#star trek discovery speculations

[sophiaforevs]

Disco Season 5 speculation:

Okay so here's what we know:

The trailer for S5 says they're looking for an ancient treasure.

Modern Trek likes to reference/followup on 90s era Trek when they get the chance. We saw this with Guinan and Q as well as the Changelings in both Picard and Disco S4.

SO what do I get when I mix those two things together?

I think it has to do with the Iconians. The Iconians were an ancient space-faring empire from 200k years ago who seemingly vanished but are talked about in the mythology of a lot of different worlds. Their big thing was teleportation tech and some of it survived at least until the 24th century- the Iconian Gates. These passageways could instantly teleport you anywhere in the galaxy.

"But they already have transporters and the Spore drive, why is this important?"

Because transporters are limited in the size of what they can send and how far they can send it and the Spore Drive requires a ship and a very special person to pilot it. But the Iconian Gates are the size of a doorway and don't require a pilot. You just tell it where you want to go and *poof* you're there. And it bypasses any known shielding technology so you can see why it fits in the "treasure" category.

But this presents a problem, specifically that it inconveniences me. See, I'm GMing a game of Star Trek Adventures the Star Trek ttrpg and I've already planned out that the Iconians will be the BBEGuys (or rather, tech they left behind) and I don't want Disco to contradict what I have planned! It's inconsiderate is what it is.

So I think we can all agree, following up on the Iconians would be really cool, it's best for me everyone that they do something else.

[grayrazor]

Anybody remember when Discovery Channel did an adaptation of Wayne Barlowe’s “Expedition,” but in the near-future with unmanned probes?

Every once in a while, I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be fun to have a Star Trek show that followed one of the science and research ships?" before I remember that the diplomacy and action are Pretty Big Draws to the show, and most people wouldn't actually be as thrilled as I would be to have what would essentially amount to "Nat Geo In Space With Aliens".

Can you imagine it, though? Nat Geo in space? With aliens??? Speculative biology, and anthropology xenopology (xenology? idk), astrophysics, et cetera -

Well. I can dream.

[itsmyfandomandilikeit]

What we actually know about the renewal of Star Trek: Prodigy

Ok so there's been some speculation going around that Prodigy is or is not being renewed. The fact is that there has been zero news on the topic, official or otherwise, and anyone claiming to know differently is wrong or lying.

That being said, there are some things we do know:

1. Netflix is of course notorious for canceling things. I am an Inside Job fan. I know. However, they almost never leave things ambiguous. They aren't shy. When things are canceled, they make a clear public statement saying that it's canceled. Usually within two weeks of airing.

2. All of the clear public statements we've gotten from Netflix and the Prodigy crew have been consistent: Netflix will decide when they get more data. Recently, Aaron Waltke said on a podcast that they will review the viewing numbers from the first six months after season 2 was released, which occurred on July 1. This lines up with Netflix's data release schedule, which collates viewing data from the first and second halves of the year.

3. They are also waiting on a few other things. Namely, Netflix still commissions Paramount to create seasons of Prodigy. The sale of things like DVDs, Blu-Rays, digital downloads, and those new ship models that are coming out this December, affect the price of a season of Prodigy. Merchandise sales and licensing pay for a portion of it, and Netflix has to cover the rest of the cost. I'm sure the new theme park ride affects this as well. The cost to commission a season of Prodigy is determined by a number that is very much, at the moment, in a state of flux because of the upcoming physical media and merchandise releases, which could do well or not.

4. It was announced that the Hagemans have been added to a LEGO Ninjago project, and there has been some speculation that they will be unable to work on Prodigy because of this. This is irrelevant. The Hagemans have stated repeatedly that they typically work on 2 or 3 projects at once. To my knowledge, Aaron Waltke was working on Transformers One during the production of Prodigy season 2. This is just normal. They're getting work because their work has done well.

5. Prodigy costs the least of any Star Trek project to produce, but it is also the only Star Trek project that Netflix has access to. If, say, Section 31 does extremely well, Netflix can't get any portion of that success except for through Prodigy. Netflix also knows that very few new users are actually signing up for Paramount+, and indeed many users are leaving the platform, so Prodigy remains a good investment for Netflix. No matter how well this season of Lower Decks does, Netflix can't buy it because it's not for sale.

6. Data from 2023 indicated that Prodigy outperformed all of the rest of Star Trek on Netflix (admittedly, the US is not counted in this). What's especially notable about this is that it was only available for one week in 2023. In the first half of 2024, Prodigy continued to do well on the Netflix platform, despite it effectively only playing reruns during that time. Netflix will not release numbers for the second half of 2024 until next year.

7. Prodigy has the budget and appeal of a children's show, but it also has an avid adult audience. Many adults are watching it just because it's Star Trek or because they want to keep up with the overall story. Anyone who wants to maintain Star Trek completion must watch Prodigy, which is only available through Netflix.

8. Marketing is typically the lion's share of the cost of any media, but no marketing was done for Prodigy. It relied on word of mouth and the Star Trek brand. This affects how expensive it is to Netflix.

9. Finally this is not about the show itself but I just don't think that the story is over because plotlines in Star Trek never really end. Watching TAS is like the Leo Dicaprio pointing meme of seeing how Discovery was designed from a ton of these episodes. Every detail of the older shows is spun into entire plotlines in NuTrek. Whether or not Prodigy is renewed, these characters and species have been added to the canon and more than likely it will never let them go. If there isn't a new season, there will be video games, books, comic books, theme park attractions, stupid hats (that I'll buy), sunglasses, t-shirts, board games, markers, branded blankets, posters, and anything else you can think of. I kinda don't know how I feel about this but it is what I think. No matter how many seasons of Prodigy there actually will be, I'm sure the characters and settings will be brought back thirty years from now for better or worse.

