard!

—

Wake up! You’re going to be late for school and you didn’t study for that test and you’re naked and your teeth are falling out and Troi’s a cake and won’t somebody answer the phone?! 

Put a pot of coffee on and stay with us for more dreamy blogposts. You can also share that caffeinated brew with our fearless Voyager captain as we continue through our full watchthrough on SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts, respond to our wake up call on Facebook and Twitter, and have pleasant dreams!

[berenwrites]

Whole New Us Ch22 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Whole New Us: Trauma Bonded and Beyond

Also on AO3 | Or here CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15 | CH16 | CH17 | CH18 | CH19 | CH20 | CH21 | CH22 | CH23 | CH24 | CH25 (Mature) | CH25 (Fade to black) COMPLETE

Summary: Steve has been ignoring his own problems, he’s been busy. They’ve all been busy, preoccupied with fixing everything that was broken. Vecna has been defeated, but the Upside Down is still there, and the gates are not completely closed even though Hawkins has almost returned to normal. It’s been a couple of months and the aftereffects of Steve’s encounter with the demobats is about to come back to bite him. However, it also brings some unexpected hope.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Rating: Teen (with mature content in later chapters)

Chapter 22.    Kind of Weird

It was weird having his parents in the house. For the first time in a very long time, not exactly bad weird, but still strange enough that Steve was on edge. The way his dad shut himself in his office with coffee and toast was not overly unusual. His dad had been a workaholic for years, so it was normal behaviour. His mom, on the other hand, was very much present.

She had a surprisingly lively debate with Dustin over breakfast about why Star Trek was far superior to Star Wars. Steve hadn’t even been aware his mother knew what Star Trek was, let alone that she had apparently been a fan when she was younger. From the way she actually knew all the characters’ names, Steve suspected his mom might have even been a closet nerd. It blew his mind.

He also realised he was never ever going to be allowed to forget it, no matter how long his parents decided to stay in town.

The way all the kids lined up to help load the dishwasher once breakfast was done made him feel a bit like a proud parent himself. Not that he was ever going to admit to his mother he usually had to cajole them into it. The living room was also returned to a tidy state remarkably quickly.

Nancy showed up soon after breakfast to pick up Mike and Lucas, which left Steve to drop off Dustin, Max, El and Will. It was all very civilised, but it didn’t stop Steve speeding on the way home because he had once again left Robin and Eddie alone with his parents.

“It’s like a compulsion,” were the words he heard from Robin after making it back through the door.

“Yeah, Steve can’t help himself when someone needs something,” Eddie agreed. “Did he ever tell you how he first met Dustin?”

“No, I don’t believe he did,” his mom replied while he followed their voices to the kitchen.

“Helping to look for his lost cat,” Robin supplied. “The way Steve tells it, he drove Dustin around for a bit before they took a little walk. The way Dustin tells it, they were out there for hours.”

“Ended up at the junkyard with Lucas and Max, where Steve fought off jacked-up dogs with his baseball bat to keep the kids safe,” Eddie added.

“It was Jonathan’s bat originally,” Steve said, feeling he had listened long enough.

His mom looked up from where she was sitting at the small kitchen table with Robin and Eddie.

“Everyone home safe?” she asked.

“Well until Dustin comes up with some new hairbrained experiment, yes,” he replied. “Dustin’s mom sent some of her secret recipe peanut bars,” he added, placing the Tupperware box on the counter.

“Oh my god, gimmie,” Eddie said, making grabby hands.

“You only just had breakfast,” Steve pointed out.

“You have tasted those bars, right?” Eddie insisted.

“He has a point,” Robin agreed.

Steve rolled his eyes and moved the box to the table.

“If either of you decide to jump in the pool fully clothed because you are on a sugar rush, I am not rescuing you,” he said.

Eddie turned to look at Robin with his eyebrows raised.

“It was one time,” she protested, “and I didn’t jump in, I fell in. It was an accident.”

Steve could tell his mom was trying not to laugh.

“And don’t lie in front of your mother, Steven, you’d be in there like a shot dragging my sorry ass out,” Robin said as she stole one of the bars.

“That’s it, I’m locking the back door,” he replied, and his mother did finally let out a quiet laugh.

He noticed her smile turn fond when Eddie broke one of the bars in half and passed part of it to him. It wasn’t like he could refuse after that.

“You really should try one,” he told him mom as he sat down. “I’m not sure what Claudia puts in them, but they’re almost as good as Grandma Lucy’s cookies.”

“High praise indeed,” his mom said, “but I unfortunately am no longer close to twenty and my blood sugar would hate me. If there are any left, I will try one later.”

“Do you have a safe?” Eddie asked with a grin. “I think that might be the only way to stop Robin eating the lot.”

“Hey,” Robin complained, “you’re one to talk Mr I-can-eat-an-entire-box-of-cereal-in-one-sitting.”

