#robin lefler

[waitingintheskyyy]

I was on Una's Memory Alpha page and found this:👇

So I HAD to investigate and found out more

WHAAAAAATT????

I checked Robin's page👇

Thoughts???

[defconprime]

Ashley Judd as Robin Lefler

[spockvarietyhour]

Excluding in this poll Ro Laren, Reginald Barclay, and Alyssa Ogawa as they've had more than two appearances each.

[protagonistspub]

Not How I Pictured It by Robin Lefler

Not How I Pictured It by Robin Lefler was a win from Goodreads and my first book by the author. It is marketed as romantic comedy, but this is a mistake. This is a mystery plain and simple. The premise is one that will have mass market appeal, former stars of a young adult reality, aka scripted, series reunite twenty years later. There is nothing unexpected about this, there is the washed-up…

[vintagegeekculture]

Because she was an intentionally mysterious woman initially only seen in a single episode, and before she got an on-air backstory in the recent streaming series, Star Trek supplementary material developed contradictory information on who - or what - Number One, the female first executive officer of the Enterprise, was. To my count, she has four different, completely incompatible backstories in the comics and novels, and this is absolutely unique in Star Trek, which usually keeps it consistent.

Peter David, in his New Frontier novels, identified Number One as a long lived immortal human mutant (like Flint from the original series) named “Morgan Primus” who was an early genius in cybernetics and artificial intelligence, which is why the Enterprise computer has her voice. One of the names Morgan Primus assumed to hide her immortality was Morgan Lefler, and one of her daughters was Robin Lefler, Wesley Crusher’s love interest from the Next Generation Series played by Ashley Judd. Robin Lefler did not inherit her mutant ability to heal all injuries.

Alternatively, the DC Star Trek Comics of the early 1980s said that Number One was from an obscure planet of peaceful, open, friendly telepaths who resemble humans exactly, and that she was present at first contact with Starfleet. They explained that her blunt, direct, undiplomatic manner is due to her being from a telepathic culture that values total honesty. This would make her the first telepath on the Enterprise, with Spock and Arex coming later. Her planet was created before the Next Generation, but her species being a peaceful, open, telepathic race resembling Mediterranean humans who are not well known or commonly encountered in the original series era….well, that certainly sounds an awful lot like Betazoids to me. If this backstory is true, she may have been the first Betazoid seen on screen, in much the same way fans generally believe Trelane was either Q or a member of the Q Continuum.

D.C. Fontana’s only Star Trek novel, “Vulcan’s Glory,” was one of the earliest attempts to give the character a backstory, and was the most consequential long term. The first novel set in the era of the first Star Trek pilot with Captain Pike and a young Spock, "Vulcan's Glory" identified Number One as being an Illyrian, a race of human-like beings who specialize in species wide breeding programs and genetic improvement. This genetic superiority is why she was cool, intellectual, aloof, and a bit arrogant. Her nickname “Number One” came from the fact she was the supreme product of the hyper-competitive Illyrian system, and won at everything from academics to athletics. According to DC Fontana, her actual Illyrian name is impossible to pronounce, so when dealing with humans, she assumed the human name “Una Chin-Riley.” Una of course, being “Number One” in Greek.

As DC Fontana is such an important figure in Star Trek history and only actually wrote one Star Trek novel in her life, many future materials used the backstory established in “Vulcan’s Glory,” like the David Stern Pike-era novels of the 2010s....but more importantly, the Discovery and Strange New Worlds series, which canonized the “Una Chin-Reilly” name by using it on screen (I remember gasping when Pike called her Una in a Discovery episode, meaning they were going with the Fontana backstory, a detail that may not have been significant to the casual viewer). Since DC Fontana wrote “Vulcan’s Glory” in the 80s, a lot more information was learned about the role of genetic engineering in the Federation, however, and interesting things were done in that series to bring her in line with everything we’ve learned since in Deep Space 9 and Enterprise about augmentation and the society wide prejudice against it. For example, they established that the fact Number One was Illyrian was not public knowledge, but that she pretended to be human her entire life.

