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five-rivers · 4 years ago

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DP/HP twin fic chapter 1

This would be the first chapter of that DP/HP twin fic... I need a name for it before I post it elsewhere... I can’t think of a name... help... @ladylynse I blame you for this entirely. It’s 3k and they haven’t even met yet. What am I doing.

Here’s the thing. Danny had encountered wizards before. And witches. Multiple times.

He was not a fan.

Burning, or other forms of murder, hadn’t ever crossed his mind as a solution to them, even when Freakshow decided to derail his life yet again. Still. There were only so many times you could stumble upon members of a certain group zapping people with bargain-bin neuralyzers and leaving hours’ worth of uncertain memories in their wake before you got sort of fed up.

Memory erasure was great in fiction. Not so much in real life.

Danny got it. He’d erased a couple of memories himself. Well, a lot of memories, depending on how one took the Reality Gauntlet incident. But as far as motivations went, ‘trying not to be dissected by the government’ was a lot different from ‘we can’t be bothered to be discreet about our sporting events and we think it’s funny that our venue managed to attract ghost hunters when these magicless fools have never seen a real ghost in their lives so we’re going to mess with them.’

Yeah. Danny was still annoyed about that. Also, about their reactions to him when he crossed an invisible line that was apparently supposed to repulse ‘no-majs.’

That was before getting into Desiree, one of the few witches to become a proper ghost. According to her, witches and wizards had a different system, and it was rare for magic users to enter the Infinite Realms. Dora’s dragon amulet had also been enchanted prior to her death, although that could have been a ghost’s work, and Dora had never shared where it had come from.

Anyway, the point was that Danny knew about magic as an entity separate from ghost powers and at least a small subset of the living beings that relied upon it.

So, when the woman who dressed like she was living a century ago and smelled of magic walked up to his house, he’d braced himself for a fight. He wasn’t going to let his parents be ‘obliviated’ again. They were oblivious enough as it was!

But. No. She’d come in, no wand in sight (although Danny still wasn’t entirely sure those were necessary) and sat down on the couch, hands primly folded, ignoring all of the… rather questionable features of the Fenton living room.

To add to the weirdness, his parents had been expecting her. They knew her by name. They wanted Danny to be in the room to meet her.

“Edna,” Jack said, with a strained smile. “How have you been?”

“Well enough,” said Edna, her eyes flicking to where Danny stood in the kitchen door, watching. “And this must be young Deneb Alased, correct?”

“Yeah,” said Danny, frowning. There weren’t a whole lot of people who knew his legal name, let alone his middle name. So, who was this? “I am.” He looked at his parents, willing them to clear up whatever this was.

Both of their faces were sour, but they were trying to hide it. Maddie was doing better than Jack.

“This is Edna,” said Maddie. “Why don’t you come and sit down, Danny?” She patted the back of Jack’s favorite recliner.

Danny noticed how Edna’s mouth twitched down at his nickname. His fingers curled, ghost energy buzzing under his skin just barely kept from his eyes. He didn’t like this.

“It’s alright,” said Edna, smiling kindly. “This must be very confusing for you. I would be concerned myself, under these circumstances. What I’m about to tell you may be difficult to process, however.”

“We’d like to start it off, actually,” said Maddie. “When you called this morning—” She broke off, making a face. “We were told this wouldn’t happen.”

“Yes, well,” said Edna. She shrugged. “Purebloods. What can you do? Evidently—Well. You should have your say, first.”

Danny gave Edna another suspicious glance. Maybe all wizards weren’t bad. Maybe Freakshow was an outlier and sports fans just sucked in general.

Yeah, honestly, that tracked. (Cough, Vlad, cough, Dash, cough.)

He sat down. “Okay,” he said. “Way to be ominous. What’s going on?”

“Well, Danno,” said Jack. He laughed nervously.

“You’re adopted,” said Maddie, bluntly.

Danny blinked. “Wait, what?” he said. “Adopted? But I look just like you guys!”

Jack’s nervous chuckles continued. “We are related to your birth parents… not closely, but… Yes.”

“Oh my gosh,” said Danny, feeling several layers of personal identity float away from him. He’d always blamed his weirdness on genetics and family history. Especially the ghost stuff. Then again, his name, which definitely did not match with his parents’ or sister’s, probably should have tipped him off. “You’re serious?”

“I’m afraid so, Danny,” said Jack, kneeling by the chair and patting his knee. “But don’t worry! You’ll always be a Fenton, no matter what!”

Danny nodded, swallowing back emotion. “And Jazz? Is she…?”

“She’s adopted, too. At about the same time as you, in fact,” said Maddie. “So am I and Alicia. It’s a long story.”

“Okay,” said Danny, determined to get that story at some point. “Why is she here, then?”

