Tag: Section 31

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Deep Space Nine Season 06 Star Trek

Inquisition

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Bashir is planning to leave for a medical conference, but instead is confined to quarters along with the other officers due to an inquiry led by Deputy Director Sloan of Starfleet Internal Affairs. Sloan centers his investigation around Bashir, whom he accuses of spying for the Dominion – reporting to them while suppressing the memories of doing so. Despite his insistence that he has no such memories, Bashir is arrested and subjected to mounting pressure as his past actions are cast in a sinister light by Sloan.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Michael Dorn
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: William Sadler (Sloan), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Samantha Mudd (Chandler), Benjamin Brown (Kagan), Judi Durand (Station Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Deep Space Nine Season 07 Star Trek

Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: On the eve of a trip to Romulus for a conference and seminar on the Dominion, Bashir is visited by Sloan, who wants him to gather data on the Romulan leadership. Sisko advises Bashir that this might be a good way to learn more about Section 31 as well. At the conference, Sloan tells Bashir that he is to diagnose Chairman Koval of the Tal Shiar, who is suspected to have a disease called Tuvan syndrome. Believing that Sloan may be planning to use the disease as a cover to assassinate Koval, Bashir has no one to turn to except a Romulan senator.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ronald D. Moore
directed by David Livingston
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Adrienne Barbeau (Cretak), John Fleck (Koval), Barry Jenner (Admiral Ross), Hal Landon Jr. (Neral), William Sadler (Sloan), Cynthia Graham (Wheeler), Joe Reynolds (Hickam)

Notes: The U.S.S. Bellepheron is an Intrepid class starship, meaning that the producers could cut costs by shooting on the standing sets of its fellow Intrepid class ship, Voyager. The episode’s title is Latin for “in times of war, the law falls silent.”

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Deep Space Nine Season 07 Star Trek

Extreme Measures

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 52645.7: The Breen weapon has been delivered to DS9, and Odo is in the infirmary. At his insistence, Kira leaves with Garak and Damar to continue the Cardassian resistance movement. With only two weeks at most before Odo will die of the Founders’ disease, Bashir and O’Brien let Sisko in on their plan to obtain the cure from Section 31. Finally, Sloan himself shows up, and is promptly captured by Bashir, who plans to use an illegal Romulan memory scanner to probe Sloan’s mind. However, Sloan triggers a suicide device inside his brain, and Bashir, accompanied by O’Brien, must enter Sloan’s mind in order to find the cure.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Steven Posey
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), William Sadler (Sloan), Jacqueline Schultz (Jessica), Kate Asner (Nurse Bandee), Tom Holleron (Operative)

Original title: Night Tremors

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Affliction

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise returns to Earth for the launch of her sister ship Columbia, and so Trip can transfer to the new ship as requested, a move that still has his crewmates baffled. During a routine visit to Earth, Dr. Phlox and Hoshi are attacked by a group of Rigellians, who kidnap Phlox. He is taken to a Klingon colony, where he is forced at the point of a phaser to help a Klingon doctor determine the nature of a virus that is said to be spreading through their entire race. On Earth, Lt. Reed is contacted by a superior officer from a top-secret security organization within Starfleet, and given a few clues about what may have happened to Phlox – and is also given orders not to tell Archer about his assignment, or his connection to the organization known only as Section 31. The Enterprise leaves Earth early to search for Phlox, and is attacked by a Klingon ship and boarded by its crew, who sabotage the engines. One of the Klingons is captured, but Archer and the crew are stunned to find that he looks human, without the characteristic cranial bone structure of a Klingon.