The one person who didn’t see fit to give her a backstory or even a real name was John "Johnny Redbeard" Byrne in his comic series about the Cage era Enterprise, who thought the mystery of the character was the most interesting thing about her, and he was deliberately cagey about any details. To Johnny Redbeard, she was just “Number One.” There was a running joke that every time someone says her actual name, or when we see her personnel file, it was blurred out, or somebody’s thumb was over it, and so on. It was rather like the running joke where Mr. Burns never remembers Homer Simpson's name. Johnny Redbeard loves mystery men and women who don't talk about their past, since that was the characterization he famously gave to Wolverine in his X-Men comics.

The one detail of Number One's past that is clear is that Number One in Byrne's comics is competent, mysterious, and has mystique, certainly, but she is completely human, without any powers. Byrne always got exasperated that his X-Men co-creator Chris Claremont added fantastical and far out details to the background of X-Men characters (like how Nightcrawler's girlfriend Amanda turned out to be a sorceress) because he felt "some people should just be allowed to be normal." Byrne always said his original idea for Wolverine's "true" backstory was that he was a Vietnam veteran in intelligence who volunteered for bionic experiments that wiped his memory, and disliked the idea he was immortal, and vetoed the very, very early Dave Cockrum idea Wolverine was an actual mutated wolverine who achieved sentience and a human shape (which early X-Men comics hint at). Byrne was reportedly enraged that they gave Moira MacTaggart a mutant power, as he saw her as just being a scrappy Scottish housekeeper.

Johnny Redbeard didn’t give Number One a past (other than to show she was on the Enterprise's shakedown cruise with Robert April as a rookie officer), but he did give her a future, as he showed an older Number One as a starship commander in the Kirk era (aging gracefully with a white tuft like Tongolele), and later, a flag officer in the Motion Picture era.

To what extent are these backstories compatible? Well, with what we currently know about Number One, that she hid her true species and status to avoid prejudice, it could be that some of the other versions were tall tales she spread to obscure her true origins. The John Byrne idea she served as an Ensign with Robert April in the Enterprise's very first mission hasn't been confirmed, but hasn't been denied, either. The Peter David "Morgan Primus" backstory is completely incompatible, but perhaps there are some elements to it that are true, like the idea that the early part of her career involved working as a computer engineer in artificial intelligence, which is why the computer has her voice.

[stra-tek]

Never forget that in Peter David's New Frontier novels (and comics), the ancient immortal character Morgan Primus is vaguely implied to be every single one of Majel Barrett's onscreen Trek characters.

And she's the mother of Robin Lefler.

And then the immortal is finally killed and... actually ends up becoming the ship's computer consciousness, after an earlier Peter David novel established that the Majel computer voice was in fact Number One programming the Enterprise computer with her own voice.

Obviously it doesn't work in a modern Trek world where Number One and Nurse Chapel definitely aren't the same person and are on Pike's Enterprise crew together

But still, just a weird 90's thing that happened

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

Get to Know Me Better

thank you @gravitywonagain for tagging me!

3 Ships: wangxian (CQL/MDZS), Josh/Donna (The West Wing), Klaine (Glee)

First Ship: i wish i remembered my fandomming before i knew the terms. Possibly Wesley/Robin Lefler (ST:TNG). The first i remember for sure being emotionally invested in was Willow/Oz and Willow/Tara (BTVS).

Last song: either Brighter by Jasmine Cephas Jones or Bystander by Wang Yibo

Favourite Children's Book: Bröderna Lejonhjärta by Astrid Lindgren

Currently reading: LC soup brain makes reading new material effort-ful to parse, so I'm still on @scarlettohairdye 's exquisite sequel His Sacred Incantations, and Ally Brosh's Solutions and Other Problems (aside from re-reading a crapton of beloved fic)

Currently watching: concurrently (for variety of mood and attention span) The Longest Promise, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Drag Race, Dear White People, Huberman Lab, and never not The Untamed

Currently consuming: tahini chocolate banana bread

Currently craving: pad thai

Tagging: @watch-the-stars-go-by, @startedwellthatsentence, @ellicelluella, @korppunen, @absolutelyfibulas, @trombonesinspace, @vera-invenire, @pluckyredhead, @ordinaryornate, @returnsandreturns, @androidsfighting, @damnslippyplanet, @imaginaryelle, @lordriddler