“I was involved in your adoption,” she explained, “and certain members of your birth family want to get back in contact with you.”

Ancients, that was sure a thing to hit a guy with right after the ‘you’re adopted’ revelation.

Hold up. He was forgetting something. This was a witch. How did that play into this? Because it had to. Witches and wizards, as far as Danny could tell, tended to isolate themselves from the rest of humanity.

He decided he did not like the probable trajectory of this conversation.

“Why?” he asked, because he wasn’t going to say he knew about magic until and unless someone else cracked first.

“Yes,” said Maddie. “Why? Why now? We were under the impression that they would never contact us.”

“Evidently,” said Edna, “Deneb’s birth mother was not properly informed of the decision to put him up for adoption.”

Okay. Yeah. That was a lead-in to his biological parents being magical because he couldn’t think of a single modern western country where that would fly.

“So, what? I was kidnapped at birth or something?” asked Danny.

“Not exactly,” said Edna, wincing. “It was your birth father who filed the paperwork.”

“And she’s only now wondering where Danny is?” asked Maddie, a little shrilly. Her stress from before was now spilling over into anger so sharp Danny could taste it like a knife on his tongue. “Did she somehow manage to forget giving birth?”

“No,” said Edna. “Which brings us to the other matter. One of the other matters. The one who first sent the request for your adoption information was actually your twin brother.”

A third monumental revelation. Wonderful. What next?

“We, of course, contacted his parents, and discovered the irregularity regarding your birth mother’s consent. Hence my presence here today.” She opened her bag and removed a small glass tube, about twice the length of Danny’s palm and the same diameter as a quarter. “There was also the issue regarding how young you were when you were put up for adoption. Generally, our agency deals with the placement of children aged from five to eleven.” She held the tube out to Danny. “Could you hold this, please?”

“Do you really need to do this?” asked Jack.

“Due to all the irregularities involved, yes,” said Edna. “Our organization charter unfortunately requires it. If the mother was not consulted, as is required, the reasoning is that other required things are not as certain.”

“Hold up,” said Danny, hands tightening around the ends of the armrests. “These people—” Who were most probably wizards, and wasn’t that a thing to get his head around, “—they’re not trying to get custody of me again, are they? After giving me away?”

“No,” said Maddie. “We won’t let that happen.”

“We’re not going to give him back to people who were going to abandon him just because—!” Dad broke off. “Uh. Because.”

Smooth.

“You know,” said Danny, deciding to cut off… whatever this was. “Even if this ‘test’ is, like…” He trailed off. “Whatever result you want it to be. I don’t know. I’m still going to find out whatever it is you’re dancing around anyway. Because I’m not going to forget this conversation.”

Silence.

The witch twitched slightly towards where Danny knew her wand was hidden.

Screw it. “And I’m not going to let you erase my memory. You people do get how messed up that is, right?”

Danny was treated to the sound and sight of three jaws dropping open.

“How do you-?” started Maddie.

“You remember when we went to that camp because people thought it was haunted? But you didn’t find anything? Well, they managed to get both of you that time, but not me. And I know you’re one of them, so I’m betting that whatever this is, it has to do with magic.” He paused. “It was some weird magic sporting event, apparently.”

“The-? You went to the Quidditch World Cup?” asked Edna.

“What? No!” protested Maddie. “That was in Britain, wasn’t it? We were just in the next state.” She scowled. “I’m going to write a letter of complaint. Even if we’re living without magic, we’re not no-majs. We’re squibs. They had no right to obliviate us.”

“Okay,” said Danny. “Yeah. You’ve lost me. Squibs?”

No one seemed willing to answer the question.

“If you’d just take this,” said Edna, holding out the tube a little desperately. “It will be much easier to explain all at once.”

Danny looked up at his parents. Jack looked at Maddie. Maddie drummed her fingers on the back of his chair.

“It’ll be fine,” said Maddie, “probably.”

“Fine,” said Danny. He took the tube. Almost at once, it started glowing green.

“Oh,” said Edna, frowning and leaning closer. “It usually isn’t—”

The tube exploded, embedding several small glass shards in Danny’s hands.

“Ow,” said Danny.

“Oh,” said Edna again, evidently not registering the small splinter of glass in her cheek. “Well. Whoever your birth father hired to test your magic as an infant obviously got it wrong. Congratulations, Mr. Fenton. You’re a wizard.”

“My hand is bleeding.”

“Yes,” agreed Edna. “It isn’t supposed to explode, you see.”

Once Danny got cleaned up, which involved a lot of glaring at Edna from Maddie and Jack, they adjourned to the kitchen, which was free of random glass shards.

