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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

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Lower Decks Season 02 Star Trek

Kayshon, His Eyes Open

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate not given: The Cerritos is called into to inspect the belongings of a recently deceased member of the Collectors’ Guild to ensure that, among the things he was hoarding, he wasn’t hoarding anything dangerous. Assigned to lead the away team is new security chief Lt. Kayshon, the first Tamarian in Starfleet. Perhaps not unsurprisingly for an obsessive collector’s ship, a booby trap is eventually tripped, unleashing a weapon that turns Kayshon into a cuddly (but helpless) puppet, and locking down all the exits. Mariner and Ensign Jet Manhaver jockey for leadership of the away mission as it grows more perilous by the second. Aboard the Titan, which has been fending off constant Pakled attacks, Captain Riker sends an elite undercover team – including Boimler – to infiltrate and bring down a Pakled mining operation. Suddenly, merely “perilous” sounds really good to the Titan‘s newest officer.

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 (Kerner Hauze), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Jonathan Frakes (Capt. William T. Riker), Rich Fulcher (Pakled Leader), Robert Gilbert (Titan Chief Engineer), Marcus Henderson (Jet Manhaver), Vanessa Marshall (Titan First Officer), Jessica McKenna (Barnes), Nolan North (Titan Conn Officer), Ben Rodgers (Stevens), Ryan Stanger (Titan Tactical Officer), Carl Tart (Kayshon), Paul F. Tompkins (Dr. Migleemo)

Star Trek: Lower DecksNotes: Kayshon is a Tamarian, the species introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok (1992) which communicates only in metaphor; universal translator technology seems to have helped to bridge the communication gap…for the most part. Kivas Fajo (TNG: The Most Toys, 1990) was also a member of the Collectors’ Guild, and his attempt to abduct Data is widely known in Starfleet. Among the more visible (and sometimes inexplicable) artifacts in Kerner Hauze’s collection were:

  1. The Curiosity Mars Rover
  2. The remains of the Excalbian and “Abraham Lincoln” (TOS: The Savage Curtain, 1969)
  3. The remains of the giant clone of Spock (TAS: The Infinite Vulcan, 1973)
  4. Khan’s broken-Starfleet-emblem pendant (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, 1982)
  5. Game headset (TNG: The Game, 1992)
  6. What appears to be Odo’s bucket (numerous episodes of DS9, though the third season of Star Trek: Picard implied that this bucket was changeling standard issue)

Boimler, like Riker, now has an identical “transporter clone” to contend with (a la Thomas Riker from TNG: Second Chances and DS9: Defiant), prompting the original Boimler to return to the Cerritos. Vanessa Marshall is already major-sci-fi-franchise royalty, having played Hera Syndulla in all four seasons of Disney’s Star Wars: Rebels. Actual Kayshon puppets quickly became a hot ticket on Etsy following this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lower Decks Season 02 Star Trek

We’ll Always Have Tom Paris

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate not given: It’s hard to tell what Rutherford finds more unnerving – the fact that Lt. Shaxs is walking among the living once more with no explanation, or the fact that no one else seems alarmed by this. He is determined to ask Shaxs how he returned from the dead…if he can find a tactful way to bring it up in casual conversation. Boimler is excited to hear of an impending visit by Tom Paris, former helmsman of U.S.S. Voyager, primarily because it will allow him to complete his set of signed collectible plates of the Voyager crew. But even reaching the bridge in time to meet Paris turns out to be a monumental chore as Boimler finds that he hasn’t been granted access to all decks of the Cerritos since his return from the Titan. Tendi is assigned to go to Qualor II to retrieve a family heirloom Dr. T’Ana placed in storage there, and decides to bring Mariner with her. When the two can’t resist opening the box to see what the heirloom is, they accidentally break the contents, leading them on a side quest to set everything right…during which everything, naturally, goes as wrong as possible.

