tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24799403623505650572024-03-13T03:33:11.673-07:00Star Trek Fan CompanionThe internet’s only comprehensive fan source for the complete film and television experience.Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comBlogger1015125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-19151679963940069212023-09-14T11:40:00.000-07:002023-09-14T11:40:01.454-07:00The Fifty Best Episodes from Throughout the Star Trek Franchise<div style="text-align: left;">Recently Variety came out with a list of the best Star Trek episodes (you can see it <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi4sOWQwKqBAxW2RDABHYalCFQQFnoECBIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2Flists%2Fbest-star-trek-episodes%2F&usg=AOvVaw1hsqFdnhfHDcQJU3lwAt-H&opi=89978449" target="_blank">here</a>), which was surprisingly decent, but I thought it could have been punched up a little. So here's what my list looks like, although it's not a ranking but rather listing by each series (it's worth noting I would probably agree with Variety's pick for overall best episode).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Menagerie, Parts 1 & 2" (<i>Star Trek: The Original Series </i>1x11, 1x12)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Very brilliantly incorporating the original pilot with its own lead character, Pike (which sets him up for an enduring legacy later unfolding in the J.J. Abrams films, <i>Discovery</i>, and <i>Strange New Worlds</i>) into the franchise's first two-part episode, it's if nothing else a functional embodiment of the kind of frugal ingenuity the original series would often have to work around on its shoestring budget.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>"Balance of Terror" (<i>Star Trek: The Original Series</i> 1x14)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Star Trek is best known as a franchise where weird science fiction happens, and yet from very close to the very beginning the franchise proved it had a lot more ambition, tapping into real world events with allegorical takes that even for their time would've seemed impossible in any other context. The presence of a black woman and Japanese man in important roles on the bridge had already sent signals in this regard, but tackling the Cold War only a few years removed from its harrowing peak (the Cuban Missile Crisis) in "Balance of Terror" by essentially saying Americans and Russians could probably still get along if they could just stop viewing each other as mortal enemies...Because, yeah, that's what's really going on in Kirk's showdown with a Romulan warship. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"City on the Edge of Forever" (<i>Star Trek: The Original Series</i> 1x28)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">It wasn't just finding its own distinct audience but winning over the sci-fi mainstream that established Star Trek's long-term potential, and that's exactly what was accomplished with "City," written by acclaimed sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison, which Ellison himself made an important part of his own legacy by insisting for years that his version was <i>better</i> than the beloved episode that ultimately resulted from the production process, in which Kirk tragically must allow an idealist to die in order to preserve the timeline. Not much in the way of romance, but Edith Keeler will probably remain his most notable dalliance, in any incarnation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Mirror, Mirror" (<i>Star Trek: The Original Series</i> 2x4)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">If Star Trek <i>must</i> be known for weird sci-fi, then at least let it have awesome consequences, such as this memorable visit to an alternate timeline, in which all our favorite characters have been turned into their evil counterparts, giving Kirk a chance to inspire even the irredeemable and therefore once again living up to the franchise's impossible ideals. Later inspires storytelling in <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, <i>Enterprise</i>, and <i>Discovery</i> to highly fruitful results.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Trouble with Tribbles" (<i>Star Trek: The Original Series</i> 2x15)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The original series didn't take itself <i>too</i> seriously (by its third and final season, many fans began to wonder if this was indeed a fatal impulse), and this comic romp pitting Kirk against Klingons and a surprising nuisance is by far the high water mark in that vein, setting a standard not matched until...Well, it'll come up, don't worry.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Yesteryear" (<i>Star Trek: The Animated Series</i> 1x2)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The very brief animated adventures distilled the original premise to its most basic form, leaving little room for the very human delights of the characters themselves, with one notable exception: this peek behind the curtain of Spock's childhood that would later inform the J.J. Abrams version of the character in <i>Star Trek</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Measure of a Man" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 2x9)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first season of the new generation was raw, lacking direction, distrustful of its finest elements, all of which was completely reversed in "Measure," in which Data is explored at the benefit of both Picard and Riker around him as his very existence is put on trial, with all three, to their adject horror (for each of them, very different reasons), forced to participate. The most sophisticated episode of the franchise itself to that point, proving the more cerebral tone set by Picard was not, after all, a mistake.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Defector" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 3x10)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">With its own identity settled, the series could return to the idea of the first season, which was to see if it could rephrase the stories of the original series in a fruitful manner, and "Defector" is essentially exactly that, "Balance of Terror" revisited, a Romulan getting to see just how far they can push their luck when the Cold War was still relevant, in its last days, in fact. Star Trek taking a victory lap.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Sarek" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 3x23)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Another of the walls that needed definitively knocking down (although it's worth noting an unrecognizable McCoy <i>does</i> appear in the pilot) was embracing the most familiar elements of the original series, and finding a way to make them newly relevant, which is what happens when Spock's dad passes the torch to Picard (in the process allowing Patrick Stewart some meaty acting). Allowing Sarek to stand on his own, rather than adjacent to his son, is mere bonus.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Wounded" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 4x12)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Foreshadowing <i>Deep Space Nine</i> in more ways than one by introducing the Cardassians (completely with Dukat actor Marc Alaimo in an unrelated role), "Wounded" allows a supporting cast member to truly embrace the spotlight as Miles O'Brien is tasked with handling a former commanding officer who has gone off on one of those revenge plots that pop up frequently in the franchise. Arguably Colm Meaney's best moment in the role and franchise.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Inner Light" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 5x25)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">"City on the Edge of Forever" set up a precedent for transcendent experiences that the franchise eagerly pursued for years, leading to episodes like "Inner Light," in which Picard finds himself living a whole alternate life he at first resists but gradually comes to embrace as the audience itself learns this is no sinister plot but epiphany filled with the simple pleasures about the mere act of living.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Chain of Command, Part 2" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 6x11)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The casting of Patrick Stewart as Picard was always a double-edged sword, a brilliant Shakespearean actor often seeking material truly worthy of his talents (and too many critics secretly believing the material was never truly up to it). The argument against that assumption begins with Picard's desperate series of interrogations opposite a sadistic but equally elegant Cardassian foil, played by frequent Star Trek guest actor David Warner, which allow Stewart to truly cut loose.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Ship in a Bottle" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 6x12)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Too easy to overlook in later years, Picard (and crew) have a cunning foe, and moral dilemma, in the form of the holographic Moriarty first introduced in the second season and at last revisited late in the series, tackling existential matters somehow unaddressed by Data or even <i>Voyager</i>'s holographic Doctor, both of whom would be dazzled by Mortiarty's subtle wit.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Tapestry" (<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> 6x15)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">And yet Picard's greatest foil was neither elegant nor subtle (and yet, paradoxically, was both whenever he sought a mere verbal joust), and Q reaches his finest moment in "Tapestry," in which he serves as guide to Picard's chance to rethink his life's greatest regret, an event so terrible it turned the track of his life from something resembling Kirk to, well, the Picard who proved so inspiring they literally wrote a leadership book based on him.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Duet" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine </i>1x19)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Star Trek fans can be slow to embrace new crews, and <i>Deep Space Nine</i> was no exception (contrary to popular belief, the serialized Dominion arc of later seasons never really changed the overall impression among casual fans), but "Duet" was an early and obvious standout, in which Kira is forced to confront her racial prejudices when she meets what even she must admit is a good Cardassian.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Necessary Evil" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 2x8)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The intellectual bent of its immediate predecessor gave the series the ability to explore many shades of gray, which led to another standout Kira spotlight, in which her background as a terrorist is explored in ways that complicate her relationship with Odo, even as they begin the slow process of inextricably linking them together for the duration of the series.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Blood Oath" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 2x19)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The improbable return of not one but three Klingons, and the actors who played them, from the original series is proof how far the franchise had come in sophistication, as Dax finds herself compelled to fulfil an oath her previous host made with them. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Wire" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 2x22)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">It took a few seasons, but the series began to truly embrace the nature of its stationary existence by settling into the lives of the many strange denizens both resident and visitor, none more fascinating than the "plain, simple tailor" Garak, whose secrets, though of course never fully revealed, burst forth in "Wire" to the utter consternation and fascination of Bashir.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Crossover" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 2x23)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first time the series, and franchise, revisits "Mirror, Mirror" subverts every happy expectation from that episode's conclusion, and in the process setting up a recurring arc and proving how valuable that alternate timeline really is in exploring our dark potential, as well as our redeeming impulses, thereby proving "Crossover" <i>doesn't</i> spoil that ending but rather affirms Star Trek's ideals all over again (the series itself in a nutshell, by the way).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Civil Defense" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 3x7)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Life aboard the station, once Cardassian and now under joint Federation/Bajoran control, came with its own peculiar complications, especially when a security subroutine is triggered and a self-destruct sequence begins, causing everyone to scramble to avert it, including Dukat, whose usual pompous attitude has its best spotlight, including a moment even he wouldn't be able to deny as definitively piercing it. Probably.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Past Tense, Parts 1 & 2" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 3x11, 3x12)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not so much "City on the Edge of Forever" as it became a touchstone, but in how it presented the past as a chance to criticize our present, Sisko finding himself at the heart of riots centered on the plight of the homeless, a predicament still very much relevant today, alas.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Explorers"</b> <b>(<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 3x22)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">It took until the third season, but once the series knew what to do with Sisko, he became the indisputable center of its best storytelling. This episode draws on Sisko and his son, an experience they share free from typical drama as they build an ancient Bajoran solar ship just to prove it can be done, and the surprising results, both personal and galactic, that follow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"The Visitor" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 4x3)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sisko and son receive their definitive spotlight in one of those "City" episodes, a reset button designed to provide maximum emotional impact as Jake loses his dad unexpectedly, but discovers he can get him back, if he's willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, which takes a lifetime we get to see play out in all its bitter tragedy. Variety's, and mine, pick for best episode of the franchise.