#trelane powers

[thatonegeekygirl]

“I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose.”

- Spock to General Trelane, S1E18 Star Trek: TOS

[trekmupf]

Puberty in space part II - this time with a military obsession 🎖️ 🪞 🪢

Pro

Everyone chilling at the bridge drinking coffee. Also McCoy being randomly at the bridge again.

Spock immediately taking charge when Kirk is gone and being super competent is really sexy of him

Spock saying Hipp Hipp Hurra

Bones accepting Spock's position as leader – direct opposite to the previous episode – by giving input, but following his orders, literally standing by his side on the bridge

The landing party in full gear!

The monster in the entrance was the salt being from episode 1

Everyone who is such a military fanboy is highly suspicious

McCoy's judgy eyebrow is completely out of control when they meet Trelane (and Sulu behind him has a whole journey)

Kirks face when evil guy shows up on the bridge

Spock being extremely bored by Trelane's antics, immediately seeing thorough his Bs and calmly telling him off is also extremely sexy

Kirks heart eyes face when Spock tells the guy off

The sexism is interesting - unlike the accidental / timely sexism in other episodes it's very clear that the way he sees women is bad, racist and upsetting

Also Kirk making it LOOK like it's about possessing the women and being jealous when he's manipulating Tralene, playing into the human traits he expects and wants to see (his aggressive and forceful behaviour towards Teresa is nicely contrasted to the scene on the bridge, where he's very nice to her again)

Generally the way Kirk sees through from the get go and manipulates him at every corner despite him being so powerful

The way McCoy leans on the console on the bridge during the turbulence

Kirk very confidently cocking a gun with a little smile and shooting with barely any flinching is weirdly sexy

The last convo between Spock and Kirk is fun, content wise but also Kirks heart eyes at Spock and Spock's utter confusion

The set design inside the castle is insane, but in a fun way; seems like they literally ran around the nearby studios and grabbed whatever they could (which suits who Trelane is)

Generally the idea of getting the surface level of humanity without any substance comes up in so many ways- understanding us and our behaviour, the decor, the missing taste from food and drink

The make up on our guys is just wonderful, especially Spock's, McCoy's and Sulu's; Generally the crew is just beautiful here

The music changes with the set pieces /scenes and is very fitting

The idea that this is literally a fanboy cosplaying 18th century earth is hilarious

Knowing the plot twist at the end that Trelane is just a child makes William Campbell's acting easier to bear and actually quite good – he IS like a child whose interest is earth history and humans and he finally gets to play. He gets irritated immediately, has tamper tantrums and zero emotional control; he basically just copies phrases and infos you would get from books without being able to question them, he likes the history equivalent of action men, he wants everyone's attention and gets angry when no one wants to play with him

The noose's shadow during the "court room scene" gives the setting a threatening aura (it also looks so cool)

Con

another superbeing, that somehow relates to earths past and is powerful, but this ep is less meaningful / good than the others; same goes for the humans as war / predator species

the fact that the way Trelane is written and acted serves his actual role as a child doesn't make his antics easier to watch, he gets tiresome quite quickly

even though the ep is self aware of the sexism and makes sure its bad the female characters are still just decor and plot points instead of characters with shit to do. they literally cling to Spock and bones in the background, which??

the entire last third after the mirror smash is too long, too flip floppy (it was all a test! also he's a child! -> they didn't commit to it enough and yet too much for it to work)

also the pacing was super shit

the last fight scene is way too whimsical and silly and the guy is just so annoying (at least Kirks pants were tight)

This screenshot looks like a promo pic for a guy comedy in the 80's

Counter

Powerful being testing humanity

Brains over brawl

Trio ready to sacrifice (Kirk is ready to die for his crew)

Quote: "I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose" - Spock

(literal heart eyes - Kirk)

Moment: See Quote

Summary: An episode with a less interesting (and more annoying) blue print for TNG's Q that's one of the shows earlier entries about mysterious and powerful enteties using humans for entertainment. Even though other episodes realized that set up better later on this episode gives Spock plenty of moments to shine (and plenty of opportunities for Kirk to send the biggest heart eyes in his direction)

Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[pluralzalpha]

Galactic Gazetteer: Gothos

Class: A or R (Rogue)

Type: artificial free-roaming planet

Quadrant: Alpha

Location: Quadrant 904 Star Desert, near Beta 6 system

Distance from Earth: 900 ly

Atmosphere: toxic, storm-ridden

Surface: molten

Appearance: TOS "The Squire of Gothos" (1967)

Fun fact: created by the incredibly powerful alien child Trelane as his personal playground.

Another fun fact: Trelane was able to move the planet through space and chase the Enterprise with it.

[binerd24]

"The Squire of Gothos" is my absolute comfort episode of TOS. It's just so wonderfully bizarre, like, an all powerful alien being *really* into Napoleon? Sure, why not. Everybody just being absolutely confused by Trelane(?), because he's just comical, but also somehow threatening. Spock just perpetually being done with this shit. I mean of course it's not as emotionally deep, complex or memorable like other episodes, but it's just so fun to watch.

