Category: Star Trek

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Absolute Candor

Star Trek: Picard2385: Admiral Picard’s convoy of transports delivers the latest round of Romulan refugees to the desert planet Vashti, a quarter of a million Romulans who immediately find the aid of the Qowat Milat sisterhood of Romulan warrior nuns. A young Romulan boy, Elnor, lives among the nuns, eagerly awaiting Picard’s next visit, though both Picard and the nuns know that a more suitable home will have to be found for Elnor soon. While he is on the surface, Picard receives word of the sneak attack on Mars, and must beam up immediately to find out how the event will impact the Romulan evacuation effort.

2399: En route to Freecloud, a lawless outpost where Bruce Maddox is believed to be hiding, Picard wants La Sirena to make a stop at the Romulan refugee world Vashti, where he hopes to convince one of the warrior nuns – if their order still exists – to join him on his mission as security. He’s disturbed to find that, without Federation aid, the Romulan colony has descended into poverty and disorder, with a new and violent form of Romulan nationalism gaining ground among the locals. The Qowat Milat order is still acting as a force for good on Vashti, and Elnor – now older and a wielder of his own sword – still lives among them. But like Rafi before him, Elnor is upset that Picard suddenly stopped coming to Vashti, and that the Federation’s rescue efforts ceased shortly thereafter. No longer confident that he can find a protector here, Picard prepares to leave Vashti, but he has been recognized by the locals, some of whom would be happy to make sure he doesn’t leave Vashti alive – at least until Elnor intervenes, having decided to help Picard after all. But they are no safer aboard La Sirena, which is under attack by a 23rd century Romulan Bird of Prey flown by the local warlord. Even in space, though, help comes from an unlikely source.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Chabon
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Peyton List (Narissa), Amirah Vann (Zani), Rebecca Wisocky (Ramdha), Ian Nunney (young Elnor), Evan Parke (Tenqem Adrev), Erik Alvarez (Refugee #1), Willow Geer (Kibitzer #2), Djamel Hamdad (Refugee #2), Ken Lyle (Fruit Vendor), Linda Nile (Kibitzer #3), Ciro Suarez (Kibitzer #1), Heather Wynters (Shai)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: This is the first appearance of Seven of Nine since the Star Trek: Voyager series finale, Endgame (2001), though very little of what has happened to her between Endgame and this episode is known. (Though a series of novels expanded on the crew of Voyager after their return to Earth, the Star Trek novels are notorious for being invalidated by later TV and film projects.) During writing and pre-production of the film Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), Paramount Pictures executives wanted Seven written into that movie’s storyline, though ultimately, Jeri Ryan was uninterested in reprising the role at that time, so the character was dropped from the story. It’s unknown what role she would have played in Nemesis, or if it would have precluded how the character of Seven is utilized in this series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Stardust City Rag

Star Trek: Picard2386: Icheb, a former Borg removed from the collective and raised aboard the U.S.S. Voyager, now a lieutenant in Starfleet, has been captured by someone who is trying to remove any Borg implants or technology left in his body – even if it kills him. Seven of Nine, a fellow survivor of Borg assimilation from Voyager, comes to his aid, but only too late. Icheb begs to be put out of his misery; Seven obliges and vows to avenge him, the closest she ever came to having a child of her own.

2399: Rescued by La Sirena after sacrificing her own spacecraft in the battle against a Romulan warlord over Vashti, Seven reluctantly listens to Picard as he tells her of his mission to find Maddox, and then find Dahj’s sister. As the leader of a well-meaning vigilante ground called the Fenris Rangers, which sprang up after the Federation gave up any kind of rescue or law-enforcement efforts on newly Romulan-colonized worlds and nearby space, Seven is accustomed to stories about those in need of help. When she learns that Maddox is being held for the Tal Shiar by someone named Bjayzl on Freecloud, Seven offers herself up as a “hostage” – her Borg implants will prove irresistible to Bjayzl, as Icheb’s did thirteen years earlier. With each member of La Sirena‘s crew given a part to play, the effort to extract Maddox is expected to play out like a heist – until Seven, given the opportunity, turns it into a hostage crisis, ready to exact revenge on Bjayzl. She buys time for Picard, Rios, and Elnor to save Maddox, and only reluctantly beams back to La Sirena herself without killing Bjayzl…for the moment. But there is another killer aboard the ship, waiting for an opportunity to eliminate a very specific target.

