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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

Emergence

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 47869.2: While rehearsing a scene from “The Tempest” in the holodeck, Data and Picard are amazed when they are nearly run over by the Orient Express, the famed 19th century locomotive whose itinerary never once included Prospero’s island. Investigation of this quirk is postponed by the Enterprise’s sudden jump to warp speed, and a fortuitous exit from warp just in time to avoid the ship’s destruction. When the crew concentrates the search to this problem, a strange modification of the ship’s circuitry is discovered, one which seems to be tying many disparate systems together. When the ship’s systems take measures to protect the growing anomaly, the truth becomes clear – this is no accident, but a new intelligence all its own taking form within the Enterprise’s hull.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Joe Menosky
story by Brannon Braga
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: David Huddleston (The Conductor), Vinny Argiro (The Gunman), Thomas Kopache (The Engineer), Arlee Reed (Bumpkin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

Crossover

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: When a Runabout’s warp field doesn’t completely shut off as it enters the wormhole, Kira and Bashir are detoured into an alternate universe generated by the consequences of previous travelers’ interference. The station, still operating under its Cardassian name Terok Nor, and Intendant Kira Nerys lords over the station and its inhabitants with the help of first officer Garak and her Klingon cronies. Bashir is immediately forced to labor in the ore processing facility, while Kira meets her tyrannical, avaricious counterpart. Sisko and O’Brien are also to be found in this universe, as downtrodden humans living lives of virtual slavery under Kira’s whip. Treachery abounds aboard the station, and Kira and Bashir can only try to play all sides against each other in order to find a way back to their own universe.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Peter Allan Fields and Michael Piller
story by Peter Allan Fields
directed by David Livingston
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Andrew Robinson (Garak), John Cothran Jr. (Telok), Stephen Gevedon (Klingon #1), Jack R. Orden Star Trek: Deep Space Nine(Human), Dennis Madalone (Marauder)

Notes: Kira’s alter-ego explicitly states that this universe is indeed the same one that Kirk and his crew visited in the classic Trek episode Mirror, Mirror. The “Mirror Universe” would be revisited in several later Deep Space Nine episodes as well as the Enterprise two-parter In A Mirror Darkly.

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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

Preemptive Strike

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 47941.2: A reception for recent Stafleet Advanced Tactical Training graduate Ro Laren is cut short when the Enterprise responds to a Cardassian ship’s distress call. Arriving on the scene, Picard and the crew discover that the Cardassians are under attack by a flotilla of small vessels commanded by the renegade Maquis. After chasing them off and assisting the Cardassians, the Enterprise receives a visit from Admiral Nechayev, who delivers to Picard the message that Starfleet intends to use Ro to infiltrate the Maquis, and she accepts the mission, posing as an ex-Starfleet defector and gaining the acceptance of the Maquis. However, when Ro and her “fellow” Maquis are the targets of a vicious Cardassian sneak attack, she questions Starfleet’s rationale for stopping the Maquis and makes her defection a reality.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Renè Echavarria
story by Naren Shankar
directed by Patrick Stewart
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Michelle Forbes (Lt. Ro Laren), John Franklyn-Robbins (Macias), Natalija Nogulich (Admiral Nechayev), William Thomas Jr. (Santos), Shannon Cochran (Kalita), Richard Poe (Gul Evek)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

The Collaborator

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: The choosing of Bajor’s new Kai draws near, and some candidates are not above resorting to hardline tactics to discredit their rivals. When one of the top Bajoran traitors of the Cardassian occupation turns up on the station and is promptly pardoned by Vedek Winn, Kira’s suspicions are aroused, as is her anger when Winn accuses Vedek Bareil, the leading candidate in the race and Kira’s lover, of collaborating with the Cardassians. Kira makes every attempt to clear Bareil’s name as the election looms, but only discovers more evidence pointing him out as a traitor to the Bajora. By the time Kira learns the truth about Bareil’s involvement in a massacre that cost the lives of 43 Bajoran freedom fighters including the late Kai Opaka’s son, Winn has become Bajor’s new Kai.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Gary Holland and Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
story by Gary Holland
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Louise Fletcher (Vedek Winn), Philip Anglim (Vedek Bareil), Bert Remsen (Kubus), Camille Saviola (Kai Star Trek: Deep Space NineOpaka), Charles Parks (Eblan), Tom Villard (Prylar Bek)