[leohtttbriar]

For the Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme: would love to give you the excuse to talk about voyager. (or if that's too easy, something you like about your least favorite star trek series??)

i love voyager. so so much. i tried to think if i love another star trek series i've seen any less than voyager, but i can't honestly say that i do? i love ds9, tos, discovery, and, yes, even snw. i am in the embarrassing position of admitting that i really just love star trek, in a mostly uncomplicated way.

of the things i love about voyager, the premise is probably the biggest one. i have rambled about this a lot already but: i think it confronts for the first time in star trek the inherent sadness associated with us studying the stars--and therefore the sadness that science-fiction writers mostly imagine their way out of, often as a way to speculate a time when this reality may be less real: the fact that space is big. it is too big. the fastest human beings have ever traveled, with their own bodies along for the ride, still isn't fast enough to get us to the moon in less than three days. light--the speed limit of the universe--needs a full eight minutes to get from the sun to us--a relatively close planet. space is enormous. we measure things that are "close" in light-years. everything is so spread out and that's just from the perspective of being inside a galaxy, which is actually crowded when compared to intergalactic space. everything is so far away and so long away and it feels impossible to think of getting anywhere in a time meaningful to us and our lifespans. which is in its own way heartbreaking.

and while in voyager they are clearly not alone in the way we feel we could be (and in practice are until we get the smallest sign that even non-intelligent life exists off our very own special rock) with all the aliens they meet and the fact that they are on a ship that can go faster than light, they are stranded and they are on their way back home and it will still take them a life-time. that's the reality of the story: that they will spend the rest of their lives trying to get back. and though i know they do get back much quicker than that, where i'm at in the beginning of season 3 that is still the reality of it. and this makes literally everything that happens in the show so fascinating--even if it's a plot or an idea that not only happened in another series but was done technically better in that series. every plot in voyager is colored by the tension between what the star trek ethos is as a whole--exploration and diversity and learning and humanity--all in an optimistic light--and what voyager is about--getting back home. it makes me think of the tension in the actual "voyagers," somewhere now in interstellar space, and the golden record with a map of earth's position etched onto it: spacecraft meant to never be returned but contained on them is a deep, deep hope that in some way they will be. this tension, to me, affects everything on the show.

but that's maybe too big an idea without specific examples from the series--i might ramble about that at another point lol

in the spirit of your question, i will say there is one star trek property that i don't particularly care for on the whole and that's the 2009 movie (and sequels). but i will also say what that movie did right and what i do love about it even if i don't love the movie as a whole is how it portrayed the high-tech poetics of star trek in a much more immediately understandable way than even the 90s shows could for a 21st century audience. the "apple-store" aesthetic is really an argument about how this is the future and it's sleek and stylish and humans have advanced in their engineering and scientific abilities. and among this high-tech argument is uhura front and center: she's very loudly and explicitly a linguist and she fits in this silicon-valley look despite the fact that nowadays things like linguistics are considered "soft sciences" in a general way and treated like that very specifically by the tech-industry now (the attitude being "there's an app for that"). but uhura makes a central discovery in one of her labs at the beginning of the movie which gives her and kirk a leg up on understanding the Movie Threat. the 2009 movie significantly raised her importance as a character, to the point that the "main trio" in those movies is, arguably, more kirk/spock/uhura than it is kirk/spock/mccoy---especially if you're going by the movie posters.

also they gave her this line:

UHURA: And did I not, on multiple occasions, demonstrate an exceptional aural sensitivity, and I quote, "an unparalleled ability to identify sonic anomalies in subspace transmissions tests?"

which is excellent world-building about communications-officers, if you care for that sort of thing. and it provides a starting point for an argument about how listening to a universe (famed quiet due to the lack of material through which sound can travel) is essential to understanding it---an idea that can be further extrapolated via sci-fi regarding things like: listening to gravitational waves if we record them right; or working on the idea that all matter is but a vibration in a quantum field; or, from a more cultural concern, the implication that it is absurd to think you can travel to an alien world and not bring someone with an "exceptional aural sensitivity" who can facilitate an exchange of language and, thereby, meaning.

[spirk-trek]

I would love to hear your thoughts on kirk's backstory and what happened on tarsus iv, I feel like I've read so many conflicting takes on here and none of them actually match up with the episode (conscience of the king)

Hi anon! The way you worded this makes me think you were just looking for information and not a fic request. Forgive me if I was wrong!! 😅

I think the reason there are so many conflicting ideas is because of how vague it is in canon itself (which is cool, leaves a lot of room for interpretation). Because of this, when I recently wrote a thing about Tarsus IV I also struggled with "research" for it. Here's what I came up with:

!!! Disclaimer! I am not declaring any of this the One True Canon™! This is just my interpretation/speculation based on existing lore !!!

To me, it makes most sense for Jim to be sent to Tarsus IV with his mother, and for her to be a civilian scientist/researcher of some kind. I find it very hard to believe the massacre could have taken place if Starfleet were present, which would include George Kirk, Jim's father. George is said to have been absent often due to his work (SNW), so it wouldn’t be strange for him to be separated from his family (this is also just normal in Star Trek in general, i.e. Sulu [AOS] and like… everyone with children in TNG).

A more recent Trek book called Drastic Measures seems to back this exact idea up (depends who you ask which novels are canon, and this book was written for Discovery so take it with a grain of salt).

Sam would, in the TOS timeline, be 10 years older than Jim (~23). That would make it unlikely he'd be tailing after his mother to remote colonies. It's much more likely he was concerned with his own career/family/life.

So, in summary of those points, I think it was just Jim and Winona. Jim is between 12 and 14 years old, and his mother was a civilian researcher (the novel I mentioned earlier made her a xenobiologist, probably for plot reasons).

Something I do see exaggerated sometimes is the method of killing in the massacre. An antimatter chamber appears to be what was used, similar to A Taste of Armageddon, so it would not have been mass carnage or a big dramatic fight in the end. Just... zap. 

SPOCK: "He was certainly among the most ruthless, to decide arbitrarily who would survive and who would not [...] and then to implement his decision without mercy. Children watching their parents die. Whole families, destroyed. Over four thousand people. They died quickly, without pain, but they died.”

However, these are also quotes from the episode, so I can see why people might think the massacre itself was more violent: 

- JIM: “Four thousand people were needlessly butchered.” - LEIGHTON: “I remember him. That voice. The bloody thing he did.”  - JIM: “Are you sure you didn't act this role out in front of a captive audience whom you blasted out of existence without mercy?” - KARIDIAN/KODOS: “Murder, flight, suicide, madness. I never wanted the blood on my hands ever to stain you.” 

There was a revolution of some kind, probably brought about by people easily radicalized out of hunger and desperation.

- KARIDIAN/KODOS: [reading] "The revolution is successful…” - SPOCK: “There were over eight thousand colonists and virtually no food. And that was when Governor Kodos seized full power and declared emergency martial law.”

