Tag: Season Premiere

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Doctor Who New Series Season 12

Spyfall Part 1

Doctor WhoWhen spies around the world begin disappearing, MI6 begins rounding up the Doctor’s companions on Earth so they can find out what the Doctor is. But as the Doctor and friends are being driven to MI6, the in-dash GPS of the car taking them there suddenly lashes out with lasers – admittedly not a standard feature – and vaporizes the driver before the car itself tries to drive the time travelers to their deaths. The Doctor turns the GPS’ weapon against itself and gains control of the car, driving it to MI6 anyway. The Doctor’s attention is drawn to the missing spies – and the fate of the missing spies who have been found, now no longer fully human, their DNA forcibly rewritten. Another attack, this one within MI6 headquarters itself, reveals the face of the inhuman power that the Doctor is up against: creatures who can appear to be made of light one moment, and can pass through solid matter (with considerable effort) the next. The only MI6 agent who seemed to have any idea about this invasion is sequestered in the Australian outback, and is most enthusiastic to meet the Doctor and to join in the investigation…until he reveals himself as one of the Doctor’s oldest enemies, before delivering the Doctor into the hands of the new enemies with whom he has allied himself.

Order the DVDwritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
music by Segun Akinola

Doctor Who: SpyfallCast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Sacha Dhawan (O), Lenny Henry (Daniel Barton), Stephen Fry (C), Shobna Gulati (Najia Khan), Ravin J. Ganatra (Hakim Khan), Bhavnisha Parmar (Sonya Khan), Melissa de Vries (Sniper), Sacharissa Claxton (Passenger), William Ely (Older Passenger), Brian Law (U.S. Operative), Buom Tigngang (Tibo), Asif Khan (Sergeant Ramesh Sunder), Andrew Bone (Mr. Collins), Ronan Summers (Rendition Man), Christopher McArthur (Ethan), Darron Meyer (Seesay), Dominique Maher (Browning), Struan Rodger (voice of Kasaavin)

Doctor Who: SpyfallNotes: Sacha Dhawan has plenty of Doctor Who history, most notably starring as Waris Hussein in the 50th anniveresary docudrama An Adventure In Space And Time (2013); he has also appeared in several Big Finish audio stories (The Reviled, 2014; Fallen Angels, 2016; Ghost Walk, 2018, and the 2017 Torchwood audio story Zero Hour). Here he plays a previously unseen incarnation of the Master. Struan Rodger previously provided the voice of the Face of Boe during the David Tennant era (New Earth, 2006; Gridlock, 2007).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Avenue 5 Season 1

I Was Flying

Star Trek: The Next GenerationIn the late 21st century, high-end passenger travel has extended into the stars, thanks to Judd Galaxy’s space luxury liners. The newest member of that fleet, the Avenue 5, has embarked on its maiden voyage, which will loop out toward Saturn, grab a gravitational assist from its large moon Titan, and return to Earth in the space of eight weeks. The eccentric (and very rich) founder of Judd Galaxy, Herman Judd himself, is aboard for this first voyage, though he leaves the running of the ship to Captain Ryan Clark, and the running of his business to his right-hand woman, Iris Kamura. When a gravity glitch throws everyone in the ship up against one of the walls, Avenue 5‘s course shifts unexpectedly, turning its eight-week cruise into a loping three-year tour of the solar system – a longer journey for which there aren’t enough consumables aboard. The passengers learn of this development and begin to protest, and Captain Ryan Clark has to privately admit to Judd that he’s not actually a captain – he was hired by the ship’s actual, socially-deficient captain to present an acceptable point of contact for the passengers, but has no knowledge of how to run the ship…and the actual captain who hired him was one of the handful of fatalities of the gravity incident.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Armando Iannucci & Simon Blackwell & Tony Roche
story by Armando Iannucci
directed by Armando Iannucci
music by Adem Ilhan