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Trials and Tribble-ations" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 5x6)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The series chased the comedic whimsy of the original Tribble episode throughout its run, mostly with the Ferengi, but this one's the most successful, in part because it lets loose so completely, free from any greater significance than sharing memories and having fun.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"For the Uniform" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 5x13)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's easy to assume Sisko's greatest enemy was Dukat, Winn, or the whole Dominion, but it's really Eddington, who betrayed him to join the Maquis, and this whole episode is the revenge plot writ large, arguably the best example of the idea in the entire franchise. If you ever wondered what a <i>Deep Space Nine</i> movie would look like, this is it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Waltz" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 6x11)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the final episode of the series, Sisko and Dukat finally square off, physically, but their battle of wits never really gets better than "Waltz," in which a Dukat driven to despair by the death of his daughter (forget hiccups in the Dominion War that surround it) has Sisko at his mercy, but can't seal the deal.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Far Beyond the Stars" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 6x13)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Too easily dismissed as too on the nose, Sisko's vivid experience of a black man's difficulties with segregation remains all too relevant today.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"In the Pale Moonlight" (<i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i> 6x19)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The episode that settled into the series highlight for most fans sees Sisko making moral compromises in order to gain advantages in the increasingly desperate Dominion War, and appearing to be the first Star Trek character to reject the notion of being a saint in paradise.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Maneuvers" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 2x11)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Arguably the peak of the original vision for the next series, Chakotay finds himself in the clutches of Seska, who has betrayed the crew and attempted to leverage her relationship with him in order to solidify her place among the Kazon. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Tuvix" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 2x24)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">What ultimately defined this series was its willingness to let Janeway make the hard decisions, which she started doing in the pilot itself, stranding her crew an impossible distance away from home based on moral principles alone. "Tuvix" inverts this idea by confronting Janeway with a scenario that betrays the audience's own concept of the franchise's ideals, even though Star Trek had been telling similar stories from the very start.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Distant Origin" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 3x23)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">One of its finest episodes saw the series remove nearly every trace of the usual trappings by having Chakotay taken prisoner by a species who spend "Origin" tackling an analogy for humanity's own reluctance to accept new science.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Worst Case Scenario" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 3x25)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">By the third season the series had all but abandoned any further dramatic complications from Janeway's decision to merge a stranded Maquis crew with her own; "Scenario" finds Paris triggering a holodeck program that allows everyone to see just how badly it might have played out.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Message in a Bottle" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager </i>4x14)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Doctor proved to be one of the standout characters of the series, and incredibly useful any number of ways, including this first contact with home territory in which his program is sent to an experimental new Starfleet ship, in which he meets a very different medical hologram and the two somehow manage to save the day despite their glaring inexperience with such matters. Arguably the best <i>non</i>-Tribble comedy of the franchise.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Living Witness" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 4x23)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">With a huge debt to "Distant Origin" before it, "Witness" again takes a look outside the usual parameters, sticking a backup version of the Doctor in a scenario where he must somehow defend his crew against a historical misperception of its adventures.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Timeless" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 5x6)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The series' "City," in which Kim and Chakotay, in the near future, are somehow unhappy that the crew <i>did</i> get home, because of cost at doing so, which leads them on a quest to undo it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Latent Image" (<i>Star Trek: Voyager</i> 5x11)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">One last Doctor spotlight, in which the crew must face its own reluctance to allow his programming to expand far beyond its original parameters, so he can learn from his own mistakes, a heartbreaking inability, as it turns out, to reconcile his own thought process. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Cold Front" (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> 1x11)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The series that followed tried to have its cake and eat it, too, with fans uncomfortable with looking backward instead of forward, a prequel to a century before Kirk when Starfleet was just getting its space legs, but with Archer also embroiled in a Temporal Cold War that looked far into the future, and the natural consequences of the frequent time travel trope of the franchise. "Cold Front" is the shining moment of the arc, in which Archer confronts two separate yet equally inscrutable agents, Silik and Daniels, one of whom is already clearly his enemy, the other proving he is a friend. Yet Archer will never quite be happy being pulled into the conflict. Launched in the wake of 9/11, the series found itself having to address a new era, and eventually discovered its premise had already made room for it, as our own times make clear. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"A Night in Sickbay" (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> 2x4)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Typically considered one of the <i>worst</i> episodes of the series (this will not be the only time I buck this trend), "Sickbay," for me, is an excellent way to understand Archer's struggles to understand where humans fit among alien cultures, his bewilderment but eventual ability to navigate the stars his successors so often take for granted.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Twilight" (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> 3x8)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The series' "City," in which Archer is confronted with a reality where his long-term memory is shot, and he <i>still</i> has to try and find a solution to the Xindi conflict, with the unexpected patience of T'Pol his only asset.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Similitude" (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> 3x10)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">For me, there's no question that Trip was the best character in the series. Here he finds himself (or a <i>version </i>of himself does) in an impossible moral dilemma that pushes him to his very limits.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Stratagem" (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> 3x14)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The whole third season was one long arc revolving around the Xindi conflict, and this is the episode it pivots around, in which Archer must somehow convince Degra to betray his own people in order to help him find a way to victory. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"These Are the Voyages..." (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> 4x22)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Like "Sickbay," more typically considered one of the <i>worst</i> episodes, even for the whole franchise, but I just never saw it that way. I thought it was a celebration of Trip, just when everyone would've assumed that honor should fall to Archer, in the final episode of the series, that also pulls in Riker and Troi from <i>Next Generation</i> to try and give some overall context (and an otherwise impossible visit from familiar faces), in which Trip chooses to sacrifice himself so Archer can make history. To my mind, profound on a lot of levels, but as with the best of Star Trek, at the human one most and best of all. The scene immediately following his death, Trip gets to have the last word on his life anyway.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"An Obol for Charon" (<i>Star Trek: Discovery</i> 2x4)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">For a series that pushed the idea of genius-level Starfleet crews so heavily, this episode displays that alone the best the first of the modern versions has so far accomplished. But the true achievement is in finding a connection between Saru and Burnham right when it seems most impossible. I still want a Hallmark ornament commemorating it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Absolute Candor" (<i>Star Trek: Picard</i> 1x4)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The idea of further adventures featuring Picard seemed for years to be a pipedream, and yet for three seasons it was a reality. Early on he's given the chance to find new allies among the Romulans, his (and the franchise's) most implacable foe, and he gets to get a little sword-fighting in while doing so.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" (<i>Star Trek: Picard</i> 1x10)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The series slowly but deliberately made amends for many perceived sins of the past, including the culminating of the first season's elegy for Data in allowing him to end (a version of) his existence more squarely on his own terms.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Kayshon, His Eyes Open" (<i>Star Trek: Lower Decks</i> 2x2)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The sheer spastic lunacy of references populating this animated comedy hits a high point in one of its perfect moments, when the <i>Next Generation</i> episode "Darmok" is revisited in the most unlikely of ways.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"We'll Always Have Tom Paris" (<i>Star Trek: Lower Decks</i> 2x3)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Boimler meets one of his idols, and <i>Voyager</i> has a hilarious callback to its earliest seasons, suggesting how deep this farce (I say in the best possible sense) of a franchise love letter can cut.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"All the World's a Stage" (<i>Star Trek: Prodigy</i> 1x13)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Once this kid version of Star Trek finally settled into itself, it could finally just tell Star Trek stories, and this one happens to be a very good one, in which our unlikely crew is confronted with a version of its own dilemma.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"A Quality of Mercy" (<i>Star Trek: Strange New Worlds</i> 1x10)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The franchise truly comes full circle in this delightful further exploration of Pike's having learned his impending fate, and in the process of deciding just how horrified he is of it, "Balance of Terror" is echoed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (<i>Star Trek: Strange New Worlds</i> 2x3)</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Like the preceding episode, "Tomorrow" features a rare series appearance from Kirk, and yet it's La'an who is and who <i>steals</i> the spotlight, basically of the whole series, as she confronts the specter of her own past, which just so happens to revolve around the arch franchise villain, Khan.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-74905690800635879472023-07-15T09:20:00.000-07:002023-07-15T09:20:36.431-07:00Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2x3 "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" Review<p><i>rating</i>: **** (Classic)</p><p><i>the story</i>: La'an ends up thrown into the past, where she and a Kirk from an alternate reality have a chance to prevent the rise of her ancestor Khan.</p><p><i>review</i>: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is one of those instant classics. It's arguably the best episode of any Star Trek in the modern era. It's the kind of creative statement and achievement that speaks to the entire franchise. </p><p>When the character of La'an Noonian-Singh was introduced in <i>Strange New Worlds</i>, her surname gave her immediate recognition in a series that was otherwise set to feature a mix of well-established (Pike, Spock, Number One, Uhura) characters, some less well-knowns (M'Benga), and assorted all-new creations. La'an represented a mix of all the above. She herself was brand new, but her distinctive last name meant she was related to one of the most famous, and infamous, characters in all of Star Trek, one who debuted in the original series ("Space Seed") and went on to be featured in two feature films (<i>Wrath of Khan</i>, which many fans still consider the undisputed best movie of the franchise, and <i>Into Darkness</i>). As the first season progressed we learn more about La'an, including the prejudice she faces, and feels, due to this unusual ancestry, giving her the kind of depth only the best-established characters otherwise enjoyed. By the end of the season she had become one of the major characters of the series.