Order DVDsteleplay by Mike Sussman
story by Manny Coto
directed by Michael Grossman
music by Velton Ray Bunch

Guest Cast: Ada Maris (Captain Erika Hernandez), John Schuck (Antaak), James Avery (General K’Vagh), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Terrell Tilford (Marab), Kate McNeil (Lt. Collins), Seth MacFarlane (Ensign Rivers), Marc Worden (Klingon Prisoner), Brad Greenquist (Alien #1), Derek Magyar (Kelby)

Notes: There are several familiar faces among the Klingon crew; John Schuck’s Klingon career predates the Star Trek spinoff era with his appearance as a blustery Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and has also played a Cardassian Legate on Deep Space Nine. Marc Worden also appeared on Deep Space Nine, as the grown-up version of Worf’s son Alexander. Eric Pierpoint has appeared in each of the previous Star Trek spinoffs, and starred in Fox’s series adaptation of Alien Nation. This story marks the first official explanation of the difference between the Klingons’ appearance in the original series and every other iteration of the franchise. Prior to this, the closest to an official explanation was Gene Roddenberry’s assertion that the Klingons, in fact, were always meant to look more alien, but the 1960s series wasn’t budgeted for it; this clashes somewhat with a key plot point of the classic episode The Trouble With Tribbles, in which Klingon undercover operatives were indistinguishable from humans except to tricorder sensors.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Divergence

Star Trek: EnterpriseColumbia pulls alongside Enterprise so Trip can transfer to his old ship to sort out the engine damage. On the Klingon colony, Phlox has discovered that an attempt by the Klingon military to splice their own DNA with that of human Augments has created a highly contagious plague. Worse yet, the Empire’s response to that plague has been to begin a widespread program of “sterilization” – destroying any infected colonies, ships or outposts – and the colony where Phlox is fighting the odds to find a cure is next. Captain Archer gives Lt. Reed one last chance to help, and Reed leads the Enterprise and Columbia to the colony where Phlox is being held. Phlox has narrowed his research down to four possible antiviral strains, but even if he finds one, he won’t have enough time to create the cure. Captain Archer beams down to the colony to rescue Phlox, but he may be forced to take on a new role as a human incubator for the cure.

Order DVDswritten by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
directed by Dave Barrett
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Terrell Tilford (Marab), John Schuck (Antaak), James Avery (General K’Vagh), Ada Maris (Captain Erika Hernandez), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Kristin Bauer (Laneth), Wayne Grace (Krell), Matt Jenkins (Tactical Officer)

Star Trek: EnterpriseNotes: Section 31 is, of course, the same covert intelligence organization within Starfleet that takes an active role in the 24th century Dominion War (and recruits Dr. Julian Bashir of Deep Space Nine). Given Section 31’s ambitious attempts to manipulate other governments, it’s not entirely unlikely that Admiral Cartwright (and, in added scenes for the home video and DVD releases, Colonel West) may have been working for Section 31 in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Section 31’s interest in the Augments exists in an alternate timeline as well (Star Trek: Into Darkness).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Demons

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise returns to Earth to be on hand for four weeks of talks between Earth, Andorian and Tellarite officials to lay the groundwork for a peaceful interplanetary league of worlds. But during a reception after the first discussions, a wounded woman approaches T’Pol, gives her a hair sample and a warning that “they’re going to kill her” – and then dies. Dr. Phlox analyzes the hair sample and concludes that it comes from a six month old child who happens to be the offspring of T’Pol and Trip. Trip confronts T’Pol about this news, but she denies ever having been pregnant – and yet she cannot deny her instinct that the child is theirs. Reed investigates, even re-opening some of his severed contacts at Section 31, and discovers that the dead woman was a member of a human separatist movement called Terra Prime. Further investigation reveals that the woman had recently been to a mining colony on Earth’s moon, and also exposes a visiting reporter (and old flame of Mayweather’s) as a Terra Prime spy. Trip and T’Pol infiltrate the mining colony, but are quickly captured by Terra Prime loyalists who use the colony as a recruiting ground. They are taken to meet Paxton, the leader of the Terra Prime movement, and are helpless to watch as he commandeers a verteron array based on Mars, intended to deflect comets from the inner solar system, but now twisted into an interplanetary weapon. Paxton demands that all aliens vacate Earth space immediately, or he’ll train the array on a populated target.