Notes: Gary Holland was in charge of writing and producing the promos, “next week” trailers and print advertisements for the Star Trek series at the time this episode was written and aired; he named Prylar Bek in honor of the founder of Beck-Ola, a production company to whom Paramount outsourced the actual making of its Star Trek promos and trailers.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

All Good Things…

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate not applicable (prehistory): On the planet Earth, the crucial moment in which life is sparked in primeval chemicals fails to occur. The planet remains uninhabited and the human race never comes into existence.

Stardate 41148: A vaguely disoriented Captain Jean-Luc Picard arrives aboard the starship Enterprise to take command, shortly after which he suddenly orders a red alert. After this incident passes, he issues a number of inexplicable orders, trying to deliberately bring about a meeting with an entity known as Q, and later setting the Enterprise on a fateful course for a spatial anomaly in the Devron system…

Stardate 47998.1: A very disoriented Captain Picard reports that he has been shifting from the present to two very specific points in the past and future – seven years ago when he first arrived aboard the Enterprise, and 25 years into the future. En route to the Neutral Zone to investigate a massing of Romulan forces near a spatial anomaly in the Devron system, Picard is accosted once more by Q, who finally pronounces the verdict of humankind’s trial which began at Farpoint – guilty.

Stardate unknown (the future): A retired Jean-Luc Picard, suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder, has settled in France to tend to the family vineyards. Geordi, now a writer, visits Picard, who complains of unsettling images from nearly three decades ago. In the course of tracking down the cause of Picard’s visions, nearly all of his old crewmates are recruited in the quest, made difficult by strained relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, as well as those among the crew. Their destination is the Devron system, where, to Picard’s surprise, there is no sign of the existence of a spatial anomaly. At the heart of Picard’s mystery lies the secret needed to restore the flow of human history.

Order the DVDswritten by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: John de Lancie (Q), Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Andreas Katsulas (Tomalak), Clyde Kusatsu (Admiral Nakamura), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Pamela Kosh (Jessel), Tim Kelleher (Lt. Gaines), Alison Brooks (Ensign Chilton), Stephen Matthew Garvin (Ensign), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

Tribunal

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: O’Brien and Keiko depart in a runabout to enjoy some vacation time alone, but their plans are cut short when a Cardassian ship intercepts the runabout, sends a boarding party, and takes custody of O’Brien, sending Keiko back to the station. On Cardassia Prime, O’Brien is jailed and assigned a lawyer, even though he has already been charged, convicted and sentenced to execution. Cardassian law allows the spouse and counsel to attend the trial, and Odo, with his background in law enforcement under the Cardassian reign over Bajor, volunteers to be O’Brien’s counsel. Both are frustrated when no one will clarify what crime O’Brien is being accused of, and the Cardassian system of justice promises a speedy trial…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Bill Dial
directed by Avery Brooks
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Caroline Lagerfelt (Mokbar), Fritz Weaver (Conservator Kovat), John Beck (Boone), Richard Poe (Gul Evek), Julian Christopher (Clerk), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

The Jem’Hadar

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Sisko decides to take Jake and Nog to the Gamma Quadrant so they can survey an unexplored planet for a school science project, but is not so happy when Quark tags along to try to curry favor with the station commander. But even Quark becomes a minor inconvenience when a female of an unknown species stumbles across Sisko’s camp while the boys are off collecting firewood. Alien warriors known as the Jem’Hadar appear out of nowhere using personal cloaking devices and take Sisko, Quark and the fugitive Eris prisoner. Eris reveals that the Jem’Hadar are the most feared and ruthless soldiers in the Dominion, a Gamma Quadrant government which has oft been spoken of by those from the other side of the wormhole, but has yet to make a personal appearance. One of the Jem’Hadar visits the station and delivers an ultimatum to Kira – the Dominion will no longer tolerate unwanted guests from the Alpha Quadrant in their territory. Starfleet sends the Galaxy class starship Odyssey to retrieve Sisko and the others, but even the tallest ship of the fleet cannot withstand the brute force of the Jem’Hadar.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ira Steven Behr
directed by Kim Friedman
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Alan Oppenheimer (Captain Keogh), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Cress Williams (Telon), Molly Hagan (Eris), Star Trek: Deep Space NineMichael Jace (1st Officer), Sandra Grando (2nd Officer), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

