#majel reads

[scourgeofshadows]

@clockworkreapers IT'S MEEE

Also I really fucking love your Aleph Null comic and couldn't resist imagining what if I'm in that au XDDD CHECK OUT THIS EPIC COMIC PLZZZ: Aleph Null (mspfa.com)

[clockworkreapers]

Yikes. If Falmea SOMEHOW gets out of the rubble and debris to find Diavel in his wounded state, I could only imagine how unpleasant her reaction would be.

She just works with him, so she would be unhappy either way since a handful of her people in general got either injured or taken out.

Tiz to be seen how all of this is going to get back to a state of calm.

[ilovefredjones]

so no one was going to tell me majel barrett plays lwaxana troi?????????

[theauthoressdefiant]

“The couple have a 13-year-old son, Rod Jr., who is interested in “girls and wasting time,” according to his mother.”

Majel Barrett on her and Gene Rodenberry’s son, in Star Trek Magazine

Thanks to @droids-in-disguise for the scans! They are so fun to read!

[curator-on-ao3]

I’m just saying that Majel Barrett as Number One had her mind read to expose her fantasies about Captain Pike and Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi busted chops by pretending to read Captain Picard’s mind to expose his fantasies about her.

[nevinslibrary]

Make It So Friday

This is cool. It’s a sequel to Star Trek The Motion Picture (you can tell by the fact that they’re still wearing the pajamas…. Um, I mean the light coloured uniforms). Admiral Kirk is taking the Enterprise out on a shakedown cruise (yeah, where could that go wrong there). And, something does go wrong, suddenly, there are 2 Nyota Uhura’s running around. We are introduced to a slightly different alternate universe (than the one with the Terran Empire). And, we get introduced to another double of a character, and that one was really cool in all its differences from the original.

It was a fun read, there’s also some Romulans in it, and, a very very grumpy McCoy which is always a blast. Oh, and, it was interesting that someone had Nurse Chapel having brown hair (more like Majel Roddenberry’s hair in the post Original Series years) instead of blonde hair. A kind of cool detail.

Echoes by Marc Guggenheim

[tricorderreading]

TNG #18: Q-In-Law

This one is in honor of @particlewaveform and their post, which you can find here, I've decided that I should share that part of the book in it's entirety. There is indeed a scene where Lwaxana Troy beats the ever loving shit out of Q (including threatening to chop his dick off) in one of the TNG pocket novels and it must be shared

For those interested in this story, you may find the audiobook for this novel here, as read by Majel Barrett and John De Lancie, (AKA Lwaxana and Q themselves)

Finally, the rest of this post can be found underneath the read more, for those who wish to avoid spoilers

and finally, the audiobook I mentioned previously :)

[the-ears-make-all-the-difference]

About halfway through Dreams of The Raven and the character writing is perfect. The spones is there, though it comes in pieces. It's really meaty for McKirk, and in general, the Triumvirate are balanced super well in their characterization so Mcspirk enjoyers would also do well. Unfortunately I am probably the least qualified person ever to speak on the spirk levels in the book bc that's just not something I factor in lol.

Aside from ships, all of the characters feel authentic. Chekov is adorable, and the attitudes and traits given to Uhura and Sulu are natural extrapolations from what little we see of them onscreen. And Chapel. Oh good gracious Chapel. I love her. She is, as we all already knew, the one who really has to keep the sick bay running. And it shows in her characterization, which is of course a natural expansion of how Majel played her. All in all, I adore how Carter handles the writing of the extant characters, it is perfect.

Also, I wasn't expecting to get attached to any book-exclusive OCs, but Carter is just that damn good. Dr Dyson is a bioneurologist jr officer on the ship, playing a large supporting role in McCoy's plotline, and I would kill for her. The xenobiologist is also iconic, and an extremely well-placed bit of comedic relief in the middle of heavy tension onboard the ship.

I am also enjoying the other plot, but it's hard to say anything abt that when A. I'm still reading so I don't know what's going to happen next, and B. Spoilers!