[t0ast-ghost]

Wow already episode 18 (The Squire Of Gothos):

- It hasn’t even been a minute and they [Spock & McCoy] are already at it (not sure who won that conversation. Not sure there’s even supposed to be a winner anymore)

- WHAT

- WHAT

- WHERED THEY GO

- next time I see my friends I’m saying “Greetings and felicitations. Hip-hip-hoorah. Tallyho!”

- I feel like McCoy is fighting for his life trying not to laugh at Spock saying “tallyho”

- I like how they’re giving more character to Scotty, showing his ability and also his drive for action when the situation is dire

- that guy trusted that the air was actually breathable too fast for my tastes

- next time I draw I’ve got to put in an effort to draw the boots.. HOW COULD I FORGET THE BOOTS

- McCoys leech monster thingy in the background

- McCoy causally scanning this bitch

- get sent to hell, idiot (towards Kirk)

- boyfriend conference (20:45)

- wait OH MY THEY ACTUALLY ARE TALKING! McCoy and Uhura spoke to each other! It was brief but it happened

- Leave Spock alone, bitch

- I love Sulu so much. Calm but he definitely has the ability to attack, he just knows when to pick his moments

- I want trelane dead

- “I don’t know if I like your tone. It’s most challenging” yeah I think he’d (Spock) much rather punch you in the face to be fair

- “I object to power without constructive purpose” get his ass Spock, Jim’s smiling at this

- “Oh Mr. Spock, you do have one saving grace after all, you’re ill mannered.” Oh my gosh this is why him and McCoy are besties

- Bones has been sitting there eating through all of this. Good for him I guess

- “does your logic find this ‘fascinating’, Mr. Spock” “No, ‘fascinating’ is a word I use for the unexpected. In this case I think ‘interesting’ would suffice.” I will think of this quote often

- *Trelane changes the yeoman’s dress* *Spock, Kirk, and McCoy all get into attack mode*

- Even McCoy looks ready to punch a bitch

- The council will decide your fate

- “but if you need to be persuaded” *threatens Spock*

- lesson number two: when trying to avoid objects in space, go to the left

- He’s like Q but less fruity and annoying… I don’t like it

- He put Kirk in a cage

- HE BROKE THE SWORD? OVER HIS KNEE

- Lol he’s a kid, what

- Kirk talks to gods and is just like “let me go home to my boyfriends”

- “forgive me, Mr Spock.” “I shall be delighted captain” Spock’s eyebrows proceed to shoot up

Editing this one while on a film set, and I didn’t put an ending so… yay I’m on a film set!

Master post

[onsomekindofstartrek]

Q presents a real problem for me, in that his episodes deeply clash with each other thematically and tonally.

Is he this dark, biased judge with very specific powers (illusions, walls in space), holding humanity to account in a reflection of its worst mockery of justice? (“Encounter…”, “All Good Things…”)

Or is he this Myxzptlk-like omnipotent trickster who’s constantly trolling and secretly really lonely and desperate for mortal companionship? (Most of his one-off TNG episodes, that damned DS9 episode)

Or is he a genuinely caring friend to Picard who just really sucks at showing it? (“Tapestry,” arguably “Q Who” if you take the angle that he’s genuinely trying to warn Picard of the Borg out of benevolence and not just testing him or dicking off)

Or is he this insufferable but ultimately sympathetic Byronic dissident from a stagnant and ennui-ridden society? (“Deja Q”, “Death Wish”, “The Q and the Grey”)

Like, arguably he can be a few of those things but not all. I don’t blame the writers for wanting to do a lot with the character, since John DeLancey is great at the role and there’s a lot of potential to the concept “what if a god was really invested in bugging you personally.” But about half the time they want to be writing Trelane of Gothos and not the character from “Encounter…” and it really leads to some clashes of character continuity.

[je-brille-dans-la-nuit]

Watching TOS: back to fun & Spirk

The Galileo Seven: loved it!

Much tension very drama

Really liked the difficulties of Spock in command. I thought it was interesting to see him in such a tense context on an inhospitable planet. He's not the leader Jim is, but it's clear the men's behavior also come from them being prejudiced against him bc of his Vulcan nature

Spock still analyzing while they're being attacked is hilarious

This exchange i cackled

SCOTT: Mister Spock, you said a while ago that there were always alternatives. SPOCK: Did l? I may have been mistaken. MCCOY: Well, at least I lived long enough to hear that.

"No one out there to see it" Except!! Of course the Enterprise is still here!!

"Captain, transporter room just beamed up five persons. Alive and well." The relief on Jim's face is not his usual big smile and it gets to me

The whole ending scene had me clutching my heart I loved it okay! The happy ending we deserve!

Jim "You mean you reasoned that it was time for an emotional outburst" all the while leaning way closer than is necessary!!