</p><p>Early in this second season, she has taken great strides to outright stealing the spotlight from all of them. "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is a monumental achievement. Like a lot of episodes in the franchise, it hinges on classic time travel tropes. There was a time in the fandom when the overly familiar was hugely frowned upon, but at the moment fans have grown once more accepting of it, which is why <i>Strange New Worlds</i> exists at all, with the ability to once again embrace the episodic format that dominated most of the rest of the franchise once upon a time. Early feedback has deemed "Tomorrow" reminiscent of <i>the</i> classic example of time travel in franchise lore, "City on the Edge of Forever," in which Kirk must prevent a drastic change in the timeline by allowing a woman he inevitably falls in love with to die. The daring twist of "Tomorrow" is that La'an must actually allow Khan to <i>live</i>.</p><p>It's impossible to grasp the impact of the episode without spoiling that. There's so much to talk about, and so much to love, and it all needs discussing.</p><p>The <i>Strange New Worlds</i> version of Kirk first appearing at the end of the previous season gets an unexpected chance to shine as part of all this. Star Trek now has three versions of the character, catching up with Spock in that regard. Perhaps moreso than Spock, this Kirk is an unexpected revelation. William Shatner will always cast a huge shadow over the role and the franchise, and will be as synonymous with it as Leonard Nimoy and Spock, and yet Chris Pine has proved to be resilient in the mainstream (this year he just headlined a successful launching of a new <i>Dungeons and Dragons</i> cinematic vision). Paul Wesley, who made his name in <i>The Vampire Diaries</i>, will probably never be in serious competition with either of them, and yet in "Tomorrow" he gets to give as dynamic and complete single experience with the role as has yet been attempted. His hustling games of chess, eating hotdogs, even the awkward dynamic with La'an all combine to a show-stealing appearance, <i>if he weren't appearing opposite Christina Chong's La'an</i>. This whole episode only works if Kirk and La'an are a compelling pair, and for a version of Kirk only making his second appearance, and being tasked with keeping up with someone not named Spock, it's a challenge well-met.</p><p>"Tomorrow" tackles big franchise mysteries. It explains the sliding time scale of when exactly the Eugenics Wars occurred (<i>Voyager</i>, <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, and <i>Picard</i> all traveled to relative contemporary times and didn't seem to have been touched by them), and even contextualizes <i>Enterprise</i>'s Temporal Cold War, concluding a mystery that series never got around to doing itself as to why it happened at all, and probably even the identity (or species) of Future Guy (the Romulans, as long suspected). But most of all, as Kirk in <i>Final Frontier</i> once claimed, "Tomorrow" concludes that you can't fix things by removing pain from the equation. La'an can't fix herself by preventing Khan's ascension. It's not that he's a boy when she finds him, but that his evil has to happen for all the good that follows. </p><p>The whole story predicates on La'an needing to fix the timeline when she discovers something changed it and led to a version of reality where Kirk exists much as before, but outside the boundaries of Starfleet, the Federation, where humans never embraced the stars, not in a Mirror Universe kind of way, but without having truly realized their potential. Kirk's convinced to play along since his brother's dead in this one but alive in the other (in the original series, the episodic format didn't really let him mourn Sam's eventual death in "Operation: Annihilate!"). Turns out temporal agents have been postponing the Eugenics Wars for years (and it's even hinted that the wars lead directly into WWIII, helping explain<i> that</i>, too). For a franchise that has dipped into the past and the future many times, it's always been reluctant to explain any of this foundational material, in-canon, making "Tomorrow" important on that score alone.</p><p>By the end of the episode, the normally stoic La'an finally breaks down, the result of the cathartic experiences she's had. Pike has struggled with his eventual fate since his appearances in <i>Discovery</i>, and the previous episode had just explained how Number One, Una Chin-Riley, got her own reckoning, while Spock hurdles toward confrontations with his own destinies (the implosion of his relationship with T'Pring, a confrontation with Sybok), and these are expected developments, given presentation. "Tomorrow," no one could have seen coming. Her antipathy toward the Gorn will clearly continue to play out, and yet here La'an gets to confront something far more personal, and find some closure from it.</p><p>When Star Trek cuts this deep, it's rare for it to play out this way. Often it'll be a dark experience, but certainly nothing that feels remotely like a romp, which is how Kirk's effect takes "Tomorrow." The lack of truly standalone episodes in modern lore means it's often hard to pinpoint standout experiences that are comparable to what's been previously achieved, and yet "Tomorrow" not only successfully evokes templates but moves well beyond them, and makes its story deeply personal in the process. </p><p>To top all that off, the episode also makes great use of the new character Pelia, who is deliberately positioned to echo <i>Next Generation</i> and <i>Picard</i> icon Guinan, who put in a similar appearance in the latter's second season, and there's really no question that Pelia's appearance in "Tomorrow" is not only pitch-perfect for the character, but hugely immediately enjoyable, and a welcome distraction in the episode itself. If this were somehow the only time you see the character, you'd love her for this spotlight alone. </p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - "Tomorrow" is a deep cut that speaks to the whole history of Star Trek storytelling. It revolves around Khan, Kirk, and explaining how the whole timeline works.</li><li><b>series</b> - Back in the <i>Enterprise</i> days fans always worried how a prequel to make a meaningful impact on franchise lore without breaking it. "Tomorrow" is a textbook example of how to do it. </li><li><b>character</b> - La'an instantly claims what Gene Roddenberry once termed "beloved character status," rocketing her not only in importance to her own series but throughout Star Trek lore in this appearance. And this version of Kirk gets his best spotlight, too.</li><li><b>essential</b> - There's not even a question. It's the kind of experience that speaks to all three other criteria for mandatory viewing, and even if none of them fit, it would still need seeing to believe, if you didn't like Star Trek in the first place, it would explain the whole phenomenon well enough on its own.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Paul Wesley (Kirk)</div><div>Carol Kane (Pelia)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-67877305903436438712023-05-12T12:11:00.000-07:002023-05-12T12:11:02.205-07:00Further thoughts on the third season of Star Trek: Picard<p>Having finished watching the third season of <i>Star Trek: Picard</i>, I find I'm less enthusiastic about it than I would have thought.</p><p>For me, the best season of the series remains the first one, even if for half the final, two-part episode I experienced the kind of reservations that plagued my interest in the second and third. I'm just not overly convinced that a completely serialized season works. <i>Babylon 5</i>, for a lot of Star Trek fans in the '90s looking for something to energize them, suggested it was the inevitable future, but even <i>it</i> wasn't <i>completely </i>serialized. Individual episodes could still tell their own stories. I found <i>Battlestar Galactica</i> so hopelessly grim within just the first few episodes, I not only swore off any further suggestions that this was how <i>Voyager</i> should have played out, I was all the happier it <i>didn't</i>. <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, when it attempted complete serialization at the beginning of the sixth season and end of the seventh, was further proof, for me, that story gets lost in the shuffle, not elevated. You have to know what keeps the story interesting, not just keep the story going.</p><p>In the second season, I kept wanting more from the few elements that interested me (Q, Guinan), and less from the ones that didn't (Jurati as the Borg Queen's puppet, Rios in ICEland), it was difficult to know what to make of the results. Later, I better appreciated the season, including how Guinan was used.</p><p>This last season will need similar effort. I understand all the story beats and why they played out the way they did, but eventually it became so <i>inevitable</i>, and the familiar crew used <i>so much</i> it distracted from the pleasure of seeing them again. Picard needed more grounding. He needed more time with <i>Beverly</i> Crusher, who while being taken more seriously than ever before still found herself relegated to the background, no resolution, again, between herself and Picard, who instead spent most of his time with<i> Jack</i> Crusher (it would have been interesting as a subplot to somehow tie in the <i>first</i> Jack Crusher to all of this). Data, instead of having a triumphant return, limped into the ensemble, and never felt any more important to Picard than he did in <i>Next Generation</i>, a direct contrast to their increased bond in the movies, which was so important it was the driving subplot of the first season.</p><p>This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the season. As someone who's remained connected to these characters throughout the years (I remain one of the few fans of <i>Nemesis</i>), it wasn't such a long time since I saw the crew together, so for now, it's difficult to appreciate seeing them again. I never had a problem like this with the original cast, since by the time I was born, the original series was long over and the movies were still in the midst of playing out, and by the time I was really able to appreciate any of it, both the series and the films were long concluded. Seeing the crew age through the movies was just a matter of fact, as was following along with their sporadic later appearances, right down to Spock in <i>Star Trek </i>and <i>Into Darkness</i>. (And, I guess, Walter Koenig voicing Anton Chekov.) Even seeing the Enterprise-D again feels diminished by spending so much time aboard.</p><p>Most of this is quibbles. In a lot of ways, this season is making amends for how the movies ended, and that the first two seasons avoided most of the cast. If nothing else, Worf had a great part (the exception that proved the rule), and showed Riker in command mode, and of course Captain Shaw (who was also short-changed, eventually, but whose arc in general was one of the season's true highlights). Finishing out, finally, the Borg saga, and even rounding out the Dominion War arc, finally including the <i>Next Generation</i> crew in it, that was well worth the time and energy put into everything. If the season had included a few more wrinkles into the plot, rather than spend much of the back half coasting to the finale, believing the mystery behind Jack was enough, it would have been easier to appreciate. But it was still well worth it.</p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-74646739907664283852023-03-25T10:54:00.000-07:002023-03-25T10:54:03.513-07:00Early thoughts on Picard third season<p>Like viewers in general, I'm loving the third season of <i>Picard</i>. While the first and second seasons certainly had their hooks and narrative plotlines worth exploring (the first being a dramatic conclusion to Data's original arc, the second being the same for Q), clearly a very different creative direction was taken this time.</p><p>In short, this season has been functioning as an extended movie. Not even a <i>Next Generation</i> movie, but in the style of the first six films. Yes, as some perennially grumpy fans have pointed out, daring to once again evoke <i>Wrath of Khan</i> (Picard's son!), but in the storytelling, even the music in the end credits (although speaking of the music, it's of course worth noting that the main credits borrow <i>First Contact</i>'s theme, which has been my favorite Star Trek theme since, well, <i>First Contact</i>). While <i>Next Generation</i> in its day sort of surpassed the original show's popular appeal, it never really reached the same levels of cultural impact, and for fans <i>of</i> the original show, it never really escaped its reputation of <i>being something different</i>. I have a blogging acquaintance who's positively obsessed with finding parallels between them, and will insist Picard is basically Kirk, but I don't see in what universe that was ever remotely true, except in Picard's youth (and further contrasted by the fact that the aged Kirk was never remotely similar to the Picard we first meet).</p><p>I hope addressing the presence of Picard's son in the season isn't considered a spoiler. If so, so be it. They share a brief moment where they talk about the hair, of course. If anyone cares to remember, although of course the young Picard in "Tapestry" sports a full head of hair, the picture of Tom Hardy as the young Picard in <i>Nemesis</i> finds him bald, although I always figured it was for production convenience (and to otherwise suggest Picard, for that photo, shaved his hair off). Even at that point I couldn't have cared less how little Hardy really looked like Patrick Stewart. He was a great actor giving a great performance! But hardly likely to show up in the franchise again, right? Even in a season of wish fulfillments! (Could we still hope for Colm Meaney? <i>Please?</i>)</p><p>I found aspects of the second season to be disagreeable to the digestion. I loved the first season wholeheartedly. I'm finding I'm really enjoying this one, too.