Avenue 5Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Matthew Beard (Alan), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Joplin Sibtain (Joe), Julie Dray (Nadia), Adam Pålsson (Bridge Crew), Andrea Pizza (Anthea), Ankur Bahl (Passenger), Vaughn Joseph (John), Simon Connolly (Max), Anne Witman (Lauren), Andrew Boyer (Passenger), Wanda Opalinska (Baily), Eugenia Caruso (Verity), Ako Mitchell (Passenger), Yasmine Akram (Passenger), Sonia Dorado (Yoga Teacher), Oseloka Obi (Dan), Priyanga Burford (Lori Hernandez), Sandra Gayer (Passenger), Daisy May Cooper (Sarah – bridge crew), Sophie Salako (Passenger)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Remembrance

Star Trek: PicardStardate not given: A rising AI specialist, Dahj, is celebrating her acceptance as a research fellow at the Daystrom Institute on Earth, when a group of armed and armored men beam into her apartment. Her boyfriend is murdered, and somehow she survives the encounter, calling on self-defense skills in which she has never trained, overcoming all of her opponents. She has a momentary vision of a man’s face before she flees, and sets out to find him.

The man whose face she sees is hardly an unknown: retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is being interviewed on the anniversary of his attempt to evacuate the population of Romulus before its sun went supernova. When a surprise attack on Mars by rogue synthetic life forms caused Starfleet to abandon the massive rescue attempt, Picard felt that the Federation was no longer living up to its ideals and resigned his Starfleet commission in protest. In the years since, he has retreated to his family’s vineyards in France, a quiet existence that is disturbed a little by an intrusive interviewer, and disturbed more when Dahj shows up unannounced. She has never met Picard, but somehow knows he will be able to help her. When hints begin to point toward Dahj being a sentient synthetic life form, and possibly even a true descendant of Data, Picard grows more protective of her. But a second attempt on Dahj’s life proves to be deadlier than the first – she is destroyed before Picard’s eyes, but not before her assassins are unmasked as Romulans.

Picard goes to visit Dr. Agnes Jurati, one of the Federation’s foremost experts on synthetic life forms and a protege of cyberneticist Bruce Maddox, even though her research is now entirely theoretical since actual development of synthetics has been banned in the wake of the Mars attack. Jurati has B4 – the last known Soong-type android – in storage, disassembled – and theorizes that someone like Dahj would have to have been created by, or from, Data…and she also reveals that synthetics were previously produced in twinned pairs. Picard decides he must find Dajh’s twin before she suffers the same fate.

Order DVDsteleplay by Akiva Goldsman and James Duff
story by Akiva Goldsman & Michael Chabon
and Kirsten Beyer & Alex Kurtzman and James Duff
directed by Hanelle L. Culpepper
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dahj / Dr. Soji Asha), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Orla Brady (Laris), David Carzell (Dahj’s Boyfriend), Merrin Dungey (Interviewer), Jamie McShane (Zhaban), Sumalee Montano (Dahj’s Mother), Maya Eshet (Index), Douglas Tait (Tellarite)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: Picking up plot threads from both Star Trek: Nemesis (the death of Data) and the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie (the supernova destruction of Romulus, which drove Nero to go back in time to change events), the first episode of Star Trek: Picard also references episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, including The Measure Of A Man (the only prior appearance of Bruce Maddox) and The Offspring (Data’s first attempt to create a daughter). In Picard’s imagined encounters with Data, the android wears both an original Next Generation uniform and the somewhat less colorful uniforms worn in Nemesis. The synthetics’ attack on Mars was shown in the Short Treks episode Children Of Mars.

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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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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Mandalorian, The Season 2

Chapter 9: The Marshal

Star Wars: The MandalorianTrying to fulfill the Armorer’s instruction that the Child be reunited with others of its kind, the Mandalorian must now find others of his own kind to help on that quest – and after the Mandalorian covert was wiped out on Navarro, that’s not an easy task. A lead on a lone Mandalorian living in the Tatooine mining village of Mos Pelgo takes the Mandalorian and the Child back to that desert world, where he finds a village under siege – and the town marshal wearing Mandalorian armor that does not belong to him. The village and its population face extinction due to repeated visits from a ravenous Krayt Dragon, and the marshal, Vanth Cobb, strikes a deal to surrender his purloined armor in exchange for the Mandalorian’s help in dealing with the Krayt Dragon once and for all. But it quickly becomes apparent that two men in armor are insufficient; the entire village will have to pitch in…and worse, they may have to work together with their hated enemies, a local band of Tusken Raiders, to do away with the threat to them all.