Order DVDswritten by Manny Coto
directed by LeVar Burton
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Peter Weller (John Frederick Paxton), Harry Groener (Nathan Samuels), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Peter Mensah (Greaves), Patrick Fischler (Mercer), Adam Clark (Josiah), Steven Rankin (Colonel Green), Johanna Watts (Gannet Brooks), Tom Bergeron (Coridan Ambassador), Christine Romeo (Khouri)

Notes: The character of Colonel Green was first glimpsed as a historical figure recreated by the Excalbians in the original Trek episode The Savage Curtain (also the third-from-last episode of its respective series, coincidentally), in which Phillip Pine played the character of a genocidal military leader whose reign of terror ended at least a generation before Archer’s Enterprise was launched. Harry Groener appeared in the Next Generation episode Tin Man, and in Voyager’s Sacred Ground installment. Peter Weller may be best known in SF circles for originating the role of the title character in the first two Robocop films, and as heroic guitar-slinging scientist Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, as well as starring in Manny Coto’s Showtime series Odyssey 5. In some respects, Terra Prime is very similar to the ethnocentric, anti-alien Home Guard organization which was a recurring threat in the first season of Babylon 5.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Blood And Fire – Part II

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: A boarding party from the Enterprise is trapped aboard the derelict Copernicus, which is infested with Regulan bloodworms – an infestation which demands the immediate destruction of the Copernicus and the sacrifice of anyone left aboard her, per Starfleet regulations. But the boarding party includes Spock, Rand, DeSalle and Captain Kirk’s nephew Peter, so he’s in no hurry to execute the mandatory order to destroy Copernicus. Scotty tries a last-ditch maneuver, beaming the boarding party to another deck of the Copernicus – one where, amazingly, Spock’s team finds survivors, including Dr. Jenna Yar and the secretive Commander Blodgett. Dr. Yar claims to be working on a cure for the plague spread by the bloodworms, but McCoy dismisses her proposed treatment as impossibly dangerous for any patients subjected to the process. With time running out, McCoy comes up with his own alternative to Yar’s treatment, and insists on beaming himself to the Copernicus to administer it; if it doesn’t work, he’ll be sentencing himself to death along with the boarding party. In the midst of this already-bleak scenario a Klingon ship arrives, commanded by Kirk’s nemesis Commander Kargh, who is ready to destroy the Copernicus and all aboard if Kirk won’t.

Watch Itwritten by Carlos Pedraza & David Gerrold
directed by David Gerrold
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Ben Toplin (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Evan Fowler (Alex Freeman), Denise Crosby (Dr. Jenna Yar), Bill Blair (Commander Blodgett), John Carrigan (Commander Kargh), Charles Root (Scott), Jay Storey (Kyle), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Andy Bray (Chekov), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Nick Cook (Hodel), Paul R. Sieber (Agrens), Patrick Bell (Xon), Debbie Huth (Fontana), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Joel Bellucci (Bren), Anne Carrigan (Le’ak), James Avalon (Klaar)

Notes: Dr. Jenna Yar (full name: Jenna Natasha Yar) is the grandmother of Lt. Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation; by this stage she has already had a daughter, presumably Tasha’s mother, who is safe on Earth and isn’t seen in this story. Section 31 is retroactively worked into the classic Trek timeline here; it was actually first mentioned in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the 1990s, and later in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Review: The long-awaited second half of this Trek cliffhanger arrived more than a year after the first part hit the web, and even so, I’m writing this review based on a mostly-complete pre-release edit whose final two acts are still in the “temp edit” stage.

Categories
Reboot (Abrams) Movies Star Trek

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek MoviesStardate 2259.55: After recklessly risking his ship in a first contact situation where he ends up throwing the Prime Directive to the wind, Captain James T. Kirk is relieved of command and busted down in rank; the Enterprise is reassigned to the command of Admiral Pike and Kirk is demoted to his first officer. Spock is scheduled to be reassigned to another ship as first officer.

After an explosion at a Starfleet facility on Earth is revealed to be the work of a Starfleet officer, the Starfleet admiralty is summoned to an emergency meeting, where it is revealed that the mastermind behind the explosion, Commander John Harrison, is still at large. Top priority is given to finding and eliminating Harrison. But Kirk quickly realizes that Harrison will come to them: a vehicle arrives just outside of Starfleet HQ and begins firing into the conference room. Admiral Pike is killed, and Kirk personally takes down Harrison’s ship, but the mysterious officer escapes, miraculously unharmed, and beams out using the long-range transporter technology invented by Scotty. Kirk tracks Harrison to the Klingon homeworld and requests the reinstatement of his command of the Enterprise. Admiral Marcus agrees, and provides Kirk with a new top secret weapon, long-range photon torpedoes, to carry out a shocking order: take Harrison out on the Klingon planet, even if it starts a war with the Klingons (which Marcus feels is inevitable already).