</p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-56178627131812255852023-02-04T09:34:00.004-08:002023-02-04T09:40:18.262-08:00Star Trek and the Changing Face of Eugenics<p>First airing February 16, 1967, the original series episode "Space Seed" introduced the genetic superman Khan Noonien Singh, who would appear twice more in the franchise (1982's <i>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</i> and 2013's <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i>). Khan was described as a product of the Eugenics Wars, a still-nebulous concept in canon material that was supposed to take place somewhere in the 1990s. In 1967, the term "eugenics" was broadly understood to have Nazi connotations, although it was a concept widely shared in the United States as well. Eugenics was the idea that a "perfect" human could be engineered through selective breeding. In Nazi hands it led to a genocidal purge of undesired ethnicities for a "pure" nation. </p><p>Khan was presented as a monster incapable of reconciling his existence with those he found inferior, which was basically everyone else except the goons sent into the same exile as himself. When Kirk finds his ship coasting in space and revives him, Khan attempts a coup of the Enterprise and is subsequently sent into a second exile, and an attempt at revenge. </p><p>The extent of Khan's genetic engineering was physical as well as mental, so that he represented the idea of perfecting both by bypassing chance, willful education and fitness efforts. In doing so, he developed a level of arrogance he couldn't see past, what Kirk eventually called two-dimensional thinking. By taking his abilities for granted, Khan never considered that there was a chance anyone without his advantages could be his equal, much less superior.</p><p>In Star Trek lore, his existence and evident threat led the Federation to ban genetic engineering. The franchise didn't seriously revisit the idea until the <i>Deep Space Nine</i> episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" in 1997, a full thirty years after "Space Seed." In it we learn that Doctor Bashir, a member of the regular cast since the first episode of the series, has been genetically engineered the whole time. To look at him (a complete inverse of Khan physically, a beanstalk of a man), you would certainly have never guessed, and since this was a fifth season episode, nothing the writers had planned until plotting that episode. Bashir had always had a healthy ego from his introduction on, a recent graduate of Starfleet medical school who boasted of his high academic achievements and selection of the assignment to a station at the edge of Federation space meant as a challenge he didn't think he'd find elsewhere. The episode explains how his parents chose to modify his genes after finding themselves with a sickly child of no apparent prospects.</p><p>Now, no one will ever argue Julian Bashir to be the second coming of Khan. Starfleet ends up making a special exception for him (he would otherwise have lost his career), instead punishing his father for making the decision in the first place. For the rest of the series, the only real effect of the revelation is two episodes where he spends time with other products of recent genetic engineering, misfits whose outcomes weren't nearly as fortunate as his own.</p><p>The next time the franchise revisits the concept is the trilogy of <i>Enterprise </i>episodes from 2004, "Borderland," "Cold Station 12," and "The Augments," in which we learn the ancestor of Data's creator, Arik Soong, was inspired by the original Khan project in his work, and in fact nurtured the genetic material left over from it and even raised some of the results to adulthood. (In later episodes, the series finally answers the question of how Klingons in the original series had such smooth foreheads; the Empire attempted to reverse engineer this work, and it...backfired.) When Soong is repeatedly stymied, he eventually decides to pursues robotics instead.</p><p>Which brings us to the modern era of Star Trek programming and the reason I'm writing this. Genetic engineering has played a prominent role in three series from this period, <i>Picard</i>, <i>Strange New Worlds</i>, and <i>Prodigy</i>. We'll start with <i>Picard</i>, as it most resembles the franchise's historic stance on eugenics.</p><p>The second season of <i>Picard</i> features another member of the Soong lineage, Adam Soong, whose efforts in this field of science are meant to create a daughter for himself. By this time the Eugenics Wars are long over, Khan has been put into cryostasis and shot into space, WWIII has yet to occur, and of course the Soongs have begun their long journey toward the creation of Data, one of the main cast members of <i>The Next Generation</i>, an android with an innovative positronic net powering him. Adam Soong, although a renowned member of the scientific community, keeps his greatest work to himself, and has failed a number of times at creating a daughter of unlimited viability, genetic flaws continually cropping up and leading to premature death or debilitating conditions. When we catch up with him, his daughter Kore has no idea she was created in a lab, although she certainly knows she can't stray far from home, since her skin can't withstand UV rays. Eventually she runs away from home, and the Soongs continually evolve their pursuits. Adam and Arik Soong are clearly presented as villains, although Kore, like Bashir before her, is an unwitting victim and sympathetic protagonist. </p><p>The same can be said for <i>Strange New Worlds</i> and <i>Prodigy</i>'s contributions. <i>Strange New Worlds</i> gives us Number One, Una Chin-Riley, who has been hiding her Illyrian heritage since Illyrians maintain a regular practice of genetic engineering. <i>Prodigy</i>'s lead character is Dal, and in the 2022 episode "Masquerade" we learn that he's entirely the product of genetic engineering.</p><p>At the end of its first season, <i>Strange New Worlds</i> positions Chin-Riley in the same kind of peril Bashir faced when finally exposed, just as <i>Prodigy</i> finds Starfleet forced to reconcile Dal's existence with its ban. Chin-Riley's case is in the past, before Khan is even revived, while Dal's is after Bashir's. It seems recent creators are increasingly interested in challenging the moral qualms of the whole concept. So is this a problem?</p><p>I think so. It's one thing to argue, as Bashir does, that he had no say in what happened to him. After all, although he knowingly lied throughout his Starfleet career, he didn't think he was otherwise responsible for conditions that ended up violating the ban. Dal's case is different. Although a character in a show geared toward kids and constantly presented as someone who just wants to fit in (and therefore it would be tough to come to any other conclusion), it becomes problematic that he's yet another unwitting victim we're asked to accept. As I write this, the second season of <i>Strange New Worlds</i> has yet to premiere, so there's no way to know if and how Chin-Riley's case is handled, but it seems equally unlikely that she will end up unabsolved, whether by Starfleet or her crew.</p><p>I'm not making an argument against modern Star Trek, or these characters. What I'm saying, here, is that it's a curious development in a franchise that has long been a champion of reason, spending the entire original series questioning basically everything, even the most precious indulgences of the counterculture that has long since been assumed to most closely align with its utopian ideals. The franchise has also become a beacon of acceptance, in increasingly overt ways, and yet...this might be a step too far. What some would call inevitable scientific progress still represents a Doctor Bashir who asks his parents, finally, why he wasn't good enough for them as he originally was. No subsequent depiction of genetic engineering in the franchise has voiced such a thought, nor the cautionary tale (which is the foundation of the franchise) of Khan and the generation of augments that followed him.</p><p>This is a dangerous road to travel. My hope is that someone at the controls realizes this at some point. We don't need a Khan to point this out. We certainly don't need another Hitler. Star Trek is always at its best when it depicts humanity's efforts to better itself. Through more conventional means. Moral means.</p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-90707228850175885202022-11-26T14:13:00.002-08:002022-11-26T14:13:22.482-08:00Complete episode listings as of today...<p> I will be returning to episode reviews at some point. I've now seen the complete third season of <i>Lower Decks</i> and recent episodes of <i>Prodigy</i>. I have completed listings for all episodes that've aired through today (11/26/22) on each show's page, including a few listings indicating new classics (you'll just have to look around to find out!). I've also done a second viewing of <i>Picard</i>'s second season, and have now come around to the show's version of Young Guinan, so there's that! </p><p>On the bright side, being so far behind reviews will just put me back in the mode this blog was in originally. At some point there might actually be fans using this as a resource! </p><p>One can only hope, anyway...!</p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-84128701789606167532022-07-09T12:42:00.002-07:002022-07-09T12:42:44.015-07:00Rough thoughts on the fourth season finale of Discovery, second season of Picard, first season of Strange New Worlds...<p> I haven't written a review since the beginning of March...As it turns out when you start slipping it becomes easier to slide. I have continued to watch. This blog features reviews for every episode and movie of the franchise, so of course the plan is to catch up again. Actually, some of the time since then was filled by rewatching the entirety of the original series, and I've wanted to write about <i>that</i>, too, as there are many episodes I haven't seen since I was a kid, so that was certainly interesting.</p><p>And a lot of new Star Trek has since happened, including the release of the first season finale of <i>Strange New Worlds</i> a few days ago. I just finished catching up on the last three episodes of the season. I thoroughly enjoyed <i>Strange New Worlds</i>, not <i>just</i> for the callbacks (the strongest by far of which was getting to see Spock interact with T'Pring) but the new elements as well. I may endlessly sound as hopelessly biased (I have yet to see an incarnation of Star Trek I have not been able to enjoy in some capacity), but that was as strong a first season as I've seen.</p><p>The second season of <i>Picard</i> was much more problematic for me, with much of the problems centering around its inability to nail one of its central callbacks (the characterization of Guinan), as it struggled to make relevant observations about the present while explaining its vision for the tragic backstory of its lead character. I adored the first season, and the second was already sold with its inclusion of Q alone. In the last episode I think things were salvaged sufficiently (Q got a better goodbye, ultimately, than Data did, and that wonderful cameo from Wesley Crusher), so even though the season, once I write it up, will get a much-dreaded "worst episodes" tag (my list is different than the average fan's), which I haven't employed often or very recently (there're fourteen episodes, and while the most recent one is from <i>Voyager</i>'s unpopular sixth season, it's not even an episode fans ever discuss among the franchise's worst, none of which, actually, make mine).</p><p><i>Discovery</i> ended on a fine cerebral note, its fourth (!!!) season, and while social media tried to make a big deal out of a cameo from Stacey Abrams, I don't see it as any kind of problem. </p><p>They say filming has already ended, on the third (and final) season of <i>Picard</i>, second season of <i>Strange New Worlds</i>, at least. It's still incredible to think that we've gotten so much new Star Trek in recent years. A new movie is finally in the works (<i>Beyond</i> was released in 2016, which gives us about one more year before a new record gap between entries happens), with the Kelvinverse crew returning (probably).</p><p>Star Trek may still linger significantly behind Star Wars in pop culture credentials (witness how visible interest in the latest Disney+ series was, as has been the case with all of them), but...you know, it really doesn't matter.</p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-39818005929297910892022-03-05T14:34:00.005-08:002022-03-05T14:34:54.772-08:00Star Trek: Picard 2x1 "The Star Gazer" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ****</p><p><i>the story</i>: Picard finds himself drafted into a most unexpected scenario, and then, of course, things spiral out of control...</p><p><i>review</i>: The focus of this review will be the window into the background of Jean-Luc Picard that "The Star Gazer" uses for its title, the relationship with his mother that we're allowed to see for the first time. This is an essential contribution to the character's lore.</p><p>Storytelling in the franchise originally focused only on the moment. Any information about biographical details surfaced in dialogue. There were never flashbacks. The first exception to this occurred in <i>Deep Space Nine</i>'s pilot, "Emissary," in which the Prophets grant Sisko, and the viewer, a vision allowing him to revisit how he met his wife Jennifer, and of course the first moments of the episode, in which we see how she died, during the Battle of Wolf 359. Later, in <i>Voyager</i>, Tuvok's past is glimpsed in "Gravity," and "Flashback" provides a visit into his early Starfleet career. The precedent to all this was <i>The Animated Series</i>' "Yesteryear," in which Spock visits himself when he was a child. It wasn't until <i>Star Trek</i>, though, that the storytelling was allowed to be a truly organic element, where the narrative was able to jump from one time period to another, from the moment of Kirk's birth to Spock's formative years as he struggles to reconcile his Vulcan and human halves.</p><p>In "The Star Gazer" we see our first-ever look back at Picard in a similar manner. Through the rivalry with his brother, explored in "Family" from <i>Next Generation</i>, we knew something of his origins, and we had even seen both his mother and his father in various visions. In this episode, however, we see Picard as a child, interacting with his mother. Interestingly, this sequence even evokes the Picard we hear about in <i>Nemesis</i>, whose conversations with Shinzon explore how he became interested in space. The rest of the episode, as has the series itself, is steeped in more of his career than the mere fact that he was once in command of a starship that was lost in battle with a mysterious foe (that turned out to be the Ferengi!).</p><p>So yes, this is not <i>Next Generation Part 2</i>, but very much its own story, very much centered on Picard, for anyone still confused about this. And this is the episode some of us have been really clamoring for, a visit with Guinan! It happens to delve into the nature of Picard's romantic aloofness, as he happens to be falling in love with the nice Romulan lady who assists him at the vineyard and still trying desperately to deny such a thing could be happening...