“The adoption organization I work for,” said Edna, “places squibs—people born to magical parents who do not have magic themselves—with families of squibs. Assuming the child’s birth parents do want to give up their child over something like not having magic.” Her nose wrinkled. “The common wisdom is that it is easier for such children to grow up in an environment that is not explicitly magical. In any case, it is my personal belief that anyone who would give up a child over something like that isn’t going to be the best of parents.”

“Alright,” said Danny, “so… all of us are squibs.”

“Except you, apparently,” said Edna. “It’s hard to tell whether or not someone as young as you were when you were given up will be magical or not. Which is why we usually only deal with older children. I don’t suppose you’ve noticed anything odd happening around yourself? Or unusual abilities?”

Danny stared at her flatly for several long moments. His entire life could be classified as ‘odd,’ and most of it he wasn’t about to share with Edna. Or his parents, as much as he loved them.

But, on the other hand, he now had a great excuse for at least some of his weirdness. His parents wouldn’t think ghost if they could think wizard first.

“Like, define ‘odd,’” said Danny. Despite his earlier encounters with wizards, he had no idea what was normal for them. Other than memory wiping. Which he could not do and wouldn’t have demonstrated anyway.

Okay. If was actually a wizard, and Edna’s doohickey wasn’t just reacting to his ghostliness, he probably could learn how to do the memory thing, but he didn’t know now, so the distinction was meaningless.

(Maybe being a wizard or a squib or whatever was why he wasn’t just. Dead.)

(Yeah, he didn’t want to think about that.)

“Just… Being in one place, and then a different place. Surviving something you shouldn’t have been able to unscathed. Things moving by themselves or changing color or size. Temperature changes. Something you want very badly happening, even if it is impossible or extremely unlikely.”

“Okay,” said Danny. “Yeah.”

“To which one?” asked Jack, concerned. “I haven’t noticed anything like that except what the ghosts do.”

“Um,” said Danny. “This?” He put his hand down on the table, intending to leave an icy handprint. That should be acceptable, right? If temperature changes were normal…

His nerves got the best of him. He knew he was nervous showing even one of his powers around his parents. He overcompensated.

The table was covered with frost.

“Oops?” said Danny.

All the blood had left Edna’s face. Jack and Maddie didn’t look much better.

“Dear lord,” said Edna. “You can do that at will?”

“Yes,” said Danny, holding his hand close to his chest. “More or less.”

“Danny,” said Jack, “why didn’t you tell us?”

“I thought you’d think it was a ghost thing. You kind of shoot first and ask questions later about ghost things.”

“Oh my god,” said Edna. “Never mind that. You can do wandless magic and you’re fourteen?”

“Fifteen,” said Danny, “but, yeah. I guess.”

Evidently, this wasn’t normal.

Also, his comment about shooting first hurt his parents’ feelings. Go figure. Not like they weren’t keeping a massive secret.

“So,” said Danny, once the other discussions had been shelved for the time being, “I have a brother? I think a brother was, at some point, mentioned.”

“Yes,” said Edna. “A twin brother. He wants to meet you. Along with your biological mother.”

“And if I don’t want to?” asked Danny. “If I don’t want to have anything to do with them?”

“I don’t even know,” said Edna. “I can’t believe you slipped under the national detection spell. There’s going to be so much paperwork involved in this. International paperwork.”

“Huh?”

“You were born in Britain,” said Edna, as if this were a minor detail.

Yeah. Like his sense of self needed any further pummeling.

“But it isn’t our fault everything is so messed up,” said Danny. He maybe had some curiosity about his twin brother, but if there was any risk he’d be taken away…

“I understand,” said Edna, “but nothing like this has come up before, as far as we know.” She sighed. “If it makes you feel better, I will use any influence I have in the matter to recommend that you retain custody of Deneb. In the meantime… Do you want to, uh, open communications with any members of your biological family?”

“I don’t know,” said Danny. “Can I think about it?”

Relations in the Malfoy household had been strained ever since Draco’s investigation of his family tree (unrelated to the return of the Dark Lord and how blood purity was now much, much more important) had revealed that his twin brother had not, in fact, died at birth.

And by strained, Draco meant that his parents had taken to living on opposite sides of the manor, interacting only when there were visitors. Visitors such as his father’s Death Eater friends, members of society, and various government officials. All of whom were more alike, and had greater overlap, than even Draco had initially suspected.

This left Draco walking on eggshells between the two of them and wishing for Hogwarts to start again. Anything he did to please one had to be entirely out of sight of the other, or else they began to fight again. Truthfully, Draco was more on his mother’s side, all things considered, but his father was the one with the friends, and Draco couldn’t stay home under his mother’s wings for all his life. Like his dragon namesake, he had to fly.

Which he would most certainly do. Soon. No, he wasn’t hiding from his parents in his room. That would be ridiculous. They knew where his room was. They could find him if they wanted to, and neither of them was anywhere near him. He knew. He’d checked.