The Mandalorianwritten by Jon Favreau
directed by Jon Favreau
music by Ludwig Goransson

Cast: Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), John Leguizamo (Gor Koresh), Amy Sedaris (Peli Motto), Timothy Olyphant (Cobb Vanth), Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett), Isaac C. Singleton (Twi’lek Doorman), David Choe (Ringside Spectator), Miguel A. Lopez (Tusken Raider #1), Xavier Jimenez (Tusken Raider #2), Leilani Shui (Jawa), W. Earl Brown (Weequay Proprietor), Dietrich Gray (Mos Pelgo Villager), Karisma Gideon (Jo), Dylan Curtis (Mos Pelgo Boy), John Rosengrant (Gor Koresh performance artist)

The MandalorianNotes: Obi-Wan Kenobi scared off a band of Tusken Raiders by imitating the scream of a Krayt Dragon in the original Star Wars; now we have a little more context for why they took off so quickly. Apparently a particularly ravenous Krayt Dragon can force a Sarlacc to abandon its pit. Peli Motto was previously seen in the season one episode The Gunslinger. Mos Eisley and Mos Espa (the site of much of Episode I‘s action) are both still thriving, though Mos Pelgo has struggled to survive both Tusken Raider attacks and the Dragon.

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

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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
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
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
Orville, The Season 3: New Horizons

Electric Sheep

The Orville: New HorizonsIn the Union’s orbital docks near Earth, the Orville undergoes extensive engineering refits and takes on new crew members, including one Ensign Charly Burke, late of the U.S.S. Quimby and one of the few survivors of that ship’s destruction in the Kaylon battle near Earth the previous year. In the mess hall, Burke makes it clear to Isaac that she is far from the only member of the crew who questions his reinstatement – and that she wants as little to do with him as possible. When Isaac returns to the science lab, he finds the word “MURDERER” scrawled across the controls in red paint, with great care taken to cover the tracks of the responsible party. But the message is eventually traced to Marcus Finn, Dr. Finn’s oldest son, who has also been disturbed by Isaac’s presence since the Kaylon attack. Perceiving that he is at the center of an ongoing series of incidents of distraction and inefficiency on the part of the crew, Isaac makes what he believes is a logical decision to terminate his own existence. What he does not anticipate is that this “unemotional” decision sparks extreme emotions among his crewmates, leading to a series of desperate attempts to reverse the damage and revive him. Isaac’s “life” now lies in the hands of someone who’s more than happy that he’s dead.

written by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Seth MacFarlane
music by Kevin Kaska

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), J Lee (Lt. Commander John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Anne Winters (Ensign Charly Burke), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Marcus Finn), B.J. Tanner (Ty Finn), Alexis Knapp (Irillia), Mike Henry (Dann), Jim Mahoney (Brosk), Norm MacDonald (Yaphit), Amanda Joy Erickson (Amanda), Kyra Santoro (Lt. Turco), Deep Rai (Crewman), Jonny Siew (Engineer #1)

The OrvilleNotes: Bearing the subtitle “New Horizons”, this is the long-delayed third season premiere of The Orville, initially announced in 2019 as an exclusive for streaming service Hulu after The Orville was removed from the Fox schedule. But like many other series intended to premiere in 2020, The Orville had to shut down production at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, and only began shooting again in late 2020 after series creator/star/showrunner Seth MacFarlane brought in hand-picked virology consultants. (With his avid interest in science, as demonstrated in his producing the revived Cosmos series for Fox, MacFarlane knew who to call.) Production stopped and started again in 2021, and the extent of VFX work needed meant that the third season got a March 2022 premiere date, which then slipped to June of that year. The episode is dedicated to the late Norm MacDonald, the voice of Yaphit, who died in 2021 before the series’ return, but had recorded all of Yaphit’s dialogue prior to his death.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Lower Decks Season 03 Star Trek