Order DVDswritten by M. Willis
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), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lt. Tom Paris), Eric Bauza (Tellarite Bartender), Marcus Henderson (Jet Manhaver), Tom Kenny (Cody / D’Onni / Orion), Lauren Lapkus (Jennifer), Paul Scheer (Billups / Addix / Caitian Storage Unit Employee)

Star Trek: Lower DecksNotes: Qualor II was visited by the crew of the Enterprise-D in Unification I and Unification II (1991); it was kind of a seedy place then too. It’s also now home to franchised locations of Vic Fontaine’s club and Quark’s Bar, perhaps spoofing similar signts in Star Trek: Picard‘s relatively recent Stardust City Rag episode. Another seedy place we’ve seen before is the dom-jot den at the Bonestell Recreation Facility, a pivotal place in the life of the young Jean-Luc Picard (Tapestry, 1993). This is the first time Robert Duncan McNeill has reprised his role since the end of Star Trek: Voyager in 2001; in the intervening years he has become an in-demand director of such shows as Star Trek: Enterprise, Dead Like Me, Desperate Housewives, Chuck, Supernatural, The Orville, The Gifted, and Resident Alien. The meta references in this episode are almost too many to count, from the existence of collectible plates of the Voyager crew to Boimler humming Jerry Goldsmith‘s Star Trek: Voyager theme tune as he walks toward a turbolift.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Lost And Found, Parts 1 & 2

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate unknown: In the Delta Quadrant, on the planet Tars Lamora, the Diviner rules over a population of captured slave laborers with an army of robotic guards and his chief enforcer, Drednok. The Diviner’s daughter, Gwyn, has grown up on Tars Lamora, and has never known any other life. Neither has Dal R’El, a rebellious, teenaged slave who can’t even identify what species he is, and has no memory of his parents or life before Tars Lamora. Drednok questions him about the whereabouts of an escaped fugitive named “Zero”, but later, once he’s out of earshot, Dal begins planning an escape, one which goes badly, largely because his escape plan involved using a wheeled ground vehicle to launch himself into space via an enormous ramp. Succeeding only in wrecking the vehicle, Dal is taken prisoner and questioned by Gwyn. Dal is sent back into the deep core mines with an enormous Brikar with whom he can’t even communicate; a near-fatal accident at that depth reveals to them a completely intact Federation starship, U.S.S. Protostar, which has no crew aboard. Accidentally awakening the ship’s systems, Dal and Rok-Tah, the Brikar, can suddenly understand one another and communicate – and they find they’ve been followed aboard by Zero, who has escaped the Diviner’s service. Zero is a Medusan, a non-corporeal entity who, if seen by humanoids, will drive them mad; the Diviner has been using Zero as a weapon, a life Zero wants no part of. Now that the combadge discovered by Rok-Tahk allows them to communicate with other species, the three recruit a young Tellarite, Jankom Pog, for his engineering skills. But their escape attempt is cut short by Gwyn, whose father has been searching for the Protostar for his own purposes. Drednok and his robot army arrive, and Gwyn is sent aboard the Protostar to make sure that no other fugitives are aboard. Jankom Pog and Rok-Tahk start fighting back against the robots, and with Zero in tow, they board the ship and take off. After a fierce fight, Rok-Tahk captures Gwyn and she is tied down to the captain’s chair at the center of the bridge. The Protostar’s shields are still disabled, however, until Dal – still clinging to the outer hull as the ship escapes through the massive underground caverns – can install a new power cell. Drednok also climbs onto the ship to stop Dal from doing that, but Dal is eventually able to power up the shields, climb back into the ship, and they escape into deep space with the Diviner and his forces in hot pursuit. Only then do they discover that the ship have a training hologram, modeled after a Starfleet Captain named Janeway, who thinks they’re all cadets.