This made the inarticulate shriek of rage he overheard from his mother all the more concerning.

It was enough to make him emerge – cautiously! – from his self-imposed exile.

He was curious. And stupid. It got him into enough trouble at school, why not at home?

Also, he really needed to know. For his own safety. Tiptoeing around whatever disaster just happened would be impossible if he didn’t know what it was.

Instead, he tiptoed after his mother.

His mother, who was angry enough that sparks were coming off the end of her tightly gripped wand. Green sparks.

Draco had never actually seen the killing curse in action, but his mother’s face screamed murder all on its own, no magic required, despite the fact that Draco was only catching glimpses of it as she strode towards his father’s half of the house.

This was going to be bad. Terrible. Possibly the kind of event that saw one of his parents in Azkaban and the other in little, tiny pieces all around the smoking room.

Lucius, for his part, looked paralyzed where he stood, and Draco briefly entertained the notion that Narcissa had managed to cast petrificus totalis on him without moving her wand or speaking the words.

Narcissa planted herself firmly in front of Lucius and glared up at him, seething, her breath making sucking noises as it passed through her teeth.

She punched Lucius in the face. The man toppled, clutching his nose. Narcissa kicked him.

It was a good thing that the Malfoys had no neighbors, because what Narcissa screamed next likely could have been heard for at least a mile.

“He wasn’t even a squib, you lying bastard!”

#danny phantom #harry potter #dp/hp twin au #dp/hp crossover #my writting

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phantom-le6 · 4 years ago

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Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 (2 of 6)

Later than planned due to the Snooker World Championship final, here’s my second round of reviews for season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Episode 6: The Game

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Commander Riker visits Risa and is introduced to a video game by Etana Jol, a Ktarian woman with whom he has become sexually involved during his vacation on the pleasure planet. Riker, upon his return to the Enterprise, distributes replicated copies of the game to the crew of the starship.

Cadet Wesley Crusher, on vacation from Starfleet Academy, is visiting the Enterprise and notices everyone playing the game (and trying to convince him to play as well). Doctor Beverly Crusher, Wesley's mother, secretly switches off Lt. Commander Data and sabotages his circuits, because he would be immune to the game's addictive properties. The game addicts people who play it by stimulating the pleasure centres of their brains when they successfully complete each level.

Wesley reports to Captain Picard his suspicions that the game is dangerous. However, Picard is already addicted. Eventually, Wesley and his new girlfriend, Ensign Robin Lefler, are the only people on the ship who have yet to become addicted to the game. Wesley and Robin discover that Data's injuries were in fact sabotage, and begin working on a plan to stop the spread of the game. Wesley meets Robin in engineering, where he learns that she has come under the influence of the game, presumably having been captured by the crew and forced to play. Riker and Worf pursue Wesley, as he is the last non-addicted person on the ship. Wesley evades them for a time, but they eventually trap him in an access tunnel and take him to the bridge, where he is restrained and forced to play the game.

Data, having been examined and repaired by Wesley before he was forced to submit to the game, frees the rest of the crew from their mind-controlled state by flashing pulses of light in their faces from a handheld lamp known as a palm beacon. The crew is then able to discern the purpose of the game: It rendered them extremely susceptible to the power of suggestion, compelling them to aid the games' creators, the Ktarians, in an attempt to take control of the Enterprise and eventually the Federation. Picard captures the Ktarian vessel, captained by Etana Jol, responsible for distributing the games and has it towed to the nearest spacedock. Wesley and Lefler bid each other a reluctant farewell as he returns to Starfleet Academy.

Review:

Following Wesley’s departure from the show’s main ensemble of characters in season 4, Wil Wheaton reprised the role for three episodes and a single cinematic cameo, and this episode is the first of those reprisal moments. Now on the plus side, we get to see Wesley get a girlfriend in the form of young Ensign Robin Lefler, played by guest actress Ashley Judd, and he proves fairly adept as the lead protagonist in the episode. However, he’s unfortunately landed as the lead protagonist in an episode that’s a total bloody howler in terms of its plot. First of all, the concept of an addictive video game? Red Dwarf beat Star Trek to this with Better Than Life in the novel adaptation of their series, and did a far better job on the concept. Also, I’ve gone off anything using anything even remotely linked to hypnosis in a negative light where fiction is concerned, and the design of the game’s ‘discs’ being a spiral pattern is a clear visual nod to visual-based hypnotic inductions if I ever saw one.

