#star trek tng scenarios

[spockvarietyhour]

Star Trek The Next Generation "Contagion" & Star Trek Picard "No Win Scenario" requested by @frontier001

[bumblingbabooshka]

What I Say: I'm fine. What I Mean: There was a Star Trek Novel in which Tuvok and Jack Crusher (Beverely's Husband) have to go undercover in a bathhouse that they think is a brothel to get information out of a potential lead and because of a series of hijinks at one point must come to terms with the fact that they're definitely going to have to go into the boss's private room completely naked and might have to go even further than that to get the info they truly need. They were ready to go all in on that "I'm not gay but a mission's a mission" life.

Transcripts under the cut

[Image 1:

“We’re here to meet someone,” he said. “I was told that a Melacron named Pudris Barrh enjoyed visiting this establishment.” The alien smiled. “Oh, I see…you’re one of Barrh’s boys,” she remarked with a knowing lilt. Barrh’s boys? Crusher asked himself. What did she mean by that? He experienced a moment of alarm but kept his composure.

“If you can get past Old Scowly there,” the female continued, “you can join Barrh at his pleasures if you like." She raised a long slender arm and pointed to a gilded door to her right.] [Image 2:

“I don’t know for certain what kind of establishment this is,” said the commander, “but I can make a pretty good guess.”

“Unfortunately,” the Vulcan whispered back with sincere and undisguised revulsion, “so can I.”

"Still, we may have to go along with it.” Crusher regarded Tuvok. “Would that…pose a problem?”  “Naturally,” the Vulcan replied.

The commander grunted. “I was afraid you would say that.”

“And knowing what I do of human marriage customs,” said Tuvok, “I would imagine it would pose a problem for you as well.”

Crusher looked lost “Maybe we could just play along for some of it…for the sake of-”

“My master will see you now,” said Old Scowly. He had reappeared before the Vulcan knew it. “You may enter through the changing room, remove your clothes, and join Pudris Barrh at his pleasures.”] [Image 3:

As it happened, Tuvok wasn’t happy either. If he didn’t know better, he would have said that the uncomfortable sensation in the pit of his stomach was apprehension. Of course, that was impossible. His control over his emotions was impeccable. And yet the sensation remained.

“There must be another way,” said Crusher. “There is no other way,” the Vulcan told him. “This is the situation in which your plan has placed us.” He knew his words sounded biting, but he didn’t wish any of them back.

The human ran his hands through his thick, dark hair. “Damn it,” he said, “If Beverely ever…” “Find out about this?” the ensign suggested.

Frowning, Crusher nodded. “But as you say, there’s no other option open to us. I guess we’ll just deal with whatever comes as best we can.” He grunted. “The things we do for king and country.”] [Image 4:

When the air cleared for a moment - a byproduct of their entrance - the Vulcan was able to get a better look at their host. He was rather corpulent for a Melacron, it seemed, and more pale-looking than most.

As thick, sludgy ripples made their slow way outward from Barrh’s generous torso, he waved to Tuvok and Crusher. “Please, gentlemen, join me. We’ve not met yet, but there are few better places to get to know someone than in The House of Comfort!”

[Crusher] and Tuvok exchanged a quick glance. Taking a deep breath, the human walked up to the carpeted stairs and placed first one foot, then the other, into the hot, liquid muck.

The ensign had little choice but to follow suit. He assured himself, as he sank up to his chest in the thick, surprisingly pleasant-smelling stuff, that there was realy no logical reason T’Pel ever had to become acquainted with this misadventure.

Besides, he reflected, there was quite a good chance that the majority of his and Crusher’s actions would be classified. He had to confess that he found some comfort in the prospect.]

Bonus:

Tuvok and Crusher apparently both go home and tell their wives about this experience. I don't know if we learn of T'Pel's reaction but Beverely apparently thinks its hilarious!

[noodlecontinuum]

what would you do if your boss spent 6+ hours alone in a shuttlecraft with an immortal entity and you assumed his life was in danger that whole time but then you guys all meet up at the bar and he looks totally fine and he says this to said immortal entity?

but also,

what would you do if your close friend whom you love came in to your bar with an immortal asshole that you hate, and you say how much he sucks, and then he insults you, and calls you "this creature", and then you almost have a wizard fight with him right there in your bar, and THEN your good friend immediately says this to said immortal asshole?

[div-divington]

screaming

[stellarred]

One thing in TNG that disappointed me was that for all the attempts to seduce and pursue Picard, Q really left a lot of openings for another person to come in and have a romance with Picard.