On the Klingon homeworld, Kirk elects not to use Marcus’ weapons, instead beaming down to personally capture Harrison. A fierce firefight ensues between Kirk’s landing party, Harrison, and the Klingons, but to Kirk’s surprise, Harrison surrenders himself willingly upon learning that the Enterprise has advanced torpedoes trained on his location. Once in custody aboard the Enterprise, he suggests that Kirk open one of the weapons. The torpedoes have built-in safeguards against being opened, but once defused, each torpedo is revealed to have a cryogenically frozen human being inside, each one a specimen of genetically enhanced “superhumans” created to fight in a 21st century conflict. And Harrison isn’t even really Harrison – he is the leader of these enhanced humans, blackmailed into cooperating with a top secret warfare division within Starfleet, which is expecting conflict with the Klingons.

Right on cue, a huge Starfleet ship appears, dwarfing the Enterprise. The U.S.S. Vengeance, commanded by Admiral Marcus (who is, curiously, out of uniform), takes an aggressive position against the Enterprise, and Marcus demands that Kirk surrender “Harrison” and his fellow augmented humans. Kirk refuses Marcus’ order, certain that Starfleet shouldn’t be on a war footing. But can he place any more trust in Harrison, who has already committed acts of mass murder? And can he fight both adversaries without sacrificing the Enterprise and her crew in the process?

Order this movie on DVDscreenplay by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof
directed by J.J. Abrams
music by Michael Giacchino

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

Categories
Star Trek Star Trek Continues Star Trek Fan Films

To Boldly Go – Part I

Star Trek ContinuesThis is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 6988.4: The Enterprise is en route back to Earth. Her mission is complete, and the venerable decades-old starship is due for a major refit. But a communication from Starfleet changes the Enterprise‘s orders one last time: a distress call from a far-flung Federation colony has been received, and naturally the Enterprise is the only ship even remotely close enough to render aid. Arriving at the colony, Kirk and Spock have to defeat an automated defense system before they even set eyes on any living people. A human woman named Lana and her Vulcan husband, Sentek, claim to be the sole survivors of a disaster, but their story doesn’t quite add up. They are revealed to be uplifted Espers – humanoids with powerful psionic potential elevated by exposure to an energy barrier that surrounds the galaxy. They need a ship to rejoin their fellow Espers in a plan to conquer the entire Federation…and they have decided the Enterprise meets their needs nicely.

Watch Itteleplay by Robert J. Sawyer
story by Vic Mignogna & James Kerwin and Robert J. Sawyer
directed by James Kerwin
additional music by Vic Mignogna and Andy Farber

Cast: Vic Mignogna (Captain Kirk), Todd Haberkorn (Mr. Spock), Chuck Huber (Dr. McCoy), Chris Doohan (Mr. Scott), Nicola Bryant (Lana), Cas Anvar (Sentek), Amy Rydell (Romulan Commander), Mark Meer (Tal), April Hebert (Rear Admiral Thesp), Marina Sirtis (Computer Voice), Grant Imahara (Sulu), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Wyatt Lenhart Star Trek Continues(Chekov), Michele Specht (McKennah), Steven Dengler (Drake), Martin Bradford (Dr. M’Benga), Kipleigh Brown (Smith), Reuben Langdon (Dickerson), Cat Roberts (Palmer), Liz Wagner (Nurse Burke), Adam Dykstra (Relief Helmsman), Emie Morissette (Relief Navigator), Michael Parker (Romulan Lieutenant), Jessie Rusu (Transporter Chief), E. Patrick Hanavan III (Esper), Ed Obarowski (Esper), John Cerabino (Enterprise Crew), Sean Davis (Enterprise Crew), Amanda Denkler (Enterprise Crew), Savannah DePew (Enterprise Crew), Ashley Despot (Enterprise Crew), Natalie George (Enterprise Crew), Scott Grainger (Enterprise Crew), Ginger Holley (Enterprise Crew), Peter Lickteig (Enterprise Crew), B.J. Savage (Enterprise Crew), Thomas E. Surprenant (Enterprise Crew), Cassandra Tuten (Enterprise Crew), Kyle Warner (Enterprise Crew)