KIRK: Mister Spock, you're a stubborn man. SPOCK: Yes, sir. EVERYONE LAUGHING ♥

.

The Squire of Gothos

It's fun!

Jim is good at handling people!

SPOCK: I object to you. I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose.

Spock being his little shit self gives me life. Besides, when he says that, we have a close-up on Jim smiling lovingly! This only happens when Spock speaks! This is on purpose! I see you!

The fact that Trelane, to get Jim to do what he wants, threatens Spock of all crewmembers. I mean.

The ending was funny!

.

Arena

"Nevermind about me, protect my ship" smh

Spock calling him 'Jim' instead of 'captain' or 'sir' when he's trying hard to get through to him, to make him listen

The sounds the Gorn makes were really getting on my nerves argh

Spock's live-comment ("Good. Good") on the fight

I liked the message of the episode! Hopeful ending! He wins by being merciful!

Jim you could just tell Spock he was right about not killing them

.

Tomorrow is yesterday

Not bad but pretty unremarkable except for:

CHRISTOPHER: I never have believed in little green men. SPOCK: Neither have I.

krrkrrkrr

Jim playing dumb in front of the soldiers was hilarious

What was that? What was what?

Believe me, Colonel, you wouldn't believe me

.

Court martial

I liked it enough, although it's a pity it's never really about what Jim may have done wrong. As viewers we never doubt he didn't do it.

Look, I'm an easy girl, it doesn't take much to make me happy and Spock saying

It is impossible for Captain Kirk to act out of malice or panic. It is not in his nature.

is enough for me. That and Spock and Bones working together to save Kirk's ass, again.

JIM: And nothing is more important than my ship.

He means Spirk right?

Who knows? You may be able to beat your next captain at chess.

Cute

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Hikaru Sulu

By Ames

Have at thee! Pick up your foil and get into the proper stance as A Star to Steer Her By shines this week’s character spotlight on the Enterprise’s helmsman (and occasional musketeer), Hikaru Sulu. We may have had to get a little nitpicky with noteworthy moments from Scott last week because he’s just used less than the three main characters, and Sulu will be even tougher because he does even less and then is gone for a lot of season two while he was off filming The Green Berets (which I wouldn’t even recommend, so that’s a waste!).

That’s not to say Sulu isn’t a great presence in The Original Series, and we came up with some great (and not so great) moments from this ship’s jack of all trades. He swashbuckles, he collects pistols, he tends to plants, he quips with his Russian bestie. Check out the best and worst of Sulu below, listen to this week’s banter on the podcast (discussion starts at 1:19:43), and give us warp speed on my mark. Mark!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best Moments

Someone give this man a hand… plant Sulu started the series with a passion for botany that never really came up much after it was established in “The Man Trap” (even when it would have been applicable, as you’ll see), but it was endearing to see him caring for Beauregard and worrying about his flowery friend after a salt vampire masquerading as crewman Green gave him a fright. There there, Beauregard.

Richelieu, beware! One of the most memorable moments for Sulu and also for the whole damn series comes in “The Naked Time” where we see our favorite helmsman get affected by the space madness disease and start running around the ship shirtless with a foil, provoking crewmen into duels. It’s that bonkers kind of fun episode that really worked for TOS and gave us decades of referential humor after.

Lower us down a pot of hot coffee While we gave Kirk a lot of guff about his characterization(s) in “The Enemy Within,” we’ve really got to give Sulu credit for his work in the B plot. While slowly freezing on Alfa 177, he manages to keep morale up with the occasional light-hearted room service call to the Enterprise. And this is the first we see of what we dubbed the “Sulu Maneuver,” when you heat up some rocks with a phaser! Clever!

He’s doing a countdown! Okay, this one’s here partly because of the running joke we made out of Bailey’s delivery pointing out Sulu’s rather macabre countdown, but Sulu also displays some serious chops in “The Corbomite Maneuver.” Bailey can’t handle the pressure, and Sulu has to literally lean over and do his job for him at the same time, all without losing count!

You are not of the body Mind-controlled Sulu is best Sulu and gets some really fun acting out of George Takei every time. We see it in the afore-mentioned “The Naked Time,” in “Catspaw,” and in “This Side of Paradise,” to name a few, but my favorite mind-controlled Sulu has got to be in “The Return of the Archons” because of all the extra points he gets for this ruffly outfit!

It’s Greek to me Let’s also commend Sulu for rigging up the ship’s phasers to destroy Apollo’s temple in “Who Mourns for Adonais?” Why this plan worked I have absolutely no idea. What self-respected god entity puts all of their powers in a single object? Trelane wouldn’t gaff this hard. Anyway, props to Sulu for somehow avoiding phasering the humans who were hiding only ten feet away like fools.

Lay back and thinking about vegetables Holy cow, guys. A whole episode in which only Spock, Uhura, and Sulu are featured from the entire cast? It must be “The Slaver Weapon” from The Animated Series. Only TAS could get away with giving to Sulu scenes that would go to Kirk any other day, and he owns it! He outwits the Kzinti. He avoids their telepathy by thinking about broccoli. He does it all!