Order DVDswritten by Kevin & Dan Hageman
directed by Ben Hibon
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway)

Notes: The first Star Trek series since the 1970s designed specifically for a younger viewing audience, Star Trek: Prodigy was intended from the outset to be aired on the cable channel Nickelodeon, but the CBS/Viacom merger in 2019 saw Prodigy slide over to the streaming world via Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access), which is where it eventually saw its premiere in 2021, with Nickelodeon to air the already-streamed episodes at a later date. This is the third animated Star Trek series after The Animated Series and Lower Decks. The Medusans were introduced in an episode of the original Star Trek, Is There In Truth No Beauty?, in 1968. Though Tellarites have been seen in the original series, The Animated Series, and Enterprise, this is the first time a Tellarite has been a regular character in a Star Trek series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Starstruck

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate unknown: Welcoming what she assumes is a fresh batch of cadets to the Protostar, the hologram of Captain Janeway offers an introduction to the Federation’s history, purpose, and structure, and that of its Starfleet as well. While Zero, Rok-Tahk, Jankom Pog, and even the gelatinous life form nicknamed Murf immediately find this appealing, Dal is annoyed by their enthusiasm – to him, the Federation sounds like yet another group of authority figures who will tell him what to do, and he opts to set the ship on a course further away from Federation space. When the hologram of Janeway tries to warn him of what lies in his path, he shuts her down quite literally. He also throws Gwyn in the brig, and claims the captain’s quarters for himself. He’s ready to claim the privileges of authority for himself, but his distrust of the nearest authority figure – namely Janeway – leaves the Protostar in a catastrophically dire position near a dying star.

Order DVDswritten by Chad Quandt
directed by Alan Wan
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway), Bonnie Gordon (Ship Computer)

Notes: The holographic “slide show” used by Hologram Janeway to illustrate the histories of the Federation and Starfleet are packed with easter eggs, including line-art representations of Archer’s Enterprise, Janeway’s Voyager, the Defiant (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Discovery, the Enterprise-D (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and the Enterprise and shuttlecraft Galileo from the original Star Trek, along with humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites (the Federation’s founding member races), and the accompanying lines are actually one of the better introductions to/explanations of the Federation in the history of the franchise. (Technically, since all records of Discovery and its mission were purged from official Federation history, Discovery shouldn’t appear in this lineup of famous ships.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Dreamcatcher

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate not given: In the wake of their most recent adventure, Dal and the others get a crash course in ship operations from the holographic Captain Janeway, who patiently overlooks how strangely untrained her cadets are. Gwyn remains in the brig. Janeway decides that an uncharted class M planet in the Hirogen system is a good place to test her crew’s new skills, but bringing the Protostar in for a landing when the Diviner is still looking for it seems like a bad idea to Dal. He overcomes his reluctance when introduced to tricorders, phasers, and a wheeled vehicle called the Runaway, but as usual, Dal zooms off in the Runaway by himself rather than taking his new crew with him. They each wander into situations that seem to contradict Janeway’s assessment that there’s nothing more than plant life on the planet, including Dal, who realizes almost too late that the entire planet is alive…and feeds on those who it convinces to stay there with comforting illusions. Worse yet, Gwyn escapes from the brig and plans to leave with the Protostar, stranding her former captors there.

Order DVDswritten by Lisa Schultz Boyd
directed by Steve In Chang Ahn and Sung Shin
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway), Bonnie Gordon (Ship Computer)

Notes: Presumably the Hirogen – introduced in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Message In A Bottle (1998) as a species of armored trophy-hunters – have no objections to a Federation starship wandering into their home system…or perhaps they just know better than to bother with this particular planet. Given that both Hirogen space and the Protostar are in the Delta Quadrant, it’s possible that the anomaly/life form encountered in Bliss (1999) may somehow be related to this planet. Hologram Janeway can’t leave the Protostar, so apparently the future technology of the mobile emitter used by Voyager’s holographic Doctor from Future’s End (1996) forward has yet to be reverse-engineered.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 4 Star Trek