If Kodos already had his ideas about eugenics, which it sounds like he did, he would have seized this as an opportunity. This would make him an even more solid comparison to Hitler, which they were definitely going for to at least some extent (this was written two decades after WWII which many involved in the making of star trek were deeply affected by if not veterans themselves).

Because of the above quotes, I also think there’s merit to the idea of there being multiple formal executions where Kodos gave his infamous “speech” each time rather than just once (this would be another reason Jim would remember it enough to write it down), rather than one massive execution of 4,000 people. However, this quote could be interpreted to mean the opposite:

SPOCK: “Kodos began to separate the colonists. Some would live, be rationed whatever food was left; The remainder would be immediately put to death.”

Arguably, the even more traumatic suffering would be the period of starvation and upheaval leading up to the massacre. To me, a 3-6 month period of slowly worsening starvation as the food supply shrank and shrank to nothing would make the most sense.

One aspect I don't quite get is that Kodos's body was supposed to have been "burned beyond recognition.” Since we know from Conscience of the King his death was staged, then this fake death can’t have been pulled off in the midst of Starfleet intervention upon arrival (they would have taken him into custody to stand trial rather than kill him on sight anyway). Burning yourself to death is a highly unusual form of suicide, so I’m not sure if that’s supposed to allude to him being fake killed in the carnage following the execution when the people didn't react the way he wanted or expected? My only theory is that there was unrest and rioting for the period of time between the massacre and Starfleet arriving with relief, and he used that to fake his death once he knew he would be put on trial.

Anyway, this is super long so I'll cut myself off there. Hope that answered your question, sorry for being crazy! If anyone has anything to add, please do!

[quasi-normalcy]

So the thing about Star Trek: Picard is...

Say what you will about the first season, but it’s meaningful. In fact, Rios says explicitly what it’s about in the fourth episode: “the existential pain of living with the consciousness of death and how it defines us as human beings.” Pretty much all of the character arcs are about different reactions to this, and the supposed “grimdarkness” of the setting reinforces this point; the Federation has become reactionary and xenophobic because it was a utopia that experienced mass death right on its doorstep for the first time in living memory. The conflict with the Synths is ultimately rooted in the fact that we die; they don’t. The fact that the finale was called “Et in Arcadia ego” really just telegraphs this; “Even in Arcadia [utopia], I [Death] am.”

And the second season, for all its many flaws, carries this theme forward, proposing that love, togetherness, and companionship are the only meaningful candles in the dark. Q is dying; he awaits meaning, and he doesn’t find it. And so he opts instead to do one last favour for Jean-Luc so at least he can spare his favourite mortal from his own fate of dying alone. Jurati is able to connect with the Borg Queen because she recognises that her own motivation is something similar: the Queen can feel herself dying across infinite realities and she doesn’t want to be alone. Seven and Raffi find each other; Rios gives up his entire life for a shot at love. It’s an infernal mess, a budget-saving exercise in want of a plot, but I’m going to be honest: I kind of adore it. I think it’s beautiful for all its flaws.

Throughout the first two seasons, we have serious contemplations of transhumanism and identity in the face of death. Picard escapes death using technology, even as his friend, a living machine, embraces his end as a necessary part of being human. Soji loses her identity even as she gains knowledge of herself as an immortal android. Jurati too embraces transhumanism and, to some extent, loses her identity by so doing, but–in an interesting twist for Star Trek–this is not stigmatized; this is framed as what’s best for her. All of this is philosophically rich, high-octane fuel for thought, as speculative fiction should be.

The third season, meanwhile–for all that I have loved (some of) the nostalgia hits injected directly into my veins–bugs me because of how absolutely lightweight it feels. Death is gone. Not just as a theme, but gone from the narrative. Sure we kill off Ro, and T’Veen, and Vadic, and Shelby, and Shaw, but it feels like nothing. Death holds no dominion; Data is back; so’s the Enterprise-D; so’s Q (or maybe he’s come in from an earlier point in his timeline; it’s not clear). Kirk apparently is alive again, resurrected offscreen sometime after Generations and kept in a covert warehouse awaiting new adventures. Apparently Terry Matalas has already formulated plans for bringing Todd Stashwick back if when he gets his “Legacy” spinoff. I’m half-surprised that they didn’t reveal that Romulus magically popped back into existence in a background Okudagram somewhere. The Federation is as “grimdark” as it has ever been depicted, but unlike the first season (or Deep Space Nine, or even the first season of Discovery), this is never seriously interrogated or problematised. We go through the motions, cargo-cult-like, of moral debate in episode 7, but it’s not connected to anything. We hear that Vadic was the product of Section 31 war crimes; Picard looks shaken up by this, but then he and Beverly immediately decide to commit some war crimes of their own by executing her. This is never mentioned again. The whole exercise feels perfunctory, as I have said above: like ten-year-olds playing with action figures. It doesn’t feel like Picard, and frankly, for all of the surface detail it gets right, it feels even less like TNG.

So no; I’m not pleased that the first two seasons were ignored.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Some good news and some bad news regarding Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The good news is that now that the strikes are over, production of Season 3 is set to begin next month! This is good because there have been rumours swirling around possible cancellation in the wake of Star Trek Discovery being ended after its 5th season. But SNW continues (Lower Decks has also been renewed for Season 5). The only caveat to that is Paramount Plus still cancelled Star Trek Prodigy even with its Season 2 complete, so nothing is a guarantee anymore. (And even then, it's been reported that Prodigy S2 will at least get some sort of Netflix release).

(Further good news is Season 2, with its amazing musical and Lower Decks crossover episodes, is set for Blu-ray release before Christmas.)

The bad news - though this is likely educated speculation on Screen Rant's part - is the possibility that the 10-episode 3rd season my be split, with only 5 episodes airing in 2024 and having to wait till 2025 to see the rest. Aside from that wrecking viewer momentum, those 5 weeks will come and go very quickly. If this news is correct, though, they could be telegraphing some sort of 5-episode story arc, which should be good but I actually prefer SNW's episodic format as it better supports the type of experimentation we got with not only this past year's musical and part-animated episodes, but the episodic format is what made TOS what it was. No official word on any cast changes, though I will be surprised if S3 doesn't reintroduce Dr. McCoy in some fashion.