For as in love with Picard as he was, Q, in my opinion, did not work hard enough to safeguard his love interest from becoming someone else's.

Why did Q let Beverly have so many early morning teas together? Why was there a Neela Daren, an Anji, anyway?

Q could've "lost" Picard almost at any given time in TNG.

I think Q should've tried harder, frankly. You fall in love with a person, you gotta secure your territory if you're serious about them, right? Enough to give the relationship a chance. I'm not suggesting being possessive here, but if your love interest is extremely attractive and already being sought after, there are ample opportunities for this person's head to be turned by someone else.

Picard and Q were, for lack of a better word, "foes"--more so from Picard's perspective, but Q has the **advantage of being omnipotent **.

Use what you've got, Q! Work those powers! Are you going to let Beverly keep having these cozy, little tea breakfasts together?! What is wrong with you?

Scenario that should've been:

Picard meets Beverly for early morning tea several times. It's pleasant and relaxing.

But, it's Q in disguise.

Beverly is actually snoozing like a baby away in her quarters, courtesy of Q. She will wake up, get ready for her shift, and thanks to Q, she "remembers " having tea with Jean-Luc that morning. And Q of course, has made sure that her stomach is full from consuming tea and croissants.

Ah, the things Q could've and SHOULD'VE done!!!

[hard-times-paramore]

Data with the Detroit Become Human LED, scribbled on my phone by yours truly.

[proverbialschoolmarm]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[lostyesterday]

*As in, an episode where the holodeck is the primary setting and focus of the episode. I didn’t include episodes like Take me Out to the Holosuite where the holodeck isn’t central to the story. I also didn’t include It’s Only a Paper Moon, since the tone of that episode is so wildly different from a typical Holodeck episode.

[printeroo]

Star Trek TNG 3×21 – "Hollow Pursuits"

Little commentary from someone that found themselves in Barclay and cried over this episode (I can explain myself, swear).

As soon as I started this episode, I disliked how Geordi spoke of Barclay – and then how literally everyone else spoke of him. Considering he hasn't done anything wrong other than be akward (and being late to work – which is something to be criticised for but that's not the biggest issue certain members of the crew have with Barclay) it felt just plain mean to me to talk about him the way they do. Especially behind his back.

Now, I don't want it to seem like I think everyone's evil and bad for being unkind to Barclay because I understand that people like him (myself included) are difficult to work and interact with. It's okay to be frustrated with the kind of person he is, but I think they were doing too much.

Also, when I started the episode, I was immediately put off by Barclay's holodeck fantasy. Not the part where he assaults LaForge and Riker – it's very common for someone to feel hatred towards their boss, I think this is just that – but more so his interaction with fake Troi. I definitely found it creepy and figured Troi would be at least uncomfortable if she were to find out. But further on in the episode I realized that that, along with beating up his superiors, is very important to understand Barclay's character. His holodeck adventures with Troi are more than just having a crush on someone and fantasizing about getting with them. Because, despite how it might be presented, the biggest focus in these scenarios is not Troi but the concept of Barclay being confident enough to get a girl and enter conflict when he deems necessary. When he's in the holodeck, alone – despite the simulations, he doesn't stutter. He's not nervous. He can relax. This is all opposite when he's at work or with Troi (the real one) because he's interacting with real, sentient people capable of judging, hating, and bullying him. And that's what's on his mind, causing him to be the way he is.

Like Guinan said: "If I felt that nobody wanted to talk to me, I'd probably be late and nervous too." (I just wanna say how much I love Guinan for everything she said to Geordi in this episode. She's genuinely very kind, and doesn't judge Barclay for being a difficult person.)

I was going to put videos just for comparison between him in the holodeck vs him in real life, with Troi, but there's a 1-video-per-post policy. Hate that. But I'll explain – in the holodeck he's easily speaking without stuttering and his movements are smooth and look effortless (he can even make eye contact with her.) Unlike him with the real Troi, where he's struggling to form a sentence and tries really hard to look relaxed and casual. It's like a Clark Kent/Superman contrast except Barclay's not faking the akwardness.

The scene after Geordi catches Barclay in the holodeck, where they're talking in Ten-Forward, was my breaking point. Barclay talks about how he's always scared of forgetting someone's name, never knows what to with his hands which causes him to always fidget nervously, how he's so terrible at social interactions he has to practice what he would talk about at a function beforehand, but when he gets there he can't find the confidence to let one word out. And then Geordi says he's "just shy" and Barclay acts as if he's been described that way a million times and it just isn't that simple. And he tells Geordi he doesn't understand, no one around him could ever understand.