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Christine Chapel

By Ames

We’ve hit upon all the main stars of The Original Series, but no list would be complete without giving a fair mention to the woman who stood beside the show, Majel Barrett. While we still wish in our hearts of hearts that the Number One we met in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie” got a fair shake, we are still glad that Gene’s main squeeze was reborn as the quippy and competent Nurse Chapel.

So join us this week on A Star to Steer Her By as we finish off our TOS character spotlights with a bunch of highlights and only a few lowlights on what’s probably going to be our shortest installment of this series. There just wasn’t enough stretching of the character moments to do as we did for, say, our Scotty or Sulu posts. Pick up your medical tricorders to scan on below and follow along in this week’s podcast discussion (jump to 58:16). Needless to say, Majel probably did more on the show than just Gene. Take that as you will. ;)

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best Moments

I know he’s alive down there, Captain Very early in the series in “What Are Little Girls Made of?”, Chapel’s backstory of joining the Enterprise as a way to find her lost fiancé, Roger Korby, is established. And it’s a testament to her character that not only is she right that he was still alive (in some form), but she also gets to convince Ruk the android not to kill Kirk AND make the choice to stay on the Enterprise after everything goes typically sideways.

Plomeek soup for the soul While you’ll see in just a moment that “Amok Time” also features some of the more tired and less positive aspects of Chapel’s character, we’ve got to admit that her dutifulness in trying to get Spock to eat during his pon farr was benevolent of her. She goes so far as to whip up some Vulcan plomeek soup to keep her patient well, little good that it ended up doing.

Sound it out I’m still minorly horrified by Nomad taking Uhura’s memories in “The Changeling,” and we’re left not knowing if or how she gets back to her normal self. But one thing’s for sure: she’s got a caring and patient nurse helping along the way, as we see Chapel reteaching the blank-slated Uhura how to read in English. It’s quite sweet, if you don’t think about how horrifying it is.

It has one word on it: Eat I could take a second to gripe that, between Chapel and Rand, the women of the show are very often seen just bringing the men their dinner like they’re waitresses instead of equal crewmembers. Or I could highlight how Chapel cleverly tricks a moping Garrovick into eating in “Obsession” by telling him McCoy’s prescription was a tape that just said “Eat,” so I’ll do that.

The pain will help me to consciousness We joke on the podcast that it was clear that someone(s) on the show was clearly into some kinky stuff, and it shines through in episodes like “A Private Little War” when Nurse Chapel is compelled to bitchslap a half-conscious Spock around until he wakes up, as is the Vulcan way. Or at least, as is someone on the writing staff’s dirty little fetish.

We shared consciousness together I’m sure now that Strange New Worlds is filling in a lot of the Chapel-Spock relationship, there are a ton more shippers out there for them, but back in the day, the best we got was this moment in “Return to Tomorrow” when Sargon put Spock’s consciousness into Chapel’s body to get Henoch out of the Vulcan. And Chapel was all too glad to be Spock’s vessel in a not entirely creepy way. Only a little bit creepy!

I am a nurse first and a member of the crew of the Enterprise second When Nurse Chapel learns that McCoy is dying of xenopolycythemia in “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” her resolve is to help him to live, while he seems to take it in stride that he is destined to die. She encourages him to “Please, give yourself every minute” of his year left in this world, and I’d like to think that that helped him get through it. Natira helped too, wink wink.

The spider catches a fly While we included moments from “The Tholian Web” in almost everyone else’s Worst Moments lists, Chapel actually got a good moment from this otherwise negative episode! When another of McCoy’s assistants has succumbed to the weird space occurrence and attacks him, Nurse Chapel calmly grabs a hypo and tranqs that guy, like a badass!

Now all I want is to crawl away and die While I found Uhura’s reaction to the forced kiss with Kirk in “Plato’s Stepchildren” to be uncomfortable in an entirely different way, the Chapel-Spock kiss is exactly as uncomfortable as it’s supposed to be. Chapel’s pining after Spock is used as a weapon against her in this moment of torture. A worse show would imply that she’s finally getting what she wants, but she makes it clear that without consent, there is no enjoyment and it’s commendable to state that so directly.