However, the real problem is that this is Trek trying to hammer out a ‘video games are addictive’ message, and frankly it’s right up there with anytime someone rails against violence and anything else in video games as something to piss me off. Why? Because the world was full of things that people could get addicted to or that were violent well before computer games existed. Drugs, including alcohol and nicotine, are addictive. Gambling is addictive. Sex is addictive, but guess what? Not everyone is walking around with a constant need to down a ton of pills with half a liquor store and a pack of cigarettes, buy a hundred lottery tickets and then boink everyone on their street. Likewise, the violence in video games is nothing compared to all the other violence in human history. Two World Wars, the Crusades, dozens of other wars and skirmishes the world over and goodness knows how many murders, honour duels and the like all before we got anywhere near a home computer game of even the most basic variety.

The reality is that addiction to anything is a serious issue, and frankly the anti-drugs episode back in season 1 of this series did better addressing it than this episode does. It’s a near-total train-wreck, ironically saved by the one character many people often found most irksome in the show’s early years. For me, it’s only worth 4 out of 10. Oh, and Will? There are some women you need to say no to, so maybe adding that word to your vocabulary next time you’re on Risa.

Episode 7: Unification (Part 1)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Starfleet Admiral Brackett informs Captain Picard that Ambassador Spock is missing and an intelligence scan has placed him on Romulus, raising fears that he may have defected. Picard orders the Enterprise to Vulcan to speak to Spock's ailing father, Sarek, with whom Picard shares a close bond. Sarek mentions Pardek, a Romulan Senator with whom Spock had been maintaining a dialogue for several decades. Lt. Commander Data discovers a visual record of Pardek from a trade conference and confirms that he is the other figure seen on the intelligence scan of Spock on Romulus. The Enterprise crew find the remains of a decommissioned Vulcan ship, the T'Pau, in the debris of a Ferengi ship which crashed in the Hanolin asteroid belt.

Picard calls in a favour from Klingon Chancellor Gowron, speaking to one of his aides and convincing him to lend them a Klingon ship that could take them to Romulus while cloaked. Picard and Data board the ship, with Picard ordering Riker to investigate the T'Pau and try to find a link to the Romulans. En route, the Klingons inform Picard that they intercepted a message of interest to him: Sarek has died.

On Romulus, Picard and Data (disguised as Romulans) locate the spot where the picture of Pardek and Spock was taken, which Data determines is a legal office. They wait until Pardek arrives, but when they approach him, they find themselves met by soldiers and taken to a cavern. Pardek arrives, explaining that Romulan security knew they were on-planet and they've been brought underground for their safety. Picard states that he is looking for Ambassador Spock, who emerges from a nearby tunnel.

Review:

Although Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry died a few days the previous episode aired, it is the Unification 2-parter episode that bears a memorial tribute to him at the beginning of each of his segments, and rightly so. This two-part arc was meant not only as part of a cross-promotion between the Next Generation and Star Trek VI, but also as a way to mark the 25th anniversary of the original series first airing. Frankly, there’s little I can think of that would be more apt in that regard than to have Spock guest-star in a special instalment of TNG, though admittedly part 1 sees very little Spock. However, to my mind, this is actually a good thing.

As cool as it is having an original series character guest-star on TNG is, the show has worked hard to be its own thing and not be simply a direct continuation or a poor rip-off of the original show. Because of that, delaying Spock’s entry helps TNG retain its own identity; a rush to have Spock on screen could have undermined any sense of TNG as its own show. Moreover, some characters have a certain ‘larger than life’ reputation among fan-bases, and good writers will understand this and build them up as an idea, a symbol of themselves in the minds of an audience before the character really appears. A key example of this approach in other media is how writer Brad Meltzer tackles the introduction of DC Comics’ ‘big three’ into the events of the mini-series/graphic novel Identity Crisis.

Overall, part 1 of Unification is very good at building us up to moment of meeting Spock, as well as putting us on Romulus for the first time in Trek history and just generally telling a good story, one which also echoed real-life issues like the re-unification of Germany after the collapse of the Berlin Wall. In fact, I would say all that robs this episode of top marks is that the remaining Enterprise crew doesn’t have the greatest of B-plots to deal with once Picard and Data head for Romulus. Granted, it pays off in part 2, but somehow I feel it could have been better, though for the life of me I can’t think of how. End score for this one is 9 out of 10.

Episode 8: Unification (Part 2)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Spock demands that Picard leave Romulus. Picard informs him of the Federation's concern over his "cowboy diplomacy" and tells him that Sarek has died. Spock takes the news of his father's death stoically. He explains to Picard that during the peace negotiations with the Klingons decades earlier, he felt responsible for putting Captain Kirk and his crew at risk, and so is now working alone on a "personal mission of peace" to re-unify the Vulcan and Romulan people. He is working with an underground movement to achieve that aim. Pardek has asked Spock to come to Romulus to meet with the new Proconsul of the Romulan Senate, a young idealist who has promised reforms. Picard expresses concern that the willingness of the Romulans may be part of a larger ploy; Spock agrees but points out that if a larger plot is at work, it is best they play out their roles within it to uncover it.