Star Trek ContinuesNotes: The Espers were first encountered in the second Star Trek pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before, when the Enterprise‘s original first officer, Gary Mitchell, and ship’s psychologist Elizabeth Dehner were uplifted during a brief encounter with the galactic barrier (which, for the record, is a fictional construct existing only in Star Trek mythology). The Romulan Commander was first encountered in The Enterprise Incident in the original series’ third season, and is here played by the daughter of the original actress, Joanna Linville. Nicola Bryant has decades of genre cred, stemming mostly from a single character, Perugilliam “Peri” Brown, companion of Doctor Who‘s sixth incarnation, a role she originated in 1984 and continues to play in Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio plays. Canadian actor Cas Anvar has appeared in everything from Are You Afraid Of The Dark? to a 2002 adaptation of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Lathe Of Star Trek ContinuesHeaven, to appearances in Lost, Argo, voice roles in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the regular role of Alex Kamal in The Expanse. Nebula Award-winning novelist Robert J. Sawyer is a lifelong Star Trek fan whose past TV credits include the series based on his novel, Flashforward. He also wrote for, and co-edited, the essay anthology Boarding The Enterprise with David Gerrold, a book which also counts theLogBook.com head writer Earl Green as one of its fact checkers and copy editors.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 1 Short Treks Star Trek

Welcome To Section 31 (Untitled Epilogue Scene)

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given: Following the armistice between the Kllingon Empire and the Federation, former Emperor Phillipa Georgiou remains on the Klingon homeworld, biding her time in a shady bar frequented by off-worlders. One off-worlder, who seems to be a Trill, takes a special interest in Georgiou, though she makes it very clear that the interest isn’t mutual…until he reveals that he is a recruiter for a top-secret security organization which defends the Federation by any means necessary. Section 31 has plans for Georgiou, especially since she operates entirely outside of the Federation’s code of morality…but will she fit in with an organization that’s part of the Federation?

See it on YouTubeteleplay by Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts
story by Akiva Goldsman & Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts
directed by Akiva Goldsman
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), Alan Van Sprang (Leland)

Star Trek DiscoveryNotes: The title given to this short scene is speculative, as CBS has not given it a title other than “Michelle Yeoh And Alan Van Sprang’s Section 31 Bonus Scene From Star Trek Discovery”. Released directly to YouTube after the end of the first season on CBS All Access, this is a rather odd place to drop a major story development, especially considering the announcement, nearly a year later, of a Section 31 spinoff starring Michelle Yeoh. Leland uses holographic technology to disguise himself as a Trill, the same symbiotic species seen more frequently in 24th century Star Trek, including Jadzia Dax (DS9), Odan (TNG), and Ezri Dax (DS9). The entire cast of Star Trek: Discovery, including Jason Isaacs, is credited in the end credits, though only Yeoh and Alan Van Sprang have dialogue in the scene.

Star Trek DiscoverySection 31 was first introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the 1998 episode Inquisition, and would be featured several more times in that series (primarily in the person of Section 31 agent Sloan), though its presence extends at least as far back as the era of Captain Jonathan Archer’s Enterprise (in a few episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s fourth season), and exists during James T. Kirk’s command heyday in both an alternate timeline (Star Trek: Into Darkness, 2013) and in possibly apocryphal events in the prime timeline (Star Trek Continues: To Boldly Go, Part I, 2017). Though not officially designated a “Short Trek”, this short scene (of its 4+ minute run time, not even two and a half minutes of story are followed by nearly two minutes of credits) can easily be seen as a trial balloon for the series of stand-alone shorts to follow.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 2 Star Trek