Kobayashi Maru

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given (3189): With the Federation returning to its former prominence, Starfleet’s mission is now divided between distributing dilithium to previously scattered Federation members, allies, and even potential allies, and researching new means of non-dilithium-dependent propulsion (with Discovery‘s spore drive serving as the template for this research). Captain Burnham and Book, trying to re-establish diplomatic contract with the people of a non-Federation planet, barely escape with their lives after a bit of a misunderstanding about the royal status of Grudge… but once back safely aboard Discovery, Burnham has dilithium sent to them anyway, as a token of trust. Then it’s back to Starfleet Headquarters, now no longer cloaked, to inaugurate the first class of new cadets at Starfleet Academy in over a century. An urgent distress call from a deep space repair station forces Burnham and her crew to prepare for immediate departure, but the newly elected President of the Federation insists on tagging along, despite Burnham’s warning that the presence of the President could compromise not only her own safety, but that of Discovery‘s entire crew. The assignment turns out to be anything but routine: a rogue gravitational distortion has knocked that station off-axis and off-course, setting it into a spin that threatens to tear it apart and kill its crew. That same distortion is now headed toward Kwejian – which is also where Book has returned to attend to a family ceremony.

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

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Captain Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Lt. Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Blu del Barrio (Ensign Adira), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance), Ian Alexander (Gray Tal), Chelah Horsdal (President Laira Rillak), Bill Irwin (Su’Kal), Emily Coutts (Lt. Commander Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Commander Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Commander Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. Commander R.A. Bryce), Sara Mitich (Lt. Commander Nilsson), Raven Dauda (Commander Tracy Pollard, M.D.), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Lt. J.G. Linus), Orville Cummings (Lt. Christopher), Luca Doulgeris (Leto), Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll (Nalas), Ache Hernandez (Kyheem), Vanessa Jackson (Lt. Audrey Willa), Jodi Jahnka (Kelpien Council Member #1), Avaah Blackwell (Kelpien Council Member #2), Alex McCooeye (Lee’U), David Sobolov (Ba’ul Council Member #1), Adrian Walters (Cadet Taahz Gorev), and Grudge

Notes: Premiering simultaneously with the fifth episode of Star Trek: Prodigy, this was the first time since the last week of May 1999 that two Star Trek series had seen simultaneous distribution, though the franchise’s means of distribution had changed significantly over 22.5 years. One would expect the President of the United Federation of Planets to have vast experience of other worlds, and Chelah Horsdal definitely qualifies, having been a regular in Amazon’s series based on The Man In The High Castle, with guest roles in The 100, Arrow, Supernatural, Defying Gravity, Eureka, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, The 4400, and Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. The newly christened Archer Spacedock facility is accompanied by a quotation of Archer’s theme from Star Trek: Enterprise. The Kobayashi Maru test at Starfleet Academy was first established in 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (and was seen being aced by Kirk in a parallel timeline in 2009’s Star Trek).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Terror Firma

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate not given: After watching the planet’s vegetation drag the Protostar back to the ground, moments after a shuttle containing Gwyn and Murf escape from it, Dal and his team are worried that they’ve just become stranded. Now that they’re all aware of the planet’s illusory powers, those illusions are now less benevolent and more terrifying, and the planet swallows the Runaway whole, leaving them unable to see the homing signal being generated by the Janeway hologram to lead them home. They take shelter in the wreckage of a Klingon Bird of Prey, where Dal decides to see if they can navigate back to the Protostar using the stars. But the Diviner and Drednok are waiting for them when they arrive…and the injured Gwyn will find out for herself whether her father places a higher value on her safety or that of the wayward Federation ship.

Order DVDswritten by Julie Benson & Shawna Benson
directed by Olga Ulanova
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway), Bonnie Gordon (Ship Computer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 4 Star Trek