Don’t call me tiny As usual, some of the best moments we’ve collected come from the films, where the characters all really get the shine. Even the minor characters like Sulu, who gets to sashay around in what we previously dubbed the Ta’cape in The Search for Spock and hold his own against a security officer who stands probably a full foot taller than him, like a small dog in a fight. Bowwow!

Special delivery While we’re a little sad that Sulu had probably the fewest character scenes in The Voyage Home (they evidently cut a family reunion scene due to bad child acting), we do have to thank this San Franciscan for obtaining and flying a helicopter around to deliver the transparent aluminum to the ship. How did he pull it off? We’ll just have to use our imagination.

Emergency Landing Plan B Wow, we’ve had more good moments from The Final Frontier than bad ones to mention in these character spotlight posts, which is kind of fascinating considering that film on the whole is among our least favorites. But when Sulu totally rocks it and manually lands the shuttle in the bay using a barricade, we have to admit that the film knew how to use its characters.

Fly her apart then! How often does Sulu get to save the day? Not often enough, I say, because when he gets the opportunity to have the Excelsior join in the battle in The Undiscovered Country, it’s positively thrilling. Your heart just wells at the love these crewmembers have for each other that Sulu would ignore orders to come rescue his friends with passion that I wish we got to see more often in the show.

Tossing a match into a pool of gasoline For the 30th anniversary of Star Trek, Voyager treated the fans with a little Sulu action in “Flashback” and he proved to be just as heroic as ever! Not only do we get to see his decision to go save his old crewmates, but we see him outwit Kang by igniting the sirillium in a nebula. Not only that, but he does the humane and diplomatic thing and makes sure it won’t destroy the Klingon ship utterly. Now that’s a great birthday gift!

—

Worst Moments

It’s a he plant – a girl can tell Ya know how we were lauding Sulu for all his great botany work before? Well, he insists that Beauregard’s name is Gertrude for some reason in “The Man Trap.” Dude, just let Janice name him Beauregard if she wants to. He’s her plant, you just feed him sometimes. And frankly, Beauregard is the perfect name for this plant, so we have to give you points off for this one.

I’ll protect you, fair maiden Another instance that’s on both our good and bad lists comes in “The Naked Time.” Drunk or not, assaulting his coworkers is not okay, pal. And Uhura can defend herself from the likes of Richelieu or whoever else. Can we do away with the constant need to protect female characters like they’re damsels in distress? Luckily, Uhura managed to own this moment, as we’ll certainly see next week.

I knew he would Here’s another example of Chris putting the same moment in both of his lists. Funny as that interaction with Bailey was, did we really need the countdown in “The Corbomite Maneuver”? Balok was already doing it for us, as we could tell when the Clint Howard–shaped alien was supposed to repeat “one minute” after Sulu, but the line was cut, and Sulu reacts to it anyway like a weirdo.

Fantasy island, er, planet Most things in “Shore Leave” are perplexing since the episode was being written on the fly and all the characters are acting entirely out of character (we postulated the whole planet was drugged, but who knows). So when Sulu is evidently thinking about samurai for some reason, we can just blame the writers if that comes across as a little racist, especially considering Takei fought to NOT be written as a samurai in “The Naked Time.”

If it were two feet from me You know how we were giving credit earlier to Sulu for caring for Beauregard and having a knack for botany? Well all that goes out the window in “This Side of Paradise” where Sulu suddenly can’t notice a plant that is literally right next to him and slowly turning to face him. I call this man’s botany skills into question. No wonder he misgendered Beauregard! 

You are away from your post, Mister We can give normal universe Sulu a pass on this one, but his parallel universe self in “Mirror, Mirror” is just a monster. While it’s some good fun to watch Takei got down with his bad self by trying to get the captain killed and all that jazz, it is just plain uncomfortable to watch him terrorizing Uhura, so it’s definitely worth a place on our list.

A literal dagger of the mind In “And the Children Shall Lead,” it’s unclear how far the mental powers of Gorgan go since sometimes the crew only hallucinates things and sometimes they are straight-up mind controlled. Sulu seeing a ton of knives in space (which is just plain impossible and he should know it) is the weirdest instance yet. Kirk has to tell him what he sees isn’t there, but does he understand that? Who knows; it’s a nonsensical episode.

I am for you, Sulu This is just a little moment, but Sulu falls (literally!) for one of the oldest cliches in horror writing: When Losira is coming for him in “That Which Survives,” Sulu backs away and trips on some rocks like a chump, leaving himself prone to her attack. And what makes even less sense is that her touching him doesn’t kill him like the others; it only disrupts the cells in his shoulder. Like a chump.