[flaviathebibliophile]

Reasonable Adults by Robin Lefler (ARC Review)

Title: Reasonable Adults Author: Robin Lefler Type: Fiction Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance Publisher: HarperAvenue Date published: December 13, 2022 This post is sponsored. A complimentary digital copy of this book was kindly provided by HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review. Everything has fallen apart for Kate Rigsby: she is freshly single—separated from an ex she never…

[defconprime]

Robin Lefler, Mission Specialist

[startrekplotnthemes]

Season 5 Episode 6 The Game

Riker is on the planet Risa with a Ktarian lover when he is introduced to the game, a visor which plays a disk catching simulation. With a strange sense of urgency he begins to recommend the game to others, including Beverly Crusher and Deana Troi. Speaking of Crushers, Westley has returned temporarily while on vacation at the Starfleet Academy. He runs into Ensign Robin Lefler and the two immediately begin to hit things off. Meanwhile the game is beginning to get more and more popular aboard the Enterprise. In a swift action, Data is disabled due to his personal immunity to its effects.

Pressure from his mother to play the game and continued propositions cause Lefler and Wesley to investigate the properties of the visor. He reports the addictive qualities to Picard but almost all of the crew, including the Captain, have become wrapped up in the insidious game. Checking in with Lefler, Wesley finds she too has been subjected to the game and must make quick maneuvers to evade capture. He is able to run for a time but is eventually captured. As he is exposed to the effects of the Game Data shows up after being restored by Wesley, flashing lights with a device he is able to restore everyone to their normal state. They realize with the nearby Ktarian ship nearby, the Game was a trick in order to make the crew susceptible to them and allow their ship to be possessed. With this information they take the Ktarians into captivity.

This episode has a lot to say about addiction and habit forming practices. Having come out in the 90s video games would definitely have been a part of public consciousness. My initial thought was that it was mainly a condemnation of them. Introducing an evil video game that takes over by serving the pleasure centers. Yet the Game in this episode is literal in its altercations of the human psyche. It is a combination of drugs and games, to create a futuristic obsession. 

[witchyfoxelf]

[tv review] tng 5x05-5x06 (1991)

5x05 “disaster”

i kind of always somehow sleep on this episode, but it really is just fantastic.

the enterprise is damaged and loses main power. and we’re not talking someone says “emergency power” and they activate mood lighting and keep trucking along. the lights are out. like, out out. and most of the ship’s primary functions just aren’t available. shit is dire, yo!

this also lets them do the classic tv thing and split up the crew into little separate areas dealing with an assortment of emergencies cut off from everyone else. we see all of them working at similar problems and having to make assumptions about what everyone else is doing.

i love what a lot of the individual groups are doing. captain picard is trapped in a turbolift with a group of children, and due to an injury has to talk them through how to deal with the situation. this entire subplot is honestly super sweet, and another example of how captain picard is deeply uncomfortable with children but literally every time he has to interact with them in any meaningful way, he just does a fantastic job. him handing out his pips (two for the oldest, as his number one, and one for the other two) and giving them each little responsibilities was super heartwarming.

elsewhere, most of the ship’s most useful officers (commander riker, lt. commander data, and lt. worf) are trapped in ten forward and initially not able to do much other than gather the injured and assess the situation. you really do see that all of them are highly trained to deal with this sort of thing, and it’s honestly pretty terrific to see that in action.

eventually riker and data split off to try to get to engineering, while worf stays behind to help the wounded–annnnd keiko o’brien, who has suddenly gone into labor. worf is super good at all of this. he’s very reassuring, but in a way that feels authentic to him. if he tried to be like dr. crusher or something it would come off as very inauthentic. i really liked getting a chance to see this side of him.

speaking of dr. crusher, though, her and geordi end up trapped in a cargo bay and the emergency that unfolds there and how they have to deal with it is pretty great but there isn’t really a lot of character stuff happening for them? it’s another example of the crew’s professionalism and problem-solving skills, but that’s kind of it. it just feels like it’s missing a dimension that some of the other scenarios bring to the table. and i guess that’s okay, but i also feel like dr. crusher in particular is often pretty underdeveloped, so this does end up feeling like a bit of a missed opportunity.