Anomaly

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given (3189): The destruction of Kwejian raises the gravitational disturbance to a crisis that the entire Federation must deal with. The former Vulcans and Romulans of Ni’Var pledge the full resources of their science institute, even though they are not Federation members, and Saru returns, still a captain, to serve as Burnham’s first officer aboard Discovery. The source of the destructive gravitational waves is most likely the interactions between two black holes, and with that as the working theory, Discovery is sent out to investigate. But when Discovery arrives near the source of the gravity waves, what the crew observes directly doesn’t quite match their models or simulations. Rather than putting Discovery in harm’s way, Book offers to pilot his ship into the gravity well to gather data. But with Book’s first-hand witnessing of Kwejian’s destruction a very recent memory, Burnham is reluctant to send him. Book does fly his ship near the source of the gravitational waves, with a programmable matter tether keeping him connected to Discovery, and a holographic projection of Stamets riding shotgun to monitor the data collection. Even with Stamets trying to keep Book on task, however, Book’s mind may not be on piloting…or, for that matter, surviving.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Anne Cofell Saunders & Glenise Mullins
directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Captain Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Lt. Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Blu del Barrio (Ensign Adira), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance), Ian Alexander (Gray Tal), Chelah Horsdal (President Laira Rillak), Tara Rosling (President T’Rina), Annabelle Wallis (Zora), Emily Coutts (Lt. Commander Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Commander Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Commander Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. Commander R.A. Bryce), Sara Mitich (Lt. Commander Nilsson), Luca Doulgeris (Leto), Linford Mark Robinson (Starfleet Captain #1), Katherine Trowell (Starfleet Captain #2), Fabio Tassone (Book’s Ship Computer), and Grudge

Star Trek DiscoveryNotes: This episode shares an identical title with an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. Despite there being over 800 individual episodes of television Star Trek at the time of this episode’s release, this is still an exceedingly rare incident (see also: The Emissary vs. Emissary). The discussion of the “Soong method” of creating a new synthetic body for Gray is a direct reference to the procedure that resurrected Picard in Star Trek: Picard (Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2), though apparently that procedure is considered flawed and seldom used even 800 years later. Discovery’s computer has picked the name – Zora – which was already heard in a Short Treks episode (Calypso).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Kobayashi

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate 43929.9: After fruitless years of searching for the Federation starship Protostar, the Diviner – last of the Vau N’Akat species – uses his own genetic material to create his progeny, a new Vau N’Akat to take up the search in case his frail condition prevents him from finding the ship…

Stardate not given: The Protostar’s proto-drive doesn’t just leave the Diviner behind, it leaves him behind to the tune of 4,000 light years in mere seconds. After that unlikely thrust – something that Jankom Pog can’t even bring himself to believe – the proto-drive shuts down and goes inoperative, and the hologram of Captain Janeway, who knew nothing of the drive’s existence, can’t help bring it back online. At this point, Pog, Rok-Tahk and Zero insist to Dal that their best bet for safety is to contact the Federation. Upset that his simply saying “no” to this proposition isn’t putting an end to the discussion, Dal’s discovery of the holodeck, and a Starfleet simulation called the Kobayashi Maru test, seems fortuitous. Surely he can ace this test and prove his worthiness as leader to the Protostar’s new crew. With the best of the best of Starfleet’s past backing him up, how hard could it be?

Order DVDswritten by Aaron J. Waltke
directed by Alan Wan
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf / Klingon 2 / Gentleman Caller), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Hologram Janeway), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), James Doohan (Scotty), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), David Ruprecht (Kobayashi Maru Captain), Bonnie Gordon (Ship Computer), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Brook Chalmers (Klingon 1)

Notes: The flashback to the Diviner’s decision to create Gwyn is noted as having happened 17 years ago; the stardate for the flashback places it between the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes Sarek and Menage a Troi, making it seem likely that whether intentionally or not, the Protostar time traveled from a period of time after Star Trek: Voyager‘s series finale into its own past, before the Protostar was actually built. Dedicated to the memories of Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, and Rene Auberjonois, this episode uses dialogue from prior Star Trek episodes and movies featuring those characters (and Uhura) to revive those characters in holographic form. The only new dialogue recorded for this episode by a past Trek character appears to have been performed by Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher. The Kobayashi Maru test originated in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982), but has been referenced heavily in other movies such as the 2009 Star Trek film and as recently as the season opener of Star Trek: Discovery‘s fourth season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