I haven't written much about SNW but it's my favourite of the live action modern Treks. I stopped watching Discovery and Picard but SNW has kept me. I've had songs from the musical earworming for the last week or so after I rewatched it. And I greatly appreciated the time-travel episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" for finally canonizing an explanation as to why the prequel series haven't always lined up with what we know as canon from TOS, TNG, etc. which as far as I'm concerned frees the writers to deviate and retroactively serves to rectify canon issues dating all the way back to some episodes of DS9, never mind Enterprise, Discovery and SNW itself. I will explain for those who don't know but I will put a spoiler break here for those who might be waiting for the Blu-ray or haven't had a chance to stream season 2 yet. If the break doesn't appear below, stop reading now if you don't want the spoiler.

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The episode reveals that due to the many time travel events over the years (including ones we haven't seen on screen by enemies of the Federation; the episode relates one involving Mary Queen of Scots (in-joke for the actress) what we have been seeing in SNW etc. is an alternate timeline. Maybe not as extreme as the Kelvin timeline of the films, but events such as the Eugenics Wars - indeed, the birth of Khan himself - were delayed by decades. This major change to the timeline - and then you fill in the blanks by factoring in even minor changes such as the guy who accidentally killed himself with McCoy's phaser in City on the Edge of Forever, Sisko replacing Gabriel Bell in the Bell Riots, the Voyager crew going back to 1996, Archer and T'Pol heading off agents of the temporal cold war in the early 2000s, etc. - and you can see how it's possible that things progressed differently resulting in SNW and Discovery being more technologically advanced than TOS-era ships should be as established in TNG, DS9 and Enterprise that used the original tech and designs. Also character differences, like Pike's crew being aware of T'Pring and Khan when Kirk's crew in TOS did now despite Spock having worked with La'an Noonien-Singh and Kirk being aware of La'an's feelings for him. Or the lack of reference to Kirk's brother, who dies in a famous TOS episode, having been former Enterprise crew. And it literally stems from two lines of dialogue. It's exhibit A of how quickly and simply a show like Doctor Who can fix things.

[biblioflyer]

The writer's strike and franchise fatigue: two heads of the same coin?

Context: I'm shamelessly reposting a comment on a popular webforum where someone posed the question "What's next for Star Wars?" that prompted a lot of discussion about the whats and whys of what's working, what isn't, and of course everyone's favorite hobby: performing yet another autopsy on the Sequel Trilogy. I declined to go there in favor of speculating on the production side.

Ultimately I think the future of Star Wars requires Disney to do what a lot of franchise owners have been resistant to doing for various reasons: allow their creative teams a wide latitude to fully develop their ideas without unnecessarily harsh deadlines tied to quarterly earnings reports. Now that isn't to say that projects can fail on their own merits.

I don't know for a fact that Book of Boba Fett was timid, awkward, and boring because the showrunners couldn't make a cut that worked with the time and resources allotted, but we were mostly all impressed with Rodrigues' work on Mando so we were cautiously optimistic that a Cool Gangster Drama with Boba Fett could be a thing. So what the hell happened? Solve that mystery and I think you ensure that Star Wars has a future.

Looking at another popular "Star" franchise, we see a lot of similar problems with uneven writing and what seems to be differing opinions both inside and outside the franchise as to what exactly it means for something to carry that name. What sort of stories can you tell? How do you tell them? Can you have a point of view character or does it always have to be ensemble? Can you deconstruct the setting only to reconstruct and reaffirm it in the finale without losing the fans?

What explains "bad" writing? Coercion by the studio? Writer inexperience? Showrunner inexperience? A failure to find the right balance between modernizing the storytelling of a franchise without it becoming illegible as part of that franchise or to cling so hard to fan service that it is afraid to experiment and becomes a less interesting and murkier Xerox of itself?

Something that I found fascinating in the discourse around the writer's strike is that the format of streaming TV with its short seasons has turned everyone involved in these productions into gig workers. Unless you're one of a half dozen showrunners who have helmed widely acclaimed franchises, modern tv has become severely siloed on the production side: writers have limited opportunities to learn directing, editing, and show running. They also have limited opportunities to see how their work translates to the screen when it lands in the hands of directors, actors, set decorators, and FX artists.

If you add up all of the live action Star Trek shows produced to date, you end up with 8 seasons of streaming that equal roughly 4 seasons of broadcast era TV. Which means that under the old paradigm, a traditional TV show would only now just be airing its second "good" season. Which, shockingly enough, maps very neatly to attitudes about Strange New Worlds and Picard Season 3, and to a lesser extent Discovery season 4.*

*To the extent it will ever be allowed to make a second impression, which is another seeming "problem" of the streaming era that needs addressing since any "failed" first season is very likely to result in a sub-franchise that is going to get cauterized and forgotten about given the era of a permissive financial environment for funding additional seasons and permitting a production to recover and learn from their mistakes is pretty much dead and gone.

Were I Disney, given these realities, I would probably fund 2 or 3 "stables" of Star Wars writers and production teams. One for light hearted action comedy, one for "serious drama," and a third for something more esoteric. Maybe a fourth for big budget tentpole films. Keep them employed and give them opportunities to develop their tradecraft.

Don't be so quick to slash and burn a dud, use failure as permission to experiment. If nobody cares about Book of Boba Fett anyway, why not take some risks and see if some writers who are claiming they can turn in a second season that can "fix" the first season by turning the stories that go nowhere or are halfhearted into the first chapters in more meaningful stories? People already tend to avoid series that have only one season anyway and become ever more likely to do so the more time passes without more seasons so you're just throwing away your investment by not trying to salvage it.

This is incidentally why I'm not antagonistic towards the prospect of trying to rehabilitate the Sequel Trilogy. The Prequels are poorly made but were rich in potential. That potential was not left on the table, it was exploited until we can no longer separate the Prequels as they originally stood from all of the tie in media that added depth and nuance to the setting and storybeats.

So were I Disney and I have all of these props and set pieces in storage doing me absolutely no good, then of course it will eventually be time to try to make the Sequel Trilogy good. Maybe do some Director's Cuts and then build out the universe to make it feel less claustrophobic and less overtly a bigger, louder, dumber rehash of the Original Trilogy.

[allmyevilplans]

"Star Trek: Discovery" is over. What did it mean?