It’s Walter backwards! More of Sulu getting made to look like a chump comes in The Animated Series episode “The Infinite Vulcan” when he nearly gets himself killed after getting bitten by a retlaw: a walking planet with poisonous bite. Luckily, he gets saved by the Phylosians, but you’d think a botanist like Sulu would know better. Oh wait, I’ve already questioned his botany skills, so there’s that.

You’re a wizard, Sulu! I can’t rant enough on what a trainwreck “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” is, but here’s a taste. To test out how to use magic (not even going to start; we’ll be here all day), Sulu’s first impulse is to make himself a pretty woman and then go in to kiss her. In front of everyone. What the hell, Sulu? I expected better from you, man, but making yourself a sex doll is utterly ridiculous.

One tiny step for a tiny man One more from The Animated Series, and this one’s stupidity is compounded by the super inconsistent animation. When he’s been shrunk in “The Terratin Incident” to somewhere between one foot and one inch tall depending on the art frame, Sulu goes to turn a dial, somehow trips on it, and falls off the equivalent of a ten-story building only to break a leg. Ugh.

Like a bull in a China ship I have to give Sulu grief about something that bugs me whenever I see it in Star Trek. Did you ever notice that the crew seem to use breakable items only so they can get smashed? In any other scene, the ceramic tea cup that we see in The Undiscovered Country might be metal or plastic or the paper cups we saw at one point, but because we need to see it break, it’s ceramic, and I slowly lose my mind about it.

—

Oh my. We’re reducing to impulse speed to prepare for more of these character spotlights, so keep your eyes here for more in the series! Also, keep up with our watchthrough of Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, challenge us to a duel over on Facebook or Twitter, and take a moment to smell the flowers, if you take a half a second to notice them.

[walkingstackofbooks]

SNW 2x07 Those Old Scientists thought-stream

[24 July]

Ayyyyy! Boimler!!

"Yeah, Uhura was cool as hell. Probably because she had a life outside of work." Hah, nooope, not if last week was any indication!

You should listen to Tendi on this one... don't partcipate in Orion erasure, Boims 😬

Boimler's Spock impression was actually better than the crew's Vulcan ones from a few weeks ago!

"I wish I could disappoint Uhura." XD

"You guys look.... very realistic." Oh, you

Oooooh! Animated opening scene! Oooooh!

Directed by Jonathan Frakes?! Nice!

"But flipping it open's the best part." I mean you're not wrong

"Worf's honour" oh my goodness I cannot with this show

"Don't make any attachments" ohhhhhh, La'aaan 💔 "It's advice from personal experience." MY HEART CANNOT

"They never improved on these. I mean, yeah, they got smaller and more powerful and arguably less likely to explode, but design-wise?" "Explode, you said?" BOIMLER STOP

"Well, it's kind of considered offensive in my time to assume all Orions are pirates." Goodie <3

"I feel like I'm trying to stop a toddler from knocking over the furniture." XD

"Do you have jetpacks or what?" "We have jetpacks now."

"How do you know Pike's birthday?" "Well, I mean, in the future, his birthday's a holiday.... Crap! Crap. Crap." Hehehehehe

Close up on Spock's smile XD Yeah, you're damn right it's weird. Every time it happened in TOS it was deeply strange

"He'll get back to his, like, real serious self soon?" Oh Christine....

"We can't just not look!" I love this episode, really a lot

"Patience, forgiveness, benevolence... really great hair." XD

"Five to beam back." Pike's so done with this who thing, isn't he?

If Boimler is bad, Mariner will be even worse XD Boimler's just incompetent - Mariner won't care about flaunting time travel laws

"Stuck in San Fransisco in middle of a riot." Very specific. Do people now know Sisko pretended to be Gabriel Bell?

"I really want to say no, but how much more damage can you do at this point?"

"Are you familiar with Starfleet break codes?"

"Erica, you're brilliant!" "I am true why?"

"They had a Trelane thing." TOS REFERENCE

"And I never get caught." "What are you doing?" The comedic timing of this episode is so on point.

The fact the the two are being reprimanded by Pike while he's cooking cooking XD

"I love grapplers."

It's so cute everyone freaking out about the NX-01 :3

"Are we sounding like.. them?"

"Ad Astra per Aspera." "They put that on the poster?" My heart!!! Una you deserve this! "Your flagrant disregard for temporal protocols by telling me this is deeply troubling" Hah! Of course she has to cover up her emotions like that :3

"Live long and prosper." :o :o :o

The Orion scientist saying "That's all I've ever wanted" is everything.

The animated SNW crew is a real nice touch at the end :3

That was so much fun, guys. So funny too, I really loved it!

[hang-on-lil-tomato]

Rhys Darby on Faux Trek

ok…my emotions are so opposed. I am so happy for Rhys to get such a prominent role on this show…for a season opener. Yay Rhys ! The overnight sensation that took 30 years! On the other hand, I’m an old skool ORIGINAL REAL Star Trek. The new stuff isn’t trek at all. The trailer has a cgi space battle and the big solution they arrive at is ramming the ship. I can’t count how many times they did that in Berman Trek. It’s a cliche of chiches. It’s NOT at all like a real Star Trek battle. It’s more like Star Wars, with the ship ramming thing shoved in. The images are dark, not bright like the TOS by necessity had to be lit.

they’ve only told us Rhys will be a “legacy character”. Because gawd forbid they invent a new concept or character. Gotta get those memberberries in at every opportunity.