(^I just really like this piece of dialogue lol because like.... yeah man I get it)

Geordi tries (and in the end succeeds) to help Barclay be more confident. These scenes did make me cringe while watching, though. As you could guess, I'm very shy. So shy in fact that working on the Enterprise sounds like a nightmare. There's so many people and your job is so important and the consequences of messing up could be catastrophic. So, seeing Geordi bring Barclay on THE BRIDGE (aka the most important place on the ship) with THE CAPTAIN (aka the most important person on the ship) made me very nervous because I for sure wouldn't be able to handle the situation. If I were Barclay I'd be tearing up the whole time and when Picard calls me "Broccoli" I might just run to my quarters and cry so hard I throw up and scream till I pass out. I sound dramatic (and I might be) but it just really is that big of a deal for some people. But despite that, I can understand that this helps Barclay build confidence, which is exactly what he needs.

And in the end it's Barclay who saved the day. By being confident enough to voice his opinion. Something that I am very proud of him for because I still find it extremely difficult. And in the end he doesn't get a "thank you" from a superior. Geordi does, from Riker. And when Riker hears that Barclay was involved he doesn't think about thanking him as well, but it's okay. Because Geordi tells Barclay he's glad he was there to help, which is enough validation and assurance to get Barclay started. At least, it would be for me.

This is an odd episode because the main plot is that there's just this guy who's kinda weird (has social anxiety) and no one likes him. But at the same time, I really needed to watch it. For better or for worse, it felt like it was made specifically for me.

(after typing this out I found out that reg will be a recurring, and I think important, character which i am actually very glad to hear. it also means someone might care about what i have to say about him)

[fand0mina]

It made me think of Tapestry as well and how even back then it would have been a great idea to show Picard, Beverly and Jack. I think maybe him and Jack weren't really friends until they both were on the Stargazer.

Holy moly that new episode of Picard.

My highlights:

Threading the flashback of Picard talking to the cadets throughout the episode juxtaposed with present Jack saying he's happy being alone and doesn't need anything from Picard then BAM, the final kicker of seeing Jack at the bar. And that look of a broken little kid who just heard his father say he didn't care about having a family. Damn. That's why they had to get an experienced actor for the part, there's some serious baggage to heft.

Shaw. I'm liking this guy. He's still a jerk but a broken and smart jerk and I like those.

Finally a tender moment between Riker and Troi (I do desperately await the moment Deanna, Geordi, and Worf find out Beverly and Picard have a kid).

After years of some horrendous, downright silly sounding technobabble from the new shows, we finally got some that sounds believable and has logical connection (I suspect there's an Okuda behind this).

Picard actually taking command and acting like a commander.

Beverly figuring things out on her own because that's just who she is.

Picard and Jack implicitly trusting her plan immediately.

Beverly using the power of friendship to coax Riker out of his (valid) fear prison.

Cute lil space jelly fish babies.

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JACK WHY IS HE "THE ASSET" WHAT ARE HIS VISIONS AND WHY ARE THEY SO SCARY?? Consider me... as the kids say... invested.

My one small gripe was establishing that OG Jack Crusher was at the academy with Picard. It opens up a weird, undefined can of worms, timeline wise. TNG was vague with Jack's details so it's not canon breaking but now I wish the two friends in "Tapestry" had been Beverly and Jack.

[assassinbugs]

these are "who would you wanna be swapped with" not "who can you act like the most convincingly" polls!! i said pretending to be the other person SHENANIGANS, not life or death scenario! you don't need to be able to actually act like them, smh

there are "pretending to be the other person" shenanigans happening ofc

other versions: Lower Decks, SNW, Discovery, DS9, Voyager, TNG

[dorkicon]

📋 okay, I’ll take the bait. Favorite villains across all media, and why?

anon i have to be honest, i wasnt quite sure what to do with this one. i think i probably couldve added more, but this spread is already ridiculous enough as is. i also limited myself to just a few tf guys. lol.

erm...behold.

and just for the hell of it...i WILL tell you why!