Today, the first of the 'New Trek' series ended.

ST:D premiered in September 2017 - shortly after Trump, not that far before COVID - as the first Trek television in 12 years. It was, more-or-less, a 'reboot' - but not in the sense of retreading familiar ground with a new perspective.

Rather, ST:D was an effort to 'modernize' the Star Trek television serial for the streaming era. It did it by - in first season, at least - being Star Trek in name only. Action forward, focused on 1 or 2 characters entirely and eschewing both the ensemble format and parable/morality tale roots of basically every show before it, ST:D was both trapped in broader continuity by being set in the in-universe timeline between existing properties and breaking the same continuity by introducing new characters and technologies that had never been mentioned before. It was trying to have its cake and eat it, too.

The end effect is Star Trek trying to be Star Wars in scope and not succeeding. They were criticized for it, too. From the second season forward ST:D feels a lot more like Star Trek, but the course corrections (more focus on characters other than Michael Burnham, updates to Klingon makeup, blatant reference to Starfleet as a family and the wonder of exploration and camaraderie) feel heavy handed to say the least.

Seasons 3-5 are fascinating because they explore a show that was hauled off the rails by the objections of its viewer base. ST:D never quite manages to break free of being the Michael Burnham show - but it *feels* like Star Trek in a way the first couple seasons simply don't, even if it feels way too overt about it. Flinging itself into the far future - dealing with 2024's scientific speculations and extrapolations (programmable matter, etc.) truly broke new ground with Star Trek as a property and pushed itself further forward from where the series timeline officially ended (and the technological forecasting stagnated) - the nearly unbearable 'Star Trek: Nemesis' movie.

It's important to remember that ST:D predates 'The Mandalorian,' 'The Orville' (which is really quite good in seasons 2 and 3), all the Star Wars shows, Amazon Prime picking up 'The Expanse' - in fact it predates every prestige sci-fi show made for streaming platforms. It made the idea of sci-fi television a *thing* again.

ST:D was often bad, starting far too grim and bloody minded and ending up a bit too fluffy and cheesy. It was sometimes also extremely good - often in spite of its ambition. It was Trek trying not to be Trek but quickly finding out that Trek is so cherished and praised because it *is* utopian, it *is* about people, and that it can't be divorced from its morality tale roots. ST:D feels like it was often flailing because it probably was: the inherent series premise simply didn't work with the property is was in, so it had to change what it was about very, very quickly, and pulling a handbrake that way leaves you in a spin.

I think Discovery is most meaningful because it made all those other properties possible. I don't think, in isolation, that it stands all that tall on its own - I, for one, didn't watch it until Strange New Worlds was coming out and I wanted background on the new series.

Important, but not great.

[california-slow-take]

“I would speculate that he saw it as a city that symbolized the kind of tensions and optimistic future that he wanted to depict in ‘Star Trek,’” Bernardi says. “... Different people — different aliens, in other words — coming together, struggling together, on a ship, i.e., San Francisco.”

Over the decades, “Star Trek” has returned to and expanded upon its version of San Francisco. Helmsman Hikaru Sulu, played by George Takei, was born in the city. The original starship Enterprise was canonically built at the Mare Island shipyard. In 2161, the Charter of the United Federation of Planets was signed in San Francisco, just as the Charter of the United Nations was signed here in 1945, another San Francisco fact that may have endeared Roddenberry to the city. 

The Golden Gate Bridge has been destroyed and rebuilt in the series. When the crew of the Discovery visits 32nd century Earth, it makes a point of visiting Starfleet Academy in what looks like the Marin Headlands to hug a tree. And, in what I would argue is the absolute best “Star Trek” movie, the cast of the original series lands a Klingon ship in Golden Gate Park and spends 122 minutes gallivanting around 1980s San Francisco in order to bring a pair of whales to the future. (Though you, like me, might scream at the screen when Kirk and Spock walk through a “Sausalito” that is clearly the Presidio as they discuss how they’re going to get back to San Francisco.)

[talesbythirupathi]

The 10 Greatest Mysteries on Earth That Defy Explanation

"Mysteries on Earth that remain unsolved" refer to strange or unexplained events, phenomena, or discoveries that scientists, historians, and researchers have not been able to fully understand or explain. These mysteries may involve paranormal activities, lost civilizations, bizarre disappearances, unidentified objects, or natural phenomena with unknown causes.”

The Bermuda Triangle: A Mysterious Region

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is a mysterious area in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly forming a triangle between Miami (Florida), Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It has become infamous for the unexplained disappearances of ships and airplanes, with no wreckage or distress signals often found. Despite many theories, the true cause of these vanishings remains unknown.

Famous Disappearances

Some of the most well-known cases include:

USS Cyclops (1918) – A U.S. Navy ship with 300 crew members disappeared without a trace.

Flight 19 (1945) – Five U.S. Navy bombers on a training mission vanished, along with a rescue plane sent to find them.

Star Tiger and Star Ariel (1948, 1949) – Two British aircraft disappeared while flying over the Bermuda Triangle.

SS Marine Sulphur Queen (1963) – A tanker ship with 39 crew members was lost, with only small debris found.

These incidents, along with many others, have fueled speculation about what could be causing such mysterious disappearances.

Possible Explanations

Magnetic Anomalies – Some believe the region affects compasses and navigation systems, leading to disorientation.

Rogue Waves – Massive waves, over 100 feet high, could easily sink ships and damage aircraft.

Methane Gas Eruptions – Underwater gas bubbles may reduce water density, causing ships to sink rapidly.

Extreme Weather – Sudden storms and hurricanes may explain many accidents.

Extraterrestrial Theories – Some believe UFOs, time warps, or even the lost city of Atlantis are involved.

The Voynich Manuscript: A Mysterious Book

The Voynich Manuscript is a 600-year-old book, written in an unknown language, filled with bizarre illustrations of unidentified plants, strange symbols, and astronomical diagrams. Discovered in 1912 by rare book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, it is considered one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in linguistics and cryptography.

The Mystery of the Text

The manuscript, believed to date back to the 15th century, contains around 240 pages of strange symbols and an undeciphered script that does not match any known language. Despite efforts by linguists, cryptographers, and AI researchers, its meaning remains unknown. Some believe it is written in a lost language, a coded cipher, or even a meaningless hoax.