Here are my guesses: he’s going to be a Q, some kind of all powerful god being. Maybe a Trelane type.

Faux trek writers don’t have very much imagination, so that my initial idea.

when Cumberbatch announced he was Kahn—ugh… ludicrous idea. So that tells me the writers don’t know much about Star Trek except for a couple movies and maybe they saw Space Seed, but I doubt it. They’re writing really bad fan fiction, because at least fans KNOW the material they’re writing about.

bottom line: happy for rhys; disgusted with calling this stuff “star trek” when the showrunners and writers have such disdain for the original source material.

[aromantictendi]

Star Trek TOS Rewatch: Squire of Gothos

-It's probably because I rarely watch this show in any kind of order, but somehow during earlier watches I never really noticed the rotating navigation officers who would come and go before Chekov joined the cast. I mean I noticed them, but always thought they were random extras. But a few get a bit of personality and character development.

I liked Lt. DeSalle. It's too bad he only got one episode at the navigator's chair before being transferred somewhere else for his next appearance. My other favourite navigation officer so far has been Lt. Dave Bailey from The Corbomite Maneuver.

-The timeline's still a bit inconsistent this early in the series. Trelane says he's been watching Earth during Napolean which someone says was 900 years ago. That would put this episode in the 27th or 28th century. Shore Leave, which Netflix has just before Squire of Gothos, has them in the 23rd century which they'd eventually go with.

Uhura at one point also calls Starfleet 'Spacefleet Command.' another term I like but didn't stick.

-I've never seen official confirmation of it, but I always saw Trelane as a proto-Q. I don't think he works as an actual Q because he's not powerful enough (getting the food wrong, having a power source Kirk was able to at least briefly destabilize, etc.). But so much of John de Lancie's Q reminds me of Trelane, I'd be really surprised if he wasn't at least an inspiration.

[superpoweredfancast]

Star Trek #21 Review

Star Trek #21 IDW Publishing Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing Art by Megan Levens Colors by Lee Lougheridge Letters by Clayton Cowles The Rundown: The crew of the Theseus stand before some of the most powerful beings in the universe. The Theseus has shattered the boundaries of reality and find themselves among familiar beings including Bright Eyes, the Caretaker, Trelane and the…

[juniperika]

I've been watching TNG, this sounds weird, but I don't think I was ready to let go of the TOS characters, I needed some time to get used to the new cast

I do like Trelane 2 Q, Data, and the security officer, but when I mentioned the latter, my partner's face betrayed that I shouldn't get attached to her, so now I'm sad

The dude who can't sit down properly Riker looks sooo weird without the beard I can't focus on what he says, I'm staring at his chin the whole time

Troi is so OP, every episode starts with an explanation on why she can't use her powers because that would be too easy

Picard's most admirable quality so far is that he respects Data tbh

[sturayoflite]

'Star Trek: The Original Series': The 10 Most Powerful Characters, Ranked

[goofatron]

OC Personality Sheet

Tagged by: @skullharvester​ and @coraptedata​  Tagging: Anyone really lol

Trelane Powers

Alias: Trey, Lanny, Powergirl,

Gender: Female

Race: Black-White Biracial

Nationality: American

Age: 19 (in AU); 46 (in 2021)

DOB: May 12th 1975

Species: Human

Zodiac: Taurus; Rabbit (Chinese)

Abilities/Talents: Speaks like a million languages, can jerry rig even the most hopeless machines into working again, in tune with nature (speaks for the trees and all that), excellent marksmanship with her rifle (gift from her late father)

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: A free spirit (doesn't actually follow any religious code)

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility/ justice / kindness / patience

Languages: English, Spanish (mainly Mexican variant), French, Japanese, German, Chinese Mandarin, Italian, and Korean.

Family: Robert (Bob, Bobby) Powers (father; deceased); Olivia Jones (mother; left at birth); Louie and Joyce Mitchell (foster family after father was murdered)

Friends: Erick Rothstein; Donovan Ross

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it’s complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese / stocky

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other

Eyes: brown / blue-gray / green / black / other (cursed with heterochromia)

Skin: pale / fair (but tanned) / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 5'5" / ~167cm

Weight: 120lbs. / ~54kg

Scars: One giant scar going down her back from left shoulder blade to right hip - a single swipe from a large grizzly bear she and her dad ran into on their property in Alaska. She still has the paw from the bear who nearly killed her and loves to brag about it.