Order DVDswritten by Kirsten Beyer
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Dominic Burgess (Mr. Vup), Necar Zadegan (Bjayzl), John Ales (Bruce Maddox), Mason Gooding (Gabriel Hwang), Landry Allbright (Chop Doc), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Ayushi Chhabra (Pel), Nightbox Piano Player (Casey Childs), Casey King (Icheb), Sam Marra (Bartender)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Though characters from past episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager play major parts in this episode, they have both been recast. Originally played by Brian Brophy in 1989‘s The Measure Of A Man, Maddox is portrayed by John Ales in this episode; while Maddox was mentioned by name in Data’s Day (1991), this is only the character’s second on-screen appearance. Icheb, a recurring character introduced in Voyager’s sixth season in the episode Collective, was previously played by Manu Intiraymi in a total of eleven episodes of that series; the part is played (very briefly) here by Star Trek: PicardCasey King. (The cortical node that Bjayzl’s underling can’t find was donated to Seven of Nine in 2000‘s Imperfection). Signs in Stardust City suggest that either Quark left Deep Space Nine to set up his bar on Freecloud, or that Quark’s Bar has become a franchised entity (the Grand Nagus would be proud); also seen is a sign for Mr. Mot’s Hair Emporium, presumably operated by the Bolian hairstylist who once ran the Enterprise-D’s barbershop (Ensign Ro, 1991; Schisms, 1992).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

The Impossible Box

Star Trek: Picard2399: Maddox has died in La Sirena‘s sick bay; though Agnes Jurati was with him at the time, she says his injuries were too severe. But he still had time to reveal Soji’s location – on the Borg cube in Romulan space known as the Artifact – to Picard. Rafi calls in a favor from an old friend to get Picard permission to visit the Artifact, but Rafi then returns to her quarters (and the bottle), still stung by her son’s rejection of her on Freecloud. Aboard the Artifact, Picard is haunted by memories of his own time as part of the Borg collective, but is brought back to the present by Hugh, a fellow reclaimed Borg who found his individuality aboard the Enterprise. Soji investigates her own personal belongings, finding out that photos, scrapbooks, and other personal effects are no more than three years old: her life has been a lie. Narek offers to share a Romulan ritual with Soji that would uncover the meaning of a series of disturbing dreams she has had – dreams that, in the end, reveal to her that she is constructed, not human. Once her dream/memory uncovers a clue to a possible location, Narek is done with Soji, sealing her in a room with a Romulan radioactive weapon and leaving her to her fate. Her strength as a synthetic life form now fully activated by the life-or-death situation, she tears through the floor of the room to escape, finding Picard and Hugh; Hugh reveals that the Borg long ago assimilated a Delta Quadrant technology that could allow Picard and Soji to escape, and Picard knows where Soji was constructed…but so do the Romulans.

Order DVDswritten by Nick Zayas
directed by Maja Vrvilo
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh), Peyton List (Narissa), Barbara Harris (Emmy), Sumalee Montano (Marisol Asha), Marti Matulis (XB Worker), Ella McKenzie (young Soji), Rico McClincton (Older XB), Charlie Newhart (Romulan Guard)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Hugh reveals that the entirety of the series to this point has happened in a two-week period. Romulan scientists and doctors aboard the Artifact have devised a way to reverse much of the physical remnants of Borg assimilation, though not the psychological effects. Soji has an “Adventures Of Flotter” lunchbox, hearkening back to a character from a 1998 episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Once Upon A Time, of which Naomi Wildman was also a fan. Narek’s radiation-based weapon bears a strong similarity to the Thaleron radiation bomb deployed to eliminate the Romulan senate in the opening scenes of 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. The Borg acquired the spatial trajector technology from the same race that Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew met in Prime Factors (1995). Picard was assimilated by the Borg in part one of The Best Of Both Worlds (1990), an event that continued to haunt him, especially during later encounters with the Borg such as Star Trek: First Contact (1996), brief flashes of which are shown as part of Picard’s traumatic flashbacks.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Nepenthe