Strange Illustrations

The manuscript features mysterious drawings, including:

Unidentified Plants – No known species match these botanical illustrations.

Astronomical Symbols – Complex star maps and zodiac-like diagrams.

Human Figures – Strange women bathing in interconnected tubes, possibly representing alchemy or biology..

Possible Explanations

A Lost Language – Some experts believe it is written in an extinct or unknown script.

A Complex Cipher – Others think it is an advanced code, yet to be cracked.

A Hoax – Some suggest it is a meaningless medieval prank.

Alien or Supernatural Origins – A few theorists even claim it has extraterrestrial connections.

The Dyatlov Pass Incident: A Chilling Mystery

The Dyatlov Pass Incident remains one of the most bizarre and unexplained tragedies in modern history. In 1959, nine experienced hikers from the Ural Polytechnic Institute embarked on a trek in the Ural Mountains of Soviet Russia. Days later, all were found dead under mysterious circumstances, with injuries that defied logical explanation.

The Discovery of the Bodies

Rescue teams found the hikers’ tent torn from the inside, as if they had fled in panic. Their bodies were discovered scattered across the snowy landscape, some in only socks and underwear, despite freezing temperatures. The most disturbing findings included:

Severe Internal Injuries – Some victims had broken ribs and skull fractures, similar to a car crash impact, but with no external wounds.

Missing Eyes and Tongues – Two hikers were found with missing eyes, and one had no tongue, raising suspicions of an attack.

Signs of Radiation – Traces of radiation were found on their clothing.

Possible Explanations

Avalanche Theory – A small snow slide may have forced them to flee, leading to fatal injuries.

Katabatic Winds – Powerful, invisible winds could have disoriented the hikers.

Military Tests – Some believe they stumbled upon secret Soviet experiments, exposing them to radiation.

Paranormal Theories – Some suggest UFOs, Yeti attacks, or even supernatural forces.

The Wow! Signal: A Cosmic Mystery

The Wow! Signal is one of the most intriguing space mysteries ever recorded. On August 15, 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman detected a strong radio signal while scanning deep space using the Big Ear Radio Telescope at Ohio State University. The signal, which lasted 72 seconds, was so unusual that Ehman circled it on the printout and wrote "Wow!", giving it its famous name.

What Made It Special?

The Wow! Signal stood out because:

It came from deep space, near the constellation Sagittarius.

It was 30 times stronger than normal background noise.

It lasted 72 seconds, the exact time the telescope could listen to a fixed point before the Earth’s rotation moved it away.

It has never been detected again, despite multiple follow-up searches.

Theories Behind the Signal

Scientists have proposed several explanations, but none have been confirmed:

Extraterrestrial Origin – Some believe it was a signal from an advanced alien civilization trying to communicate.

Natural Cosmic Phenomenon – It could have been from a pulsar, quasar, or another unknown space event.

Earth-Based Interference – A radio transmission from a satellite or a secret military source might have caused it.

Comet Theory – Some suggest it was a signal reflected from a passing comet, though this remains debated.

Jack the Ripper’s Identity: A Chilling Mystery

In 1888, a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper terrorized the Whitechapel district of London, brutally murdering at least five women. His victims were often found mutilated, with their throats slashed and internal organs removed. Despite extensive investigations, the killer’s identity remains one of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

The Victims and Killings

The confirmed victims, known as the "Canonical Five," were:

Mary Ann Nichols (August 31, 1888) and Annie Chapman (September 8, 1888)

Elizabeth Stride (September 30, 1888) and Catherine Eddowes (September 30, 1888)

Mary Jane Kelly (November 9, 1888)

Possible Suspects

Over the years, many theories have emerged about Jack the Ripper’s true identity. Some notable suspects include:

Montague John Druitt – A mentally unstable lawyer who disappeared after the murders.

Aaron Kosminski – A Polish barber suspected due to recent DNA analysis of a blood-stained shawl.

Dr. Thomas Cream – A doctor convicted of poisoning women, though he was imprisoned during the murders.

Prince Albert Victor – A theory suggests a royal cover-up, though it lacks evidence.

Why Was He Never Caught?

Victorian-era forensic science was limited, and the police lacked modern investigation techniques like fingerprinting or DNA analysis. The killer’s sudden disappearance also deepened the mystery.

Despite countless theories, Jack the Ripper’s identity remains unknown, making him one of history’s most notorious and elusive criminals.

The Taos Hum: An Unexplained Sound

The Taos Hum is a mysterious, low-frequency humming noise reported by residents of Taos, New Mexico. First documented in the 1990s, this strange sound has puzzled scientists and researchers because only some people can hear it, while others perceive complete silence.

Characteristics of the Hum

Described as a low, distant droning noise, similar to a diesel engine idling.

Heard indoors more than outdoors. Most commonly reported at night.Only 2% of Taos residents claim to hear it.

Scientific Investigations

Numerous studies have tried to determine the source of the Taos Hum, but none have reached a definitive conclusion. Theories include:

Industrial or Electromagnetic Signals – Some believe the sound could be caused by power lines, radio waves, or underground gas pipelines.

Tinnitus – A medical condition that causes ringing in the ears, but this theory is unlikely since multiple people report hearing the same sound.

Geological Activity – Subterranean vibrations, shifting tectonic plates, or underground water flow could produce the hum.

Psychological Phenomenon – Some scientists suggest it might be a case of mass hysteria or heightened auditory sensitivity.

The Sailing Stones of Death Valley: A Natural Mystery

In Death Valley, California, large rocks mysteriously move across the desert floor, leaving behind long, visible trails in the Racetrack Playa, a dry lakebed. Weighing up to 700 pounds (318 kg), these "sailing stones" shift without human or animal interference, and no one has ever directly witnessed their movement.

Observations and Theories

For over a century, scientists and visitors have puzzled over this phenomenon. Early theories suggested strong winds, magnetic forces, or supernatural explanations, but modern research provides a more scientific perspective.

Wind Theory – Some believed powerful desert winds pushed the rocks, but their weight made this unlikely.

Ice Floe Theory – In 2014, researchers caught the stones moving on camera. They discovered that thin ice sheets form around the rocks on rare wet nights. As the ice melts under the sun, gentle winds push the floating ice, slowly dragging the rocks along the muddy surface.