Facial Features: Oval face, freckles all over, soft-Nubian nose, average-thick brows, big lips = big smiles :)

Tattoos: none (though Erick keeps pestering her about it)

Dogs or Cats? Dogs for all eternity. She has 2: a golden retriever named, Emily; a german shepard named, Vengeance. They’re the same age but she rescued them at different times.  

Birds or Nugs? birds cus she doesnt know wtf a nug even is???

Snakes or Spiders? snakes though she doesnt mind spiders as long as they stay in their spaces.

Coffee or Tea? bean water 

Ice Cream or Cake? ice cream. she likes to bite through it to freak out her friends.

Fruits or Vegetables? vegetables, as she grew up learning how to farm. Fruits can be too sugary for her if they’re from a Super Market. 

Sandwich or Soup? Soups, as they’re hearty and good for the soul <3

Magic or Melee? Why is ranged not a choice?? >:I

Sword or Bow? oh there it is! Bow if she had to choose, but if it ever were an option: Gun. Always Gun. Gunbow perhaps?

Summer or Winter? Evolved with the capabilities to survive Alaskan winters in shorts and a tank top in a cabin with no internal heating system.

Spring or Autumn? Spring brings out new life and that means new meat to hunt!

The Past or The Future? Preferably the future. She doesn't like to look back because for her, it’s more bad memories than good. 

Erick Rothstein 

Alias: just Erick. don't call him ‘Rick’. 

Gender: Male

Race: White

Nationality:  German-American immigrant

Age: 18 in AU; 45 in 2021

DOB: September 11th 1975

Species: Human

Zodiac: Virgo; Rabbit (Chinese)

Abilities/Talents: Beautiful singing voice; voice actor; bendable; double-jointed

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: Agnostic if anything

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility/ justice / kindness / patience

Languages: English, German, Spanish (as far as high school Spanish goes)

Family: Conrad Rothstein (Father; Incarcerated); Fernanda Brandt (Mother; Incarcerated); Alvaro/Louie Rothstein Mitchell(Paternal Uncle; Disowned runaway); Joyce Mitchell (Aunt by marriage); Kimberly Mitchell (Cousin); Chad Mitchell (Cousin)

Friends: Trelane Powers; Donovan Ross

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it’s complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese / stocky

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other (ginger)

Eyes: brown / blue-gray / green / black / other

Skin: pale / fair / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 5'10" / ~155cm

Weight: 155lbs. / ~70kg

Scars: Do mental scars count? He does have scars on his back and legs all from a leather strap used by his parents. A few scars where his left kidney used to be when he got stabbed in the 90s after exiting a gay bar.

Facial Features: Oval and firm face, still got baby fat in some areas even in his 30s (lol), traditional Germanic pointed nose™

Tattoos: none (but he does want to get matching ones w/ Trey)

Dogs or Cats? Cats 100% as he is deathly afraid of dogs as they were used to torment him as a child. He does make an exception for both of Trey’s dogs, Emily and Vengeance however. 

Birds or Nugs? tf is a nug?? Birds, he guesses.

Snakes or Spiders? Neither (same reason as dogs)

Coffee or Tea? coffee 80% of the time. He’ll save tea for when he’s sick and on really chilly nights.

Ice Cream or Cake? Cake. His teeth are far too sensitive for ice cream unless it’s in the form of ice cream bars.

Fruits or Vegetables? he’ll consume fruit for days. hates green vegetables, only likes the colorful ones.

Sandwich or Soup? both. likes small sandwiches to dip into hot soup. gooood shit.

Magic or Melee? if he can use magic to fashion himself a guitar out of existance, he’s sure to win the battle through sonnets.

Sword or Bow? Why the violence? :c Why cant we all sing together? (he’s a bard at heart if it wasn't clear enough)

Summer or Winter? Summer is nice and warm; winter is numb and cold :c

Spring or Autumn? Spring! Though he does love the color changes that Autumn brings. Not so much the beginning of chilled air though.

The Past or The Future? Past? what past? there is not passst hahaha only the future with friends and new family :’) 

Donovan Ross

Alias: Donny, Don, D-man, Ross (school faculty)

Gender: Male

Race: Black

Nationality:  American

Age: 21 in AU; 47 in 2021

DOB: August 1st 1973

Species: Human

Zodiac: Leo; Ox (Chinese)

Abilities/Talents: 

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: Christianity 

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility/ justice / kindness / patience

Languages: English

Family: James Ross (Father); Roberta Wilson (Mother); Trixie Ross (Sister)

Friends: Trelane Powers; Donovan Ross; Elaina Heckathorne (Girlfriend)

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it’s complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese / stocky

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other 

Eyes: brown / blue-gray / green / black / other

Skin: pale / fair (but tanned) / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 6'2" / ~188cm

Weight: 164lbs. / ~74kg

Scars:

Facial Features: baby fat all through childhood, then chiseled features with a square jaw in adult hood. Wide and slightly bulbous nose.

Tattoos: None

Dogs or Cats? Dogs, but only small or medium sized.

Birds or Nugs? uh, birds? the heck are nugs?