TIER 1:

hal9000 (2001): canonically did nothing wrong. he was confused. technically a villain though i guess.

jason voorhees (friday the 13th. you know who jason is.): idk man hes just. hes cute to me. hes fun. you should read that texas chainsaw crossover where he makes friends with leatherface

rampage (beast wars): i am worlds number 1 crab defender. they expected him to become a monster, why was everyone so surprised when he turned out like one 🙄

TIER 2:

self explanatory if youve followed me for more than 3 seconds idk what more to add.

TIER 3:

deathsaurus (victory): sometimes it takes a man to be a failwife. idk i just really like his look. mister handsome.

TIER 4:

wesker (resident weevil): i love wesker. i have such a soft spot for villains who take their shit deathly seriously. COMPLETE. GLOBAL. SATURATION. i think i couldve put him in the bisexuality tier. lol

garthe (knight rider): david hasselhoff wore a fake moustache and goatee to play his evil twin. they just dont make tv like they used to.

cykill (gobots): megatron hardware running beast wars megatron software. why does he sound like that. also couldve gone in bisexuality tier but if i sat and explained it to you id sound insane

skeletor (he man): Skeletor.

cobra commander (gi joe): bisexuality already saved him in the gi joe animated movie idk. hes like if starscream led the cons and megatron was stuck as his sic. very funny scenario.

TIER 5:

char (gundam): watch chars counterattack if you dont know what im talking about here, i guess

magneto (xmen): hes another one whose villain status is...eeeh. but i like him. he and charles make up and kiss like every issue theyre in together. dont fact check that. just trust me.

dr doom (marvel): he carries a wallet sized picture of reed richards in the bifold he keeps in his idiot metal pants

ichijou (kaiji): well, considering how shit went for him, bisexuality couldnt have made it any worse.

TIER 6:

megatron (beast wars): i fucking love bwtron lol. particularly before the final season, where he has his little power trip. i think hes a lot of fun, and im perfectly happy not sympathizing with him. hes a bad guy n he loves it. so do i, lol.

dukat (star trek ds9): ugh dukat suuuucks. hes so smarmy and SO convinced hes in the right. so i love him hahhah. i think marc alaimo is just a wonderful actor too!

tsurumi (golden kamuy): i gotta admit, i think like...its really easy for "smart" villains to fall flat if the story isnt there to support them. luckly, golden kamuy fuckin rocks. and lt tsurumi is scary as hell lol

ash (alien): 'i cant lie to you about your chances...but you have my sympathies." ....AAAAAHHH!!! so cold. and cool. hes probably the scariest thing anyone can be...a capitalist.

AM (ihnmaims): huge fan of the voice work in the bbc audio drama honestly. such a misanthropic little freak. (big freak?)

TIER 7:

jungle hunter (predator 87): idc okay. he looked COOL. WOOHOO. what a fucking beautiful creature suit, right? and the face animatronics? good god.

Q (star trek tng): i think its funny how he fucks with picard okay. again, probably not a full villain. but its MY list.

honorable mentions:

sunder, straxus: well. i just forgot to add them until i already had the damn thing made okay

i almost added johan from monster and reinhard from lotgh but i reached my limit of blonde men already with char and wesker. ryo devilman was another casualty. edit: I ALSO COULDVE ADDED FUCKING OCELOT MGS

umm...oh, i dont know. hannibal. from hannibal.

[seriousfic]

Needs more Q

You guys probably know the ongoing wankathon going on with orcs and other 'races' in D&D, Orcs usually being bad guys (or at least proud warrior race guys) and thus being characterized as biologically, innately violent.

The thing is, Star Trek seems to be going not only in the opposite direction, but taking it to an extreme. An old episode of Strange New Worlds featured a cosmic entity turning Spock fully human, resulting in his actual personality changing to be less logical and more personable (when it should've made him more repressed, because he'd have LESS emotions to suppress). And an upcoming episode will feature multiple crew members becoming Vulcan (via hypospray injection!) and all immediately becoming logical, snide, et al.

I know these are joke episodes, but I'm kinda in a space of not loving the execution enough to turn my brain off and enjoy the joke. (I think a lot of the time they're too self-satisfied with the "can you believe it? We're doing a musical episode!" to actually do a good episode.)

Anyway, I kinda wish they'd just have Q show up and finger-snap these wild scenarios into existence, because then you wouldn't have to worry about how any of this works--it's just Q messing around.

In fact, I kinda think a lot of their writing staff was raised on wacky Q episodes and wants to do the same thing, but they've decided having Q show up pre-TNG would break canon too much, so they just try to have these wacky things happen... unmotivated by a trickster god, like they're just happening, and it's just a cognitive dissonance to me.