Grounded

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate not given: With Captain Freeman’s Starfleet tribunal continuing, and everyone around her seemingly convinced of the charges that Freeman secretly destroyed Pakled Planet, Mariner is going stir crazy during shore leave on Earth. She sees it as her duty, and hers alone, to help her mother out of this tight spot…but that doesn’t mean she won’t recruit her fellow ensigns to help her steal the Cerritos and set things right. But that doesn’t mean that Boimler, Rutherford or Tendi will let her go it alone. Somewhere between those conflicting objectives… Captain Freeman will need help to come from another source.

Order DVDswritten by Chris Kula
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), James Cromwell (Dr. Zefram Cochrane), Carlos Alazraqui (Admiral Les Buenamigo), Phil Lamarr (Admiral Alonzo Freeman), Bobby Moynihan (Gavin), Kari Wahlgren (Sylvia Ront)

Notes: Bozeman, Montana is now a tourist attraction with an automated replica of Zefram Cochrane’s Phoenix taking visitors on a pre-programmed route recreating Cochrane’s first warp flight (as seen in Star Trek: First Contact), with a hologram of Cochrane as its pilot. (Jerry Goldsmith‘s theme from that movie is also heard, as is Cochrane’s preferred traveling Star Trek: Lower Decksmusic, Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride”.) This is the second Star Trek series in which James Cromwell has reprised the role of Cochrane from First Contact (he also appeared in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise). Captain Morgan Bateston (TNG: Cause And Effect) and Tuvok (Star Trek: Voyager) are instrumental in the mission to clear Captain Freeman’s name, though neither character has lines in this episode. Tendi and Rutherford are diving into the gumbo as Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, a restaurant seen in quite a few episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Apparently Starfleet has a long tradition of Earth-based transporter chiefs being incapacitated while unauthorized use is made of their transporters to beam aboard restricted vessels (Star Trek III: The Search For Spock). Guest star Carlos Alazraqui is the father of Star Trek: Prodigy regular Rylee Alazraqui, who provides the voice of Rok-Tahk. Strange as it may seem, Boimler’s log entries reveal that purple is not his natural hair color.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Picard Season 3 Star Trek

The Next Generation

Star Trek: Picard2401: Her private medical ship boarded by pirates, Dr. Beverly Crusher puts up a fierce fight to repel the boarders, but is injured in the exchange of fire. Fortunately, her son Jack is on hand to put her in stasis and escape before more hostiles can arrive. Prior to going into stasis, however, Crusher sends a cryptic warning to retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, requesting his help but urging him not to bring Starfleet in on the matter.

Picard promptly meets with Riker to formulate a plan, though “plan” may be putting it charitably; it involves a surprise inspection of the U.S.S. Titan-A, whose captain they attempt to convince to visit the area of space near the last known coordinates of Crusher’s ship. Captain Shaw, however, isn’t up for a joyride. His first officer, on the other hand, is more sympathetic to Picard’s obvious need for a ship. Now serving as the first officer of the Titan-A after an accelerated Starfleet Academy program netted her the rank of commander, Seven of Nine allows Picard and Riker to borrow one of the ship’s shuttles, though “borrow” may, again, be putting it charitably.

In the seedy District Six of the planet M’Talas Prime, Raffi is deep undercover, trying to gather intelligence on a nebulous threat to the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Federation’s founding. The only information she is able to gather is extremely cryptic, but then she witnesses a portal open beneath a building, swallowing it whole, and then another opening in the sky nearby, depositing the wreckage of that building on top of an unsuspecting civilian population. There is a threat, and she’s too late to stop it.

Just outside Federation space near the Ryton system, Picard and Riker board Crusher’s ship. They find her in a stasis chamber, awaiting medical treatment. They also meet her son, who seems to be in a hurry to get away. The large, vicious-looking ship that emerges from a nearby nebula seems to be a very good reason for Jack Crusher to want to get away.