</p><p>The cast of the first season returns and they're all off on new adventures of one variety or another...until the final moments of the episode, in which the Borg are once again rearing their technological and biological distinctiveness and...Q! Even more than Guinan, true aficionados have been craving for another clash between Picard and Q ever since 1994. So it is very much cause for celebration.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - A relatively new tradition of allowing a character's full history to be seen and entered into canon is embraced.</li><li><b>series</b> - <i>Picard</i>, for all intents and purposes, fulfills several long-held desires by welcoming both Guinan and Q into the fold.</li><li><b>character</b> - Picard, as never before, blossoms as a fully-dimensional character free from the typical constraints of franchise storytelling.</li><li><b>essential</b> - Perhaps more so than Kirk and Spock's arcs in <i>Star Trek</i>, seeing this come about at the end of a long life is if anything even more rewarding. This is historic in all the right ways. </li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)</div><div>John De Lancie (Q)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-28807250469162143812022-03-05T14:10:00.001-08:002022-03-05T14:10:13.210-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x11 "Rosetta" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: Burnham leads an away team that explores a planet that may be the key to understanding Species 10C.</p><p><i>review</i>: This is the kind of episode that should absolutely happen in a serialized version of Star Trek that nonetheless still has to have episodic elements. Too often <i>Discovery</i> has stumbled on such elements, especially ones that try to simulate classic franchise material, and yet this time everything works quite nicely.</p><p>The away team (as with the rest of the season, a spotlight is given to one of the bridge crew, this time Detmer, who ordinarily have mere supporting roles in the background) experiences strange sensations that might have played out in a more outlandish fashion had the episode not managed sufficient control of itself (actually, I've often yearned for this when watching Star Trek in general), moving on rather than lingering on a given element. To wit: Saru is the first affected by the elements on the planet, but quickly enough Burnham and Culber are, too, and then they realize why, and solve the problem, and make further breakthroughs.</p><p>This whole process is mirrored by how Reno is featured in the episode. Reno has been considered a regular member of the ensemble this season despite this being only her second appearance so far, and even in this one she doesn't seem like her usual self, initially, just an excuse to be present and accounted for, until the twist at the end that adds a much-welcome further wrinkle to the season arc. To know more about <i>that</i> you'll just have to wait and read the review of the <i>next</i> episode, if you haven't by then caught up.</p><p>So for me it's quite a rewarding episode, including how the delegates are used. It's very much a Xindi Council, third season <i>Enterprise</i> kind of experience for me, and as a fan of that season and series, it's nice to be able to say that.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><strike><b>franchise</b> </strike>- By side-stepping the typical pitfalls in Star Trek storytelling, it actually transcends them in a very welcome way.</li><li><b>series</b> - Which further distinguishes <i>Discovery</i> as blazing its own path.</li><li><b>character</b> - Detmer might end up feeling the most organic use of background characters in the foreground this season, though the Reno twist is my favorite, as it has far more potential.</li><li><b>essential</b> - The plot advances on a few levels, one in a very unexpected but very welcome way.</li></ul><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-84898590023072691662022-02-26T14:47:00.001-08:002022-02-26T14:47:06.959-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x10 "The Galactic Barrier" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: The crew reaches, well, the Galactic Barrier.</p><p><i>review</i>: They aren't looking for God! I know any fans (who are probably shuddering to do so, given its terrible and not totally earned reputation) making the association with <i>Star Trek V: The Final Frontier</i> can't help but think exactly that (but we still haven't identified Species 10C!), so let's just get <i>that</i> out of the way.</p><p>For me, the season just keeps getting better with these latest episodes. I really wanted to grant "classic" status to this one, but decided it lacked the killer moment(s) that would truly warrant it, except for a wealth of character moments, chiefly among them Tarka's surprising backstory and Burnham burying the hatchet with President Rillak (finally putting her name in these reviews!), plus Saru in arguably his first real character arc, continuing along the journey to finding love with T'Rina (the actors playing all these recurring characters are omitted from the "notable guest-stars" section in large part because <i>Discovery</i>'s use of such characters, from the first season onward, has been so much more steady than even <i>Deep Space Nine</i>'s deep roster ever managed; I've instead been employing, for this series, the appearances of famous actors, which is why Oded Fehr regularly appears in it despite the fact that Vance is otherwise indistinguishable from the frequency of use as the others).</p><p>But Tarka! Unexpected! To say the least! A very welcome one indeed, kind of the reverse of Lorca, in that he appeared to be a basically villainous character and now we see, apparently, that he's actually a good guy (mirrored by Rillak's arc, of course) looking for a little redemption. For me it elevates the whole season, in addition to other pieces of the episode, including the delegate who cracks funny so randomly early on. Often the series can labor on a fairly dour tone, when it's so often at its best in characters like Reno or the brilliant scientific minds getting to sound brilliant (I honestly don't believe any incarnation of the franchise has so successfully pushed science as being <i>this</i> cool, not since the original series, which famously did so with the introductions of so many gadgets like the transporter and communicator).</p><p>So an episode that doesn't seem overly eager to <i>advance</i> the season arc instead pushes all the right character buttons, which itself has been a significant goal of the season. </p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><strike><b>franchise</b> </strike>- This is where I "deduct a point" in the inconclusive experience with the galactic barrier, which would itself have been the big deal in most other versions of this story.</li><li><b>series</b> - This is how confident the storytelling is, that it can hit that note without obsessing over it, because there's more to focus on, so much so that Kovich can actually suggest there's more stuff to worry about besides the DMA without giving so much as a hint as to what it is!</li><li><b>character</b> - Tarka, who wins distinction as a recurring character who essentially has his own episode, more directly than Airiam in the second season, more like Nog from <i>Deep Space Nine</i>.</li><li><b>essential</b> - It's the deft handling of all the characters that helps the episode shine, when there had been points earlier in the season where this much emphasis nearly sank the storytelling.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oded Fehr (Vance)</div><div>David Cronenberg (Kovich)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-89501135309894808012022-02-19T13:52:00.003-08:002022-02-19T13:52:55.602-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x9 "Rubicon" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ****</p><p><i>the story</i>: Burnham duels with Book on the cusp of Tarka's weapon being deployed.</p><p><i>review</i>: Most fans will consider <i>Wrath of Khan </i>to be the ultimate test of wills in the franchise, and yet for me it has long been "For the Uniform," the <i>Deep Space Nine</i> episode in which Sisko matches wits with Eddington, the security officer who joined the Maquis right under his nose and got away with it. The whole episode is Sisko trying and failing to get his revenge; Eddington refers to their new relationship as Javert and Valjean from <i>Les Miserables</i>, rather than the <i>Moby-Dick</i> references of <i>Khan</i> and <i>First Contact</i>. </p><p>And anyway, watching the maneuvering between Burnham and Book in "Rubicon" feels gloriously to par with that. The feeling of betrayal has been a major part of the season since Book split off with Tarka, and Burnham couldn't fathom how this had happened, and ever since the season has been referencing a period from just after the start of the previous season that viewers never actually got to witness, the time where they shared adventures together before the rest of the Discovery crew showed up in the 32nd century.</p><p>(Other viewers have been keeping track of what exactly Species 10C, who set up the DMA, has been mining, which is <i>Voyager</i>'s omega particle; Tarka's weapon runs on the same isolytic weaponry featured in <i>Insurrection</i>. I don't often feature enough details in these reviews. But I like franchise links, and it's definitely worth referencing <i>that</i>. The mining nature of the DMA evokes not only the classic "Devil in the Dark," but Nero in <i>Star Trek</i>, although of course there are still plenty of episodes left in the season to wait and see what Species 10C is actually <i>like</i>; the naming scheme for <i>them</i> also evokes Species 8472, also from <i>Voyager</i>.)</p><p>I'm dubbing the results a classic for that reason. I don't think the episode is overall as crisp as other <i>Discovery</i> entries I've granted that status, but I think the thrill of the encounter is good enough, something the season has been chasing, and also badly <i>needed</i>, to nail the arc, and to give weight to Book, <i>his</i> arc, and even Burnham, who to this point had been defined by relationships with characters like Georgiou, Spock, and Tyler, all of whom ended up going in their own directions.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - Fans should see welcome echoes in the showdown at the heart of the episode.</li><li><b>series</b> - One way or another "Rubicon" advances the season arc in a definitive way.</li><li><b>character</b> - Probably a defining moment for both Burnham and Book.</li><li><b>essential</b> - Wait, what am I saying, <i>probably</i>? Absolutely! It absolutely is!</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oded Fehr (Vance)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-63465513536235266462022-02-12T14:13:00.000-08:002022-02-12T14:13:02.783-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x8 "All In" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: Burnham and Book pursue their separate goals at the same poker table.</p><p><i>review</i>: I loved that the episode hinges on a (space) poker game. As a franchise fan, it evokes <i>Next Generation</i> too easily to be ignored, and <i>unlike</i> that series, it's a game with truly high stakes. While the episode sort of coasts along, that sequence, and how lively Burnham is (arguably the <i>most</i> lively she's been to date, in the whole series), it's very easy to love. I think if the creators were paying attention to this production, they may've stumbled upon something very crucial to the continuing adventures of this crew.</p><p>It's a waltz, really, between Burnham and Book. Book is an incredibly reluctant villain at this point, and for whatever reason once again reverting to a lethargic persona, which has been crushing his appeal all season. Call it malaise, PTSD, or just uninspired acting, but it sets off Burnham's energy as never before, so I guess there's <i>some</i> positive to it.</p><p>Star Trek visits another attempt at the Star Wars cantina, and with all the moody (read: very, very dark) lighting, it's hard to really get into it, but the guy with all the goods is nothing like Quark in <i>Deep Space Nine</i> (but, and this is relevant because there's a Founder in the episode! Odo never let him get away with quite <i>this</i> much), and adds the same kind of energy as Book's <i>other</i> running mate, Tarka (although even he doesn't have much to do this episode), and Vance, who arguably has his best appearance to date feeling rotten he put so much faith in that guy.</p><p>The sequence with the bot Culber won't just clean like it desperately wants to is a nice touch, too, and how everyone finds what they're looking for, including the location of the unknown species and what their actual (probable) motivations are is handled so well, if Book hadn't turned so stubbornly into Eeyor I would've really loved this one.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - It feels like a nod to <i>Next Generation</i>, that epic (space) poker game.</li><li><b>series</b> - Several big developments for the season arc this episode.</li><li><b>character</b> - Arguably the most fun Michael Burnham has ever been.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- Taking everything down a notch is the gloom in both the cinematography and the general character of Book. </li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oded Fehr (Vance)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-77065571128040734312022-02-05T13:35:00.001-08:002022-02-05T13:35:13.710-08:00Star Trek: Prodigy 1x10 "A Moral Star, Part 2" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: We find out the Diviner's motivations.</p><p><i>review</i>: The internet very troublingly suggested there might actually be merit to the Diviner's actions, that they represent a viable alternative look at the Federation. I'm here to state categorically, as presented in this episode, this could not be farther from the truth. He's no different from Nero in <i>Star Trek</i> attempting revenge without the least bit thinking it out, lashing out like, well, a villain. </p><p>To put it simply, the Diviner is a time traveler who is attempting to gain revenge on the Federation for his homeworld's first contact, which led to a devastating civil war. The Diviner assigning blame to the Federation, rather than his people, is absurd. We've seen nothing noble about this guy, no redeeming quality, not even love for his daughter Gwyn (instead a possessiveness hinged only on her representing one last member of his species, after himself).</p><p>So that's what we learn this episode. Very begrudgingly, he reveals all this to Gwyn, even as the rest of the good guys are mounting a plan to get the ship back.