I heard Spock’s voice Unlike my reaction to the different women’s scenes in “Plato’s Stepchildren,” I must say that all the women in “The Lorelei Signal” are absolutely on point. While Uhura takes command of the ship, Chapel serves as de facto CMO in the absence of all the men. And what’s more: she uses that weird bond she has with Spock (perhaps lingering from “Return to Tomorrow”?) to save him from the temptresses!

And they've probably redesigned the whole sickbay By The Motion Picture, we see that Chapel found time to learn a new trade, as she’s an MD by the time McCoy arrives. Was it that the writers seem to incorrectly think that nurses are on the same job track as medical doctors, just a lower rung on the career ladder? Probably. But we can read it as her changing jobs because she wanted to do something new, and that’s a more exciting interpretation for this change.

Look for the helpers. You will always find people that are helping. Blink and you can miss it, but Christine Chapel in The Voyage Home is busy coordinating relief efforts at Starfleet Command during the whale probe attack. She gets like one line and you only catch quick glimpses of her, but it’s an excellent touch to show that her character is there and focused on doing the thing that she’s been known for all series long: helping people.

—

Worst Moments

You hide it, but you do have feeling Onto some of the lousier things Chapel does in the show, and you’ll find that most are related to her one-sided relationship with Spock. We first see it in “The Naked Time” (before we know that BOTH of them are engaged) when she dumps all her love on him while space-drunk. And it’s a little sad and pathetic knowing she’ll never receive it back [in this series], but also just annoying that it’s the main characteristic the writers ever give her. Sigh.

A mechanical geisha would be no more difficult While we did include some moments from “What Are Little Girls Made of?” above in our Best Moments list, there’s some bad to go around as well! Did you notice just how jealous Chapel immediately got of Andrea the moment she laid eyes on her? Before she knows Andrea is a robot, she’s immediately grouchy when Andrea calls Roger by his first name. And afterwards, Chapel is flat out hostile to the poor, jumpsuited thing!

You never give up hoping, do you? Now for all the times in “Amok Time” Chapel utterly degrades herself because she has a crush on Mr. Spock. Bones jokes about it when she brings him the soup, for one thing. For another, there’s an entirely weird scene in which she goes to tell him they’ve changed course to Vulcan, but he’s still pon farring around and she starts crying. And to top it off, she just had to be present on the bridge (for no reason!) to witness T’Pring on the viewscreen and learn that he’s engaged, just to rub salt in the wound. And then she has no lines the rest of the episode! Poor Christine.

Spock will be yours forever One last time to roll our eyes at how contrived it’s been all series long, and now into The Animated Series, to watch Chapel swooning over Spock so much. So much so that she’s easily swayed by Harry’s Mudd’s offer of some of his love potion in “Mudd’s Passion.” She falls for it, and when it turns out to be the real thing, she barely even gets to enjoy having Spock all to herself!

Since when did we even have ID badges? She makes such an ass of herself that I’ve broken “Mudd’s Passion” into two entries! She is so distracted (and a little drugged) by Mudd that he steals her ID badge. She almost makes up for it by capturing him in the shuttlebay, but instead ends up drugging the whole ship by accident AND gets herself kidnapped and forced into a pretty pathetic damsel in distress role for Spock to heroically save. Oh Chapel, this is all beneath you.

Plenty of fish in the sea One final ditzy moment from Nurse Chapel, and it’s in the clownishly inconsistent “The Terratin Incident.” Sure, everyone in that episode is made to look silly because they’re shrinking down to the size of cockroaches (or smaller depending on the scene), but Chapel nearly drowns in a fish tank after tripping over a sewing needle. Why a sewing needle was next to a fish tank might be the stupidest question yet.