Star Trek: Picard2399: Picard and Soji escape to the planet Nepenthe – not the planet where Soji was constructed, but rather a planet where Picard knows he can find refuge in the home of Will Riker and Deanna Troi, how former Enterprise shipmates. He introduces them – and their daughter Kestra – to Soji, who is still unsure she can trust anyone in her life. On the Artifact, where Elnor stayed behind to cover Picard’s escape, the young Romulan now turns his sword to the task of defending Hugh from the Romulans. Whatever benefits the Romulans brought to the former Borg, Hugh now knows it wasn’t out of altruism, and plans to take the Borg cube away from the Romulans – an ambition that costs him his life, leaving Elnor alone with only one chance to ask for help. On Nepenthe, Picard has to gain Soji’s trust and try to elicit from her the same clues to her place of origin that the Romulans already have.

Order DVDswritten by Samantha Humphrey & Michael Chabon
directed by Doug Aarniokosky
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh), Peyton List (Narissa), Tamlyn Tomita (Commodore Oh), Lulu Wilson (Kestra Riker), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Will Riker’s home defense system is in place due to recent problems with Kzinti, a cat-like race created by Larry Niven and “imported” into the Star Trek universe in Niven’s sole animated Star Trek episode The Slaver Weapon (1973). Kestra Riker is named after Deanna’s sister, who died when Deanna was a baby (Dark Page, 1993). Deanna apparently never rose higher in rank than commander, a rank she achieved during her tour of duty on the Enterprise (Thine Own Self, 1994). Kestra’s older brother, Thaddeus, was born around 2381, but died young due to a disease whose known cure would have to have been cultured in a synth’s positronic matrix, meaning that Thad died as a result of the synth ban; Riker and his family moved to Nepenthe, a planet with natural healing qualities, in the hope of restoring him to health. Thad was named after an ancestor of Riker’s who fought in the American Civil War (Death Wish, 1996).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Broken Pieces

Star Trek: Picard2384: Ramdha and her niece, Narissa, are present at a ceremony held for a select few members of the secretive Romulan organization known as the Zhat Vash. On a distant planet, they tap into an ancient device known only as the Admonition, which gives all of them the same vision – a vision of synthetic life destroying organic life and laying waste to the universe. Some of the Romulans are driven mad by this vision; Ramdha and Narissa vow to prevent it from ever happening, no matter the cost.

2399: Agnes Jurati’s sins have been revealed: not only was she the means through which the Romulans were tracking La Sirena, but she murdered Bruce Maddox. At the sight of Soji, Captain Rios withdraws to his quarters, leaving his holograms to run the ship. Rafi tries to get him to reveal what is bothering him, only to find that his story – of his former life as a Starfleet officer, serving under a captain who killed himself under mysterious circumstances – connects to information that Jurati, Soji, and Picard have. The scope of the Romulans’ plan is finally apparent. Acting upon an urge to prevent the events seen in the Admonition, and learning of the cybernetic experiments of Noonian Soong, the Romulans infiltrated Starfleet, and engineered the synthetic life forms’ attack on Mars. The resulting synth ban drove Bruce Maddox underground, and led him to create an entire race of synths on another planet – the world Soji sees in her dreams. The Romulans are prepared to commit genocide to prevent synths from gaining a place alongside organic life…and only Picard and the others aboard La Sirena stand in their way.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Chabon
directed by Maja Vrvilo
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Peyton List (Narissa), Tamlyn Tomita (Commodore Oh), Rebecca Wisocky (Ramdha), Ann Magnuson (Admiral Clancy), Derek Webster (Romulan Centurion), Jane Hae Kim (Tal Shiar Female #1), Kendra Munger (Tal Shiar Female #2)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Derek Webster, whose Romulan character has a very brief scene with Narissa, is a Star Trek veteran: one of his first TV roles was as Lt. Sanders in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Gambit Part I (1993). Other genre appearances include Stargate, seaQuest 2032, M.A.N.T.I.S., Independence Day, and he was a regular in the first season of the late ’90s Glen A. Larson superhero series Nightman.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Et In Arcadia Ego – Part 1