Picard, Data, and Spock are soon captured by Commander Sela, who is planning a Romulan conquest of Vulcan. The stolen Vulcan ship and two others are carrying a Romulan invasion force, under the guise of escorting a peace envoy. Spock refuses to deceive his people by announcing the false news, even after Sela threatens to kill him, and she locks the three in her office and leaves to order the ships on their way. By the time she returns, Data has hacked into the Romulan computer system and created a holographic simulation that distracts her long enough for the three captives to incapacitate her and her officers.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise arrives at Galorndon Core following their investigation into one of the missing Vulcan ships. They detect the three Vulcan ships and moves to intercept them as they cross the Neutral Zone. A medical distress signal comes in, but as Riker orders the ship toward its source, they receive a broadcast from Romulus in which Spock reveals the true nature of the Vulcan ships, and Riker orders Dr Crusher to check the source of the medical distress call, suspecting it to be a Romulan ruse. A Romulan Warbird uncloaks, destroys the ships, and recloaks, killing the troops instead of allowing them to be captured.

On Romulus, Data and Picard bid farewell to Spock. The Ambassador is intent upon his goal, realizing that it cannot be achieved through diplomacy or politics. Picard offers Spock a chance to touch what Sarek shared with him, and the two mind-meld.

Review:

Discounting the various alien bar scenes that factor into the Enterprise’s B-plot (for goodness sake, TNG, you’re not supposed to be Star Wars and that is certainly not Mos Eisley Cantina), the second part of Unification is about as good as the first part. According to Memory Alpha, the writers felt like this episode was a bit too talky and wanted more action in retrospect, but with respect I disagree. Trek is made for being talky at times, and anything involving Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart working together as Spock and Picard more or less demands it. Had it been Riker and Kirk, then I could understand the action impulse. Moreover, as I just noted a moment ago, this is Star Trek and not Star Wars. Trek is about issue and character exploration, about delving into matters of substance, not shallow action scenes and plots with little to no issue exploration or substance. If action isn’t going to serve something deeper on Trek, then it’s best left to one side.

The A-Plot works to a nice conclusion, and it’s cool to see Commander Sela back, even if you still have the issue that she looks like a Romulan clone of Tasha Yar and not her daughter. It’s the character’s last appearance, which in some ways is a shame considering the later Romulan stories in this show and in Deep Space Nine. The Enterprise also gets at least a decent, albeit slightly anti-climactic, conclusion to its b-plot. Nothing more to really say; just going to hand down a score of 9 out of 10 and warp over to the next episode in this run.

Episode 9: A Matter of Time

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

En route to Penthara IV to assist its population in combating the effects of reduced temperatures created by a dust cloud from a recent asteroid impact, the Enterprise encounters a nearby temporal distortion, and finds a small pod containing a single human occupant. Beaming aboard the Enterpise, the human introduces himself as Professor Berlinghoff Rasmussen, a historian from the 26th century who has time-travelled to witness the Enterprise complete this "historic" mission at Penthara IV. He requests that the crew complete questionnaires for him, but reveals little about himself as he does not wish to alter history. Rasmussen's investigations are somewhat annoying to the crew but they entertain him.

At Penthara IV, the Enterprise uses its phasers to drill into the planet to release carbon dioxide, creating a greenhouse effect to warm the planet, but this creates a side effect of increasing seismic activity and causing volcanoes to erupt, threatening to worsen the impact winter they were trying to end to ice age proportions. Chief Engineer La Forge and Lt. Commander Data offer a solution of ionizing the upper atmosphere, but the manoeuvre must be done precisely or they could risk burning off the entire atmosphere and killing all 20 million on the surface. With the severity of the decision, Captain Picard attempts to gain Rasmussen's help, claiming this is a scenario where any possible temporal equivalent of the Prime Directive can be overridden, but Rasmussen refuses to offer advice, noting by his era, the fate of all those on Penthara IV has already been decided. Picard decides to allow La Forge and Data to go through with the plan, which is successful and returns the planet to its normal climate.

Rasmussen prepares to leave with his research done, but is met by a security team at his pod. Picard informs him several items have gone missing and requests to see the inside of his pod. Rasmussen reminds him again of the possible temporal prime directive, and asks if only Data goes in to look for their missing equipment, as Data can be ordered not to reveal anything about the future to the crew. Picard agrees. Inside, Data finds the missing items but discovers Rasmussen has him at phaser-point. Rasmussen explains he is really a disgruntled inventor from the 22nd century New Jersey that stole this pod from a 26th-century traveller, and intended to return to his time and profit by selling the Enterprise equipment as his inventions, and now that he has Data, he plans to take him back as well. However, Rasmussen finds his phaser does not work, as once he opened the pod, the ship's sensors were able to disable it. Data forces an anxious Rasmussen outside along with the stolen equipment, and Rasmussen tries to apologize and asks to be allowed to depart. Picard instead has Rasmussen placed under arrest, and the pod automatically disappears, leaving him stranded in the 24th century.