First Con-tact

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate not given: Dal and his crew are discovering the wonder that is the Protostar’s transporter system when a distress call is picked up. The signal comes from a Ferengi ship claiming to be carrying orphans – a claim Dal finds familiar. Sure enough, the Ferengi ship is commanded by DaiMon Nandi, who gave Dal shelter growing up. When Dal claims to have stolen the Protostar, Nandi asks him to use the Protostar – and the Federation – as a front to obtain a valuable crystal from a developing species, contact with whom would normally be forbidden by the Prime Directive. The species has the ability to shape matter with sound and harmonics, and Nandi is unimpressed when she presents a (worthless) gift and receives only a song in return. She snatches a crystal and runs, leaving Dal and the Protostar crew to find their own escape route. Dal confronts his old friend, and discovers while fighting to recover and return the crystal that he wasn’t kidnapped by the Diviner…he was sold to him. And Nandi will gladly sell him out again.

Order DVDswritten by Diandra Pendleton-Thompson
directed by Steve In Chang Ahn and Sung Shin
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Hologram Janeway), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Grey Griffin (Nandi), Melissa Villasenor (Nandi / Frail Woman)

Notes: If Nandi has been a DaiMon of a Ferengi ship for much of Dal’s early life, she either hid her gender or perhaps more reform has been underway on Ferenginar than episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine might have led us to believe.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Prodigy Season 1 Star Trek

Time Amok

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate 607125.6: Following the misadventure with Nandi, the Janeway training hologram decides to the Protostar’s misfit crew through some basic problem-solving drills in the holodeck, but when even those fall through, Dal admits to Janeway that the Protostar was stolen – she isn’t dealing with an unusually troublesome batch of Starfleet Academy cadets. The Diviner is contacted by Nandi with information on the Protostar’s whereabouts – too far for the Diviner’s ship to reach, but his knowledge of the ship’s systems means he can interfere from afar. With the crew too distracted and dejected to guide the ship from the bridge, the Protostar drifts into a tachyon storm which destabilizes the proto drive, which emits a wave that passes through everyone at a different moment, splitting them into different segments of time. For Jankom, time is accelerated, and he is unable to stop the destruction of the ship; Zero has only slightly more time and devises a means of saving the ship, but they are unable to implement that solution themselves. Gwyn has a bit more time than Zero, but finds herself contending with a copy of Drednok uploaded to the Protostar’s vehicle replicator by her father. The fate of the ship falls to Rok-Tahk, who has only a message from Gwyn and Zero’s schematics to go by – and, thanks to Drednok, not even the Janeway hologram for company.

Order DVDswritten by Nikhil S. Jayaram
directed by Olga Ulanova and Sung Shin
music by Nami Melamud
Star Trek: Prodigy main theme by Michael Giacchino

Star Trek DiscoveryCast: Brett Gray (Dal R’El), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok / Dred 2), John Noble (Diviner), Kate Mulgrew (Hologram Janeway), Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Bonnie Gordon (Ship Computer), Grey Griffin (Nandi)

Notes: According to Star Trek: Prodigy writer Aaron Waltke, the unusual stardate at the beginning of the episode is indicative of the temporal problems caused by the tachyon storm in the ship’s path.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 2 Star Trek

The Star Gazer

Star Trek: Picard2401: A year and a half after the death of his organic body, Jean-Luc Picard has become the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy, but still spends his downtime at the Picard family vineyard. Laris, now a widow, tries to drop a hint that she has an interest in him, but something distracts him. In deep space, an anomaly forms, attracting the immediate attention of everyone from Starfleet (represented by Captain Rios aboard the new U.S.S. Stargazer) to Seven of Nine, aboard Rios’ old freighter, La Sirena. Something in the anomaly begins broadcasting a very specific plea for help, including the portions of the Federation Charter governing the acceptance of new members – and specifically asks for Picard. The ship that emerges is of an unfamiliar design, though Seven immediately recognizes it as Borg technology. The Borg insist on beaming their Queen over to negotiate in person with Picard; when Rios raises the shields, the Borg force the issue. Understandably interpreting these very aggressive moves as hostility, Picard sets the Stargazer to self-destruct. Moments before the countdown reaches zero, the Borg Queen cryptically repeats something Picard’s mother once told him: “Look up.”