</p><p>The clever thing the episode does is tell the viewer what it needs to know, but prevent the characters themselves from knowing, which leaves a climactic moment free to leave an explosive dangling plot for when the series picks back up again in the fall. We think they won! They're getting what they wanted!</p><p>Well, careful what you wish for...</p><p>The episode ends as we meet up with the real Janeway, who will hopefully help all of us solve the mystery of what exactly happened to Chakotay. Truthfully, I've watched the last few episodes expecting to learn something, <i>anything</i>, about that, but the series itself went in a different direction. I really do hope the Diviner arc is over, at least with his active participation, at least in the snarling role he's had. </p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><strike><b>franchise</b> </strike>- The sort of amazing that I want is perhaps a little impatient. It doesn't want to wait so long for Chakotay. </li><li><b>series</b> - One way or another, this is a definitive turning point for the series.</li><li><b>character</b> - He turns out to be very much a villain, but at least we get to see <i>why</i> the Diviner is one.</li><li><b>essential</b> - Hey, and they even have their own nifty uniforms now, too, I might add. The show has found its stride.</li></ul><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-11150413854337166312022-02-05T13:23:00.002-08:002022-02-05T13:35:25.365-08:00Star Trek: Prodigy 1x9 "A Moral Star, Part 1" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: The Diviner finally gets his hands on the ship.</p><p><i>review</i>: I haven't been overly patient with the Diviner arc mostly because it symbolizes how fast and loose the series has played with distances, which greatly simplifies the storytelling but has never been adequately explained. To be a constant threat the Diviner needed a good enough reason to remain one once the crew had split off far beyond his reach. This episode, he gets one, by getting the crew to return to <i>him</i>.</p><p>This is possible because his robotic henchman Drednok is able to visit the ship, which actually first occurred the previous episode (he apparently has multiple bodies). The crew is faced with an ultimatum of relinquishing the ship or being responsible for the Diviner slaughtering the rest of the workforce in the mining camp they escaped from.</p><p>Anyway, what all this really amounts to is advancing the plot. In a serialized story you kind of need to do that. By the end of the episode, as indicated above, the Diviner "wins," and in the bargain has reunited with his wayward daughter Gwyn, which leaves us with a cliffhanger, and another review in which I consider whether the Diviner is worth more than he seems...</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><strike><b>franchise</b> </strike>- I don't think anything "great" happens in the episode. Fans not committed to the series would not necessarily be missing anything.<br /></li><li><b>series</b> - Although fans of <i>Prodigy</i> obviously would!</li><li><b>character</b> - The Diviner takes a step closer to becoming truly meaningful.</li><li><b>essential</b> - It seems increasingly likely that we approach the real end of the Diviner arc.</li></ul><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-16673555117941319562022-02-05T13:05:00.001-08:002022-02-05T13:05:38.819-08:00Star Trek: Prodigy 1x8 "Time Amok" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: Our crew ends up split in time.</p><p><i>review</i>: Well, gosh darn it...I may actually be a fan of this show now.</p><p>This is my favorite episode of the first ten. Typically I'm fairly generous with four stars/classic status (I guarantee you will find very few fans who have not only watched the whole franchise but enjoyed a lot of it). It's true that even calling "Time Amok" my favorite I'm still not awarding it four. I reserve that for when I think a real contribution has been made to franchise lore. What I mean to say about this episode is that it has officially made it safe for me to believe <i>Prodigy</i> will reach that point.</p><p>There will be newer fans who will be absolutely flabbergasted even at <i>that</i>. This is a version of Star Trek we've never seen before. It's a true entry point, and it's perhaps for some new fans the only Star Trek that is going to make any sense at all to them, at least for the foreseeable future. That's a plain fact. </p><p>For me, until this point, the series was too self-conscious, too caught up trying to justify itself, too worry about what its characters were doing to just allow them to inhabit an episode. In <i>this</i> one, for the first time ever, Janeway challenges them and they're...ready. They just are, and all it takes in one purple wave to run through the ship and split them up.</p><p>The biggest beneficiary is Rok. For all her early appearances this was the "gentle giant" whose main distinguishing factor was the little kid's voice. While Dal spends so much time doing a bad impression of a <i>Lower Decks</i> we're-not-gonna-grow-up!!! attitude (which is mostly absent from the episode, another point in its favor), Rok has been waiting patiently for a spotlight. The best tradition of Star Trek storytelling is that every main character eventually gets at least one. What helps sell it is that the episode doesn't even worry about it, but just lets it happen. In fact, other than the recurring bit about not wanting to be seen as "security material," there's no indication at all that this <i>is</i> a Rok episode until it turns into one.</p><p>It's truly organic storytelling. Sometimes serialized TV finds this the hardest accomplishment, so busy just trying to move a story along. Other than Gwyn's daddy arc, it really seemed as if <i>Prodigy</i> simply wasn't interested, and so my attention had faded.</p><p>It's not lost on me that the title of the episode deliberately riffs on a classic one (from the original series, and I will not tell you which one, even if you <i>are</i> new to Star Trek).</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><strike><b>franchise</b> </strike>- Here's where I nominally dock a point. You don't need to be an existing fan to understand this one at all, which is actually a good thing.</li><li><b>series</b> - Achieving a longstanding goal of getting the crew to function together by splitting it up. Brilliant!</li><li><b>character</b> - Rok, who, as it turns out, rocks.</li><li><b>essential</b> - For <i>Prodigy</i>, a breakthrough moment to be celebrated.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Robert Beltran (Chakotay)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-18157775741223453072022-01-22T21:35:00.001-08:002022-01-22T21:35:14.860-08:00Farewell to the Lower Decks Message Boards<p>I guess it’s official, the Lower Decks message boards are gone.</p><p>It’s funny, because now if you mention “Lower Decks” to a Star Trek fan, they’ll of course automatically think of the animated series. Twenty years ago it wasn’t even a question. It wasn’t even the <i>Next</i> <i>Generation</i> episode but an online community that at that time was fiercely loyal, a family, really.</p><p>My firmest memory of becoming a part of it was in the summer of 2000, when the forums were a part of the old Section 31 website (itself well before anyone outside of <i>Deep</i> <i>Space</i> <i>Nine</i> had heard of the controversial Starfleet black ops group). I assume I must have been visiting earlier than that, because even at that point the legendary banter between “Q” and “Shadow” was very familiar to me. </p><p>When the owner of the Section 31 incarnation cashed out, the forums community created Lower Decks as its replacement in 2002. As a longtime Star Trek fan, this was my experience of the larger fan base. This was also where I wrote most of my formative fiction, found my voice. When the main page relaunched, I was also a regular contributor, writing reviews and columns, of the wider sci-fi experience and the franchise itself. </p><p>2002 was when I began blogging, too, well before anyone who knows my blog material now had any clue I existed. I guess, twenty years on, it’s appropriate to have attempted visiting the mostly ghost forums that had lingered in recent years and finally finding the domain open.</p><p>So long, and thanks for all the fish.</p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-62467253963944558642022-01-15T14:32:00.001-08:002022-01-15T14:32:12.887-08:00Star Trek: Prodigy 1x7 "First Con-tact" Review<p><i>rating</i>: **</p><p><i>the story</i>: Dal reunites with the Ferengi who raised him.</p><p><i>review</i>: The thing that's gonna be a problem for a viewer like me is that I'm <i>not</i> the target audience, and so will be asking questions the show is either going to address later or possibly not at all, and that's hard to swallow. The Ferengi character introduces the biggest stumbling block yet, and the episode makes no effort to explain the apparent difficulties.</p><p>This is a series that begins in the Delta Quadrant. The Delta Quadrant, as very emphatically stated in <i>Voyager</i>, is too far from the Alpha and Beta Quadrants (where the majority of the franchise takes place) to make casual journeys practical. There's always the chance of random transplanting (as <i>Voyager</i> itself represented), and of course a few Ferengi in <i>The Next Generation </i>did exactly that (which, too, was featured in <i>Voyager</i>). But the chances of a Ferengi raising Dal, who we find in the Delta Quadrant, ending up in the Gamma Quadrant (no hint of close association with which was ever uttered in <i>Voyager</i> or <i>Deep Space Nine</i>), it just complicates things too much, with again, no attempt at all to throw existing fans a bone in untangling it. </p><p><i>Conceivably</i>, Dal's Ferengi pal traveled to the Gamma Quadrant from the Bajoran wormhole, although at what point even <i>that</i> is difficult to determine. Women in Ferengi society didn't receive mainstream rights until the end of <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, which introduces a very short window for this one to have begun operating as a typical Ferengi (which itself is also anachronistic, because soon after <i>Deep Space Nine</i> give Ferengi women rights, it also reformed Ferengi society itself to be less driven by profit)...Anyway, I don't think <i>Prodigy </i>expects its viewers to be worrying too much about any of this, much less why the Dominion and the Borg Collective apparently never bothered each other, so...let's just move on.</p><p>The story itself is another episodic one, involving the Starfleet standard of first contact protocols (the name of the episode, as spelled in the episode itself, is exactly the same as the <i>Next Generation</i> episode, and the second <i>Next Generation</i> movie, but in all other references emphasizes the Ferengi's true motives with a single hyphen). Dal surprisingly isn't the villainish character this time, and comes up with a quick heroic solution in the end, but the Ferengi is not only villainous but even willing to immediately transmit her knowledge of Dal's whereabouts (and that of the Protostar) to the Diviner.</p><p>The use of familiar interference protocols is about as subtle as it was when <i>Discovery</i> attempted it in <i>its</i> first season. Again, younger viewers aren't going to be quibbling with any of this, and most of the time there's little reason to believe <i>Prodigy</i> has much interest in anyone else's opinion. This is disappointing for fans who might think otherwise, and who've made it this far watching the whole franchise without blinking when so many have cherrypicked their way through.</p><p>And very little effort is even made to advance the Chakotay subplot! Why must they these things out???</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - The crew again attempting to familiarize itself with Starfleet standards at least gives casual viewers something to latch onto. That and the Ferengi.</li><li><strike><b>series</b> </strike>- A moment that ought to have deepened show mythology feels like it leaves too many unanswered questions. </li><li><b>character</b> - Points for adding some depth to Dal.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- And taken, for thinking new and old fans will be happy with how little is actually done with it.</li><li><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</li><li>Robert Beltran (Chakotay)</li></ul><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-52843277738235363492022-01-15T14:10:00.000-08:002022-01-15T14:10:06.327-08:00Star Trek: Prodigy 1x6 "Kobayashi" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: Dal tries his luck with the Kobayashi Maru training program.</p><p><i>review</i>: In all three Star Trek shows that've broadcast new episodes in the past few months, either the Kobayashi Maru program itself or something similar (in the case of <i>Lower Decks</i>) has been featured. The fourth season premiere of <i>Discovery</i> was even titled "Kobayashi Maru," and now <i>Prodigy</i> builds an episode around the program, with the title "Kobayashi." I don't know if the writers of these shows cross the hall, visit the same writing rooms, or there are producers suggesting any of this common material, but anyone actually watching all of it (Star Trek fans usually don't go out of their watch to watch <i>all of it</i>, as we all discovered in the '90s) might begin to consider the material somewhat repetitive. Again, there's no reason to expect every fan to see all of it (resources like this blog in which one person <i>does</i> are probably rare), but those that do, it's an odd choice, whether deliberate or remarkable coincidence.