— And that’s it! We couldn’t see stretching the list further than that since you didn’t get to see Chapel do much else in TOS, TAS, or the films. Keep your eyes fixed here because next we’re going to be repeating the same experiment with all the TNG main characters, as well as keeping up with our watchthrough of all of Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast. We also keep all our logs up on Facebook and Twitter. Now eat your plomeek soup! Doctor’s orders!

[kosmos2999]

Star Trek: The Animted Series 50th Anniversary Episode Review

Episode: The Infinite Vulcan

Season: 1

Episode: 7

Stardate:

Original airdate: October 20, 1973

Written by: Walter Koenig

Directed by: Hal Sutherland

Music by: Yvette Blais and Jeff Michaels

Executive producers: Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott

Studio: Filmation Associates

Network: NBC

Series created by: Gene Roddenberry

Cast:

Captain James T. Kirk (voice by William Shatner)

Mr. Spock, Spock 2 (voice by Leonard Nimoy)

Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (voice by DeForest Kelly)

Lt. Uhura, Computer Voice (voice by Nichelle Nichols)

Lt. Hikaru Sulu (voice by George Takei)

Eng. Montgomery Scott, Agmar, Dr. Stavos Keniclus 5 (voices by James Doohan)

Nurse Christine Chapel (voice by Majel Barrett)

Synopsis:

The Enterprise is engaged in an exploring mission. A newly discovered planet on the pheripheral portion of the galaxy. An away team composed of Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, Mister Spock and Lieutenant Sulu is assembled to being beamed down to this world full of natural beauty but full of mystery.

At the arrival, they have found a city apparently abandoned by its inhabitants. They get confusing signals on their scanners and the readings of a power source on a building in front of them. While his teammates explore the inside of the building, Sulu finds a mobile plant and gets hurt mortally by one of its thorns. Kirk, McCoy and Spock came to his rescue once they listen to his scream for help.

The doctor applies one of his antidotes, but it is useless aganist the plant's poison. Then, a group of plant-like beings suddenly appeared. Their leader, Agmar offers a cure for Sulu but McCoy refusses the help. Kirk accepts the help from the natives and just when they apply their antidote, Sulu recovers very fast.

Agmar, the Phylosian told to the crew that they had an earlier contact with humans. One that brought the an infectious bactery that killed a generation of their own, but he also helped them to survive. As they are entering thru a cave, a flock of dragon-like flying plant-lifeforms attack the Enterprise's crew and kidnap Spock.

The Phylosians got a system that makes phasers not working, then a giant human appeared and the natives made a bow to him. He identifies as Doctor Stavos Keniclus 5, the man who saved the natives from extintion. He told the team that he needs Spock for his plans and also told them to leave the planet.

Kirk orders to beam up the rest of the crew.

On the bridge, Kirk orders Lt. Uhura to investigate any data about Keniclus 5. Meanwhile, the doctor tries to find a way to defend themselves against the plant-lifeforms by using a recepie for a pesticide from his gran-grandfather's farm.

Uhura found a record of a scientist Keniciclus who left the Earth after loosing the Eugenic Wars. Kirk is surprised and trying to guess how he survived after more than 200 years.

Kirk, McCoy and Sulu return to the planet's surface but much prepeared to rescue Spock. The natives brought them to a underground compound where Spock is located.

Inside the cave compound, they encounter again with Keniciclus 5. He reveals himself as the fifth generation clone of the original Dr. Keniciclus. His plan is to imposing peace by strenght to the galaxy by invading every single planet they could. For that reason, he produced a Mr. Spock's clone, Spock 2.

As soon as they learned Keniciclus 5's plans for galactic conquest, a new wave of the dragon-like flying plant-lifeforms made an attack. This time, the team is ready to counter using McCoy's pesticide formula as a weapon.

After a successfully defeat of the flying creatures, Kirk triex to reason with Keniciclus 5 that he is unaware of the present time. That there is no need to continue wars from the past because the Federation had brought peace thru the galaxy. Then Kirk had a conversation with Spock 2 about the illogical action of imposing peace thru strenght. Some that goes against the Vulcan philosophy of infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Something that simbolize the elements of truth and beauty.