Notes: Eris’ ability to generate a coherent burst of energy from her own body to use as a weapon was never seen again in other Vorta; either this ability was unique to her, or it was part of the charade. The use of a Galaxy class starship to demonstrate the Jem’Hadar’s offensive power was deliberate; producer Ira Steven Behr has commented that even the Enterprise-D probably would have been destroyed if it had shown up in the Odyssey’s place.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Captain Sulu / Excelsior Star Trek

Cacophony

Star Trek: CacophonyStardate 8764.3: A widespread subspace communications disruption near the planet Stentor gets the attention of Starfleet, and the Excelsior is dispatched to investigate. When the Excelsior reaches Stentor, hailing frequencies can’t even be opened – Stentor’s vicinity is blanketed with radio transmissions, and not just any transmission, but broadcasts originating from 20th century Earth. Only 20 years after the Federation made first contact with Stentor, the old Earth radio signals are being rebroadcast around the planet by powerful transmitters, even extending into the subspace frequencies. Worse yet, the Stentorian faction controlling the transmitters has declared these alien signals to be the voices of the gods, and they’re shutting out anyone else’s attempts to communicate to the masses – especially the opposing faction, which wants the signals stopped. Captain Sulu decides to introduce a little interference of his own to try to get both sides talking – and, more importantly, listening – to each other. But what Sulu has in mind may sound like a violation of the Prime Directive.

Order this CDwritten by J.J. Molloy
directed by Karen Frillman
George Takei directed by Jill Denby-Guest
music not credited

Cast: George Takei (Captain Sulu), Simon Jones (Lt. Commander Mulligan), Maryann Plunkett (Lt. Terra Spiro), Lynne Thigpen (Kandravex), Lee Wilkof (Ghazi)

Notes: Simon Jones will be a familiar voice to listeners of science fiction made for the ears; he starred in the original Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy radio serial as Arthur Dent and reprised that role in both the 1981 BBC TV series and in a more recent radio revival of Hitchhiker’s Guide. Lee Wilkof had a recurring role in the 80s SF series Max Headroom. Tony Award winner Lynne Thigpen was a cast member of the original stage production of Godspell, as well as in the film adaptation; she died in 2003. Maryann Plunkett has a previous Trek connection; she guest starred in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Identity Crisis as a former shipmate of Geordi’s.

At about the 28:20 mark into the story, sound effects from the 1981 arcade game Galaga can be heard.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

The Search – Part I

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 48212.4: Preparations are being made aboard DS9 for an inevitable visit from the Dominion, but no one can escape the fact that the station would wither under an attack from the Jem’Hadar. Commander Sisko, having gone to Earth for Starfleet briefings on the threat from the Gamma Quadrant, arrives in the experimental Federation vessel Defiant, a small ship originally created to do battle with the Borg. Carrying more firepower than any other Starfleet ship and a cloaking device loaned by the Romulans, the Defiant is to go to the Dominion before the Dominion arrives in the Alpha Quadrant; if need be, the ship is also to take the fight to the other side of the galaxy. Another innovation brought about by Starfleet Command is the transfer of a Starfleet security officer to the station, relieving Odo of all but station-bound security matters. The shapeshifter withdraws in anger while Sisko assembles a crew for the Defiant’s mission to seek out the Dominion for negotiations, but joins the Defiant crew at the last minute. A trade contact of Quark’s offers some information but little help in the search for the Founders of the Dominion, but does point the crew out to a planet through which most Dominion communications pass. When the Defiant arrives there, Dax and O’Brien beam down and find the possible coordinates of the Dominion command center – and are captured by the Jem’Hadar, who have also arrived in force in orbit. The Defiant manages to take out only one Jem’Hadar ship and barely survives the withering assault of the remaining attackers. The Defiant is boarded and Kira is blasted unconscious in the ensuing melee. Odo takes her and evacuates in an escape shuttle, heading not back to the station, but to a planet in the Omarian Nebula with which he has been preoccupied since arriving in the Gamma Quadrant. The planet turns out to be the home of a race of life forms very like Odo himself, one of which welcomes him home.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ronald D. Moore
story by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
directed by Kim Friedman
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Salome Jens (Female Shapeshifter), Martha Hackett (SubCommander T’rul), John Fleck (Karemma), Kenneth Star Trek: Deep Space NineMarshall (Lt. Commander Eddington)

