Star Trek Arcs IV: Mirror Universe

The first truly ambitious arc of the franchise became one across eras. One of the most famous episodes of the original series is “Mirror, Mirror,” the Mirror Universe episode, in which Kirk accidentally ends up in an alternate reality where the Federation never existed, with the Terran Empire in its stead. By the end of the episode, he’s convinced the goatee-sporting Evil Spock to fight for change.

Now, Deep Space Nine revisiting the Mirror Universe some thirty years later probably would have felt like a much bigger deal if, say, Evil Spock had been in it, or if Deep Space Nine itself hadn’t later developed its own rich legacy revolving around the Dominion War. The first instance occurred near the end of its second season, in an episode called “Crossover.” The big shock is that Evil Spock did succeed! But that, at least as far as humans were concerned, it turned out to be a terrible idea!

When the Terran Empire turned its back on its old ways, it created a void filled by the Alliance, led by the Klingons and Cardassians, and overnight humans ended up in much the role the Bajorans had just before the series began, when they were subjugated by the Cardassians during the Occupation.

By the end of the episode, they begin their journey back to freedom.

The following season, that journey continues! In “Through the Looking Glass,” Sisko travels to the Mirror Universe to replace his dead doppelgänger, and in the process “reunites” with his dead wife’s lookalike. It’s the most personal Mirror Universe story...until another season later, in which his son Jake, in “Shattered Mirror,” experiences yet another painful family tragedy.

In the sixth season, the Mirror Universe Bareil (his counterpart died in the third season) visits the prime universe, which for fans always leaves “Resurrection” to be the least enjoyable entry in the Deep Space Nine sequels, as it mostly revolves around a personal story for Kira that does little to advance the arc.

In the seventh and final season, the arc, as it has certainly become by this point, concludes in “The Emperor’s New Cloak,” in which I’m pretty sure no Ferengi manage to die in the Mirror Universe for the first time! Probably!

That’s the end of the arc, but not the end of the Mirror Universe! A second arc begins in Discovery fifteen years or so later, although viewers don’t know it at first. Captain Lorca is eventually revealed to have come from the Mirror Universe, and his efforts to return introduce Mirror Georgiou, whose arc concludes in “Terra Firma, Parts 1 & 2.”

There’s more! Enterprise shows us the origin of the Mirror Universe, suggesting that if the events of First Contact hadn’t played out like that, and Cochrane had been left to his own devices, wary humanity would have reacted very differently to their Vulcan guests. And then “In A Mirror, Darkly, Parts 1 & 2” put on a fun little romp that also revisits “The Tholian Web.”

The Mirror Universe remains a unique experience in franchise lore, a pocket adventure with unique surprises that comments on the hopeful nature of Star Trek in the most unlikely way.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Too Long A Sacrifice” review

rating: **

the story: A rash of violence aboard the station leads Odo on a troubling investigation.

review: This is an IDW comic book, the first time the company has produced a Deep Space Nine spotlight in a decade. It attempts to closely match the flavor of the TV series in art and storytelling. It doesn’t entirely succeed but it’s worth the effort.

Part of the problem is that it’s set in the sixth season. The Dominion War is raging, Jadzia Dax is alive, and yet the premise feels like it would much more easily fit in a prior period. A reference is even made to Garak bombing his own shop (“Improbable Cause,” third season), but it’s one of many details suggesting the writers (IDW veterans Scott & David Tipton) were far more diligent picking up the feel rather than the flavor of the source material.

Without giving too much away, this is first/second season material. 

All the familiar characters are here, with Odo as the nominal lead, but no real effort is made to make any of them feel authentic. They’re all just going through the motions. Odo, for instance, is once again in the position of Starfleet assigning one of its own to facilitate matters, but unlike in the show he barely bats an eye at it. Considering, as fans would know, the last time this happened the guy turned out to be a Maquis double agent (the highly underrated Eddington), this is a tough one to swallow.

But nostalgia is nostalgia, and it is great to see new material that at least superficially matches the old. One has the sense, though, that the goal is perhaps to entice the uninitiated, which is to say, this would be a great way to introduce someone to the show.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - General fans should be able to use it as a springboard.

>series - Longtime fans will be able to appreciate it.

>character - Characterization is thin.

>essential - It is not.

Star Trek Arcs III: The Trilogy

The third arc of the franchise is the first to be a deliberately continuous one, although it’s also somewhat invisible, the second through fourth films.

This is possible at all because two of them stand out as individual experiences, and they’re the bookends. Wrath of Khan is still talked about today as a singular achievement in Star Trek, the film by which all Star Trek films are judged. But in terms of box office, the most popular of the three, and of them all until the Kelvin trilogy, is The Voyage Home.

Somehow the one direct sequel and most obvious act of the trilogy, The Search for Spock, ends up lost in the shuffle. It also happens to be my favorite.

To even think of it as a continuous story, you have to think of Spock’s arc. In Khan, of course, he dies at the end, sacrificing himself so Kirk can achieve his victory. In Search, obviously, the whole story is about getting him back, as the Genesis Planet created in Khan serves as the impetus, backdrop, as stage of that project. Kirk sacrifices his career and his ship in order to get it done, and even his own son, David Marcus, who also originates from Khan. 