Spock 2 asserts Kirk's words and changes his mind. Meanwhile, the original Spock is dying in a chamber because of a memory drain performed by the mad scientist, Keniciclus 5. Spock 2 performs a Vulcan mind meld to help his original self to recover.

At the end, Keniciclus 5 was feeling useless after his plans failed miserably, Kirk and the original Spock convince him to use all of his knowledge and strength to help on the restoring of the Phylosian civilization with the help of Spock 2. All of them agree on that.

Fascinating Facts:

This episode was written by Walter Koenig. Due to budget restrictions, Koenig was not cast for playing the role of Lieutenant Chekov in The Animated series, but he made his collaboration by writing this episode.

The Koenig's main source for inspiration for writing the story was the fact that cloning was a very discussed subject in that time.

The mobile plant-lifeform who attackes Sulu has the name of Retlaw. It is Walter spelled backwards. The idea came from a story of a comic book series where the aliens spoke bakwards.

The first reference to the Vulcan philosophy of Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations (or IDIC) was made in the third season episode of The Original Series titled “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” At first, Leonard Nimoy refused the idea for a symbol because he thought Gene Roddenberry's idea for merchandising its pin.

[the-last-dillpickle]

DS9 trivia from IMDB - Part 5

- The number 47 pops up an inordinate amount of times on computer screens, serial numbers, dates and so on. This tradition was started by Writer and co-Producer Joe Menosky and was soon picked up by the rest of the production team. Menosky said that he chose that particular number because when he was a college student at Pomona College, Professor of Mathematics Donald Bentley proved as a joke that all numbers are equal to 47. Interestingly, Alias (2001) also featured the number 47 many times, and incorporated it into its on-going storyline.    

- References are frequently made to Starfleet "ground troops", and some Starfleet characters have different uniforms (a black uniform with a small colored stripe across the middle). Fans generally accept that these characters are part of a Starfleet Marine Corps; this was an idea which Gene Roddenberry conceived for Star Trek (1966), but never found an opportunity to use until the movie Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) where the men accompanying Kirk and crew down to Nimbus III were later confirmed to be marines. There was a Starfleet Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), who was most likely a Starfleet Marine since the rank of Colonel doesn't exist in naval organizations. Colonel West was played by Rene Auberjonois, who played Constable Odo on this show. The existence of Starfleet Marines was finally explicitly shown and stated on-screen in Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), indicating that they have been around in the Star Trek universe since at least 2153.    

- The Jem'Hadar were described in the script as tough warriors who were almost impervious to phaser shots. Make-up Supervisor Michael Westmore immediately thought of the thick skin of rhinos and reptiles when he read that description, so he designed the Jem'Hadar to look like dinosaurs, specifically triceratops, complete with horns.    

- The role of Jadzia Dax was initially offered to Famke Janssen, whose character make-up from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) season five, episode twenty-one, "The Perfect Mate" inspired the change in Trill character make-up from a forehead prosthesis. She turned down the role in order to remain available to appear in theatrical movies.    

- The U.S.S. Defiant was first envisioned to look like a beefed-up version of a runabout. When that didn't work out, they used an existing design for an alien cargo ship as basis, and developed it as a battleship. It was first called the U.S.S. Valiant, but Producer Rick Berman vetoed any name beginning with letter V, since he didn't want to create confusion with Star Trek: Voyager (1995), which they were setting up at the time. Defiant was chosen because like Enterprise, it was a name that had been used for a ship in Star Trek (1966) as well.    

- There was a level of friction between fans of Babylon 5 (1993) and this show. Babylon 5 (1993) fans felt that writers for this show had stolen many aspects of Babylon 5's premise (occurring recently after a war or occupation, episodes taking place on a space station not located in Earth territory, the cast discovering an ancient malevolent race that would become a major threat, the overall story of the show being less reliant on story-of-the-week episodes, and more of an overarching story arc, et cetera), asserting that Paramount Pictures had rejected J. Michael Straczynski's proposal of Babylon 5 to them in the late 1980s, but used certain details of the pitch by inserting them into the story and premise of this show. There was a concerted effort to bury the hatchet, especially by having Majel Barrett (widow of Gene Roddenberry) appear on Babylon 5 as an alien prophetess who spoke on behalf of her recently deceased husband (a nod to Roddenberry, who had passed away a few years before her appearance).    