</p><p>There's the good enough excuse that each of the series is approaching this material from different vantage points and theoretically even for different audiences. <i>Prodigy</i>, for instance, is obviously intended for younger viewers, most of whom will probably never have seen <i>any</i> Star Trek before. They might later track down all the source material for the dialogue uttering from the mouths of famous franchise characters like Spock, Uhura, Scotty, Odo, (and the new stuff from Crusher) (I don't know why <i>Enterprise</i> in particular should have been left out), or, eventually, attempt to watch <i>all of it</i>, I don't know. The effort of putting this material together is itself perhaps the most ambitious and fan-friendly thing <i>Prodigy</i> has done, something those who <i>haven't</i> been watching, and perhaps <i>don't intend to watch again</i> might very well consider, as with the <i>Deep Space Nine</i> episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," is worth the odd visit. So it can be an experience for both new and existing fans. </p><p>I haven't dubbed an episode of the series worth classic status yet. This one comes closest. The reservation, as always, comes with lead character Dal, who still doesn't feel like he's overly worth getting attached to, who keeps stumbling up against his limitations without really growing from the effort. In a format like this it probably feels like exactly the right thing for the creators to be doing, since they're serializing the whole season, and thus don't want to be making definitive points too soon. Which is, for me, a huge part of why this kind of TV should always be approached with caution, especially when the show goes out of its way, at the start, to let you know that the journey is going to be the whole point. </p><p>The cast around Dal continues to be engaging, although they're increasingly one-note characters, except for the only other one, Gwyn, with an arc, and as of this episode, possibly not even exactly what it had previously seemed. Her bad dad, the Diviner, hasn't given up yet his quest for the wayward Starfleet ship that also offers up tantalizing answers to its own mysteries, including a glimpse at Hologram Janeway's old running mate, Chakotay. What if the Diviner isn't quite the villain he seemed? But also, crucially, how does he stand even a remote chance, under his own power, of <i>reaching</i> the Protostar, which has leaped to an entirely different quadrant? Unless Gwyn can convince everyone it's in anyone's interests to <i>make</i> it happen?</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - All those familiar faces, and voices! are like puppy chow for fans. Hard not to love. The Kobayashi Maru simulation is itself enticing, although the show's demonstration of it circles far around its parameters.</li><li><b>series</b> - A few tantalizing clues about why lies ahead, including our first glimpse at what lay behind.</li><li><b>character</b> - Dal is, for me, as hard to like as always, but placing him into familiar context at least places his struggle into a palatable light.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- It's strange, for a series built around borrowing <i>one</i> familiar face to throw so many others at the viewer, and only a glimpse of the one who actually serves a purpose to the plot. It's an episodic adventure that both yearns to be more than the series has been and sinks into the poorer instincts that have saddled it since the start. </li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Robert Beltran (Chakotay)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-9945438172940619522022-01-03T13:55:00.004-08:002022-01-03T13:55:52.620-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x7 "...But to Connect" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: With two options on how to proceed in confronting the crisis, an unexpected roadblock emerges in Zora's willingness to cooperate.</p><p><i>review</i>: I enjoyed this much better than "Stormy Weather," and yet I'm not sure the resolution with Zora, the ship's computer now become its own entity, was entirely nailed.</p><p><i>Next Generation</i> had previously tackled, in a number of ways, the upper thresholds of artificial intelligence, both in Data and within the ship's computer itself, among others, and of course <i>Voyager</i>'s Doctor ("Latent Image," in particular), so Zora's arc was very much familiar, although approached from its own unique vantage point. The problem is the viewer's ability to fully invest in a character they can't see but only hear. in the <i>Short Trek</i> "Calypso," we <i>did</i> see Zora. In a sense, the lasts two seasons have been competing with "Calypso," which was a standout experience on any number of levels. Even its central character, Craft, has had a kind of stand-in with Book, who in "Connect" makes a bold decision I'll get back to later. There's also the somewhat tangled web of those directly involved in her arc this episode. David Cronenberg's Kovich gets arguably his biggest spotlight as part of it, as he's tasked with deciding how to handle Zora's evolution. Stamets, surprisingly, is the one who has the biggest problem with it, and I'm not sure the episode nails his role. Gray and Adira show up as Zora's cheerleaders, though neither one has particularly strong material to show for it.</p><p>Anyway, the episode presents two possible solutions to the crisis at hand. One, once Zora agrees to cooperate, is to confront, peacefully if at all possible, those responsible for the anomaly, which involves a gathering of delegates to reach that conclusion, including a representative of Earth (that's another fun point to pick back up from last season). The other is a weapon (evoking <i>Insurrection</i>) developed by Tarka, the tactless genius (whose very existence has finally convinced Stamets to find some) from "The Examples," who provides another welcome dose of friction, and in the end, an offer too tempting for Book to pass up.</p><p>(It's also worth noting that the potential enemy comes from beyond the Galactic Barrier, which we learned a few episodes ago; this is of course an unexpected reference to <i>The Final Frontier</i>; this whole arc has been drawing on familiar franchise lore, a deliberate bid to get fans who don't think <i>Discovery</i> is familiar enough to consider it well within the franchise fold after all.)</p><p>Unlike the talkiness of "Weather," the constant barrage of chatter works well in "Connect," an excellent example of Star Trek's intellectual proclivities.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - Zora's arc ought to evoke plenty of familiar associations.</li><li><b>series</b> - The progress of the season arc advances in a carefully calculated way.</li><li><b>character</b> - Zora is once again the standout character in what is very close to a defining episode.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- It feels like the show was hedging its bets with her. Maybe I'm not being fair.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>David Cronenberg (Kovich)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-40701476147634017182022-01-03T13:35:00.003-08:002022-01-03T13:35:59.661-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x6 "Stormy Weather" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: The ship accidentally gets stuck in a void created by the anomaly.</p><p><i>review</i>: This might be one of those episodes I'll have to revisit later. Watching it the first time I found myself surprisingly conflicted. Even the showcase element at the end of "Stormy Weather" wasn't enough to completely sell me on it.</p><p>"Weather" evokes classic franchise storytelling (<i>Voyager </i>had a couple episodes where the ship got stuck in a pocket region of space), but never completely feels like a classic <i>Discovery</i> moment despite trying to be. For me, this has long been a series defined by its smart characters sometimes spontaneously combining for sequences of fast-paced collaboration. "Weather" lumbers along as literally everyone gets a say in how to resolve the crisis, a ponderous representation of the season's increased focus on inclusivity (Gray, who finally has a moment this episode trying to bolster Zora's spirits, has never felt as organic since a sensational debut in "Forget Me Not"). </p><p>When a solution is finally reached, it involves evoking yet another piece of franchise lore (Scotty being stuck in a transport buffer in <i>Next Generation</i>'s "Relics") before putting the ship to considerable stress and Burnham at minimal risk (it's still a game effort at a mostly visual sequence, which was the best viewing experience of the episode and itself worth revisiting later).</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - Fans often disagree, but I like when Star Trek evokes itself. In literature, it's called resonance.</li><li><b>series</b> - As a part of the season arc I like how the episode further complicates attempting to understand the anomaly. (This also feels like third season <i>Enterprise</i> territory, by the way.)</li><li><b>character</b> - Zora, the computer, is becoming a real character as of this episode as her evolution seriously complicates matters for the first time.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- A previous stumbling block this season was the inability to adequately focus, although the more alarming part was how the episode just plain doesn't understand how this series works at its best, even in a scenario that seems tailor-made for it. I don't blame director Jonathan Frakes for this (it seems the intent was to have the <i>First Contact</i> feel, at times, but the writing just didn't support it).</li></ul><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-37339627896031131062021-12-18T13:35:00.001-08:002021-12-18T13:35:15.564-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x5 "The Examples" Review<p> <i>rating</i>: ****</p><p><i>the story</i>: The crew has to evacuate a planet.</p><p><i>review</i>: There's a point in "The Examples" where a project the smart people are working on is simply shut down. This might seem a fairly disappointing moment, even considering a brief follow-up suggests one of the characters still thinks they know what they needed to know about it, and yet it helps illustrate the bold ways in which the episode strikes all the right notes without worrying too much about them, which can sometimes be a problem for a series that is sometimes brilliant and sometimes, even in seasons that are half the length of what a traditional season used to be, maddeningly vague.</p><p>The smart people include Stamets, his old rival Reno, and a visiting character (hopefully to be seen again!) who also helps extend the Emerald Chain fallout from last season, a brilliant scientist very <i>much</i> in the vein of Stamets and Reno, a character type the series does so well, difficult and yet rewarding to watch. It's really, really wonderful to see Stamets in action again, which as I've pointed out really hasn't been the case since the first season, and even better to see Reno again (she debuted in the second season, fully formed), and if the guy <i>does</i> show up again it'll even be worth recording the other guy's name, too. </p><p>They've assembled to try and figure out the secrets of the rogue anomaly, which this episode is now considered an artificial phenomenon, so very much in the character of V'Ger or the doomsday machine from "The Doomsday Machine" or even the Sphere-Builders from <i>Enterprise</i> (fans got all worked up online since the aliens in "Examples" were introduced in <i>Enterprise</i>; visual reference is also made to Denobulans, of which that show's Doctor Phlox was one). </p><p>One of the things I love about the modern era of the franchise is how much easier it is to just reference known information rather than treat it as a new discovery every time it comes up. (I'm still miffed, quite outsize to general fan opinion, that Starfleet wouldn't have known exactly what happened to Khan.)</p><p>Anyway, the episode also addresses one particular elephant in the room: the death and resurrection of Culber, and what <i>that</i> does to his continuing existence, including the additional psychiatric duties he's lately taken on. No character has more surprised me in the series than Culber, since the second season, since he came back from the dead. In the third season he became more interesting, and this season has obviously understood exactly what he's become, which is arguably more interesting than Stamets, which is why it's all the better that the season has also made such a renewed effort with <i>him</i>.</p><p>And the title characters, another prison drama in the franchise (<i>Voyager</i> was particularly keen on this, which makes it equally relevant to point out that, yes, there's a Starship Janeway in the episode, too, and one of the rare but always welcome Native American actors to show up in Star Trek, not even playing a role that has Native American connotations). I love how this plays out, too. The episode sort of teases it'll go one way, and then doesn't really dwell on any of the expectations, instead waiting until the end to hit unexpectedly poignant notes.</p><p>All this and Saru gets one outstanding moment, too. Saru has really become a favorite of mine, too. I find myself talking in his cadences at times. Combine all this and this is why I love this episode, and how this season is developing, arguably the most smoothly of any arc in the series to date. </p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise </b>- The callbacks serve to deepen connections the season has dedicated so much of its time already to help make apparent for skeptical fans.</li><li><b>series</b> - The season arc once again moves along in organic fashion.</li><li><b>character</b> - There's a lot to choose from. Let's settle for Stamets and Culber.</li><li><b>essential</b> - A textbook example of a part of a serialized story that stands out on its own.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oden Fehr (Vance)</div><div>Tig Notaro (Reno)</div><div>David Cronenberg</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-37405197477111779982021-12-11T14:07:00.001-08:002021-12-11T14:07:19.924-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x4 "All Is Possible" Review<p><i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: Tilly discovers an unexpected new calling.</p><p><i>review</i>: "All Is Possible" turns things right around from the last episode, in all the most dramatic ways possible. "Choose to Live" seemed half-heartedly committed to everything it was attempting to do; "Possible" takes the total opposite tack. Book really struggles with the loss of his family and homeworld, the Ni'Var make a stand (and decision), and so does Sylvia Tilly.</p><p>The Ni'Var, for those still struggling to keep up with modern Trek lore, are the Vulcans, and Romulans. They're the reunified version that was first teased in <i>Next Generation</i> by none other than Spock. Last season, "Unification III" dropped that particular bombshell in <i>Discovery</i>'s far future, including how the Ni'Var were purposefully withholding participation in the Federation. This season we're getting a better look at what that means, "Possible" might end up being the best spotlight. Where "Live" seemed so reluctant to live up to its preceding material, "Possible" absolutely goes for the gusto. The Emerald Chain arc, and the stirring defense of Federation ideals Vance made last season, also factors into the episode. That would be more than enough to give "Possible" a glowing endorsement.