Water and Mud Lubrication – Rainfall creates a slick surface, reducing friction, allowing wind or gravity to move the stones.

The First Recorded Movement

In 2014, researchers with time-lapse cameras finally witnessed the stones moving. Under the right conditions, thin ice sheets break apart and push the rocks at speeds of 2–5 meters per minute.

Though no supernatural forces are at play, the Sailing Stones remain a rare and fascinating natural event, proving how unique weather conditions can create seemingly impossible movements in the hottest place on Earth.

The Lost City of Atlantis: Myth or Reality?

The Lost City of Atlantis is one of history’s greatest mysteries. First mentioned by the Greek philosopher Plato in 360 BCE, Atlantis was described as a powerful and advanced civilization that mysteriously disappeared beneath the ocean thousands of years ago. Despite numerous theories and searches, its existence remains unproven.

Plato’s Description

Plato wrote about Atlantis in his dialogues “Timaeus” and “Critias.” He described it as:

A highly advanced society with great wealth, technology, and military power. Located beyond the “Pillars of Hercules” (believed to be the modern-day Strait of Gibraltar).A vast island nation that sank in a single day and night due to a great catastrophe, possibly an earthquake or tsunami.

Theories About Atlantis

Over the centuries, many theories have emerged regarding Atlantis’s possible location and fate:

Santorini, Greece – Some believe Atlantis was inspired by the Minoan civilization, which was devastated by a massive volcanic eruption around 1600 BCE.

The Bahamas / Bimini Road – Underwater rock formations near the Bahamas resemble ancient roads, leading some to link them to Atlantis.

Antarctica Theory – Some speculate that Atlantis could be buried beneath the ice of Antarctica due to shifting continents.

Pure Myth – Many scholars argue Atlantis was a fictional story meant to serve as a moral lesson about the dangers of greed and arrogance.

The Kryptos Sculpture Mystery: A CIA Enigma

The Kryptos sculpture, located outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is one of the world's greatest unsolved cryptographic puzzles. Created by artist Jim Sanborn in 1990, it contains four encrypted messages. While cryptographers and intelligence experts have solved three of them, the fourth remains a mystery to this day.

The Structure and Its Codes

The sculpture consists of a curved copper sheet, covered in 1,800 characters arranged in an encrypted text. Sanborn collaborated with a former CIA cryptographer, Ed Scheidt, to design the ciphers, which incorporate techniques like transposition and substitution ciphers.

The First Three Solved Messages

Message 1 – A passage describing hidden information buried somewhere.

Message 2 – A reference to magnetic fields and their role in encryption.

Message 3 – A quote from Howard Carter, the discoverer of King Tut’s tomb, describing the moment of discovery.

The Unsolved Fourth Message

The final 97-character segment of Kryptos remains unsolved, despite attempts by world-class cryptographers, including those at the CIA and NSA. In 2010 and 2014, Sanborn released two hints, revealing that the words "BERLIN" and "CLOCK" are part of the final solution, possibly referencing the famous Berlin Clock (Set Theory Clock).

Why It Remains Unsolved

Highly complex encryption may involve multiple layers of ciphers.

Misleading elements could be designed to confuse solvers.

Unknown key needed for decryption remains undiscovered.

The Zodiac Killer’s Final Cipher: An Unsolved Mystery

The Zodiac Killer was a notorious serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He is linked to at least five confirmed murders, though he claimed to have killed 37 people. What makes him unique is his habit of taunting the police and media with coded letters and cryptic ciphers, some of which remain unsolved.

The Zodiac’s Ciphers

The Zodiac Killer sent four ciphers (known as Z408, Z340, Z32, and Z13) in letters to newspapers, daring the public to crack them:

Z408 (Solved in 1969) – This was the first cipher, solved by a schoolteacher and his wife. It contained a disturbing message about hunting humans for pleasure but gave no clues to his identity.

Z340 (Solved in 2020) – A team of cryptographers cracked this 51-year-old cipher, revealing a message mocking the police and claiming he was not afraid of capture.

Z32 (Still Unsolved) – This 32-character cipher is believed to contain clues about a bomb he threatened to plant, but its meaning remains unknown.

Z13 (Still Unsolved) – This is the so-called “My Name Is” cipher, which could contain the Zodiac's real name, but has never been cracked.

Despite scientific advancements, many mysteries on Earth remain unexplained. The Bermuda Triangle, the Wow! Signal, and the Dyatlov Pass Incident continue to baffle experts. Ancient enigmas like the Voynich Manuscript and the Lost City of Atlantis fuel speculation, while modern puzzles like the Zodiac Killer’s cipher and the Taos Hum remain unresolved. These mysteries challenge our understanding of history, science, and even the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. While researchers strive for answers, some of these phenomena may never be fully explained, reminding us of the vast unknowns still waiting to be discovered in our world and beyond.

[aut2imagineart]

Years ago I had a major fascination with Ufology and alien abductions resulting in numerous art pieces. Many were depictions of alien species recognized by a research organization that I often communicated with called I.C.A.R. (International Community for Alien Research). Though I have largely lost interest in those topics, I wanted to see how my depictions of these aliens would look with my current art skills. So here's a wheel of Ufology aliens recognized by I.C.A.R.. I'll try to summarize what was told to me about each of them based on memory.

Greys (top center): The most involved in abductions, the Greys seem to act as enforcers that keep other species in check while being subservient only to the Light Beings. They also appear to have a caste system based on height and finger count. I made a personal speculation that the Greys are actually components of the real aliens, that being the flying saucer UFOs themselves much like organelles to a Portuguese Man-o-war.

Reptilians (middle left): Often depicted as evil in popular media, the Reptilians are actually found to be the most similar to us behaviorally, having a agrarian society with some meritocracy based on age/experience. Biologically the are also more like warmblooded amphibians with some mammalian characteristics than reptiles though Alphas of the species do posses head spikes and long tails along with relatively larger size. Their preferred spacecraft is best describe as a flying saucer that has been stretched out.

Nordic/Yuumans (Middle right): From the front they look similar to the nordic aliens you may hear of in popular media. Up close and at different angles they have very distinguishing characteristics such as elongated heads (think certain Egyptian art and even xenomorphs), six digit hands, proportionally large eyes with multi-pointed star shaped pupils, and (most interestingly to me) legs ending in hooves (think Saru from Star Trek: Discovery). Behaviorally, they depart greatly from popular media being more aggressive and arrogant. They also have a long lasting grudge against the Reptilians though the reasons for it are uncertain. They are most associated with the large triangular UFOs.