Review:

Before I get into the review itself, a bit of house-keeping I had to bring up. Prior to this episode, Trek had been steadfastly anti-time travel for much of its history due to it being one of Gene Roddenberry’s ‘rules’ that Trek avoided this sometimes-overused sci-fi trope. As a result, Trek did not have a temporal version of the Prime Directive, which is why when Picard discusses this at one point with Rasmussen, he wonders if the supposed historian is following a temporal equivalent. As such, all references to the temporal prime directive being cited in this episode on any form of wiki sight are wrong and premature; you can’t reference a temporal prime directive that has yet to exist because there’s previously been no reason to even have one.

Now, all that said, I think this episode was ok, but a bit all over the place. Is it about suggesting that deliberately creating a greenhouse effect could be a possible solution to impact winters? Is it about using that as an excuse to explore the nature of causality and the potential ramifications of time travel? Frankly, for me time-travel is all too often a confusing thing because it invites paradox and gives you a headache in doing so. For this reason alone, the multiverse concept of time-travel used more recently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is better. Also, all that talk about avoiding contamination of the time-line and then you let a guy from your past remain in your present, knowing that by Trek standards that could alter history? Pretty sloppy, but as I’ve noted, Trek was still new at time-travel at this stage. Overall, I give this episode about 7 out of 10; some of the acting, especially from Patrick Stewart, helps compensate for some of the confusion factor.

Episode 10: New Ground

Plot (as given by me):

While Lt. Commander La Forge is getting excited about a test of soliton wave technology, which could enable ships to travel at warp speeds without a warp drive or engines, Lt. Worf learns his human mother and Alexander have come to visit him via the transport ship Milan. When they beam aboard, however, Alexander claims he won’t be returning. It turns out Worf’s human parents feel that they are too old to act as parents anymore, and they have seen Alexander show troubling behaviours that they feel only the guidance of his father can help him through.

Worf attempts to incorporate being a parent into his life on board the Enterprise, but faces numerous challenges. In addition to trying to tackle the minutia of enrolling Alexander at school and registering him with sickbay, Worf also struggles to deal with Alexander’s problem behaviours, which include lying and stealing. When the behaviours continue despite Worf teaching Alexander about honour and making him promise not to lie anymore, he decides to send Alexander to a Klingon school instead.

Matters are complicated when the Enterprise is damaged during the soliton wave test, and the wave itself begins to exponentially gain in speed and power as it heads for a colony on Lemma II. The decision is made to chase the wave, travel through it and then dissipate it using photon torpedoes. However, the ship’s shields are not at full strength, and travelling through the wave leaves certain sections exposed to possible ion radiation when the wave is dissipated. One section is bio-lab 4, which Alexander runs away to following another argument with his father; the trip through the wave causes a major fire in the lab and traps Alexander under debris.

When the bridge crew learns of Alexander’s plight, Worf and Commander Riker race to Alexander’s aid, narrowly saving him and some endangered animals that were being transported in the bio-lab before the soliton wave had to be dissipated. While Alexander recovers in sick bay, Worf offers Alexander a choice; to face the rigours of Klingon school, or face the potentially greater challenge of remaining on board the Enterprise. Alexander chooses the latter option.

Review:

This is an episode that, much like the soliton wave from its B-plot, starts out weak and builds to strength at the climax. At first, it’s almost cringe-worthy watching Worf try to play single parent and assume what he thinks a parent should be, not for a moment factoring in how Alexander has been raised up to now or how being sent to Earth after his mother’s death affected him. You can see Worf’s discomfort with the whole situation is making him try to more or less duck the situation, which I can understand to a degree. After all, no one likes being chucked in at the proverbial deep end of any scenario, and as an autistic person I absolutely hate it when that happens, so I can empathise with the whole set-up.

However, Worf is not autistic, and he’s been around a crew that includes families for his entire stint on the Enterprise, so you’d think he’d adapt a bit quicker. As it is, the A-plot is saved when the conflict puts Alexander in a position where the B-plot can endanger him, and for that final act of the episode, you get a great bit of dramatic television. There’s nothing that can get you on the edge of your seat more than a child being in danger and their parent having to race to the rescue. The fear and the worry of that situation charges everything with urgency and commands audience attention, which is a key reason why I think when Marvel put the Fantastic Four on the big screen for themselves, they have to include Reed and Sue’s son Franklin and put him in peril; otherwise, the F4 can’t distinguish themselves as they did in the comics.