Star Trek: Picard2399: Using the knowledge of Borg transwarp conduits that Soji gained while working aboard the Artifact, La Sirena reaches Soji’s home planet in mere minutes, while the Romulan fleet going there to destroy the planet lags about a day behind at mere warp speeds. Narek, following in a Romulan fighter, tries to take down La Sirena, but the crews of both ships are caught off guard by the arrival of a Borg cube: the Artifact is now fully functional again thanks to Seven of Nine. All three ships are immediately attacked by bio-organic automated defense systems around the planet and forced to land. The Borg ship suffers severe damage as a result, but both Elnor and Seven survive. Picard and the others from La Sirena walk to the home settlement of the synths, finding a lone human there: Altan Soong, son of Data’s creator, Noonian Soong, and former secret collaborator of Bruce Maddox. It is Soong who created Dahj and Soji, and has created an entire community of other synthetic twins, one of which has learned how to mind meld, and does so with Jurati. But this reveals that the Admonition is an offer of help from a union of synthetics beyond the Federation’s home galaxy – an offer of help that also means the eradication of organic life. Worse yet, knowing that a fleet of over 200 Romulan ships draws near, the synths decide to accept that offer and send out a distress signal.

Order DVDsteleplay by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman
story by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman & Akiva Goldsman
directed by Akiva Goldsman
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Brent Spiner (Altan Inigo Soong), Peyton List (Narissa), Brian DeRozan (Romulan Officer), Matt Perfetuo (Rune), Mike Perfetuo (Codex), Jade Ramsey (Arcana), Nikita Ramsey (Saga), Zachary James Rukavina (XB/Nameless), and Spot II

Star Trek: PicardNotes: The episode’s namesake is a 1638 painting by Nicolas Poussin, now held in the Louvre, and is generally understood to mean that even in a utopia or other ideal place, death still exists. The clothes worn by some of the synthetic life forms created by Soong and Maddox are strongly reminiscent of fashions from 1960s Star Trek, including the barely-there outfits worn by such past synthetic life forms as Rayna (Requiem For Methuselah, 1969) and Andrea (What Are Little Girls Made Of?, 1966), suggesting a connection between those androids and the work of the Soong family (and suggesting that classic series costume designer William Ware Theiss Star Trek: Picardcasts a vast shadow across the entire franchise). It is worth noting, in light of the Romulans’ aversion to artificial life (and their apparent contact with sympathetic members of Starfleet), that every developer of artificial life in Star Trek lore, from Dr. Roger Korby to Flint to Noonian Soong, has worked on their creations in seclusion. Alluded to in previous episodes but never named, Picard’s terminal brain-related ailment is hinted to be the irumodic syndrome detected by Dr. Crusher in All Good Things… (1994), though the third season contradicts this by saying that Picard never developed that condition in this timeline.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Et In Arcadia Ego – Part 2

Star Trek: Picard2399: The synthetics have taken Picard prisoner as they build a beacon that will summon a league of powerful synthetics from beyond the galaxy. Agnes Jurati has been granted amnesty by Alton Soong and his creations, but is aware that Soong is trying to manipulate her. Narek slips into the Borg cube to retrieve grenades so he can ground the synths’ small defensive fleet, but is followed by Elnor. Narek surrenders himself to Raffi and Rios, offering to help them return to the synths’ settlement and destroy the beacon…but Elnor doesn’t trust his fellow Romulan to live up to his word. While they put that plan in motion, Jurati helps Picard escape, and they make their way back to La Sirena and take off, while Picard desperately tries to think of a plan to stall the Romulan fleet in the hope – but with absolutely no certainty – that Starfleet is on its way to protect the synths and fend of the Romulans. Even if Starfleet does arrive, whatever emerges from the portal generated by the beacon may be more powerful than both fleets…and Picard’s condition is worsening, limiting his ability to play a key role in preventing an all-out war.