- Regarding season seven: after Terry Farrell's departure from the show, a replacement had to be found to play the new host for the Dax symbiont. The showrunners were adamant not to cast a man in the role, as they wanted to maintain the running joke where Sisko refers to a young female Dax as 'Old Man'. It was decided that 'Ezri Dax' would be a young person, fresh from the Academy, who would display some adjustment problems because she had become stuck with an old Trill soul without going through the standard Trill training first. Numerous fans were initially reluctant to accept Nicole de Boer as the new host for the Dax symbiont, rather derisively referring to de Boer as "Ally McTrill", due to her slightly neurotic personality resembling Calista Flockhart's Ally McBeal (1997).    

- It is frequently stated that there are 285 official Ferengi 'Rules of Acquisition', although only 44 were ever mentioned in Deep Space Nine and subsequent Star Trek series. Because of fans continuously asking for a complete list, and knowing that someone would otherwise make one sooner or later, Ira Steven Behr finally took it upon him to write 'The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition' (ISBN 0-671-52936-6), credited as "By Quark as told to Ira Steven Behr."    

- Executive Producer and co-Creator Michael Piller said that when coming up for an idea for the series concept of this show, there were initially three ideas considered: another starship adventure, a space station concept, and a remote frontier colony. The frontier colony idea was briefly considered, with the idea that since Star Trek (1966) was compared to Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) in outer space, the new series would be compared to Gunsmoke (1955), but on a remote planet. The frontier colony idea was eventually dropped since it would've required a lot of on-location shooting, and the space station idea was ultimately developed instead.    

- On occasion, sets from Star Trek: Voyager (1995) are used as other Starfleet locales. (For example: a holosuite grid in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Inquisition (1998), the entire U.S.S. Bellerophon (which was an Intrepid-class starship, same as Voyager) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges (1999).    

[clockworkreapers]

I was reading Aleph Null yesterday and stumbled across ur page shortly after, and I have a question,

In the current situation in the comic, are Crysuk and Sauron officially matesprits or just crushing? Because they don’t kiss or call each other matesprits in the comic but when I see them on your page they are described as matesprits

That’s because they aren’t yet! The comic happens in their past maybe a sweep or so in the past. This is essentially how they met each other and how all my characters got to know each other. I can’t say much on specifics but all of my main 6 know each other in the future.

As for the boys at this point in their lives in the comic they are hardly anything but coworkers. Cy is probably a bit more interested in Sauron as just bace level hey we get along I like your company and I can’t put up with anyone besides Majell at the moment. Sauron evidently is a bit of an oblivious idiot when it comes to relationships. It will be spoken about later as to why but both of them have some unresolved personal issues in that area. That will need some time to get to though, for now they have only known each other for around 2 weeks their time (Alternian weeks in AN are like 16 days) and they have quite a bit more time to get to know each other better and a lot more to go through to have room for an actual relationship.

[dilfsisko]

unfortunately, from what i can find, neither gene roddenberry nor majel barrett were jewish. all the other people you mentioned definitely were, tho.

Oh shit! That's on me for not double checking and just believing shit i'd been told and thought i read previously.

[lonesomedreamer]

Liveblog: “All Those Who Wander”

In which Star Trek does Alien.

This episode should absolutely have come with warnings for flashing lights and superfluous gore/body horror.

The “end” of Uhura’s tenure on the Enterprise would be more meaningful in a longer season. I know it’s not realistic to hope for 22-26 episode seasons anymore, but even 13 would be better for an episodic, character-driven adventure show than just 10.

This looks bad. In fact, her hair has been getting worse all season. Rebecca Romjin is a beautiful woman, but the hair and makeup people have been doing her no favors (something I’d argue that she has in common with her predecessor in the role, Majel Barret).