Point Of Light

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate 1029.46: A Vulcan diplomatic ship registered to Sarek catches up with Discovery, but rather than welcoming Sarek aboard, Burnham finds herself welcoming Amanda aboard. Having stolen encrypted files related to Spock’s internment in a mental care facility on Starbase 5, she wants Burnham to break into them, since no one at the facility is willing to divulge anything related to Spock’s condition, even to his next of kin. When Captain Pike contacts the commander of Starbase 5, he learns that Spock has supposedly murdered his caretakers and fled – a claim that neither Burnham nor Amanda believe…and neither does Pike. Ensign Tilly’s behavior is becoming increasingly erratic as she continues communicating with what appears to be her childhood friend May, someone who no one else can see. Tilly’s unusual behavior puts her command-track career in jeopardy.

On the Klingon homeworld, Ash Tyler is an outsider by any measure. As consort to recently-crowned Chancellor L’Rell, his very presence is constantly challenged by her political rivals and allies alike. What no one outside House Mokai knows is that Tyler is Voq, the former Klingon torchbearer remade in the image of a human and given a new set of memories. Tyler is stunned when he discovers that L’Rell and Voq had a child, a baby boy whose skin is the same unusual pale white as Voq’s. This news – gleaned from a microscopic listening device – is also a surprise to Kol-Sha, the father of the Klingon leader who died in the battle at Pahvo during the war. Kol-Sha intends to use this information to force L’Rell to abdicate her throne, allowing him to ascend to the head of the High Council. Another damning piece of evidence Kol-Sha intends to use is that Tyler has recently contacted Burnham, warning her that L’Rell’s position as Chancellor – and therefore the tenuous peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire – are in danger. But while help does arrive for Tyler and L’Rell, it comes from an unexpected source – one with an unthinkable list of its own demands.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Andrew Colville
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), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), Mia Kershner (Amanda), Alan Van Sprang (Leland), Mary Chieffo (Chancellor L’Rell), Kenneth Mitchell (Kol-Sha), Bahia Watson (May Ahearn), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Xavier Sotelo (Captain Diego Vela), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Linus), Pay Chen (Starfleet Psychiatrist in Recording), Damon Runyan (Ujilli)

Star Trek DiscoveryNotes: The Klingon monastery on Boreth will later be the site of the apparent return of Kahless himself (TNG: Rightful Heir, 1993), as witnessed by Worf among many others. In the purely speculative department, it may or may not be significant that, after Voq, the only albino Klingon seen in the Star Trek franchise is the one hunted down by Kor (a relative of Kol and Kol-Sha), Koloth, and Kang to assert their right of vengeance for the Albino’s killing of each man’s firstborn son (DS9: Blood Oath, 1994), with help from Jadzia Dax. (At the time Star Trek: Discovery takes place, the Dax symbiont is part of Torias Dax, a thrill-seeking Starfleet test pilot, and not Curzon Dax, the diplomat who would help negotiate peace between the Klingons and Federation in the late 23rd and early 24th centuries, and who joined Kor, Koloth, and Kang in a pact to seek out the unnamed Star Trek: Discoveryalbino Klingon to avenge their sons’ lives). L’Rell and Tyler are revealed to be the architects of the Klingon D-7 battle cruiser, a design first glimpsed in Elaan Of Troyius (TOS, 1968), carried through the animated series and the Kirk-era movies, and even seen briefly in Star Trek: The Next Generation (Heart Of Glory, 1988), though this may be the D-7 Mark II as a completely different design was identified as the D-7 in Discovery’s first season. Kenneth Mitchell played Kol in the first season of Discovery, returning to play the role of Kol’s father here. Alan Van Sprang first appeared as Section 31 operative Leland in a short scene released directly to YouTube following Discovery’s season one finale in 2018.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 2 Star Trek