Order DVDsteleplay by Michael Chabon
story by Michael Chabon & Akiva Goldsman
directed by Akiva Goldsman
music by Jeff Russo
Blue Skies performed by Isa Briones

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Brent Spiner (Altan Inigo Soong), Peyton List (Narissa), Tamlyn Tomita (Commodore Oh), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Brian DeRozan (Romulan Officer), Matt Perfetuo (Rune), Mike Perfetuo (Codex), Jade Ramsey (Arcana), Nikita Ramsey (Saga)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 01 Star Trek

Second Contact

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate 57436.2: Ensign D’Vana Tendi, an Orion, is welcomed aboard the Starfleet ship U.S.S. Cerritos just before it goes to conduct second contact, formalizing Federation relations with the Galardonians, an agrarian species first contacted a year ago. Tendi meets fellow Ensigns Boimler, Mariner, and Rutherford, though Mariner at some point had made it to lieutenant before being busted down again. The eager-to-please Boimler is nervous when Captain Freeman herself summons him to her ready room…to ask him to report on any unauthorized activities engaged in by Mariner. When Commander Ransom and his away team return from meeting the Galardonians, Ransom has unwittingly brought a virus back with him, and he is the first to devolve into a zombie-like berzerker, spreading the infection by biting fellow crew members. The ensuing mayhem threatens to derail Rutherford’s date with Ensign Barnes, but doesn’t affect Mariner and Boimler at all since they’re also on away duty. Boimler misinterprets Mariner’s interactions with the Galardonians, leading to a diplomatic faux pas that makes things much worse for the away team…who still have no idea what to expect when they return to the Cerritos.

Order DVDswritten by Mike McMahan
directed by Barry J. Kelly
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Jessica McKenna (Ensign Barnes), Phil LaMarr (Admiral), Ben Rodgers (Lt. Commander Stevens), Paul Scheer (Lt. Commander Billups)

Notes: The first studio-produced animated Star Trek series since the animated extension of the original series left NBC’s airwaves in 1974, Lower Decks is the creation of writer Mike McMahan. While working as a production assistant and writers’ assistant on such animated Star Trek: Lower Decksshows as South Park, Out There, and Rick & Morty, McMahan started an irreverent Twitter account positing unlikely storylines for an “unmade eighth season” of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Material from that account was published in an officially licensed Star Trek book, Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season in 2015, by which point he had been promoted to writer and story editor on Rick & Morty. Another animated series created by McMahan, Solar Opposites, featured a strong sci-fi element and premiered on Hulu just a few months before Star Trek: Lower Decks; he also wrote a live-action Short Treks short centered around Harry Mudd, The Escape Artist. (Two other Short Treks, The Girl Who Made The Stars and Ephraim And DOT, reintroduced Star Trek viewers to the animated side of the franchise as one-offs.)

Star Trek: Lower DecksFamiliar Star Trek species spotted in this episode alone include a Benzite ensign boarding the Cerritos with Tendi, a Bajoran (Shaxs), a Caitian (Dr. T’Ana, a species not seen since Star Trek IV), and Rutherford’s date, Ensign Barnes, is a Trill. As the crew is recovering from the “rage virus”, an Andorian and a Vulcan are seen, the latter of whom may want to look in a mirror (mirror) before returning to duty. Rutherford himself has recently received a cybernetic enhancement, which hopefully has a better firewall than Lt. Airiam’s, and at least one crewmember on the Cerritos wears a VISOR similar to that worn by Geordi LaForge. Even Boimler knows who Spock is, but he’ll have to look Gary Mitchell (Where No Man Has Gone Before, 1966) up in the database. The Genesis Project was an unmentionable-in-public secret in the 23rd century, but is apparently public knowledge in the 24th. The Cerritos’ shuttles are named after American national parks: Redwood, Yosemite and Joshua Tree. Lower Decks takes place roughly a year after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 01 Star Trek