For me, it’s very much that final act that really makes this episode worth a watch, but only just. Overall, I give this episode 6 out of 10.

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adamandbrittanyinhawaii · 8 years ago

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Learning

There is an ongoing gag in our marriage where I like to take pride in not having social media when people are begrudging it and when someone is talking positive about such things Britt will say something to the effect of “that’s why you should have it!” The thing is though, I do have social media. I post photos online, I have this blog, I use a social site for sharing books I’ve read and I use Linkedin as a way to connect with people professionally and catch up. For more intimate conversation though, call me a luddite, I still use a phone! Anyways, the book sharing site is really helpful for me because it organizes books I would like to read after hearing about them and allows me to tackle them with some sort of game plan. If you know me well, you will know that I don’t read fiction for the most part. I like to read books to learn more about a topic. So I read a lot of historical biographies, finance and theology books. I’m not super creative so I don’t get a lot out of reading stuff that has layers of symbolism and what not. As far as I’m concerned, that sort of stuff is for the birds! Along these lines, I have also really enjoyed learning through documentaries. With an iPad you can catch them while whirling around the apartment doing chores, making them as good as a book on tape. This all has an effect where sometimes I end up swimming in some new knowledge that I don’t know what to do with it. One of those topics lately has been, for lack of a better word, feminism. There was a documentary that came out last year about OJ Simpson with let’s say 40% of it about his life before the infamous trial, 40% about the trial and 20% about life after the trial. I was a young kid when the trial occurred and being a fan of Leslie Nielsen I was more familiar with him as an actor than as a defendant. Nevertheless, even at my age I knew about how he went to trial and it was a big deal. So for me the documentary was almost entirely new info to me. However, what struck me wasn’t the trial and the circus around it. What leveled me was domestic violence. Weeks before I saw this documentary I was chatting with a co-worker and she was telling me about how her dad used to beat her and her mom and siblings when she was growing up. She was just talking about it in straightforward terms as if describing any other childhood details. I was mortified. I guess never being exposed to this topic made me never really think about it before. Then I watch this OJ documentary and really the murder was just the outcome of years of domestic violence. He even beat her on their first date! This whole topic was suddenly hitting me in the face. At bible study last night we were reading Matt 19 where Jesus comments that aside from adultery, divorce is impermissible. I don’t have a basis for disagreement biblically, but on a human level I would have to say domestic violence also counts. Granted Forensic Files is the extreme end of the spectrum, but obviously these people that kill someone close to them are often doing it after years of violence towards that person. It is sickening that domestic violence happens, that the abused person sticks around, that it happens in private so others can’t bear witness, that somehow it often empowers the abuser and for so many other reasons. It makes my stomach churn thinking about it. The fact that it happens is so shocking to me that I’m blown away that we don’t move heaven and earth to stamp it out. As a guy, I feel like any man that puts hands on a spouse or children should have to street fight 10 guys twice his size as punishment. Another topic that has me in knots lately is sexual assault. I watched a documentary lately called Hunting Grounds about assaults on college campuses. The statistics were staggering to me that ~1/5 women are victims of this while in college and also crazy, though perhaps not surprising, was that they scrolled stats of prominent universities where less than 1% of assaults that were reported had led to expulsions, and in most case 0. Meanwhile cheating on exams at those universities had resulted in hundreds of expulsions. Worse was that the perps represent a small fraction of the population so a few convictions would quickly clean up the campuses. The documentary talks about how these things are seen as scars so universities look to avoid convictions. I think most notable though is how our legal structure doesn’t support victims. Getting a conviction on such things is close to impossible if drinking is involved as it often leads to lots of ambiguity in the testimonies and with consent being a central issue and also driven by the testimony, it can quickly become a game of he said, she said. This favors the defendant since prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. The documentary doesn’t touch on all of these legal hurdles but it helps having a lawyer as a spouse. Anyways, I’m left to wonder what I’m supposed to do with this info. What is the right response? I feel like as a guy, there is a certain level of responsibility to draw attention to this because the problems here are only compounded by seeing them as women’s issues and rights. These are people issues. I don’t usually believe in legislating change but on the case of assaults I think something in our legal system should change. But even if punishments go through the roof and convictions on these things became super easy to get and justice was being wholly served, I still don’t think that would solve it. There must be an openness to talk about it. I can’t believe I’m speaking such hippie words, but in this case I think it is apt. The commonality is that these things, like most of our sins, happen in the dark. Shed a light on sin though and talk about it and it gets exposed for how hideous it really is. That’s the power that gripped me and I think that is part of the path to working on these issues. Heck, it worked on me! I don’t really know how to conclude this because I don’t really know where I was going with all of this. I guess I just meant to say that this is tough with no easy answers and my worldview has been flipped on its head by learning the prevalence of this.

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