Snakes or Spiders? Neither!

Coffee or Tea? gotta be decafe, but either works

Ice Cream or Cake? why isnt pie an option? :c

Fruits or Vegetables? Veggies. He has to be careful w/ fruits cus he’s allergic to most citrus fruits and bananas.

Sandwich or Soup? A nice, big, fat sandwich to fill ‘er up B)

Magic or Melee? Magic. As big and athletic he seems, he’s more into using his brains than brawn.

Sword or Bow? Short sword if nothing else, maybe even a dagger as he can just pull it out quickly for some fast jabbing action.

Summer or Winter? despite being born in the dead of summer, he’s a wintery boy

Spring or Autumn? Autumn for the same reason as a lot of people. Loves the changes in both color and the air.

The Past or The Future? He always looks forward to a brighter future, but is fond of looking back on his past. He’s made some really good memories with the people he’s met. :) 

[tothatmanonthebridge]

Review: Star Trek - The Original Series 'The Squire of Gothos' (S1 Ep18)

Trelane obviously has done his homework on humans, but he failed to learn the most sacred rule of human civilisation:

You don’t get to pick your own nickname.

It is a depressing thought that an outside vision of Earth would see war as our primary pastime, our way of being. But while Trelane gets the pattern right, he definitely misses the substance. War is not a feeling. It is something that happens to us, but it’s not the complex web of love and fear and hope and anger that constitutes our experience, whether in wartime or peacetime. Even when Trelane gets angry, it’s ultimately a shallow imitation. He says he experienced genuine anger, but for all his dramatics he never accesses the ‘real thing’.

Still, even as the episode positions the crew of the Enterprise as morally superior to Trelane, it does serve to poke holes in the ideology of the Starfleet. The phasers are notable for having a non-lethal setting, but they *can* kill. And Trelane’s demonstration of their power is chilling. Of course, the most disturbing element is Trelane’s giddy enthusiasm as he murders helpless creatures for no reason, when we have seen much more restraint from our heroes even when in direct conflict.

Every episode, the show announces that ‘space is the final frontier’. This statement evokes feelings of adventure and discovery. But, the American frontier was a violent conquest. The mission of the Enterprise, and its calm thoughtful realisation, might seem completely opposite to the lawless brutality of the wild west (that is to say, how it is depicted in film, the real history as I understand it, while very brutal, was much more complicated). However, the essential principles are similar: they are colonisers, never questioning their right to be cover new ground, and to settle wherever they please. Even if it’s relatively bloodless, I’d argue that it’s still violent.

Of course, a frontier does not have to be spatial. The frontier in the Star Trek universe is more one of knowledge (especially as the show so far can’t seem to decide if the ship is exploring mapped or unmapped territory). Acquiring knowledge about other species and planets is sort of gestured at half-heartedly within the plot, but really just like any good science fiction work, Star Trek deals with problems of human nature.

Even in the ostensibly ‘sillier’ episodes such as this one.

Some more thoughts:

I fully expected Desalle to bite it in this episode, he just exudes deadshirt energy and somehow he survived? Somehow everyone survived?

(Well, everyone human. R.I.P. Plum’s ex-girlfriend).

Actually wasn’t that creature the last of its kind? Did Trelane commit genocide??? It certainly fits the theme of the episode.

I noticed that Spock seems more comfortable in his position of authority here. It’s a nice continuation from Galileo Seven.

I love that this show seems fixated on two things: finding any excuse to dress up the women in period outfits, and undressing Kirk as much as possible…

The ending is obviously very similar to Charlie X, thank the PTB for deus ex machina eh? I do think Squire of Gothos is a better episode, although I did actually manage to have sympathy for the highly unlikeable Charlie at the end, who seemed genuinely terrified at going back to a life without love or affection, whereas with Trelane it was just a tantrum at playtime being over. It was appropriate of course, but by that point I was ready for it to be over tbh. I did love the spotlight focussed on Trelane and then slowly disappearing. It was a very appropriate artistic choice for our dramatic antagonist.

Queer Trek Corner:

How does this show keep getting gayer??? I realised I needed a dedicated section to keep my thoughts straight.

Not that my thoughts are ever ‘straight’ of course...

While Spock’s turn-on is obviously Kirk beating him at 3D chess, Kirk’s is evidently Spock delivering sick burns – which he does several times to Trelane in this episode. Here, Kirk gives Spock the most adoring look I have ever seen on a human being I MEAN COME ON THAT IS NOT A HETEROSEXUAL LOOK

And when Trelane attempts to force Kirk’s compliance, from a room full of onlooking crew members, he chooses to threaten Spock.

I’m sorry, it is a truth universally acknowledged that the villain will threaten the hero’s love interest. It’s a tale as old as time.

Now, Spock may not be a helpless damsel

-- I mean except in certain fun role-play situations… too much? --

but the effect is the same.

I think this could easily be one of my favourite episodes of season 1, but time will tell!

Next up: Arena