Notes: Salome Jens had previously appeared in a very Odo-esque makeup in the sixth season Next Generation episode The Chase; no connection was intended between the two characters. Martha Hackett would later surface on Voyager in the recurring role of Seska. This episode introduces the Defiant to Deep Space Nine; the new ship was intended to convince disgruntled Next Generation fans that the series’ action wasn’t simply confined to the station.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

The Search – Part II

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Odo has arrived on his home world, greeted by his fellow shapeshifters. He at last learns of his origins – he, along with hundreds of other newly-formed shapeshifters, were dispelled into the far reaches of space and genetically programmed to return home with their knowledge later; Odo is the first to make it back. But his homecoming is not without its complications – his fellow shapeshifters consider him tainted by the many years he has spent in the comapny of “solids,” and he has much to learn about his heritage. In the meantime, Sisko and Bashir, having escaped the Defiant in a shuttle, are picked up by Dax and O’Brien, who return them to DS9. Negotiations are now apparently underway between the Dominion and the Federation, but some of the proposed treaty’s stipulations have sinister undercurrents; the Romulans are being excluded from the talks, though the Cardassians, Ferengi and Klingons are being welcomed, and it is revealed to Sisko that the station – and Bajor – are being handed over to the Dominion. As the Jem’Hadar being walking over the station’s inhabitants, Sisko and his crew – and unlikely ally Garak – take up arms to try to take DS9 back from its new owners. Meanwhile, on the planet of the shapeshifters and unknown to all, the Founders lie in wait, conducting a terrifying experiment.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ira Steven Behr
story by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Salome Jens (Female Shapeshifter), Andrew Robinson (Garak), Natalija Nogulich (Admiral Nechayev), Martha Hackett (SubCommander T’rul), Kenneth Marshall (Lt. Commander Eddington), William Frankfather (Male Shapeshifter), Dennis Christopher (Borath), Christopher Doyle (Jem’Hadar Officer), Tom Morga (Jem’Hadar Soldier), Diaunte (Jem’Hadar Guard), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

The House of Quark

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: A drunk Klingon named Kozak tries to kill Quark in a dispute over his bar tab, and winds up falling on his own knife by accident. Quark, attempting to boost business, tells Odo that he bravely killed Kozak in self-defense. Odo warns that Kozak’s family will come after Quark to claim the right of vengeance, which springs to mind very quickly when a new Klingon arrival who claims to be Kozak’s brother D’Ghor accosts Quark on the station. But D’Ghor doesn’t want revenge, he wants Quark to keep quiet about the true nature of Kozak’s death to avoid dishonoring his family.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ronald D. Moore
story by Tom Benko
directed by Les Landau
music by Richard Bellis

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Mary Kay Adams (Grilka), Carlos Carrasco (D’Ghor), Max Grodenchik (Rom), Robert O’Reilly (Gowron), Joseph Ruskin (Tumek), John Lendale Bennett (Kozak)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Equilibrium

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: During an informal home-cooked dinner held by Sisko for the senior staff, Dax picks up a musical instrument of Jake’s and begins to pick out, seemingly at random, a tune which she becomes preoccupied with, and it follows her into some disturbing hallucinations of masked figures. A medical checkup reveals some deficiencies in the chemical links between Jadzia and the Dax symbiont, necessitating a trip to the specialized medical facilities on the Trill planet. Though she shows favorable response to her initial treatments, Dax goes into shock when the computer aboard the Defiant displays a picture of the Trill composer of the song that has been on her mind. Sisko and Bashir try to seek out the mysterious link with the long-dead musician and Dax only to have all the official channels closed in their faces to protect a devastating secret, the cost of which will be Jadzia’s life.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rene Echeverria
story by Christopher Teague
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Lisa Banes (Dr. Renhol), Jeff Magnus McBride (Joran Belar), Nicholas Cascone (Timor), Harvey Vernon (Yolan Belar)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Second Skin