Order DVDswritten by Terry Matalas
directed by Doug Aarniokoski
music by Stephen Barton / additional music by Max McGuire

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Raffi Musiker), Ed Speleers (Jack Crusher), Jonathan Frakes (Captain William Riker), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Orla Brady (Laris), Todd Stashwick (Captain Liam Shaw), Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut (Ensign Sidney La Forge), Anthony Azizi (Orion Drug Dealer), Stephanie Czajkowski (Lt. T’Veen), Joseph Lee (Lt. Mura), Chad Lindberg (Ensign Foster), Jin Maley (Ensign Esmar), Jani Wang (Bartender), Christian Crandall (Dark Haired Man), Amy Earheart (Eleos Computer), Grace Lee (Picard Chateau / La Sirena Computer), Ric Sarabia (Human Patron)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: The episode is dedicated to Annie Wersching (1977-2023), who died of cancer months after appearing as the Borg Queen in the second season of Star Trek: Picard (she also made her first TV appearance in an episode of Enterprise). Two of the guest stars in this episode also appeared in Enterprise: Todd Stashwick appeared as a Romulan in Kir’Shara (2004), while Ric Sarabia appeared in Vanishing Point (2002). The music score has many references to Jerry Goldsmith (including the use of his theme from Star Trek: First Contact over the end credits) and some stylistic references to James Horner; the opening legend “In the 25th century…” hearkens back to the opening of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mandalorian, The Season 3

Chapter 17: The Apostate

Star Wars: The MandalorianWhen a Mandalorian initiation rite is interrupted by an enormous, omnivorous creature, even an entire legion of armed Mandalorians is unable to bring it down. The arrival of another one of their number – and a well-timed shot from his ship – ends the danger. Afterward, the Mandalorian informs the Armorer of his plan to redeem himself in the waters of the mines of Mandalore, though she exhibits little optimism that he can actually achieve this. A visit to the revitalized planet Nevarro reunites the Mandalorian with Greef Karga, but when they try to revive IG-11, they discover it has reverted to its original bounty hunter programming and poses a danger to Grogu. The Mandalorian next tries to enlist the help of Bo-Katan, but she rules an empty palace, her followers having abandoned her cause when she did not return with the darksaber. She does, at least, offer a clue as to where the Mandalorian can achieve his goal… with a warning that Mandalore itself has been poisoned.

The Mandalorianwritten by Jon Favreau
directed by Rick Famuyiwa
music by Joseph Shirley

Cast: Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan Kryze), Emily Swallow (The Armorer), Carl Weathers (High Magistrate Greef Karga), Brendan Wayne (Mandalorian Warrior), Lateef Crowder (Mandalorian Warrior), Tait Fletcher (Paz Vizsla), Wesley Kimmel (Ragnar), Parvesh Cheena (Nevarro Copper Droid voice), Taiki Waititi (IG-11 voice), Marti Matulis (Vane), Shirley Henderson (Anzellan Crew voices), Nonso Anozie (Gorian Shard), Mat Fraser (Pirate Coxswain), Chris Bartlett (Nevarro Copper Droid performance artist), Carey Jones (Gorian Shard performance artist), Misty Rosas (Pirate Coxswain performance artist), Ian Goodwin (Warthog Pirate performance artist), Barry Lowin (Klatoonian Pirate Pilot performance artist), David St. Pierre (Trandoshan Pirate Pilot performance artist), Kelly Cruz (Mandalorian Drummer), Joey Gandolfo (Mandalorian Drummer), Andrew Lederman (Mandalorian Drummer), Joe Martone (Mandalorian Drummer), Daniel Mills (Mandalorian Drummer), Robert Murray (Mandalorian Drummer), Lyndon Rochelle (Mandalorian Drummer), Gregory Sadler (Mandalorian Drummer), Ian Wurfl (Mandalorian Drummer)