</p><p>But it also makes a statement about Tilly, a clear turning point for a character who often seemed fairly directionless, except surprisingly in a command direction. The one real stumble in "Possible" is Tilly referencing "how long" she coveted the captain's chair, which for all intents and purposes wasn't even a thing until she found out Mirror Tilly, "Killy," was everything she never seemed capable of becoming, confident, cool, and above all, unquestioned command material.</p><p>Eventually, by the end, Tilly remembers in "Possible" that her true motivating factor was her overbearing mom, whom she realizes now exists in a distant past, far, far out of reach, and thus no longer in control of all her choices. So she opts for a different path. (Even <i>mentioning</i> how "long" her career has been is kind of a mockery of poor Harry Kim, who would've <i>killed</i> to wait only a thousand years to reach lieutenant!) She decides to become a teacher at Starfleet Academy.</p><p>O'Brien, at the end of <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, went that route. The movies kind of suggested Kirk's crew went that route. Maybe with Tilly, when we see her again, will get to actually show us some of that, and not just another junior officer training cruise disaster, which admittedly much of this episode is, though it spends less time on it than you'd think, and more just getting to the point (another huge difference from "Live"). "Possible" feels like more of a goodbye than even Saru's choice at the end of last season, which this season quickly disputed. Some fans will always point to Tilly, and not Burnham, as the most uncomfortable character to swallow in the series (she's even the one who breached the potty mouth barrier!), and so it's kind of appropriate for a season that has been rebooting to more accessible parameters would seem to consider jettisoning Tilly rather than Burnham (who once again drifts away from her Kirk mode and toward Picard this episode).</p><p><i>criteria analysis:</i></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - Arguably, especially for grumpy <i>Enterprise</i> viewers, this is the closest we've ever gotten to Vulcans not named Spock (or Tuvok) getting to represent themselves in a dignified manner, be motivated by their own concerns, and still come off looking good.</li><li><b>series</b> - A ton of great callbacks to previous events without needing to belabor them.</li><li><b>character</b> - For Tilly a kind of big goodbye.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- Sort of like David Cronenberg making another appearance but not making too big a deal about it, this is a notable episode of modest achievement, just wanting to push things in a further direction. </li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>David Cronenberg</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-25270108948722848072021-12-04T12:30:00.002-08:002021-12-04T12:30:49.702-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x3 "Choose to Live" Review<p> <i>rating</i>: **</p><p><i>the story</i>: Burnham must track down and neutralize a rogue member of the Qowat Milot who has been stealing dilithium and has just murdered a Starfleet officer.</p><p><i>review</i>: This one's a difficult review to write, because "Choose to Live" is both an important episode and yet so strangely inert, the execution so drained of life, it's tough to admit it's just not as good as it should be.</p><p>The biggest news for fans is that Gray now has a body! Gray's character arc, so brilliantly begun in "Forget Me Not" last season, has degenerated into the worst kind of serialized storytelling the modern era has given us, things that linger and kind of creep along episodes and seasons, seldom receiving a spotlight. It's particularly egregious for <i>being</i> such an important moment, worse even, for me, than "Project Daedalus" from the second season that suddenly thought Airiam was worth exploring, even as she was a secondary character in her own episode. "Choose" doesn't even give Gray secondary status. He's <i>third</i>, behind Burnham, behind Book, arguably behind even Tilly, meaning he ranks <i>fourth</i> in such a dramatic moment for his development.</p><p>Getting to have his own body again.</p><p>It's poor juggling on the writing side, and sluggish editing even with all those elements to feature in a single episode. The liveliest moment comes from Vance using a hammy metaphor to help assuage Burnham of her need for control (itself a theme of the season) when Burnham lightly agrees to the wisdom. Saru has some nice moments with Tilly, whose arc this season is trying to figure out why she feels so out of place (which seems like it probably would've made <i>more</i> sense <i>last</i> season, when she an' everyone else literally skipped ahead into the far future and away from everything they'd known outside of their shipmates).</p><p>(It occurs to me that Gray plays <i>fifth</i> fiddle; even Stamets, in science hero mode once again, has more to do.)</p><p>Much of the episode trades on franchise elements recently established in <i>Picard</i>, which <i>Discovery</i> made use of in its third season already, and again draws on here. This would be fine if the episode draws as deftly on them as <i>Picard</i> itself had. <i>Picard</i> doesn't get near enough credit for how gracefully it played out in its first season. <i>Discovery</i> can sometimes hiccup when trying to find the vibe of a season, skipping on the record player even when it has something interesting to say. "Choose" is so busy trying to explore four or five different plot points it doesn't give enough breathing room to any of them. Book, for instance, is supposed to be distraught and devastated, and rightly so, but in <i>this</i> episode he really behaves no differently after a restorative mind meld than he did before it. You <i>could</i> infer differently if you'd <i>just</i> watched the previous episode, but in <i>this</i> one no real grief is visible, only conversations implying it. I don't know if it's the acting or that the whole episode was filmed without really figuring any of it out.</p><p>We see Burnham's mom again, and this time, unlike "Unification III" last season, I again see her as the lifeless injection she was in the second season. That's the whole episode, as close to a real bummer as this series has yet produced.</p><p>But it <i>is</i> nice for the Gray arc to have reached this point, no matter how badly executed. He has a body. He can live again. This has so far been a season where characters are finally moving on, and symbolically, amidst the lethargic chaos of an episode, we have a vantage point from which to pinpoint an exact moment in time for which to pivot the overall arc. I don't think that's why "Choose" plays out the way it does. But it doesn't hurt to view it that way.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - For fans of the modern era, the episode serves as a refresher course for new mythology.</li><li><strike><b>series</b> </strike>- However much I want to read into things, the overall effect of the episode is also to drag on rather than enhance the season arc.</li><li><b>character</b> - It's a huge moment for Gray, even if he plays at best fifth fiddle in achieving it.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- I don't know if the writers thought they were going to merely duplicate Gray's debut from last season by doing it any other way, but as far as I'm concerned this moment was almost blown.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oded Fehr (Vance)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-71129371364766802562021-11-27T12:53:00.001-08:002021-11-27T12:53:30.938-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x2 "Anomaly" Review<p> <i>rating</i>: ***</p><p><i>the story</i>: Book takes the lead in investigating the cosmic disturbance that destroyed his world.</p><p><i>review</i>: The season premiere was mostly about getting comfortable in the new future setting; "Anomaly" is, effectively, a second premiere, in that it establishes what the season will actually be exploring, a black hole phenomenon that will be causing cataclysmic destruction wherever it travels. As I write that, I call to mind not just the Nexus ribbon from <i>Star Trek Generations</i> but the Crystalline Entity from <i>The Next Generation</i>, not to mention V'Ger from <i>The Motion Picture</i> and the probe in <i>The Voyage Home</i>...So there's a lot of history behind this new arc. By the end of the episode, our crew learns one incredibly inconvenient fact about the phenomenon: unlike the others it won't be able to be tracked...</p><p>Book debuted last season as a kind of replacement for Ash Tyler, a would-be love interest for Burnham and a rogue agent playing by his own rules. As is pointed out during this episode, he isn't even a part of Starfleet, and so he doesn't have to take orders. Although it's also pointed out that as long as he works alongside our crew, his decisions still affect it and so he has to take that into account. This leads to an adventure alongside...Stamets??</p><p>That's one of the reasons I like the episode. Too often Stamets, even more than Culber, has been defined almost solely by his relationship with Culber. Introduced initially as a brilliant scientist on the cutting edge, Stamets drifted away from the plot and started worrying only about his lingering connection to the spore drive, the fate of Culber, and then "adopting" Adira and Gray. "Anomaly" feels like a direct attempt to course correct, forcing him to have a long episode with a different character, and even a whole experience that grounds him in matters that finally force him to focus on his abilities. </p><p>Saru returns to help consult on the new crisis, and now we have him returning to his original role as a trusted ally of Michael Burnham, which like last episode feels like an attempt to remind viewers that, yes, Burnham is okay to like, her old reputation finally consigned to the past, if indeed it were ever applicable. She takes very much a backseat the whole episode, actually, even though of course she has every reason to take a personal interest in Book's escapade. </p><p>And yes, as the internet has pointed out, this is the first time two episodes in the franchise have exactly the same title. <i>Next Generation</i> indeed had "The Emissary" and <i>Deep Space Nine</i> "Emissary," and "The Muse" while <i>Voyager</i> had "Muse," but this is the first time there's no quibbling. <i>Enterprise</i> had "Anomaly," too, during its third season, in which it explored a region of space with weird properties and of course a whole crisis around them. It seems fitting.<br /></p><p>Also fitting are appearances from several familiar species, including a representative from the Ni'Var (the reunited Vulcan/Romulan peoples) and a Ferengi, the first live action appearance since <i>Enterprise</i> as Starfleet considers how to handle the crisis.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - Given all the roving threats in Star Trek lore, it seems fitting for <i>Discovery</i> to explore such matters in one of its season arcs.</li><li><b>series</b> - Like the first season, which unrolled its premise over the course of several episodes, this second episode of the fourth season has as much to do as the premiere.</li><li><b>character</b> - It's a spotlight for a grieving Book, and a very welcome fresh look at Stamets.</li><li><strike><b>essential</b> </strike>- I'll reserve full marks on this one if only because no definitive points are made.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oded Fehr (Vance)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2479940362350565057.post-37178920107981153782021-11-20T14:07:00.001-08:002021-11-20T14:07:25.430-08:00Star Trek: Discovery 4x1 "Kobayashi Maru" Review<p> <i>rating</i>: ****</p><p><i>the story</i>: The crew sets out on its new mission of reconnecting the galaxy with the Federation.</p><p><i>review</i>: Now that <i>Discovery</i> officially has its own timeframe and mission, its fourth season can...obviously kick off with the same kind of awesome tease the Abrams movies favored. That means ten minutes of a wild contact mission that goes horribly wrong, until <i>Discovery</i> does its patented "we're Starfleet officers capable of doing really smart things" maneuver (it's honestly my favorite quirk of the series), solves the problem (all of it looking great, like the whole of the third season premiere, "That Hope Is You, Part 1"), and moves on.</p><p>Which means Burnham and her crew integrating into being a regular feature of a renewed Starfleet. We get a nod to <i>Enterprise</i> (complete with the end credits theme some fans would still prefer as the series theme itself), and then Burnham once again butting heads with an authority figure, in this instance the new president of the Federation, who's half-Cardassian, half-Bajoran (which is itself a nod to <i>Deep Space Nine</i>, and kind of <i>Voyager</i>, which had Seska, who originally presented as Bajoran, but ended up revealed as Cardassian).</p><p>Now, you might argue that this is beyond repetitive, but then you have to consider that many fans still can't get over Burnham's introduction as a mutineer, which means any examination of her thought process is a constant reminder that the series itself knows her reputation (which itself is a commentary on the kind of heroics Kirk used to pull; Burnham is a Kirk in a post-Kirk world).</p><p>And all of this is posited on one of the most familiar elements of franchise lore, from which the title of the episode is derived, the no-win scenario all Starfleet cadets must face. Introduced in <i>The Wrath of Khan</i> and then revisited in <i>Star Trek</i>, the Kobayashi Maru test is an attempt to drive home that all officers must face the reality of failure, not just the possibility. Does someone like Burnham run on luck in forever apparently avoiding the worst effects of her decisions, or is she inevitably setting herself for a terrible fall? </p><p>The episode also visits with Saru and Book as they pursue individual goals, one of which unexpectedly propels the episode into the season's arc, to be explored later.</p><p><i>criteria analysis</i>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>franchise</b> - A statement that resonates throughout Star Trek lore.</li><li><b>series</b> - And that emphasizes how <i>Discovery</i> itself has been making it all along.</li><li><b>character</b> - Specifically in Michael Burnham.</li><li><b>character</b> - Many fans have continued to question why they should care about Burnham. This seems like as clear an explanation, in terms long-term fans can understand, as the series has made.</li></ul><div><i>notable guest-stars</i>:</div><div>Oded Fehr (Vance)</div><p></p>Tony Laplumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.com0