Envoys

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate not given: Ensign Boimler is terribly impressed (with himself) when he’s assigned to escort a Klingon named K’orin to a starbase via shuttlecraft. Ensign Mariner manages to get herself assigned to this mission as well, and to Boimler’s horror, Mariner and K’orin are not just old friends, but drinking buddies. When the shuttle lands, K’orin goes missing, going off to sample the local cuisine (and booze), and Boimler and Mariner must find him and deliver him to his intended destination before his absence becomes an interplanetary incident. Meanwhile, Rutherford explores his career options aboard the Cerritos, only to discover that engineering may be where he fits in best.

Order DVDswritten by Chris Kula
directed by Kim Arndt
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Jess Harnell (General K’Orin) Tom Kenny (Quimp), Kari Wahlgren (Anabaj), Jessica McKenna (Ensign Barnes), Ryan Ridley (Bajoran), Paul Scheer (Lt. Commander Billups)

Notes: The shapeshifting Vendorian species first appeared in The Survivor, an episode of the early ’70s animated Star Trek, and marks the first appearance of a Vendorian since then.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 01 Star Trek

Temporal Edict

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate 57501.4: The Cerritos crew, particularly Commander Ransom, prepares to lay the groundwork for diplomatic relations with Gelrak V, whose people worship crystalline structures. As the all-important meeting draws near, Captain Freeman becomes aware that some junior officers are building “buffer time” into their estimates of how long it takes to accomplish certain tasks, and then goofing off when the tasks are finished quickly, leaving ample “buffer time”. The Captain’s next order eliminates buffer time, leaving an exhausted crew that’s capable of mixing up which containers will be taken to the planet as a gift to the Gelrakians. The resulting mix-up causes grave insult to the Gelrakians, angering them enough to attempt to board the Cerritos – whose crew is too exhausted to put up much of a fight.

Order DVDswritten by Dave Ihlenfeld & David Wright
directed by Bob Suarez
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Neil Casey (Crewman), Kevin Michael Richardson (Vindor / Gelrakian #2), Sam Richardson (Vendome), Jessica McKenna (Ensign Barnes / Cerritos Computer / Gelrakian #1), Michelle Wong (Admiral), Nolan North (Crewman), Paul Scheer (Lt. Commander Billups)

Notes: Baryon sweeps, once a task that required extended visits to specialized facilities (Starship Mine), can now apparently be performed in mid-flight by someone with as few qualifications as Ensign Brad Boimler. The distant future in which Chief O’Brien is revered as “perhaps the most important person in Starfleet history” appears peaceful and idyllic enough to be even later than the 32nd century in which the Discovery crew find themselves (That Hope Is You, Far From Home).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 01 Star Trek

Moist Vessel

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate 57538.9: The Cerritos and the Merced, commanded by a Tellarite named Captain Durango, prepare to tow a massive derelict ship whose crew is long dead, but whose fascinating technology – including a substance that turns inorganic material into living organic material, possibly used by the extinct crew for terraforming. But Ensign Mariner’s constant yawning during the senior officers’ briefing punches all of Captain Freeman’s buttons: she’s ready for Mariner to transfer to another ship. She decides to make Mariner want to transfer by promoting her to lieutenant, with the added responsibilities and workload (and interaction with the senior officers and all of their quirks) that entails. When the alien technology erupts from the derelict, starting to turn both of the ships towing it into havens for unknown life forms, Mariner rises to the occasion. So how can she convince her mother to reduce her back to ensign now?