The neatest trick of Search, for me, is Kirk and Sarek, Spock’s father, recreating, via mind meld, Spock’s death. For some it might feel needlessly repetitive, especially if they watch the trilogy in one sitting. For me, it feels as moving and effective a moment, selling the impact, for Kirk, in ways that sharing the moment, originally, with Spock couldn’t, driving home how much it affected him. It’s also the moment Sarek becomes more than just Spock’s father, a standout character in his own right, an overlooked legacy of the films, and the trilogy itself.

Kirk, Spock, and the Klingon ship acquired during Search, sail through Home, with of course a sidetrack to rescuing some whales. By the end of the trilogy, they have to face what they have so often avoided, which is an official Starfleet reprimand for flouting the rules. The Klingons are furious over what Kirk did in Search, which itself creates another arc, which becomes the march to peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, which evolves from The Undiscovered Country to The Next Generation, which I’ll cover for the TV material later.

But this film trilogy bears greater attention. Clearly there was an effort, at least by Search, to find a Star Trek version of Star Wars (a concept many fans would claim the Kelvin films belabor), but no one watching, whether as a fan or the more casual, is likely to confuse the two. If it’s possible at all, it’s very much just that, a Star Trek version, that results. But that’s a worthy distinction. Star Wars didn’t tell its story across three initial films. With Star Trek there are three distinct acts with three distinct goals. With Star Wars it’s three variations of the battle between the Rebellion and the Empire. Certainly no room for “colorful metaphors”!

In a lot of ways, the existence of the franchise itself relies on the trilogy. The huge success of Home leads to a new TV series, while Khan gives fans a rallying point beyond the original series. The idea of an arc itself was to become a hallmark of Star Trek, steeped so heavily in episodic storytelling in its origins. Before fans realize the genre tide is turning in that direction, the films have already gotten there. In the 90s and 00s, fans think Star Trek is playing catch-up, but the franchise in fact got there already, in the ‘80s, when most genre material is still struggling to recognize how big Star Wars really is, how much and how drastically it changed the landscape.

Suddenly the “imitation” of Search doesn’t look so poor in comparison. There isn’t another franchise even making an effort that decade. Everything else is one movie at a time, and none of them even get another installment. It’s easy to take the Star Trek films for granted. But it shouldn’t.

Star Trek Arcs II: Khan

The second Star Trek arc is probably the most famous arc of the whole franchise: Khan Noonien Singh. 

Khan comes from our own lifetime, a genetic superman who rose to power in the 1990s as part of the Eugenics Wars, which other than this biographical detail have never been explored except in books. (Slightly more examined but still sketchy: WWIII.) Anyway, Khan loses power, is exiled into space in a sleeper ship called the Botany Bay, there to linger for hundreds of years until stumbled upon by Kirk and company near the end of the first season of the original series in “Space Seed” (which, for those keeping score, is of course before Chekov joins the cast).

And Khan immediately attempts his old shenanigans again, and once more finds himself in exile for his efforts, this time on a planet called Ceti Alpha V.

And then, in the second film of the franchise, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he returns once more. Fans still claim this particular adventure is the high water mark of at least the films, and were none too pleased when Star Trek Into Darkness revisited it. Like the other Kelvin films it essentially exists in its own timeline, so it doesn’t technically connect with the rest of the arc, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to the story.

Enterprise provides that. Remember how Data’s creator was named Noonian Soong? Well, we meet his ancestor, Arik, whose work begins with other “augments” from Khan’s heyday, similarly revived for additional mayhem, in the trilogy of episodes “Borderland,” “Cold Station 12,” and “The Augments,” before he decides to switch to robotics (the evolution of which itself carries into the first season of Picard).

That’s still not the end of the story!

The augments, during the course of their misbegotten adventures, crossed paths with the Klingons, and in “Affliction” and “Divergence” we learn the canonical explanation for the lack of ridges in the original series: they attempted an experiment to create augments of their own, and mostly the results were cosmetic (mostly so they didn’t accidentally annihilate themselves!).

A side note: Deep Space Nine revisits the idea of genetic engineering in “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?,” in which we learn that Bashir, naturally enough, is controversially entangled in it, thanks to his parents, and that the Federation still finds it otherwise as much a taboo as the Genesis Planet Khan helped create.

Star Trek: Discovery 3x13 “That Hope Is You, Part 2” Review

rating: ****

the story: The season finale, in which the Burn is resolved.

review: There’s a ton happening here, mostly resolving the Emerald Chain’s takeover of the ship but also Saru’s arc with the Kelpian responsible for the Burn.

Reclaiming the ship involves some truly cinematic action revolving around the turbolifts (staged like the action in Nemesis), which gives the episode a bigger feel than either of the previous finales in the series. It’s the best action of the series, period.

Some of the storytelling (as has been true throughout the series) is transparently convenient, hitting beats just to set things up, like using Adira to assist Saru mostly so Gray can be seen again (both figuratively and literally). I’m not overly complaining, I like the results, but clearly it was done without being overly concerned if the mechanics made much sense. The same with Saru, but it’s nice, what results, anyway.