Steve snorted a laugh as his best friend and his boyfriend continued to bicker. That his mother was watching them with a slightly bemused, but pleased expression on her face was strange, but it was also good. He let himself enjoy it while it lasted, even if the voice of doubt in the back of his mind was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

~*~

It was late when Steve and Eddie got back after Steve’s shift at Family Video. He’d been on closing and since Robin had not been on with him, Eddie had insisted on accompanying him. It had become something of a habit. Eddie was no longer going full incognito, but it seemed as if Hawkins was beginning to mostly ignore him once more. Not that Steve was on board with people ignoring Eddie, but it was much better than the alternative.

Trying to eat one of the customers because they were nasty to Eddie would definitely get him fired.

“Hi, Mom,” he said as he put his keys in the bowl by the door.

His mother was watching TV while also apparently reading a book. Now that he thought about it, he remembered her doing it a lot when he was small.

“Hello, Darling,” his mom said, turning and giving him a smile. “How was work?”

“I only had to explain twice that movies that are still in theatres aren’t available to rent, so pretty good,” he replied.

“I still say you should just give them a random tape from a shelf every time they ask,” Eddie added. “They probably don’t even know what they’re asking about.”

“And I’ve explained I kind of want to keep my job,” Steve replied. “Coffee?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Eddie replied.

Steve had no idea how Eddie did it, but he could drink coffee last thing at night and still sleep. Steve was more of a hot chocolate kind of guy. He had enough trouble with interrupted sleep that he did not need caffeine in the mix.

“Mom, can I get you anything?” he asked.

“I’m good,” his mom replied.

Heading into the kitchen, he flipped on the light and started on the drinks. By the time he made it back into the living room, Eddie was sitting on the couch near his mom, and they appeared to be talking about the book she had been reading. He handed Eddie a mug while doing his best to stifle a yawn.

Apparently, he didn’t do a very good job, because Eddie noticed instantly.

“Okay, bed for you,” Eddie said.

Steve gave his boyfriend his best bitchy stare for that.

“Do not make me break out your full name,” Eddie threatened.

“You don’t even know my full name,” Steve pointed out.

“Well then don’t make me subject your lovely mother to my truly terrible guesses,” Eddie said with a sweet smile. “Last night was bad for you and you’ve been on the go all day.”

“I slept all the way through last night,” he countered.

“Kinda,” was all Eddie said.

That wasn’t exactly a settling response. Steve did not remember waking up the previous night. He didn’t even remember any dreams, but Eddie seemed to be suggesting that wasn’t the case.

The fact was, he had been about to suggest they head upstairs anyway, but he was nothing if not stubborn. He put one hand on his hip.

“Steven Au….”

“Okay, okay,” he surrendered before Eddie could get going. “But only because I do not want my mom mentally scarred by whatever you come up with.”

His mom was being absolutely no help, just sitting there smiling demurely. He was beginning to think his mom might have a very wicked sense of humour that he had never been able to appreciate when he was younger and that had been hidden from him for his teenage years.

“Impressive,” his mom said. “I’m afraid Steve gets his stubborn side from me. There was this one time…”

“Mom!” he protested.

She smiled sweetly at him.

“I’m going, I’m going,” he said and headed for the stairs with his hot chocolate in hand. “Good night, mom,” he added as he reached the stairs with Eddie close behind him.

“Good night, Darling,” his mom replied.

On the landing, Eddie paused, looking over at the door to the room that was technically his, but that he’d never actually slept in.

“Yeah, no,” Steve said without having to think about it, “I do not plan on waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.”

Eddie still had nightmares and Steve had gained a whole new set to go with his old ones, sleeping alone was like playing Russian roulette with only one chamber empty in the gun. They might have to forgo the cuddling that had become something of a thing, while his parents were home, but he needed Eddie close. He wasn’t up for that battle any time soon. Really, he never wanted to have that battle at all if he could help it. Given how Eddie put up no fight at all, he was sure they were on the same page.

What he hadn’t anticipated was having his hot chocolate taken away and put on the side, before being crowded up against the wall next to the bathroom as soon as his bedroom door closed behind them.

“Been dying to do this all day,” Eddie said quietly before diving in for a kiss.

The moment Eddie’s lips touched his, Steve melted into the touch. He hadn’t been aware of how much tension he was carrying around until it flowed away. Wrapping his arms around Eddie, he pulled him closer and kissed back for all he was worth. Not that either of them dared to try for tongues. They’d had a lot of practice and they were quite good at it, but it was still too much of a risk. If blood became involved, they would be loud, very loud.

When Eddie broke away and started kissing across his chin and down his neck, he put his head back and just enjoyed it. Sometimes he wondered how he had ever lived without this. Nothing in the world could ever make him give it up as long as Eddie would have him.

End of Chapter 22

Chapter 23