Order DVDswritten by Ann Acacia Kim
directed by Barry J. Kelly
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs / Admiral Vassery), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Haley Joel Osment (O’Connor), Eric Bauza (Cerritos Conn Officer), Al Rodrigo (Captain Durango), Paul Scheer (Lt. Commander Billups), Vanessa Marshall (Merced Science Officer), Jessica McKenna (Ensign Barnes / Cerritos Computer)

Notes: The alien derelict is very reminiscent of the one found in Beyond The Farthest Star, the first episode of the early ’70s animated Star Trek series. Durango is the first Tellarite Starfleet captain seen in any of the Star Trek series. Vanessa Marshall is a voice well known to fans of animated Star Wars, having been the voice of Hera Syndulla throughout the run of Star Wars: Rebels.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 01 Star Trek

Cupid’s Errant Arrow

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate 57601.3: The Cerritos joins the U.S.S. Vancouver in a planetary system where the imminent implosion of one of its moons jeopardizes all life on the planet below. Captain Freeman immediately finds herself tasked with negotiating with the locals, who want the moon left untouched for reasons ranging from superstitions to deeply-held religious beliefs to outright conspiracy theories. The Vancouver is also the home of Lt. Barb Brinson, Boimler’s long-distance girlfriend, who Mariner initially thought was a figment of Boimler’s imagination. Even once she meets Barb in person, Mariner is certain there must be something more to this relationship…something sinister. Mariner’s protests that Barb is way out of Boimler’s league ramps up his insecurities, and while he’s trying too hard with someone he’s already won over, Mariner pursues her theory that Barb is possessed by a parasite, a theory which is both way off the mark and disturbingly accurate.

Order DVDswritten by Ben Joseph
directed by Kim Arndt
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs / Mixtus II Settler), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana / Mixtus III Female), Gillian Jacobs (Lt. Barbara Brinson), Matt Walsh (Lt. Ron Docent), Marcus Henderson (Jet Manhaver), Kari Wahlgren (Angie), Lauren Tom (Captain Nguyen), Eric Bauza (Mixtus Farmer), Nolan North (Niko)

Star Trek: Lower DecksNotes: Boimler’s full first name is Bradward. This episode marks the first appearance of Jet Manhaver of the Cerritos, though here he appears to be a lieutenant – an inconsistency that a later episode will chalk up to stray street corn. Rutherford’s engineering tool sounds suspiciously like the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. During her tour of duty on the Quito, Mariner visited Deep Space Nine (though in later episodes she also says she was stationed at, well, the station).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 01 Star Trek

Terminal Provocations

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate 57663.9: As the Cerritos engages in aggressive negotiations with Drookmani scavengers over the wreckage of lost century-old Starfleet ship, Ensign Fletcher is endearing himself to Boimler and Mariner. Tendi admits to Rutherford that she never completed spacewalk training at the Academy, and he offers her the use of a holodeck training program he’s been working on, which uses an animated interface called Badgey. When the program sticks and Rutherford gives Badgey a swift kick, Badgey’s attitude becomes less “chirpy” and “helpful” and leans a lot more toward “homicidal”. Fletcher offers to take on a major task solo so Boimler and Mariner can attend a social event, but when they come back to check on him, the task isn’t finished, and Fletcher’s explanations for this seem to be constantly in flux. Worse yet, the work he didn’t complete endangers the Cerritos and the entire crew when the Drookmani become even more aggressive in their negotiating tactics, while Captain Freeman tries valiantly not to start a shooting war.

Order DVDswritten by John Cochran
directed by Bob Suarez
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Tim Robinson (Ensign Fletcher), Jack McBrayer (Badgey), Asif Ali (Asif), Artemis Pebdani (Karavitus), J.G. Hertzler (Drookmani), Jessica McKenna (Barnes / Cerritos Computer), Paul Scheer (Billups)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Discovery Season 3 Star Trek