And when he does, Picard finds himself in a completely different world – one where he is awaited by Q.

Order DVDswritten by Akiva Goldsman & Terry Matalas
directed by Doug Aarniokoski
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Cadet Elnor), ORla Brady (Laris), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), John de Lancie (Q), Madeline Wise (Yvette Picard), Menik Goonerathe (Alien Emissary), April Grace (Admiral Sally Whitley), Rich Ceraulo Ko (HAndsome Deltan), Kay Bess (La Sirena Computer), Alex Diehl (Harvey), Dylan von Halle (Young Picard), Richard Jin (Moshe), Floyd Anthony Johns Jr. (Pirate #1), Swati Kapila (Decorated Officer), Geri-Nikole Love (Urtern), Adele Pomerenke (Kemi), Anushka Rani (Sing), and Number One

Star Trek: PicardNotes: This episode marks the first appearance of Guinan since Star Trek: Nemesis, and the first appearance of Q in a live action Star Trek episode since Voyager (Q2); John de Lancie had reprised the role of Q in animation on Star Trek: Lower Decks prior to this season of Picard. Perhaps in response to the previous season’s finale featuring the U.S.S. Zheng He and an enormous fleet of identical ships, the Borg threat receives a response from a much more varied contingent of Starfleet ships, including ships that had originally been designed for the game Star Trek Online. Though Isa Briones continues to appear in other roles this season, this episode marks the final appearance of Soji in the series. Although April Grace played a recurring role as a transporter chief aboard Picard’s Enterprise in both The Next Generation and the first episode of Deep Space Nine, she plays an unrelated Starfleet Admiral here.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Picard Season 2 Star Trek

Penance

Star Trek: PicardWhisked into an alternate timeline by Q in the midst of a crisis involving the Borg, Picard is understandably annoyed at his old nemesis’ presence. Q’s cryptic answers do little to tell Picard why he is now in a timeline where Earth is the center of a Confederation that values human life above all others. The polluted Earth is kept habitable only by a system of solar shields, and Picard’s chateau is now a museum of trophies of a life spent conquering and destroying other species. Q will leave Picard in this reality to atone for some unspecified sin, plunging Picard in the deep end since “General” Picard is soon to make a public appearance on Eradication Day, a holiday celebrating the Confederation’s conquests. Picard is not alone in this timeline, however: Seven awakens in ornate surroundings, free of Borg implants since she was never assimilated. As the President of the Confederation, she too is expected to speak on Eradication Day. She contacts Rios, who is very surprised to find himself commanding an all-out assault on Vulcan space. Raffi and Elnor find themselves in the middle of an uprising, one where Raffi has to take Elnor “prisoner” to keep up appearances (and keep him alive), and Agnes is a cyberneticist in a facility that is keeping one of the Confederation’s worst enemies – the Borg Queen herself, who seems very aware of the changes to the timeline – alive in containment until her public execution. Everyone converges on Earth for Eradication Day, which is to be capped off by a public execution of the Borg Queen. Before the ceremony, the Queen calculates that a single change made in 2024, in Los Angeles, changed the timeline, and that a Watcher at that point in history could help restore history. She also agrees to help them travel back in time, but first, everyone involved has to participate in the ceremony, in reality buying time for Raffi and Elnor to lower the security countermeasures enough for all of them to beam up to La Sirena. But snatching the President of the Confederation, her top General, and public enemy #1 away in front of a huge crowd can’t be accomplished easily…and won’t be accomplished without a high price.