Like if that one TNG episode about Robin Hood couldn't use Q, so they had an excuse plot for why the whole crew would go to the holodeck in full costume and then have the holodeck malfunction and blah blah blah. It ends up being overly fiddly instead of "oh, Q made it that way."

And the really frustrating part is that if anyone isn't bound by continuity, it's Q. Just have him show up, mess around a bit, and then wipe everyone's minds so he won't ruin the 'surprise' for Picard. It'd make more sense than Spock having an adopted human sister.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Katherine Pulaski

By Ames

We may have only had Dr. Pulaski for one season of The Next Generation, but that didn’t stop her from leaving an impression. Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By are big fans of her character and also of Diana Muldaur’s performance of the cantankerous and brilliant doctor who graced the Enterprise-D’s sickbay during Dr. Crusher’s time away from the ship (more on her next week!). She even made a couple of our top characters lists from TNG!

There’s a lot of negative feelings about the McCoy knockoff in the Star Trek community, and we’ll cover some of those below, but overall we have to give credit to the good doctor for how much she grew in only the twenty episodes we had her. By the end of season two, she was viewing Data as a peer, saving lives left and right, and fighting for the rights of other species. There’s no telling how much better she’d get if she stuck around. So raise a cup of Klingon tea to the best CMO of the Enterprise (I said it!) with our highlights below and elaborated upon in this week’s podcast episode (timestamp for this one is 58:29). Fight us, haters.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Crammed full of crumpets We’ve made a running gag on the podcast about how Professor Moriarty stuffed the doctor full of crumpets in “Elementary, Dear Data” but there’s more to this episode than crude jokes and blue humor. Pulaski ran with the Holmesian scenario in the holodeck, proved to be stalwart and brave in a hostage situation, and totally rocked the period attire!

At least someone still remembers quarantine procedures While the whole thing did backfire on her, Pulaski’s actions in “Unnatural Selection” kept the rest of the crew safe. She was willing to risk her own health on her hunch that the augmented children weren’t carrying any pathogens, but let’s give her credit for taking the child and Data out in a shuttle so that, if (and when) things went wrong, things were contained.

Knives and bearskins! When the biobeds are on the fritz due to the contagion in “Contagion” and her staff is whining that the bone knitter isn’t working, Pulaski pulls some tried and true methods out of her back pocket – make a splint! It may be archaic medical technology, but it’ll do in a pinch and having that kind of medical knowledge saves the day (or saves someone’s leg at least).

Generous doses of PCS I just really love the sweet little moment during “The Icarus Factor” when Dr. Pulaski is tending to some crewmember suffering from the flu and says part of her prescription is PCS – Pulaski’s Chicken Soup. It shows how much she cares about her patients and gives the audience that warm feeling of having someone care for you when you’re home sick from school.

Jettison the emotional baggage you’re still carrying around Also I have to give my girl some props later in “The Icarus Factor” when she’s flirting with Kyle Riker right in front of Will. We find it a nice character inclusion that she and Kyle used to be down to clown, and even that she would have married him in a heartbeat, and she tells his son off in the most “oh no she didn’t!” way and then proceeds to drop like fifty mics all over Ten Forward.

Take your Prime Directive and shove it up your hatch! We on this podcast (who am I kidding; it’s mostly Chris) have a certain skepticism about the Prime Directive sometimes, and it’s usually the CMOs of their respective shows that get to question it most blatantly. Pulaski sure does in “Pen Pals” because screw the prime directive in this case! When a whole planet is on the line, Pulaski is the conscience that we all need!

Forget me, forget me not This is one that could have gone in either the Top Moments or the Worst Moments list because, face it, mind wipes are horrifying. But I’m gonna give Pulaski the win for erasing Sarjenka’s memories in “Pen Pals” because it’s impressive as hell. And she uses it to kinda-sorta stay within the Prime Directive that we just shat on. Plus she let Sarjenka keep the singing rock!

You’re still the Captain. Invincible. I’m still not certain what Chris was getting at about Pulaski’s letting Picard avoid the heart treatment he’s been neglecting out of sheer vanity in “Samaritan Snare,” but I’ll do you one better: she winds up fixing his stupid ticker for him in the end anyway! And is the grouchy little man thankful afterwards? Not even a little bit! Pulaski gets no respect, I tells ya!