finally, a combination of circumstances ends up leaving counselor troi in command of the bridge during the disaster, and she has to make several command decisions and defend them while ensign ro occasionally tries to steamroll her and chief o’brien does his best to offer advice without stepping on either officer’s toes. honestly, everyone ends up looking pretty great here, even ro.

this really is a pretty great episode. it isn’t an episode i often hear people talking about when they talk about great tng episodes, but it really does a lot. a-rank

5x06 “the game”

this episode is super fun and robin lefler is a super great character and i’m genuinely sad that we don’t get to see any more of her. her and wesley are super cute together, even. like, it’s cool that she gets to be a huge part of the star trek: new frontier novels, but it’s just a shame we didn’t get to see more of her on screen.

oh and of course if an enterprise crewmember ends up falling under the spell of a hypnodomme and spreading that danger around to the rest of the crew it would be will riker. who the hell else could it possibly have been? a-rank

[joshuaalbert]

like ok. here are the main picard s3 women. 

3/4 of these have basically the same hair.

to compare to tng, for obvious reasons, you would never mistake deanna’s hair for beverly’s for tasha’s. troi’s hair is long and curly and often accessorized in some way bc she cares about her appearance and isn’t in a position where that would get in the way. beverly’s hair is usually about shoulder length and done nicely, but not in styles that take a ton of time—she does also care about her appearance, but she’s a little more practical. tasha’s hair is a short, low-maintenance style, which makes sense for security but also represents the fact that she’s uncomfortable being more traditionally feminine. these all say something about the characters, and they’re all distinct from one another. 

tasha doesn’t have a point of comparison in pic obviously, but the other two have virtually the same hairstyle as each other (just like. deanna has bangs), and both of them have the same style as seven. I can’t comment on whether seven’s hair matches where she is as a character bc I haven’t finished voy or seen the first two seasons of picard, but these are supposed to be three very different characters who should, therefore, be styled differently. those beachy waves do not tell me anything about any of these characters other than that they gave someone a curling iron and no further instructions. and then raffi’s is different bc her hair is a different texture, and I think it works for where she’s at that it’s kind of just a ponytail, but she should not be the only one yknow. 

and like! it wasn’t just main characters that had effort put into their hair in tng! my girls robin lefler and sito jaxa were in two episodes each and they both had multiple hairstyles that were interesting and conveyed something about the character at that time. 

robin’s hair is pulled back while she’s on duty, but it’s also not just a simple bun like there’s texture and creativity there. when her hair’s down because she’s off duty, it’s creating a contrast and it definitely makes her look more relaxed, but it’s also still more of a complex style than just being loose. there’s effort put in here reflecting the fact that this character is important in this episode despite not being a series main. everyone’s hair in picard is loose all the time even when it makes no sense for it to be that way and doesn’t convey anything about them.

jaxa’s hair in first duty is distinctly Different - imo it’s supposed to set her apart as the only nonhuman on the team and look like it’s coming from a different culture. her hair in lower decks is more what we see from other female officers on the enterprise, which could be seen as reflecting the way she’s trying to fit in there and not stand out too much after the accident and the trial. it’s a similar style to robin’s, in that it’s a bun with braiding, but they’re also very clearly not exactly the same. 

picard s3 just did not have this type of effort put in to create distinct hairstyles that told us something about each character. and I mean. we could speculate as to why this is - budget, maybe, or general tv styling conventions in the current era, or hairstylists and makeup artists being eligible for membership in iatse local 706 (see also: set lighting, iatse local 728) - but I obviously don’t know what went on behind the scenes. maybe they just thought loose curls were a more dark and serious hairstyle for their prestige tv show. i don’t know, I just know that honestly I find it really disappointing. 

will you guys still love and support me if i go on a rant about star trek hair bc I’m mad about picard s3’s hairstyling again

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n created by gene roddenberry The Game [s5ep6]

[data2364]

Ashley Judd as Robin Lefler 1991 in Star Trek: The Next Generation ”The Game”

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Game_%28episode%29

[dangerkeith3000x]

[kryptonians]

Ashley Judd on Star Trek: The Next Generation

That’s it that’s the post.