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Kira sets off for Bajor when it is revealed that her memories of a specific event in the Cardassian occupation differ with the official records of the Bajoran central archives. She never makes it to the archives, however, because she is captured and transported to Cardassia Prime, where she wakes up with the features of a Cardassian. She is told time and again that she is, in fact, a Cardassian by birth whose deep cover spying assignment necessitated her cosmetic alteration to look like a Bajoran rebel named Kira Nerys who was captured and killed. But she begins to worry when the Cardassians’ efforts to make her believe this story seem to go above and beyond their normal brainwashing techniques, including the arrival of a high-ranking Legate who claims that Kira is his daughter. Kira doesn’t have any information that the Cardassians would go to these lengths to retrieve and begins to wonder if perhaps the history of which she has just learned is true.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert Hewitt Wolfe
directed by Les Landau
music by David Bell

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Andrew Robinson (Garak), Gregory Sierra (Entek), Tony Papenfuss (Survivor), Cindy Katz (Nurse), Lawrence Pressman (Ghemor), Christopher Carroll (Gul Benil), Freyda Thomas (Alenis Grem), Billy Burke (Ari)

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Star Trek The Movies The Next Generation

Star Trek: Generations

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate not given: Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are present for the christening of the newly constructed starship Enterprise NCC-1701-B, during which Kirk gives the first order to launch the ship. Shortly afterward, an emergency arises, and the new Enterprise is the only ship close enough to respond, despite the fact that it is untested and carries only a skeleton crew. The Enterprise is battered in an urgent mission to reach a smaller vessel and rescue her crew, and many of the doomed ship’s survivors are pleading to go back from where they came, though it is obvious that they are not referring to their destroyed vessel. One of the survivors, Soran, means to rediscover something amazing he found, something which caused the destruction of his ship. Another survivor, a mysterious woman named Guinan, will someday be aboard a ship called Enterprise again. As the Enterprise-B limps away from her first crisis, an energy remnant from the same phenomenon that destroyed the smaller ships strikes the Enterprise, and Kirk is killed – or at least it seems so to his colleagues…

Stardate 48650.1: A holodeck celebration of Worf’s promotion to lieutenant commander is cut short by a personal communique to Picard and a distress call from the Amargosa Solar Observatory. By the time the Enterprise reaches the observatory, attackers – apparently Romulans – have already left their mark. Back on the Enterprise, Data decides that the time has finally come for him to try Dr. Soong’s emotion chip for himself. Dr. Soran, a researcher from the observatory, insists on returning there so he can continue his work in spite of the recent attack. It is discovered that the Romulan attackers were searching for trilithium, a vital component in a new and highly destructive explosive device. Data and Geordi are scanning for trilithium on the observatory when Data is overcome with emotions; Dr. Soran appears and takes this opportunity to take them hostage. Aboard the Enterprise, Picard reveals to Troi that he received a message earlier informing him of the death of the only other living members of the Picard family, leaving him the sole survivor of his family line. When Soran launches a probe from the observatory into a nearby star, the star explodes, leaving only minutes before the stellar shock waves reach and destroy the Enterprise and the entire solar system. Worf and Riker beam to the observatory and rescue the fear-stricken Data, but Soran has captured Geordi and transports away to a Klingon Bird of Prey which, along with the Enterprise, barely escapes the star’s death throes in time. The Klingon ship is commanded by the Duras sisters.

On the Enterprise, the incident nearly 80 years ago involving the Enterprise-B is investigated when Soran and Guinan are both discovered to have been there. Guinan explains to Picard that Soran is trying to replicate the ribbon of immense energy that destroyed the ship they were on decades ago, since it was a doorway to an ethereal plane of eternal happiness, so he can return there. Picard and Data find out that Soran destroyed the star to divert the energy so he can once again reach the Nexus, but another star will have to be detonated before Soran can reach his goal – and that star’s solar system is heavily populated. The Enterprise tracks down the Duras sisters’ ship, and Picard agrees to exchange himself for Geordi as a hostage so he can try to stop Soran. Picard finds himself on one of the target star’s planets, where Soran is moments away from firing another probe that will finally allow him to reach the Nexus. Geordi is returned to the Enterprise with a nanite-like transmitter that sends his VISOR’s input to the Klingon sisters, who use information Geordi sees in engineering to launch a withering attack on the Enterprise. Worf discovers a weakness in the Bird of Prey’s defenses, and manages to destroy the Duras sisters at last, but the Enterprise has sustained more damage than can be contained, and the crew is evacuated to the saucer section so the warp drive section can be jettisoned before it goes critical.