Quote me a little of that poetry While you’ll see in just a moment that Pulaski’s views on Klingons were initially unkind, by “Up the Long Ladder,” she’d bonded with Worf enough that she was willing to engage in some Klingon rituals. She goes out of her way to concoct an antidote so she can take part in a poisonous tea ceremony with him, which is above and beyond (and also fuels some shipping), and she also keeps Worf’s measles a secret!

Bust him up, Data! In “Peak Performance,” it’s Pulaski who sets up the Strategema match between Data and Sirna Kolrami, and she ends up feeling really bad for goading him when he loses to that smug Zakdorn prick. So it’s that much sweeter that she’s there cheering him on when Data thinks outside the box causes the stalemate, telling him that in that way, he did indeed beat him!

Feelings of warmth and friendship What a shame that the last episode we got with this amazing character was one of the most infamously bad. But none of that is on Pulaski because she’s actually on full display in “Shades of Grey,” partly because she’s one of few characters in the non-clipshow scenes. But she (and Troi, as I brought up last week) pulled out all the stops to save Riker’s brain from certain doom.

Pull your head out of your ass! Okay, this last one’s not canon, but I just couldn’t help including this plug to go read Caitlin’s fanfic “The Pulaski Maneuver”!!! Or listen to it on the podcast back when we wrapped TNG with our episode “Tales from the Holodeck.” Pulaski finally telling Geordi everything that he’s deserved to hear might be my favorite moment, and it’s so in her character that I say it counts!

—

Worst moments

The cold hand of technology Most of Pulaski’s negative personality traits are going to circle around her treatment of Data as a piece of equipment and not an individual. In her introduction episode, “The Child,” one of her early interactions with Data is to tell him he’s not wanted in the delivery room because he lacks the human touch. Lucky for us, Troi sticks up for him and he gets to watch her whelp an alien baby.

One is my name; the other is not Shortly afterwards, still in “The Child,” we get one of the fandom’s most hated moments from Pulaski when she not only mispronounces Data’s name, but doesn’t seem to understand that doing so is rude and problematic, instead deciding to put the onus on him for being capable of offense. It’s a tough moment for fans to accept, and if that were the level of bigotry her character stayed at, I’d understand why so many Trekkies dislike the character.

I’m not accustomed to working with non-living devices More growing pains come from Pulaski in “Where Silence Has Lease,” in which she refers to Data as “it” and Picard has to gently correct her. We’re two episodes into the season at this point, and Pulaski is still finding it difficult to accept the personhood of this fan-favorite character, something viewers pretty much got on board with in episode one. At least she apologized.

The mystery of the lack of any mystery Here we are, three episodes in when we reach “Elementary, Dear Data” and we see more of Pulaski judging Data for being incapable of thinking creatively when he solves Holmesian riddles. We may have blamed Geordi for accidentally creating Moriarty when we covered his character spotlight, but it was definitely Pulaski who goaded them on in the first place.

Medical research is sometimes a risky business While we may have praised her above for not putting everyone else at risk when she released the augmented child from his wrapper in “Unnatural Selection,” Pulaski was still dead wrong about the experiment being at all safe. She still got contaminated by the fast-aging disease and was resigned to her fate until Picard and O’Brien were able to transport her back. Speaking of which…

I’m a doctor, not an original character One rather understandable complaint we can see in the Pulaski character is that she’s just Dr. McCoy in a skirt. Which may not be a bad thing, per se, but when we see her racism against the outsider character, her Bones-like irascibility, and even her specific fear of transporters in “Unnatural Selection,” we start to wonder if the writers couldn’t have been a little more original.

I’m just glad that humans have progressed beyond the need for barbaric display We get a couple glimpses that Pulaski is a little repulsed by Klingon culture throughout the show. First, in “A Matter of Honor,” she’s grossed out by Klingon cuisine and calls Klingons barbaric, and not in the way Klingons would probably like. And she also gets a little smug after watching Worf’s Age of Ascension ceremony in “The Icarus Factor,” which she seemed pretty judgey about (but hey, at least she went!).

Quit cloning around! We gave Riker some guff for this as well in his character spotlight, and there’s enough guff to go around to give to Pulaski as well for their actions in “Up the Long Ladder.” Sure, the clones were made of them without their consent, but to take matters into their own hands and murder these people without discussion is not the Starfleet way.

Never to be heard from again… Obviously the worst character moment for us is Pulaski leaving the show after just one season. Notice how most of the bad moments come from earlier and the good moments are mostly from the latter half of the season. That shows how much the character was getting better, even in the rough first couple seasons of the show (you’ve heard our coverage of Chaos on the Bridge, right?). And while many celebrate the return of Crusher, we still have to wonder what the show would be like with more Dr. Pulaski.