The MandalorianNotes: It’s a really good idea to have watched The Book Of Boba Fett prior to this season of The Mandalorian, specifically episodes 5 through 7, as this is where the reunion between the Mandalorian and Grogu takes place (as well as the Mandalorian’s admission to the Armorer that he has removed his helmet, her suggestion of how he might redeem himself, and the acquisition of a new ship to replace the Razor Crest). We’ve met Anzellan droidsmith Babu Frik already in The Rise Of Skywalker (2019), although that movie happens many years later than The Mandalorian.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Star Trek Strange New Worlds

The Broken Circle

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate 2369.2: Captain Pike takes personal time to attend to the pressing matter of finding an attorney to represent Number One in her upcoming court martial. Spock is left in command of the Enterprise as she undergoes inspections by Commander Pelia and her team in spacedock. During this layover, Uhura picks up a carefully-masked signal from La’an, from the mining planet Cajitar at the edge of Klingon space, warning of a major threat to the Federation. Spock decides to fake an emergency that will drive the inspectors off the ship so the remaining crew can effectively steal the Enterprise to rescue La’an. Pelia, sensing that something doesn’t add up, remains aboard the ship, not to stop Spock, but to assist him in the role of chief engineer. La’an is holding her own on Cajitar, but summoned her friends when she discovered that a coalition of human and Klingon profiteers are planning to somehow reignite the Klingon war with the Federation to drive up dilithium prices. When it is discovered that they are medics, M’Benga and Chapel are taken hostage by Klingons to treat victims of a recent radiation incident in an underground chamber. That chamber contains a Federation starship, and M’Benga quickly decudes the plan: with “custody” of Cajitar jointly held by the Federation and the Klingon Empire for alternating six-month periods, an attack by a “Federation ship” during a period of Klingon occupation would provide the necessary provocation for war to be declared. With no way to call for backup or get off the ship before it launches, M’Benga and Chapel must relive their own experiences in the war with a substance that provides a burst of berserker rage and and strength, making them a match for the Klingons aboard, something both of them used during the war. A coded warning to the Enterprise makes it clear that the ship is to be destroyed, but Spock knows that doing so may mean the death of two of his closest crewmates.

Order DVDswritten by Henry Alonso Myers & Akiva Goldsman
directed by Chris Fisher
music by Nami Melumad
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds main theme by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: Strange New WorldsCast: Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Ethan Peck (Lt. Spock), Jess Bush (Nurse Christine Chapel), Christina Chong (Lt. La’an Noonien Singh), Celia Rose Gooding (Ensign Uhura), Melissa Navia (Lt. Erica Ortegas), Babs Olusanmokun (Dr. M’Benga), Rebecca Romijn (Commander Una Chin-Riley), Adrian Holmes (Admiral Robert April), Carol Kane (Commander Pelia), Izad Etemadi (Burly Inspector), Rong Fu (Jenna Mitchell), Emma Ho (Oriana), Andrew Jackson (Captain D’Chok), Alex Kapp (U.S.S. Enterprise Computer), Kyle Kass (Kr’Dogh), Noah Lamanna (Chief Jay), Chiang Ma (Livian), Tiffany Martin (Senior Chief), Jamillah Ross (Lukata), Samer Salem (Inspector Gilan), Hannah Spear (Jen), Alex Spencer (Greynax), Nicolas Van Buren (Klingon Extremist), Abbas Wahab (Ror’Queg), Laura Wilson (Stell), Russell Yuen (Commodore Tafune)

Star Trek: Strange New WorldsNotes: Mitchell eyeballs the ersatz Federation ship as a Crossfield class, with some uncertainty; it doesn’t resemble the previous Crossfield class ships (Discovery and Glenn from Star Trek: Discovery), but those ships, since they were testing spore drive technology, may have been experimental refits of the more traditional 23rd century ship profile seen here, or may simply be a “kitbash” of available parts. The fact that some of the earliest instances of Klingon/human cooperation happened among warmongers is an ongoing problem (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, 1991). Captain Pike’s whereabouts during these events are revealed in the following episode. Marc Okrand, author of the Klingon Dictionary first published in the 1980s after he invented the Klingon language for Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, is once again credited as the Klingon language consultant. The episode carries an on-screen dedication to Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022), who originiated the character of Uhura in the original Star Trek series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green