Tall Whites (bottom left): First described by Charles Halls, I.C.A.R. had several more witnesses approach them over the years describing this species. Seemingly the least advanced species visiting Earth, the Tall Whites are not involved in abductions at all and are limited to a colony/base outside of Los Vegas. They are significantly taller than humans (particularly during the second half of their 800 year lifespan), have paper white skin, less hair than humans though longer in females, large eyes with pink iris that wrap around the head, fingers with an extra joint, singular grinding plates instead of teeth, and legs that bend in a similar fashion to the aliens from the 1996 film The Arrival. Behaviorally they have a strong familial bonds and though normally nonaggressive they will swiftly react if threatened in ant way. There wasn't much described about their own spacecraft with the only one I can recall being described to me was something like a teardrop shaped drop-ship.

Browns (bottom right): The mysterious of the Ufology aliens, the browns are described as roughly 5ft in height with incredibly wrinkled brown skin with repeating groves on their heads along with some wispy white hair. The best comparison is the crypt keeper but with more meat on the body. Their hands are unique in that the fingers end in hoof-like structures and their thumbs can bend differently. Though not directly involved in abductions themselves, they are brought along as a clean-up crew for any that go horribly wrong as they seem to use dead bodies as a resource (something that seems unsettling even to other aliens). Though no spacecraft of theirs has been described, what may be their homeward has being described as a desert-like landscaped under a reddish sky with Tatooine-like huts dotting them with vats of blood.

Light Beings (center): The most ancient and advanced aliens recognized by i.C.A.R., they apparently hail from a neighboring galaxy (most likely Andromeda) and have become leaders to the other aliens utilizing the Greys (the oldest species native to this galaxy) to act on their behalf. Seemingly made of energy, the Light Beings have no consistent form though they can take on a vaguely humanoid appearance. They also have no need for spacecraft, being able to travel through space freely.

Don't expect more of this for as previously mentioned I've lost interested in Ufology and alien abductions as a whole. I will say that for me I.C.A.R. made these aliens more believable with their own unique biologies and cultures.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

[darylelockhart]

One of the things that I love about 'visions of tomorrow' in science fiction is the speculation of fashion design. The wild ideas designers have about what people will be wearing in the future is, to coin a phrase...fascinating.

I learned via social media that I'm in the minority in loving Gersha Phillips' work on Star Trek: Discovery, but I really love her 'mirror universe' looks. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I saw plenty of wild sci-fi looks. Lots of weird fabric choices. Women essentially froze to death - they wore nothing. And leather. What was with the leather? Star Wars fashion choices stand out to me because they were really very practical choices, except for Leia. I dig that she was supposed to be this royal figure and just walked around in Servalan mode all day, but she was also a rough and tumble explorer, and I don't think her costumes showed this accurately until the sequels. Also, these were stories from 'a long time ago', so I was never really inspired to check Star Wars' design for anything but the retrotech.

Anyway, I think the first time I really noticed what Star Trek was doing was during TNG. I grew up on TOS, but there were so many ideas to process that I never got into the clothes until the movies came out. TMP and Wrath of Khan were fantastic, and that sent me back to the TOS episodes to try and catch some of the inspiration. But nothing hit me like TNG, especially the off duty clothing. This is mostly because I was in high school, and, well, it was the High School of Art & Design, so I was kind of a fashion nerd. (more about that someday. My mom actually graduated from Fashion Industries High School and I went to Fashion Institute of Technology before NYU. Fashion design was a pretty big part of my young life.)

One person I've always wanted to meet and talk over coffee with is William Ware Theiss. The attached article is pretty much what Imagine the notes from that chat would look like.

[xprojectrpg]

This Day in X-Project - May 10

Matt Murdock, Monica Rambeau, & Vanessa Carlysle's birthday

2015: Tabitha posts about wanting to learn how to drive. Cecilia texts Wade about meeting Alison and Illyana. Clint texts Matt about a birthday dinner. Clint's looking for scrap metal. He finds Molly instead and they find they have some unusual things in common. Miles posts on Mother's Day about his mother being the best. Felicia posts about meeting Warren for dinner.

2016: Clint texts Natasha a picture. Endangered Species: Various press releases are made about OsCorp’s newest drug getting FDA approval; Tweets are made reacting to the new OsCorp drug; Cecilia makes a journal entry speculating about the creation of the new OsCorp drug.

2017: Marie-Ange posts about the Eurovision Song Festival Party.

2018: Clint posts to retract the uniforms thing, but does offer to trick things out for people. Generation X: Demon Bear: Clea’s and Stephen’s history professor shows them his new artifacts. Darcy posts a disturbing commercial.

2019: Fear in the Dark: A news report goes up about three people going missing in 72 hours; Lorna emails XFI about the missing people and pulling overtime. Clint posts about team building with eXcalibur.

2020: Gabriel texts Felicia about brunch. Tandy texts Marie-Ange about an interesting looking man on the subway. Doug texts Tandy concerning a sudden outburst of swearing from Marie-Ange.

2021: Maya posts an image meme from Star Trek: Discovery about the type of characters each crew member was; much discussion is had, and a more accessible version made for Matt.

2022: Matt announces that for his birthday, he's bought a motorcycle "for" his brother. Clint texts Wanda to ask if she's in the US. After seeing her post, Clint leaves April a package to get through finals and celebrate afterwards.

2023: Darcy posts from Harry’s, where she is watching the Stanley Cup playoffs with Maple Leafs fan Garrison.

[leohtttbriar]

the pivot from having discovery set in the TOS time period, including the nostalgic plot surrounding a nostalgic character like spock, to being set in the far far future, beyond the periods of any other star trek series, is such a cool move. you get these moments where michael and the others are turned into somewhat legendary figures, you get ruins and keepers of old that the characters get to stumble upon, you get the sudden split between 'childhood' and 'maturity' and the innocence of the first rearing up to protect the latter, you get the implied conceits about 'what of an institution, if anything, is worth preserving' and 'how can institutions preserve an idea anyway'-- all combined into the poetics of myth. forward-looking sci-fi that is yet about history. futurism in setting, but not quite in story, but also still speculative.