Order DVDsteleplay by Akiva Goldsman & Terry Matalas and Christopher Monfette
story by Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman & Terry Matalas and Christopher Monfette
directed by Doug Aarniokoski
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Cadet Elnor), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), John de Lancie (Q), Annie Wersching (Borg Queen), Jon Jon Briones (First Magistrate), Patton Oswalt (Spot-73), Toni Belafonte (Zilah), Alex Diehl (Harvey), Paula Andrea Placido (Palace Guard), Hanna-Lee Sakakibara (Romulan Rebel)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Kirk time-traveling via a slingshot around the sun in a purloined Klingon ship (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, 1986) is identified as a “crude” means of time travel, but likely the only one available. Since the divergence in time is as “early” in Star Trek’s future history as 2024, which son of Sarek’s witnessed his execution is left nebulous, though the hostility between Earth and Vulcan in the altered timeline makes Spock’s very birth unlikely, so it was probably Sybok. Tuvok is mentioned as a leader in the Vulcan war effort on a display screen, but not in dialogue. Annie Wersching’s (1977-2023) first television role was in an early episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, Oasis (2002). Aside from a couple of final appearances in her recurring role on The Rookie, her appearance as the Borg Queen during this season of Star Trek: Picard was her final acting role before she died of cancer in January 2023. Actor Jon Jon Briones is the father of series regular Isa Briones.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Picard Season 2 Star Trek

Assimilation

Star Trek: PicardLa Sirena is briefly taken over by a boarding party led by the First Magistrate, the husband of this timeline’s President. Seven tries to make a convincing show of pulling rank on him, but her lack of any knowledge about the man only intensifies his suspicion, and in the meantime, his men have already shot Elnor, who lies bleeding out on La Sirena’s deck. But Seven’s bluff is enough of a distraction for her and Raffi to deal with the boarding party. Agnes continues connecting the Borg Queen to La Sirena’s systems, but eventually the Queen proves capable of connecting herself, destroying the pursuing Confederation ships, and initiating the slingshot around the sun for time warp. La Sirena arrives in Earth’s 21st century, and just enough control is regained for Picard to bring the ship in for a rough landing near his family home in France, a place isolated enough to not draw immediate attention. Raffi is powerless to save Elnor’s life and begins expressing doubts in Picard’s leadership. The Borg Queen, having used her power to achieve time travel, is in a comatose state, is key to pinpointing the exact source of the divergence in history, and Agnes embarks on a very risky interface with the Queen’s mind to restore her and retrieve that information, something that draws an unhealthy amount of the Queen’s attention to her. The event involves a Watcher somewhere in the city of Los Angeles; just enough power can be routed to the transporters to beam Seven, Raffi, and Rios there, where they must search without drawing attention. While Raffi and Seven are able to fly under the radar, Rios is injured, and just receiving first aid without identification puts him in the crosshairs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Order DVDswritten by Kiley Rossetter and Christopher Monfette
directed by Lea Thompson
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Cadet Elnor), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), John de Lancie (Q), Annie Wersching (Borg Queen), Chloe Wepper (Gabi), Jon Jon Briones (First Magistrate), Sol Rodriguez (Dr. Teresa Ramirez), Richard Chio (Driver), Gattlin Griffith (Mugger), Steve Gutierrez (Ricardo), Matt Kaminsky (Security Guard), Peter Lindstedt (ICE Officer #1), Maggie Pacleb (Little Girl), Marcelo Tubert (Mr. Alvarez)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: If L.A. seems less populated than it should, there’s a real historical reason: season 2 of Picard was filmed as soon as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted just enough to allow film and TV production to continue. Like many other productions, with on-set COVID testing and protective measures required, the production had to keep crowd scenes to an absolute minimum, employing them only for maximum impact (i.e. the ICE raid). At one point, a positive COVID test among the production crew shut down filming yet again. Director Lea Thompson is indeed the actor who played Marty McFly’s mother in the Back To The Future trilogy, making her a good choice to direct a time-travel-heavy episode; she has an on-screen role later in the season. During the scenes of the Borg Queen’s emergence from her stasis chamber, Joel Goldsmith‘s four-note Borg theme from Star Trek: First Contact is heard prominently, though this was omitted from the later soundtrack release.

LogBook entry by Earl Green