That Hope Is You – Part 1

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given (3188): In debris-filled space above the planet Hima, Burnham – still encased in the time-traveling Red Angel suit – emerges from a wormhole and collides with a space freighter piloted by Cleveland “Book” Booker, a courier who doesn’t take kindly to her intervention in his escape from a rival courier. 930 years in Discovery‘s future, the Federation has collapsed following “the Burn”, an event a century earlier during which most of the dilithium in the galaxy destabilized catastrophically. But as if learning this information isn’t traumatic enough for Burnham, there is no sign of Discovery having survived its own trip into the future through the wormhole. Booker, though informative, quickly proves that his loyalty lies only with himself, and Burnham finds herself navigating a strange future without much help – and with a great deal of danger. After earning Booker’s grudging respect, Burnham is taken to what may be the last vestiges of the United Federation of Planets: one man on a mostly-abandoned space station who has been waiting decades for a commissioned Starfleet officer to give him further orders.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Michelle Paradise & Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman
directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Adil Hussain (Aditya Sahil), Nicole Dickinson (Hadley), Riley Gilchrist (Andorian Regulator), Julianne Grossman (Sanctuary voice), Brandon McGibbon (Ithyk the Andorian), Jake Michaels (Ithor the Orion), Fabio Tassone (Book’s ship computer), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Cosmo Traitt), and Grudge

Notes: Quantum slipstream drive is common in the 32nd century, but not in a damaged ship (Hope And Fear, Timeless). The Burn – the event in which much of the galaxy’s dilithium “went boom” (according to Book) happened 120 years before Burnham’s arrival. Book mentions “temporal wars” as a thing of the past (see much of the first two seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise), following which all time travel technology was banished. This marks the first sighting of Lurians (Morn’s race) and Cardassians since the Star Trek Discoveryend of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala are the only regular cast members to appear in this episode.

The third season of Star Trek: Discovery was finished filming before the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 brought TV and film production to a halt, but the sudden, unexpected shift to an all-remote post-production model posed significant obstacles to completion of post-production on the series, particularly in the areas of visual effects, video editing, and music scoring. The premiere date of season three, originally announced as April 2020, shifted to October 2020 as a result, and the first season of the animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, premiered prior to Discovery’s third season, despite originally being intended to launch after Discovery in late 2020 or early 2021.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 02 Star Trek

Strange Energies

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate: leg day: As second-contact formalities draw to a close on the planet Apergos, Mariner is power-washing buildings long ago covered in the soot of the Apergosian industrial revolution. But she also exposes an artifact that, once it catches the rays of the local sun, zaps Commander Ransom with strange energies. Dr. T’Ana worries that this may trigger a sudden onset of godlike powers and megalomania, but Ransom waves off her concerns, shortly before developing godlike powers and demanding the worship of the Apergosians. Ransom’s powers grow exponentially and as Mariner and T’Ana try to “cure” him of his elevation to godhood, he casually swats them aside, eventually ascending into orbit to confront the Cerritos. And what makes Ransom such an angry god? The fact that Captain Freeman and Mariner are getting along just fine.

Order DVDswritten by Mike McMahan
directed by Jason Zurek
music by Chris Westlake

Star Trek: Lower DecksCast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Lt. Shaxs), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Jonathan Frakes (Capt. William T. Riker), Eric Bauza (Apergosian Bystander), Neil Casey (Casey), Phil LaMarr (Admiral Alonzo Freeman), Lauren Lapkus (Jennifer), Jessica McKenna (Barnes), Nolan North (Titan Conn Officer), Randall Park (Apergosian High Leader), Missi Pyle (Interrogator), Ben Rodgers (Stevens)

Star Trek: Lower DecksNotes: Dr. T’Ana immediately voices concerns of another incident along the lines of the tragedy of Gary Mitchell (Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before, 1966), complete with a computer display showing a ’70s-animated-series-style picture of Mitchell, and her concerns turn out not to be unfounded. There are other in-jokes pointing toward classic Trek’s second pilot epiosde as well: as Ransom is recovering, Stevens reads the poem “Nightingale Woman” to him (referencing a poem discussed by Kirk and Mitchell in the 1966 episode), and, echoing Kirk’s deadly solution to Mitchell’s dilemma, T’Ana drops a boulder on Ransom. (Unlike Kirk, T’Ana appears to be space-forklift certified.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green