—

And just like that, she’s gone and so is this blogpost. Keep following along because we’ve got another doctor of the Enterprise-D to discuss next week, and it’s not Selar! We also hope you’re making the schlep through Enterprise with us as we cover the whole thing over on SoundCloud or your podcast platform of choice. Wave your medical tricorders over our Facebook and Twitter pages, and get the pronunciation right: It’s Data, not Data!

[the-heartstring-chronicles]

For Star Trek babyfic/childbirth as important moments for OTP, fans out there

This is how I see childbirth going for the main canon ships/almost canon ships in TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT series if they got their mostly ideal, but also realistic non emergency birth scenarios in canon All of these assume they are together as a couple at the time.

(I have seen these scenarios done many different ways in fics by very talented friends and other writers for decades. All of them are super realistic and valid and I love them all, please keep them coming. These are just my thoughts about how I would see it happening on screen , either for the first time or in a way the characters would have preferred instead of what we got.)

Picard/Crusher: Very private, either in their quarters, home or a walled off part of Sickbay. If they were on the Enterprise, there may or may not be another doctor involved, planet side probably just the two of them. Deanna and Will may or may not be around in early labor, depends on B’s mood, and whether it’s P/C’s first child together or not. They get less private as they have more babies. But it’s always about the two of them supporting each other first and foremost, especially with physical contact

Riker/Troi: Sickbay or Starfleet Medical every time and in an ideal scenario, it would be them with Beverly delivering and Jean Luc checking in on Will ( and Deanna if she let him) every few hours. R/T’s connection gets them through, but there is grumbling and fits of frustration in between the support.

Odo/Kira: Sickbay together with only Julian present to monitor and deliver because of complicated nature of baby’s genetic makeup. All other patients in Sickbay diverted to another makeshift facility in order to keep things peaceful and allow Bajoran birth rituals. Maybe Jadzia allowed in once to say hi and reassure Kira. Odo and Kira’s connection and humor make the situation work for them.

Jadazia/Worf: These are a party, everyone stops by Sickbay during the process, and they only happen in Sickbay, because of possible genetic issues/interspecies complications. There is lots of singing and physical exertion for pain relief.

Sisko/Yates: Quiet, intimate situations with just them and Julian. With possibly Jake saying hi at some early stage.

Janeway/Chakotay: I mostly see them as pretty private and having their births with just them and The Doctor in Sickbay or Starfleet Medical. But I have read some really compelling and realistic fics with Tom delivering and/or crew mates being support people along with Chakotay in their quarters or in sickbay so I’m torn on this one now in all aspects.

Paris/Torres: Just them and The Doctor in sickbay. B’Elanna is private and just wants Tom with her but doesn’t want him to have to monitor for the complications that could arise or have to deliver the baby himself so they let the The Doctor be involved, but she gets annoyed at him interrupting the process that she and Tom have figured out, several times.

Tripp/T’Pol: They are beyond private and careful because they don’t know if their babies will make it so each time they go through the experience, it’s quiet in Sickbay with only each other and Dr. Phlox involved. They would prefer having the experience in their quarters but can’t risk it due to medical monitoring needs. Their connection makes this fraught situation bearable each time.

[cog5]

Last Call at the South Keep

The South Keep was originally completed in May 2023, as part of #dungeon23. The combined area has now been added to the PDF, along with an accompanying set of 20 random happenings. 

This is also the first time in months that I’ve revisited editing of the mega-dungeon as a whole, rather than focusing on daily room keys. As part of that, I’m adding overlapping prompts and encounters to hook players from one major area to the next. This is a lot easier now that each room is complete and I know the bounds of the entire mega-dungeon. 

I’ve also played with the formatting a bit, added a few quality of life changes to the layout. Fixed lots of embarrassing typos, and undoubtedly added new ones that will be even more embarrassing! I have a bad habit of adding and removing nouns and adjectives that result in an “an” somewhere that should be an “a”, or vice-versa. All that to say: Edits continue. 

For areas that do not yet exist in the PDF, or pages that may shift, I’ve left placeholders, referenced as “##”. These will be filled in as new areas are added. I’m not sure if it’s more preferable to get updates monthly, or if people would rather get areas in larger batches, two or three at a time? Either way, I’m working towards having all 12 areas compiled, edited and added to the PDF by the end of the summer in 2024.