It’s better when Book turns out to be capable of using the spore drive. It was dramatic, Burnham ejecting Stamets. Curiously, there was so much that needed to be done, and some of it gets very little time, mostly because so much suspense was deemed necessary, so that the backend of the episode feels rushed, even though we get a great moment or two of it. We even get a last minute glimpse of Reno, who was otherwise absent the last few episodes, in fact more or less replaced by Adira, mostly to get her to the point she and Gray need (you see what I mean) to happen.

But these are quibbles. The end result concludes a season that has better executed its arc than the previous two seasons, all its parts flowing together nicely. For some of my previous reservations on how rapidly the season progressed to rediscovering the Federation, it worked out wonderfully, and even the broad strokes of the Emerald Chain ended up strong enough to handle this standoff. 

And the ending...! Burnham is finally captain! Some fans have drawn parallels between this and Sisko getting that last pip in the finale of his third season. I can dig it. I love that Vance finally upholds the Kirk tradition of acknowledging the unorthodox is sometimes necessary (Burnham emphasizes the comparison by refusing to believe in a no-win scenario), that this is what Burnham has been doing since the beginning of the series. In a lot of ways, this is kind of the completion of the initial thesis of the series. I don’t know how many more episodes or seasons we get out of Discovery, but I think it has settled its legacy at this point.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - We haven’t had a movie since 2016. In a lot of ways this episode is as close as we’ve gotten since then.

>series - It’s a great season finale and a statement that resonates back to the beginning.

>character - Michael Burnham is finally recognized as the hero she is. And promoted to captain!

>essential - Sure it is! A worthy summation of the season at the very least, and a great season at that.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

David Cronenberg

Kenneth Mitchell

Tig Notaro

Star Trek: Discovery 3x12 “There is a Tide...” Review

rating: ****

the story: The ship has been taken over, and now the Emerald Chain wants to negotiate with Starfleet...!

review: There’s a lot that happens in this episode in terms of the first part of that brief synopsis, involving the crew working to regain control (but not Control!), including a return of first season Klingon actor Kenneth Mitchell as the lone good guy among the bad guys, but none of it’s nearly as interesting as the second part of that synopsis.

Osyraa is not a great screen presence for most of her appearances. But she’s great when she needs to be, and her encounter with Admiral Vance is exactly what the season needed to nail down the era. The idea of the Burn transforming interspecies relations, making everything more dangerous, and diminishing the role of the Federation, but not its moral clarity, is something Vance makes clear.

Too often fans reduce what Star Trek is to a format or even a given set of characters, but at heart it’s really about ideals, ones we are still working toward embodying, in some ways being far away from, in others we’re hopefully closer. Vance refuses to sanction the Emerald Chain’s worse attributes, and forces Osyraa to finally admit for all the good she’s willing to commit to, she also has to admit that bad she’s done. Which she is not willing to. And thus makes impossible Vance agreeing to what otherwise seems like a great deal.

Discovery tends to work small details well. It gets another big hit in that regard with Eli the truth detector hologram. He’s a big part of how well this sequence works, emphasizing the narrow ledge between Osyraa’s good and bad intentions.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Casual fans ought to cheer the Federation ideals.

>series - Discovery fans ought to cheer this moment, too.

>character - It’s Vance’s best moment of the season, justifying his recurring role. He was essentially the Lorca/Pike spot.

>essential - Absolutely. A moment that represents Star Trek’s whole message.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

Kenneth Mitchell

Star Trek Arcs I: Pike

One of the great underappreciated legacies of Star Trek is the idea of the story arc. On the surface this seems to be a simple riddle to unfold, as Star Trek began, as with all TV programming of its era, as episodic storytelling. Yet, somehow, arcs have been a part of the franchise from the very beginning.

The first pilot of the original series, “The Cage,” featured Captain Pike and a completely different crew, aside from Spock, aboard the Enterprise. In the episode, Pike discovers a planet populated by beings who are capable of casting powerful illusions. 

NBC passed on the pilot but opted to let Gene Roddenberry take another swing, which with “Where No Man Has Gone Before” turned out to be worth three seasons.

Now, towards the middle of the first season, of course, “The Cage” was repurposed as flashback material for the two-part “The Menagerie,” in which we learn that Pike has been horribly mutilated and confined to a mobile chair. Spock has agreed to bring him back to Talos IV, the planet of the powerful illusions, so that he might continue some semblance of a normal life. The episodes themselves carry the framework of a trial Starfleet is prosecuting against Spock, as we watch footage from “The Cage” as evidence.

The idea of this being an arc is kind of a matter of hindsight. In 1966 audiences would really only have known of “The Cage” as part of “The Menagerie.” It’s later fans who get to enjoy the full scope of the story. Pike himself would later resurface in the Kelvin films, as well as Discovery, in which  material relevant to the arc is inserted during “Through the Valley of Shadows,” where he is given a glimpse into his fate and even the chance to avoid it.

The next franchise arc would prove to be more deliberate, not to mention dramatic. And cinematic!