“We are bonded now and forever by the family that is Starfleet.” Who WROTE this drivel? I’d love to serve in Starfleet! I love its ideals! But even in TOS, it wasn’t infallible and perfect and One Big Happy Family.

Is “Lieutenant” really the next rank immediately above “ensign”? Genuine question.

Absurdly tiny coffee cups!

I still want to know why they’re always doing dishes on this ship that has technology well beyond that shown on TOS AND how/why the captain has time to do said dishes.

La’an’s actually allowed to show some personality!

As if station wagons would still be a common point of reference in the 23rd century…

“Do NOT make me turn this car around.” Again...these are not references that make sense in the show’s context/setting. They’re in the script solely to cater to a certain portion of the audience. Also, I still don’t find Pike’s “Captain Dad” schtick endearing, sorry.

Sensors don’t reach the planets surface, yet they land the shuttlecrafts conveniently close to the ship they’re rescuing.

“You gotta buy him a drink.” How long has Spock been in Starfleet now…at least five years? They’re constantly explaining Starfleet culture/traditions to him like he’s a cadet. I know he’s a Vulcan, and I know that it’s for the audience’s benefit, but there must be some other character (Uhura being the obvious choice) who can fill that role…

And also: who keeps buying people drinks? Is this just a turn-of-phrase, or what? They’re certainly not paying for anything on the Enterprise, and we never saw them actually pay for anything on TOS even during shore leave.

Wait—they took the CMO and Chapel on this mission? What if people need emergency medical attention back on the ship???

The Peregrine is built with some of the same parts as the Constitution-class ships, but it’s not the same design—so why does it look like a carbon copy of the Enterprise, and why does it have such a small crew compliment in comparison?

This is obviously going to be another Gorn episode, and I already know I’m still going to hate it.

I’ve since read that this was prosthetic makeup, but it looks like bad CGI to me.

They’re really going to make Spock have an awkward expository conversation about Surak and logic with Christine in the middle of a crisis/rescue mission in the penultimate episode of the season?

M’Benga calling the little girl “my daughter” and then catching himself was a nice touch. He should be haunted by his decision.

I love that Christine’s hair is still perfect after everything. Peak TV show energy.

All of this—gore and jump scares and a vicious, non-verbal alien species as the overpowered Big Bad—is so anti-Trek and I hate it!!! :)

As usual, the level of technology here strains credulity (and far outstrips anything on TOS).

Kirk’s big brother is just a peach… McCoy and Spock’s dynamic only worked because Spock gave as good as he got and because the audience knew that Spock considered McCoy a close friend/brother. Watching Sam Kirk be an intolerant ass is just uncomfortable.

COMICAL. Seriously, this is a joke.

So the Gorn are superior (in evolutionary terms) sentient beings…and also mindless, bloodthirsty lizard creatures? Sure.

Gorn-o-vision! This entire episode is impossible to take seriously.

Alluding to Spock’s sacrifice in Wrath of Khan and throwing a “long live and prosper” in does not make this any more like proper Trek. Speaking of WOK, Hemmer’s choice would be so much more meaningful if it were done in a similar setting (since he is, after all, the Chief Engineer…) instead of this throw-away “noble” sacrifice of a death.

Hemmer’s death is also a reminder of how short 10-episode seasons really are, and how little development his character was really given. As badly as her character was handled, even Tasha Yar had more time to grow than Hemmer before she was killed.

“This sucks. I hate funerals.” Ortegas and her quippy remarks being charming and funny and essential to the episode as always…oh, wait.

HUGS!

I actually think it’s really sweet/meaningful for Christine to tell Spock that his emotions “make you human.” I’ve seen some bad-faith interpretations of this scene assuming she’s trying to “push him to be more human,” but I read it as her encouraging him not to deny his inherent humanity, which he’s grown up thinking of as shameful. His humanity isn’t inferior to his Vulcan nature, and he needs to accept it and embrace it if he wants to find peace.