Saints Of Imperfection

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given: Anguished by Ensign Tilly’s disappearance into an organic alien coccoon, Stamets is refusing to give up on the idea of somehow retrieving her, believing that she has been transported into the mycelial network. Discovery is chasing a shuttle believed to be Spock’s, and disables it with a photon torpedo only to discover not Spock inside, but deposed Terran Emperor Philippa Georgiou (now an agent of Section 31) inside. After a terse exchange of information, Georgiou leaves, but not before leaving another Section 31 agent – the recently recruited Ash Tyler – aboard Discovery. Stamets devises a plan to perform a “partial jump” with Discovery’s spore drive to enter the mycelial network and recover Tilly, though at great risk to the ship. Inside the network, Tilly is surrounded by any number of things that could kill her…along with May, who says she is the avatar of a race called the Jah’Sepp, which lives in the network and tries to avoid a monster that is killing them. When Discovery slices into the network’s dimension, Burnham, Stamets and Tilly discover that the “monster” which needs to be removed is one of their own.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Kirsten Beyer
directed by David Barrett
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), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), Jayne Brook (Admiral Cornwell), Alan Van Sprang (Leland), Rachael Ancheril (Commander Nhan), Bahia Watson (May Ahearn), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer)

Star Trek DiscoveryNotes: The wearable communicator badge common throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager apparently has its roots in Section 31 technology, though it’s clearly a shock to Captain Pike in the 23rd century. Given that Pike is in the dark about Georgiou’s origins in the mirror universe, it’s also likely that – despite whatever briefing he received (Brother) – he doesn’t know the full story about Captain Lorca.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 2 Star Trek

Light And Shadows

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given: Burnham returns to Vulcan to see if Sarek and Amanda have any answers about Spock’s whereabouts, while Discovery remains in orbit of Kaminar to study residual affects of the appearances of the signal and the Red Angel. When deep scans are conducted, a temporal rift appears, and Pike sets out to pilot a shuttlecraft as close to the anomaly as he can without getting pulled in. He’s annoyed when Tyler insists on going with him, as Section 31 has now claimed an interest in Discovery‘s mission and has placed Tyler aboard the ship on a semi-permanent basis. Temporal anomalies cause Pike to see events that have yet to happen, with no context, and before he knows it, the shuttle is sucked into the time rift…and the most recent future event he has forseen is himself firing a phaser at Tyler. On Vulcan, Burnham and Sarek discover that Amanda, claiming diplomatic immunity, has sequestered Spock in a Vulcan temple. Rambling quotes from the Vulcan principles of logic as well as Alice In Wonderland, Spock seems lost. Sarek insists that Burnham take Spock to Section 31 to receive medical attention, a prospect that she finds less than appealing – and, as Georgiou reveals to her when she arrives, with good reason. But an even more unlikely destination awaits Burnham – coordinates that Spock has been chanting repeatedly since she found him.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ted Sullivan
story by Ted Sullivan & Vaun Wilmott
directed by Marta Cunningham
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), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), James Frain (Sarek), Mia Kirshner (Amanda), Ethan Peck (Spock), Alan Van Sprang (Leland), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Arista Arhin (young Burnham), Liam Hughes (young Spock)

Star Trek DiscoveryNotes: The dumping and igniting of the shuttlecraft’s fuel is very similar to a last-ditch maneuver executed by Spock roughly a decade later (TOS: The Galileo Seven); Rhys says it’s a technique taught at Starfleet flight school, which makes it odd that Scotty and others don’t recognize it on that future occasion. Talos IV was previously visited in the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage (1964), which was not shown on television in anything resembling its original form until 1988; footage from The Cage was worked into the 1966 two-parter The Menagerie, during which Spock returns a crippled Captain Pike to Talos IV, thus making that Spock’s third visit and not his second. (That’s two Star Trek Discoverymore visits than most Starfleet officers are expected to survive: The Menagerie establishes that travel to Talos IV is the only remaining death penalty under Starfleet’s paramilitary law.) It’s worth noting that Spock’s mental state when he’s first seen, including the repetition of phrases, is similar to that of T’Pol at the beginning of the Enterprise episode Shockwave Part II (2002), in which she is seen in a similar state of shock upon discovering that time travel is not only feasible but is in fact taking place. Spock originally fled to the Mutara Sector, an area of space where he will, in fact, later die during the battle with Khan for the Genesis Device (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, 1982).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 2 Star Trek