Back to the South Keep. This post will include some behind-the-scenes thoughts that will make more sense if you’ve read through the area at least once, but I’ll try to include some context regardless.

The layout of the South Keep is probably the least interesting to me, it ended up pretty boxy, the “pages” really stick out here. But the encounters ended up being some of the most bizarre and entertaining keys I’ve written, so that redeems it for me. Some of the mega-dungeon’s narrative gets fleshed out here, too. There’s a lot going on. 

This segment of the adventure is a bit of a refuge for adventurers, a place to take a breather. Not to say the South Keep is a cakewalk, but my focus was to lean into weird encounters, rather than fatal combat scenarios. As a matter of pacing, the Gatehouse and Factory that surround the South Keep are much more dangerous, and it’s likely players have just passed through one of those areas to get here. 

From the south entrance, the narrative builds on how The King has been dethroned. In the entry hall, there is a statue of the monarch with their head missing. This continues the theme presented earlier in the Gatehouse garden, where it’s shown that members of the royal court had turned on The King.

From the west entrance, things are a little more random. There’s a “disturbed” spot on the floor. At the very least, it shows how the keep is decaying, where a sinkhole might appear. This place is old. Another more interesting option establishes the presence of a Clerical Beast who roams the South Keep. This creature was inspired by the administrative offices, found further in, and may show up as a random happening. This area may also be the first sighting of Nanomachines, which play a larger role later in the mega-dungeon. 

The concept of the players spending a lifetime as a nano-proxy was a riff on the old Star Trek TNG episode “The Inner Light”, where Picard is rendered unconscious for a few minutes, but experiences an entire lifetime on an alien world. Or maybe that “Hard Time” episode of Deep Space Nine, where O’Brian is falsely convicted for a crime, and as punishment he is implanted with memories of being imprisoned for several years. Some kind of mash-up along those lines. I resisted adding a flute or a sympathetic doctor.

The major factions in this area are the Office Automatons and the staff and patrons of Dillo’s Bar. There’s a chance that neither of these groups ever interact, but I’ve set up a lot of dominoes here. Add the players to the mix and something is going to topple. 

The Office Automatons as non-player characters don’t garner a lot of sympathy, but do flesh out the administrative nature of mega-dungeon. I think it’s more likely that players will gravitate to Dillo’s side of the keep where they can take on quests to delve deeper into the dungeon.

The ultimate showdown between the Office Automatons and Dillo’s Bar is if the second “Order of Business” event is triggered. This is where The Spire’s Administration has decided to send in guards to shut down Dillo’s by force, creating a standoff for the players to get wrapped up in.

An aside: Speaking of random things, I don’t know why nested random tables appeal to me so much, but I love writing them. Burying elaborate events behind improbable chance just feels good. A 1-in-100 chance of a good time makes it a great time. It’s probably near the same part of the brain where rolling a crit lives.

And then there’s the theater. The main stage area sets up more of the narrative for the dungeon itself. Establishing the undead Queen who will show up later in the Monastery, establishing how the Tetric Necromancer thinks highly of himself, as the rightful ruler of The Spire. More King bashing. Elements of propaganda through technology, etc. That all fits fine. 

What didn’t fit in the theater was the addition of Guilfoyle’s Ghost. But I ain’t mad. I sort of fell in love with the concept as I was writing it, a thespian ghost whose play is slowly eating the real world. Then I ran out of space to really do it justice (trying to keep each area contained on one page). I hope it’s a concept that a game group can take and expand on. It’s a bad situation that’s easy to stumble on, and could easily end a run if players are unable to resolve things. I especially liked it because it’s high-stakes but doesn’t inherently involve fighting. It’s more like a trap you can reason with. And that’s pretty cool. A concept worth exploring further in the future.

Before I wrote the theater, I wrote the gallery. I basically wanted a “weird event” generator. The paintings on the walls come alive and create a situation for the players to navigate. Resolving the situation grants them some kind of item as a reward. A bit of a slot machine, I suppose. A lot of the painting descriptions are based off of dreams I’ve had, visuals that have stuck with me over the years. Have fun with them.

I don’t have a lot to say about the Recess of Finance. Depressed bank machines just seemed amusing to me. 

And lastly, the Morning room, a chill place to rest. I think it would be nice to end a session there, have the party sleep, and when they wake up their wounds are mended. With the side effect of being covered in geometric tattoos, caused by the magical healing properties of the stained glass windows.

I’m going to sleep now, too. See you in the next area!