Picard manages to attack Soran, but not before the scientist launches his probe into the star. The Enterprise’s drive section explodes, catapulting the saucer straight into the planet’s atmosphere, where it lands safely, though the Enterprise will never take to the stars again. When the Nexus opens up, Soran and Picard are sucked into it; moments later, the exploding star destroys the planet the Enterprise’s saucer has landed on.

In the Nexus, Picard encounters a fragment of Guinan that was left in the rift in the Enterprise-B incident. She informs him that he can go to whatever time he wishes, and Picard intends to use this ability to prevent Soran from launching the probe that destroys the star and its planets. Guinan also suggests that Picard seek the help of another starship captain who was captured in the Nexus when the Enteprise-B was struck by its energy discharge after rescuing Guinan. That individual happens to be James T. Kirk. Picard convinces Kirk to help him stop Soran, and they emerge at the point in time before Soran launched his final probe. The captains’ combined efforts thwart Soran’s plans and result in the mad scientist’s death at the hands of his own grounded probe, but Kirk has suffered mortal injuries in the course of the battle and dies just before a shuttle from the Enterprise arrives to retrieve Picard, while the Enterprise crew is evacuated to the starship Farragut, leaving the wreckage of Picard’s most legendary command on the planet surface.

Order this movie on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
story by Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Brent Spiner (Data), LeVar Burton (Geordi), Michael Dorn (Worf), Gates McFadden (Beverly), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Malcolm McDowall (Soran), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), James Doohan (Scotty), Walter Koenig (Chekov), William Shatner (Kirk), Barbara March (Lursa), Gwynyth Walsh (B’etor), Alan Ruck (Captain Harriman), Jacqueline Kim (Ensign Demora Sulu), Jenette Goldstein (Enterprise-B Science Officer), Glenn Morshower (Enterprise-B Helm), Tim Russ (Enterprise-B Lieutenant), Thomas Kopache (Enterprise-B Communications), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Christine Jansen (Journalist), John Putch (Journalist), Tommy Hinckley (Journalist), Michael Mack (Ensign Hayes), Dendrie Taylor (Lt. Farrell), Granville Ames (Transporter Chief), Henry Marshall (Security Officer), Brittany Parkyn (Girl with Teddy Bear), Rif Hutton (Klingon Guard), Brian Thompson (Klingon Helm), Marcy Goldman, Jim Krestaiuce, Judy Levitt, Kristopher Logan, Gwen van Dam (El-Aurian Survivors), Kim Braden (Picard’s Wife), Cristopher James Miller (Rene), Matthew Collins, Mimi Collins, Thomas Alexander Dekker, Madison P. Dinton, Olivia Hack (Picard’s Children), and Spot

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Meridian

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 48423.2: Exploring the Gamma Quadrant, the Defiant arrives at a planetless star just in time to see an entire planet appear from nowhere. Its inhabitants seem friendly, and invite Sisko, Dax and O’Brien to beam down and visit. They discover that the planet Meridian and its peaceful inhabitants spend sixty years in a non-corporeal form, and emerge into solidity for only a few days at a time. The crew sets about trying to find out why Meridian disappears, and discover a possible way of keeping the planet around longer the next time it reappears in physical form. During the extended visit, Dax falls in love with Daral, but Meridian will be gone again before its existence in either plane can be stabilized, and Dax wants to stay with Daral – whether it means him leaving Meridian, or Dax shifting into a non-corporeal life form with the rest of the planet’s residents.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Mark Gehred O’Connell
story by Hilary J. Bader & Evan Carlos Somers
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Brett Cullen (Daral), Christine Healy (Selten), Jeffrey Combs (Teron), Mark Humphrey (Child)

LogBook entry by Earl Green