If Memory Serves

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given: The coordinates chanted in reverse by Spock bring Burnham to the forbidden planet Talos IV, visited just a few years earlier by Spock and Captain Pike aboard the Enterprise. Spock has to help Burnham overcome the illusion of a black hole in the planet’s place, a barrier erected by the Talosians to keep outsiders away. After landing the shuttle, Burnham is greeted by a young woman named Vina, who says she has been in the company of the Talosians for some time since a ship she traveled on as a child crash-landed on Talos IV. She recognizes Spock and extends an offer of help from the Talosians, who not only help Spock recover from his mental collapse, but share with Burnham what triggered it: an encounter – and a mind-meld – with the Red Angel. That mind-meld gave Spock a glimpse of a future in which some unknown enemy destroys the major worlds of the Federation. Spock believes that the Red Angel is trying to change the timeline so these events do not happen. Aboard Discovery, the miraculously revived Dr. Culber finds himself unable to return seamlessly to his life with Stamets…and, worse yet, sees Ash Tyler, his killer, and feels compelled to confront Tyler violently. Tyler grows suspicious of Pike’s focus on finding Burnham and Spock, despite direct orders not to do so. When evidence of sabotage from within the Discovery appears, Pike immediately has Tyler confined to his quarters. If he uses Discovery to return to Talos IV to help his crewmates, Pike will only be tipping his hand to Section 31.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie
directed by T.J. Scott
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), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), Melissa George (Vina), Ethan Peck (Spock), Alan Van Sprang (Leland), Rachael Ancheril (Lt. Commander Nhan), Dee Pelletier (Talosian #2), Rob Brownstein (The Keeper), Alisen Down (Starfleet Psychiatrist), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Arista Arhin (young Burnham), Riley Gilchrist (Andorian Admiral), Liam Hughes (young Spock), Harry Judge (Tellarite Admiral), Jon de Leon (Section 31 Engineer), Sara Mitich (Lt. Nilsson), Tara Nicodemo (Admiral Patar)

Star Trek DiscoveryNotes: For the first time in the franchise’s 53-year history, an episode of a Star Trek spinoff revisits the events of The Cage (1964), the original Star Trek pilot, making “official” the originally filmed ending of an illusory Captain Pike remaining on Talos IV with Vina. (This had previously been subject to some interpretation, since The Cage footage was incorporated into the classic series two-parter The Menagerie, which reinterpreted that ending as the real Pike, in an illusory healthy body, rejoining the similarly afflicted Vina, as seen by Captain Kirk.) The opening teaser is a stylized montage of footage from The Cage, with an on-screen title simply reading “previously on Star Trek”. The Talosians are extinct in the mirror universe, exterminated by Empress Georgiou. Guest star Alisen Down played Olivia in Syfy’s 12 Monkeys series, and head guest starring roles in Stargate Universe, Supernatural, the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, The Dead Zone, and Stargate SG-1.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 2

Project Daedalus

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given: Admiral Cornwell visits Discovery via shuttlecraft with disturbing news – Section 31’s threat assessment system, Control, has stopped accepting input or offering information to Starfleet’s admirals, and Section 31 itself seems to have gone incommunicado. Cornwell recommends proceeding to the same coordinates that Tyler is believed to have been sending signals to – a formerly abandoned penal station – to wrest control back from Section 31’s Control. Space around the station is heavily mined, and once a boarding party consisting of Burnham, Nhan, and the cybernetically-augmented Lt. Commander Airiam beams over to the station, they find it littered with long-dead corpses – including an admiral Cornwell had communicated with recently. Control is now calling the shots at Section 31, and worse yet, it has infiltrated Airiam’s cybernetic systems, forcing Captain Pike to make a terrible decision to preserve most of the boarding party…assuming any of them survive long enough to execute his orders.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Michelle Paradise
directed by Jonathan Frakes
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), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Jayne Brook (Admiral Cornwell), Ethan Peck (Spock), Rachael Ancheril (Lt. Cmdr. Nhan), Hannah Cheesman (Lt. Cmdr. Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Arista Arhin (young Burnham), Alisen Down (Starfleet Psychiatrist), Tyler Hines (Stephen), Tara Nicodemo (Admiral Patar)

LogBook entry by Earl Green