As the child of an alcoholic, I genuinely think Pike has an alcohol problem. He’s been shown drinking a lot in this show.

The Good: La’an gets to show some personality (but only early on)—moral support Spockstine hugs

The Bad: Everything else, lol—Pike makes terrible tactical decisions, repeatedly, beginning with bringing cadets on the rescue mission without knowing any details about the circumstances; the most glaring was letting La’an, who’s barely coping with her own Gorn-related PTSD well enough to function, basically take charge after they discover that they’re dealing with the Gorn—the way this series had handled the Gorn is laughably bad and not at all in the spirit of Trek; they’re treated as monsters rather than sentient enemies who can potentially be reasoned/negotiated with (i.e., the Romulans)—Hemmer’s death was pointless and a waste—they continue to do absolutely nothing with Number One as a character; why is she even on the show at this point?

Overall, this was a poorly-lit and very poorly-written episode full of jump scares, shaky-cam, flashing lights, and needless gore/death. It felt like the antithesis of everything Trek is supposed to be. Here’s hoping the finale is better.

[dearemma]

any other characters you ship christine with ??

okay so it is easier for me to say who i don't ship her with (i find her very shippable!) and that is una and m'benga*.

una... here is the thing, i did not care much for una at first (during snw and short treks) but because a close friend of mine loves her, i ended up paying attention to her and falling in love with her. during disco, the short treks and the cage (majel my angel) una is intriguing, mysterious, and sexy. she looks like she can fuck you up, correct your grammar and not mess up her hair-do while she does it. snw una is... a wet block of concrete to me. which is insane cause... rebecca romjin?? i love her. i am obsessed with the librarians and i loved eve, but she is so... meh to me on snw that i literally can't picture her and christine. though, i do love the idea of them as platonic friends who become super close after all the bullshit of season one -- una opening up to christine cause she already knows everything so she becomes her confidant.

now, with m'benga, my thing is, in an interview, babs and jess described their relationship as familial and that intrigued me a lot. i think it could be an insanely interesting perspective to explore their relationship from. but... as i was answering this, and inspired by jess and babs's wonderful chemistry during 2.01... i have to amend that. between receiving this ask in the kitchen and going up the stairs to my bedroom i came up with an entire emma au for them. like, m'benga and christine as old friends who are incredibly close, who know each other better than anyone else. m'benga who sees her doing stupid things and tries to steer her to a better path, sees her fall in love with undeserving guys and girls and starts feeling something inside his chest but he keeps it inside?? all the longing, the pining, and then when he pulls away christine realizes what has been in front of her during this entire time?? so yeah, i think i ship them now.

but god, everyone else yeah. i did not ship her and pike, but i started reading (and still need to finish!!) @curator-on-ao3 fic about christine helping him a few years after his accident and it just took my breath away. the possibilities of their dynamic?? i could go with it.

uhura, la'an, spock... all of them are christine's soulmates.

i am a firm believer of erica and christine as fuckbuddies (who may or may not catch feelings and suffer cause they believe the other one doesn't see them the same way)

also, as a bonus, a friend of mine headcanons sam kirk as poly, and we chatted about him and christine ending up together and honestly?? they could be very sweet, i liked it. (also christine losing another lover?? the angst??)

[paulgadzikowski]

Nice but unsurprising to have the Majel Barrett cameo in Picard S3E09. I read sometime before she died that she was making recordings so that her voice could continue to be the voice of Starfleet computers for the indefinite future. I'm more surprised that we don't hear her more often. Perhaps the project fell through, or there are rights issues, and they were just able to pull things together for this special occasion.

Wasn't expecting the Alice Krige cameo. I would've expected Allison Pill instead. I also would've expected some notice from the characters that the Borg were made a "provisional" Federation affiliate last season - wasn't that scene in a previously on Picard recap a few weeks ago? Holding out hope that Jurati will show up next week. It'd be great if she showed up on Discovery too. (Actually you know who I wanna see show up on Discovery? The Voyager EMH.)